Quote Originally Posted by Amiantos View Post
Only issue with that is that they would end falling into a cookie cutter build such as when the cap was still 75 pretty much if you ran a rdm you were expected to put your merits into stuff like Slow II, Paralyze II and other debuffs. I think people are wanting horizontal progression mainly to add variety of gears. I'm not sure how XI's merits hold up anymore with level cap increased to 99 but it felt like when first implemented it was to keep people from really wanting a level cap increase with the expansions.
I know what you're getting at and there were cookie-cutter players, as there always will be, but there were also other valuable options, especially when factoring in how your character interacted with others in your LS. Really, I'd be happy with any addition to XIV that gave value to continued play and created choice/diversity/customization to some degree. Right now I can't really think of an RPG that gives the player less control over their development than XIV does in the name of balance. As is, we're virtually punished for playing, reward wise.