Samurai and Red Mage

[Shurrikhan]

In Truth, Samurai and black mage to an extent are a victim of diversity. The game needed to have jobs do different things and thus these 2 are stuck in a situation where they're always going to be on the outside. If we changed the meta by nerfing utility based jobs, then the meta would most likely include these 2, but then 2 other jobs would have to take their place.

While fundamentally true, this has always been a question of margin. If one disregards any and all margin of tolerance, job choice entirely is also an illusion, not just as a composition, but in one's ability to have multiple jobs in the DPS role: if/once the LB is no longer necessary, your only DPS option would be the one with the highest rDPS.

Were a margin of 1-3% enough to marginalize jobs, the only thing that would permit job diversity would be Refresh, while the meta stays locked fixedly to doubleRanged-DRG-NIN-WAR-OtherTank-SCH-AST. (Any MP regen buff large enough to forgo Refresh would mean the end of Bard/MCH, unless they truly are the lead rDPS contributor.) And yet, we don't see just one composition in speedruns. That compositional choice is dominant, but far from a solitary choice. In a current continuous uptime fight (e.g. 06S), only 3 out of the top 10 speedruns use double-ranged, and none of them make it to the top 5.

While indirect vs. direct composition cannot allow for multiple balance points, it can at least be balanced over an 8-man fight, essentially allowing the choice between being the "carry" or the one who brings out the best of the "carries", despite contributing equal rDPS (and generally requiring equal skill) in either case. Is it balanced to that extent right now? Not quite. BLM comes close, while SAM and RDM have a ways to go. But it is possible to balance them as well, at least to the extent that Dragoon, Ninja, Bard, Monk, and Summoner are permissible.