If you're unhappy with this game then unsub... forever.

[Jojoya]

So why do the jobs have to be gutted beyond their SB designs? If newer players are neutral and veterans are unhappy then the net result is unhappy.

I wasn't trying to pass judgement on the state of job design overall or state that they need to be gutted. I agree some improvement would be good, assuming it doesn't involve button bloat. There's a point where too many different actions is worse than not enough.

No, people gravitate to meta jobs. WAR, DNC, and SMN are all meta for casual prog because of WAR's Holmgang for PF invuln strats, SMN for raise and the high mobility, and DNC+SAM is one of the easiest way to boost your rDPS. DRK is actually the most played tank in JP, along with SAM being the most played DPS. A lot of people don't actually like playing DRK though. These statistics don't show anything other than what's meta.

Nerf WAR's self-sustain and you'll see WAR becoming far less popular.

Also, a lot of people gravitate to jobs because of the visuals. How do you disentangle the % of players picking up a job because of the visuals vs. them picking it up because of the simplicity? A lot of players play DNC, WHM, and SMN purely because of the class fantasy, not because of the mechanics.

It's raiders who use PF that gravitate toward meta jobs, not casual players in general. Those who don't raid are free to play whatever they want. Those who have a static are also generally free to use what they want as long as the roles needed get filled.

Those who rely on PF feel constricted by what the raiding community has decided is meta because if their job isn't part of the meta, it's harder to get accepted into a group. That could be solved by starting the PF but a lot of players prefer to avoid anything that smacks of responsibility, such as being a party leader.

It will always be a problem in MMOs until such time as player communities decide metas aren't accomplishing anything, and I doubt that will ever happen.

Not really.
- Right now you use every skill when it's ready (if not paired with a DRG) <-- need some adjustment
- SAM needs situational abilities
- SAM needs the merging of some single/multi target version abilities.

Oh, I'm not saying that SAM players really do like button bloat, only that the uproar over Kaiten leaves that impression. It's hard to say how the developers will interpret it.

Bard is easy too. We all know Fisher is the hardest job in the game. Having to go around looking for fishing spots. Going underwater to hunt them with spears. Fighting off random bears and retainers trying to mug you for your catch... >.>

Your roof nails are more in danger from my retainers than your fish.