What are the Classes FOR?

[Quark]

WARRIOR: main tank.  This is the classical tank archetype and it does the job.  Clearly Blizzard's intention.  Warriors are excellent party leaders and can control the pace all by themselves.  If you like leading parties and taking charge, it's easiest to do it with this class than any other.  Not that *I* ever try to do that while playing other classes...*whistles innocently*

Warriors can also do sizeable DPS. A DPS Warrior can compete with, but mostly not beat, a Rogue. I'm starting to believe this is the fault of Itemization, not class balance.

DRUID: secondary healer.  I still don't have enough Druid experience to determine if it's the un-viability of non-healing Druids that forces them into the healing role end-game, or simply because since they can heal pretty well it's what people want them to do because there's always a shortage of healers.  Ever see a bear or cat form Druid in raids?

I do think non-healer druids are viable, but due to the sparcity of healing and excess of other classes they get tossed into a healing role. Having 2nd best healer when you want healing is great; having 3rd/4th DPS when you already have 1st isn't so great.

PALADIN: secondary healer/buffer/debuffer.  Was this Blizzard's intention?  Why does Paladin gear seem to shift from tank-like bonuses to caster-like bonuses as they get higher in level?  Was this because Blizzard realized over time that they couldn't make these guys be super-tankish and keep game balance?

Paladins ... I just don't know. I don't think Blizzard knows either. They certainly aren't "Holy Warriors" as decribed on the website.

ROGUE: pure DPS Monkey.  Only catch seems to be that Blizzard wanted dagger Rogues to be a more viable end-game choice, but otherwise functioning as intended.

Top DPS with top risks. It doesn't take much to be a Rogue doing top damage. It takes a lot more than people think to be a Rogue doing near-top damage and not dying or draining your healers constantly. Dagger rogues are now viable since Attack Power now gets bonuses from Backstab and Ambush. Again, Itemization is a wierd issue. Sword rogues can keep getting upgrades throughout the higher level instances, but if you're a Dagger rogue your best option is a crappy broken beer bottle from BRD that doesn't even display properly.

MAGE: AE damage king/crowd control.  Not the ultimate single-target damager, which deservedly belongs to classes that have to get up close and personal to do damage; however, against multiple targets, the Mage rules.  I believe this was Blizzard's original intent, although I remember the days when Mages had invisibility and they could basically do *everything* solo, with SLEEP instead of sheep, massive damage, ability to walk invisibly past any mobs, you name it.  Then they took it all away, and eventually added sheeping back to give them something.

You describe it pretty well, but in raiding they often have to become decurse monkeys and forego DPS entirely. Also, Blizzard claims their supposed to be top magic DPS, but Warlocks seem to beat them on that.

WARLOCK: DPS/utility.

Currently balanced by frustration.