[pharmakos]

awesome post from the TAKP forums about class balance in planes of power:

From Velious to AK's PoP... I'll give this a shot off the top of my head:

Bards - Fading memories AA gives them an FD. Makes them fantastic pullers. Spell and skill focus group songs increase DPS for raids outrageously.
Beastlords - Good utility, strong pet, AA's to make them good raiders, group mana regen. Welcome in most any group.
Clerics - Still the best healers.
Druids - Additional heals to make them viable group healers. Lots of utility, good outdoor pullers which is helpful in POP experience zones. Group healers in raids.
Enchanter - Amazing on raids where charming is possible. Utility provided. The best grouping class with charm. Can illlusion other people.
Magician - No longer a mod rod summoner, COH trick pony. COH is still good, but mages do well with best ds + pets + nukes. They are in a good place.
Monk - Lost a bit in their tankability from velious, but they still reach top levels of dps, and are most often the main pullers.
Necromancer - Dots stack. Suddenly they are raid dps and utility. This is a great time for them.
Paladin - Raid off-tanks, ridiculous group tanks, utility, rez, etc. Good group healers on POP raids. Great era for hybrid tanks.
Ranger - This era is where Rangers should lose the "Ranger down!" jokes. Top of the line dps with bows and archery AA's, good outdoor pullers, track utility is gigantic in outdoor pop zones, and group ATK buffs.
Rogue - Still the best melee dps. Now you can shroud of stealth and be nearly invisible everywhere. Corpse retrievers.
Shadowknight - Great pullers, fantastic off-tanks, great group tanks, lifetaps in this era make them fun and fearsome. Hybrid tanks love POP.
Shaman - Canni 5 is game changing. As are their top level spells. This class is simply overpowered in a group, and solid on a raid. Main shamans can be bored like enchanters on raids, but they are still needed.
Warrior - The best tank just gets better in pop where high DPS mobs with less life mean warriors evasive/defensive are even better.
Wizard - Where this class lacks in group sustainable dps (its better than velious, much better!), makes up for in ridiculous burst damage. When 7/10 pop fights are short bursts rather than long sustained fights, this class shines.

As you can see, there are no dogs in this race. In my opinion, pop nearly achieved class balance unlike any other expansion. As we make our way to POP, you'll see where hybrids and utility classes finally catch up to the core classes.

Writing this made me want to play all of these classes now.