Quote Originally Posted by crimsonlung View Post
Yea, Rift does have optimized builds, but there are A TON OF THEM. And at least you get the choice to use them or not. I would gladly pick the unique builds over optimized just to change it up a bit, instead of being forced to use the same exact build as everyone else.
I call BS unless you just ran very casually. In every game i've played that had a lot of choices, every one had players calling others gimp and not running with them if they weren't even close to optimal. Rift and DDO (DDO more than rift even really) had the most flexibility, but you could also could also make a character that would be next to useless. Even WoW, which had fewer choices, originally had talent trees that you could vary, but try and run end game with them, and you wouldn't get far. In all of those systems, the optimal build will be discovered, and unless you run with just friends who will put up with it, you are boned if you chose "flavor" builds.