The Genius of Dungeons & Dragons
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Take, for example, the genius of levels. Sure, this concept existed in various wargames before D&D, but I'm not necessarily talking about the genius of innovation as much as the genius of inclusion and implementation. Why are levels so great? Well, I'd argue first and foremost the greatness of levels has little to do with mechanics or gameplay and instead lies at a level much more fundamental to the hobby. Simply put, levels serve as a means to incentivize people to keep playing the game. There's always that pull to keep playing your 5th-level character a bit longer so you can enjoy the benefits of 6th level. And once you're there, you want to stick around for 7th. And so on. It's the brilliance of episodic television, in game form. This is important because enticing people to continue playing keeps the game alive. The longer a person plays, the more likely he or she will teach a new friend to play, and soon that person might start a whole new group of players.
Class, of course, is just as important if not more. Each class offers a role something to grab hold of to understand one's place in the game and in the game world. Most of us can understand what a fighter or a wizard is, and what that kind of character does without much explanation. They're archetypes. We know, regardless of edition, that if the adventuring party comes upon a band of vicious orcs, the fighter is probably going to run up and attack, the wizard is going to stay back and cast a spell, and so on. This is an extremely powerful tool for new and old players alike.
