As someone who's worked in places with a lot of "inter-team" processes going on, it makes perfect sense. Happens all the flippin time... Wires got crossed... they caught it. Life moves on. What's the saying? Somebody's razor - 'Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence'.

"I think they ate Outpost Five"

Microsoft makes a good one... forget the model number. Noise cancelling with mike. It comes with Lifechat software, but you don't have to install or use that if you don't want to. Just plug the mike in and go.

Yeah... baby got back! I was hoping for more of "camel" booty though, than the "plank" butt I suddenly get whenever I put a (bath)robe on. Think we can get some better armor meshes into the game? Maybe even some that don't look like I just hopped out of the shower and threw a tightly belted robe on?

Levelling up a Jedi Knight currently. Got the game to play with my wife and some friends from our old MUD (still running btw ). Anyway, I'm having fun, may even level up a smuggler, but this game brings the Golden Path concept to a whole new level. Everquest 2, which SOE has admitted suffered from that problem, always gave you at least 2 choices of zones to level/quest in (at launch, now there are more). Here? As far as I can see, at any given level you've got exactly one planet with quests for you (aside from starting zones). I took a break from the story line for a while just to explore and do whatever, and now I realize I'm going to go back to the storyline, hit Ord Mantell for whatever, then go back through the same planets, in the same order (I'm on Tatooine now). Has there been any word about adding more planets/choices in upcoming updates? The only thing I've heard about is "rise of the rakhghouls which is "so epic" they're spreading it out over two updates... If nothing else, I'm getting my money's worth out of it as a single player game, so I'm not raging upset or anything. Just a bit disappointed since people I talked to said there was "so much content" in the game.... One person told me it has twice the content that WoW has now after three expansions (gotta get me some of what he was smoking...)

Some of us look at the forums as a way to give feedback and bring attention to things in the game that need "fixing". Engineering axiom #1: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - so we don't talk about stuff that ain't broke.

Glad you liked it. It seems a lot of people are taking your advice. I was questing/grinding on Nar Shadaa for a few hours and never saw more than 10 people online. There were 2 in the Republic Fleet (including me) when I hopped up for some training. Don't get me wrong, I picked a light load server for a reason. Hard to feel heroic when your standing in line waiting to rescue some idiot that 40 other players are coincidentally also trying to bust out. I said it before the game launched - it was a hell of a gamble because stories end, and MMO's don't. I also still think the full voice over thing is going to come back and bite them in the butt because it makes it ten times harder (and more costly) to add content. Without voice, an intern and a graphics guy can add tons of quests and content into a game with the right tools. Bioware needs a sound studio, voice actors (hope they got the same ones or else we'll just have a revolving door of characters that we meet as old ones are whisked away to Goddess Knows Where), lip synching, and all the other tasks that now go along with every simple kill this and deliver that quest they want to add.

They were level 7 That's actually the example I use whenever someone argues for "dev control" over prices rather than just letting the marketplace set them. At first glance they're just another piece of level 7 thief gear. But they had just the right stats, and there wasn't anything better for a loooong time... They cost a million gil because they were worth a million gil. Back on topic though - I know they all aren't MMO's - But you know what? Neither is the "story portion" of SWTOR (story areas limited by class and number). They are all video games that told a story. Why is it Bioware couldn't come up with a story as good as the ones in those games, even with all the money they were apparently throwing at it?

Once again - some video games with stories for comparison: Final Fantasy XI - I think the first "story based" MMO. Great story, and BONUS, you got to go through the storylines grouped, rather than shifting to single player mode. Xenosaga - One of my personal all time favorites: Gnosticism, Jung, and Nietzsche (stirred, not shaken) Baldurs Gate Trilogy - ok, it's still the reluctant hero meets messiah, but it was done well Planescape: Torment - you mean what I say actually matters... The Witcher - foreshadowing, choices, plot, memorable characters Final Fantasy VI - You fight to save the world. You fail and the world gets trashed. At least there's revenge. Final Fantasy IV - another reluctant hero/messiah, again done well though. Might and Magic - greatest surprise ending EVAH! Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura - loads of ways to go through the content, from combat to charisma Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - a buggy, buggy game, saved by its modding community and a great story. How do you really think SWTOR's stories hold up to those? I'm not trying to compare a game to Aasimov or Pritchard, but I think comparisons to other video games are valid. And since Bioware went out and shilled this game's story so frikkin much, I kind of expected something really, really good. They just didn't deliver. It's not that the story is horrible, it's just ok. But when it's the main selling point of the game, ok (or even just good) really isn't good enough.

