I'm not so much concerned with the gear being able to be used by jobs, rather I want to see classes actually have some form of usefulness to justify their own sets of difficult to obtain gear. Why should people bother to get gear for say a Pugilist when a Monk can solo just as well, if not better?

Not a perfect example, but I've always had a much easier time soloing on Monk over Pugilist simply because of the sheer amount of raw power Monk has over it's predecessor. Having access to a weak cure and stoneskin doesn't really help much in the grand scheme of things.

I'm not saying all classes are useless now, but when played properly there's quite a few jobs that outshine their predecessors by incredible amounts.

Warrior is another glaringly obvious one. I'd like to see a Marauder do this or this.

You give me a video of a Marauder doing that and having an easier time, and I'll believe you that it's better for soloing than it's Job.