"In the early days of Glitch's creation, Tiny Speck was using a game system in which each player would initially choose from among five character classes, each of which had a primary and a secondary talent. But after many months of work on that game mechanic, the team ripped it out in October."
news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-...
i miss character classes. i do understand some aspects of why they were removed from the game. making a character class decision at the point of character creation was a big stumbling block. just too heavy a decision to make so early. also, more difficult to predict the interactions between classes and the interactions between skills.
however, removing character classes seems to remove a lot of the character from the game itself. what i mean is that there's a difference between "being a gardener" and "min-maxing the skill tree to gain maximum gardening proficiency". the former is simple and relates to identity, while the latter is complex and relates to economy. these constructs aren't mutually exclusive, but it would be nice to see more formal attention paid to identity and character.
a couple ideas for going about this..
--- bring back formal character classes, but have them be selected later in the game. perhaps around level 10. these could provide slight permanent bonuses to all abilities within a particular skill tree. maybe it provides access to completely new, "advanced" skills" far down the tree .. maybe provide the chance to switch character class every ten levels or so.
a problem with this is that it is a high investment system for the players when skill trees are already high investment for the player. it would provide a greater sense of focus tho, and character identity/uniqueliness.
--- don't bring back formal character classes, but re-imagine them using an "avatar identity" model. for example, perhaps there is a piece of clothing called "bubble tuning hat" that your avatar needs the bubble tuning skill to be able to wear. perhaps while being worn it provides a bonus toward bubble tuning. the upshot is that by wearing this hat which everyone can see, players around you will immediately know that you're a bubble tuner and that you might be a good source for fancy bubbles. you could then switch hats depending on which skills you've gained and what sort of tasks you feel like performing that day.
a problem with this is that it kind of co-opts the creative playfulness of the avatar customization system, but i imagine that by making it fairly easy to add and remove clothing depending on the situation, or by providing a few colour options, it could just add to the fun.