The problem is that that isn't always enough to get a group in this game.

Oh no, I do not mean that the STORY is on rails. That is certainly not the case. The lack of exploration is really what I'm getting at. I know many people hated MAKO but it was really nice to be able to explore a planet without [many] bounds and happen across points of interest without feeling like you're being strung along. And look at side-quest structure. Most of them were of a "move through these rooms, kill everything" nature. Some of the city hubs were even smaller and more linear than in ME1. It's also kind of boring when you realize that everything was basically set up in combat and non-combat zones. Compound that with the fact that there was little choice in weapon and armor variety, and the game just felt so much more claustrophobic to me.

I am certainly going to buy ME3, be it at launch or later, but I'm concerned it might go the way of DA2. The addition of multiplayer is detestable to me. Sure, Bioware can walk and chew gum at the same time, but I can't help but feel it's going to be an atrocious waste of time. I like some of the things they did with ME2's combat but it should never be the focus of the game, and never in lieu of exploration and character development. ME2 had great combat compared to ME1, but like SWTOR it was practically on-rails. I'm worried they might take the same approach here and dumb down the RPG elements even more.

In SWTOR the conversations are meaningless. It is folly to compare SWTOR to any single-player Bioware game in that regard.

DEAR GOD, you have to READ something on OCCASION!?

I never played it, but given my disappointment at the on-rails feeling that TOR has I would like to give it - and any other sort of sandbox MMO - a shot.

The game is boring before the level cap too.

Pay no attention to the mediocre game behind the curtain.

No. A week ago I logged in, took a quick look around, saw nothing interesting and logged out.

The story is of no higher quality than the textual stories in MMOs of old, it's just voice acted. Dialogue interactions have no consequence aside from the rare fork-in-the-road quest decisions that have no impact on the story writ large, so tell me why they even exist? I love BioWare RPGs, and that is exactly why the story and dialogue system in SWTOR is so deeply disappointing. This game is trapped somewhere between Mass Effect and Generic MMO #238 and it just doesn't have the decency to commit one way or the other.

I rolled all my characters on Republic because I didn't want to be a part of the problem. Sadly, almost nobody else felt the same way.

I completely disagree. Plot and voice acting aren't the same thing, anyway.

...really?

The traveling in SWTOR isn't really a time sink, it's more of a Fun Vampire. It doesn't suck blood, it just sucks.

Nobody is stopping you from playing, least of all by posting something on a forum.

Since when are forums supposed to be fun? People focus on the negative stuff here so that they get fixed in the game.

Frankly, you're lucky. If you do all the side missions the game becomes easy mode because you're 2+ levels above every quest you get.

It has nothing to do with bugs, but the way the game is designed. You should continue to enjoy it while you can. I won't try to take that away from you.

I don't even care about the taxi fees, some of the design decisions are just horrible. Why did they even need to keep Imperials out of Anchorhead to begin with? Load it up with lvl 50 NPCs or something. Everybody already spends the first ~25 levels getting their hands held through Imp-free zones.

Oh look, it's this post again. Because I want to like it, and initially I loved it. I resubbed so I can play with my friends who just bought it. But the weak story is unforgivable for a supposed story-driven MMO.

The class stories and planet stories in this game are not up to Bioware's standards. I would gladly play Mass Effect twenty times over before I have to sit through this.

It doesn't even feel like a Bioware game because nothing I do ever matters.

In other words: Pay no attention to the average MMO behind the curtain.

Tiring.

The best solution is planet-to-planet shuttles.