While I disliked WAR very much up until the mid 30s, I actually wound up enjoying it a fair bit afterwards. Great Axe in hand, Mithkabobs in my stomach, Beserk and, if the PLD has enough hate, Warcry for my teammates and myself. WAR can do some wicked damage if used correctly. However, if you do plan to take WAR as a main, be prepared to be less and less of a good tank, and more and more of a mediocre damage dealer. People will likely not invite you if a PLD is available, since that can do the job of 2 WARs+ at higher lvls. You'll likely only get invites as a last minute filller, and if the server population is low enough to warrant no PLDs, you'll be asked to tank with your lower defense and lack of cures.
I disagree, WAR is one of the best classes to be. They can do good hate too, with Warcry, and can do great damage too. They do excellent damage, Tried Sturmwind? What about Minstrel Axe and Raging Rush? They are very strong and can do excellent damage. The reason why maybe your not doing good damage, is cuz you dont have a set of attacking gear. Most good WARs carry tanking and attacking gear to fit their needs. And unlike SAMs they dotn need to spend as much on Acc gear with Agressor. How can PLD do the job of 2+WARs at high lvls? Can they attack, tank and do all those at the same time? No they do not. WAR is a class of their own and can do just about any of the melee job right.

Counter almost never happened, and in all honesty I was doing as much melee damage as a SAM sub, but never more. THF sub was much more effective as Treasure Hunter helped the whole team, but given that most of the time I was tanking, Sneak Attack was usually out of the question. Since you only get Sneak Attack at 30 with a THF sub, by then all the other hardcore WARs have gone off to get PLD.
Ever thought that THF is not for tanking? If yoru taking a THF sub out to the field to tank, then you are screwing up. MNK and NIN are there for tanking, and a properly equipped NIN sub on a WAR can also tank. /THF is there for damage dealing when you got another tank. There is NO reason why you would EVER sub THF to tank. There is a reason why people lvl at least MNK THF and NIN to sub to WAR to maximize their use.

With my SAM sub I got more TP, and not just a sliver. It was more than noticeable, having the option of laying down WS not as often as a full SAM, but definately quite a bit more than anyone without it... This can be good and bad. All good to have TP, but does anyone else have enough to chain with you once you're ready? Makes you more reliable in setting up a chain, for sure, but you still have to wait for everyone else to be ready, regardless. Third Eye was *very* handy. If you keep your finger on the macro for it, instead of running it arbitrarily to avoid whatever next hit is coming for you, you can set it off right when a Mob's WS is about to hit you. Ever have a Bat's Jet Stream coming at you and have full confidance you're not getting hit? I have (ok, Bat's are a poor example, noone want's to lvl off mobs that hit far too hard and give bad exp by comparison, but still, you get the point).
Its a sliver man, Store TP raises TP gain by a certain percentage, how does Store TP by itself give you a whole mass of TP that you can outdo the other people? Third Eye is lvl 30, and thats weak, if thats the reason for subbing SAM then that is weak as hell. What are you doing with SAM sub? WS of course, but the only reason where you want to spam WS is HNM with Spirits Within. In a party you would want to Sneak Attack and WS and do more dmg per WS and hopefully close the SC so the SC itself will do more dmg over all and be more effective. Tanking? Use MNK for HP counter and etc. NIN works fine too, as Utsusemi puts Third Eye back corner. Plus those TP attacks are best stunned, or flashed. And no a WHM should flash as much as they can without drawing Aggro, a properly used Flash can easily help the tank. Trouble holding hate? Thats why THFs are there to hlep too. But no tank should need another to help keep hate.

That could be counted as subjective as server population and number of available teams fluctuate, but after using THF sub up until 30, and then raising SAM and eventually using that as a WAR sub, it definately felt more effective, and more popular in teams.
Ever thought maybe pre-30 THF offers almost nothing to the group? :P
Pre 30 THF is pretty horrible without Sneak attack, and this is where MNK and NIN are better. SAM at tha tpoint is also horrible. I do not see where you find all these things, as it is certainetly not so true.

DRK=Big dmg number, spend gear on acc as you are horrible at it.
SAM=Low dmg number, but you are to juggle Skillchains.