Why is Ninja always the weakest melee?

[Kyofu]

Why did Square Enix decide to make ninja the weakest melee dps? They already are the weakest for solo content. Say you're wanting to farm or do fates, you won't have as easy of a time as any other melee class. We mostly benefit the group with our trick attack buff, but even when considering that damage bonus our overall dps contribution is still the lowest.

Why is the class punished in solo play and in group play? While things that accel in solo play for some reason get to be the best in group play as well. There's no give and take. One style just reigns supreme and I think that's unfair. I saw talks of how they intend on buffing some other classes but didn't really see any mention on ninja while it has the lowest class representation for melee, on top of the worst dps. I really do hope it gets some more improvements.

[Ramura_Sono]

Always? Lol? Pretty sure this is the only time it's actually been the weakest melee to any considerable degree.
They don't balance for "solo" play. They never have, nor should they ever.
They balance pretty much solely for full party 8 man content.
They've also said just because they haven't mentioned a Job doesn't mean it won't see adjustments.

[Falar]

Always? Lol? Pretty sure this is the only time it's actually been the weakest melee to any considerable degree.
They don't balance for "solo" play. They never have, nor should they ever.
They balance pretty much solely for full party 8 man content.
They've also said just because they haven't mentioned a Job doesn't mean it won't see adjustments.

Considering how many people play solo, this is an ignorant comment, especially since there are plenty of abilities that are clearly intended for solo play.

In Stomrblood at launch Ninja had very strong DPS, I think 2nd only to Samurai and it was promptly nerfed. The excuse is always trick attack adding to group damage, so NIN damage must be lower to compensate.

Trick attack is much weaker these days though.

[Shurrikhan]

Trick attack is much weaker these days though.

Nominally, TA was nerfed by 25% weaker going from StB to ShB. That's irrelevant, though, unless your take on NIN's identity is that X% of its rDPS must come from Trick Attack -- and even that wouldn't change NIN's capacity except to buff it further in alliance raids and nerf it further in light parties. All that matters is how the job's overall rDPS compares to others in its role. (No, rDPS is not only the bonus given to party members. It's the bonus given minus bonus received plus personal damage.)

Right now, much like at the start of Shadowbringers, NIN simply does too little rDPS. That's it, though. It matters little to not at all what portion of that rDPS Trick Attack comprises.

In Stomrblood at launch Ninja had very strong DPS, I think 2nd only to Samurai and it was promptly nerfed.

No, its aDPS fell below most jobs. Only its rDPS was especially high, and it still never had any huge lead -- competing mostly with Dragoon, Bard, Machinist, and Summoner (and later also RDM, BLM, MNK, and SAM; the end of Stormblood was shockingly well balanced for the amount of utility and CD variance it still carried).

[Duskane]

pretty sure Ninja did more than DRG in ShB
but Ninja has support (trick) Tax so generally on lower side but EW ninja is a mess at the moment.

[SpeckledBurd]

Always? Lol? Pretty sure this is the only time it's actually been the weakest melee to any considerable degree.
They don't balance for "solo" play. They never have, nor should they ever.
They balance pretty much solely for full party 8 man content.
They've also said just because they haven't mentioned a Job doesn't mean it won't see adjustments.

pretty sure Ninja did more than DRG in ShB
but Ninja has support (trick) Tax so generally on lower side but EW ninja is a mess at the moment.

Since we commonly frame conversations around DPS as there being taxes on DPS for bringing support, Ninja probably needs to be audited by the IRS and pay back taxes given how strong it has been historically for how much DPS it's been able to provide the party.

[Shurrikhan]

pretty sure Ninja did more than DRG in ShB
but Ninja has support (trick) Tax so generally on lower side but EW ninja is a mess at the moment.

The support is already part of NIN's numbers. People haven't ranked jobs by anything but rDPS in a LONG time.

NIN hasn't had any support outside of said numbers since Stormblood, when last enmity was an actual mechanic (albeit a shallow one).

[Duskane]

Also Ninja has generally been the best for solo content out of the melees
hide is very good in potd and HoH and its ability to consistently burst down enemies

[Fourbestintoner]

SE don't play their own game and think TA is still 10%, since nin is 5% behind the other melees.

[Quyn]

I dont know why some players equate trick to utility. In the end, its a different form of added rDPS. The difference being that Ninja is more reliant on party buff alignment for their own rDPs parses than other melees.
What I fail to follow is the conclusion that therefore Nin should be balanced lower than the other melee dps in the charts.