Job Personalization: Can I Have It?

[Leshpar]

My 2 cents on this topic: Elder Scrolls Online tried this and failed hard. Sure leveling up is extremely fun. The quests are awesome and the customization you get is really nice. Once you hit veteran rank levels though your playstyle choices become severely limited. By that I don't mean the actual number of choices drop, but the number of effective choices drop significantly. If you don't play one of only a few accepted ways at end game you just won't get groups. Its why I don't play that MMO anymore.

FF14 is awesome the way it is. Don't change it anywhere near how the OP suggests.

[Bishop81]

My 2 cents on this topic: Elder Scrolls Online tried this and failed hard. Sure leveling up is extremely fun. The quests are awesome and the customization you get is really nice. Once you hit veteran rank levels though your playstyle choices become severely limited. By that I don't mean the actual number of choices drop, but the number of effective choices drop significantly. If you don't play one of only a few accepted ways at end game you just won't get groups. Its why I don't play that MMO anymore.

FF14 is awesome the way it is. Don't change it anywhere near how the OP suggests.

Again, it depends on the content. If the only worthwhile content is of the "punish the whole group for the failings of a few" variety ... ya, choice is non-existence. You will have to play how others want you to play. Personal choice cease to exist.

[Hix]

Again, it depends on the content. If the only worthwhile content is of the "punish the whole group for the failings of a few" variety ... ya, choice is non-existence. You will have to play how others want you to play. Personal choice cease to exist.

Come on, lets be honest. You start having people running around DF Expert doing 200 DPS because they are being special snowflakes and the next thing we'd see is 500 threads about how DF has become "Toxic" and "I keep getting kicked from party even though we aren't wiping and I don't know why"

[Bishop81]

Come on, lets be honest. You start having people running around DF Expert doing 200 DPS because they are being special snowflakes and the next thing we'd see is 500 threads about how DF has become "Toxic" and "I keep getting kicked from party even though we aren't wiping and I don't know why"

I am being honest.

Just stating facts,

"punish the whole group for the failings of a few" -> players play how the group demands they play or they don't get to play at all

All current content is of the "punish the whole group for the failings of a few" variety unfortunately. You either play how the rest of the player base demands you play or you don't play at all/play by yourself.

[Hix]

I am being honest.

Just stating facts,

"punish the whole group for the failings of a few" -> players play how the group demands they play or they don't get to play at all

All current content is of the "punish the whole group for the failings of a few" variety unfortunately. You either play how the rest of the player base demands you play or you don't play at all/play by yourself.

Well I suppose if you had made the content such that it could be completed just as fast and as reliably no matter what you did, then a customization system might work.

But then you'd just have a different kind of illusion of choice.

[BreathlessTao]

Come on, lets be honest. You start having people running around DF Expert doing 200 DPS because they are being special snowflakes and the next thing we'd see is 500 threads about how DF has become "Toxic" and "I keep getting kicked from party even though we aren't wiping and I don't know why"

...so what would be different from how things are now? o.O Sorry to butt in. But yeah. That's pretty much what we have been seeing since forever, low DPS this, toxic DF that. Now the scrip system is a new spice on the rack, but this still makes up most of it.

[Gooner_iBluAirJGR]

...so what would be different from how things are now?

Yeah. . . things are already "spec the way the group demands". People just want more stuff to spec the way the group demands and that's fine!
#PaladinMainHealsSpec

[Reinha]

It's a good idea. I'm a fan of complicated talent trees that can be slowly filled with points that are acquired during leveling. Kind of like our current attribute point system, but bigger and with less performance difference between choices. There is the problem of "illusion of choice" of course, but no more than with cross class skills or attribute points. I doubt anyone would want those made automatic just because it's a noob trap.

Two biggest flaws for a talent system, from the player's perspective, would be if people can ridicule you for your choices and if changing talents is expensive or impossible. Just make respeccing possible and doable anywhere, and hide your talents from others in the "Examine" option and those problems can be avoided. Savage raiders may require you to use the best build though, but hey that's the whole point of hardcore raiding. Squeezing every drop of power from your class to beat it. And even raiders can still experiment when not in a progression fight. Wouldn't it be cool to find a valid talent combination outside the norm?

[Talraen]

Has anyone brought up that in the original, job-less 1.0, you could freely cross-class literally everything and everyone ended up using the same skills for difficult content?

I like customization as much as the next guy, but if that's what you're looking for, you should play a single-player game. This is a team game. Just like in real life team activities, optimal playstyles become the norm.

[XNihili]

I want to be a buttersheep !!!