ETA on Advanced Class change?

im wondering if these people have ever played an rpg before?

the same would be true for people and choosing classes, ergo we should have class changes as well?

how much effort do you want developers to put into changing the fundamentals of rpg games to satisfy people that have no wish to play one?

as opposed to "adding content" ?

Im sorry, this is a complete waste of time when they could be working on actual story content, or resolving the 1001 pvp bugs.

You don't mean role playing, do you? Character class and skills are OOC things, totally unrelated to RP other than the extent the player chooses. If you want to RP and melee Mandalorian, your characters OOC game class is some kind of Sith, but that doesn't require the player to use a light saber and play as a Sith.

IC, you can't look at a Powertech and a Mercenary and see any meaningful difference. You can reasonably say, IC, you have 1 pistol? You must be a Powertech."

IC, any character can be a "commando" or a "bounty hunter" or a "mercenary." Certainly if you want to RP as some kind of healer or medic, the character having healing abilities is going to make that easier.

You have actually stated the core of the problem as I see it. The AC is supposed to have meaning IMO, and it has little to none at the moment. Allowing AC change would make it even more meaningless.

Note: I will not campaign to prevent AC change like some others have done, or argue with those that desire it. I will even support certain compromises, abet with a bit of disappointment. I will not try and dictate how others play.

At the same time I feel I should express my personal views on the matter as they relate to the thread. That is not an attempt to change anyone's mind...just adding my two cents.

AC does have meaning from a game mechanics perspective. A Sorc can't sneak and an Assassin can't heal, e.g. Class, AC or basic, has nothing to do with RP and it never has in any class-based game. Paying attention to class IC is meta-gaming, like old AD&D players saying "Leather armor? You must be a Thief."

Being able to swap AC and spec changes is a very good idea and I'm sure the game will get it.

I'm sure it's taking a while to do as as well as a pure spec change/swap, you'll want:
- action bar and wardrobe configs that you can save
- then what happens if you're a SW Jugg with heavy armour and you swap to your SW mara spec?

Basically I'm sure that this is harder to implement than most of us think.

Finally - please, enough of the 'just reroll another character and level it to 55' crowd. Most people don't want to do that and remember a game is meant to be fun.

Maybe you want to DPS as you level, then quickly switch to taking or healing for groups. Maybe you've invested hours in a character but at 30, you're not enjoying your AC and want to try the other side,

The game will surely get some form of AC & spec switching. Lets hope it's soon.

....fair enough, but I fail to see how that should define my personal experience. My experience is what it is. It is just as individual as yours and everyone elses.

Most of the gamers I know have, many online friends (well associates, well people I know ) have been accumulated from time spent on Guild Wars, SWG, WoW and LOTRO. The trouble here is that in nearly all those cases the class is chosen before you enter the game and the further subsequent specialisation is able to be changed. I think this is what they were expecting.

I wouldn't go that far for the same reason as above. You make your class change before you start. And you have to draw a line somewhere. My distinction has always been one based on the focus of story and while it is not totally inconceivable that a Bounty Hunter could be found to be force sensitive and lured to the Sith it doesn't quite mesh and to go through that development you'd need to go back to level 1 (so in other words make a character that looks the same but has had an unfortunate vocal incident so they sound different). An AC change ammounts to little more than using different equipment and employing a few different abilities aspects that are already there in the skill trees.

As much as they can afford. There should be effort placed on satisfying existing players as well as attracting back players that have left. In fact it stands to reason that existing players have been happy to play the game in its less than perfect state and are unlikely to leave if they are still playing more effort should be placed on attracting back those players that have left.

New content is always nice

I suspect if BW operates like any other development house they have several teams of programmers focused on different aspects of the game. Story content would be separate form the PvP team would be separate from the QoL team.

If letting the game's choices re: class and its associated abilities lock you into a particular style is fun, fine. I can only assume you do not like to RP, which is also fine. I don't RP in TOR, although I do in LotRO.

This all hinges on your definition of class. In game Bounty Hunter, Trooper, Warrior, Knight, Consular, Inquisitor, Smuggler and Agent are all referred to as the characters class.

Out of game and referring to the way other games use their classes as mechanically distinct entities brings us to the second definition that an AC is a class.

And I've always preferred options that increase player choice and ability to determine their path, not be more restrictive.

Or an Assassin or Druid
Dear me I feel so old knowing that off the top of my head, a sign of a childhood misspent