Lack of character "skills" customization...?

[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.