[XeroKill]

I would agree except that in balance comes equality, and in uniqueness comes the opportunity for bias. There has to be some sort of balance otherwise certain classes will easily out pace other classes. I wish there was a different system in place for defining classes and what they do, but the unfortunate truth is there are really only 4 types of classes in any MMO.

1 - Tanks
2 - Healers
3 - Damage Dealers
4 - Utility (Debuffers and Buffers / CC)

The hard line to draw is how multiple classes within those 4 spheres pace each other. If one tank is superior at tanking, then there is little reason to have the other tanks in that category. They will always become the second choice, which isn't quite fair for people that want to play a class they really like. So in order to call all of the classes that fall under the "Tank" or "Protective Fighter" category tanks, they need to be able to perform the "core" roll of that title as well as any other. The same goes for DPS, if Rogues are the unbridled kings of DPS, then what point is there in playing the other types of DPS. When contending for raid / group slots, and a Rogue is present, they will most likely take that spot... unless there is some equality.

Now that is the real rub. It is really hard to keep the core abilities in line, while giving the classes enough diversity so that they aren't all the same in essence. The only way they can really do it is to give all 3 available tanks the ability to perform their primary function well, so well in fact there is little reason to choose one over the other. Then you have to give each of them a secondary role that is different from each other but is also "balanced" so that one tank is still not chosen over others.

It should always be a case of current group / raid make-up to determine what is needed. Let us say our group needs a tank and we are really short on DPS because we have two healers. Well since Warriors are the "DPS Tanks" then it would not be wise to take a Paladin because we have plenty of healing and we need the DPS. If you have two debuffers and no healer, well a Paladin would be best because with highly debuffed mobs his healing should be sufficient. If you are lacking a debuffer then a Dread Knight would be best because heals are covered, DPS is fine, but the mobs won't be debuffed.

This is the way it is supposed to be now, and only time will tell how well these lines will define each class. I for one agree that Warriors should be the most offensive of the Tanks, while the Paladin is the healing tank, and the Dread Knight is the debuffer. As long as there is "relative" balance between how effective their secondaries are then there should be no real issues. If one of the secondaries proves to be more useful than others, then there is a problem, and that is the whole purpose behind balance.

Now there is a difference between "balance" and "perceived balance" and that is where the real problem comes in. But that is whole other debate in and of itself, which I would be happy to talk about, but this reply is getting a bit too wordy.