It's true, though, that ANYONE who pre-ordered is going to get at least one day of access. For a small advertisement, this statement is true. I've known since pre-orders were announced that you would receive "up to" so many days instead of being guaranteed the full amount. How come I knew, but you didn't? It was very plainly stated in all of their "Star Wars can now be pre-ordered!" e-mails in addition to their Pre-Order FAQ!

If you were going to buy the game regardless, not pre-ordering wouldn't have hurt BioWare. It just helps with their marketing and their hype to be able to say people have committed to buying the game before it's out. If you were going to buy the game regardless, why is it such a big deal if you don't get to play for the entirety of Early Access? Pre-ordering the game did NOT cost you more money so BioWare isn't stealing from you nor robbing you of your money spent. Early Access was simply a bonus to those who decided to pre-order the game. While I don't necessarily agree or understand the REASON for staggered Early Access, BioWare has been very explicit with their intentions. Stephen Reid's twitter has specifically stated such many many times, the same twitter that announced early access would come even earlier. I don't see how so many people could have missed this information. =/

Server forums do absolutely amazing things to help unite a server's community. It's cool to see what's going on with the other servers, sure, but since we're limited to the server we play on (which I hope it stays this way... server transfers killed community in WoW, in my opinion, in addition to a lot of other things), being able to directly interact and coordinate with server-mates would be ideal.

Join us on The Swiftsure!

You don't know how happy it makes me to read this. I was crossing my fingers that my playgroup would settle on a decently populated, active, healthy server. I played on one of the largest servers for 6 years on WoW, and despite the queues, absolutely loved it (we had a healthy Australian representation too). When I experimented with LOTRO, we unknowingly picked the lowest populated server and it was a miserable experience from that perspective. It seems, so far at least, the LOTRO experience has been avoided. I'm hoping to get my early access Wednesday or Thursday, then I'll get to say hi to everyone in-game!

The Swiftsure was also selected by the "Server Health Alliance" which consists of about 5 Republic and 5 Empire US guilds. I think we'll be okay!

PVP Servers - you'll be 1 shot by anyone who rolled before you. I see where you're coming from and what your concerns are, but this situation isn't limited to early access only. It applies to the entire lifetime of the game.

Perfect guide. This will definitely help any serious roleplayers that are new to the scene!

I'll second that RP-PVP is probably what you're after.

I don't know what the map is made of for sure. However, the map that BioWare put in Dragon Age's Collector's Edition was a legit map with frayed edges and everything. Since it's the same company, I'd be surprised if we got a lame paper map with this.

I like the Sha'do idea.

Kansas City, MO area here. Playing Republic with some friends in California, plan on playing a Smuggler Scoundrel on The Swiftsure PVP-WEST server. I'm 22, HUGE gamer from video games to tabletop to cards etc. I played WoW for 6 years; it stopped being "the thing" for me. BioWare stole my heart with Dragon Age and Mass Effect... went back to play KOTOR once I learned about this game. There's no way I couldn't try it out!

Kansas City here!

I joined.

Skype is perfect for playing with friends. If you are playing in a larger scale guild, however, I would suggest Vent. Skype is more memory heavy, and without the "push-to-talk" ability, it wouldn't be ideal for a raid setting. I think they'll both have their place and uses, but most will stick with Vent I'm sure. Edit: Both are free to use, yes. As far as Vent goes, Vent is free as long as you are using a Vent that is already established and set up. If you want to set up your own vent, it's going to cost you.

Scrappers (Smuggler) are melee-oriented. They are probably the equivalent of WoW's Rogue to TOR.

In addition to your ship, you can talk to your companions inside of cantinas.

Raiding still happens on PVP servers. World PVP is more active on PVP servers since you are automatically flagged for PVP to be attacked by the opposite faction at any moment. From my personal experience, PVP servers tend to attract better players for both PVP and raiding purposes.