Can we know what item is so goddamn important that you transfer it between up to 100 characters?

Why are you depressed?! You just spent a lot of money to gamble for cosmetic items in a game that is gasping some of its last labored breaths on its slow descent to obsolescence.

It took me 15 minutes. I think the problem is on your end, not Bioware's.

The Inquisitor is the story, nothing more. The sorcerer and the assassin share the first few abilities you get in the game in order to make it convenient for BW to only write 8 stories rather than 16. The AC were intended to be as separate and distinct as the paladin and warrior or mage and warlock.

A paladin going between his three specs is the same as a sorcerer going between his three specs. Changing between sorcerer and assassin is like changing between warrior and paladin, similar but still different classes. The class system in SWToR was modeled after the one in WoW. The only difference is that in SWToR some classes share the same storyline so that BW did not have to make 16 stories. Blizzard could have made a similar decision if somewhere in development they decided, say, the mage and warlock shared the first 10 levels as "some generic caster class" and then permanently split at level 10. I suppose if Blizzard had done that, WoW would have been plagued by this same argument as well. But, to say that switching between a paladin's three specs is like switching sorcerer and assassin is incredibly false. You are conveniently ignoring the fact that the sorcerer and assassin have three separate specs as well. If you are going to point to WoW in any argument, your argument for AC change would need to be applicable to changing a paladin to a warrior.

So you agree with me that the difference between say, the Inquisitor and the Warrior are sufficient to warrant a permanent choice. We agree that to do away with that difference would be a detriment to the game. My argument is that the difference between ACs is sufficient to warrant a permanent choice as well and to do away with that choice would also be a detriment and the game would lose one of it's few RPG elements. And if the developers decide to acquiesce to cries for convenience, that is their call but it will cheapen this game in much the same way that going to F2P and the cartel market have. "We are merely suggesting that similar classes should be able to share one character." I have yet to hear an argument for AC change that really amounts to any more than "We want it" and so I am not convinced that the change would add anything of significant enough value to the game as a whole to make up for the loss of an RPG element.

I wish I could do a poll of the gaming backgrounds of everyone in this thread. My hypothesis is that those against AC change have been playing RPGs and/or MMORPGs for awhile and those for it are newer to the MMORPG scene. (Just my hypothesis and telling me I am wrong because of your background doesn't discredit it, you are n=1) But my reason is this: those who have played RPGs and MMORPGs for a long time are used to limitations and permanent, game play determining character decisions. It is those decisions that have consequences down the road that make RPGs intriguing. Without those decisions, a game is not really an RPG. Aside from picking the basic class when you create your character, the AC selection is the only permanent decision one needs to make in this game. As someone who sees RPGs as being defined by the decisions they force you to make and consequences they force you to endure, the idea of removing the one character altering permanent decision from the game is disturbing. A lot of the reasons for instituting AC change are not invalid. But the people asking for it don't seem to realize they are asking for the removal of a feature that defines this genre of gaming for the sake of their own convenience. Also, if I could change my sorcerer to an assassin, why could I not change it to a juggernaught? It honestly would not affect the Sith Inquisitor story at all if I were using juggernaught lightsaber abliities rather than sorcerer lightning. It would add to my character flexibility, it would be fun, and it would be convenient. But, I think even some of you for the AC change would not like that. It would not affect other people's gameplay at all if I were able to switch from a sorcerer to a juggernaught but the choice between the Sith Inquisitor and Sith Warrior is a major feature of the genre and removing it would be a subtle, but very real, detriment to the game. The same goes for the AC on a smaller scale as well.

OP mentions the devs as if they are the ones who have total control over the pricing of such things. Remember the developers are the ones with the original vision for the game and would probably love nothing more than to let players more easily transfer characters. EA is the culprit when it comes to money. Also, the fact that transferring in this game is cheaper than in other games is a very valid point. There will always be someone who feels they can't afford something at a given price. When something is already set below the "market value," affordability complaints are going to fall on deaf ears.

Have you guys checked out much of any other class stories? I bet they all have silly one liners. There are a couple silly lines the inquisitor repeats often, but I have to say the female inquisitor voice acting is by far the best I have heard in this game!

For me, it's not as much about immersion as it is keeping some bit of realistic limitations. It should take time to travel between planets. Enough time that it causes you to stop and think ahead about your schedule. We are playing a MMORPG in a universe where space travel could take days! I think 10-15 minutes is an acceptable travel time to imitate that limitation in the Star Wars universe. I do understand the complaint about loading screens, however! I would be fine with an overhaul of the system so that there were fewer loading screens but still took the same amount of time to travel.

First, your well thought out post is appreciated and I hope this thread doesn't get hijacked by trolls. Even though I consider myself a PvP player primarily, I agree with you on most accounts. The server population has never been an issue for me either so I won't go into that. As for balancing... you are correct in some classes should (and will) always have advantages in some areas and against some classes. For example a rogue type class should always have an advantage against a mage type class. The problem becomes that usually a class ends up with more advantages than others and becomes the "flavor of the moment." People reroll, others whine, class gets nerfed, balance issues in PvP and PvE ensue. I have always wondered though, wouldn't it be easier to balance classes for PvP but balance mobs for PvE. For example, after a patch a certain spell X is nerfed to bring a class in line with others in PvP. But now, that spell is underpowered in PvE and PvE players complain. Why can't you just increase the PvE mobs susceptibility to the spell X so that the damage from spell X was back to where it was? Therefore for that spell, PvP is balanced and PvE is balanced. You wont have that back and forth that I saw in WoW. In short, I don't see why both systems can be balanced in isolation.... it seems much easier in the long run.

I think the system is fine. Of course no one is asking for a teleport button, but still quicker gratification is the plea. Is it possible the developers didn't want space travel to be quick? It is supposed to make you think ahead and make you plan. The change in MMO community over the years amazes me! For years in SWG if you missed the interplanetary shuttle, you would stand still for 10 minutes waiting for the next one. And very few people complained. The need for instant gratification is dumbing down today's MMOs. This OP is just a symptom of a larger problem.

I loved the chat bubbles in SWG. I think they do add to the experience and hope BW adds them in soon. However, there should be an option to turn them off since there are those that disagree. Its easy enough to do.

I agree with the OP in that I prefer sandbox MMO's and that this game is too linear even compared to other theme park MMO's. It is more linear than WoW especially with sharding, but better than Guild Wars (which is a game I tried several times but couldn't get into because of world instancing). However, I do believe this game is a well made theme park MMO. Despite my belief that the game is too linear, I think statements that the world feels dead are unfounded. I am on a Heavy to Full server and there are always many people around. Bioware just went a different direction with this theme park MMO. Time will tell if the heavy emphasis on story can be a successful and sustaining model in the MMO industry.

You must be playing that "ruthless, scheming, disgusting, bastard" role a little too much because it is leaking into RL. The OP was only commenting on a pattern he has noticed in other players and was starting a discussion on why that may be. Jumping down his throat about worrying about other people is just unproductive to this thread. I for one have been enjoying reading other people's approaches to the story line. I play a LS sith sorc. The story in my head is that my sith is loyal to the empire and agrees with the sith's emphasis on passion rather than the jedi way, but that doesn't mean hate and anger have to be the main passions. I have been loving the story so far but I have noticed that DS/LS doesn't necessarily pertain to moral choices, it also seems to me DS = loyalty to the empire and LS mean being against the empire. This sometimes makes it difficult for me because I want to stay loyal to the empire but those LS points are so tempting....