What drove away the initial playerbase?

[JattaGin]

There were some interviews during the years about this topic. I remember that one former (?) dev said that they completely underestimated how quickly players would breeze through the leveling content. What they thought would take 3 months took only 3 days. Days.

 

Lack of endgame content was thus one big reason for many players to leave.

 

Another was the Ilum fiasko. "Never forget" our brave republic soldiers with 0.01 fps getting slaughtered at respawn point.

 

A flawed 1.0 PvP system was one more reason. I ran one of the biggest rep guilds on The Progenitor from start to late 2012. Most of our players were interested in PvP. They all quit, because we had imp guilds like S*th D*mini*n and others whose name I luckily forgot who roflstomped with maxxed out PvP gear (gotten during the Ilum fiasko) the low levels since there were no brackets back then. My guild literally lost hundreds of players because of this scenario alone. (Back then, leaving players actually filled out a form on our website where they stated the reason for the leaving, that's how I know.)

 

My personal opinion is also that the game at start was too difficult and annoying for casuals. I remember having to walk on Tatooine, because you would get speeder piloting rank 1 only at level 25, as one simple example. The different stats. Companions which needed gear. Not many sources to get credits. This was all very unoptimised. It was obvious that the game was released too early. The legacy patch (1.2?) brought the game to a more proper 1.0 state imho. But it was already too late then.

[Suzsi]

The game was way too grindy for me at first. Having to do almost every single side quest on all characters just killed my incentive to play alts when there wasnt really solo end game content.

 

Had no real interest in the first expansions that didn't include companion interactions. Ended up coming back for KOTFE for reunions etc was dissapointed when they started rolling out 1 min alliance alert returns. Now we are back to vanilla companions being mostly ignored. My Theronmancer is really the only character I keep upto date with the story now. No incentive to take others through.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Suzsi

[DuchessKristania]

Considering all the mmos that have folded I never quite think of SWTOR as having failed since it's still going. I've played WoW, or tried to a few times. I find it to be a painful, boring slog. I've been playing this game almost since launch. The thing is, I think part of the perception of failure is that it's an mmo that also appeals to solo players on a broader level than games like WoW. These players aren't jumping in groupfinder, they aren't hanging out on the fleet. They're bouncing around, doing their own thing, or maybe only play with one or two friends doing flashpoints or heroics. I think it sometimes creates the perception of a lower game population. I can see how that would be frustrating for people who enjoy endgame, and seem like a failure.

 

I think one of SWTOR's biggest struggles is identity. Bioware has a strong appeal to people who like the immersive stories in their games. Then you add the mmo element and you pull in people interested in group content. They've got two important player bases who often want totally different things. The dev team does seem to struggle to find the right balance most of the time.

 

But after almost ten years the game is still running, and getting content updates (ok, content trickles.) I don't think a decade of business can really be called a "failure." I know it has its issues, but SWTOR is actually one of my favorite games. It's tied for that with the Dragon Age games. So, admittedly, I'm biased.

[hillerbees]

As a player who stuck around since launch and couldn't really understand why people deserted at the time looking back it seemed that this happened....

 

People flocked to the game and enjoyed it initially.

 

After the Christmas/holiday period a lot of people returned to real life and young players (who liked but maybe not loved the game) may have been unable to fork out a monthly sub on an ongoing basis.

 

Players, well used to MMO's seemed to spacebar through a single class story to be "first" or whetever and to get to the Operations. When they got there, to the best of my recall there was only Eternity Vault (possibly Karagga's Palace) and they mastered them quickly and had nothing else to do. The OPs crowd didn't bother labouring through 7 other stories...it wasn't their thing.

 

As the many servers emptied fast, you definately felt alone in the game and for a long while I played out of fear that without MY support the game would die

 

By the time server numbers were reduced and f2p introduced the damage was done.

 

Definately the lack of advertising throughout this game's history has hindered progress - they say failing to advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark and its true. People still have no idea either that SWTOR exists, or if they have heard of it they have no clue as to the type of game it is.

 

What really drew me to the game was the Class Stories and the short videos of devs saying "If my Jedi comes up against your Agent I'm gonna kick ***" ...."If my bounty hunter comes up against your Knight you'll be dead before you even get within striking range" It reminded me of the old Marvel "what if" comics that would pit Spiderman against The Hulk or whatever. It took a long time before the game got to a point in PVP where a sort of balance existed and that constant OP class problem also had a really bad effect on the game..

