When I first read about loadouts, I was pretty excited. I had plans to turn my favorite characters into versatile powerhouses that could fill any role in a group (at least, in a group doing "regular" content). My dream was to be able to join a PUG and ask "what do you need the most? I'll do that!". I could stealth through a flashpoint with a stealth group, I could heal a group with no healer, I could tank for a group with no tank, I could pump out high damage for a group that already had everything else covered. You get the idea.

Instead, I've found that I'm essentially forced into just doing one thing on each character, just like if there were no loadouts available at all. The only difference is that I can choose to do stealth on my trooper if I want.

Let's review the problems and some possible solutions:

1. It's hard to gear up for multiple roles

Although it's not hard to get conquest-style gear at your current item rating, or even random drops at your current item rating, there's no easy way to get the specific pieces you want at your current item rating without just starting from the bottom.

Possible solution: Getting a gear piece to a certain item rating unlocks the ability to buy any version of that gear piece at that item rating. Example: I get my DPS head piece to 326, I can now buy a 326 head piece with either DPS, healing, or Tank stats.

Possible solution: Create a new type of gear that changes stats as you change roles so you can just keep the same set on no matter what (this also solves some other problems, but seems hard to do)

2. You can't change roles in a flashpoint / operation / uprising / PVP instance

I get that they're worried about "unintended behavior" in nightmare operations, but for the easier stuff it seems unnecessary. Especially for things that don't require specific roles anyway (like veteran flashpoints or unranked pvp). I mean, I can 2-man a master mode flashpoint and switch my companion's role whenever I want - why can't I switch my own role?

Possible solution: Allow loadout changes in all (non-combat?) situations. Or, if necessary, restrict nightmare ops only.

3. There's not enough inventory space for all the different sets of equipment

If you want to be effective in different roles, you must have different equipment (at least specific tanking equipment!). However, my inventory already gets filled quickly as I go through content. I certainly don't have enough room for 3 or more sets of equipment. Even if I were to take an efficiency hit and overlap my dps and healing equipment, I'd still need 2 full sets plus some extra space for tacticals or implants.

Possible solution: A new inventory space for "equipped" items that are not part of the current loadout (bonus: unlockable via cartel coins or massive money sink!). I imagine this would just be a restricted space that can only hold equippable items (the FFXIV solution)

4. Outfitter doesn't accommodate different types of weapons

If you set the outfitter to work with your loadout that uses, say, a dual-blade lightsaber, it won't work correctly with your other loadout that uses a single lightsaber. This is more frustrating than game-breaking because you can technically just set up two outfits with the exact same equipment except for the weapon, but this makes it both cumbersome to deal with outfits (which one is the 2 lightsaber one again?) and limited in how many you can set up (now you can only do half as many as before unless you ignore the weapon).

Possible solution: Allow multiple weapon slots with each outfit (1 per combat style that automatically updates?)

Possible solution: Have a separate weapon outfitter system that is not tied to the other gear equipped on the character (i.e. you select both a regular outfit and a "weapon outfit" for your character)

5. Loadouts can't be "locked" or "exported"

When you're switching around between things a lot, it's easy to get confused and make a mistake. In this case, it's easy to be "in" one loadout and think you're in a different one and make a change that is not appropriate for your current loadout. This comes up rarely today because people don't change loadouts, but in the world I dream about, this would definitely come up - especially because there's no indicator about which loadout you're on other than in the one loadout window.

Possible solution: Add in a "lock" or "export/import" feature to avoid or recover from mistakes. This would include things like the quickbars as well as the selections made in the loadouts pop-up (outfitter, equipment, class feature selections, etc.).

What do you think? Have you wanted to use tons of loadouts but been stopped by these issues too? Have you run into other things that I didn't think about? Are my solutions ridiculous? Not good enough?

I have the same dream as the OP’s first paragraph, and experience the same reality as the second.

1. Not a problem to me. Proposed solutions seem fine.

2. I would like less restrictions on role changes.

3. There is not. I like Diablo III’s wardrobe.

4. See one.

5. I agree.

I love loadouts. Thank you, devs. However, loadouts feel like they could use another round of polishing.

First, there are a few trick that you need to understand. If you want to switch weapons in the outfitter you have to use multiple outfits. (Make them the same, just change the weapon) and loadouts will lock to individual outfits. Also if you unequip all you gear and then put it in your cargo or legacy bay, all you have to do is change loadouts while the cargo bay is open (cargo bay droid for the field) and it will automatically find the correct gear and equip it as well as put the other loadout gear back into the cargo bay, So it won't use up any inventory space.

Each loadout can save a character title, equipment set, flair, and outfit, so just make an outfit with the correct weapon in the outfitter and if you switch via the loadout system, you'll change gear and outfit. For example, one of my Mandalorian characters, he has 6 outfits all the same except for the weapons and dyes that I use to keep track of which discipline they currently are.