Wooot nice to see the players being listened to. now if only it could work that well on things not concerning the cartel market

I'll take that as a "no" then. the difference is I'm putting forth reasons why I think it will be good for the game that isn't just "because I want/don't want it like this". Continuing the mirroring serves no purpose beyond reducing the effective number of combat styles to balance. Diversifying will bring more to the game than keeping it the same. You are free to disagree of course, this is ultimately an opinion. But everything you've said so far really just boils down to "change bad, it will be unpopular and BS will screw it up" So you understand what I'm suggesting, but just assume it will end up like what I am not suggesting... I can certainly appreciate the cynicism, but just assuming Biosword is going to get it wrong isn't very productive to this or any other suggestion someone could make. That same cynicism is why I think it would, because a complete overhaul is a lot more work compared to just making ~4 abilities and tweaking numbers. That kind of effort would be better spent, and better marketed, for a completely new combat style. Similarly, just assuming the changes will be unpopular and result in a salt market crash isn't too helpful. one CS getting a better buff than another isn't new. the only difference is the point of comparison used to be the exact same. Now that the faction divide is gone, I don't really see any reason to view it any differently than any other balance change between unrelated specs. If your main CS got a buff, it got a buff, yey. If it got a nerf, it was nerfed, sad. The difference is that another CS is no longer tied to it to share it's fate. The downside, as mentioned, is that players who got the short stick will get jealous of those who didn't......if your CS got the short stick, honestly that's just too bad. But it's not like its really any different from any other nerf your style has had over the years either. and another class getting a buff while you get nothing? That's happened too, it's happened a lot. These are just things you live with when you play an MMO since perfection is just not going to happen. And if someone gets salty specifically because they used to be the same and wouldn't care if it was any other CS getting a better deal....I'll be perfectly honest, if THAT is the distinction ruffling feathers, I find it to be pretty childish.

the point of the 7.0 comparison is that change happens, and sometimes you'd wish you made a different choice with the benefit of hindsight. You keep assuming that the differences are going to be a massive change. that the changes are going to be a completely new class wearing the skin if your old character. it's not, it doesn't have to go that far. While I'd like completely new combat styles, I'd want them to actually be completely new instead of just retools of existing (techstaff class pls). and you are very pessimistic about change. Have you considered the opposite can easily be true and any given player might like the new version of their toon even more? Assuming the differences are that substantial to begin with? What I've actually suggested so far amounts to new moves that the mirror doesn't have a pallette swapped copy of, and some vague differences in skill trees, NOT a complete overhaul of everything like you seem to think. let me repeat since I don't think you got it, I am NOT suggesting that half of the existing tech styles be completely gutted and turned into something completely different. What I'm suggesting is an occasional mechanical difference in the interest of flavor and diversity. These do not need to be huge changes. Do you really think people will quit because trooper guy is salty that jetpack guy got to use his jetpack and his trooper gets something else entirely? Let's be real, anyone thin-skinned enough to leave the game over a single ability and slight balance differences probably left a long time ago over one of the many many other controversial changes this game has made. is there a reason you don't want to see the mirroring disappear beyond "change is scary and I might not like it"? Also, it'd be trivial to change it back if it turns out to truly be a bad idea.

it's not like the option to change wouldn't be on the table. it's more strange that it isn't already so there may be some technical reason why they aren't selling Combat style changes on the CM that I don't know about though. and was it promised that AP and tactics must be equal? previously they had to be because factional balance, but that's no longer the case so is there a reason they must be equal? that's kinda the point of the topic.

Hate to say it, but that's just a fact of life for an MMO. 7.0 Combat styles themselves did that. if Combat styles as they are now in 7.0 existed back in 1.0, I'd have made different choices for a few characters. but it didn't exist, so I couldn't make those choices. I can either reroll my toons or live with the choices I made then. in that respect, my hypothetical suggestion is not that different from what 7.0 already did. it would be nice if Broadsword made a way to change combat styles for existing characters though. since we can change literally everything else already with Cartel coins. they sell character renames, appearance redesigns, etc. only things you cannot change about your pre-existing characters are combat style, origin story and sex. no sex or origin story changes make sense, since that'd kinda upend the character story and/or romances already established.

