I think the OP has the right idea, however your arguments are not very convincing (partly because you sort of switched topics). By the strict definition SWTOR is clearly an MMO, but it lacks some traits which you will normally find in traditional MMOs. The world is not seamless, or even close to it. Quest areas on Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa are completely inaccessible without taxis or quick travel. World PvP is non-existent until mid 20s because worlds are faction blocked. Planets are completely walled off from each other - which may be necessary with the lack of real-time space travel, but still could have been remedied with better game design. I was pretty much crestfallen when I discovered that I could not walk south from Anchorhead to the next quest area. I thought I had left the invisible walls behind in Nar Shaddaa. It feels like every planet is just its own game. It's a new level of themepark design.

I don't always like to defend this game, but you don't just snap your fingers and bugs get fixed. I know just enough about computer programming to know that it is a pain in the butt.

Look out everybody, this guy is a well established hardcore Rift fanboy.

I completely agree. The game is good but you can tell that Bioware did not have a clear idea of what kind of game they wanted to make. When you look at their more recent games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect the difference is clear. The "BioWare" game elements in SWTOR pale in comparison to those from DA and ME, and in some ways even to KOTOR itself. SWTOR can be something special, but I believe it lacks focus at this point in time.

Well stealth classes are a pain in the butt in PvP so just take the good with the bad.

The whole problem is that leveling is too quick in relation to the content. It would NOT be a valid point if green quests slowed down your leveling, because then there would be no problem. The real difference here is that Warcraft didn't have a story. At least, not one worth reading.

That's not the way it works. Either it was a bug or it didn't happen.

Esseles and Black Talon were so good because it had a story you played though and plenty of opportunities to get social points. After that it's pretty much the same thing as every other MMO... get assignment, kill bosses, get reward. So disappointing.

But if they needed it they should have rolled need...

I agree with most of what you say, but I don't see how you can gloss over the significance of out-leveling content by simply doing all your quests. If the whole draw of this game is the story, then why should I faceroll through content because I'm trying to get as much story as I can? It's a major problem in my opinion. I have to wall-hug away from mobs to avoid XP, skip heroics, and never do bonuses or flashpoints - and all that just to stay slightly ahead of the curve. It's a philosophical flaw in the game - MMOs don't typically concern themselves with story so skipping quests is fine if you don't need the experience or items, but in SWTOR you can't find the story at a vendor or from a dead mob - so I don't expect much of a solution.

lol, this guy. Bioware will fix the bugs whenever they want them to be fixed? I haven't seen any bothersome bugs and so I have no reason to complain about them, but you must be drinking the strong stuff if that's an acceptable customer service policy.

Why SHOULD it be in the Trilogy era? It's so trite and overdone.

But... the immersion!

These meta-discussions are useless and, frankly, embarrassing. If somebody has a complaint then talk about it and refrain from jumping off the deep end.

I absolutely agree that travel should take some time (perhaps not 10-15 minutes), but not when you have to walk through boring corridors, click on elevator, enter instanced hangar, enter instanced ship, choose planet, wait to load planet, exit instanced ship, exit instanced hangar, and click on elevator just to get to the next planet. It's empty content. It has no purpose except to sometime spawn story content in the hangar. I really love how travel was done in the Game Which Must Not Be Named, where you can either walk someplace (and risk going through high level areas or enemy territory) or you can spend some money and some time to bypass those risks with a zeppelin/subway/boat ride and save some time in the end. SWTOR in its current form cannot do this because there is no real-time space travel and many planets have areas walled off so that taxis are the only route. The problem is that there is only one way to go anywhere in this game. You want to get to the next planet you have to take your ship. You want to get to your next quest you have to take the taxi (on some planets). Time sinks should not be required to move around - put planet to planet shuttles in certain cities and make them periodic. That's a good start.

How exactly does walking through a giant, empty hangar with minimally animated NPCs and no other player characters add to the immersion? How does clicking on an elevator button and then, after a black screen, magically appearing on another floor add to the immersion? The way the ships are now destroys the seamless world. There are seams everywhere in this game. If you think that immerses you more then so be it, but it could definitely be done better and you wouldn't have to give up any immersion. Nobody is asking for instant teleporting between planets.

It's just bad design, especially for an MMO. This is Bioware however, who thought it was necessary to add 20 second loading sequences between different levels of your ship in Mass Effect 1/2.

I'll give it another month. It can't even breach my interest with Skyrim at the moment. I loved it at first and played it non-stop but the community seems so dead to me that it's hard to keep playing.

There isn't 100% agreement on LFD? Well thank you for this riveting new information.

What does it matter what it's called, or what it's supposed to "mean"? I posted this before and nobody noticed, but you're just focusing on a strict definition to de-legitimize the complaints that some have. Grouping and raiding are obviously facets of the genre which Bioware has chosen to include in a big way in SWTOR. If people feel like they can do them better then you should talk about why that is or is not the case, not pretend that Bioware is just doing us a favor by including things which aren't explicitly listed in the MMORPG acronym.

This discussion is only useful as a way to dismiss complainers by telling them "that's not a requirement to be an MMO, here's the door". People want what they think will make the game better. Big deal. If you disagree with them, ignore them or address their arguments on their merits.

On my server the only planet that seems to have more than 100 people or any sort of chat going on is Coruscant. Is everybody just making alts over and over and stopping when they get their ship? It's been this way since launch, surely they have leveled up by now...

Oh look it's this thread again.

I agree with the OP SO HARD on every point. I have faith that Bioware will make GTN what it really deserves to be.

I love my Twi'lek but I just hate that I'll never be able to wear the headgear I might normally be able to wear (without looking ridiculous).