The State of Machinist in DT - Let's talk about it (again).

[Carighan]

If they only buffed the underdogs in pure damage, then likewise NIN, DRG, and MNK would have been buffed to keep up with SAM/VPR, invalidating them. That hasn't been the case though. Nor has it ever been the case for any whole expansion's length.

It'd also be ridiculous as a concept.

But in fact the way Square does focus on buffing>nerfing is already ridiculous, as it ruins a lot of PvE balance and makes things too easy, leading to half-baked jumps in difficulty in subsequent additions as numbers on bosses need to be tweaked, leading to a very weird damage profile in the second and particularly third tier of an expansion. I wish Square would more rigorously go "Take the median. Are you above, you get a nerf, are you below, you get a buff. Checking again next month.", no exceptions. There is no "I'm above the median but that's where I ought to be", no you get a nerf. Everyone meets in the middle or not at all.