I have been hearing a lot of 'I'll quit if a guardsman can do x to a SM' where x is something they normally couldn't...like killing them.

I have also heard a lot of 'We don't want real classes, we want everyone to do everything'.

So this is my question to the masses. Do you want SM to be the real OP that they are in most of the lore. This would make them a tank with the best dps and so more then likely everyone would want to be one. Or do you think they should be a more realistically balanced to fit in with the game with other classes.

Keep in mind that in the lore there are many cases of humans taking down CSM, generally a group of men, but it still happens, and even in the TT a standard tac squad can be murdered by normal guardsmen. All depends on the rolls

I am also biased. Although I have my favorite SM chapter like everyone else (Salamanders), but I like Guardsmen more.

Well if everyone could do everything what makes that one class so much more special? I had an idea that maybe you could only have a certain number of them (like only guild leaders could wear power armor) but then I found out it would be a little disappointing if you had to play as a scout the entire time. To get back on topic though if everything could play everything there would have to be certain abilities that distinguish them from the rest 9like a rogue's stealth in WoW)

A (near) perfect balance is all that is needed.

I hope they aren't like normal humans (if I wanted normal I'd pick the guard)

Give the Space Marine something like increased durability or increased strength at the cost of speed, seeing as how a person in power armor is alot heavier then carapace armor or some other drawback that makes them different from everyone else. (I do not know much about space marines but I'd think that heavy power armor is well, heavy)

Where the guard could be like normal human beings, with normal stats and everything, Space marines could just be the tough side of the Order faction, and that would be what makes them special, like Eldar speed, Ork strength or Necron regenerative abilities.

They should be powerful, but not as (completely) described in lore.

Well if they treat space marine more like a race than a class then the classes could be terminator, apothecary, librarian, all with their different skills sets from tank to healer to caster/melee dps to ranged only dps. alot of possibilities there.

True. Very true. You see so far we have been shown that SM is part of the Imperium of man. It kind of scares me because it implies one of three things.

1) SM will be one thing... like a tank or mele or something like that. This would stick with a more standard MMO setup with only slightly varied builds.(so they are tanks)

2)SM can be everything...while this sticks more in with lore since SM are a complete army on their own just tankier and more expensive, I think it would hurt the Imperium as a whole. While I would roll IG I think there will be a major SM spam.

3)SM take the middle road...This is most likely what I think DMO will go in. Not fully just one class but open to a few rolls. This allowing for cross building. (so they could be tanks or dps or healer but only good in one)

Still I wonder how DMO is going to work their system in such a way where everyone wont just gravitate to SM. It is one of my greatest concerns. The real problem is that there are two crowds out there. One that wants the whole SM army and everything they could come with(fill every roll), and the other that wants SM to fit into one or two rolls. I am the later, mostly cause I am scared of it being a one class game.

honestly, as stupid as this sounds to me, it also sound equally appealing: make space marines underpowered, in the slightest for the first say, two months of release. that should get rid of at least SOME of the impending SM spam that will be everywhere on day one.

Honestly as good as this sounds, imagine the intense crying there would be on the [official]
forums

116 threads titled something along the lines of

*BAAAAWWWW SPAHS MAHREENS ARE TEH UB8R 1337!*

not as drastic as above but you get my point.

The Sad Fact about MMO's is that you can never please everyone, you have to pick your audience and Make it for them, if you going to make a MMO for everyone your going to Lose the fluff, you make a Game for the 40K Players your going to to Lose some players to Drama about this and that being OP.

as an Aside, a Power weapon will cut thru a SM like Butter no matter who is holding it

unless you are a fan of Iron hands, Salamanders, Raven guard or White scars in which case you almost got obliterated