Just one anecdote: I did the "save some slaves" mission in Tattooine twice as a tank. 1st time it was a blast, everything was instantly CC'd, stuff died fast, my health never dipped below 80% (Trooper healing) in and out in around 20 minutes. 2nd time was a HUGE pain, I died a few times (healer (sage) oom) my health at the end of fights was generally around 20% I'm glad I had my reusable med pack along. Why were we having such a hard time? We had CC on everything like the first group, we just took ages killing stuff. Was that my fault? No I'd actually leveled twice in between so I was tanking better AND doing more damage. The healer? He was using the correct rotations to keep his mana going as long as possible. That leaves 2 slacking DPS'ers, a sentinel and a smuggler, one running 12 focus a lot of the time, the other at 100% energy all the time. Yeah if I had DPS meters I could show them that I'm outputting more dmg on each target than they are. I wish I could just afk and spam basic attacks all day as a tank. oh right I left there with a 10k repair bill + 1 hour later.

Bad DD's dislike people knowing that they suck. Bad DD's make up around 50% of all the DD's (conservative estimate) Tanks and Healers damage meters, it shows just who is ACTUALLY failing, cause if the tank is failing its obvious, the healer dies, if the healer is failing its not quite obvious, as it could also be half arsed DD's failing at their job and doing LESS damage than the tank, causing the tank to take too much damage for too long. The tanks in this game actually do some serious damage, trying to keep up with them will require work. People tend to hate work.

How to get around it: 1. Use paypal (they don't see your credit card then) 2. Tell them your billing adress is in the US when setting up a paypal in here. Done There is no need to use a proxy or anything... thats all it takes.

a lot of the bonus quest bosses have rediculous respawns (nar shadaa is a massive offender here)

Exactly, if I'd actually GET something for the money then np, sure my food is more expensive, because its sold by salesmen that make ~4k a month, no problem with that. EA/Bioware however are doing NOTHING for our economy but just overcharging for it anyway... no possibility of contacting customer support by phone without paying international connection fees(e-mail is 24hrs and waiting... you know to PLAY THE GAME... not me a friend btw)

Nope no special ISP tax, why would there be? They are 100% not passing on any costs to us, just the usual "you're Swiss, we'll make you pay 33% more just cause" lol hmm really depends on where we buy it. At work (subsidized) I pay .60 for a 500ml bottle, but yeah normal cost comes to around 1-1.50, I don't drink soft drinks so don't really know. What taxes may apply? VAT? Its 8%, less than Europe Special internet tax? Hah no we're the country where its legal to download music and movies for personal use remember? Internet use here is open. Consumers do not have to watch the legality of something they click on, its up to the rights owners to manage that. (we do pay a tax on sound media that offsets this btw)

So what would be a fair way to price such an international product? (as a side note I'm glad the days are over where it was basically 1 Euro = 2 Swiss francs...)

True if you're going to bring that comparison in it, Americans are paying too much compared to europeans. I do think making the prices fair is kinda hard.

Did you read my initial post? I pay 21$ a month (19.99 CHF) Did you read my post? We have LESS VAT yet pay more, for a crappier service (international cost to use their telephones) I'm not going to write my local representatives because in Switzerland WE (the people) actually define the VAT... every change gets voted on. We defined it at 8%, Europe has 20% (in average, +-2% to be precise) yet pays precisely the equivalent of 15$ in euros. Nah I'm not complaining, by using a friend in the US's billing address I can pay less, its just something Swiss are pissed about since everyone likes overcharging us, Bioware isn't an exception... so yeah business as usual, piss of the Swiss.

True, you don't care cause you aren't targetted. Nice of you to drop by and offer your thoughtful input.

I'm a swiss, if I declare myself as such I get to pay 21$ a month, if I'm an American I pay 15$ We also pay more than our European brethren with the euro (they're at ~15$) Lets try to find the reason why shall we? We have LESS VAT than them (by a significant margin of 12%) We do NOT get a Telephone line to use, we get to pay international to try to get someone on the phone for support. So basically we're cash cows. Thanks, you're not the first MMO I've quit because of that we shall see how this goes.

Just got knocked back by the boss after the blue/red bridge, got knocked into some abyss -> died -> fleet(***) -> got back -> boss had died -> bridge never materialized -> sudden game freeze -> 30 minute queue Not a happy camper atm.

I did esseles twice, two different consulars (shadow+sage) each of them left FULLY decked (boots, gloves, robe, lightsaber) This happened in beta as well... I'm liking it, however if you're not a consular you're SOL

CE owners get a +200 damage mod at level 1, 10'000'000 credits, a 1 use per day insta kill portable death ray (pvp only) and no queue's Buy your CE today!

