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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Khaalis" data-source="post: 3969055" data-attributes="member: 2167">I don't think this is true. I don't think we will see new ROLES at all. The four roles cover every possible niche in a party. I also don't think they will specifically "muddy" or water down the lines defining the roles more than they already are. From everything we have heard from development ROLE is a core design concept that WILL remain a core concept throughout design. They will not purposefully break their own design mold.  I do not think you will ever see an "official" class in 4E that leaves you scratching your head asking - "And what is this guy's role in a group?"However, with that said, keep in mind that a class's ROLE is NOT its sole design point.  Each class has 1 role in which it EXCELS (e.g. Fighter = Defender). Yet each class is specifically designed to "blur" the edges however, dabbling in other roles to create the correct flavor for the class.A Fighter, as a defender, is not a one-trick-pony being nothing more than a meat-shield. Their primary role is to take damage and keep their foes hitting themselves instead of their allies. This is what makes them defenders.  However, they do this in a variety of ways, technically blurring the role boundaries in that they can also deal a fair amount of damage (but not as good or consistently as a striker), they can control the battlefield by being "sticky" * (but this control is not as good as that provided by a "controller", and they can do limited self healing as well as grant some situational 'buffs' to their allies (but no as good as a leader can offer). Additionally, each class will have utility outside of combat (new for the fighter).The way I understand the class design (from what we have so far) is that each class is built on a template of a Primary Role.  The designer asks- what Role is this class supposed to be able to fill?  Once that question is answered, the next question is what flavor does the class use to achieve that purpose. Once that core concept is defined, then the class is designed with a secondary and tertiary role in mind that help the class do what it is meant to do flavor wise.As in the above example, I see the Fighter as follows:Primary Role: Defender (takes damage and protects allies)Secondary Role: Striker (fighters aren't walls, they bash monsters too)Tertiary Role: Controller (fighters are "sticky" *)In addition to all of this design detail on Roles, you also have to add in the Power Source, which can drastically change the entire feel of the class - case in point how both the Fighter and Paladin are Defenders but will play and feel very different from one another.Overall, I think this is a great design concept and should help a lot in the future for both "official design" and "home design" to keep a certain level of balance in class creation.----------* Note: References to "sticky" are from the Races & Classes term the DEV team is using for a warrior's ability to make monsters want to think twice about NOT attacking the fighter over other targets in the party. MMOers prefer the term Agro.</blockquote>

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