1) You aren't letting us be stupid
I feel this is the most important reason why we don't like the classes... We can't run around naked with a dagger and throwin knives, and we can't show off our hideous character we spent customizing for the memes, because we are forced to wear a helmet.
2) The class system doesn't actually prevent snowballing.
In TDM when I die a lot, I get stuck having to use a peasant with a sickle quite often, while the people who are already doing well just repeat their slaughter upon me. The class system may work great in Captain Mode, but in literally every mode it will not work. It makes more sense to just give everyone a set amount of gold so that everyone can have a level playing field throughout the whole match.
3) I can't equip myself for ever-changing situations in combat.
I want to be able to tweak and switch my loadout on the fly to be able to combat a strength the enemy team has, or to capitalize on a weakness they have. For example, I notice the team is swinging wildly without accuracy and they never aim for my head. I want to be able to take my helmet off and use those points I just removed, towards better body armor. Or maybe I keep dying because archers keep shooting my feet while I'm on a horse. I need to be able to sacrifice one piece of my gear in order to protect myself where I am vulnerable in that situation. This happens much more often than you would expect
4) The class system does not allow us to identify people we play with on a regular basis.
This is so much more important than you probably think, Taleworlds. When I get to know people, or when I play against them a lot... I tend to recognize their appearance and remember their fighting style. This adds a level of immersion that you don't see in other games. It's a sort of exciting feeling when you see someone you know on the enemy team based off of their appearance, cleaving through a bunch of your guys, knowing you're going to have to be next at some point.
I understand that in TDM or DM one sometimes want to relax and just act a little stupid, but for every other gamemode I'm sorry but I have to disagree:
1) In my case this one of the most annoying things when playing warband was this, a lot of people running without shoes to run faster, and trying to tweak the equipment to the limit. I like to have this option in DM and TDM as I said, but not for the "quick" or future ranked searches.
2) I like how it works in Skirmish. You can save some points to have an extra good soldier on your next round or just try to take the risk of spending it all. I would like to see how is it done in competitive games.
3) That is part of the point, your equipment is limited so you will have to group with others who are stronger than you in some situations, and give extra support when is it you who has the correct equipment. It actually makes you feel like a soldier in a war/battle rather than an almighty hero (this is not singleplayer).
4) You are right here, in warband you can spot someone from a distance and know who it is, because you recognized the faces of regular players.
Now you can only rely on being close to them and see their names. I do miss that.
This is just my oppinion, sorry I know a lot of you don't like the classes system and would like to have more options to customize your characters.
I really really would like to see an option to choose between several different cosmetical options for the same class, but looking for balance and competitive (outside DM and TDM), I like this class system.