[Lunaryn]

Ultimately the value of support subs stems from the support coverage situation of the party. In my static trio as DRK, if I focus everything on improving melee damage and accuracy, I end up having to take steps such as not engaging the mob for the first several seconds of battle, or turning my back to the mob from time to time, or not making use of Last Resort and Souleater. On the other hand, if I go for a more DD/support hybrid, I can get some decent results, help make battles go more smoothly, and go all out when I am trying to damage, without taking hate long enough to be a problem if at all.

At the moment I'm generally going DRK/DNC when up against Aspirable mobs (our entire party frontlines and uses MP, especially our PLD/RDM tank), and DRK/WHM otherwise. The playstyle is pretty different, but aspir dazes generally stick and last pretty well unless I have to cast multiple spells back-to-back. I actually start the battle geared for INT, cycle through absorbs (INT, AGI, TP, VIT, DEX, STR; TP gets moved as appropriate and DEX and STR are skipped sometimes depending on battle pace), possibly land a couple other debuffs, switch to melee gear, and then switch back to INT gear for nukes/MBs and renewing Absorbs.

I think the essential argument against a support subjob like /BRD or /COR is that you ought to have a BRD or COR main in your party. It's easy for small parties to see why that might be discarded, but we do have to remind people from time to time that most xp parties aren't made out of an ideal selection and required to have ideal choices for each role before you leave town. You might be able to be that picky if you're a top tier job seeking meripo, but below 75 pickings are generally slim. Moreover, as long as they're leveled enough, subjobs are the key ability-defining thing in xp (not meripo) that you actually can change according to a party's needs; if you change to another main job, you might be another level entirely, and even if not, you won't be advancing the job you intended to.