Quote Originally Posted by Alhanelem View Post
The problem is that you see "tiers." All jobs can and should be on the same "tier." The thing is, it's almost impossible to achieve that level of balance without making everything too similar. The fact is, none of that content you describe was literally excluding any job at all, it was the playerbase that made up "tiers" and made up who could go where.
Indeed, and one is fed by the other. Game design and mechanics fed the playerbase's mentality. So game design is responsible for how things turned out. They're not these two entities that are separate from each other.
The fact is, you could actually clear most of that content with whatever jobs you wanted, if you found a group of like-and-open-minded people to do it with.
I'm aware of this too, but what I look for is mass acceptance to the point that no one bats an eye at the notion of bringing X class. Going back to WoW, I haven't seen people throw fits over having a Ret paladin or enhance shaman in a group since the burning crusade, where both were intentionally weaker than the "real" damage dealers because the devs believed the asinine notion of such design making them "unique" and how the buffs and utility made up for lacking damage. If you fast forward to now, you'd be very hard pressed to see anyone say anything about a Ret or Enhance being in a group; by the same token, they now perform fairly close if not on the same level as the "real" damage dealers...who still get invited to groups, to boot. I see nothing but winners under that scenario.