Restructuring Classes in SWTOR

While I would agree with your concerns of "dumbing down", what if we removed ACs, extended the gear/weapons, and put all 5 trees under the Class, rather than an Advanced Class? Then you would never have to switch ACs, you get access to all 5 trees, and you get MORE choices on Weapons and Gear. I think it would be very feasible.

I agree this is totally in the realm of of theorycrafting and little else — there's no reason to do this in the Live game. It has creepy echoes of SWG's "NGE" infamous type stuff.

That said, I also agree this is a worthwhile discussion for the same reasons — thinking about what could be done to the game can make for interesting ideas about what should be done.

really i think everyone would take the nge over what tortanic is like now. better gameplay much more fun elements to that gameplay.

if bioware really wanted to win the player base over pulling an nge but making the game more like swg pre-cu would work wonders.

Ironically I feel like SWTOR's combat — the core and soul of an MMO — is one of its absolute weakest links. It's just so... flat. And bland. Fland.

Would anyone actually enjoy the combat system if it wasn't dressed up with lightsabers and blaster bolts? Non-rhetorical.

I mean it's... inoffensive? I'm not unhappy playing the game. But I also can bluntly say I definitely don't stay subbed or log in for the exciting combat rotations, it's for the everything else and the combat is inoffensive enough to be acceptable.

But it feels like it could be a lot more, too.

Yes. It's an almost direct copy of the WoW combat system (especially as a melee class, warriors and jedi knights even have almost the same skills as WoW warriors), and I did enjoy that combat system quite a bit. I find it relaxing and enjoyable... at least every once in a while.

In fact, the main reason why I decided to play swtor again was because I missed the good, old WoW style of combat. :X

This would be nothing like the NGE. The NGE took 32 completely different classes and mushed them into 9. Most of them got the axe, but they consolidated the Crafters.

This wouldn't change an awful lot, rather than picking an AC when you reach the fleet, your AC would be determined by the majority of your skillpoints. You'd just have access to all five trees. It provides more choice, as "AC Swap" becomes as easy as spec changing is currently. The difference being, the ACs themselves kind of go away.

Because you have no need to level through a second character. Depending on how restrictive an AC swap feature was you would have access to all the Roles a Class covers.
Not everyone focuses on grinding out the endgame content and participating in activities that have a lockout (like progression raiding). Social players may get more of a kick out of providing a guild with an all-rounder while being able to remain on the same character (This is as much as issue about how pointless the legacy name is, or how difficult it is to keep track of who is who when it comes to a guild).
It increases the eligible content to that character as it opens up the potential to cover more roles. If one character can cover more roles it has more utility.
Funny how you jump[ on that line. I actually quoted it verbatim from another poster who you are supporting
And yet you seem to have spent quite some time thinking about how to structure a major class redesign that does nothing but provide the same functionality as an AC swap.
An AC swap feature only affects those players who choose to use it and doesn't affect the underlying balance between specs, unlike the suggestions for Class restructuring so far offered in this thread, which aside from bringing nothing new to the table, introduce balancing concerns and is forced on all players whether they wanted it or not.

The more alts you have, the more time and MONEY you spend in the game. This game isn't a charity so it's not gonna give you an all in one char. If you want to play other classes then put in the work and enjoy the experience. You could also get a job at Bioware and become the "man", but rolling an alt is probably easier.

The only thing that bothers me about ACs is the fact that my choice of weapon decides which class I have to play for me. If I want a blaster rifle? I have to go Vanguard. If I want a sniper rifle, I have to go Sniper. If I want a single blade saber that is actually used, I have to go Juggernaut/Guardian. Why are these restrictions in place? If I had a first choice, it would be a Shadow/Assassin with a single blade saber. It seems stupid to have your weapon tied so strongly to your class.

Actual game based in Advanced Class is good enough to change it, so no, thanks. Anyway, that kind of change is a complete rewrite of the game code, and i am sure that won't happen.