Forum:About Classes

This is something I've been pondering for a while (and mentioned before) but the recent debate at Talk:Pegasus Knight re:Pegasus Warrior has got me thinking: At what point does a class stop being that class? At what point can we look at two similar classes definitively say "no, this is definitely a distinct class from that"? I mean, on one hand, you have Mercenary and Myrmidon, two related classes that even were the same class for a while (the Jugdral Swordfighter/Myrmidon resembled the recurring Merc just as much as the later Myrmidon), but also co-exist as separate classes in several titles. On the other hand, can we look at both Dark Mage and the GBA Shaman or at the Jugdral Mage Knight and the 3DS Dark Knight and clearly say "these are totally distinct from one another, and could co-exist separately without redundancy"?

The big two things I've been looking at are "do they have different names" and "do they coexist in the same game"? If both are yes, as far as I am concerned they are different classes (with exceptions, such as the TRS Fighter and Merc or the Fates Pegasus Warrior and Knight). If just the former is yes...I honestly don't know what to do.

What about if a class has a different tier placement throughout it's appearances? Is the third tier Bow Knight of Gaiden the same class as the second tier Bow Knight of Jugdral and the 3DS games or the first tier Bow Knight of Tellius? What makes the second tier Bow Knight different from The Sacred Stones's Ranger/Forrest Knight? (Is the Jugdral Forrest Knight the same class? It's a mounted swordie in both appearances, but Bow Knight coexists with it in FE4). Am I overthinking it?

Thoughts?--Otherarrow (talk) 18:52, December 2, 2015 (UTC)