Quote Originally Posted by Matthew View Post
That said, I hate the new titles: 'Defender, Leader, Controller and Striker'. Don't really know why, they just rub me the wrong way. I also find the idea of a Cleric healing his companion by hitting a Monster loathesome. Still, it's unsurprising that there are going to be things about 4e that I don't like. even if I were the one designing it, I bet there would be things I wouldn't like.
Keep in mind that the "titles" aren't titles, or even classes. They are character roles that the design team is using to determine how a particular class will fit in with a group. Thus a controller could be a cleric, wizard, ranger, paladin, fighter, rogue, etc. so long as he performs the "controller" role, while the "striker" could be any of those provided it performs the "striker" role. I'm sure that the rogue and the ranger will be better "strikers" than a paladin who presumably makes a better defender or leader, but that doesn't mean that those roles can't be exchanged between party members.