That's gonna happen regardless though. even ignoring the mirroring, some classes are just gonna be better than others. on the flipside, if an already bad style had one of it's mirrors get a bigger buff than the other, that's one more style that's more viable now instead of 2 that are not. the increase in things to balance is probably why this wasn't done already to be honest. more work than Bioware wanted to deal with.

alright if you want to laser focus on that one thing and ignore the rest. I would say that not being an exact clone is enough to be a different combat style. Think fighting game clones, fundamentally similar but with differences that actually matter. I want to see meaningful, and flavorful, differences between the mirrored classes. And people are going to complain no matter what. Things change, this is a change I think would be good for the game, and people will definitely complain about it as they do about every change. People always complain. the GTN changed literally yesterday after being the way it was for years. Major changes can happen. Now if you want to play arsenal on pubside, you can just play arsenal on pubside. Being forced to play Gunnery for that playstyle was true 10 years ago, but no longer needs to be true now.

It doesn't need to be extreme changes that upend everything you've loved and learned about your toon. Changing the overall fundamentals is probably not going to happen and I wouldn't want it to go that far, not after more than 10 years of them being around. The point is they don't need to be 1:1 mirrors so new abilities can be made, or existing abilities changes, exclusive to one without needing an exact functional mirror on the other, giving us room to have more flavor added. Similarly, skills don't have to exactly align either. 2 formerly mirrored skills can start altering an ability in different ways. or just alter different skills in similar ways. Using Gunnery/Arsenal as an example again, The Merc can get a new move similar to Mad dash. Jetpack in a straight line while firing blasters/flamethrowers (Shae Vizla does similar in a cutscene, base it on that). Meanwhile the trooper can have something completely different as a "counterpart" to that ability as he doesn't need to be an exact copy of Arsenal anymore and probably wouldn't have a jetpack to do it with (unless we want to start Rocket Jumping...). Something more flavorful for a trooper to be doing like calling an artillery strike. or skillwise, something buffing boltstorm on a gunnery commando can have its counterpart buffing tracer missile in similar ways instead. It would feel more proper having the "full auto with assault cannon" move do more than the mercs "full auto with 2 pistols" move while Merc can have the damage buff go to tracer instead.

Now that Combat styles are a thing and "Advanced Classes" are no longer tied to classes, thus no longer faction locked, is there any particular reason they need to remain mirrored? The Force styles make more sense to be mirrored (Jedi and Sith are still using the same weapons and same saber forms, just light and dark side for example), but I see no reason for ....say a Gunnery Commando, a soldier with a BFG and a few grenades needs to be identical to an Arsenal Merc, a gun-for-hire with a jetpack, 2 pistols and lots of missiles. or Gunslinger VS Sniper. apparently 2 blaster pistols = sniper rifle and 2 pistols = Assault Cannon. thus Sniper = BFG? this all makes perfect sense right? Can we begin diversifying these mirrored classes since faction balance is no longer a concern? We can essentially make new combat styles entirely out of them to be a bit more fitting. using the Gunnery/Arsenal comparison, can change focus on Gunnery more towards spamming bolts instead of random ordinance all coming from the same gun barrel while Arsenal can lean more into the missile skills. and the Jetpack. PLEASE let us use that Jetpack for more than Death From Above and rocket out. if the classes look different, are armed differently, have completely different backgrounds, they should play and feel different too. EDIT JUST TO BE CLEAR I am not suggesting that half the tech classes should be gutted and replaced with something entirely different. I'm mostly suggesting that a few abilities can be changed and don't need to have exact palette swaps on the other side.

they are now Speeder Piloting Trainers what a galaxy, when respected Jedi Masters have been turned into glorified DMV Clerks

encouraging trading was never the point, why did you think it was?

instanced heroics with actual difficulty are called uprisings.

They all got shot first yeah not speaking basic is an issue. same with wookies. guess they can do a Jokarro and have C2-N2 strapped to your chest and speak for you.

.......because they want you to spend credits, coins, and generally play the game. why do you need to max out your deco count anyway? small understaffed indie dev studio on a 2011 game that can't handle it, pls understand. There aren't actually many NPCs wondering around doing things at all in this game. Patrolling enemies in flashpoints aside, everythings pretty static. the resource nodes don't have a 4 hour cooldown tied to the stronghold, it's tied to the character. you can make a bunch of alts and keep farming one in particular for a bunch of mats if you want. seems to be RNG when that goes on cooldown too, I've harvested 1 and went on cooldown.....sometimes I've harvested like 6 before hitting it....

that's nice and all but you are the only one disrespecting anything......