 

To conclude I'd really love to see more class story in game and for the owners of the game to really showcase what we have . And we definately need dynamic one off events that compel us to either tune in or miss out. This needs to be more terestrial TV rather than Netflix....it needs to feel "I don't want to miss out".

Edited April 27, 2021 by hillerbees

[EllieAnne]

Played since Beta and only here because my significant other plays. To answer the OP, this is not the same game that people played at the beginning and has long since been marketed to a different group of players.

 

PvP has been completely killed off and any sort of open-world PvP is done.

Crafting has been destroyed so that people can buy-buy-buy off of the Cartel Market. Ask yourself why you cannot get the schematic for purple crystals anymore.

Along with that, BW has a history of taking things away from players. You work hard and spend a lot on credits on learning to craft and they decide, "Naw, now you can't craft those anymore." I know other players have complained that they wake up one morning and BW has decided to remove things they have worked for. I just can't buy in to a system when the devs will wake up tomorrow and take things away from players.

Level-sync! Horrible, although many disagree with me on this. It is an excuse to not create endgame content in any sort of timely fashion. Another problem with level-sync is now leveling that is not even an accomplishment. Sometimes I wonder how quickly someone could speed run lvl 1 to 75. I know I can get to lvl 75 never leaving the homeworld. Even if you love levelsync, you have to admit this made it a very different game than before.

No strategy needed anymore. Boost your companion up to level 50 and steamroll over everyone.

 

Those are the changes just off the top of my head. I'm sure we can think of more. The point being that if you get into a game for certain reasons and the developers change all those reasons, of course you're going to leave.

[Phazonfreak]

Played since Beta and only here because my significant other plays. To answer the OP, this is not the same game that people played at the beginning and has long since been marketed to a different group of players...

 

I'm sorry, but your post completely misses the point of this thread and the question that the op has put down. He is asking for our take as to why many players left the game shortly after its release in December 2011 and not how the game changed over the years it has been out.

 

All those things you listed came later after the initial flush had already died down and even if you personally don't like the direction that the game has taken, but it might be the only reason why it is still here in the first place and not already scrapped.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Phazonfreak

[EllieAnne]

i also agree that QoL things didn't happen fast enough..

 

It's more basic than that. Bioware's inability or unwillingness to fix bugs. There have been major bugs in-game for almost a decade. As the forums have shown, BW has no concern of addressing game playability, fixing bugs major and minor or their paying customer's needs, wants and concerns.

[Stradlin]

Stories aren't so great that average spoiled tab targeter mmo gamer of 2013 would have wanted to stick around just to experience them.

People might finish one story. It didn't leave them feeling like they absolutely wanted to enjoy seven more.

 

Writing+zone design+mission design. I think these make some complex sum of all parts that was seen as bit lacking. Some magic in bottle needed to capture the crowd just didn't quite happen. Game was good, not great. Folks had like half a dozen other good , new mmos to try.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Stradlin

[aeterno]

It was a rocky post launch for sure but the part of the issue was perception.

 

First expected greatness. The would be WoW killer. The next big thing. It got plugged in The big bang theory show at the height of its popularity for petes sakes. And then of failure when it inevitably didn't live up to it.

 

First people disproportionately flocked to the game like moths to a flame, to check out what the fuss was all about. Then it fast became "damaged goods" and "TORtanic"...

 

Some of that could have been avoided by a perfect launch and a perfect first content cycle... some of it was always bound to happen. WoW was a once in a lifetime thing. Everyone was going to fail replicating that.

Edited April 23, 2021 by aeterno

[Sun-Runner]

Insufficient content. Inadequate features. Inadequate customer service, customer interactions and customer communications. So, very, many, glitches. The inability to anticipate these problems in advance and the inability to respond to these problems (with solutions) once they occurred. Once the bleeding started, they no longer had sufficient players to use "community" as a retention tool.

 

They fumbled due to a combination of inexperience and overconfidence.

[Rion_Starkiller]

They fumbled due to a combination of inexperience and overconfidence.

