http://www.swtor-spy.com/guides/swtor-speeder-guide/399/

I could write up pages on legacy MMOs that involved entire realms and day long battles where specialty builds were paramount to success. To keep it short, I hear you and like others here - unfortunately think those days are long past. It's all about the gear grind now...

Bored I don't blame the title, I blame the formula for AAA MMOs. You can only dungeon crawl so many years before it becomes monotonous. I want to play in dynamic worlds where the reward isn't based on accumulation of gear done through repetitious grinding. I want to play knowing that the world will have changed since the time I logged off.

Absolutely. At the end of any gaming session I think back and feel like it's just time wasted. I would prefer that my play somehow effected the game world and knowing that the next time I logged in the world would have changed based on what others did while I was offline. Hear hear I can't stand that MMOs SOLE focus is on just killing something or some other player. How about we contribute to building something or creating something or opening up new areas to explore but the single minded focus on killing is getting really really stale. You could replace the game title, the game company name, the types of mobs in game but in the end AAA MMOs seem tied to the focus that killing is the main activity and that to kill you must dungeon crawl to get the gear to do more killing, to get better gear, which lets you do more killing for better gear. Zzzz Got your raid group setup, DPS, healing, Tank - same dang thing perhaps with better labels but the same dang thing over and over and over and over and over and over and Zzzzz. When are game companies going to break the mold and make group cooperation mean something other than DPS, Heals and Tank going into an instance to kill something for gear just to repeat the same thing over and over and over Zzzz. Consider space battles, we have ships yet were the only ones contributing. Why can't I bring a group aboard and have them man the engines and do repairs, why can't they get in the gunners chair, why can't they go outside and fix the hull damage? Consider world scenarios, why can't a group defeating something mean it's defeated - for everyone in the world? We have crafting specialties but they focus on gear. What's could be better than a cybertech bringing that specialty to accomplish something and without them the goal couldn't be achieved? How about making crafting actually mean something other than more gear which is always subpar anyway? Why do Bosses hide in dungeons or World ones stand in one spot waiting to be killed? Why can't they break their mold and attack randomly, in cities or towns or along the roads or when ever and where ever they feel like it? I'd love to see some company break the AAA MMO molds. SWTOR did a bit with the storyline and decision trees... that's a step in a positive direction but in the end it's still just like all the other MMOs out there: Grind = kill a bunch of something, Gear = to grind you need better gear, to get the gear you need to grind. It's an empty prospect, it's a circular firing squad, nothing changes, no dynamic challenges, the world will still be what is was when you logged out and when you log back in it will be the same repetitive process all over again. Zzz

It just cracks me up that some folks actually demand they make the game easier through the activation of meters, mods or macros. If someone like those features from those other games, why are aren't they still playing those?

0/10 ... and here come the "I lost in PvP, you must nerf the other class" posts.

I will keep my Cybertech with it's reusable arsenal of weapons and just have an alt feed me my needed medpacs and stims. After all, gotta have something to spend credits on...

I am actually pleased that the game doesn't focus around the Galactic Trade Network or how many credits a player has. It's a relief from having to farm. Also appreciate that when capped on a skill, the most frequently used items are Bind on pickup and reusable. This again means not having to farm. Can't see this game supporting gold farmers when the economy isn't the focus... I TOO love this games economic model.

There's a thread in customer service forums on this. Might add your voice there.

I think of this game as an interactive story. Instead of simply reading a book or watching a movie I have a hand in the plot progression. My friend who chooses every dark side point comments on his facial change, how his skin continues becoming blotched, darkened and drained of color. It matches his story line and he loves it. I choose every light side point I can and I received the title "Honorable" which I am happy to display. We each try to participate in each other's class quests to see the other's story line. For us the game is a story first and MMO second and it's something fresh for both of us. The story is what will make re-playability enjoyable, new classes, new plot, new story line, new decisions and outcomes. I can understand people pressing space bar to skip content, they have become accustomed to how other games don't "start" until end game and doing the instance grind for gear. There's plenty of games out there for them that follow that model. They buy the next expansion to get to the end cap and grind more instances for more gear and don't care about the story and if they did they'd be upset that each expansion breaks those stories and goes against all logic developed throughout their expansions. Here though the game starts at level 1 and continues to max level and the plot varies with each decision made, the game is based around those decisions with other stuff like flashpoints or operations tossed in to play during "intermission". They don't play their games wholly, they focus on aspects of a game like PvP or raids and while there's nothing wrong with how they play, they sure are missing out on all the efforts put into this game. Don't know what end game will look like six months from now or how they will progress the story, but with a franchise having over 40 years of works, there's plenty of room for sub plot.

There's a thread on this in the customer service forum.

I found updated graphics drivers yesterday, machine two in my home is now wholly playable with SWTOR. Didn't take any changes to the game engine, just updated drivers dated 1/25/2012.

I hope not to see meters, mods, macros or addons. I hope to save this game from the downward spiral other games have suffered in attempts to please a self titled hardcore player - which will never be satisfied unless they are the lead designer (visions of "Tigole").

G4 TV X-Play rates it a 5 of 5 with some notes, they could use better tutorials for crafting, the UI is rigid, some companion responses are repeatative and their tag line for the episode was "join the dark side of MMOs" thus creating more empire players Would agree with the above posts, Casual's are the marketshare and companies should be focusing on them and this game especially giving us companions nails it.

I worked as a consultant to a tech industry that used a lot of Sun workstations. One person during an event asked a Microsoft rep when they would support Sun with their office products, the response was when they passed 15% marketshare for operating systems. (This wasn't entirely the case, Microsoft also looked at the Amiga operating system for a while and when they finally got access to their companies business plan they walked away from it.) With Apple walking away from Final Cut Professional users, I would question their long term commitment to the desktop, they seem to be focusing all their efforts on mobile... Here's the marketshare numbers from Gartner research In August 2011, Gartner estimated Apple's PC market share in US as 10.7% for Q2 2011. Apple's worldwide market share is not listed, because not in top 5; inferred to be 5% or below. Gartner's numbers include netbooks, but not media tablets such as the iPad. Total units in Q2 2011 from all vendors, ~85 million.[3] "A Gartner forecast calls for Mac OS to ship on 4.5 percent of new PCs worldwide in 2011 and 5.2 percent in 2015. Gartner does not expect Google Chrome OS, Google Android or HP's webOS to get 'any significant market share' on PCs in the next few years, and expects Linux operating systems to remain at less than 2 percent share over the next several years."[4] Apple reports selling 4 million Macs in Q2 2011, the third quarter in Apple's fiscal year.[5] Here's a look at all the OS's marketshare in graphical form. I believe Windows 7 just passed the 300 million user mark... This doesn't change the fact that the heavily modified Hero Engine this game uses doesn't currently support Apple's operating systems. The petitions here might have a better impact if directed at Hero Engine. This is like the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray argument. When Micheal Bay picked a side he pretty won the debate on toolset. Blu-Ray had better tools to create the final product, HD-DVD didn't. For this debate Windows has a huge toolset... libraries, developer base, developer education curriculum, consultants, consultants and more consultants. I would only ask that if Bioware makes an Apple OS client, that they not lose money doing it so the game can survive the long haul.