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I've always thought that BSTs were underrated in parties. I have only ever once been in a party with one and that was over a year ago. A lot of people are concerned about XP loss but I don't think there is a penalty for summoned beasts as there is for charmed ones. I think that they would make really powerful allies, especially if they don't have to sub white mage and can wail on the mob next to his/her pet!
For some clarification:
EXP awarded to the party is based off the highest level in the party. If a party of one LV12 and the rest LV10s defeats a mob, the LV12 is what affects the EXP awarded to everyone. In addition to this, the LV10s get an EXP cut due to being lower level than the highest level. The cut is almost a direct proportion of (currentLevel)/(highestLevel), meaning that in this case the LV10s would get 10/12ths of the EXP that the LV12 would get. This is a severe cut for a 2 level difference, but as you reach higher levels, it makes less and less of an impact on EXP (assuming it's not hampering your ability to defeat the mobs).
A BST pet is essentially a temporary party member, meaning that if it's the highest level in the party, it can still influence the EXP everyone else gets. Consider the same party above, and say that the LV12 is a BST. Say that he charms a LV13 pet, and they defeat a mob with it. LV13 is now considered to be the highest level party member, so EXP is reduced, including the EXP that the LV12 gets. If the BST doesn't get rid of his pet somehow before the fight ends, he still gets the additional 30% EXP cut on top of that. (Nobody except the BST will ever receive this cut.)
Jug pets can never exceed the BST's level, so there is never any worry in a jug pet becoming the highest member of a party. Before, they used to also give the same 30% EXP cut to the BST if they were still alive after battle, but the big BST patch/"nerf" from way back when (December?) allowed jug pets to not impose any EXP penalties at all from being left out.
Hope that clarifies things a bit.
As for the new jobs being used as subs, /BLU is an excellent option for situations where you have to tank something and holding hate is not an issue. Cocoon is extremely powerful: 10 MP for a 1 minute massive defense boost. If you want an actual combo people might PT with, consider WAR/BLU. Heard tons of good stuff about this combo, especially at low levels. At mid-levels it can pretty much negate the defense loss from Berserk, which might allow you to keep Berserk up even in a tanking situation, allowing you to do better damage and hold more hate. I don't know about high levels, most WARs go /NIN by that point >_>
I've heard RDM/BLU can also be an absolute machine for soloing stuff without blink tanking it as /NIN. Protect + Stoneskin + Phalanx + Cocoon all together is an extremely potent defense.