ETA on Advanced Class change?

While I can not foresee what the future holds I pretty much have to agree with this. I'd imagine they are making a killing from these tokens based on the number of posts that I see about them alone. Sure, they have had issues, but once that's all finally resolved I see these quickly becoming one of the top sellers.

Here's the thing... This thread dates back to May of 2013. That means over the course of 2 years, and I know for a fact it's something that's been asked for since about day 2 of release. They have not put in something that lets you switch AC's.

In fact they've been quite clear that they have no intention of doing so ever.

Now the CM seems like a logical place to put such a thing if they were so inclined, but they never did. Now you have lvl 60 tokens, which effectively do the same thing. I can make a character of any AC and not have to level it up, so effectively I can convert my Jedi Guardian into a Sentinal without any real effort, I even have decent gear.

So why would they offer a AC switch when doing so would quite easily cut into the sale of the level 60 tokens. Especially when making a AC at this point would require additional coding something that's already been done for the tokens.

Except that you guys seem to be forgetting that leveling a character all the way up to 60 didn't happen overnight. All the credits you raised, all the missions you've done, all the alignment you've earned, all the companion affection you've mustered, all the schematics you've collected, the personal cargo bays you've purchased, all the bound gear that can't be reclaimed ever again.

You telling me to just abandon all that for a mere AC respec that's already doable?

I would love to change my Scoundrel to a Gunslinger at this point.

This crappy auto-target companion "feature" has made it impossible to play her now.

Within the Class/Advanced Class/Discipline structure of SWTOR, an AC swap is very similar to a Discipline swap.
It makes as much sense that my Bounty Hunter can pick up a second blast pistol in their off hand (Powertech>Mercenary) as it does they can change to a shield generator (Pyrotech>Shieldtech).

How about instead of spending that much money potentially, you just make a new character?

The answer to that really lies in how much you value your time. Along with a transition from earning items through gameplay to just buying them through micro-transactions, many MMOs are having to address the issue of a saturated market place and an audience that has many options to spend their limited time on.

The fact you can purchase a level 60 character may be attractive to those who have a limited time to play and want to spend that on endgame content. (it takes about 2 hours to go from 60 to 65, probably a lot faster if you put your mind to it).

If on the other hand you enjoy the levelling experience it makes no sense to purchase a level 60 as it bypasses most of the content you would enjoy (class story) although the level sync does open up the planet, bonus and weekly heroics.

There are always those that have invested in a character collecting many unique items and achievements to find their playstyle has changed. For them it may be as simple as just wanting access to the other Advanced Class options.

While I would shy away from opening up true Class changing (Bounty Hunter -> Sith Warrior), post Knights of the Fallen Empire the argument is lessened for any argument against Class and/or Faction changing.

Now you have all characters becoming the Outlander, one shared class story and building an Alliance of companions that includes companions across the board. The darkest of Sith Lords has the Jedi Knight droid and it doesn't seem to matter.

SW: TOR doesn't do non-cosmetic item microtransactions. Even the gear you get on an instant 60 is possibly worse than what a normal 60 could have, it is just enough to get into the story, not endgame stuff.
No, they want to play an overpowered flavor of the month class+AC+spec (goes without saying: in PvP). I bet they aren't really into investing in the game much.
And that is the downside of everything past SoR. Instead of eight class stories, we get one story for everyone.

I still think this is something that is long overdue. It is just silly, IMO, especially at this point, to make a persons AC choice permanent.

Just read back the comment I made and I wasn't as clear as I'd intended to be. I didn't actually mean items with stats on (although some stated gear did appear straight to buy off the CM when it first launched but that stuff wasn't end game quality).
In the past unique armour may have been a reward for a particular quest, operation drop or PvP placing. For the solo player there was always the crafting route. But for a CM item to be wanted it has to be desirable so many of the sets I see are of a better design than the rewards offered in game.
The ingame route to these items is earn credits and purchase off GTN, and while I appreciate this and recognise it helps drive CM sales (defacto ingame cash to credits system) it feels rather bland compared to what could have been.
That's largely subjective. I've known many players that are more into Roleplay (and while not a strong roleplayer myself in game I have a developed backstory for my main that makes more sense as a Tank or Healer than a DPS) and allowing access to all a classes disciplines while retaining the restriction on certain core advanced class abilities would be favourable. Of course the system I'd like to see is a once off purchase that allows you to toggle between (with some restrictions such as only on personal ship/ stronghold or fleet).
However I'd be happy to see a one shot token (1,000-2,000 cc) that allows an AC swap. Let the flavour of the month crowd swap as often as they like at ~£5 a shot.
I'm not going to bemoan the current state of class story it is was it is, and given the time and costs associated with content development I wonder what the original devs were on to think they could maintain an 8 class release schedule?
Although considering Ilum was original content and had no class content I can't help but wonder if this was always going to be the path.
I would much rather have had one story for everyone with meaningful lightside/ darkside outcomes.