Lack of character "skills" customization...?

[BubblyBoar]

The difference between you and a random SMN is how well you play, not how you allocated and choice between skills/stats. You may not agree with that, but that was the choice by the dev team.

[Noata]

The difference between you and a random SMN is how well you play, not how you allocated and choice between skills/stats. You may not agree with that, but that was the choice by the dev team.

I agree with this, There is a large variance in skill across the player base, we all have the same tools, some just know how to use them better. This also means that a spec wont just make you good. fights involve mechanics more then anything with reaction. the skill difference between players can be very wide.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

The difference between you and a random SMN is how well you play, not how you allocated and choice between skills/stats. You may not agree with that, but that was the choice by the dev team.

This statement is valid only the exact moment specs are not balanced.
If you have balanced specs, this issue is not there: two players specced in the same will still perform differently based on their skill, I don't see the point here. Allocating skill/stats doesn't change the influence of your skill. OF COURSE you will do less damage if you have a bad build, but this mean you are BAD at strategy, which is still a player skill, definitely.

You are confusing "testing player reflexes" with "testing player skill", they are not the same.
Actually the game is just really poor from this point of view. And being an MMORPG this is quite sad. Is more an action mmo (not really good on action-side, because of all lag issues and no monster collision), with some rpg elements.

For example, why can't I take another sub-skill that buff my pet more, improving my damage pet-wise, while another guy can take an additional debuff, to focus more on debuffs damages. It's perfectly ok, we will perform differently on different bosses (but this is already the same with different dps classes).

[v_jones]

This statement is valid only the exact moment specs are not balanced.

So... you're saying the statement would be valid from the point where this kind of system would be implemented to forever?

[Tupsi]

For example, why can't I take another sub-skill that buff my pet more, improving my damage pet-wise, while another guy can take an additional debuff, to focus more on debuffs damages. It's perfectly ok, we will perform differently on different bosses (but this is already the same with different dps classes).

Because in a FF game a Summoner is a Summoner through and through - Throughout the series they either had access to White Magic or Black Magic but the main thing they always had in common is that they summon pets. As much as certain people hate to hear this, like Kiria, but having iconic jobs like this completely customizable throws out the whole purpose of them making this a FF game, they should drop the Final Fantasy title.

For example a summoner that focuses on their pet while another that focuses on debuffing more doesn't fully make sense - It should be more Summoner A focuses on using x summon(s) while Summoner B focuses more on y summon(s). The problem is unlike XI they went with a limit choice in skills since even though you "outgrew" skills in XI you had many more options. You simply will want to wait for more jobs to release that specializes in X.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

Because in a FF game a Summoner is a Summoner through and through - Throughout the series they either had access to White Magic or Black Magic but the main thing they always had in common is that they summon pets. As much as certain people hate to hear this, like Kiria, but having iconic jobs like this completely customizable throws out the whole purpose of them making this a FF game, they should drop the Final Fantasy title.

For example a summoner that focuses on their pet while another that focuses on debuffing more doesn't fully make sense - It should be more Summoner A focuses on using x summon(s) while Summoner B focuses more on y summon(s). The problem is unlike XI they went with a limit choice in skills since even though you "outgrew" skills in XI you had many more options. You simply will want to wait for more jobs to release that specializes in X.

I would LOVE to see a summoner specialized in usage of different summons but actually there isn't anything like this, that would be ok (and doesn't differ at all from speccing, I don't specify you MUST do in a specific way, I'm ok with this idea).
While I like your statement really much (I love the fact that classes have a huge background because it's an FF game), I feel being trolled: I've chosen summoner because I imagined it integrates a lot with background thanks to how summons behave, the truth is that my pet is just another debuff so my "summoner", become easily a terrible WARLOCK from another well known game (and I really hate warlock).

