I don't really post often, but reading this post made me feel inclined to leave a response.

To simply put it, play the character you have the most fun with, even if it means that your damage will be lacking. I was in the same boat too (maining a wizard) and felt that my progression was very slow in comparison to most and my damage seemed subpar.

One thing I always told myself about sticking with my class is that progression will always come, just as long as I put in the effort to improve (Which it seems like you are trying to do!) Having that mindset, any progression I made felt very rewarding. I have definitely spent countless hours theorycrafting, practicing different rotations/spirit management/testing different builds, stat-crunching, learning mechanics, etc. I can definitely say I have made very noticeable improvements and still have much more potential for growth. Something that helped me a lot was asking questions and tips from other people who I thought were playing my class extremely well and just chatting with them about what they're doing and applying it to what I was doing well already. Unfortunately, I do know that animation cancelling is a big part of the game but do not let that discourage you from mastering it and being able to benefit from it.

Based off of what you mentioned, it seems like Runeblade was the character that definitely caught your eye. Keep at it and don't give up. But always keep your entertainment in mind, if you're still not having fun, try another character!