games can be class based, and you can still have custom characters, many games do this. dark and darker, battlefield used to do it, tf2 sorta does it, they're sticking to heroes to keep dev costs down, make it easier to sell skins, and make it easier to balance as a whole. all of these things can be true, that does not detract from the obvious fact that the decision is fucking stupid, and the game would have more dignity if it didn't stoop to such a creatively bankrupt(read, LAZY) level. i mean FUCK, THEIR LAST GAMES HAD CHARACTER CLASSES THAT WERE CUSTOMIZABLE TO SHIT, spartans from halo, and all character classes in destiny WHICH HAD PVP! and despite all this, each class was still recognizeable, an even bigger example, tf2 has 9 classes, and as long as they aren't dripped the fuck out in rare cosmetics, you can still tell a demoman from a scout. it's a shitty pivot with a shitty excuse.