Quote Originally Posted by Izsha View Post
Tldr: specs serve the same function as armory system. It's redundant.
It's a similar function, but it's not strictly the same. You brush aside how much of a chore leveling can be, especially after completing the MSQ and burning out sidequests. Leveling ACN and having access to both SMN and SCH has been invaluable to me, and I am not the only person with that testimony. Notwithstanding that any job outside 1 tank, 1 healer, 1 melee, and 1 ranged is superfluous, except for aesthetics and playstyle. Aesthetically, I love that they both derived from the same base class and playstyle, something a strict adherence to the armory system dissuades (overlap between distinct jobs is frowned upon if not technically impossible).

We don't need to have "tradeoffs". We could have had both, and have a world of options and variety. All for a respectable cost of work, since balancing either is essentially the same process (additional work, but not new work). What kept SE from continuing a dual-spec/job/whatever system was a choice in vision, not any design limitations. I'm well aware it's likely never going to happen and would have left it laid to rest, except they already tried a variation of it and I'd argue successfully.