Power nunchucks

I think from this sentence alone we can infer that the devs recognize the distinct difference

I`m pretty worried the battles will end up as a massive clusterfuck between assault marines and choppa boyz

I hope not, I have to admit that its also a fear in the back of my mind too. I have hope though, cant wait to lay out some righteous fury with a heavy bolter!

This is what i`m worried about.

Waiting gameplay video ^_^

Well this looks interesting.

This makes me very happy. The combat in Space Marine was absolutely phenomenal, and it was the best third person shooter I've ever played. The combat felt weighty, accurate and satisfying; you actually felt like an Astartes. The only downside to multiplayer was that it was peer-to-peer and had HUGE lag issues. Eternal Crusade shouldn't have this problem.

This, however, worries me. I find one of the most appealing aspects of MMOs is having -a- character that defines who you are. I understand the CoD-like appeal of changing classes on a whim, but it's just not something I was expecting. If I wanted to play CoD, I'd play CoD. I want to spend time investing in my character. I want the characterization choices I make to have some lasting impact. I want to be able to individualize my character from others.

Having an Astartes swap out his heavy-bolter for a suit of Terminator Armor, a power shield and a power axe mid battle doesn't make any sense to me. At all.

You make a good point, Loadouts realistically SHOULD be a path you take and focus on. Not something you can switch between at will. It worked fine in Space Marine because there was no commitment to your character (because there was none). For example if you decide to be an apothecary you should BE an apothecary. That's not to say you should be limited in what you can equip because bolt pistol and chain axe would get boring extremely quickly but you shouldn't be able to just swap between Terminator Armor and being a Devistator.

It's already been said that you choose before deploying to battle, not in the middle of it.

Though I do have 2 concerns:

1) TDA is a consumable? As in, we have to constantly pay for it, and it expires? I do not like this mechanic at all.

2) In Space Marine, assault marines jumping into a target, then jumping to safety was a bit of an issue. How do you propose to prevent squads of 10 assault marines from simply jumping the 1 nob, ganking him, and jumping out long before the boyz have a chance to react?