I had no intentions of playing this game because, even though I love Bioware games, I was afraid an MMO would eat my life. Then I played a beta weekend because Bioware devs posted to the main Bioware social site; it seemed like they wanted as many people as possible to play, to stress-test the servers, so I obliged. I ended up enjoying it so much that I pre-ordered after that. I don't see myself getting more than a day's early access, but I'm not bothered. That's just life. Anyway, given the previous concerns over life-eating, I am going to try to limit myself to light play, so it's not like a few days would have given me much of a head-start.

Thanks a million for this fantastic thread. I'll keep it bookmarked for my first month of play.

I'm in a similar position to you as an MMO newbie and I've joined a guild. In my view, the best way to find the right guild for you is to search for a guild using very strict criteria. You can specify what aspect of the game most interests you (e.g. role-playing), how much you intend to play (e.g. casual, less than 10 hours a week), and what time zone you want (e.g. PST). Lots of other criteria can be used. This way, you can narrow down the guild list. When you've limited it to a manageable group, take a quick look at the membership rosters for the guilds in question and see if there's much demand for the kind of character(s) you'd like to play. You might also check out the guilds' forums and see if the members are like-minded people. Good luck!

I played on a US server during the beta as well (the excellent Jet Nebula) since the European ones were full. I didn't notice any lag. Mind you, I'm going to play on a European server once I get game access since I've applied to a European guild because I want to play the game with people who are awake at the same time as me.

Thanks for the useful thread. I'm a complete newbie to MMOs and when I first entered the beta I couldn't even figure out how to take out my weapon so I could attack.

Hey everyone. Total MMO newbie here, looking forward to trying out the genre since Bioware is my favourite game studio.