Yeah cool you played a demo version at a stand? Don't do that and say you've played it, its currently not open to anyone to "really" play, and so we have the website to go on. SWTOR was pretty clear about what it was from the start: A derivative MMO with VO's and Star Wars. It never stated it would innovate (except the VO's) and it hasn't, but its well made and a great game in its own. DAOC's massive fights were 1000v1000, and no voice coms at all. You had your basic "real" war, 2 armies and a no mans zone "you're dead if you go into it" land, with rushes here and there, flanking etc. These standoffs generally ended when a group of "good" PvP'ers charged in and swept the army with them, then all hell broke loose and in the end one army was dead, the other alive Laggy as all hell (FPS lag not the netcode because of the number of polygons on screen and crappy PC's back then ) Those army vs army days everyone had a job, stealth was supporting by scouting, picking off stragglers, instagibbing heals in the mass fight, Tanks were leading the charge, CC'ers enabled that charge, healers kept their side going, mages (finally) had their heyday with MASSIVE aoe spam. It was one glorious blast (literally sometimes ) But yeah those days are gone, people prefer soloing, sterile controlled PvP. /shrug (basically what DAOC semi-devolved into)

Nicely stated. Yeah settings for me are largely inconsequential. Its the gameplay that makes or breaks a game for me. No bashing? Yeah I do think I kinda do not bash, not personally anyways. I might make slightly snarky comments about a game but hey it spices up life.

Yeah I actually hope it will put a dent in WoW to prove a few things: 1. WoW isn't invincable. 2. MMO's are still worth making despite WoW 3. Kotick is a talentless hack who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Generally happens when you play too long... at least thats the only time I had it happen in beta, after playing for 8 hours

Haha ohwait was that a personal attack, sorry its hard to decipher. Basically it runs along most of the stuff people type when they can't come up with a solid answer: YOU WOW KID YOU SUCK! I played WoW yes, back when the level limit was 60. As I've vowed to quit any MMO that launches expansions that use the good old "lets raise the level cap" trick to sell them I did when the expansion launched. I totalled 3 months of WoW, I got to 60 was decked out in full Tier 2 (I was at level 60 with greens/blues invited to the premier raiding guild of that server I was with them "server firsting" Tier 2... blackwing I think it was... too long ago) then sold my account for 500 Euro (after discussing my disilussionment with the game with my guild) Yes 3 months of WoW definitly makes me a WoW kiddy, sorry for that. READ MY POSTS AS WELL I SAID I ENJOY SWTOR Moroder: true Ok space combat: EVE done. (yeah its not a perfect example, cause Eve is all about space fighting and thus does it slightly better) Each MMO has something "special" due to its setting, rifts in Rift (awesome idea btw... dynamically changing the landscape ) SWTOR has the "SW" bit... especially now that Galaxies died The only thing "new" in SWTOR has to do with the conversations though... GROUP CONVERSATIONS, and yes just that has the power to keep me entertained, especially since I permanently group with a "bad" jedi, and me playing the goody goody consular with him makes this game VERY enjoyable.

Well for a decision like that I ask a teenager I know: what would you play. Answer: Empire Class: anything with a lightsword And there you go.

Yeah but I'm not touching an Iphone just for SWTOR, it might be good but not that good

Could you like... make a point? "all those suck" "players like you" I'm sorry for making actual points in my posts and expecting that from others. I am not "spreading crap" I am debating the OP's statement that this will turn the MMO industry on its head. I quite simply stated that GW2 is the game I expect to do more turning, this is a great game (dang you must have missed that "players like me that ruins games" like this game! time to bail!) but it is by no means a milestone in MMO development, WoW was not either. (correctional edit: WoW WAS a milestone for making MMO's mainstream, NOT from a purely gaming point of view)

Its just like WoW was on its launch day: a mix of (most) of the best parts of all MMO's launched previously to it.

Compare to WoW? How old is it? How many other MMO's since then? Dialogue: Basically goes like this: A: Blah blah blah You: 3 decisions A: reaction to decision A: Back to railroaded dialogue A: blah blah You: 3 decisions A: reacation etc. finally A: blah blah You: Dark/light? A: dies/thanks Been seen in: Dragon Age/KOTOR/Mass Effect/Rift/Aion(to a lesser degree) Space Combat: Been seen in: Tie Fighter, Cyberia etc. Impactful Decisions No decision is EVER impactful in a MMO, EVER (although GW2 promises just that) Starring: The quest where you "help" the padawan lift a rock that is a test from his superior. Result: You help, he gets demoted to desk jockey, and stay standing there waiting for the next person to help him, forever. Impactful decision that was! Been seen in: every. single. MMO. ever. Proper Meaningful Storyline Well this requires a definition of meaningful, however nothing in an MMO can ever be meaningful and change anything, since the other 9850934820539 Jedis want a shot too. Been seen in: every single MMO ever. Missed one: Cinematics: Not exactly new, even WoW had them.

That is always something to keep in mind... I mean most MMO's promise far much more than they can deliver