Well, it's not a secret that not all hero/classes have equal power. So how to motivate players to peak weaker hero/classes?

We have an unwritten agreement not to use the same class or hero two campaigns in a row, and over the last couple years I think we have used every class.

I know some groups that deal heroes rather than allow free selection- in concept, you could do the same thing with classes. Pick an archetype, then deal a random card from one of those archetype classes. I dislike this option. because I like that the heroess can synergize.

To motivates them, engage yourself (OL) to tests out another OL classes also.

Sometimes, some hero-classes combinaison can reveal some cool things, and testing is part of the fun

Good point, rugal. Shifting around the OL classes has become an absolute necessity for us- basic 1 with warlord every time is just dull (and really only encourages heroes to take the same measures to counter it every time).

Personnaly, I overuse Basic 2 + Shadowmancer and Mok the disciple

Well I always try out something new (but usually after web trap) especially if heroes have hard time. I have only Base, LoR, LotW, and SoN. I looked through all classes, and find only one really bad class: Spiritseaker. I know that people think that Hexer is weak. We haven't played with it for now, but I find all abilities decent.

It's harder with heroes. Jain Fairwood is so good, I can't find a reasin (if you want the best) to choose someone else in that archetype.

Well I always try out something new (but usually after web trap) especially if heroes have hard time. I have only Base, LoR, LotW, and SoN. I looked through all classes, and find only one really bad class: Spiritseaker. I know that people think that Hexer is weak. We haven't played with it for now, but I find all abilities decent.

It's harder with heroes. Jain Fairwood is so good, I can't find a reasin (if you want the best) to choose someone else in that archetype.

Jain Fairwood? I agree she is extremely good in The Shadow Rune due to the number of race quests there are, but all the other campaigns in the game have far fewer of these.

Logan Lashley is generally considered the best scout in the game by most as Treasure Hunter. Some would even argue he is the strongest combination in the game period. There are plenty of great scouts though.

Tomble is really tanky so long as he sticks with the party (making him a great candidate for a class like Thief or Shadow Walker that can search remotely) and has a super useful feat for completely denying the OL a kill in many cases, as well as allowing Tomble to slip into places he should never have been able to get to. (and that Jain could not get to, I might add)

I am also a fan of Lindel, Silhouette, Roganna and Ronan, all of which bring their own excellent strengths to the party. And even outside of the top-tier scouts there are good ones.

Really the only mediocre/bad scouts in my view are Kirga, Laurel of Bloodwood, Red Scorpion, Tobin and Tatianna. That still leaves a pretty solid roster.

Our group asks each hero player if they want to be a warrior, scout, mage, or healer first. So the party has to decide their assortment of archetypes first.

Then each hero player decides if they want to be male or female. We hand out to each hero player the heroes of that gender and archetype. This helps narrow down the choices as well from 50+ to around 5-10.

Finally, after the heroes are chosen, the players pick their classes. This usually gets things shuffled up enough.

Usually for us, if a player has a specific hero and class they want to play, they can take that one, as long as no one else wants the same one, and they did not play that hero or class in the last campaign. If any hero players do not have an idea of what they want to play, they choose an archetype, we deal out 3 heroes and 3 classes from that archetype, and they choose one hero and one class from those options. Some players want to first eliminate heroes and classes that they have played previously, and others do not mind repeating.

The heroes I'm currently playing with LOVE the spirit speaker. We are at the interlude and they think cloud of mist is the greatest thing ever (it has helped them win some quests). But I'm really looking forward to how crushed they will be when my act 2 monsters are crushing them.

My group has made every class work fairly well all things considered, it's really about pairing the right hero to the right class.

Some classes are better than others, and some heroes are better for many classes, but there's always a way to make something work with the right combination, playstyle, and skill selection. Remember that you can compensate for a specific weakness by making up for it elsewhere in the group. One of the reasons the Prophet, which is a fairly weak healer on its own, is so good, is that it has no range limitations and can be used with a very self-sufficient group which splits up to tackle multiple objectives.

Synergies like that are what make options work, not specific classes in a vacuum.

Synergies like that are what make options work, not specific classes in a vacuum.

Well stated.

We always played that you choose your archetype. Then you get 3 or 4 random heroes of that archetype dealt to you - pick one. Then you can choose your class.

For us, we found it to be a reasonable balance of random chance and directed choice; it avoided punishing players with a terrible combo due to luck, but also got the less popular heores and classes into circulation every now and then so things didn't get stale.