banedon: At least one of the developers has been quoted more than once on the old Compuserve group with saying that the class-change system (which has been a feature since the first Wizardry installment back in the early 80's) exists primarily to allow you to progress from basic classes to elite ones that are difficult to access from the beginning. Not with the intention of giving EVERY character ranks in ninjitsu and hundreds upon hundreds of skill and spell points by the end of the game. The manual, the guide book, and every conversation ever committed to print with a sir-tech dev makes this fairly clear. No one officially linked with the game in any capacity has ever suggested exploitative class-switching as being an intended strategy for completing this game.
PetrusOctavianus: Then why they make it so that when you switch class, you are reset to level 1? As opposed to just being promoted to a new class, but keeping the same character level?
That way there would be no reason to change class to get all those skill boosts.
As I said, play the game however you want. Any rationalizing or justification you wish to provide for your actions is entirely up to you. You don't need justify your play style to anyone but your own self. If playing through the game(s) with a party of super-ninjas with hundreds of spell points in each school and every skill in the game maxed out is your idea of fun, then play away! No one is telling you not to.
I was just pointing out that, contrary to your previous statement, many people DO feel that such a style of play is exploitative and basically cheating. Further, at no point anywhere in the extensive manual or the original clue book is the strategy of class-switching ever even mentioned in any context other than saying "You can switch classes later to access classes you couldn't before." The cluebook gives many hints and strategies for the game and it never even once suggests or intimates that exploitative multiclassing is required or even intended.
But once again, it isn't my job or anyone else's to tell you how to enjoy your game. Play it as you wish. But neither should you try and diminish my or anyone else's feelings about the game just because you enjoy the exploits. It feels like cheating to me, so I don't do it. Don't tell me isn't cheating just because you feel good doing it.
The game(s) can all be completed, successfully, on Normal (and Expert with a little luck) Difficulty with a single party of characters without EVER switching to a second class. Changing them all around for hundreds of extra points and skills makes things easier, but BREAKS THE GAME for many of us, by making it too ridiculously easy and totally lacking in any sort of challenge whatsoever.