Give it a rest, mate.

Exactly, so why are you harping on this? Why are you needing to elaborate on it? Oh, you must be in the camp of trimming arbitrarily excessive abilities being a bad thing. So is that what you are trying to elaborate on? How it is, in your opinion, bad? If so, use your words and elaborate that very thing because not everyone shares this polarizing view and therefore does not jump to the same conclusions as you. It would help the rest of us if you led us along to how you arrived to that conlusion.

Again, you are making assumptions of things like dev team size, how long these changes have been in development, what the total development timeline for these changes is (if you listen to the livestream it's clear it is not all going to be just at LotS launch, but continued development throughout 2022)... and then infer based off these made up 'figures' that a certain outcome is all but inevitable because they can't hack it. Yet, in the SAME BREATH you are saying that this 'small overworked' team also has the intention and resources to port the game to other platforms? That in and of itself is a huge assumption based on nothing but conspiracy and rumor and has no merit, yet you toss it like it has worth. I do not care for your conspiracy theories. I'm working with objective data and spreadsheets as I examine the changes and then making an informed opinion from that. Hit me back when you want to talk objective facts.

Objectively there is no argument for or against cookie cutter meta. You imply that any of those alleged factors are going to negatively impact the outcome. These are subjective assumptions on your part. Just because I am not afraid of change of an unknowable scale you think that I don't understand or follow what BW is doing? I simply don't make the ASSUMPTION that things will be for the worse. It is a logical fallacy to do so. Edit to add: Since you seem to keep adding to your post instead of making a new one I'll just reply to all of your new tangents with the following: It's Schrodinger's SWTOR right now and there are people like OP who are calling the cat as dead before the box has been opened. It remains to be seen what will happen. You seem to miss the point I was making so again I'll make it clear: OP did not read patch notes, made assumptions and logical errors, I pointed it out. He responded with 'the result is a net loss of abilities' without any further elaboration, to which I asked him for elaboration on it. Then you jumped in assuming I was missing a point and here we are.

Your point being? My point to OP was that the PTS notes need to be read in order to understand that the 'cookie cutter' A/B choices right now are temporary. Your pseudo-mathematical equation, therefore, is inherently incorrect.

You ever heard of reading comprehension? It's that simple.

Thank you and have a good weekend.

I personally don't see this happening, but what do I know?

I also have a video on my thoughts of the recent dev post for 7.0...

You have just described the way Combat Styles are intended to work in 7.0. The current iteration of PTS does not reflect the full vision. You have just described the way LOADOUTS are intended to work in 7.0. There is less restriction than you may believe there to be.

https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=995231

By all means, please elaborate. I am curious to hear your thoughts. My feelings have no bearing on the discussion.

I also noted that on 07/19 they have scheduled a Dev Team Feature - Ashley Ruhl and SWTOR Cinematics. Given those pieces I am beginning to feel more and more like we are seeing a refresh of the games older content - namely class stories and perhaps all or most cinematics. Perhaps this includes an update to show our combat style weapons in the cutscenes instead of the default class weapons? I am eager to hear more this coming Monday.

Probably something along the lines of EA's vision: Edit to add: This post is sarcastic and meant for a laugh.

Pointing towards my notes on the LotS livestream announcement: https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=995231 So while we don't have definitive answers for how they are going to address your concerns of balancing both new content and older content as you've mentioned (solo master chapters), I do have the suspicion that they are already addressing this very thing.

