Expansion is only temporarily enjoyable. Fails to fix all main flaws.

[Kekeri]

This. There is always one correct choice. The only thing builds give you is the illusion of choice.

I disagree with this. Other MMOs and games have been more flexible with respect to builds. The whole "tank-healer-dps" bit is a relic of early MMOs made law in FF XIV.

So, the core design of the game runs counter to builds in a way. The way duty-finder works would need to be redone, and you'd need a pretty big shift in the possibilities of equipment/stat-allocation/etc. to make it work. The fights are often actually designed around the roles mechanically too.

So, it's not that I don't wish the game had more variety with cross-class or that you could make meaningful choices with gear/stats... but they've literally designed the game so that you need to be as cookie-cutter as possible to fit the cookie mold they make for dungeons and mechanics.

[KylePearlsand]

I disagree with this. Other MMOs and games have been more flexible with respect to builds. The whole "tank-healer-dps" bit is a relic of early MMOs made law in FF XIV.

So, the core design of the game runs counter to builds in a way. The way duty-finder works would need to be redone, and you'd need a pretty big shift in the possibilities of equipment/stat-allocation/etc. to make it work. The fights are often actually designed around the roles mechanically too.

So, it's not that I don't wish the game had more variety with cross-class or that you could make meaningful choices with gear/stats... but they've literally designed the game so that you need to be as cookie-cutter as possible to fit the cookie mold they make for dungeons and mechanics.

And then someone finds that perfect build and no one uses any different unless they like being harassed. Happens all the time.

[Kekeri]

then someone finds that perfect build

It depends on how things are designed, as I suggested. Not an MMO, but take Warframe. Different frames have qualitatively different effects, and some are more effective at some "roles" than others. However, there are various ways to build a frame from an efficacy standpoint, and there are gear builds that make you play differently - separate entirely from how you build out your frame.

FF XIV starts with an illusion of flexibility (cross-class skills, etc.), and then you lose it all. Jobs pare down cross-class skills to nothing but required skills. Gear becomes ultra-linear (general caster gear vs. Fending/Slaying). Gear/level just directly mods stats upwards. It's not a system made for variety, but systems with variety ARE possible.

The system demands the "perfect build" now, because the only thing the game is designed for is a character fitting a fixed mold they plan the mechanics around.