The game existed without A/B/S for a very long time. You could say it was less balanced but it was arguably more fun as well considering your life wasn't a hidden gamble decided at level 1 without your knowledge - and the game wasn't spent "prepping" or gathering these things to even the field. Maybe it's the long-term veteran kicking in but I don't remember people spamming skills and having such huge prep bags "back in the day".

Most games deter from this kind of balance for a reason. You don't see an equivalent of this in any other major game. There's a reason games like WoW restrict the use of "preps" in PvP. I'd say Skyrim but the balance in that game is all kinds of ####ed up like this. The point is, basing your system on the fact that the mage won't have it 100% of the time (but they can and some do) or if the RNG likes deathblow then it doesn't really fix anything considering it's either broken on one side or the other. The longer the game goes and the worse it'll get.

It's like inventing the nuclear bomb, telling people they can find it and saying "well, not everyone has it because they need to find it!" Eventually, they all will and who is going to war without the best weapons? Oh ya, the fanatical and stupid :)

Take for example your classic level 36 anti-paladin. Let's say you get one of the real easy barriers and have a few limited ones you've been "hoarding". Now take the reverse, let's say the limited ones are basically gone and your black is on something ridiculously hard for an AP (aka most). Which one succeeds in CF? Which one does better?

And what does that have anything to do with besides luck?
And why the heck should I gamble hundreds of hours on that?

/rant