Maybe to some I guess. The guild I'm in I joined back in Dec'02 with Asheron's Call 2. Since then I've met 20+ in person. A good chunk of that was a get-together in Vegas in '04 and then it's mostly been one person here, a couple there kind of thing since. Found 4 or 5 that live local that I've met. A couple more moved to the state a couple years back, about 2hrs from me. They came out to a hockey game (Carolina Hurricanes) last year and are coming back out in three weeks for another game. Guess it depends on the personality of your guild and the personalities of those you recruit to it.

Apparently there are lots of people that don't have problems moving at an accelerated pace for several hours at a time, including a 100 year old man and a 92 year old woman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon#Statistics With records at around the 2hr mark and average times around the 4hr mark, I don't see why you have an issue

I give kudos to SWG for three things (this is all pre-JTL/CU/NGE) A purpose for player housing/cities (though still didn't live up to its potential with it but, it's rare anything does) Robust/deep crafting system Free form class system That's about it. There was painfully little story driven content in the game at all. Go to mission terminal in city, get either a courier quest or kill X# quest with little to no pretense of any story at all, rinse, repeat. Then roughly once every month or two you get a content patch in which you spend 2-4 hours doing and then it's back to the mission terminals. Or ... it's back to crafting. Ahh crafting. I give it kudos for its variety (rare it seems these days for custom colors/looks to be so easily implemented) and its complexity. And being a merchant class and being able to set up your own shop could be fun for awhile. What wasn't fun was spending hours tweaking macros to avoid carpel tunnel while making things and mindlessly walking across empty planets clicking a button every 25 feet in a mini-game-esque version of Marco Polo while you try to find the best/most abundant materials to harvest. Yeah ... that was LOADS of fun. And then to top it off, you don't just have the devs nerf your favorite skill or class (which every MMO tends to do at some point and doesn't really bother me), SOE outright removes one of the more fun classes to play (RIP Creature Handler) I had some fun in SWG but it was more because of the people I was playing with and not because the game itself was some rich form of amusement. I applaud it for its attempts at a sandbox game but its popularity was a shooting star ... flared brilliantly for a short time early on and then trailed off. Subsequent updates, while appeasing some of the masses, in many peoples eyes did more bad than good. And before I get labeled as some raving TOR fanboy, I'm not. I do enjoy this game (I wouldn't be subbed to it if I didn't) but it's by no means perfect. Neither was WoW, AoC, STO, DDO, PotBS, SWG or AC2. Then again, I've yet to play the "perfect MMO" and honestly doubt it will every exist simply because what would be perfect to me would probably be crap to someone else. C'est la vie.

Re-engineered purples, and many of the blues, surpass most quest rewards such that you can opt for commendations the majority of the time to use for things you can't craft or companion gear. From my experience, keeping most/all of your gear slots populated with level appropriate stuff just reduces the downtime while leveling. You take less damage and kill things a little quicker. And I've found it works better when several alts compliment each others crew skills. Being more self sufficient for gather and not relying on the GTN makes it a bit cheaper.

The author's an idiot. "WoW dominates the MMO market and, rightly or wrongly, every other MMO that comes out is measured against it in terms of subscription numbers and profits to say if it is a success or not. " The only people measuring success against the anomaly in the genre are fools and trolls on game forums. The people paying the bills in the studios do not. By Blizzard's own admission early on they stated they thought maybe a million and two was kind of a pipe dream. But the stars aligned and they hit the lottery. They know it and any other developer or production studio knows it. They may all hold the secret hope that lightning will strike twice but they measure the reality of their success by PnL reports, gross revenue vs. cost of development + current resources, etc. Those who choose to label any other MMO a failure because they don't have 10+ million subscribers is simply a troll posting crap wanting the game to fail. You can also look at the timeline of WoW: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/38695/Seven_Years_Of_World_Of_Warcraft.php Took them 4 months to get to 1.5m subscribers. Took them over 7mo to get to 2m subs. TOR sold that many boxes when it debuted ... compared to WoW's initial 240k. Did Blizzard expand the playerbase of the MMO genre? It certainly did. Does that mean every MMO to come out since, especially in the past 2-3 years, have that expanded market to capitalize on? Yep. Biggest game in the genre at the time was Lineage which at one point boasted about 3m subs. They were really the only game to be 1m+ in the genre until WoW. WoW capped out around 12m or 4x the amount Lineage had. And yet TOR out sold WoW (initially) by nearly a factor of 10. Lots of factors come in to play and times change and the gaming landscape changes. WoW's rampant success will go down as legendary in the business. But saying no other game is successful because it doesn't meet or exceed WoW's sales/subs is like saying there are no successful forwards in hockey if they can't meet or exceed Wayne Gretzky's numbers.

