Normally, in D&D I play a wizard. But in BG3 I've had way more fun playing combat-oriented classes. My current Tav is a gnome barbarian (Lil F*****r, the Gnaked Gnome) and he's both effective and hilarious to play. Giant purple hair. Enormous returning spear. It's like watching a demonic, murderous troll doll running amok.
I've also really enjoyed playing through as a monk (well, a trap monkey to be more precise), though the ki thing.... seemed to be mostly absent. And as a paladin, which is a class I never played before. I, too, was surprised to see Favored Soul and Shaman missing from the game, as well as artificers, who seem like such a natural fit and already exist in npc-form.
I'm pretty familiar (as are most, it seems) with D&D base classes, so I've been enjoying multi-classing and exploring the nooks and crannies of the character sheets as much as the nooks of Faerun. Like the previous poster, I'm more focused on finding new things to do, or fun new ways to do the same old things, so I too suffer a lot of downed party-members in balanced mode.
Honestly, I haven't found a class yet that I don't enjoy playing as learning about each one and how they're implemented in BG3 is the sort of fun I signed up for in the first place. When I end up doing a tactical run, I'll probably have a different opinion, but right now the gnaked gnome tops the list in terms of sheer entertainment value.
