Job Personalization: Can I Have It?

[Lemuria]

All the "weak" arguments are major faults in skill trees.
It will always boil down to the most optimal builds and class which Yoshi-P doesn't want.

Final Fantasy XI had unique merit abilities and traits you could 'buy' with points. It was a system that worked very well and because of the way the skills were designed there was no such thing as an 'optimal' build. There were some skills which were considered less beneficial, but usually it's more the case that you're choosing one awesome skill over another awesome skill in the same category.

You also had to level up each individual skill, so the more points you put into one skill the more powerful it would become but the fewer points you would have to spend on other skills. This 'optimal build' argument only has legs if they design the bonus skills poorly. A carefully constructed customization system doesn't suffer from this.

[zcrash970]

Final Fantasy XI had unique merit abilities and traits you could 'buy' with points. It was a system that worked very well and because of the way the skills were designed there was no such thing as an 'optimal' build. There were some skills which were considered less beneficial, but usually it's more the case that you're choosing one awesome skill over another awesome skill in the same category.

You also had to level up each individual skill, so the more points you put into one skill the more powerful it would become but the fewer points you would have to spend on other skills. This 'optimal build' argument only has legs if they design the bonus skills poorly. A carefully constructed customization system doesn't suffer from this.

If you are serious....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!

Final Fantasy XI? One of the most imbalanced mmos out there. If you didn't play a certain way for your job, you would be kicked from even exp parties.
"Oh your SMN without healing abilities? KICK!" "LF NIN tank only!" Do these sound familiar?

Or maybe remembering having to switch builds to whatever was in atm for the current expansion?

Please except the reality that if we were given the choice in character customization, there will be an optimal build for each class/job and, if you do not use it, no endgame group will take you. That's just how mmos work.

It's not like I'm dismissing your opinion, but there will always be better and lesser builds.

[Vinestra]

Final Fantasy XI had unique merit abilities and traits you could 'buy' with points. It was a system that worked very well and because of the way the skills were designed there was no such thing as an 'optimal' build. There were some skills which were considered less beneficial, but usually it's more the case that you're choosing one awesome skill over another awesome skill in the same category.

You also had to level up each individual skill, so the more points you put into one skill the more powerful it would become but the fewer points you would have to spend on other skills. This 'optimal build' argument only has legs if they design the bonus skills poorly. A carefully constructed customization system doesn't suffer from this.

Never played FF11 but the only way there was never an optimal build is if every single person never did numbers and found out which is the best.