Point buy eller Dice rolls? That's the question which divides.

Balance, fair play and ease I'd wager are the reasons why point buy (PB for short) exists. At least I am not aware of other reasons. It quickens character creation and it also stops players from rolling exceptionally well or poorly. It helps the DM with finding a good cr (challenge rating) for the party. But this method may restrict players' power fantasy of being powerful heroes/villains. Horse hockey you say? Ok. Consider this: mechanical imbalances are preferable than player detachment. I can argue myself blue that those who puts emphasis on numbers are wrong but if they feel there's too strong divide between their vision of their character and their mechanical performance what I or anyone else has to offer is irrelevant. Hence why I, when I DM, allows for rolling ability scores and then audits before pushing them through. To help my players further I provide guidelines such as: 1) no stat under 8 (if the player don't want it) 2) no superhero stats (I.E. No stat under 14 and more than two are at 18.), and 3) roll honestly. There's a premium placed on ignoring hard stats. I find this odd in a mechanical game such as D&D. Where a lot of rp is related to mechanical processes. I agree that rp is to be the core of D&D but so too are skill checks and combat rolling. Even hardcore rpers seems to utilize a rather mechanical system for consequences to encourage players to rp more; such as inspiration points and extra xp. Why not encourage players to bond deeper with their character by making them aligned more truly with their vision of said character? If your argument is about balance then I suspect you have no experience with the deep divide between casters and melee classes. Neither how OP magic starts to become at spell lvl 5 and onwards. At least this is an issue for earlier editions. Monsters aren't balance, few are. Kobolds you mutter? Oh really? If they were aligned with their fluff and played accordingly then they'd be almost impossible to defeat. Most monsters don't aligned with their fluff/lore or are too powerful or weak for their cr and/or monster level. Why PB instead of rolling stats fails in regards to balance: the system's balance is too broken to allow it to effect it. Player balance is the strongest argument and that can be addressed with house rules and a fair mindset. Enjoy whatever method you choose but I prefer stat rolling. Long live stat rolling!