Alienation of Dedicated and Skilled players

[zosia]

choice sums up to "you use what is objectively better, or you will be told to get out".

Again, if you're joining a pug, that seems like a logical line of thought to me. If a player wishes to play their own way, they should just play with like minded people. I don't understand the problem.

I'm always calm, just blunt. Yeah it can be grating but I have given my reasoning - optimisation.

It's a real issue that affect MMO communites and I've never seen it do good, "it's easy to say well casuals don't need to bother with it" which is true but then it doesn't work like that. People want their characters to be the best they can be so if their is a optimal build people flock to it just like FoTM classes. It doesn't take much for it to become the norm and then those damn dirty hipsters (jk) that don't follow suit quickly become targets. I like our community and do not like the idea of seeing it devolve into a cesspool over a few stats.

That is far more than "because I don't like it".

I'm perfectly happy to have you address if you feel inclined to do so and I agree that perception has probably clogged my thinking.

In a game where "ice mage" is something you can run across in your roulette, I doubt even a fraction of your concerns would play out on live serves. People in this game don't generally care about optimization. Just go stroll around idylshire and check peoples gear. Even with the proliferation of grade V materia, people don't meld V's and even worse some don't meld at all.

I think you are are just being a worry wart over nothing. This game is super casual, it will always be super casual, and even with horizontal progression, it will remain super casual.