Can you not Specialize into Mastery Class and still have a fun experience?

So like the title say and i’m going to repeat it.

Can you be a Rogue, Mage, Primalist, Acolyte or Knight and still be good and get gear for it without spec-ing into the Masteries?

Or is it mandatory to spec in order to advance smoothly and there’s not advantage to it?

I’m asking because does the game have 10 or 15 final classes?

This question was asked and responded to in discord. I think the dev response was that you can remain in the base class if you so choose to. But the game will be balanced around the mastery classes.

I tried going for a ‘vanilla’ no-skill class. It was hard. Took a lot of crafting and smart attribute management to get attack speed and strength up. If you want a challenge - go for it.