Originally Posted by
Karshan
You are aware that "builds" are not really a thing in a competitive PVE ? In competitive PVP yes, in PVE the enemy / situation is always the same so only one build survives in the end : the fittest. (Maybe 2 ? after all there are Crit BLM and SS BLM).
In a game where PvP is anecdotal, builds are an illusion of choice because people will just ... go for the most effective. How would I know you might ask ? Otherwise, guides wouldn't exist, rotations wouldn't exist, people wouldn't flock to the Balance discord, etc...at least the ones who care about rising their numbers. And everyone who is a bit serious about it tries to improve his effectiveness. There is a crowd effect, it is the same principle with "The Meta" (only 5% of players really have a need for it, yet 99% of people are looking for a meta comp)
The only time where people will not rush on the most effective built, is indeed with classes like BLUE mage, as they're not allowed in endgame so "competition" doesn't matter and you can have your dream of a full choice in skills, no matter how ineffective it can become.
But please do not ask to redesign other classes and leave them be, they'd either have to put them out of endgame accessibility OR you actually would witness REAL shunning down ("what ? you don't use that specific build ? get out of the team"), which is what they very much feared with BLU. In many MMOs it was the case, and it'll grow even further considering so many people are starting to come here from mobas and importing their toxic mindset, all this combined : you can bet it will happen all the time and it's not just a "strawman".
Ask SAM, BLM at the beginning of a tier, WHM and RDM at the end of one, if they're adored and wanted everywhere. If you introduce discrimination even inside jobs themselves, man we're not out of the pit before a long time.