So you're telling me..

[Scuoll]

Difficulty to execute can be rewarded with many things, but in the case of FFXIV equating difficulty to execute to higher performance (in this case DPS) is problematic in my opinion. This means that unless you are playing that difficult class then you can't compete, so why bother playing any other class? If not for the LB penalty, whole teams would be constructed of SAMs, BLMs, GNBs, and ASTs, perhaps swapping one of the DPS with a token NIN, DRG, or BRD. Not saying every single class needs to be homogenized so it doesn't matter what class you bring, but when you can compete as different classes do you see a different variety of compositions which is what we have. But lets all be honest here, mostly all jobs are not difficult to use. There is a difficulty to get in to, but that's not the same thing as difficulty to use when conditioned. Coming from a BLM main (which is considered by many the most difficult class, though argued that old SMN was more difficult), BLM is not hard once you know a fight, you literally just sit there casting F4 with the occasional UI transition to regen mana.

As for SMN, well I don't play it, but BLM has gotten several simplications with Xeno and reduced sharpcast and 2 triple cast charges and keeps it top DPS bar.

RPR feels balanced in it's approach. It feels smooth and has power to match it's burstiness. This is subjective for me, but it feels like a well designed job.

I understand what you are saying and i somewhat agree, that overall you shouldnt be forced to play the harder classes to get better results, and that balance should be tighter in general so that you can play whatever without huge discrepancies in performance.

However i also do think that the current situation is even worse that the hypothetical scenario where difficulty rewards you with higher numbers , having the easier class be the one that excels at everything, by your own logic, players that want to perform the best should be looking to swap to reaper right now, and getting better results for less effort just feels sort of cheap?
I agree neither is desirable though.

I am newish to the game and i have really no clue if the devs have someone read these posts and relay it to them, especially during the holidays, but i think a general sentiment most people can get behind is that people dont want to feel like they are being punished arbirtrarily for not playing a clear cut superior option, and right now because of several reasons, odds are the average player will perform way better on reaper than the other melees.