FFXI, and I think Lineage I and II (though I haven't played those)

To me the story was just "meh". It started off bad with the text scroll in the prologue for Jedi Knight where you are the "new hope" of the galaxy and just kind of coasted on from there. Maybe it gets better. I stopped doing the main story quests after Coruscant (I'm supposed to go to Ord Mantell) and decided to hit Taris instead. Now I'm on Nar Shadaa. Maybe after I finish the quests on the planet and hit 25 to get my speeder I'll remember to go back and see what Darth has been up to... Edit: For comparison, games which (IMHO) had good storylines: Xenosaga Trilogy - takes a while to get into, but some good stuff touching on some deep issues; Final Fantasy VI - You spend the first half of the game trying to stop the bad guy. You fail. Time for payback; The Witcher; Planescape: Torment; Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines; Might and Magic I - very twist ending.

There is. I've found a few pieces with that look, slightly different colorings. Still looking for a moddable one though so I can ditch the bathrobe.

Bioware has done all it can to put the players in straightjackets so they don't have to do the 'work' involved with character customization. It starts at the character creation screen and never stops. I'd love to blame EA for this, but they're the guys who make The Sims - where you can customize everything down to the color of your toenails. And for the movie/canon argument. The "Empire" in this game has nothing to do with the "Empire" in the movies (prequels or original). The Republic probably changed a lot over the millenia intervening as well. But Bioware deliberately puts in things like "separatists" to make people think we're playing in the Clone Wars or something... The game is like a purebred racehorse, that keeps getting whacked in the knees every time it starts to run...

Barring appearance armor slots - which is mind bogglingly that we don't have (unless we do and I'm just blind) - appearance is just as valid as stats for determining "need". The question really is "Will you use it?" Case in point: I'm still low level, so I don't have all fully moddable stuff yet, but I found a nice piece of blue armor with a hundred more armor and +str over what I have. Only trouble is the thing looks like a white wedding dress. I'm not giving up my Heavy Armored Bare Midriff for that, so I'll probably end up putting it on the marketplace. Let's say I'm in a PUG that kills a world boss or something and a nice black bare midriff moddable heavy armor chestpiece drops. I'm rolling need on that motha cause I'm going use it. I don't care if the mods are +aim and +cunning. If the mods aren't bound I'd have no problem giving them to someone who could use them if they weren't something I'd give to my companions first.

Four or five ships? I remember space events with over one hundred player ships participating! That was cinematic. And heroic, and everything else an MMO should be. Not to mention all the missions, soloing a corvette for the first time, etc... Space combat should be moving forward in an newer MMO, not taking us back to Descent 3. Oh, and to whoever said SWG closed down due to lack of players... Not true (Vanguard is still going). The license expired. Lucas Arts has zero incentive to have two competing games using their IP, so the license wasn't renewed. Simple economics. My bet is even is SWG had ten times the player base, LA would still have shut it down.

I didn't know (and still don't) which side outnumbers the other. Nor do I care. I chose Republic because I wanted to play a Jedi Knight and Scoundrel. There's plenty of people, generally between 30 to 50 on every planet I've been to so far, though I'm just starting. The number is probably higher at the endgame. *shrug* play what you want because you want to play it, not because there are more/less other people doing the same.

I'm completely lost on this one... If you play a pet class, and you can roll on an item that will make your pet stronger, how is that not "need"? Your pet is an extension of your character. If your pet is stronger, so are you.

I'd love it. Like Freeport and Qeynos in EQ2 - the cities may hate each other but that doesn't mean all the individual citizens care. Cross faction mail, grouping, guilding should all be enabled for PvE servers. You want a lore reason? The empire and republic aren't at war - Treaty of Coruscant, remember? If not, open up a special rules server or two and see how popular it is (or isn't).

It doesn't NEED to have anything. it's an MMO, it doesn't need to have a PvP system. it's an MMO, it doesn't need to have a fast travel system. it's an MMO, it doesn't need to have companions. See how much fun that is? I played SWG for years mainly because of the space game. It gave you character progression in the form of ship upgrades. Crafting in the form of shipwrights crafting good and reverse-engineering looted goods. Credit farming in the form of blowing things up and making money doing it. Oh, and your character gained pilot levels which gave access to better ships, better space combat techniques, etc... If you don't want to play the space game, then don't. But put GOOD space content in, and lots of people will play it. I don't PvP, but I'm not screaming for Bioware to take it out or not put anything dev time into it because I know that other people enjoy that aspect of play. What's so hard to understand about this?