 

That could be part of the reason, but I personally believe a large part of the problem with SWTOR's development was directly related to EA's acquisition of BioWare during the Great Recession in 2008. I doubt BW's holding company would have entered negotiations with EA if not for the economic reasons. Four years later the the founders of BW retired.

 

In other words, BW lost their autonomy during development and were forced into EA's business model.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Rion_Starkiller

[FlameYOL]

MMORPGs are mostly a thing of the past. Their big time is long over. Some are able to stay afloat, but many failed and are gone now.

 

I wouldn't say its a thing of the past but I do agree their big time is over with, now its more of a niche compared to other online games. As far as what drove away the initial playerbase, well considering I wasn't here (I started back in 2013) I can only speculate based on my own conjectures.

-Some people have brought it up there were too many servers, I don't know if I'd agree but I do get where its coming from, lack of population consolidation is something that has hurt the game even after launch.

-Lack of translations to more languages. This is mostly my own opinion but I really think that SWTOR could've been more popular had it more languages then the current ones that we do, I mostly think of how successful WoW was/is (especially in places like China) and how they have a wide range of languages (and servers) to support a lot of communities around there world. Note I'm not saying had the game had more translation it would've been a guaranteed success, but I think it would help making it accessible.

-Lack of optimization, which pretty much killed Ilum pvp early on. I've seen videos and it looks horrifying like playing through a slideshow, this still hurts the game to this day IMO.

-Lack of endgame content which as I understand this MMO really lacked, Bioware underestimated how long players would take with the content that was already there and didn't had enough in the pipeline note I don't think anything is ever enough for MMO players but its pretty clear they were out of their league.

-A lot of the things we take for granted now a days, such as the legacy system, were not present in the game back at launch. Which probably made things even more painful, I know I wouldn't want the game to return to the state it was in 2013 with the lack of a lot quality of life perks which I've come to rely on. So I can only imagine how I'd feel looking back at vanilla had I played the game back then.

 

And that's all I can think of really, though I'm sure there are more reasons out there.

Edit: The hero engine is probably another one, considering how supposedly Bioware acquired it before it was even ready.

Edited April 23, 2021 by FlameYOL

[Lord_Thorne]

TBH, I think it has less to do with the game itself and far more to with management and players.

 

As mentioned, advertising has been weak to nonexistent almost since day one. It's as if the company is embarrassed that SWTOR even exists. With so much Star Wars content in the works (good or bad), why is there no visible presence for SWTOR?

 

Lack of endgame is certainly an issue, especially in those first months (not that I cared about that myself back then). But the players who burn through one story and then complain about the game always struck me like the kid who gulps down his huge ice-cream sundae without really tasting it and then complains there isn't more. A bit harshly judgemental of me, but there it is.

 

Being a sub since day one, I never knew how ops passes and pvp passes worked, but they seem to me (then and now) to be a great idea for those who don't or can't subscribe. Seems stupid on the face of it to not offer those.

 

While I'm not much into PVP, it should have been more of a focus. When players can freely choose Empire or Republic, it would seem there's an expectation for direct confrontation. As I recall, their first large-scale open PVP setting (on Ilum, IIRC) was kind of a debacle. The PVP zone on Tatooine was okay, but there's really nothing to do there besides bash on each other.

 

To my mind, the fatal flaw in KOTFEET is that it's impossible, or nearly impossible, to run it with a friend. All other content can be done as a group, even if only one gets 'story credit' at least you can work together. This caused one of my friends to drop the game and never yet come back, as his primary reason to play anything online is to hang with friends while doing stuff.

 

GSF - talk about a dropped ball! It seems like a fine game, but it is completely different than anything else in SWTOR. The fact that you can't practice before jumping into the shark tank is a big turnoff. In regular PVP, you're using the same mechanics you use from the start. PVE GSF needs to be a thing, even if it's just simple missions, so you can learn to fly and shoot without being sniped every fifteen seconds.

 

And, crafting - yeah. It's bad enough that crafting has nothing to really offer while leveling - drops are so generous, and leveling is easy enough you don't need to pay much attention to gear anyway. And now they've basically taken crafting off the conquest table with a nuclear nerfhammer. Some people enjoy crafting, and their $15 is just as spendable as the endgamers and pvpers, just sayin'. More options for cosmetics (dyes & armor), give us back some conquest points, that would be nice.

