I've been rolling a bunch of low level WoW alts since the old world revamp, and I'm currently waffling on whether my Goblin should be my third hunter, my second shaman, or my second rogue. WoW has twelve races, each of which has at least some new content in the 1-20 range. It has only nine classes which start in that level range (since Death Knights still get a free pass to level 55), and I already had alts of most classes up to at least the 20's.
In principle, each class has three talent trees that could broaden the options a bit. Then again, do I really need to roll an Elemental (spell-casting) Shaman when I could instead respec my existing Enhancement (melee DPS) Shaman instead? Do I need any new Warriors or Mages when my high level characters of both classes already get access to two of their three talent trees through dual specs?
(Meanwhile, how will this affect Rift, which has only four base archetypes? The game's soul system adds a lot of options to each individual character, but your fifth character will not be able to do anything that isn't already available to one of your existing soul-swaps.)
The philosophy behind this type of system is that increased access to group roles (especially while leveling) is worth any decrease in replay value. For most players, that's probably a safe bet. I just wonder if there is any way to mitigate this drawback to flexibility.