3 nights a week x 4 weeks in a month x 2hrs a night (that you stated in another post) 24 hours a month for $15. It's costing you $0.63/hour. If you're enjoying your time on those three nights, I don't see the issue. If you're not enjoying your time, regardless of how many hours a session or how many days in the week/month you play, it's not going to be worth it. For some reason there's a segment of the MMO players who feel that because they pay $15/mo they should be able to play 6 hours a day, 7 days a week and never run out of things to do or be bored.

If I didn't I wouldn't have kept an active subscription.

Really? Here's a tip genius ... those writing story content, doing voice acting, creating new music/audio files, and other type roles are not the same people qualified to fix bugs in the code.

So they should listen to customer A (you) that's posting here instead of customer B (see other threads) that states he's at 50 and bored. Your opinion as a paying customer is more valid than player B's why? You less credibility points for your argument when you assume that the whiny minority is the sole reason why your beloved class/skill got nerfed. I'm 100% that it works like this at BioWare: "Hey look! Random forum poster just said Operatives are OP. They suggest a 10% reduction in DPS across all abilities. Sound good? Yeah, let's do that!" /sarcasm off Nice try to get a 2fer. A more robust LFG tool that doesn't include cross-realm mechanics is going to do absolutely nothing to remedy population imbalances. I would wager the first thing they will likely implement is opt-in guild transfers to pre-selected servers. Especially if they believe cross-realm capabilities further fragment any semblance of a server community. First I'm reading this is some HUGE issue that's broken and needs to be addressed ahead of new content. Customizable UI is coming. The first glimpse of some of the things they're doing can be seen in the one video that was linked about upcoming stuff. While I won't disagree with you that macros and/or addons aren't desired, I don't see them as a requirement before new content is added. This isn't game design by democracy or game design by loudest(whiniest) voice wins. Constructive criticism is great. Absolutes and ultimatums solve little if anything. Also realize that not a single thing you requested to be fixed requires their graphics, audio or voice talent folks to be fixed. I guess you support those people just going on vacation until the other issues are addressed? Whoops ... I guess I didn't completely turn the sarcasm off.

And you can take your semantics game farther then. This is a game we pay to play. None of us are playing this to put a roof over our (or our families') heads. None of us are playing this to put food on our tables or money in our bank accounts. Therefore none of things in game are actually "needed". At the end of the day, clicking Pass, Greed or Need is simply saying: I don't want this I want this I really want this Coincidentally, that's all the game mechanics and any written rules by BioWare will indicate. You were in the group, the mob was killed, there is loot you are eligible to roll on however you see fit. Period. Any system desired on top of that is in the domain of the players. If you wish there to be a more limiting, stringent, "fair", "biased" (or any other adjective) set of loot rules then it is on everyone in the group to come to that agreement beforehand. If you choose to assume that others are going to play by any rules beyond what's established by the game itself, then you get what you ask for like with everything else you assume. And if you want to call somebody a jerk because they didn't read your mind and grasp your unstated loot rules prior to the run then you should look up the definition of hypocrite and then look in the mirror. Pot meet kettle.

As long as you make that known up front when the group forms, power to you. That's exactly how it should be done. The choice of which arbitrary loot rules someone wishes to deem as "fair" for the next 15-120min in a PuG should be agreed upon by all at the beginning.

