Expansion is only temporarily enjoyable. Fails to fix all main flaws.

[Musashidon]

character builds in any game are an illusion, you can pretend all you want you can be different but you can't if you don't go the good build you are nothing but dead weight to your team.

[Zaft]

character builds in any game are an illusion, you can pretend all you want you can be different but you can't if you don't go the good build you are nothing but dead weight to your team.

This. There is always one correct choice. The only thing builds give you is the illusion of choice.

[Altijacek]

This. There is always one correct choice. The only thing builds give you is the illusion of choice.

Exactly. Here you actually HAVE TONS of choces. It's called changing your job.

[Kekeri]

This. There is always one correct choice. The only thing builds give you is the illusion of choice.

I disagree with this. Other MMOs and games have been more flexible with respect to builds. The whole "tank-healer-dps" bit is a relic of early MMOs made law in FF XIV.

So, the core design of the game runs counter to builds in a way. The way duty-finder works would need to be redone, and you'd need a pretty big shift in the possibilities of equipment/stat-allocation/etc. to make it work. The fights are often actually designed around the roles mechanically too.

So, it's not that I don't wish the game had more variety with cross-class or that you could make meaningful choices with gear/stats... but they've literally designed the game so that you need to be as cookie-cutter as possible to fit the cookie mold they make for dungeons and mechanics.

[KylePearlsand]

I disagree with this. Other MMOs and games have been more flexible with respect to builds. The whole "tank-healer-dps" bit is a relic of early MMOs made law in FF XIV.

So, the core design of the game runs counter to builds in a way. The way duty-finder works would need to be redone, and you'd need a pretty big shift in the possibilities of equipment/stat-allocation/etc. to make it work. The fights are often actually designed around the roles mechanically too.

So, it's not that I don't wish the game had more variety with cross-class or that you could make meaningful choices with gear/stats... but they've literally designed the game so that you need to be as cookie-cutter as possible to fit the cookie mold they make for dungeons and mechanics.

And then someone finds that perfect build and no one uses any different unless they like being harassed. Happens all the time.

[Kekeri]

then someone finds that perfect build

It depends on how things are designed, as I suggested. Not an MMO, but take Warframe. Different frames have qualitatively different effects, and some are more effective at some "roles" than others. However, there are various ways to build a frame from an efficacy standpoint, and there are gear builds that make you play differently - separate entirely from how you build out your frame.

FF XIV starts with an illusion of flexibility (cross-class skills, etc.), and then you lose it all. Jobs pare down cross-class skills to nothing but required skills. Gear becomes ultra-linear (general caster gear vs. Fending/Slaying). Gear/level just directly mods stats upwards. It's not a system made for variety, but systems with variety ARE possible.

The system demands the "perfect build" now, because the only thing the game is designed for is a character fitting a fixed mold they plan the mechanics around.

[FedeMax]

That is why SE has not wasted the time and create a complicated character build system. Your average player will go and research BIS for the class/job and use that instead of ding the research them self. Plus the other side of the coin, just like in XI, many parties will start discriminating if you don't have the build they want to have mass dps number etc, etc, etc.

In the current MMO system, having too many options on the build of stats or rotation is just a waste of time. Every dps class will look for the best rotation for maximum damage and nothing else. Same way with healers difference in WHM Determination and SCH Crict, each change their gear stats for best output.

[Wisekuma]

character builds in any game are an illusion, you can pretend all you want you can be different but you can't if you don't go the good build you are nothing but dead weight to your team.

True. Everything in a game is just an illusion of fun and we must strip a game bare. I think I'll go watch the paint dry on a wall.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

OP, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Just because the game doesn't cater to what you want, it addresses things that people have been looking for. The world does not revolve around you and this game was not designed just for you. It was designed for everyone. So please show some respect to the developmental team for releasing a great expansion pack, even though it did not satisfied your needs, it as satisfied us other players. The developmental team broke their backs rebuilding ARR and making this expansion, so show some respect for them. They are working hard at addressing things and they will listen to us. That is what the forum is for, it's for discussion and for also providing feedback to the game.

[Lucidbro]

They are working hard at addressing things and they will listen to us. That is what the forum is for, it's for discussion and for also providing feedback to the game.

This is exactly what the OP did, feedback and discussion, what is your issue here? Similarly one can say that the world doesn't revolve around you and that the game wasn't designed solely for you. Don't have such a condescending attitude about other peoples legitimate concerns.