On the contary /NIN offers nothing of real bonuses until lvl 50 or at most lvl 48 with Vikings, other than that, its only there for Utsusemi and to negate damage when pulling hate...which doesnt happen often with Axes until Rampage. Dual Wield 1 is a very negligible delay down and if you happen to miss one hit, you gain less TP than if you hit twice single-wielded since delay is recalculated to fit your TP gained.

Only time is /NIN for BCNM type battles or dual tanking WARs.

As a WAR you need multiple subs....for the community's acceptance usually only NIN is enough, even when its clearly not the best. /THF and /MNK(for tanking certain parts) are used when /NIN isnt, and currently even /BLU is being considered(because the DEF is consistant even when subbed for Cocoon and boosts DEF multiplicatively after Protect/Food, and Headbutt/Bludgeon still is effective in general for damage.) as the main tanking subjob choice for being able to damage mitigate, and also deal good damage while tanking.

So as for WAR, the more subjobs you have, the more versitile you become.

DRK usually is less busy...until you get Absorb TP that is. On my own character i have not leveled DRK, however i have played my friend's DRK(lvl 55) in an exp party while at his house and i would juggle all my Absorb Spells, along with Drain/Aspir/Stun, and manage my MP/TP all at the same time while outdoing the SAM in multiple occasions. You also have a tendency to do great damage(517 Power Slash /hump) and bounce hate, so you have to learn when to do your abilities too.

Juggling your abilities and knowing when to cast spells/managing your MP, will make you stronger than most other damage dealers in traditional parties. It is fast paced however, so you have to keep up.

This of course, with the enimity problems, might open different subjob oppurtunities that i like to see about later @@; But current accepted subs are WAR and THF(THF more post 60). And of course you dont tank at all.

As for upkeep, a good WAR will have tanking and offensive gear, a DRK only needs offensive. Since most WARs are lazy and dont want to tank they usually only have offense, so its about the same to me.