Why refusing customization is a fallacy

[Reynhart]

Is this so called "ice mage" really a thing?

No, it's not a thing. But, I'm speaking of Frost Mage as an hypothetical spec where your Ice spells would be enchanced by traits.

You can cry all you want about customization, but as long as there will be timed dps checks and every single job boiled down to bare bone functioning (all the fancy animations and graphical shinies removed) will be identical how they work and what they do, ppl will look past they shinies and will look for raw numbers to operate with. As those the real thing that matter.

Thank you for this insight. And it's a real thank you, and let me explain why.

Nowadays, you see a lot of threads where PLD complains that they're left behind, especially when it comes to DPS. And a lot of answers pointing that their DPS is high enough for any content so that it's not a big deal.
It's exactly the same with specs. IF the "Frost Mage" can pass the DPS check in an "average" party setup, then it's not a big deal if the "Fire Mage" deals a little more damage (Keep in mind that a "Frost Mage" spec would offer something "better" than the Fire Mage, even if it's not raw damage).

As for extremely tight DPS check, the only content to use them is Alex Savage, and we come back to "only 5% of the playerbase will need that level of min-maxing".

Well you know how you queue for a roulette and you get Steps of Faith or Bismark and people start jumping ship immediately. Same reaction when they see Blizzard Mage.

Good, let them eat the 30 minutes penalty because they're morons.

And again, stop considering that a "Frost Mage" would do 50% less DPS than a "Fire Mage"...
People don't leave en masse the Duty Finder when they realize the healer is an Astro or that one DPS is a Machnist...


Oh, and now that I think of it, someone mentionned how FFXI was a proof that jobs would be excluded like DRG, or PUP...
I wonder if anyone realizes that those jobs were actually awesome and that people who didn't want them were just idiots following a trend by the toxic community ?