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I personally prefer classless for the freedom to choose what I will.
IMHO, the key to a good classless system isn't balance, it's imbalance. Skills shouldn't be gauged based on how well they work against all skills, but based on how well they work vs a particular type of skill.
PVP shouldn't be perfectly balanced, it takes the fun out imho. The skill comes in using imbalance to your own benefit. With a classless system you should encourage imbalance, while making sure that the "best" skills have an equivalent.
It requires some effort, but introduce new skills over time to combat un-reasonable imbalance. You'll eventually acheive a working balance. You shouldn't expect each player to be balanced against each other player, instead you'll end up with power circles. Where player a can kill player b, player b can kill player c, and player c can kill player a.
This is a good thing imho, because it encourages players to work in groups to "fill" in the holes where they're weak.
Spells and skills should affect a wide variety of things... perhaps not enough to individually change the tide, but a good player with alot of spell downs should be able to wear someone down to a manageable level over time.
It's a harder, more fragile balance than a class system would have, and it really does depend on the ingenuity of your players. A few really explorer oriented players and you'll see undreamed of combinations.
-- Kwon J. Ekstrom
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