Shattered Kingdoms

Nah, the problem with swashies is that 1h weapons don't do much damage and everyone has access to a very high hp tribunal NPC that can tank the swash for several rounds.

Also, I want to see a dorf swash try b-axe mh/finesse oh.

In my opinion, I think the entire question of overpowered/underpowered needs to have a serious qualification put on it in order to discuss it correctly. For example, are we considering these classes in terms of explorability? PVP? Strength as part of a group adventuring? Strength as a solo adventurer? What is the real criteria that we're discussing? I say this because it seems that there could be arguments for and against every class as being either OP or UP depending on the scenario given. For example, sorcerers were highly claimed to be the most OP in the other thread that we were discussing, yet in some situations one could claim that they are the most UP. Their physical strength is the weakest, the armor is the weakest, and while yes they can charm a NPC to do their dirty work for them... that comes down to the question being asked. Are we considering the strength as a solo adventurer or as part of a group? In this case, a sorc is extremely UP if there isn't a NPC available to be charmed.

I'm not trying to actually make the claim that I think sorcerers are UP, but just trying to point out using examples that the entire point of this thread might need to have a qualifier on it in order to truly be a constructive discussion about the issue.

I think that if you were to weight solo PvP, solo PvE, group PvE, group PvP, and utility such as enchanting/brewing/scribing/gathering/transportation equally, then I would rank the 3 most underpowered classes would as follows:

Most underpowered would be rogue (average in group PvE, average in group PvP, subpar in solo PvP, subpar in solo PvE, zero utility)
Second most underpowered would be bard(Amazing in group PvE, above average in group PvP, average/below average in solo PvP, below average in solo PvE, little to no utility)
Third most underpowered would MAYBE be swashie (above average in group PvP, average in solo PvP, average in group PvE, average in solo PvE, zero utility)

For my purposes, I assumed that for PvP you are dealing with opponents that know how to deal with you, which is why I put rogue at the bottom of the food chain.

Swashies are still in a state of flux for me now though. I have a hard time saying that they're the third least useful to have around. Obviously players weight things differently, as some are more concerned with solo PvE/exploration/utility and some are more concerned with solo or group PvP, so they may not think these are the 3 most underpowered. Some players are enticed purely by the RP of a class as opposed to any of the functional benefits. I'm just picking a random structure and rolling with it.

Warlocks are awesome and need absolutely no help, they're definitely a top 5 class according to almost any metric except "landing completely solo kills in PK against prepared, well built opponents" which is a stupid way to rate classes to begin with.

Mechanically speaking, I'd say that scouts are probably looking the least interesting right now, considering how a ranged weapon specialized merc with retreat and fourth attack is way better than a scout with camouflage and ambush in almost any situation (PvE or PK). Herbs and fletch aren't that cool when money is so easy to get and potions and arrows are purchaseable everywhere, pets are way less valuable now that everyone's in a trib, move trains make pathfinding completely unnecessary... the only reason to play a scout is wildernessy RP, which frankly I think you could work out with a merc anyways.

I would have put scouts on the list, but access to herbalism and skinning is awesome, and rapid fire + fletch means that a scout should always be able to rely on ranged combat, which is extremely powerful in group PvP.

How is skinning awesome, except maybe for backpacks? Do skins start with innate enchantments now?

Concerning scouts, nobody has mentioned snares. I've never played a scout (at least, not that I can remember), but I distinctly remember getting caught up in snares while exploring. Are these useful for either PvP or PvE?

I wonder what jack wagon voted barbarian as underpowered.

I was thinking about rogue as potentially underpowered prior to reading this, but I still have trouble believing it. Supbar in solo PvP? I would assume that is situational. If you are getting the drop on a single other player, backstab should be doing most of the work for you, making you amongst the top in solo PvP. Obviously if you are the one being surprised, it's a completely different situation (and rightfully so). This is the reality of being a rogue.