Something that really bothers me about other games is that the "meta" is too rigid. I like classes, but at the same time I like to define my own. I feel that EC has the capability (and necessity) to break the mold of a rigid class system.

The original Guild Wars kinda went this route with blending classes together, and I suggest that EC do something similar... by how Guild Wars 2 implemented it. Your weapons and gear determine your abilities and play style (obviously), but smaller things in addition to your skills, like trophies, runes, wards, sigils, seals, ect. are also a major factor of how you'd wish to be not only seen off the battlefield, but also on it.

Some combinations may work better than others, but I sure would like it if we could imagine it within the parameters of the lore, then we should be able to implement it in the game. A tactical marine can for example wield a rocket launcher, or be given a host of awesome melee weaponry - a clear indication that you can mix the roles up a bit.

Nope. This game seems to be following the fluff quite closely and 40k is largely based on classes doing their assigned jobs. Tactical Marines that melee? Those are assault marines. Tactical Marines with rocket launchers? Those are called devastators.

Should their be slight variations between the players? Yes. Should they break the class that they chose? No.

Isn't rocket launchers standard for tactical marines? Devestators have PLasma cannons, Heavy bolters, Lascannons.

This is not an assault squad:


This is not a devastator squad:


Examples of a Tactical Marine being extremely flexible and able to accommodate a range of play styles. Thoughts?

I don't even know where to start looking for it but i remember a dev saying no to tactical marines with chainsword and pistol i don't think they are gonna be as flexible as in the codex.

Probably not (even though the sargeant should be able to have a chainsword) but they will probably have: rocketlaunchers, plasma guns ( not plasmacannons) meltas and flamers. All of that makes them pretty costumizable.

This topic is very strictly connected to the classes issue and since we don't have any specific info on that there isn't much you can say about play styles, we can just speculate.

Besides probably not much flexibility will be allowed within one given class here: if you're a havoc you shoot, if you're an assaulter you slash, if you're librarian you cast spells and if you're a tactical you do some plinking hoping that five clips will be enough to take out an ork boy etc etc. If we could have shooting assaulters subclass (eg with plasma gun) or tacticals with chain swords I'd be rather surprised but who can tell now, not even the devs I guess.

I actually think you give the tactical marine FAR to little credit. They are kinda a Jack-of-all-trades. While they are limited to ranged weapons (exept maybe the sargeant) and they don't do as much damage as a devestator they are FAR more mobile (cause Devestators should be slower) which makes them more dangerous in a way. Also they have more weapons (such as:flamers, meltas or plasma Guns) so please, can everybody stop complain about the tactical marines now? ( by the way, there will be apothacaries not librarians when the game opens)

Tacticals in TT can have the same weapons as devastators, the difference is that in a tactical squad you can have one heavy and one special weapon only, in a devastator squad you can have up to four heavy or special weapons, do some reading first before you say anything pls.

But this isn't TT right now. They might allow more tacticals to have flamers or plasmas. It could be possible.