I remember when i first came to this game having no idea what d&d or a d20 was.
My first toon was a w/f fighter premade stalwart defender. I had no idea what i was doing and used to think i actually contributed to the group by hitting intimidate and shield blocking.
From there i eventually hated how little damage i would actually do vs how much healing i took, and realised i'd unlocked drow. By now i knew the difference between 32 ans 28 pt builds so I actually somehow convinced myself that a drow would be a better choice than a halfling. (for the record i still have my drow rogue, LR'ed from dex build rapier user to STR builds mid 2010 and he's still my best dps toon)
After making 2 toons on turbines premade paths though, hating them, and seeing a couple of these chuck norris round house kicking and punching awesome monks i wanted one. I knew i wouldn't be able to make my own, the one thing players told me (i don't think i had a guild yet) was that monks were useless if not built right.
So i went to the forums, between my w/f fanboyrism and i found
Arkat 2.0 That toon was my first to level 20, did nice dps, didn't take lots of damage, It was everything I wanted in a character but wouldn't have been able to build myself.
Since then i've read through the forums when looking for tips around building new characters, (like my fvs) and my paladin, but had learned enough to make the builds myself.
I won't bother posting my builds on the forums anymore though, I honestly thought I came up with something unique and cool when i saw the bow of sinew and tier 3 mountain stance. 12m/6r/2x jumped out at me, Thrudh had posted one first, and i was left wondering why i bothered.
Obviously i don't see anything wrong with uneducated nubs making builds from the forums, the players who stumble across those want to learn and will probably be the ones who turn out like me. It's players who stick with turbines pre made paths and ask questions rather than search for answers i take issue with.
P.s. Thanks Arkat.