Well, the way the game is currently designed, NO jobs have traits. NONE. So anyone suggesting PLD having a trait would have to devise some trait for ALL jobs. Somehow, I just don't see SE doing that. I see them giving adjustments to AF gear, and/or adjustments to current in-game skills.
I've already suggested making magical attacks blockable, and I still stand by it being my no.1 suggestion. Increasing natural block rate, too. That is, according to me, the no.1 priority.
For the love of god, allow shield users to parry as well as block. It was stupid back in 1.19, it still is stupid, and it will always be. Either bring back manual guarding if it's because of the current game's limitations or find some other way, I don't care. Bring it back.
Making Holy Succor instant cast certainly wouldn't hurt, but honestly, you have problems casting it so bad that it has killed you before ? Can't say I have this problem, what with Holy Succor being a 2 second cast and easily timeable between attacks. I'd have other fixes before that, really, but hey, if most PLDs suck that SE makes my job easier, who am I to complain ?
A lot people diss on AF because it doesn't add HP. Simply adding about 200-250 HP on the entire set would, combined with the skills enhancement, make it desirable to a lot. Honestly, in a full party, using HP food and making magic attacks blockable, would already help lots. Also, I'd change the enhancement from the legs to increasing Divine Veil's effect by something like 5 seconds. The way we currently play, we'd have more use for that instead of slightly increasing the regen effect... but if you absolutely want to keep it the way it is, then PLEASE make the regen effect work on OURSELVES as well, and allow us to activate by casting cure on ourselves. NO, it would NOT make it overpowered. It would give PLD increased survivability. Period.
Now, I know some don't want SE to make adjustments to WAR, but considering the current game mechanics, I'd say it's not really avoidable. However, making adjustments doesn't mean weakening. Changing WAR's subclass of GLA to LNC, for example. Losing Flash, Rampart and Sentinel to gain, for example, Invigorate, Blood for Blood and Keen Flurry. No one here can actually make me believe that WAR would suddenly lose its ability to tank, and that the increased damage wouldn't be welcomed. Not only that, but it would further help differentiate the two ways of tanking. WAR would still have provoke, foresight, antagonize, collusion, second wind, featherfoot to keep hate/mitigate damage. While this is about "fixing PLD", "balancing" also sometimes mean changing things or OTHERs in order to bridge the gap. Such could be the case here.
If PLD is to have MRD as a subclass, make it more useful. As it stands right now, only Provoke and Bloodbath have a use as a PLD. If you bring back parrying to shield users, Foresight can also be useful... However, I'd bring an idea that NO ONE has raised yet : Make Rampage available to other classes. Now, bear with me : I'm not actually considering the HP drain effect from crits. However, I AM considering the increased attack speed (faster TP and hate generation) and increased defense, however small defense actually matters.
I still think the way to "fix" PLD is to make it sturdier. I can live with the fact it has less HP as long as it takes far less damage than WAR. That may not solve the current community's mindset of doing speed runs, but as more content (that will not just be dungeons) is implemented, it will make PLDs a lot more desirable.