The ___-less path, the downfall of MS?

Agreed. It seems to be Stat-less or die these days. And Nexon recognizes that. I don't *think* there's an ulterior motive, I think the stat-less equips are just their way of recognizing that these are popular builds and trying to provide "something for everyone." Unfortunately, that also translates into newer players being put between a rock and a hard place. If you want to fit in, so to speak with other players, you need to go stat-less. To do that, you need special equips, scrolls, etc., that all costs millions of mesos. All well and good when you've been playing a while and have had time to amass wealth through drops and merchanting. If you're new, well, what are your options? Oh, lets spend lots of real world money to get gach items to sell. Oh well, now we can't do that anymore, so... let's face it. So-called "normal" builds will never go away completely, as most people will need to have at least one "normal" character, if only to fund their others.