ETA on Advanced Class change?

ESO. there are a total of 4 classes. and 3 faction stories that you only need one character to play through anyways. and since half your skills are weapon based and every class can use every weapon/armor in a game and play every role?

you know, since you said you didn't know a single game... here's one off the top of my head

and you'd still need to have 8 characters to experience every class SWTOR has to offer. 4 impside and 4 pubside. becasue its not just about mechanics, its also about the story. you know, that cornerstone and selling point of SWTOR?

last but not least. some people like to keep busy by leveling characters. some people like to keep busy by playing at max level. restricting AC doesn't encourage people to keep more busy, becasue if they wanted multiple characters in the same class - they would and already do so, with or without AC change (and then there's me with my multiple operatives and a scoundrel for a good measure >_> ) people who only play through the story once, who only enjoy playing through the story once? (yes they exist) more often than not just abandon characters instead of rerolling.

allowing people to change their AC will not magically shrink the content in half. it will just give people with less time - more options.

If it was fully swappable at any time, I could dig it. Would certainly cut down on character space and allow me new rp ideas.

So the argument is that it has replay value. That's not a bad argument, but I think you over-estimate people's willingness to grind that content repeatedly. And I think you over-estimate how many people really want to see the story content with the only differentiator being an alternate AC. The class story itself doesn't change, just the playstyle. People make alts for a huge variety of reasons, I just don't think you cut out half of the alt-making population by allowing AC respecs. I'd guess you wouldn't reduce the amount of alts at all really. I can only speak for myself, but if AC respecs were allowed tomorrow, I'd still create and play all the alts that I have planned currently.

So yeah, respectfully disagree.

Rift.

Rift had probably the most flexible class structure of any modern MMO. And it worked pretty well.

I wouldn't even use it, but I certainly support it. Who cares what AC someone else wants to play? I want Reno to be a happy player, no matter what AC you are. It's stupid NOT to allow it.

It's stupid TO allow it.

Why? What possible harm can come to this game by allowing players to play an AC they like once they reach end game? What's stupid about it?

Not sure adding more into this topic that have been debated even in beta to death will change anything still for the people here.

• Only a minority of players might rage quit because Advanced AC Respec (AARC) are added in game. Then if it's the only reason, they might, no pun intended, be better off somewhere else.
• AACR will give players more choices.
• It will also make players buy second sets of gear, be it in CC and from crafters.
• I might bring back some players. (A friend of mine left mostly because of this, reason #2 for him)
• After trying out a different AC, a player liking it might find himself wanting to create a new toon to enjoy the levelling process either in the same class or the opposite faction.
• Nobody forces anyone to respect to any AC

Wow has it, Rift has it and well it did not kill their game.

While we're at it... subscribers should be allowed to sprint at Level 1 instead of level 15 or 16.

Not an over-estimation at all considering player now-a-days can also PVP or Kuat their way to 55 in addition to the traditional method of class/planet quests and SM FPs. Grinding the content with various characters/alts is a staple of any MMO and players have come to expect it, regardless of their own personal tolerance levels. In my opinion, with leveling as easy as it is right now, only having to grind through 4 characters in order to experience a large chunk of the game is simply insufficient and unhealthy for the long term viability of SWTOR.

Eh, the Rift system is not really comparable to SWTOR's. From what I understand Rift has 4 base classes also but each of them has what, 8 various skill trees or souls to choose from (up to 3 max)? That's a lot of unique and potentially viable combinations. SWTOR on the other hand has only 3 skill trees for each AC and if you split your points evenly between all 3, the resulting character will be rather... worthless. Of course there are some solid hybrid Mara/Sent or Sniper/Gunslinger builds but they still remain in the dps role instead of crossing over into healing or tanking. Perhaps Sorcerer/Consular is the lone exception to this rule as some PVP builds are dps/healing tree hybrids but at the same time, such builds aren't really ideal for the PVE side.

The only way SWTOR would be comparable to the Rift system would be to eliminate ACs all together (rendering this debate moot) so we can build dotsmash Warriors/Knights with some tanking abilities or Agents/Smugglers that can stealth, ambush/cull and drop Kolto probes at the same time. Such a system could have worked in all honesty but that ship has sailed long ago. I doubt BW/EA would be willing to make such a foundational alteration to the game considering it's been more than 2 years after launch.

The thread is full of reasons. But you and people who support the idea will just dismiss them out of hand anyways so its pointless to go back over them again.