Quoting ][v][AGIC
Well, they choose to limit their effectiveness in their prefered classes. They can be the best players they can be with what they choose.
But limiting the availability for someone like myself, who plays MAYBE 5-6 hours a month (unless EPIC/LAN is coming, then it's a bit more frequent, maybe 3 hours a week), because of some sort of half-assed notion of increasing player ability in specific instances seems a bit silly.
I like playing the heavy almost exclusively (scout is a distant second), but I also like playing the other classes to test out all the little quirks. One of those quirks includes the additional weapons, some of which can have an astounding impact on game play (sandman?). Its frustrating to not be capable of the same impact on the playing field despite what might be decent/acceptable ability. This really hurts a player base and a group as a whole when trying to do team makeup. The weapons are situational and sometimes it would make more sense for me to play a Scout than a Heavy (given, for example, there are 2 other heavies on the team that are well and above better than me as heavy, but we may be even as scouts). In this case, though, because I haven't logged as much time as our previous other two people, I don't have the chance to change the outcome in a similar way as the other people.
I know you don't do things for another class in an MMO, but that's SLIGHTLY different than in this case.
I think they had the right idea from the interview of making it random (not quite as often here) OR based on achievements. Give people both, not just one. I think that's the best way to do it.