I remember a topic way back around EW launch that had a massive discussion about the removal of Monk positionals. To cut a long story short, people fell into 2 categories. Those that used Monk extensively before did not want positionals removed and those that did not play the job who DID want them removed. I was part of the group that did not want them removed. They added an extra layer to think about which Monk was sorely missing and, in my opinion, still does (I still, to this day, sometimes slip into doing positionals on GCDs that no longer have them).

The interesting thing was, the only reason people stated for not playing Monk was the positionals. However, it would be interesting to see, over a year later, how many of them would choose Monk as a melee DPS to play and how many have said, meh, it isn't for me.

However, this is where the issue lies. People want a job changed for them, it doesn't matter about the people who already main the job. Unfortunately, these are the people who you hear more. You don't go somewhere to praise a job, you go somewhere to vent some frustrations, which is why a lot of the time you see changes that the job mains did not want. This is also why I tend to stay out of discussions regarding jobs I do not know well. Chances are, even if they changed something I hated, I probably still wouldn't go back. I can use Ninja as an example. I have levelled every job to max in every expansion, so i have played Ninja though everything. One of my biggest issues from way back in the day was the Ninjutsu clipping the GCD. As a Monk main, it bugged me to no end. They changed it in ShB, I liked the way they handled there, making them GCDs, however, it didn't make me go back and suddenly use the job again. Which leads to the next point, not every job is for everyone. It doesn't matter if there is a job you hate, there are plenty of others for you to pick from which might better suit your needs.

Now, I don't read the balance except for the occasional job guides, but who used parsing as an excuse? Staying disengaged for longer than necessary can easily lead to 20+ potency loss (~0.1 second of not having your GCD rolling when you can is 20 potency lost to give some context). If it is to do with clearing, they have bigger issues than a missing positional every now and then. So, I suspect these are the poeple finding any excuse as to why they cannot clear as opposed to just playing better. Which means it isn't an issue with the job, it is an issue with the player.

So, with that all said, bring back the positionals on Monk. It currently has less per GCD than Dragoon and that is before you factor in Perfect Balance/Masterful Blitzes. There is no real reason why Monk could not have kept the positionals, being 1 of 5 melee DPS who are heavy on them. And, if positionals were too much during burst, just make it so that Perfect Balance removes the positional requirement. That is the majority of Monk's 2 minute burst right there.