I think you might be overthinking this

I rewatched the livestream announcement and here are some notes I compiled of what was said. I apologize for the poor formatting as it does not translate well into a forum post . 10th Anniversary more content more modern look feel what you play how you play it more accessibility higher fidelity major improvements to the overall user experience Legacy of the Sith Combat Styles Change of Name from Advance Class Disciplines Allows choice of weapons in playstyle Separating Class Story choice from gameplay for greater customization Expanding current Advanced Class availability Now you want to be a trooper with two pistols? Well you can do that. You pick Gunslinger or Mercenary combat style from the available tech combat styles. The way you play will still largely play the way the discipline does today New gameplay elements, changing/tweaking abilities… Force classes will have Dark / Light requirements to access their counterparts We'll support the ability to switch between presets quickly - LOADOUTS Loadouts assign a variety of options to a single pre-set click Gear Abilities & Utilities Outfitter profiles …and more! Switch much more easily than you can today Class balance changes Improving how you play Improving how you get into it if you're new Improving how you play if you're a vet Improved Player Experience Modernizing How You Play New look and feel for the user interface LotS will launch with updated windows such as character sheet and more Additional windows will release throughout the 10th anniversary celebration Updated Character Create New visuals and flow based on Combat styles Content leveling and endgame - What does that mean? As the game is now it is a complex thing to keep different end game content leveled at different places (downscaling to 70… content at 75…) we want to have as much content relevant as possible especially group content going to adjust how they do content leveling going forward especially for end game players Intent to keep most group content relative to you at max level (80) Year Long Celebration 2022 Continuing updating UI Tech Modernization - good stuff under the hood. "We are not saying new enging". Cool modernization and visual fidelity stuff they are working on. Ten year old game and at no point do they want you to feel like you're playing one. PvP Revamp Visual Improvements - going back over the game and polishing some areas. (Note that it looks like they brought in the Lead Cinematic Dev back into the project in the pre-show and she mentions going back over some of her earlier work.) More story New Flashpoint Master Mode R-4 New Locations Galactic Season 3 and more

https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9957133#edit9957133

Here is my application. Please see attached for my resume. References available upon request

If they want to pay me for my efforts I can set up a Patreon

Pure speculation and cautious optimism, as well as just trying to get across to this lump that "just because WoW did" doesn't mean anything.

I never said perfect balance was attainable or even the goal. Better balance? Certainly. None of this is hypothetical as you claimed. I think you misunderstand the concept of balance altogether perhaps. It is not my goal to educate you here on that topic. I never said revolution, but sure - let us go with that. Viva La Revolution As I've mentioned, this opens up the possibility for revivification of old content (which the devs have hinted at in the livestream), new level scaling, new graphics in older areas, etc. An active playerbase is a healthy playerbase. There will be plenty of content across a great breadth and depth to pursue. Content creators are going to flock to the 7.0 guide creation rush, so I expect an online presence and social media presence to grow. Disney is really pumping out star wars content right now. Even the average person who has never considered playing an 'MMORPG' will look at this 'shiny new online star wars game' and consider trying it out. The more accessible the game is, the better chance it has at retaining new players and continuing to grow, especially as the only option for an online star wars experience right now. LucasArts sees this. EA no longer holds exclusive rights to star wars games (this is recent). BioWare is investing heavily into this decade old online star wars game that still is profitable and has a ton of potential to go on... but all of this is just theory. What I am interested in is why in every post all you do is decry the changes as a game killer, don't provide any substance to your posts other than harken it back to your gloomy days of WoW, and then sod off somewhere else. I recommend seeing a therapist if you need a regular outlet of attention and emotional outburst. It really does help.

It is not my first, and since we are making assumptions - it may even be safe to say that I've been playing MMOs since before you were born based on the way you act.

You seem to not grasp the larger picture here. With certain outliers removed and a systemic uniformity of gameplay in place we have the potential to gain the framework for better balancing across the board. This will lead to better gameplay, revivification of content, arguably a larger playerbase in endgame 'progression' ops, more players able to enjoy PvP and feel like the choices they are making in their loadout are actually defining their specific character, etc. By leaving these niche outliers for the player to 'get rid of by themselves' there is an allowance for the balance to be tipped by those who choose to use or not use those options that are available to all but may not be utilized by many. Change is not always bad. What you are demonstrating is fear of change and a seeming unwillingness to explore the space presented to you. I encourage you to open up to the possibilities and chew on them and the implications for a while.