Well this debate back and forth is great. That being said,
@Shadow Reaper is right in his assertion that CIG doesn't want "multi-role/general purpose" ships
that excel at everything. We all know that would create a meta, and ship sales would basically die, with the exception of those few ships. I believe this is why we've seen a turn away from multi-purpose ships, and a push into more role specific.
Yes, we still have ships that wear more than one hat. We actually have many. Not arguing that. But those ships all have some handicap or another, so they don't excel at everything.
Believe me, I'd love to have a jack of all trades ship. I'd rather own a couple ships that can do all the things I want than 20 that do specific things each. But if CIG wants to keep funding this project, they need to create a need, the they need to.create something that fulfills that need. And role specific ships are just that.
So Huzzah to them for refining their business model, because frankly I'd rather see this game get funded and finished than I would see the general purpose/multi-role ship of our dreams.