Just for fun: If each class had a third AC...

Theoretically, if each class had three ACs, what would you want them to be? Here are my ideas:

Knight/Warrior:
An AC that uses the reverse grip similar to Starkiller in The Force Unleashed. This AC would be heals/DPS. Their healing would be unique in the sense that they heal their team through using their lightsaber and attacking (multi-targeting would be necessary for this). The healing attacks would obviously be very low damage.

Consular/Inquisitor:
Remove the tank tree from Assassin and replace it with a melee DPS tree that focuses less on Stealth than Deception (think Darth Maul). Add a new AC which is a hybrid of melee/force abilities and include the Darkness tree. The DPS tree could be something similar to Madness (without the DOTs), using a mixture of melee and force attacks.

Trooper/Bounty Hunter:
A medium armor ranged fighter with high mobility. Both BH and Trooper would use Rifles (Vanguards would use Shotguns instead. Never liked the idea of a rifle class being most effective at melee range). This would also give BH the chance to actually use rifles (think Boba Fett!)

Smuggler/Agent:
Having a tough time coming up with something here. Give Operatives pistols (which is all they use in cut scenes anyways) and let the new ACs use carbine rifles. Something that doesnt use stealth or cover.

So these are just a few ideas off the top of my head. Obviously nothing like this would ever be changed/implemented, but I wanted to hear the ideas of other people. Just for fun

So what do you guys think? How would you have designed the classes if there were 3 ACs for each of them?

Each basic class could have an AC that's entirely dedicated to CC's and replenishing energy/force/etc.

Interesting topic!

I could see the Imperial Agent's 3rd AC being 'Officer' (maybe with 'Captain' as the Smuggler mirror).

Mechanics-wise, I would like them to be either DPS, with an emphasis on group cooldowns/synergy/etc and use of a pistol or blaster rifle with a tech knife, and/or perhaps given the option of tanking using a pistol/rifle with a shield generator. With group sizes of only 4 players in this game, it may not make sense to develop a full-on support role, but I could see an officer/captain AC leaning in that direction, at least thematically.

One cool idea (IMO) related to the shared skill trees would be to share a different tree than the tree already shared by the existing two ACs. For example, sharing the Engineering/Saboteur tree with snipers/gunslingers would not only fit well with the officer/captain theme, but also would not require diluting and generalizing the Lethality/Dirty Fighting tree too much in trying to keep it relevant for all 3 ACs.

The idea of a Starkiller grip, ninja style dps class has always been very appealing to me. Something between a Carnage Marauder and a Deception Assassin in terms of dps style.

hmm not a bad idea sure they could be a few changes but for the most part i like the idea but i think if anything they would open that up to use later down the track and give us the option to change since really otherwise it would be a dick move on there part since we have spent all this time on these guys and we can't even get the option of being that new class unless we start again,

but yeah other then that i say yes plz more options for AC's are always good keeps the game fresh.

A buff/debuff class that turns anyone into a tank or means you don't need a healer so you no longer need the holy trinity.

If they were to add a third AC to each class, I would like to see some of these ideas. Sorry if most of these are Imperial based, that is the side I play more.

Imperial Agent - A Trooper style AC that gets to use an assault cannon. I would picture this as mainly a DPS class, but tank or healer could be worked in if more of these types of classes are needed. I assume there would be no new class stories, but I would picture this as an agent who gets screwed out of Intelligence and gets sent back to the regular military and then work their way back up. For the Smuggler, this could be a Bounty Hunter type mirror class, maybe using a carbine/rifle. Cover mechanics would be optional.

Bounty Hunter - A melee specialist, perhaps using crushgaunts or a beskad (Mandalorian sword). This would be someone who could go toe to toe with a Jedi at close range and hold their own. Perhaps this AC would use medium armor for greater range of motion. A Trooper version could use any of the vibro blades or tech staves in the game. I could see this as being a tank/DPS class.

Sith Inquisitor - Some form of Teräs Käsi master. According to Wookieepedia, this form of martial art was originally created by non-Force users to combat Jedi, however that sounds a lot like something a Sith would try to incorporate into their arsenal. Mostly hand to hand combat, with maybe some lightning or saber finishers. Consular equivalent could be almost exactly the same, minus the lightning. I think this would mostly fill a DPS role.

Sith Warrior - Now I know this will be a stretch, but I would like some sort of ranged, blaster-using Sith Warrior. This is an unconventional pairing, but could work as a healer/DPS role class. Again this would rely on a Sith using any means necessary to overcome their opponent. I am thinking of lots of taunting debuffs as the Sith taunts his foes into committing grave mistakes. This may be easier to incorporate for the Jedi, as there are several instances of Jedi using blaster pistols in conjunction with their lightsabers.

With these ACs, you would possibly add a tank class to Agent and a healer class to Warrior which would allow all base classes to tackle all roles in some fashion.

Thank you for taking the time to read my ideas.

Then class imbalances would be even worse. I'd much rather have them fix what is already in the game class wise, than add more classes.

Let's be honest here. ToR, for all its issues, has a nice variety of classes that play quite differently. And each one has a lot more complexity in how they are best used than you see in most MMOs. Because of that complexity, these classes are also difficult to balance because changes in class skills/abilities cause unexpected effects. The devs need to tackle that and fix class (im)balance. If they do, then they will have a final product that is both complex/deep and balanced. If they don't, they will have the current situation - where a large number of subclasses are worthless.

I think this is a good direction for a unique class.

Also, a support/DPS role with a focus more on buffs and debuffs is a definite omission from the current classes.

I'm curious how exactly you define "worthless" because I wouldn't consider any of the Advanced Classes "worthless", much less a "large number" of them, though there are a few specs for those ACs that are definitely less than optimal but far from worthless. The only truly worthless specs are Scrapper and DF Scoundrels because they've got painfully bad damage and terrible mobility. Pretty much every other AC/spec is useful: DPS Guardians and Sages might not match Sentinels, but they can pull decent enough numbers when properly geared and played; the 3 tank specs are equally viable, though Guardians do deal less damage and generate worse threat but not enough to make a bigger difference than player skill would; the 3 healers are also equally viable, though Commandos suffer from pretty much the same kind of problem as Guardians (their performance is lower than the other 2 but not by such a large degree that player skill isn't still more important).

Unless you only look at PvP, at most, you could say that 2 specs are truly worthless and they're both Scoundrel. For PvP, you'll always have FotM builds/specs/etc and there is load more to balance between them so you'll always end up with "worthless" classes, not because they actually *are* worthless but because they're not the absolutely optimal.