ETA on Advanced Class change?

How long do you think it would be before we started seeing the "we can already change classes from sorcerer to assassin. Why can't we just change to any class? I want to be a powertech now and I have all this time invested and all this gear that is no longer available on my assassin, so I'm not going to reroll." posts on these forums?

Once again, the definition of lazy is "averse to work or EFFORT". That effort does not have to be physical effort. The work does not have to be physical work. If a player refuses to take the time or to put the EFFORT into leveling another character, then they could be considered averse to the effort required to do so, and by definition could be called lazy. I do not care if someone already took the time to level 12 characters. If they simply refuse to level number 13 so they can have that tank they want, instead opting to ask BW to allow them to change class, then that person could very well be called lazy, and rightly so.

If advanced class change is ever allowed it should force your character back to level 10 as soon as the change is made. To me, THAT is the only acceptable route for advanced class change.

Options are half of what make a game fun, the other half is the reward of accomplishing something in game.

So sometimes the fun factor has to trump other things.

Well, if it ever comes about, your narrow-minded "The universe will explode if we make it easy-peasy" attitude will not prevail.


And what you think is fun is by definition fun for everyone.


It's a game. Fun always trumps any other consideration (for players; making money trumps all other concerns for the maker). But we all have different definitions of "fun."

So, the Species Change and Barber Shop mentioned in the Dulfy interview from months ago are finally realities. That's a good sign! It means the devs are actually serious about their "Yeah, we'd like to do that" statements.

In that same interview, it was mentioned that Advanced Class changes were also on the table and likely to happen. I'm curious if the community team can update us on whether there's any time-table for when this will be implemented.

Ideally, I'd love it to be a switch you can unlock, then flip any time — finally allowing me to Tank & Heal with one character.

Those against class changes have no jobs? Let's see, I work 50+ hours a week , bowl three nights a week, have a family and other obligations outside of this game. If I get to play more than three hours a week, I'm lucky and just in case you hadn't noticed, I'm most definitely AGAINST allowing class changes.

You've seen no "good" justification? Have you been ignoring the countless posts laying out reasonable and cogent arguments as to why allowing class changes is not necessary and could hurt the game? No, I will not go find them for you. I refuse to spoon feed you and hand you everything as you want BW to do.

These debates are all the same. A few souper lee7 d0odz or Hard Core or <insert current meme here> think they should dictate how everyone else plays the game. If it's not this then it's something else. Here are some of my favorites:

SWTOR

SPEEDER TRAINING
In beta and for a good portion of the live game you couldn't get your speeder until level 25. Super lame. Most people who bought the CE felt lied to because they prominently advertised the CE speeder. All of the little forum trolls thought it was fun to lobby against reducing this gate. Probably because their mommies wouldn't buy them the CE.

End Result: You can now purchase speeder piloting 3 as a character perk with a level 1 character.

SPRINT
In beta and for a good portion of the live game you didn't have sprint until level 14-16 (depending on the build). You had to walk slowly (very slowly) until then. Imagine walking all the way through DK LOL. Oh that was SO fun. Another endless forum forum battle ensued.

End Result: You get sprint at level 1 as a subscriber

Respec Fees
In beta and for a good portion of the live game respec fees would become astronomically and exponentially expensive. Just like other debates, the little forum trolls were SOOOOOOOO interested in what everyone else's spec was. The QQing over the idea of someone changing their spec without some kind of massive penalty was legendary.

End Result: You can respec for free, at will if you are a subscriber.

Legacy Unlock
When the Legacy system was first introduced you had to complete Chapter 1 of your class story before choosing a legacy name. There was an other forum battle at the thought of potentially lowering it. All of the super leet trolls felt it was cool to keep it gated. Surprised yet?

End Result: You can now unlock your legacy at like level 10.

SWG

ENCUMBRANCE
SWG launched with this little gem of a concept. For every piece of armor you equipped you would become more "encumbered". If you put on a full set you would literally fall over from exhaustion. Fun right? Massive forum wars ensued. All of the trolls felt that falling over dead from wearing armor was an awesome idea.

End Result: Encumbrance was removed. Period.

DECAY
Every single time you used an item it would "decay". Eventually it would break and become usable. The only way to fix it was to buy a kit from a crafter. The kits worked like 50% of the time LOL. People hated this. Again, MASSIVE forum wars.

End Result: Decay was removed. Period.


10 MINUTE SHUTTLE TIMES
Originally to get from point A to point B (aside from **walking**) you had to wait 10 minutes for a shuttle. Doesn't that sound fun? You have 2 hours to play a game and you spend like 40 minutes or more standing in one spot waiting for a shuttle. Imagine if you had to wait 10 minutes for every taxi in SWTOR and there were no mounts of any kind yet. Fun right? No? Well all of the forum tough guys thought it was so fashionable.

End Result: Shuttle times were reduced to ONE MINUTE.

Etc. Etc. Etc.
Internet Tough Guys are all the same. They don't care about the good of the game. They're not here to have fun. Heck, most of them don't even play the damned game. They spend all day here on the forums trying to sound tough or cool and spew whatever the latest dog crap is that all of the other trolls find fashionable.

Raph Koster (Lead Designer for Ultima Online and Creative Director for SWG) wrote an excellent piece on this back in 2006:

Players who post, posters who play

Basically, some people are only here to bad mouth the game and troll the people who actually do. But for some unknown reason publishers keep listening to them. I wonder what will happen with AC Switching?

you are the same bunch of people that did not want species changes or body type changes, guess what, they are here and BW makes money off it. Players that wanted it are happy, it was a win win, except for the people that play this game in total fear that a new feature to make customers happier, will destroy your experience. NOT A ONE OF YOU have yet to explain this out..... Its just fear, nothing more.

You will lose this fight, the AC change will come, question is when, not if.....

First of all, no. Please don't generalize about people who are against it.

I'm against AC changes, and yes it is based off of "fears" -- because no other MMO has implemented this. We DON'T know what will happen. You could be dead wrong, and this could lead to horrible things. Or, we could be dead wrong with all of our fears, and it could be a wonderous thing.

No one knows. But I was CERTAINLY not against species changes. Or body type changes. I can UNDERSTAND the species change argument, because it doesn't make sense from an immersion standpoint -- but it is also 100% cosmetic, and not required in any way.

Nothing you're saying is anything more than hopes, either, so don't act as if you have a superior view. Both sides are entitled to their opinion, and I'm sure we will see the arguments revived when they announce a date for AC changes.

We KNOW they have it on the list to add. A list that is constantly changing for billions of reasons. They could add this in with 2.3, or maybe we won't see it for more than a year. They could also come out and say, "This actually is taking a backseat because of the amount of work we need to do to change our system" and we may never see it after that.

Both sides need to realize they are entitled to an opinion, and attacking others is useless, and NEITHER side has any good reason beyond "I want it" or "I don't want it"