What does character class mean to you and why should it be kept alive in future TES games?

I'm interested in knowing why it makes sense to people, why it is necessary, what it is meant to simulate, etc.

Which games (TES or not TES) have the best class system for Bethesda to look at for future games (as inspiration or as a clone)?

My opinion is that the way skills are leveled through usage in TES negates the reason(s) to include character classes, major/minor skills, etc.

When it comes to TES games, I tend to view classes in one of two ways: Either as part if the character's background, like their training or profession, or as reinforcement of how I want to play. With TES games I think it's far too easy to end up playing a generalist, so giving my character a class label gives me something to play to. So if I decide to play as a battlemage, then before I even begin, I'm basically blocking off parts of the game that I don't think a battlemage should go through.

Personally, I rather like the class system from NWN2. You pick a starting class, but you're not locked into it. You can add other classes, but might be penalised for favouring one over the others, and can eventually choose a prestige class once you meet the requirements, which could be a fusion of sorts of the classes you had. For example the Arcane Trickster, basically a rogue/mage hybrid.

I think that sort of approach could be adapted to work with the TES leveling approach. Your choice of class at level up determines which skills count towards leveling up, and which perks you gain access to, and could even affect attribute growth if they bring back attributes. Even if they just work on a basic fighter, rogue, mage approach, just to move away from generalists, if only a little.

In all honesty I'd prefer the skills not to be connected to level progression, especially where level scaling is involved. But it is the way TES games work, so that's unlikely to change.

Edit: these are just rough ideas, not thinking at my best right now

For me Skyrim is a good example on how classless systems can work, it is far from perfect, but it the first tes game where I find myself not planning what skills to raise to increase that stat maximum etc. I do not need classes to tell me what type of class I play, I play your typical Nightblade, one handed dualwielding daggers, firebased destruction magic with some illusion every now and then and sneaking around stealing from people killing people from the behind etc. However looking at how I would play my nightblade in previous games it was much the same, except I would also train all the other skills to get stat increases and to make sure I didn't loose out on points. For future games I would hope bethesda look at Skyrim and expand on it.

Copy the S.P.E.C.I.A.L attribute system from Fallout3, keep the way skills level up and expand skilltree's to include more perks so peopel have more possibility to truly specialize a character. Expand weapon categories to include fighting styles, more weapon types like spears, halberds, staff's, flail's etc. Add traits and background options for people to create and customize a character outside just looks and race. The current system is a step in the right direction, and with some work and some expanding on it it can be a truly good RPG system.

Class, specifically, doesn't interest me much. I see it as a shortcut to creating a particular type of character - someone who wants to play a thief, for instance, starts with the "Thief" class, which is set up to have the starting abilities thought to be most suitable to most thieves. Using a class to create a character is like installing a piece of software with a set of default options. It's not necessary - only convenient.

And obviously that's only of significance if there are actual starting abilities. Since Beth has eliminated virtually all of the differentiation between starting characters, class has gone from minimal significance to none at all, and since it's extraordinarily safe to presume that the next game will follow the trend established by every single game since Daggerfall and have even fewer options and choices, it's also extraordinarily safe to presume that any discussion of any differences in starting abilities and any way to implement such things is entirely moot.

That said though - to me, the difference between "skills leveled through usage" and starting abilities (as represented by attributes or skill bonuses or whatever other method might work) is explicitly the difference between skill and talent. Skill is earned - talent is innate. One can hone one's skill at something, but one has some particular amount of talent for that thing, and that amount of talent exists from the beginning. Those who dedicate a great deal of time to a thing can overcome, to at least some degree, a lack of talent for it, but they'll never be able to compete with those who have the same level of skill AND greater talent. That's simply a fact of life, seen in everything from art to athletics. And by eliminating starting differentiation between characters, Beth has completely eliminated talent from the equation.

I'd like to see it return, but I'm certain that it will not. The course has been set for 17 years now, and is not going to alter.