What could be done for new classes?

My guess is that they're looking at how the expansion did away with class stories in exchange for a republic/imperial story, and extrapolating from there that we won't see much more class story content in the future (especially in the case of new classes, where they would need to do new content from 1-50 rather than, say, 50-55).

I agree and disagree, i agree because at this time classes are setup like that, the way they play the game is setup like that and the storys are setup like that. How i disagree is the fact that a new class isnt forced to follow the same path, they dont have to have the same elements, They dont even have tobe faction locked. But there are elements of the playerbase who would play and more then lilkly pay to unlock a none combat fluff class so ea would probably go for it.

A none combat class couldnt obviously be your only class if you wishing to take part in the main pve/pvp elements of the game we have now as well basically they are none combat and unable to. But a none combat class could still RP, could still craft and they could still take part in the space aspect of the game, what space will look like within a years time is unknown and could be radically different to what we have now, it might not but it could.

Yes, and this is only my personal impression. Maybe I am completely wrong.

But there has been no official word about even the probability of new classes either, has there?

Are you aware that the voice work (or at the very least, the script) for the Makeb quests was completed before release (and therefore: long before the F2P switch). All evidence says that Makeb was planned from the very beginning to be a unified planet-quest, not a class-quest continuation.

So, since they were planning this long before they could know about the level of success the game would see, it seems reasonable to conclude that the lack of class quests on Makeb has no linkage at all with the game's success, level of funding, or current development style.

Not that I remember, no. Judging by other statements (Paraphrase: "If/When we add Pazaak, it will come in a major release with a lot of fanfare") I would say that an extra class --or even just extra advanced classes-- would come in an expansion or mini-expansion class release. So far, the game is just a year and a half old, and spent six months or so reorganizing its development model. As much as some people on the forum might think that they are more intelligent than the developers in every possible way, the devs aren't idiots and they aren't new to game development. They know the standard stuff that players like to see added and they probably want to see them added, too.

Development takes time. Longer than most gamers imagine. Adding a class is a major thing. It's going to take a major amount of time. It might be quick if they were adding it to Nethack, but in modern games, new classes mean new animations, voice work, balancing, blah blah blah. It can be done and it probably will be done. It's just not going to be done tomorrow and they probably won't tell us they're even working on it until its ready for beta testing.

Hear me out - Force Sensitive. I'm thinking Luke Skywalker in Empire. It'd be a great hybrid class. (It'd also need its own starting area, but if they're introducing a new class, that's probably a given.) Like Luke, sometimes you wanna use a blaster, sometimes you wanna use a saber. The advanced classes come in when you either decide to go through with your Jedi training (making your blaster your offhand for specials,) or wash out/decide not to join the Jedi (making your saber your offhand for specials.) Little bit of range, little bit of melee, works for both sides of the conflict.

What about a class that uses various droids as pets, almost like WoW's Warlock? One AC could feel more like a support class, offering situational buffs, CC and heals, while the other leans more towards DPS with slicing, traps and explosives.

Probably a moot point.

A new class would require entirely new stories (2 of them - one each side), new voice actors (4 of them - 1 of each gender on each side), new companions with yet more voice actors (another 8-10, depending) with their own side-stories and quests and such, and a whole lot of other logistics.

I seriously doubt EA management has the appetite to produce such a beast.

What I would like to see if they implemented new classes (and I think that's a big "IF" but what the hell we're dreaming here) is that they go full out and bring in a third faction. It would have to be done as an expansion for sure. Include new starter worlds, new capital world, and new misison chains/objectives on the existing planets (along with operation bases on those worlds). They would have to look at the way they tie in to FPs as well.

Huge undertaking but ultimately I think it would be worth it. The third faction could really be anything though. The Hutts, another criminal organization, a collection of Outer Rim worlds that form an Alliance to survive the war, followers of the Esh-kha or Infinite Empire looking to restore them to their former glory and so on.

Hell, even the Free Droid Enclave could be a viable faction. The real point I'm trying to make is that it shouldn't be just the addition of a class or two to the existing factions. At least for me personally, I would want a new and fresh leveling experience from 1-55. With 7 characters I've played through the planetary quests about an many times as I'm prepared to.

Having said all that; if I had to choose between new classes/faction and more class quests for the existing characters I would choose more class quests every day of the week and twice on sunday.

There aren't going to be any new classes. They didn't think it was worth the time and money to even add class stories for Makeb or future expansions. They certainly aren't going to design new class stories from beginning to end for new classes. At best, you might see a 4th skill tree or a 3rd AC added at some point....but there's basically a 99.9% chance you'll never see an entirely new class.

Ewoks & Jawas! You're welcome