Currently, in our Combat Utilities, we have three tiers of options to choose from - eight selections on each tier - for a total of twenty-four options. You can freely choose any utility you want from whatever tier you qualify to use. This current system is a wide ranged selection of options that pretty much lets you choose whatever you want to use in combat.

The new system on PTS will ultimately take away all this freedom of choice and drastically reduce what you can choose and what level you can get it based upon their new tier system. Furthermore, You will also be forced to choose between one ability out of three posted options at a particular level. This is terrible:

Basically, this means that 'some' of our many freely chosen combat proficiencies that we all are using today are listed as one of three options on the PTS tier system at different leveled tiers - and you can only choose from just the three abilities posted at that level. Not only does this mean you will no longer have a wide ranged selection to choose from - but that you will only have access to those three listed abilities that time - nothing else. Furthermore, any currently used combat proficeincies that developers do not put into this new tier system will be gotten rid of.

Thus,with the expansion, this new tier system will ultimately make all of our characters a lot weaker than before because we will no longer have access to all the options that are now currently available. Furthermore, it will force us to make hard choices on abilities that we are currently using together. Soon, you will be reduced to choosing one ability over the other - that you are using now.

Everyone needs to protest this change - as well as others that take away our liberties within this game.

When I first looked at the abilities of the characters, so did I thought "what is this?"

Why are they limiting the choices of the abilities we want

Why change what it is like right now, and why try to change something that is not broken.

Because right now so do we have so much freedom to choose what skills we want to use, and I am pretty sure that I am not the only one that likes how we have so much freedom to choose what skill we want to use.

Why force us to choose between one ability over the other.

I like that we have such a wide ranged selection to choose from and that we have the freedom to choose what abilities we want.

I can not be the only one that thinks the game is more fun if they don't take or forced us to choose between one ability out of three posted options at a particular level. This is terrible.

if they do this, they may possibly lose some long time subscribers.

I protest against this change.

I protest too, but let's be realistic.

It is going to happen no matter how much we raise our voices. It's not a democracy, and given the fact that they had over half a year to do something about it and did nothing just proves it.

The changes will go live, but i hope they will tweak it a bit, so that we don't loose class identity or should I say combat style now?

Pruning is never fun, neither is necessary in this case. We should have gotten a new ability, some interesting new way to implement it in the rotation and then remove things people don't use. Like explosive dart on merc or stealth scan.

Garbage abilities should be exactly where the name indicates.

"Know your place, trash!"- said some random guy from the internet, but this is what should have happened. Most of the changes don't affect classes that needed a change in order to become competitive again, some of them got better treatment than others. Bioware just fails to see the problem with some cases, or deliberately chooses to ignore them.

Also the remove of the set bonuses so far and transforming them into legendaries does not look good. It weakens the character, that goes along with the trend of this xpac.

I have spoken

I protest too.

As I understood, the point of pruning was to simplify the gameplay for newcommers. But as a new player I think there is no actual reason to simplify. The classes I played - juggernaut and maradeur - definitely does not need simplification. They are interesting to play now, there are a lot of thing that allows you to play smart and outplay enemies in certain situations(I play mostly PvP).

And now this pruning is not only makes the sith warrior gameplay(for example) more boring, but also makes it nearly impossible to play in PvP with a lot of utility and mobility removed. Compare it to Scoundrel/Operative current state and changes.

I also read the opinion that this changes was made because of a lot of attention now drawing to PvP, but in fact there are an ULTRA TERRIBLE changes in terms of PvP balancing, because it is not fixing broken or unused things, it just weakens weak classes and therefore makes the strong classes just stronger.

If they wanted to simplify the game for newcomers, they would have consolidated damage abilities (really, my sentinel doesn't need 8 different damage abilities) to make rotations easier.

What they've done instead is nerf everyone.

Maybe we can thank all the "the game is too easy" people for that.

Yeah it sucks we're losing things... but there's no way they're going to scrap the idea now. BioWare has made drastic changes to characters and classes multiple times and has always stuck to their guns.

I'm mostly curious to see how these changes affect the highest tier of PvE... and if they re-tune the Ops to take into account all these changes, then it'll be fine. I know it's a terrible example but running around on my Sentinel and Commando on the PTS doing heroics and such, things melted just as easily as they do in 6.x.

They are doing more than just 'pruning trash' - It seems to me that they are just getting rid of things they personally do not use. They are not considering whether others may be using it or not. Just because a developer thinks something is trash - based upon 'their' style of play - does not mean it is trash. One person may find an ability useful where another does not. Who is to say what is trash? Perhaps if they did a consensus and actually 'asked' players what abilities they want to keep - rather than deciding for them.

Also - what would you prefer? Would you like to have over 24 options to choose from - or would you rather have your options reduced down to only just 3 choices? Because - that is what is actually happening. Your freedom of choice is being greatly reduced.

Sigh.......