Quote Originally Posted by Bishop81 View Post
For players like you, there is no "choice". You are obsessed with being "optimal" - like a smoker addicted to smoking.

Worse, you see your way of playing as the only way and think everyone would play the same way.

Never does it occur to you that some people would play for "fun" instead of "optimal".
I didn't say that playing your best is the only way to play. I said it's disrespectful to others not to do it. You're free to make that choice, but you should have no allusions about what you're doing.

If you're playing with other people who ARE doing their best, then you're just a liability if you're not doing the same. It's extremely selfish to make everyone else work harder because you can't be bothered to try.

I'll reiterate too, I LIKE character customization. I wish FFXIV would do more to differentiate people of the same job. I'd like some kind of specialization system to emphasize different playstyles. But I object to false choices. If such a system is going to be implemented, then it has to be balanced such that my performance is roughly the same no matter what I decide to choose. Some spread is inevitable, but it should be really minor (maybe +/- 10% in either direction? I could live with that).

Let me give an example of what I mean.

As a NIN main, maybe I could choose to emphasize my DoT gameplay and have a specialization that revolves around DoTs and getting bonuses when I manage those correctly. Maybe I could have one that emphasizes positional gameplay, adding more positional requirements to my abilities and providing commensurate bonuses when I execute that properly. But whichever one of those I choose, they'd have to be roughly the same in terms of performance. Then it really is a playstyle choice.