I'm sure this isn't a world first, but I figured I'd chime in with the experiences I've had since my previous 'nub'ly posts.
I've fought Ifrit just under 10 times now, and have succeeded in defeating him once (my success-rate is not of consequence to this post, however).
As a relatively nub PGL surrounded by THM and other DD classes, I have thus far seen absolutely no difference in our abilities to be effective contributors to the battle. I even received compliments from the rest of my party, who had never seen a PGL do that well against Ifrit (I'm assuming because they never invited one before I wasn't doing anything other than AA/WS/RUN AWAY!!, which is what every other DD class does).
Whether they be PGL, THM, LNC, CNJ, WAR, if a person is paying attention to what's going on, there should be no issue with the battle. It's getting caught off-guard and, as someone stated in another reply above, not being able to follow Ifrit's lead and do damage only when you can that causes deaths and therefore trouble.
As for sear, the damage from it wasn't too annoying. I paid attention and made sure to avoid VulcanBurst, which helped keep my HP high enough so that I could eat a few sears here and there and only have to heal while Ifrit was up in the air and doing rushes. (In one of the parties a CNJ was smart and stuck with the DD/THM bunch at times in order to Stoneskin for us. That helped a great deal with Sear and VulcanBurst. Pretty baller!!) Hell, it's even possible to run in and out of Sear's range if you're paying attention, and it's not too difficult. A perfect run would take quite some nerve, but it's definitely possible.
Hellfire: Most people refused me on the basis that I did not have Sentinel and could therefore not survive Hellfire. However, I have survived every single Hellfire thus far with only Rampart. I just got Sentinel and Stoneskin yesterday, so I'll have to try them out to see how much they help.
Damage from my fists wasn't too shabby, either. I don't parse, nor do I have chat filters for others' damage activated in order to compare, but I was pulling out 150~180 on basic WS's and around 450~550 on stronger ones. AA damage was 6~7 per hit; StoneFists brought that up to 7~8 (lol).
Any which way, I'm hoping for PGL to be a stand-out DD against Ifrit come the release of the MNK job-class. WindFists will tear him apart (I hope), at the cost of taking a wittle bit of Sear damage, which, as I stated above, should not be an issue for someone who is paying attention to the battle!
I'm tired of hearing "lolPGL', so let's see some good stuff for us in 1.21, SE!