Originally Posted by The Red Queen
Personally, I know I have more fun if I pick a roleplay concept and stick with it, even if it makes some elements of the game harder. Finding ways as a player to overcome those weaknesses is one of the challenges I find interesting and rewarding about cRPGs. I still try to make a reasonably effective character, but wouldn’t sacrifice roleplay for it. Others might prefer the challenge of finding the “perfect” build. Or want a different challenge each time they play.

The not so obvious thing about finding the "perfect build" is that it very rarely can be figured out in advance. And this procedure is a completely minmaxer's thing. Any scientific breakthrough is driven by experiment and chance. Only by playing a sub-optimal build and seeing for yourself what works and what not, one can find the "perfect build". And minmaxers tend to overthink stuff like stats, feats, classes in advance and that makes their build strong, but rarely perfect. Because perfect is more of a personal, subjective thing, imo. And you can't fine tune your build to your own liking without starting somewhere and improving on the idea afterwards.