Quote Originally Posted by Souljacker View Post
It might not have been a hellscape, but there's certainly a balancing act that stretches back all the way to XI. I remember DRG before the 2h buff. And when ToAU came out and half the mobs had reflect and the other half were imps, forget your BLM. As hard as they are trying to not be like that game, I think in many ways they wouldn't have a choice if they brought back meaningful skill trees\subjobs etc and we'll see it all over again. History repeats, and it's been made clear many times over they didn't learned much from their own.

It's a very valid concern, but for all its faults, I liked the formula we had in XI better.

There has to be some kind of happy medium between FFXI meripo meta and braindead 4 mans and other such content we have here. There just has to be.
I think it's worth stating that XIV is not XI. They are two completely different games with completely different player environments. Just because people are asking for more agency back into the game generally speaking does not mean the alternative is FFXI meta. That is a leap in design on a galactic scale with plenty of planets in between, many of which can sit comfortably within a goldilocks zone of balance, approachability, and depth.

In regards to trees specifically, there are absolutely ways that FFXIV could introduce some semblance of skill trees. I don't think it's mandatory, but it's very plausible. There are too many possible ways an idea can be approached. It's silly to suggest that it's not possible for any of the literal billions of possibilities to be viable and balanced.