however this was already pretty easily done by taking a quick look at their equipment in general and of course their weapon.
Yet the fact remains that people wanted more ways to distinguish one class from another, so what we had wasn't enough. That has been one of the biggest complaints of the game since release. Even though it's hilariously apparent now that people didn't quite realize the benefits and downsides of what they were asking for back then, and now that they do, the backtracking is extreme.

This also makes everyone within the same class look almost identical, not a great thing IMO.
So does AF armor. "Clones" will be "clones" either way. Again, double standards.