I also disagree, insofar as the game developers desire to maintain a "shit's situational" attitude. PLD has its place, as does WAR. Neither excels at tanking in all situations, so each has its place in end game. Right now, WAR more-or-less dominates in terms of quantity of fights, but what PLD brings to the table in terms of quality tanking in the few encounters it is appropriate for, allows it to shine well beyond WAR.

The issue that is often skirted for PLD is its complexity compared to WAR. While it's not that hard once you get it down, the learning curve is steeper than WAR tanking. This creates large distinction between a bad paladin and a good paladin, and even a good paladin and a great paladin, although the difference is more nuanced in the latter comparison. We used to talk about that on these forums but that argument seems to have been swept under the rug. With watered-down content and easier encounters being demanded by the masses, people seem to be moving towards a "change the class for me" attitude. Unfortunately the "learn2play" quip doesn't quite hold the same weight in the FF community, and sometimes it would be nice if it did.