I guess hoping that arbitrary MS>OS crap stayed in WoW was too much to ask for. Can't say I'm surprised. Still boggles the mind that after hundreds of posts of circular debate that so many of you can't see the simplicity of realizing a) not everybody thinks like you and b) it saves so much aggravation by having a simple conversation with the group before the run starts to get everyone on the same page.

That's a mentality I just can't understand. I understand that it's paid for so the account will remain active. But, if you're logging in and not enjoying yourself, are you doing it out of some masochistic sense to keep reminding yourself you're not enjoying it? See, at around New Years I reformatted my HDD and finally installed Win 7 on my home desktop (yeah I know, late to the party ... have had it on my laptop for a year.) BUT, I haven't gotten around to installing Skyrim which I got for Christmas OR reconnected my clean installation to my Steam account which has several games acquired during their sales over the past 14 months that I haven't had a chance t play yet. So when I reach a point where I need a diversion from TOR, I'm ready for it. Whether it means I slow down to only logging in a couple days a week or if it means I take a couple weeks or so off. But, I'm not going to push myself to engage in what's supposed to be a source of entertainment if I'm not enjoying my time spent in it.

Hrmmm ... no server forums? Check. Nobody saying anything about loot rules when group forms? Check. I guess you play on the server, Telepathy, where everybody knows what everyone else is thinking eh? It's simple really. Group forms, ASK the simple question. Everyone's on the same page from there. If you assume everyone plays by your definition of fair, regardless of the side of the debate you're on, you get exactly what you deserve when things don't go your way or as planned.

This ^^ The simple rule in the game is, there's a screen that pops up in the players' faces with non-greyed out buttons allowing them to click Need, Greed or Pass. If they were there, that's all the game cares about. If you have some other system in place on top of that rule, especially if you feel strongly about it, then you need to communicate it to your group. If you don't, then you're the fool that assumed everyone was going to play by your unstated rules.

Likely the real issue and that's true for people playing on desktops or laptops. Could have just as easily have been someone complaining about performance on a low-end core 2 with a 7800GTX w/ 512gb and 4gb of ram on 32 bit Win XP. The sound advice in your post.

Fine ... 1million+ people who purchased the game Better? And there very well may be 1m+ with an active sub past the initial first 30 day. Regardless, doesn't change the fact that you're not going to get a mass consensus on this topic and it's far easier to get 3 or 7 others to agree for the next 15-60 minutes of a group run then it is to repeatedly debate the issue here.

1 million plus people playing this game. From different gaming backgrounds, different cultural backgrounds ... You will not get 100% consensus. There's a very simple rule to go by: IF how loot is going to get rolled on/distributed within your group is important to you, then take the few seconds at the beginning of the run and clarify them. You don't have to win a debate with 100, 1000 or 1 million people on these forums. You simply need to be in agreement with the 3 or 7 other people you're grouped with for that run.

Your post = ignorance. The only thing that is true about gaming on a laptop these days is that you will pay more for the convenience of portability than you would for a similarly performing laptop. http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP8180 Core i7 Extreme? Can do that. 2x nVidia 560 or 2x ATI 6990 in SLI? Can do that. 12gb of ram? no problem Solid State drives in RAID configuration? Can do that also Hell, that one I linked even has additional macro keys on the right side of the keyboard for gaming. Will you pay a hefty price tag for that level of performance? Absolutely. But you can check your ignorance at the door if you still believe laptops aren't capable of gaming. Even moderately priced one around the $1000 mark can play all but the most demaninding games well.

Internet anonymity killed it. Lots of folks get burned out on dealing with the jerks and douche-bags that they would rather just associated with their friends and/or guild. And it's sad in a way because there are lots of great people out there playing. But, people lose the motivation to dig through the rough to find the diamonds.