[Suzsi]

As a player who stuck around since launch and couldn't really understand why people deserted at the time looking back it seemed that this happened....

 

People flocked to the game and enjoyed it ititially.

 

After the Christmas/holiday period a lot of people returned to real life and young players (who liked but maybe not loved the game) may have been unable to fork out a monthly sub on an ongoing basis.

 

Players, well used to MMO's seemed to spacebar through a single class story to be "first" or whetever and to get to the Operations. When they got there, to the best of my recall there was only Eternity Vault (possibly Karagga's Palace) and they mastered them quickly and had nothing else to do. The OPs crowd didn't bother labouring through 7 other stories...it wasn't their thing.

 

As the many servers emptied fast, you definately felt alone in the game and for a long while I played out of fear that without MY support the game would die

 

By the time server numbers were reduced and f2p introduced the damage was done.

 

Definately the lack of advertising throughout this game's history has hindered progress - they say failing to advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark and its true. People still have no idea either that SWTOR exists, or if they have heard of it they have no clue as to the type of game it is.

 

What really drew me to the game was the Class Stories and the short videos of devs saying "If my Jedi comes up against your Agent I'm gonna kick ***" ...."If my bounty hunter comes up against your Knight you'll be dead before you even get within striking range" It reminded me of the old Marvel "what if" comics that would pit Spiderman against The Hulk or whatever. It took a long time before the game got to a point in PVP where a sort of balance existed and that constant OP class problem also had a really bad effect on the game..

 

To conclude I'd really love to see more class story in game and for the owners of the game to really showcase what we have . And we definately need dynamic one off events that compel us to either tune in or miss out. This needs to be more terestrial TV rather than Netflix....it needs to feel "I don't want to miss out".

 

There was no operations in the begining. No flashpoints either. The essesles was the first flashpoint to be added - originally storymode wasn't a thing.

 

The first gear grinds was from dailies on Balsavis after finishing the class stories, I'm not even sure that existed in the very beginning. At launch there was literally zero end game content and it took them quite a while to add any.

 

As a former MMO player I most certainly did not spacebar conversations, there was probably a few who did, but most players were former KOTOR fans as well and wanted the story.

 

Our whole guild went from SWG to WoW to SWTOR then back to WoW because SWTOR was a grindy mess with zero end game. Although hubby and I started in Everquest originally with a different guild there. Early SWTOR was just not much fun. Alts were daunting because of the initial grind of having to do every single quest on every planet and with no end game there just wasn't anyplace to go with it.

 

They've always been too slow to roll out content. Best they ever did in that regard was KoTFE and KoTET monthly chapters and even then some whinged because it wasn't emp vrs republic or class stories but in terms of rollout speed it was the best the games ever had.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Suzsi

[SavantDreadtech]

TBH, I think it has less to do with the game itself and far more to with management and players.

 

As mentioned, advertising has been weak to nonexistent almost since day one. It's as if the company is embarrassed that SWTOR even exists. With so much Star Wars content in the works (good or bad), why is there no visible presence for SWTOR?

 

Lack of endgame is certainly an issue, especially in those first months (not that I cared about that myself back then). But the players who burn through one story and then complain about the game always struck me like the kid who gulps down his huge ice-cream sundae without really tasting it and then complains there isn't more. A bit harshly judgemental of me, but there it is.

 

Being a sub since day one, I never knew how ops passes and pvp passes worked, but they seem to me (then and now) to be a great idea for those who don't or can't subscribe. Seems stupid on the face of it to not offer those.

 

While I'm not much into PVP, it should have been more of a focus. When players can freely choose Empire or Republic, it would seem there's an expectation for direct confrontation. As I recall, their first large-scale open PVP setting (on Ilum, IIRC) was kind of a debacle. The PVP zone on Tatooine was okay, but there's really nothing to do there besides bash on each other.

 

To my mind, the fatal flaw in KOTFEET is that it's impossible, or nearly impossible, to run it with a friend. All other content can be done as a group, even if only one gets 'story credit' at least you can work together. This caused one of my friends to drop the game and never yet come back, as his primary reason to play anything online is to hang with friends while doing stuff.

