Chosing a class can make the game diffrent if you're willing and disciplined enough to restrict yourself to that class. I'm playing almost exclusively as a Warrior, but I couldn't help getting Identify, and skills I need for quests. Aside from that I'm strictly Warrior.
Next time I play, I'll stay strictly Wizard (bar a few Survivor skills), relying on magic as much as possible.
With the baricades, I agree that they should only vanish for a plausable reason, not because you did that quest over there and now you're worthy of this one. For the Orc barricades, you should have to clear the way for the battering ram or something, and the Treasure Cave is magically sealled, requiring a magical artifact or word, and then you see it slide open before you. Rumours of the key to the Cave can be found scattered over the land.
