D&D 4E Which role is least important in 4E?

[Aservan]

Striker all the way. I don't know how many minions your DMs use but the controller keeps them under... well... control. The thing is in our party the great axe wielding dwarven paladin easily out damages my warlock on encounter and dailies. The warlock is slightly more consistent in his damage as curse gets me the extra d6. 3.5 extra damage per round (if you hit) is not all that awesome. It certainly isn't double the effectiveness.

Wizards take some skill to use correctly but when they do it is staggering what they can do. Saturday we were fighting a huge group and many of them had to come at us over a bridge. The wizard used the frost spell that makes an area that lasts a turn. Got a whole bunch of dudes. They come at him through the cold and get hit once more. Then he thunderwaves them back into it for yet more damage. It was beautiful. No striker can do anything like that.

All strikers do is a tiny bit more damage. Slightly less tiny if you play a rogue.

 

[Nifft]

As a DM, it seems like it'd be easiest to compensate for the lack of a Controller. However, that's with little to no play-testing.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Shabe]

The Wizard with Scorching Burst <snip>

The Wizard doesn't have Scorching Burst, or Magic Missile, i think he may have gimped himself. It does however make him easier to hit which is nice and satisfying for a DM (come on you have to admit its quite annoying if a player skips around the battlefield doling out damage without any danger, even if you aren't playing against the players).

 

[Master Witch]

I’m voting on the class the 5th person plays. There is always away around every single class not being there. You can malticlass, you can carry more potions, and your DM can shape the game in away that fits your group. Let alone all the magic items players can use.
It seems as most of you are looking at this from the starting levels. I personally would love to see how many of you might change your mind at level 10, 20, or 30. I have not yet tried playing a game at those levels and I know 4E is meant to level the field but wizards (who seem to be the man out right now) are powers onto themselves in most fantasy games and books. I am looking forward to seeing all the classes at higher levels.
Right now I am playing 2 games. One with 7 players; a defender, a controller, a leader, and 3 strikers. Personally I think we could use another defender but the game is working just fine. Now for my other game it’s just a paladin and she is doing fine without all the other classes. The fights are the same kinds of monsters, just less of them. We are looking at bringing in an NPC just so she has some us of the group powers that every class has. However as we are just starting out as new characters in a new game, that is so not your daddy’s DnD, only time will tell what class can be left out and how.
Now are you sure those 20’s are natural.

 

[Palladion]

Controller, but...

PH 16, "Controllers deal with large numbers of enemies at the same time." At earlier levels, there are a lot of ways and abilities to take over this role partially from the wizard. Dragonborn's dragon breath, Arcane Initiate (take scorching burst), blinding barrage, even cleave and twin strike can substitute a bit (especially against minions). But that is for damage only. Battlefield control (wall spells especially) is not duplicated, however.