Maybe if they remade it with the engine from EQNext and Planetside 2 and added in things like EQNext Landmark and such. Might actually work a second time around.

I do understand the CM makes Bioware and EA money. I get that. But I have to agree with the OP here. Too much actually does pull away from the core game. I would love them to work on more flashpoints, operations, and pvp stuff. Heck look at huttball. They have the perfect chance to make it something huge. With ranked tournaments with teams and such. They could go really crazy with it. And even add other competitive stuff like pod racing or pazaak. Also what about the war? Makeb is done. Lets get back to why we are here. Republic versus Sith.

Makeb wasnt bad for my Merc healer or Jugg DPS until I did the Stage 2 Dissonance Wave mission. That one was really a pain. Running all over back and forth through mobs like crazy. And as for flying through on my bike.... Yah I got knocked off at least a half dozen times. And I was grouped with a friend. We finally dumped the mounts and just walked. We are going to face pull and get knocked off every where we go. Might as well cut a swath. The xp was good though so no big whoop. The mission would have been good if it hadnt been the last mission we were doing that night I am sure.

Sir Marty what was your character name that unlocked jedi on SWG? What server were you on? And lastly what PA did you belong too?

The thing I hate about the crystals is they are a big middle finger to artifice crafters. Because there is no equal in their crafting until level 50. There are a few items in the CM that dumps on crafters. But the crystals are the worst IMO.

Sorry to necro but I found this post so interesting. Because I ran a pen and paper RPG game not long ago in which Mace was back. And it freaked out the group heavily. Here is the stories. In my game.... Mace was battling the emperor as we see in the movies. Being electrocuted by Palpatine and having his hand cut off by Anakin caused Mace to go into shock. His primal instincts took over and subconsciously called on the power of the force. This protected his vital organs from the energy. But he appeared to die just before his body was flung through the window. He hit another building, going through the window. Again the force protected him as much as possible. He was found, rescued, and hidden away in the slums while he healed. It took a year to recover. Now for my campaign. 4 players. One of which was force sensitive but didnt know it at the beginning. The group's story was following something I had read several years before. About a group of dark jedi named Vader's Dark Knights. I found it compelling and decided to use them as the main enemies of the campaign. Along with a few bounty hunters like Boba Fett. During the campaign the force sensitive and the group go in search of a hermit on Tatooine. And they find Ben. After an adventure dealing with Tusken Raiders with Ben at their side, the force sensitive is told, by Ben, what and who he is. He is then told to go to the Dagobah system and find Yoda. A nice adventure there dealing with the final "boss" a high level dark jedi. Yoda then tells the young force sensitive that he can not train him. "Another I am waiting for. A different instructor you must seek hmm. To Dathomir you must go. A one handed man you must find yes.". So the group go to Dathomir and there learn of another hermit. One that lives in a very remote area of the planet. The campaign is done at this point. But they go anyway to seek out this one handed hermit. Emerging from a hut is a bald headed dark skinned man with one hand. I ended it right there. Didnt give them a name or anything. And they went nuts. "Dude was that Mace?" "How could it be Mace? He died" Oh the discussion after that was hours trying to figure out how Mace could have survived. I thought of trying to write a book about it, just to see if I could do it. But I aint much of a writer.

You mean like sand is refreshing to people that live in a desert? Or salt water is refreshing to people that live on an island? Or someone stuck eating subway everyday for months finds subway refreshing? reˈfreshing adjective 1. giving new strength and energy; having a cooling and relaxing effect. (a refreshing drink of cold water.) 2. particularly pleasing because different from normal. (It is refreshing to hear a politician speak so honestly.) But it is normal to see these types of posts.... So how can it be refreshing? Get it yet there sport?

No there were in the south of one of the continents. Cant remember where, havent played in years. I just remember them being there since launch and they led no where. Protected by some big mobs if memory serves.

I would accept minimal voice overs. Important things voiced over. Everything else use terminals. While the whole voice over thing was cool at first.... now its kinda worn thin to me. I am getting to the point I space bar through everything.

No your saying its refreshing to see a post like this. I am pointing out this post is not uncommon. You make it sound like no one has ever thought about posting about complainers before. I am saying its been done before. How can something be refreshing if its been done before... alot I might add? I am not saying his post isnt valid. I am saying your post with the whole "Its so refreshing to see someone finally speak out against these complainers." post isnt......Because this isnt a new thing. It happens all the time in game forums across the globe. In TOR it started before the game launched as "Why complain about a game that you havent played yet" Then after release it became "Why complain about a game that was just released." And now it has morphed into "Why complain about a game your playing". This is not new. Check any game forums. Go back to before release, just release, and current. This is one of the "common" post types. So no its not refreshing. Its expected. Not saying its good or bad. Just pointing out its nothing new.

NGE.... Nuff said there.

I think it was meant for something but was later scrapped. I mean besides other players being able to leave your ship. But this is not uncommon. Look at the world of WoW. They have tons of "Unused" things in their world. Like the big gates that led nowhere. There was supposed to be an instance there, if memory serves, but the instance was scrapped.

