I don't get some of the complainers in this forum. First let me state I never was into star wars lore. I've played tons of MMOs from Rift, WoW, Champions Online, and others. To me it definitely is the next generation MMO.
You got great instances that have social interactions that are cool. You also have the best crafting system here in my opinion. PvP combat is fun as has a great foundation for it to be upgraded and for them to hold tourneys or rankings if they wanna go that route though I doubt they will. Now in all MMOs I hate PvE leveling because its usually extremely boring. Star Wars is the first game since CoH to actually make me wanna PvE by providing the best storylines put in an MMO. PvE game is never really that social. Its no different in WoW where you throw on all your heirloom gear and level as fast as you freaking can so you can just queue for dungeon or bg while sitting in main area.
What this game is missing is that main area, where alot of MMO idiots like to sit and troll all day. Right now people are out enjoying the storylines instead of sitting there making up ******** like The Barrens chat in WoW so people say oh it feels like a single player game.
Maybe my experience has been different than most because I was in a large guild from day one, I team with them or my friend from work and then PvP alot so I see a lot of chatting.
Only negatives I can say about the game is that the interface seems cluttered and they're lacking a central hub so all the idiots can sit around and troll each other for hours.