Restructuring Classes in SWTOR

Using this model why not say let every class have 5 specs?

For Warrior/Knight, if you want to standardize it, I would make them both medium armor since that's how knights are portrayed in the movies (or light armor, but definitely not heavy armor - originally the armors for both acs was medium but that was something that the beta testers insisted on changing supposedly).

I agree on this, although I will say that, eg, even in Clone Wars you see Ob-Wan dressed in Trooper armor under his robes while he's acting as a battlefield commander. So there is a LucasFilm precedent.

There's also the issue that Juggs definitely feel "right" in Heavy armor since we have Vader as the iconic model Juggernaut (slow, brutal, bruiser Sith that just doesn't die). So Guardians have to get in on that for Mirror balance reasons.

Obviously this all really fluffy / fudgy / subjective (you could just call Vader's armor "Medium" and be done with it).

Answer below:
QF(T/E)

Fact is even if they do all the changes the OP suggested it won't bring more players (cash) in the game and might certainly make more leave, the ones that loved the former system.
This because without a game relaunch any MMO can't capitalize on such core changes with a declining population.

Would the OP be a designer on the team, as a producer, with the current state of the game and scarce resources I'd start by firing him/her and spend the saved budget on people with ideas and skills that would indeed make the game more successful.

All in all the OP is going to have fun bumping this thread as all the others I followed him/her in.
Still apart entertaining the OP and a few others this thread won't change the game at all.

P.S.: no pun intended and thanks for entertaining the masses.
R.P.S.: Dear OP would this not be a troll thread you'd have made it in the proper suggestion forum, or is that is you like visibility

Yes, and we all know MMOs NEVER change after Beta

One reason I think you won't see any change that allows a single class to pick between healer/dps/tank trees at once is that it would probably be VERY difficult to balance when people start to hybridize between them. Consider a character with Guardian-like tank abilities like Heavy armor and shield coupled with Sage-like healing.

Also, for the part of the proposal that eliminates the AC, remember that the AC inherently defines a good chunk of your ability set--the skill trees usually only add 3 or 4 new abilities. So, removing the AC entirely means having to get a new way to define how you get those skills.

As a whole, I would agree with the Hybrid talent tree theory. I think that is likely the main reason WoW moved away from that type of tree and into a more passive setup allowing you the same basic choices regardless of your tree. I would not want THAT to happen, since hybriding a skill tree is a popular method. It could, however, be done in such a way that certain skills were depending on talents higher in the tree, and too much branching out into other trees (pardon the pun) would all but disenfranchise the reason for speccing as a tank/healer with some DPS abilities. I'm sure ANYTHING is a nightmare to balance, but certainly worth testing. Would not be the first time something went into testing, was ready to launch, and was cast out at the last minute... something like AC swapping.

I personally feel that the advanced classes are too important to the game to just dispose of. However, I wouldn't mind seeing some weapon restrictions relaxed a bit. For example, it wouldn't be a terrible thing for all Jedi to have full access to all the Jedi weaponry regardless of class choice since it would add more flavor and customization options. I understand that there might be some PvP implications but nothing the players couldn't adapt to quickly. Perhaps this could be tied to the legacy system in some way.

This sounds a little more like the skill based system of SWG. I like it.

i don't like hybriding because every skill tree builds up on itself, like with the lightning tree, how could [Chain Lightning] possibly work out well for you without its instant-izer? by only taking two skill trees halfway, you are not unlocking the full potential of either tree and thus its results are poor.

with a carnage/rage hybrid for example, you wouldn't even get a second ability because one would just be [Ataru Form], which is used only by carnage, and many of the benefits for a particular tree (like rage and carnage alike) require the tree's individual (cylinder/cell/charge/form/technique) that it uses. the PT tank tree essentially requires [Ion Gas Cylinder] for the increased shield stuff and dmg reduction.

i would love to see a fourth skill tree for each AC, that maybe is a tank/dps hybrid for tanks, and a heal/dps for heals so we don't get 3 plain dps and 1 tank or heal tree. have we ever seen a tree with both attacks and heals inside together? a healer shouldn't be useless if forced to fight alone, and if i used viscous throw to reduce heals recieved by 20% for 15 sec, which is quite spammable and cheap, they can't do much but run out of energy to use for attacks.

if this were to be implemented, i would also like to see some more skill points to use, being able to only fill up a tree, then a little extra on the side with the RotHC increased level cap in there would annoying. i am already ripped in two by some of carnage's and rage's awesome benefits.

carnage has a ravage-immobilizer, force scream enhancements, dual-wielding enhancement, AoE protection, and the ability to use channel hatred for fury.

rage has a 3% damage increase and 7% damage reduction (if carnage's tier 1, 2 part defensive forms is taken, shii-cho form is used, and rage is fully filled), cooldown reduction for [Force Choke] , obsession with [Smash], and force-based attacks, which the warrior lacks immensely. what if someone put the warrior's sabers on the top of the book case, what then? that is why i love force attacks, you are the weapon!

Hmm.... so. I like the discussion. No harm done in throwing around ideas on how make the game better. I don't view it as trolling etc. Criticism derived from these discussions can be a good thing and may lead to new creative ways to improve on old issues.

Having said that, I'm really wary of the so called "streamline". Whenever I hear or see that word when relating what can be done to improve MMOs in general, alarm bells go off because it is almost always followed by plans dumbing down of these games we love so much. And Supes, that is my feeling here.

We don't need to restructure ACs. Variety is an important aspect. I think the ability to switch ACs would be helpful and may add some longevity to end game. Watering down the classes and forming hybrids is a slippery slope to zergfests that turn the game into an arcade and nothing more.