Funny part is that Dragon's Dogma combat initially was also very criticized, people complained about it being clunky, classes being boring and unbalanced, the pawn system being cryptic AF, enemies hitting way too hard, etc. It wasn't until people played it extensively that they realized "holy shit this is amazing" and who designed the combat of Dragon's Dogma? Ryota Suzuki.
Yep, I remember when two of my coworkers complained that Dragon’s Dogma was shallow, too hard, boring, and gave up on it. I told them that they barely scratched the surface of the combat system, but they ignored me.
By chance, one of those coworkers ended up needing a place to stay for awhile, so I let them use one of my bedrooms for a few months. He was watching me play through Bitterblack Isle content since Dark Arisen had debuted, watching me fight all sorts of crazy stuff.
Dude ended up buying Dark Arisen and started playing it nonstop. Couldn’t stop talking about how much fun it was, jumping between all the vocations. Ended up getting his character all the way to the level 200 cap.
I anticipate a similar degree of player agency in choosing how to set up your character in XVI and I’m here for it.