ETA on Advanced Class change?

I'm not convinced Faction is that big a deal with players when they come to making their choice. They are focused on the Class story they want to play. Of all the threads out there asking for the ability to swap Faction the unifying theme is that they love the Class but want to be on the other faction, or feel certain Classes such as Smuggler and Bounty Hunter deserve a Neutral faction.
If you are a new comer to SWTOR or MMOs in general you probably won't have any idea what Role you want to play at end game. Even if you do know at level 10, having done some research, there is a good chance by the time you hit level 55 and find a guild to participate in endgame content the Role may no longer appeal, or be one required by the guild you are in.
It would be nice to think that everyone out there that likes SWTOR has the time to churn out a spare character or two, but as casual friendly as levelling is it is still about 80 hours of game time. That's a big chunk of game time to the majority of your audience.
For me the Advanced Class is a stage of specialisation. It largely determines whether the playstyle will be melee or ranged and for most classes what two roles you will be able to swap between with your final specialisation choice.

It is notable that for those classes that have the potential to go Heal or Tank that the core abilities tied to these roles are segregated by the Advanced Class choice. From a design point of view this means that you cannot have a Tank that can self heal or vice-versa a healer that can mitigate damage with a shield.

There is also the bonus in marketing speak of relating the 'Advanced Classes' of SWTOR to the 'Classes' of WoW, as it allows you to use bigger numbers and bigger numbers are always more appealing to a potential audience.
There is also the issue of data tracking. Faction, Gender and Class swapping all share the same basic technical hurdle of how to overcome choices made that are no longer reflected by the new choice. It is not that these are not desired elements for a swap function, just that they are easily shot down in the first page or two because of this issue.
Unfortunately, it is less easy to dismiss AC swapping as all the data that is tracked is the same for both ACs. The biggest hurdle to overcome, and one that cannot be effectively commented on by those outside the dev team is how the game actually tracks the AC selection and progression of abilities.
I'm not sure having ACs as a stage of specialisation is poor design. I think that requirement of separating healing abilities which tend to be active from the largely passive tanking abilities is an important one. I think choosing to call them Advanced Classes was a poor choice, as was listening to the Beta players that wanted the option to swap taken out from launch
As long as they shared storyline, companions, appearance customisations, achievements, legacy unlocks, heroic moments, class buffs, armour, spaceship, etc... I think there will always be a thread or two asking for the ability to swap

Sounds to me like Bioware want to have their cake (AC = Class, therefore 16 different classes) & eat it (can't be arsed/don't want to spend enough to do 16 different stories).

I've been trying to figure out why people don't want AC changes. So far, what I've found is that it either comes down to:

A) They're like grumpy old people. "Back in my day, kids had to walk to school, barefoot, through the snow." Basically, they want someone to have to go through the level grind to make an AC switch, for no other reason than they did, or simply out of spite.

B) They think that the leveling process is integral to learning an AC, and that having 55s switch ACs would flood Ops, flashpoints, and WZs with clueless people fumbling with their classes.

To point A, get over yourself. Wanting someone to go through a grind all over again just because you did it is petty. This is a game, it should be tailored to give players as many positive play experiences as possible, while having as few negative play experiences as possible. AC switching will do nothing to those who don't want to use it, as they simply won't. For those that want it, it'll be a great positive play experience.

To point B, I say, those game modes are already full of people fumbling with their classes. We see it all the time in forum posts and gen chat. People complaining about the 'bads'. I posit that a 'bad' exists because of attitude and lack of effort, though, as opposed to just experience. Learning curves in this game can be pretty steep, especially with PvP. If someone actually tries to get better, they do so pretty quick. To that end, a good player who switches ACs might fumble for a short period, but it'll be short. A bad player that switches ACs will still be bad, and it won't matter.

I see AC switches as a Win-Win. Players who want it will have a positive play experience. Bioware, who will charge CC for it, will make money off it. Those who don't want to switch ACs can simply not do so. The reasons for not wanting others to have AC switching are petty. Honestly, if it weren't so obviously onerous to make base class switching, I'd argue for that. But since your base class is so heavily integral to the story and other factors of the game (like companions), it clearly is just not feasible.

AC switching is feasible, though. So why not give it?

Or maybe they were just smart because overall its not that big of a deal? I see nothing wrong with how the classes are currently designed. You have the base class and its story. That base class can branch out into one of two advanced classes. Don't see why thats a bad thing.

As far as AC change goes....No, just not. Reroll if you want to play something else.

This is exactly why I'm in favor of it. Players right now are asked to pick heads or tails at level 10...if they pick "wrong", they need to re-roll. I think that's silly. Allowing an AC swap is nothing more than giving the players the freedom to play a role they want at end-game. It bypasses nothing, as they've already leveled their character. It doesn't give more companions, it doesn't allow them to craft more...it simply allows them to switch to a role that may keep them around longer.

Absolutely agree with you!

How other games do or don't do class changes has nothing to do with TOR implementing or not implementing advanced class changes.

This is a question of opinion based on how an individual feels a game should be played. There are games available where you literally have 1 character and can change your entire role based on what you feel like doing at that time. Other games subscribe to the WoW philosophy, like SWTOR where you have each individual character have it's own class. SWTOR chose to piggyback off classes to share some abilities and created the concept of advanced classes so they could have better, more engaging stories without having to create so many classes.

You can call it lazy or creative or whatever, but that's how the game is. I can only imagine the time it would take BW to implement AC changes and for that reason alone I would be against it as it adds no value to most players. The biggest complaint I see is people who "don't wanna see the same class stories for the 100th time". If that's you, then you already saw the story twice and have both ACs. So why the need for AC swapping?

BW has already shown that they are driving the game on grind. PvP gear grind, PvE gear grind, daily grind, leveling grind. I mean, they put alacrity on melee DPS and tank gear. This game is obviously designed to give you as many grinds as possible. Not sure why you think they would go out of their way to spend development time on another one.

TL;DR it doesn't matter what you feel is right here, BW only wants to give you as many grinds as possible to keep you playing which means no AC swap.

And this is the only rational reason to oppose implementing advanced class changes. But it's a rational reason to oppose any game change.

Where you could be wrong is if Bioware made...wait for it...new ACs.

We know new classes will never come. At least, not classes that require you to play levels 1-50. I could see new classes if they skipped Homeworld through Corellia completely, starting at level 50 and going straight to Makeb.

But new ACs? That's how they make new 'classes'. And if they just dropped 8 new ACs into the game (4 on each side), I imagine a monetized AC switch would make them a boat-load. Plus, it'd renew vigor and interest by giving players something brand new to play around with...all without having to play the same old stories again and again.