Great read, and I agree completely. At this point it does seem like a complete overhaul of the overhaul is necessary to bring Paladins up to where they need to be.

Also, I really hope the devs realize that part of the issue (with Paladin tanking as well as most of the party stacking/preference issues such as favoring WAR/BLM/BRD) is that the encounters keep heavily favoring ranged fighters and AoEs over single target attacks. There needs to be a variety, where the people who don't do as well at AoE (like PLD, and MNK) can thrive.