Advanced Classes are specialized careers that your characters can choose in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. As your character becomes more seasoned through adventure, you will be given the opportunity to undertake one of two Advanced Classes. This decision is equally as important as when you originally created your character. This is because your choice will not only make your character more distinct and powerful, but it will also help further define the role you wish to play in The Old Republic.

In addition to your Class-specific Skills and Abilities, your chosen Advanced Class will grant you access to role-defining Abilities that represent additional areas of expertise and some may even grant new weapon and armor types. Additionally, each Advanced Class will also have three sets of Skills available to further customize your character.

http://www.swtor.com/sites/all/files/en/gamesystems/advanced_classes/skills.jpg)

The chart above is not representative of any of the current Advanced Class Skill Sets, nor does it show exactly how many Skills you may potentially access. It is included to provide an example of how a character, in this case a Sith Warrior, may look as he progresses through one Advanced Class (note that the other Advanced Class Skill Sets are disabled and cannot be trained).

As mentioned above, each Advanced Class opens up three Skill Sets with a variety of Skills in each. Unlike selecting an Advanced Class, these Skill Sets are less restrictive and your character can obtain Skills from any set or from all of them!

Source (http://www.swtor.com/info/systems/advanced-classes)

Shocking.

A warrior that can specialise to be a tank or a DPS? By talent trees?
Never seen that before!

/sarcasm

You didn't expect it to be a vastly different formula did you??

You didn't expect it to be a vastly different formula did you??

To be honest, I had hoped.
Guild Wars did things different. Very refreshing. This is just...

Better a good stolen idea then a bad new one, but they announced this like it's the next best thing and the fanboys are fainting.

I find it... peculiar. I mean, I can't seem to find decent advanced classes for some of the classes (Bounty Hunter is advanced enough for me, and I don't see what a Smuggler is supposed to "advance"). And the classes for which it does seem easy to find advanced classes are already branched enough (2 Jedi and 2 Sith classes).

As for the repercussions on gameplay, I hope this can keep the balance between all classes. But if it can, and it means more chance of appearing and being unique in the game, I don't see why not.

That being said, I'm glad too see something return from KotOr 2, the Sith Marauder. :)

I find it... peculiar. I mean, I can't seem to find decent advanced classes for some of the classes (Bounty Hunter is advanced enough for me, and I don't see what a Smuggler is supposed to "advance"). And the classes for which it does seem easy to find advanced classes are already branched enough (2 Jedi and 2 Sith classes).

As for the repercussions on gameplay, I hope this can keep the balance between all classes. But if it can, and it means more chance of appearing and being unique in the game, I don't see why not.

That being said, I'm glad too see something return from KotOr 2, the Sith Marauder. :)

Somewhere I remember reading that the advance classes for Smuggler are Gunslinger and Scoundrel.

Shocking.

A warrior that can specialise to be a tank or a DPS? By talent trees?
Never seen that before!

/sarcasm

^THIS times OVER 9000!!!

Really guys, you're setting us up for a fairly original game and what we're looking at is a WoW clone with lightsabers? Good job on the originality there, maybe you should just call this game: World of Warcraft: The Old Republic instead?

No offense Web...but what did you expect? I mean really? They clearly saw something they liked and that they know MMO players are familiar with and decided to use it. Every single MMO I've played has had a skill tree of one sort or another and I didn't expect this one to be any different. Hell you even see it in single player RPG's such as Dragon Age. There's a skill tree at work there too for each class. It's done a bit differently, but it is there.

While I think TOR will make some strides in bringing some originality to the MMO realm, they will also adopt many aspects that are proven to work. We can't expect everything to be different, because chances are that parts of it wouldn't work right.

Somewhere I remember reading that the advance classes for Smuggler are Gunslinger and Scoundrel.

Here's where you likely read it. And in hindsight, it's pretty damn close to what Advanced Classes actually look like.

http://darthhater.com/2009/12/18/charting-a-path-to-class-customization/)

I got a feeling bounty hunter or Agent will have the classes of: Marksman/Specialist

I got a feeling bounty hunter or Agent will have the classes of: Marksman/Specialist

I see the potantial for this system in the non-Jedi classes yeah. Marksman would be awesome.

I just had hoped Jedi could do something...different. Someone here already told me the 'Juggernaut' class doesn't have to be a tank, troopers could have a tank tree, but I expect it to be the case...

I wonder what Trooper's Advanceds would be. I'm thinking like Mass Effect and the Soldier class's sub-classes, Shock Trooper and Commando. Shock Trooper was more defensive(see Tank), Commando was more offensive(see DPS). But maybe we'll other more ingenious names.

I wonder if it could work like the Sphere Grid and the License Board from Final Fantasy X & XII