Lack of character "skills" customization...?

[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

[Daragust]

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...

The biggest issue I see with opening up the cross class skills is just that, they are cross class. The jobs have very specific dedicated purposes, and giving away more pieces of them homogenizes the whole. IE: Why should I play a BLM when a BRD does better damage and now I can cross class and get sleep or an aoe or... As much as specs should be about making you more unique, quite often they just make you more similar.

To hit on something from other threads, I'd rather see them put multiple armor sets and weapons in game that drive play style. Give me two armor sets for my SCH. One that increases the strength of my shields while the other increases my base healing rate.

Gear can be just as useful as specs and can often be easier to keep balanced.

[Arrukai]

....
To hit on something from other threads, I'd rather see them put multiple armor sets and weapons in game that drive play style. Give me two armor sets for my SCH. One that increases the strength of my shields while the other increases my base healing rate.

Gear can be just as useful as specs and can often be easier to keep balanced.

Very sensible arguments, Daragust, and I agree wholeheartedly. The variety in play that people think can only be achieved with multiple specs is done through switching classes/jobs in FFXIV. Each time my sister and I have changed our combination in the same dungeon, we've had a different experience and have made us better players in our preferred classes. I also like the idea with gear, and there is more longevity and balance going that route than overloading our screens with skills that will largely get discarded through player optimization.