Going by what happened in WoW, the answer is no. In terms of build variability, many classes/specs still have cookie-cutter builds where plenty of the allegedly meaningful choices are either useless (and are never taken) or too strong (so they are always taken). So that beats the "fewer but more meaningful choices" argument. Regarding the "easier to balance" argument, the current state of WoW (I am talking about the pre-WoD patch) simply shows the opposite as well, both in PvP and PvE. So taking these two together, the only actual change occurring is that for most of the player-base there will be much less choice, meaningful or not, while the balance will still be the same and many classes will still be in for a roller-coaster.

The irony of this post is off-charts. Who exactly is the vocal minority, the casuals playing with all sorts of builds (including many that are hybrids) and never visit the forums or the "hardcore/elite" "progression" raiders/"ranked" pvpers that spent half their time complaining about things like 0.1% dps difference on the forums? It is quite astounding that the same BS arguments used when Blizzard made the change are used here unchanged. There are MMO FPS on the market that currently offer more character customisation and build options than what you have in WoW, but apparently that change was successful and it worked for the best of the game- as obviously seen by the "fine" state of both PvE and PvP in MoP!

Best news in ages! Why couldn't BW put something like this in SWTOR is beyond me, but now with the originals released for modern operating systems I don't care anymore. Anyway, back to finding a joystick for Tie Fighter...

I am using a 60-day card as well (bought directly from EA/BW) and I can tell you that you get your other 500CC when the 2nd month rolls. All the best

If you are going to bring gamergate here, you might as well include the harassment and death threads the pro-gamergate people get as well. Otherwise you simple reek of bias and as someone who is looking for an argument just for the sake of it.

Do you mind telling me how you can distinguish whether the Trooper, both of the Sith and the Bounty Hunter are male or female? Because I am pretty sure that I have seen partly similar armor on both male AND female characters in-game, plus there is no face shown to help distinguish one way or another.

Just because more of us are not here posting all the time, it doesn't mean we are not deeply concerned and unhappy. I had exactly the same kind of circular arguments on the WoW forums when that change was announced with the proponents of the system giving the exact same arguments as here. In the end though a) it still went through and b) the results were as negative as predicted, ie dire balance, no wonderful variety in "meaningful" specs and bad players were still bad players even if you put their rotational abilities on their bars in numerical order and told them to roll their face on the keyboard. So apologies for having a very strong case of dejavu and not wanting to get through the same story all over again. All I will say is that just like in WoW, despite my better judgement, I will still give this system a spin. Unlike WoW though, I can and I will do it without paying and if I am not satisfied that will be the end of it.

Pretty much this. When they revealed that the expansion was going to be Revan-centric, their PR worked and I did re-sub after a very long time, fully intending to buy the expansion as soon as it was on pre-order. But now I am really really not convinced simply because of the Disciplines. Call it "extremely bad taste from WoW" or whatever you want, but I only have negative feelings for such changes in the name of "balance" that is never achieved anyway.

Yeah, it's on the list for sure. Especially since it's built with co-op in mind and it would be great for playing with some friends. But, nothing beats my love for Icewind Dale :-)

Looks great tbh! The problem is I just bought last month the full version from GOG and it's the 3rd time I buy this game in general throughout the years :-). So I will have to wait for the price before I take any decisions.

That's exactly how it feels to me as well unfortunately. I mean they could very well make you select a spec prior to assigning any points on the tree that then gives you a passive that buffs by 100% (random number is random) all the spells that spec is supposed to use. So if you pick dps spec, then even if fully specing and gearing as healer, you wouldn't have that major buff and your output would be limited. That would have had even bigger effect on hybrid specs. But no, lets do what Blizzard did! Additionally, the main problem is that in WoW hybrids at least got to keep some basic/iconic off-spec abilities (so DPS paladins/druids kept some basic heals and tanking tools for example) while I am suspecting that from what they said during the stream they (BW) will strip DPS specs from all such tools. I hope that's not the case, because I don't want to play an FPS MMO but rather an RPG MMO like SWTOR is supposed to be.

I really hated the change in WoW and as such I am not positive at all for this announcement. Personally, I was changing talents much more often with the previous system in WoW than the current one. Pro-tip: just because the choices are fewer and are labelled "meaningful" they do not automatically become so. Expect shortly after the release of 3.0 to get guides for each spec saying "if you are going to pve spec this way, if you are going to pvp spec that way", only with no ability to branch into the other two specs of your AC and try things that you might find interesting.

This has been very clear from the beginning, my question is that since you think like this then why do you want Ranked premades to be able to q for WZs, even as groups of 4 only. Aren't RWZs enough for you "serious" ppl or can't you follow your own advice and join a "serious" enough guild so that you can do RWZs only and be done with the noobs? Or are "serious" pvpers simply supposed to have the best of both systems and Bioware should ignore the casuals? Anyway, I am done arguing this subject, I believe it is clear enough what the problem will be to anyone with half a brain and no illusions of grandeur. Pugs vs premades will push casuals (clickers, noobs, backpedalers etc etc) away from lvl 50 pvp, whichever way you try to dress it up.

So according to you, "serious" pvpers get screwed by random noobs in normal WZ cause they can get any 4 random idiots that ruin their playing experience. On the other hand, you suggest to others in this same thread to go join a "serious" guild in order to have enough "serious" pvpers to do RWZs. So in the end what is it? Normal or Ranked for the "serious" pvpers? If you are so tired of noobs and idiots ruining your game, why don't you join an even more "serious" guild and only RWZs with other pros? At the end of the day, the "serious" or "pro" or "God-mode" or "properly geared" or "non-keyboard turners" pvpers get your RWZs in 1.3, leave the normal WZ ones for the rest of us that enjoy this game casually.

Thanks for the suggestion mate, I tend to do that already. The idea is that while you are waiting in the q for your Ranked game, you can also join the q for normal warzones with any group you like, including your ranked team. So tell me, how many do you think will be joining solo or with a different group, considering that 4-man premades are already quite prominent? If you are in a group to do pvp and you can join two qs for pvp, one with much shorter waiting time that also does not affect your q for the ranked games, would you skip that option? Because I don't think many will and thus the casual puggers will be facing more and more ranked premades.