That "weirdness" is due to Square's own making. If we're discussing bring back sect's then that's what I want, I never asked for the "pure/barrier" split. If it had been a better design, by all means, maintain it, however I don't see that it enhanced healer design. It's also a very poorly defined matrix.

I would say that it should be allowed to be used even in combat. We could debate upon the length of the CD, make it a very short one (5 seconds for example) or a toggle like the current tank stances so it can't easily be accidently flipped. As I wouldn't tie it to cards I don't see the necessity nor the dependancy. I don't see how that it should be impossible to balance, skills still have CDs, somehow I've been in other games that had jobs with skills that I could with toggle on or off that would affect other skills, and the game designers were able to balance that job.