[2022] [WotR] Question about the Combat

Hi everyone! So I've been itching for a good cRPG to play and I know that Pathfinder is one of the biggest names and most loved in the genre. From what I've seen the game has a big, complete and ambitious world to explore, with good story and character writing, and especially a huge complex class and skill system for endless character building and theory crafting potential.

However one of the main criticisms I hear about the game is that while build crafting is great the combat is just not that fun to play in practice. People say that combat encounters essentially boil down to pre-buffing, rebuffing and min-maxing character builds to the teeth with a lot of tedium in between. Now while I myself like min-maxing in RPGs I don't think I particularly like it when it's expected or mandatory.

Then there's also the debate of whether the combat and balance were designed around RTwP or Turn-based. I am fine with either as long as it is fun and engaging, and centers around tactical decisions and/or synergies during the course of a fight rather than (or less) about purely stacking stats. I'm also curious about the quality of level design and enemy design in general!

I know people can be quite dramatic and exaggerate criticisms when they're passionate about something so I'm wondering how true and impactful these criticisms actually are with the game. Any insights, recommendation is greatly appreciated!