As I've levelled past 32 on my bounty hunter (and now my triooper) none of my ablilities can be upgraded, each time I level, I check in with a trainer and it says it now requires the next level up, I've tried resetting my path choice, but no dice.

Anyone else had this problem??

As I've levelled past 32 on my bounty hunter (and now my triooper) none of my ablilities can be upgraded, each time I level, I check in with a trainer and it says it now requires the next level up, I've tried resetting my path choice, but no dice.

Anyone else had this problem??

They upgrade automatically now, you only need to train brand new abilities.

They upgrade automatically now, you only need to train brand new abilities.

It's a little disappointing because I always liked the thrill of training abilities with every level.

It made me feel like I had become a little bit stronger.

However, I've got holo-trainers and I'm sure I'd feel different about it if I had to run back to the fleet (or wherever) every time I leveled up.

So yeah, train completely new abilities but existing abilities automatically upgrade themselves as you go.

I'd rather they had just given out some kind of pocket trainer to everyone. As it is, you still have to go back to a trainer to get "new" abilities, but not the old ones, and there's no rhyme nor reason to when you get new abilities.

(I have both the Hutt and both of the faction pocket trainers, so it doesn't affect me; I just pop out a trainer whenever I ding).

This.

It's a little disappointing because I always liked the thrill of training abilities with every level.

It made me feel like I had become a little bit stronger.

However, I've got holo-trainers and I'm sure I'd feel different about it if I had to run back to the fleet (or wherever) every time I leveled up.

 

So yeah, train completely new abilities but existing abilities automatically upgrade themselves as you go.

Yeah. It's convenient, which is nice. But that change combined with disciplines makes it feel like most level-ups are meaningless. Those new class / advanced class abilities get few and far between in the later levels. New utility points are few and far between as well, slightly more so now than when we first switched away from the old "tree" system since they just stretched the same 7 points from 10-60 out from 10-65 instead. So it becomes quite common to level up, check in with a trainer holo, and realize that you get nothing that level. (Not even anything automatically learned at that level in the discipline.)

My crazy idea for how they could tweak it to feel a little more like we're still gaining something each level:

1) If they're going to automate things, just go all out and expand the discipline implementation to include multiple tabs: class, advanced class, discipline, utilities. The pages for class and advanced class would show automated leveling paths just like the disciplines page. All abilities and passives would be automatically learned and automatically ranked up. However... (see remaining points)

2) Expand the capabilities of the progression paths to include choice branches. These offshoots from the main path would include parallel abilities unlocked at the same level, but you may only set one or the other as active just like the options in later GSF component upgrades. All three progression paths could feature several of these choices to tailor which way your character grows within that path's mould. The locations of these choices within each of the three paths would be staggered so that a choice opens up somewhere at regular intervals. (Example: class choice at 5, advanced class choice at 10, discipline choice at 15, class choice at 20, and so on. Totals: 5 choices in class path, 4 choices in advanced class path, 4 choices in discipline path, 13 choices overall and they're spread out at 5 level intervals.)

3) Move utility points out of the progression path. Go back to earning a new point with every level. (Or show a progression path just for the utility points alone on the utilities page. But choose the starting level and interval between points strategically to at least fill in most of the gaps between the choices described in point 2. Another alternative would be to add utility point gains in the class and advanced class paths.) Change the format of the utilities to be more of a tiered pool like the old "skill trees" were. Each utility can have multiple points invested into it. Set them up so that each extra pointed invested into a utility may bump up the value of the utility and/or add a new function to the utility. Save each utility's best perk for the final point that can be invested into it. Everything before that is a smaller upgrade / smaller convenience. Utilities could still be divided into three tiers as they are now. They would just have to change the thresholds for when the higher tiers become available. (Let's see... Well, if a point is given every 2 levels starting at 10, that's 28 points to spend at 64. And if they set up the utilities to each have room to have 4 points invested into them, that's a maximum of 7 utilities that can be leveled to their maximum benefit at the same time. So the thresholds would be 12 points into tier 1 before you can start using anything in tier 2, and 20 points into tiers 1+2 before you can start using anything in tier 3.) If we choose to go for a wider range of small bonuses instead of a few big perks, we would have the freedom to spread our points thin between more than 7 utilities.

4) If possible, have the setup of all of that ensure that as few levels as possible (preferably zero) see no upgrades. We have to be able to say "oh, I can make this choice now" or "oh, I can spend another utility point now" or "oh, I gained something new in that path" at every level. Consider also adding something to the tooltips that clarifies when a path ability gains / has gained ranks automatically. ("Current rank was reached at level X. Next rank will be gained at level Y.")

Note: Since point 1 eliminates the need for class trainers, the holos would need to be reassigned to some new functionality. The regular NPCs for it would either go away or also switch to this new function. I don't really know what to suggest for that new function though.

If you look over those ideas... Really, point 2 is the biggest real change in functionality. You'd have places where you choose, for example, a passive that boosts some instant attacks vs a passive that boosts some "over time" attacks instead of just being handed one of them. 13 decisions similar to that could give you some customization in how you match up your play style and preferences with the concept of your character's class and discipline.

Point 3 adds some flexibility to utilities, but the best perks of the utilities would require acting as if you can still only choose 7 to invest into.

And then the point of it all is expressed in point 4. We can easily see what a level is getting us, and there are plenty of upgrades spread out evenly across all of the leveling that we can provide our own input into. So with each level either we're gaining something obvious or we can figure out what was ranked up in the cases where nothing obvious was gained.