What Happened to Customization & Specialization?

[SavingPrincess]

No matter what, there will ALWAYS be a BIS that everyone uses... the concept of "uniqueness" in an MMO is fake.

Dress your best. That's how you stand out.

Oh and also be a cool person to play with. That's much more valuable than "I have a different skill than this other guy."

[Jandor]

Superior in what way?

In that it provides an incentive to try more things and playing different roles gives at least a basic understanding of them.

It also made more sense. Leveling all classes on one character is a rather unique feature, that the various combat classes you can level don't interact at all and actually bothering to use the feature provides no real bonus is odd to say the least.

[Canadane]

The last time we had any uniqueness was 1.0.
The dream is dead. Every job is the same as the one standing next to it.

[Ameela]

I'm certain that was at least part of the logic behind it. Since we can run all battle classes on a single character, why not give us a reason to at least try them all out? But there's a catch to that, too, because a class plays v. differently at 15 compared to 50, 60, and oh boy, 70. It was all the more so the case in HW where BRD and MCH were bow and gun mages. So in a sense, the itty bitty tiny bit you get to experience is nothing but false advertisement. It's one thing to try a job based on what you see in end-game, and then power through the leveling process, it's another to go through the leveling process only to see the end result is nothing like what you thought it would be.

That's more the result of Heavensward severely altering the way certain classes play at end-game.
Back when level 50 was the cap there wasn't really much of a difference between a level 20-30 class or a level 50 job, as you got most of your core skills early on and everything after was extra stuff to make those early skills stronger, the only exception to this was White Mage, whose later skills significantly alter the way the job is played and even then you could make the argument that was just the players using the skills in ways the devs didn't anticipate them to.
I never said the cross-class skill system didn't need to be changed, just that it wasn't as bad as it's made out to be because it actually made sense in the context of when it was first introduced.

[BillyKaplan]

In that it provides an incentive to try more things and playing different roles gives at least a basic understanding of them.

Playing a GLA at 15 gives you very little insight into the job at 70. Maybe in the past it was more useful, but as the level cap increases, what little benefits that used to have only continue to dwindle.

It also made more sense. Leveling all classes on one character is a rather unique feature, that the various combat classes you can level don't interact at all and actually bothering to use the feature provides no real bonus is odd to say the least.

You get to use all the resources of your main character while leveling up alt jobs. All those extra tomes, all that gil, and ofc the ability to make gear and food and potions yourself, is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. Oh, and not having to go through the story again just to experience a different job. So while I do agree with you on the pure gameplay angle, you really can't say the feature provides no real bonus.

[KisaiTenshi]

The last time we had any uniqueness was 1.0.
The dream is dead. Every job is the same as the one standing next to it.

Pretty much this.

Though in some respects, what we have is much better than say, what Wizardy did. Wizardy you had to actually level a class to get a skill, and you could only carry 1 2 or 3 depending on what level you got to, and you could only get to that level through progression. So the equivalent would be having to level every job to 50 to carry 2 skills from it, only to reset the job and start from 1 again on another job, and then to carry the original 2 and another 2, you'd have to level to 70.

What we have right now is, basically "you can take 10, but no job crystal or cross-class" or "you can take 5, with any job crystal, but you can't cross-class anything"

[Hamada]

The last time we had any uniqueness was 1.0.
The dream is dead. Every job is the same as the one standing next to it.

Yes, it worked in 1.0, I have no idea why this "cross role" or cross class system existed in ARR+, it is the same way as stat points. It had a point in 1.0, but the way they designed ARR+ it failed to have a point, both of those things should been removed from the game in ARR+.

That's more the result of Heavensward severely altering the way certain classes play at end-game.
Back when level 50 was the cap there wasn't really much of a difference between a level 20-30 class or a level 50 job, as you got most of your core skills early on and everything after was extra stuff to make those early skills stronger, the only exception to this was White Mage, whose later skills significantly alter the way the job is played and even then you could make the argument that was just the players using the skills in ways the devs didn't anticipate them to.
I never said the cross-class skill system didn't need to be changed, just that it wasn't as bad as it's made out to be because it actually made sense in the context of when it was first introduced.

Yeah for 1.0, that is where it was made, and fit the game. It never fit ARR+, just a shoe in because 1.0 had it.

[MsQi]

With the extension of being able to 10 role actions, Square has practically removed every aspect of character customization from the game. Every Summoner is the same as every other Summoner, every Paladin is the same as every other Paladin. Your character has no uniqueness - aside from glamour, of course.

I suppose one could argue that the Job System is the customization, but that seems like a cop-out to me. One of the best things about all FF games has always been building your character into unique and specialized roles through specialization trees such as the sphere grid - or the materia system - but in FFXIV - there is no specialization. Every RMD runs the same gear, and even gear variance really only SLIGHTLY effects DPS - every RDM runs the same materia, and now every RDM will run the same role actions. Even FFXI has infinitely more customization possibilities because of the sub-job system.

Everyone will be the same cookie-cutter job at this point. Its really disappointing.

Unfortunately as long as high end content depends on throughput mmos will continue to lack customization.

[Ameela]

Yeah for 1.0, that is where it was made, and fit the game. It never fit ARR+, just a shoe in because 1.0 had it.

Considering how much 2.0 changed from 1.0, especially in terms of abilities, I find it hard to believe they wouldn't be quick to remove the cross-class system if it didn't fit the new direction they wanted the game to go in.

[Tiaque]

With the extension of being able to 10 role actions, Square has practically removed every aspect of character customization from the game. Every Summoner is the same as every other Summoner, every Paladin is the same as every other Paladin. Your character has no uniqueness - aside from glamour, of course.

I suppose one could argue that the Job System is the customization, but that seems like a cop-out to me. One of the best things about all FF games has always been building your character into unique and specialized roles through specialization trees such as the sphere grid - or the materia system - but in FFXIV - there is no specialization. Every RMD runs the same gear, and even gear variance really only SLIGHTLY effects DPS - every RDM runs the same materia, and now every RDM will run the same role actions. Even FFXI has infinitely more customization possibilities because of the sub-job system.

Everyone will be the same cookie-cutter job at this point. Its really disappointing.

Customization and Specialization would be too stressful for the casual player. -Yoshi

Lulz.