ETA on Advanced Class change?

Were is the Source?

That Daniel Erickson is serving worm cans somewhere, were is the recent info on class respec.

Also There is a different between DPS spec=/=Tank Spec, because its Sub-Class.

Perhaps...but you probably know, as well as I, that many design intents have already been negated. Quite a few in fact. I don't think one can depend on either the contention that AC is a class or the idea that devs designed ACs to prohibit tank and heal to prevent AC change.

I think that AC change could be prevented based on it's likely negative impact on the game IMO....just my opinion mind you. I think that is the only real leg to stand on.

Now, if they allowed AC change on the fly....then one might be able to argue Tank and Heal would be a bad thing, say if someone switched mid flashpoint or operation. I would agree that the role you choose when you enter should be the role you play through the encounter.

At the risk of getting on this particular semantic hamster wheel once more...
I agree, Changing spec =/= changing class, but you're not changing your character's class you're changing their Advanced Class. No matter what you like to quote about devs that no longer work at Bioware once said about intent, having played the game through 16 Advanced Classes, they feel far closer to an Advanced Specialisation rather than a distinct Class.


The original design intent has been changed for many aspects of the game as it matures.
Allowing Advanced Class changes does not have any impact on game balance at a mechanical level.

Going from a melee DPS class with stealth to a ranged DPS class is not a change on a mechanical level? Going from a melee DPS/ranged heals class to ranged DPS class with cover is not a change on a mechanical level?

It's only that simple when your entire argument depends on it being that simple. The part where it breaks down is when you try to mix and match definitions with other games.

Technically, in this game, Warrior is a different class than Knight. Does anyone, dev or not, take that distinction seriously? Would any of the arguments in this thread against AC swapping apply to stopping someone from swapping their Sentinel to a Marauder if the mechanics allowed it? YES! The whole "class swapping is class swapping and class swapping is bad" mantra. But that's the only one. Every other argument about "too much role flexibility, too likely to ruin endgame because no one in fps would have a clue about which buttons to push, etc" would go out the window. As far as I'm concerned, I don't really care what some of these devs called "a class" 2.5 years ago: they were selling tickets to a circus and wanted to say this game has 16 classes when it really has 4. Everyone that's played MMOs for any length of time knows that Knights and Warriors are not different classes - they have differences and distinctions but are functionally the same. That is a good, easy example of the problems with cross-applying definitions.

But here's the thing, the documentation/help-section for this game does _not_ claim that separate ACs are separate classes. I've spelled out what makes up classes in other games and how distinct ACs really aren't in this particular game in past posts so I'm not going to bother doing it again here, but it's not really relevant anyways.

The fact is, and the part that is relevant, is that this thread is NOT about base class swapping. No one in this massive thread has seriously asked to swap from Powertech to Assassin or anything similar. This thread is about the possibility of swapping from Powertech to Mercenary or Sentinel to Guardian. Whatever Ratajack wants to call it, I don't care anymore, it doesn't matter. Instead of Advanced Class Swapping, call it Conditional Class Swapping, Non-Base-Class Swapping, whatever. It amounts to what is very similar to a spec change in this game and other games (none of which went belly up or even lost anyone I've even heard of over adding too much character flexibility). For every 1 person that might leave this game because AC swapping was added (a very small number of people in this thread) I can almost gaurantee that at least 500 ppl will pay cc for a non-base-class swap and at least 10 will re-activate old accounts to try out a spec they didn't want to regrind for (some people like having lots of alts, some don't mind it, many only want to play one or very few characters - those are the ones you win back).

You realize that you can switch between specs with those differences in games like Wow right now? Or is that why no one plays that game?

Going from a melee DPS class with stealth to a ranged DPS class is not a change on a mechanical level? Going from a melee DPS/ranged heals class to ranged DPS class with cover is not a change on a mechanical level?

Can you change your CLASS in WoW?

Can a rogue go from melee DPS with stealth to ranged DPS/heals as a priest?

Can a warrior go from melee DPS/tank to ranged heals as a paladin?

My original comment of 'Allowing Advanced Class changes does not have any impact on game balance at a mechanical level. ' is levelled at the fact that should a player be allowed to swap their Advanced Class they do not in fact become some super hybrid of both ACs but remain firmly one or the other.

Of course the actual abilities and role change otherwise what would be the point.