[dev1210] Why Not Merit Weaponskills ??

[Alhanelem]

A noble attempt, but a failed attempt. This is a player base that has strived for the optimum for many, many years now.

This is a defect of the hardcore playerbase (which is mostly all that is left in the game at this point) being perfectionist/elitist rather than a defect of the system, in my opinion. Your typical run of the mill player who doesn't care if he's winning a parsing contest will still get enough damage out of a merit WS with less than 5 points for it to be worth using.

Now I agree with your other statement that you can't really change people. I'm just pointing out that "in theory" it was a reasonable solution to provide the choice between versatility and minimaxed performance on a few jobs that was intended by the merit system at its inception.

many people will take that HQ even if it costs them an arm and a leg in return.

and "many people" will also take the cheaper option (the analogy is not so great). Be careful in using weasel words like "many" that cloud perception. Also using the word "we" when you don't necessarily represent everyone here is not a great idea either.

-----

Honestly I'm oging to wager that they plan to bring up existing WS to the power level of most of the merit WS so choosing a WS will be more about the additional effects, skillchain attributes, and other things rather than the raw damage value.