Got to level 43 before I found myself too bored to continue.

I used to play WoW, for a very long time. But now I'm tired of WoW, I'm tired of that set up and how everything's so homogeneous. What most of us 'hardcore' MMO players (or, to phrase it better, the MMO veterans) want is something different and this game just isn't doing that right now. Instead of adding features; changing things fundamentally or trying a new approach they've just streamlined WoW. This is like drinking diet WoW when you were promised lemonade in the first place, not what my crowd wanted, just a poor remake of a game we left for the same reasons this game has attained minor success.

I dislike the story, I've genuinely found other MMO's stories more compelling, despite them being text based. Outside of the cut scenes there's little attempt made to make what you're doing (usually collecting x amount of y) remotely significant or interesting. I also dislike the PvP. The amount, variety and game modes of the war zones are appalling and it's just not enough to represent (well) the conflict that they've insisted is definitely happening. I dislike the cities. There's no character about them and there's very little opportunity for communities to exploit these huge, animated husks of cul-de-sacs and enclosed environments. There's no Stormwind; no Bree; no Mos Eisley. I like the PvE combat, it's relatively smooth, easy to learn and the animations give a better sense of action than other MMOs on the market right now. However it's just button mashing and there's very little thought or tactics involved. I like the flash points.

1.5m or so. I don't think this game's going to grow excessively from this point onward unless there's a real attempt to overhaul some areas, but I don't see this as a sinking ship either as it appeals to a certain type of player who are relatively content.

I really hope this isn't the game that kills WoW. It's so unimaginative that, if this is the way that the popular MMO industry's going, I might as well just pack it in. Also please don't hold up Star Wars as a comparably better IP than Warcaft, neither are worthy of any excessive praise. The former a George Lucas production which was comparably good for cinema and the latter a recycled mess of Tolkien, Lovecraft and other creative sources.

No, good sir.

I genuinely think this is something that's missing as well. The fleets are just completely devoid of character and, aside from the paint job, are nothing more than a lazy copy and paste which does nothing to represent the starkly contrasting cultures and societies of the two factions. 'This isn't WoW' isn't an acceptable rebuttal, frankly, and there's simply no defense for having no real, distinctive player hubs unless you don't like the massively multiplayer feeling of those other games in the genre and, in that case, you should then revert to saying this isn't an MMO - because no MMO can be without a community and so far this game doesn't really allow for one.

As Bioware don't have an issue with instancing in this game and the aforementioned instancing allows them to personalize who gets what content/choices/events, it simply wouldn't be that difficult when compared to a seamless game world. Obviously creating different scenarios for every choice you make is just a massive drain on resources but when there's a clearly significant choice you've made it's only fair that you should expect some sort of consequence in later parts of the quest chain or as part of another quest.

I dislike this as well. I hate how the only consequences of some of the bigger decisions you make are emails from some of the affected parties. The problem for me here is that, despite some of the side quests being interesting, they're all simply a means of veiling the fact that they're sending you out to perform a kill or collect quest. I appreciate some people enjoy some of the storytelling, but when it's merely x + y = z where x + y vary little from quest to quest and z is the outcome of them telling you to 'kill these' or 'collect these' it's really just hard to feel as if this is lifelike, something that would really happen.

6/10 Solid leveling experience but ultimately a hollow one with a bland choice of environments and an ultimately 'traditional' approach to questing that leaves you feeling more than a little short-changed after the hype. If you like Bioware's stories you'll like some elements of the game but if you expect genuine depth to characters and quest lines you're out of luck. PvPers will be, to say the least, disappointed; raiders will be underwhelmed and those seeking a game with more of a fun ethic than a purely progression based one should find the game's enjoyment short-lived. Problems might be solved with time but it's generally things that you feel should of been sorted out before launch and things that will only be remedied by larger content patches that often take a long time to come into fruition. [Roleplayers will find that the lack of a distinctly visible player base; an excess of instancing and an abundance of environments without much in terms of exploration or landmarks makes for something of a hampered experience].

I might be tempted to agree that, despite all of the problems I've mentioned with the addition of many I neglected to, it's still probably one of the best leveling experiences you can have in an MMO. Most of the gripes I have with questing are issues that are perhaps overlapped with others - lack of responsiveness; empty landscapes; lack of MMO feeling; etc. It feels a lot like an easier LotRO with better storytelling to me and I'm still undecided as to whether I prefer that to the WoW model or not.

I'm not really talking all day sessions here, I'm busy right now and really can't devote much time to this game as I might have at a point in the past. Really my problem is with the lack of choice. I can't go to a different planet if I tire of one as I might of on LotRO or WoW or whichever game you care to name and that's something of a failing. My enjoyment of this game is most likely dampened by my experiences in the genre thus far, so I'm not surprised that my opinion isn't agreed upon. But PvP, space missions and flashpoints aren't really different leveling options (or not entirely) as they're not really as unique as having some whole other leveling path that you can take. I have been doing those when I find a planet wearisome, but it's not ideal in my opinion.

