Diablo

I also like to look cool, and get more enjoyment out of finding a playstyle I like, rather than following a meta.

That said, ARPG's are definitely a numbers game, depending on how far you want to go. If all you want to do is world events in WT4 and regular dungeons, you can play whatever spec you want.

If you want to kill Uber Lilith and push super high tier Nightmare dungeons (especially solo), you'll likely have to rely on the theorycrafters who crunch the numbers for the most optimal setup.

I'm happy to play a spec I find fun, even if it means I can't push super high. It just depends on what's makes the game fun for you

Guides are really helpful for finding interesting synergies between skills and aspects and whatnot, without having to theorycraft. I find it difficult to enjoy a build unless I understand all those synergies.

So the guides actually enhance my appreciation of the game because they help me discover builds that work, and thus builds that I enjoy.

I enjoy trying to break the game with the best gear/skills until games become too easy, then I go for looks.

Thing is, I enjoy it. You do you. I have more respect for players who like the challenge and wear whatever than the guy min-maxing like I sometimes do.

However, when it comes to coop games. I understand why some people wouldn't want to team up with you. Just make a group of like minded friends. You do you.

I dont like looking at wikis or build guides to tell me how to play a video game. If i want to smash my dick on an anvil for 4 hours by trying to get bone spear, corpse explosion and blood spells to work then it means i'm having fun with it.

If people "must do max damage and kill all enemies on-sight" then good for them, I just wont invite them to my parties. I play Diablo for the story believe it or not. Which is why I even played through the arcade game called Diablo 3. I have no interest in making a competitive PVP character with one of 2 viable build options.

You can use Min-Maxing to make off-meta and suboptimal builds work.

Optimise your gear, your defense or you attribues (less in D3+) so that "unplayable" skills can be used.

My thoughts on it basically come down to "Yes, but not to such extremes". I'll definitely do my best to make the best out of my builds to an extent, however I do not like the idea of going insane over it. I definitely can appreciate those who do, because I can (generally) see the passion they have for.

Destiny was the first game I played that I ever really got into build crafting, and my attitude there is the same. If the situation really calls for it and there's a good reason for it (such as say, taking a friend whose new to the game through a dungeon as a duo and so I'm making up for missing a third person) but otherwise that level of extreme takes the fun out of it for me. I'm the type of person who'd run The Last Word in a raid just because "Oh hey, that sounds like a fun idea" - obviously though only if its a casual run with friends.

In D4, I've mainly only played sorcerer (though I'm in the process of leveling up a Druid, I just need to get back to doing so at some point) and that class does feel like you have to push a bit more into the min-maxing aspect to get the best out of the higher levels (and this may be the case on the other classes, but my only end-game experience is with sorcerer so far), but you certainly won't ever see me pulling out a spreadsheet and spending an hour going over the numbers (again, I have plenty of respect for those who do though).

I think it could be fun to try to find better skill builds and "broken" combos, but the UI makes it so incredibly tedious to change abilities and paragon points so currently I don't enjoy the process.. Right now min-maxing for me would to be to look up some other person's build and copy that

Another thing with Diablo is that gameplay gets pretty repetitive, especially with some builds, so I prefer to use something less than optimal if it makes combat a bit more interactive.