Balance is acknowledging the unique characteristics of each class.
I played a game called PristonTale before Maplestory and I really liked their balance system. The archer had the most attacking range, ran faster than other classes, and also was the most naturally powerful. Unfortunately, their HP was pomegranate (easily die in one hit) and they had absolutely no defensive skills. Yet still, their entire skill window focused on pure attacking. Naturally, partying was encouraged due to each classes' severe pros and cons and thus each person "balanced" each other out (i.e. an archer's dps with a bishop's support). But that's the fun factor to me. It's knowing that no matter why you picked a class for its extreme pros, it has pretty severe cons as well.
It sounds extreme but that's what class balancing is to me. Instead, we have things like Mercedes which is the epitome of Warrior meets Archer meets Thief.
In other words, "balancing" would also mean classes complement each other in party situations.
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