I simply can't agree. The story - at times - is above average for this genre of video games but largely you're stuck with the same system that the vast majority of MMO players have become painstakingly familiar with at this point. A lot of the environments aren't imaginative; the quest objectives simply aren't anything new and you never see the consequences of your actions because the world, at least outside of the instances, is as static as those of this game's many predecessors. There's no means of deviating from a strict, on-rails levelling path and the difficulty of the game is set to a level that means - while you're never likely to die - a lot of the killing that you have to preform so often feels quite drawn-out and grindy. I enjoyed levelling in this game at times, but largely it wasn't anything new and there was simply no option but to stop playing for an extended period if I became bored of a particular planet and its quest line. I think, passed a certain level, it feels a bit too much like WoW in every respect (where questing is concerned) and some tweaking needs to be done to remedy that. Edit: From the experiences of a level 43, currently on the planet of Belsavis (the concept for this planet and the design is fantastic, so I'm leaning toward the thinking that perhaps Bioware's been a little constrained by such a distinct intellectual property in the respect that they can't really offer something that is in itself memorable - Hoth, Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa are all examples of that).

Please don't come out with this like everyone else. If a newly started company tried to sell me a CD player for the same price as an iPod but used the justification that the older company had "been around for a longer amount of time" so I should be more sympathetic toward their product's relative failings I'd just give it a miss. This game is going to be compared to older MMOs and people have every right to demand that this game is, at the very least, standing toe-to-toe with the older games. I don't think this game is bad at all but it's clearly not as good in a lot of respects (PvP, openness, etc.) as its more established competitors.

Really not impressed by the stories and to be honest making good stories has never been Bioware's thing, contrary to popular belief. Bioware are very good at -storytelling- and the way the stories are presented to you in this game is above average in most respects, so must be commended from that stance.

Currently level 41, to give an indication of play time thusfar. Right. To be concise, I feel that SW:TOR's travelling system is excessively time consuming and has too many stages that - after the novelty's worn off - simply present the player with the prospect of multiple loading screens; unnecessary waiting and fairly long periods of not doing anything that either entertains or interests. Now travel systems have always been in games in some shape or form. But never has a game really forced the player to, rather than make an A to B journey, whizz around an A to B to - finally - C journey during which there are up to six loading screens to put up with. Whilst the suggestion might not be popular with some, I really don't think many truly enjoy being taken out of gameplay for such long periods on what can become a frequent basis. Therefore I propose simply giving us a galaxy map as a section of our basic map that we can use to travel from planet to planet. I appreciate that this might, indeed, bypass the ships that were meant to be such a huge feature however I want to go to my ship because I -want- to go to my ship (because there's things to do there, companions to speak to, etc.) not simply because I'm made to.

Johnstone, first name being Cyrille.

I normally do something similar, to be honest, but with the sheer lack of classes in this game compared to others I didn't really have much opportunity to pick something that at least gave a good outline of what I was going for.

My character's the owner of a hazardous environment maintenance firm which he runs with his debilitated wife. And, uh, it'd be rather difficult to pursue any path if you were restricted to being a jedi, a soldier or a smuggler like your character - I just went for the class that I'd enjoy gameplay wise.

I disregard the trooper story, to be honest. My character isn't a soldier; he's not caught up in the affairs of the Republic and he's not particularly effective in combat so it just doesn't work out for me. I do choose responses based on my own character's mindset, but in reality he's not there; this isn't him and it's not part of his story. (It's something of a shame this is the case, because I do quite enjoy leveling in-character as I did on Lord of the Rings Online, but oh well).

I don't think it'll make or break the game, but a dungeon finder (albeit only for linking up with players on your server) would be a step in the right direction when you consider you're not even visiting specialized zones to get to these flashpoints anyway and therefore fears of it leading to people just standing on the fleet are misguided. I don't want to have to spend an hour of my life scouring general chat for a group for, say, Taral V when I could be doing something entertaining. I played vanilla WoW and at times I had the same feeling, so I don't know what the problem would be there.

You've got to be joking. Whilst music's very opinion based and all that noise, the soundtrack of this game features some of the best in John Williams, Jeremy Soule and others that's simply head and shoulders above any other MMO's offerings. The music doesn't come on all the time and that's because it's meant to fit in seamlessly with the environment, atmosphere and the actions of the player. Perhaps it could be triggered more often but other than that complaints feel unfounded when this is one of the few near-perfect features of the game.

Biggest identifiable problem. One would think they could afford bigger servers that could sustain the sort of populations this game needs.

I don't think they have a PvP end-game. I can't imagine doing unrated warzones, Illum or general world PvP on a frequent basis as none of them really have the illusion of progress, competitiveness or replayability. Arenas in WoW worked because you could make hundreds of those little gladitorial maps if you really wanted without much time, money or effort; the ranking system gave people identifiable targets and a means of measuring their achievement and the small group format allowed for practical co-operation. Ranked warzones could step in and tackle this, but forming a ranked team for these sort of things is difficult for people outside of dedicated guilds and there's logistical/communication problems. Guild Wars' PvP was a good example of how to mix it all up effectively and WAR's RvR (Mythic being in on this and all) is a wonderful example of how they might be more imaginative with catering to the PvP community.

No, this shouldn't happen. Plain and simple. 'DLC packs' for an MMO wouldn't work and wouldn't be what the vast majority of people wanted. If you, however, don't think this is worth subscribing to then vote with your wallet and clear off.