Its not refreshing. Its been done before. Every game I have played that had forums get this type of post alot. The complaining about complainers post. I have seen this post pop up as far back as Quake MTF. This is just as common as the posts that pop up when a developer make some content, that once cost money, free.

Interesting article. Good as I said "Unless they have them under contract" and according to the article they do have them under contract. Awesome. Still doesnt explain why they wont continue with class story. So Bioware says most of the cost of this game came from creating the game engine that they bought from Fabrik Plc and from adding choice and consequence to the engine? Wait a minute? Choice and consequence? Hmmm.... I guess they mean alot of cost went to making it appear there is choice and consequence when there really isnt any. Because I have played many classes over, choosing different options and yet the same thing happens which means choices have the same consequence so no choice at all. I do love that they admitted to the mistake every MMO developer always makes. How long the content will last. I havent seen a developer yet make a game that took as long as they expected to reach max level. You give players content and they will go through it ravenously.

They cant give a conclusion though. Someone would have to win. They cant go back to an uneasy peace again. That has been done to death already. One side would have to be the clear victors. That is the only ending possible. If they do that then whats next? And we know who would have to win this war. Because the republic survived long after the war. If they say the Sith won, it creates too many plot holes and asks even more questions.How long did they control the galaxy? How did the republic come back? When was that war? Was it a war? Etc.... The whole point of this game is the war between the republic and the Sith. Someone would have to win for it to conclude. And you never end anything in an MMO. MMOs dont have endings. They just continue on.

Not when you take into account who is doing the voice overs. Yes if it was a bunch of no names ok maybe I would agree with you. But you got names like Johnny Yong Bosch, Olivia Hussey. Lacey Chabert, Brian Bloom, Jennifer Hale, Tara Strong, and Tom Kane. All are professional voice over people. The cast list reads like a Whose Who in the voice over community. All they needed was Mark Hamill and the list would be complete. They have so many of the big names in voice overs, it would be difficult to get them all together again. And it wouldnt be cheap. Do you really think Azura Skye is going to say "Oh sure just buy me lunch at McDs and I will do it"? So unless they have contracts to make them come back for future voice over work its going to be costly. Since alot of these people are companion voices it could be worse. "Would you come back to do just 3 lines for our next class mission story?" I really believe, they didnt think this thing through too much. They didnt speculate what would happen after all the content was played out over and over. The whole schtick to this game was replayability. IE playing each of the classes. Well once you have played through one class story it gets progressively faster to go through the next one and the next one. Because of twinking, knowing all the ins and outs of each class. Jedi knight plays identical to Sith Warrior. Plus the boredom of the planet stories means people will find other ways to blast through each planet so they can avoid it. And lastly there are some classes people just arent going to be interested in at all. I have tried the consular and trooper stories but they just are not intriguing to me at all. So that is two classes I aint gonna play. Its been over a year. The players have played through all the content of the initial release. Plus the hutt expansion wasnt that long either. Once you get started it doesnt take that long to get through it. What did they expect would happen? People would just be happy with the first class story and leave it at that? That is what I think they felt during development. Because some of these stories end so closed up. How do you go on for a character that has become a member of a council? That council member isnt going to have time to run around adventuring. He has votes to make and speeches to listen too. And you cant let him affect the universe either. Because everyone is pigeon holed into their class. So again IMO they have painted themselves into a corner. I dont blame them. This is their first MMO. I figured this would happen early on. I even tried to say something about it and got flamed off the boards for it by fanboys.

They painted themselves into a corner with voice overs. It costs way too much to do voice overs. And the return just isnt worth it. That is my opinion anyway. Several years ago when they first announced voice over content I brought this exact samething up. And was pretty much flamed all to hell about it by a ton of people. "Oh no that has nothing to do with it. Oh they will be able to continue story content. etc"

While the 36 hour wait is annoying I can see why they do it. Because it keeps people from buying tons of packs and tossing em on the GTN. I know there are still people that will do this but it does change the variable. It does help to curtail this. Also it helps to give time for consideration. I got a pack and a chest piece came with it. I was going to just throw it on the GTN. But after awhile I decided it would look better on me. So I kept it. Had there not been a 36 hour wait I wouldnt have gotten it.

No rails. Full 3d space zones with each planet with 3d flight. With current technology in game engines.... The areas could be massive... Multiple ships. Not just the big ships. Also small fighters. They could still keep the space on rails with it for those that like that sort of thing.

I have the collector's edition and I have 2 characters in the sith trooper armor. That armor aint that sweet. First no belt or bracers. Second it can not be dyed. I am having to work to get the shock trooper chest plate from the CM to be able to dye it. And no I would not like it if Bioware decided to let everyone have access to that vendor or release items on that vendor for everyone else. I paid, I think, $180, for my collector's edition. And that vendor is the only thing I have used from it regularly. Well that and the security key dongle. What Bioware should do is allow players to purchase access to that vendor on the CM. Say 5500 cartel coins gets you access. That I wouldnt be upset about. Maybe if they did that, then they would be more inclined to offer up more items on the CE vendor. Change the items out and such from time to time.

