Haste – Episode 20: Shadowrun Video Game, Pathfinder Beginner Box and Character Class Debate.

Stand-alone vs. Integrated puzzle piece is one way to think of these different character class perspectives, and an important one, but I don’t think it’s the only way.

Another way I think of the distinction would be Ease-of-learning vs. Mastery-of-gameplay. If character classes were fighting games, 4e would be Smash Bros. and Pathfinder would be something like Mortal Kombat. In 4e, as in Smash Bros, each character plays relatively the same, and once you teach a new player how to play as one character, it will be an easy step to pick up any other. Pathfinder on the other hand, like Mortal Kombat, encourages players to master the unique play style offered by each character, and the way one character plays can be radically different from the other.

Both perspectives have something to offer, and I don’t think it’s a simple matter of, “Which is better?” I think ideally, a great rpg will incorporate both styles, so that there is an overarching system that allows players to pick up new characters rapidly, but offers the depth of abilities that allows skilled players to find novel interactions in each class.

Maybe I just misinterpreted one of those last comments you made, but I’d have to disagree with it. You said “If everybody is great at everything, then why even play?”. Leaving aside D&D for a moment, there are tons of classless systems out there. For the best of these, the point isn’t that everybody is great at everything but rather that everyone can be good at what they want to be.
Now, admittedly the class system is one of those distinctive features of D&D that it would be hard to identify without. But in my experience, even as far back as 2nd Ed AD&D people have been trying to find ways to play the character THEY want without regard to some sort of ‘puzzle piece’ mechanism. Multiclass characters, class kits, the Skills & Powers books… it’s been going on in D&D forever. 4th Ed has just been a little bit more forthright about it. The real problem is that to do it using 4th Ed’s rules is that to do this requires 8 pages (ish) of powers and abilities for every ‘base class’.
The puzzle piece idea makes sense in one VERY specific context – tactical combat. If what you use D&D for is essentially an advanced wargaming puzzle, the strict division of classes makes perfect sense; but like so many cooperative games, this type of play essentially becomes action by committee. I don’t generally enjoy this kind of play so you won’t find me being a proponent of the idea of a strict division of class roles.