I'm sure that such a topic will get it's fair share of cynical responses, but I might as well ask:
Returning player (left when HoT added insane grinds and WvW was thrown on the backburner despite being at the time some of the most popular end "content") -
Is there any good source on current or previous game balance philosophy?
Example:
3 light armored professions, 3 medium, 3 heavy
3 light HP professions, 3 medium, 3 high
What is the equalizer for the lower armored or the lower HP choices?
boon access, damage, mobility, something else?
what is the thought process for a group leader when building a WvW or Fractal or Strike group?
From other games, WoW has this pretty clearly described. They have shifted from "bring the player not the class" to "bring 1 of most classes for class-specific buffs" with a very deliberate "what's the best is (usually) not intentional but expect this season's best to get nerfed next season to keep the meta fresh." For smaller groups, there is a focus on covering the 3 primary roles as well as a non-tank interrupt, a battle res and a hero. And generally speaking, the output across the majority of specs is very tightly tuned to be within 10% of the mean, armor is almost completely irrelevant, access to defensive abilities is very relevant, and in most circumstances DPS have 1 weak and 1 strong defensive, skewing above or below this defensively is correlated strongly with self-sustain/healing access.
