Let me start off by saying that I totally disagree with the proposed option of being able to re-spec a character with an Advanced Class already established. The reason is that what a lot of people don't realise is that your Advanced Class IS your class if you compare it to a game like WoW. Using WoW as an example, should a Rogue be able to re-spec to a Hunter? No! Within your Advanced Class you have the ability to have three very individual builds, just like a Rogue in WoW. I think that people are upset because they haven't got past the way it has been named in SWTOR.
The class system in SWTOR allows you to get the feel for your character and the game before making your final decision on your actual class. You play until level 10 with a generic set of skills and the flexibility to try different things. Then you decide on your Advanced Class. In WoW by comparison, you start as a Hunter and you have three trees and you choose to put your points in one of those skill trees. In SWTOR you don't get skill points until you reach level ten. You then choose your Advance Class and are at that point given three trees to put skill points in. These three trees provide you with three very different playing styles which you can re-spec in the current build. The way the system is that the moment just prevents one character from being able to do every job in the game. Most Advanced Classes give players the option for two different play styles: Healer/DPS or Tank/DPS. The other Advanced Classes optimise damage output but give you choices of play styles, as in burst DPS or sustained DPS over long periods of time. If one Advanced Class is able to be a Healer, Tank or DPS it could potentially imbalance the game, with players being forced into roles they don't want to play.
A perfect example is the game Global Agenda. Most people in the guild I was in had one of each class as it doesn't take very long to level. Even though I hate the role of healing, every time I logged in on a Raid night I was left with one choice: heal or don't Raid. I have seen this happen in WoW with Palladins and Druids too. I've even had friends quit the game because they have hated healing or tanking but were forced to do it.
I plead with BioWare to truly think this through before considering it in the future. I do beklieve though that once more players have got to level 50, like I have, they'll understand why the need to re-spec an Advanced Class is not necessary or a good option for the game.
Gold post from SWTOR.com forums:
Folks, please don't overreact about the possibility of something happening in the future. Advanced Class switching (or re-speccing, take your pick) was, at one point, potentially going to go into the game. Right now, it's not in the game. It could potentially be added after launch. Like, frankly, anything else. To quote Georg "we reserve the right to change our minds based on feedback and testing". This thread is feedback. It'll be taken into account by the developers, along with the usual metrics we look at. I'll say this much - any sort of Advanced Class changing is not under discussion for launch, or even right after launch. Absolutely anything in the game is potentially open to change in the future. That's part of what an MMO is about. Your feedback on those changes is absolutely welcome, but just because we say that yes, something may potentially happen in the future... that doesn't make it a certainty.