Not to mention the fact that you have more or less 0 interaction with your summon... The scholar has much more interaction with his own pet (yea, the fairie!) than the summoner.
Why there isn't something like 10 spells on my summon (obviously reduce summoner spells amount) and something like GAMBITS to manage your summon?

In final fantasy, summons were huge (now they are really small) beasts which when summoned, had a long animation, and usually destroy everything.
In final fantasy x, yuna was useful with her healing spells, but when she summon something, you see that she's one of the greatest character in the game.

Here, I'm a beastmaster, not a summoner. Well, beastmaster loves more their pet, my pet is just a debuff.

[Daragust]

This statement is valid only the exact moment specs are not balanced.

I have played a lot of MMO's that gave you a "choice" in how you spec'ed your character. Truth of the matter is, they are never balanced. One may be close to another, but through number crunching there is always a superior build. Casual players will build however they like, but people at end game will find that perfect build and everyone in their group will have the exact same build. Choice becomes an illusion because the more options you give, the more impossible balance becomes and the less likely all that choice is going to matter.

I'm not saying that those differences aren't fun. Nor am I saying that when they are there you HAVE to play like everyone else. I'm just stating that those choices simply get ignored by a very large percent of the population and that makes the time spent on them by developers far less rewarding than the time spent on content or the world.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

I have played a lot of MMO's that gave you a "choice" in how you spec'ed your character. Truth of the matter is, they are never balanced. One may be close to another, but through number crunching there is always a superior build. Casual players will build however they like, but people at end game will find that perfect build and everyone in their group will have the exact same build. Choice becomes an illusion because the more options you give, the more impossible balance becomes and the less likely all that choice is going to matter.

I'm not saying that those differences aren't fun. Nor am I saying that when they are there you HAVE to play like everyone else. I'm just stating that those choices simply get ignored by a very large percent of the population and that makes the time spent on them by developers far less rewarding than the time spent on content or the world.

I've played a lot of MMOs and if you want to just be the first one on the damage meter, you'll go for the best spec available, you can also be very useful and maybe the second on the damage meter with a less powerful build (but maybe helps more your party mates), so I don't agree with you.
Anyway, we spend much more time in "mid-game" than in end-game (after garuda HM), so using various spec can solve the boredom caused by running repeatedly AK.

I don't know what you think about but I've played all final fantasy games where "level up" means actually watching a spherograph, re-ordering materias, re-ordering magic. Well, you know that: STRATEGY was an important skill for your character because I was playing an RPG.

That was fun and nice. Still, I miss it a lot.

[Juz]

I have played a lot of MMO's that gave you a "choice" in how you spec'ed your character They are never balanced

In Guild Wars 2 you could play a long ranged condition controlling necromancer (IE removing buffs/spreading dots on enemy team) or another option is a mid range burst necro. Depending on the patch changed which one was better but the fact is both were playable because they were different. Some other examples - Dark Age of Camelot - Do you wanna be the CC guy? The debuffer or the DD? Do you want extra survival or extra burst etc?

Contrary to popular belief World of Warcraft didn't set the standard to all things. In most other high quality MMOs, character builds have a lot of options that are all viable in their own way and it comes down to whether you are playing an RPG or just an action game with an RPG UI. I like the game, but lets be real here.... it would be amazing if they added more class customization in a later patch or expansion.

[Vmage]

Dark Age of Camelot - Do you wanna be the CC guy? The debuffer or the DD? Do you want extra survival or extra burst etc?

Contrary to popular belief World of Warcraft didn't set the standard to all things. In most other high quality MMOs, character builds have a lot of options that are all viable in their own way

contrary to popular belief - the illusion of choice and the fact that there were superior builds didn't originate in WoW, it originated with number crunching geeks decades ago with pen and paper RPGs

your example of DAoC - there was one correct way to spec each class, sure you had options, and that's not to say you couldn't function at level cap with one of the builds deemed sub-optimal

but the healer that went full pacification wasn't as useful as the one that speced up to the first spread heal, and then dumped the rest into pac