Hello everyone, welcome to TEDxSWTOR, in this wall of text I will offer my opinion on why I don't like the arriving combat styles and how they'll alter the perception of what SWTOR is supposed to be. While I do realize there are people who like the upcoming system, please read trough this post and keep an open mind.
TL;DR will be at the bottom if you don't want to read trough it all.
So, let's begin, shall we.
SWTOR was always marketed as an MMORPG that had a deep class and story progression and connection. Unlike most other MMORPGs out there, SWTOR has a fully voiced story and side missions where both your player character and companions are designed in a way that you connect with the class. For example I'm going to take the Sith Warrior and the advanced classes - Juggernaut and Marauder. SW is one of the most liked stories, along with Imperial Agent with how it plays out, the companions and especially the Voice Acting. The story, lore-wise, was designed to play out as an indestructible force whose noble uprising has helped them become what they are, a warrior like no other. Now, however, that will change, meaning you can play the Sith Warrior class story with a character that is nothing like the Warrior was designed to be. In my opinion, playing the Sith Warrior class story with a Sith Inquisitor (be it Sorcerer or Assassin) wouldn't work. The Sith Warrior is not supposed to be able to stealth, summon lighting or wield a dualsaber. Take Darth Malgus for example - whenever you see Darth Malgus you recognize him as a Sith Warrior (Juggernaut) that always used his strength to overcome obstacles, now if Darth Malgus was a player character he could just swap a loadout to a Sorcerer and be, well, a Sorcerer. That's not fun, now is it ?
Another example is the Sith Inquisitor class story - they're trained either to be masters of force via summoning lighting, healing etc. like the Sorcerer or masters of stealth that rely on their prowess like the Assassin, they're not supposed to be an immovable object like the Juggernaut, but now, they will be able to.
I realize there are people that don't enjoy certain class stories, with the most unpopular being the Jedi Consular and the Republic Trooper, but they have their charm. Playing trough the Jedi Consular story as a Jedi Knight now won't be the same as it was because it's simply not designed with that in mind.
Not to say that all the upcoming changes are bad, of course, there are good sides to it. I can see how the ability to swap playstyles mid-flashpoint or mid-operation might be beneficial or how people will now have the opportunity to play their favorite characters differently. Powertech Bounty Hunters will rejoice that they will now have the ability to use rifles and snipers or Republic Troopers being able to dual-wield pistols.
While it might give replayability to certain class story lines, I don't think anyone can justify playing a Jedi Knight story with Sith Inqusitor (Sorcerer) abilties. Lore-wise it just wouldn't work. Say you're a Jedi Knight and suddenly you start casting lightning everywhere, that wouldn't work out well for you, now would it ? - Sure, you can say you fell to the Dark Side and that you can play as a Dark Side Jedi right now and to that I say - Yes, you CAN play as Dark Side Jedi Knight now, but you're still a Jedi Knight, using Jedi Knight abilites, you're not a Sorcerer, Juggernaut or a Shadow - it's that uniqueness each class and story has.
What I'm trying to say is, each class has their own story for a reason. Simply giving them the ability to play as another class will remove that uniqueness SWTOR has with the classes and stories. SWTOR is different than all of the other MMORPGs out there, simply because of that - the class dependent story lines and by removing that, by detaching class from story, SWTOR will become "just another MMORPG" in which story and class don't matter and you can play trough everything with everything. With this change, SWTOR will become a clone of Final Fantasy XIV where you can have all "classes" or "jobs" on a single character and while some might find that fun and interesting, I think that having unique classes with unique story lines is better than having the ability to cross-play other class stories.
TL;DR - Class and story should not be detached one from the other and the current system where you pick your class and advanced class are something that very few MMORPGs out there have which makes SWTOR a unique and amazing experience compared to other games.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.