I think one of the reason they are staying away from race restriction weapon/skills now is because of well... race!!Armelle wrote: i think my weapon variation idea would at least keep them unique without really messing with the stats too much.
it doesn't do anything for the more recent multi race skill sets though, sadly.
If you give out an weapon skill set only to a particular race, the other races can't get it so they get bored (Point* at Lance/Elf). And the lance was probably introduced to allow human/giant have amounted attack skill to offset Elf's ranged on mount, which after that, all skill became open to all race again.
The trend can be seen from C2 where players start to decline due to race/lack of story. Then you see C3 returning with alchemy a skill set available to all, storyline and loads of content (The Shadow Missions) etc...
The trend now however... is storyline + endless skills that is available to all, there hasn't really been a well-beefed 'content" update for awhile.
As for Balance <---
This game doesn't have any okay? Not even since the beginning since there was not even Stats Cap (Food Spammers say high?!), Point* at Fire Emblem, Second Seal = Endless Rebirth. Anyone with high enough level knows it, when you reach that "mark", it doesn't matter what race, what "class', what weapon you use anymore, you can clear the mission/dungeon/quest just fine. The only difference is because it is MMO, so something will REQUIRE you to have "friends" and that's just the simple truth.