Quote Originally Posted by Hyrist View Post
Why are we making the assumption that the difference between them is only 5 abilities?

My spectulation keeps in mind that the abilities of the Class change with the weapon they are equiping. So, for instance, the abilities that required a shield on Gladiator's kit, would be replaced by 2 handed specifc skills that were perhaps more damage orientated.

At that point we're talking and additional five abilities that can change, to suit Dark Knight, just because you switched weapons.

And this can be done with various classes. A Bell wearing Thaumaturge might not naively have the normal nukes in favor of Geo-mancy types. A Summoner and Beastmaster weapon types might contain pet commands instead of certain skills, even when wielded by their class counterparts. Lancers who are using Spear and Shield, may lose something like feint in trade for their own block-based counters. The possibilities are fairly open here.

Balancing that isn't laziness, it's actually quite imaginative and gives us some of that desired variance players have been asking for, while encouraging players to be flexible in their roles.
Well you didnt flesh it out this much the first time. However, if they did something like you suggest, then it would be a lot better than what originally came to my mind (just a 5 ability difference). Honestly though at that point, if you are going to be able to almost completely change your build/role/spec by changing weapons (something the class system already does), why not just have seperate classes. I think doing it the way you speculate vs having unique classes is fairly even, so I guess I wouldnt have a problem with it. But why not go all the way with 2 different classes at that point?