I am not talking about a complete rewrite of the game to add individuality. What you suggested is more what I am saying. Small elements of sandbox. Yet what game, with the WoW model, does this? None. TOR has none that I have found. Zero elements of sandbox. Most game companies want themepark and only themepark. A small number of game companies want sandbox and only sandbox. There can be a middle ground. But no one tries to pursue that.

I just want to see Bioware pursue new innovations. Not the tried and true same old thing. Bring about real change in the MMO genre. Only by change will MMOs continue on. Without change they become stagnant and eventually will rot and die. SWG was my first MMO. And it ruined me on all other MMOs. Yah SWG sucked. Yah it had huge problems. But under all the bugs, programming faults, Lucasarts and SOE stupidity.... You could see something there. Something remarkable. An MMO that you could play your way. An MMO where each person could stand out based on their participation. No other MMO has come close to that since WoW. Everyone wants to make the next 800 pound gorilla. I am not saying copy SWG. That has been requested way too much. What I am saying is give everyone the chance to be more then the sum of their toons. Allow them the chance to excel. Not excel based on who killed x mob just like everyone else did. They just did it better today. TOR is the springboard. Bioware has the chance. They can use TOR to copy what WoW and other WoW clones are doing. They can follow the mainstream. Or they can break out of it. They can reach for the stars that this game is named after. Star Wars is our mythos. Its our legends and fantasy. Now we have the perfect chance to live in that universe. To live out those fantasies. To strive to become the best weaponsmith, the best bounty hunter, or just to live in this universe. Yet all we do is everything everyone else is doing. We all do the same quests, the same PVP, the same everything. There is nothing unique. In SWG (Sorry to bring this up again), I was the best hunter. I would run around on advanced planets hunting the biggest mobs without armor and without buffs. How did I do it? I learned how to hunt them. I learned aggro ranges. I learned attacks. I learned their patterns. And excelled. People paid me to take them on hunts. People paid me to guide them to the best spots. I knew a woman on my server that was the best decorator. She was paid to decorate people's houses in game. I knew others that were the best crafters, gatherers, bounty hunters, PVPers, etc. You cant do that in TOR. There is no where you can truly excel. Everyone is the same. They might have different armor. Or different skill sets. But they are the same. Each boss fight has to be done a certain way. The same old safety dance over and over. Every group has to consist of the same old boring roles. Even PVP while different in who is there, is still the same old tactics over and over. We have been wedged into the same old boring system over and over. And we revel in it. We revel in the status quo..... Where is the difference?

The biggest issue I have with TOR is how Bioware followed the WoW model. I hate it when games just follow what WoW did. Yah they might do a few new things. But at the core its the WoW system. They are hoping of grabbing some of that WoW success. But they all forget one very important thing. Had WoW been released earlier or later, it would not have been so successful. WoW was released during a perfect storm. The $250 computer had just started hitting the market. This allowed even more people to jump into the internet. With that, social media, also exploded. Allowing for more people to connect together. Blizzard already had several very successful games also to draw a starting player base. Adding in WoW being playable on these low end machines, it becomes a recipe for success. Regardless of whether or not the game was worth its success. And now developers are not looking at those as possible reasons why WoW was so successful. All they see are imaginary dollar signs they think they will get when they copy it. Very few games try to break the MMO mold WoW created. WoW is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. All game developers want to do is make another 800 pound gorilla to fight the one already there. Instead of trying to make a 10 ton elephant to beat it down.

I want to see Bioware blow the doors off everyone's expectations. First create a new faction. The Cartel faction. Members of the cartel faction could ally themselves with Imp or Rep. Or they could just do for themselves. Move Bounty Hunter to the new faction. Replace the bounty hunter in the empire with the Sith Trooper. Move Smuggler to the new faction. Replace the smuggler in the republic with Republic Officer. Next in the new faction add in two new classes. Gambler, Technician, Animal Handler, etc. Allow ranged weapon classes to choose their weapon. A bounty hunter could use a blaster carbine or a rifle. An agent could use a pistol. A smuggler could use a blaster rifle. A trooper could use a pistol. And they could all use melee weapons as well if they wished. Next add several new races. There are so many to choose from. So I wont try to list them all. But some could be selected at the beginning. Some purchased off the cartel market. And some unlocked through different means. Maybe even world drop unlocks. Lastly add in several new planets. Including new starting planet for the two new classes. And the new classes for cartel, would have one. I know its wishful thinking. We are talking alot of storyline quest rewrites for the smuggler and BH including new voice over stuff. But hey would be cool I think.

I couldnt stand to do the planetary story lines again. Which is why I am PVP and FP leveling my alts now. Just to avoid all the planetary crap. This way I can go to each planet, blast through the class story, and move on. Sadly some of these class stories dont seem to flow to well when its just the class story. Almost as if it was meant to be broken up by other quests as well. But personally I would like this idea for players that want to replay the same thing over and again. The only problem I have is, I dont want Bioware thinking "Hey if they like this idea, lets make a prestige system like COD." But maybe you all want to go through a class story ten times to get a gold weapon. And it helps Bioware not have to actually do any real work on content for this game. So its win/win for all.