What's the overall deal with character building? So far I'm lvl 20 Archer, and I'm not seeing much in the way of that. Gear is limited, stats are basically set in stone for what class your playing (i.e. you're not making a DEX Paladin build), and player roles are strictly defined (i.e. tanks, dps, heal all strictly defined and are expected to perform exactly the 'correct' role).
Is there a variety of gear near the endgame for each class/job that makes it interesting to customize your char (in terms of actual gameplay as well as appearance)? Are there any unusual cross class builds to experiment with? Or are all of these things kind of set out in front of you, with not a lot of creativity for character builds?
I'm starting a new char to experiment and see what is possible, but I'm just wondering if I'm expecting too much.
There's no mix-matching. Every class/job role is defined.
You can try your best and use different stat attribute point allocation, but most head towards the way the game sets out for them
I mean if you are playing PUG/MNK you'll never add + points into mind to boost your second wind buff, rather just throw into STR all the way
In XI you could be goofy as you wanted to be with main/sub job combinations
In XIV everything is pre-defined to a point with a little choice given in the matter
Example do you want PLD to go full STR, more damage, more hate, etc.
PLD go full VIT for HP or do 50/50 and do 15/15 bonus, do you try a PLD style of going 10/10/10 by going STR/VIT/DEX so each is equally boosted up
Those are the 3 choices you can get for that job, I mean I highly doubt someone is going to throw their bonus points into MND/Piety for PLD
Some are going to be locked into one stat no matter what
Healer - MND
Nuker - INT
DD - STR
Bow Class - DEX
There's no give or take to fully flesh out a character right now, maybe in the future someone finds the right formula for each class to be it's best and shares the info
Most just go min/max
Also we are not held hostage to those bonus points once allocated, can be reset for 10,000 seals by purchasing the Hymn item from your GC
So do what you like, if it's not working, reset and try another route?, going to be costly, 2-3 resets is roughly 2-3 days of FATE farming really hard (I mean the best you can get seals from FATEs tops out around < 300 with a Gold rank)