So your graph is telling us that: People tend to play greater hours in an MMO when it first launches? People tend to play more when they have additional time off from other responsibilities, like around a holidays? People tend to slow down their play amounts once they have a character reach max level? Is that what you're trying to tell us? Tell us something we don't know. Or how about, every MMO loses subscribers starting with the first day the free month is over. EVERY SINGLE ONE. However, some MMOs gain more new ones than they lose for differing periods of time (some might only gain that in the first 90 days, others might continue to out-gain their losses for 6 years.) But again, that's old news too. The great thing about statistics, give someone long enough with a stack of numbers and a scientific calculator and they can come up with numbers/trends to backup any side of a debate you want.

And we're back to "whose standard" ? Nothing said = the game's loot rules. You want to say those who need for companions are against the norms? Tell me ... how many major MMOs (say 100k+ populations) have existed where your companions play such a major role in your gaming? For every class. You make it sound like it's been established since time immemorial that "Don't roll need for companions" is the "Loot Standard" BS And here's the kicker ... I don't roll need for companions. I honestly don't care when I group up if other people do or not. It really doesn't bother me. What I hate is the ignorance that people show by simply believing their views are "right", "the standard" or "the majority" when so many counter-views exist. And how it takes only a few seconds to ask a simple question. You're only half right in your statement. You're saying ask if the individual thinks their idea of fair loot is counter to the norms. I'm saying don't assume any norm exists and ask period regardless if you think you're in the majority, the right or the norm. I guarantee if everyone did that the number of these threads would drastically diminish. But, I guess the idea of communicating with one another in a MMO is an alien concept to some people. You're also right that people can just go on assuming without communicating and risk getting labeled. Just as there are those like me who think every single person posting a thread about someone rolling need for a companion in their group and nobody said anything about the loot rules priors got exactly what was coming to them.

"Generally accepted" ?? Ummm, go read every other thread on companion loot and you'll find plenty of people posting how they view their companion as an extension of their character and not a separate entity. People like you want to simply label those people as wrong because they don't agree with your views. And then come here and complain about them because you lack the ability to communicate with them prior to the looting. People like me understand my point of view isn't necessarily everybody else's and would rather ask a simple question at the beginning of a run rather than risk the potential stress and hurt feelings that can come about when you discover not everyone thought the way you do.

30% market share? Source? Because all I find are sources indicating numbers MUCH south of 30% ... Oct'11 - Mac OSX 6.45% of market share http://www.bgr.com/2011/10/03/ios-and-mac-os-x-market-shares-hit-record-highs/ Dec'11 - Mac OS X 6.3% of market share http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10 Or did you read an article like this Feb'10 one saying usage was up 29% (defined by "web use") ... to a whopping ... 10.9% http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/27/mac_os_x_market_share_up_29_leopard_still_most_common.html More 6.45% stuff ... http://www.fiercecio.com/techwatch/story/mac-os-x-gains-market-share-ups-pressure-windows-8/2011-10-04 Or from Mar'11 you can look at it by country and region (as opposed to world-wide stats in other articles) and see that the highest Mac OS usage in a country is Switzerland with a little over 17% (far cry from your alleged 30) http://www.startuphustle.com/2011/03/27/mac-osx-market-share/ So please ... enlighten us where your so called 30% is? Your circle of 10 friends where three of them are Mac users?

Be realistic yourself ... 1) Not everyone playing this game is a MMO vet 2) Not everyone playing this game reads these, or any other forums about this game 3) Even if they are a MMO AND read these forums, you can check virtually every other thread about this topic and see where there are differing views on what should be acceptable Just because you believe it should be that way does not make it so. And to be honest, it's the type of attitude you exhibit ... the "Oh c'mon, everybody knows the rolling greed for companions is considered <insert adjective here>" IS THE EXACT reason why there are so many posts about it. You cannot conceive that someone would have a differing view than yours and hence assume everyone thinks what's fair is exactly what you think is fair. Differing opinions are what make this world go round. Your views are no more special about it than anyone elses. You want to avoid the drama? Discuss it before the drama has a chance to happen.