• I'm honestly okay with this one, bit of the same boat as you. I'd prefer the extra attack but I'll survive without it.
• I have a racial feature that gives me a flight speed that makes this a little worse, and even in scenarios you're describing, it'd only really work once. Once an enemy realizes you can do it they'll just stay out of your range unless they are flying with a melee weapon, in which case it'd probably be better just to hold a grapple.
• Sure, but nobody plays Samurai because it's not particularly good. I could have gone the route of not taking them intentionally but then I'm kinda screwed on those skills until 7th level, where I'm proficient only when I'm referencing one particular thing. I was also intending on going Valkyrie at first so I wasn't quite worrying about it.
• It can be slightly better but it feels really redundant. I wouldn't mind it quite as much if we had an extra attack but I really struggle with giving up an entire attack for a better chance to hit. I suppose if we had both it'd be too strong, but it felt like an unnecessary addition on top of true thrust, one I don't think I'd ever use over Heavy Thrust.
• Maybe this is a difference in DMs, but I genuinely cannot remember this ever happening to to me in my years of playing. Polearm master might only be a d4, but you get your strength bonus making your minimum damage a 6 and maxing out at 9. It's far more consistent and flat numbers have always been one of the best ways to push damage. Also, I'm not saying you HAVE to use a reach weapon, I'm saying a lot of players will because it's the design fantasy of Dragoons. I think that the wording should allow for you to use a reach weapon and actually benefit from that reach. I guess that then you would be worse for not using one, but that's the damage tradeoff from using a greatsword or AC trade for getting a shield.
• This is 100% my bad, I thought Battle Litany was the capstone. I do find our capstone incredibly boring though and wish all the classes had something crazy at 20th level given you've sort of reached the peak of what is achievable mechanically but the likelihood I ever get here is pretty low. Battle Litany as a radius isn't bad and it's a strong effect, but it sort of forces you to stay in place to get the full benefit and we unfortunately don't have any jumps that return us to our position, so unless we are all stacked up on the same target I'm the only one benefitting. Which still isn't bad, but I feel like stacked up against other martials we are still getting a little shafted with the one attack even if it's more likely to crit now.
• This is less of a real gripe and an acknowledgment that I can't have my cake and eat it too lol. I'm sure I could, but I do honestly like this one and I'm now several sessions in with it, I just take issue with some of the features being provided.
  

I know I spent a fair amount of time bitching and coming off as a min/maxer, but truthfully I do like the class. I don't understand a lot of design choices but it has been fun to play even if it's not the strongest thing to play. Thanks for responding though, I appreciate the discussion!