 

GSF - talk about a dropped ball! It seems like a fine game, but it is completely different than anything else in SWTOR. The fact that you can't practice before jumping into the shark tank is a big turnoff. In regular PVP, you're using the same mechanics you use from the start. PVE GSF needs to be a thing, even if it's just simple missions, so you can learn to fly and shoot without being sniped every fifteen seconds.

 

And, crafting - yeah. It's bad enough that crafting has nothing to really offer while leveling - drops are so generous, and leveling is easy enough you don't need to pay much attention to gear anyway. And now they've basically taken crafting off the conquest table with a nuclear nerfhammer. Some people enjoy crafting, and their $15 is just as spendable as the endgamers and pvpers, just sayin'. More options for cosmetics (dyes & armor), give us back some conquest points, that would be nice.

 

While I don't disagree with anything you have written here, most of this is more recent and not really why the "initial player base left"

 

I was not here in the first few years so clearly not in a position to say what the early problems were. Having played recently the Marvel game, I can say that if that is any indecation, all games will have issues, not always the same ones but there are always issues. Which is understandable as we are all differant, have differant wants and very differant expectations.

[Phazonfreak]

There was no operations in the begining. No flashpoints either. The essesles was the first flashpoint to be added - originally storymode wasn't a thing.

 

Incorrect. Upon release there was a shorter version of the Karagga's Palace operation. It was only one short operation though and definitely not enough. But there were already the initial 15 flashpoints in the game all the way up to Ilum and False Emperor. The actual problem being that they were a one and done deal only within their level range and that there was no group finder feature in the game back then. I still remember the early days right after launch when all the conversations in general fleet chat seemed to boil down to abbreviated group requests.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Phazonfreak

[Suzsi]

Incorrect. Upon release there was a shorter version of the Karagga's Palace operation. It was only one short operation though and definitely not enough. But there were already the initial 15 flashpoints in the game all the way up to Ilum and False Emperor. The actual problem being that they were a one and done deal only within their level range and that there was no group finder feature in the game back then. I still remember the early days right after launch when all the conversations in general fleet chat seemed to boil down to abbreviated group requests.

 

Those flashpoints where not there at launch - i remember us doing esseles when it first came out. Heroics yes, and you needed groups for them. Flashpoints, no. They started some months later. After launch but before the oceanic servers first opened.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Suzsi

[TheRealExozone]

The game in its current state cannot be compared to the game 3 months after launch. No strongholds, no raid content, no galactic starfighter, just 3 warzones (huttball, voidstar and alderaan) and no appearance customization as we have now.

 

The planets were also very lifeless (they still are today) with no npc interaction / events except for some static 'scenes' like 5 troopers shooting at target ranges non-stop. When you compare this to GW2 and Warhammer Online its a massive step back.

 

Additionally the advertised world PvP was a massive letdown, with the engine unable to handle more than a handful of player combatants. The 'solution' of the development team was to simply remove Ilum world PvP.

 

New content was also very slow to be added, due to the added complexity of having to have everything voice acted.

 

The main thing however I heard people complain about is this. There used to be a different star wars MMO: SWGalaxies. This MMO was closed down because of SWTOR. SW:Galaxies was an open world MMO with incredible freedom. You could be a non combatant trader, a bounty hunter, a tomb raider, a musician, an imperial officer, and anything in between. You could decode to use a blaster rifle as your main weapon, or 2 pistols, or 1 pistol, or a vibrosword, etc..etc.. barely any restrictions.

SWTOR on the other hand is heavily (overly) restricting. My Powertech can only use a pistol. My marauder must dual wield, etc..etc.. Combat is basically WOW's system cloned.

So pretty much all the SW: Galaxies players quit the game after a couple of months as SWTOR was too different from the SW:Galaxies that they loved.

 

Then there was the KOTOR crowd who wanted KOTOR 3 but not an MMO. This quit vocal group simply played to experience the class stories then quit.

 

So you end up with a game that did not live up to its hype, several player groups that were initially drawn to it because it was the only alternative they had (to their old MMO, to KOTOR) but quit soon after, and a development team which failed to cope.

[Phazonfreak]

Those flashpoints where not there at launch - i remember us doing esseles when it first came out. Heroics yes, and you needed groups for them. Flashpoints, no. They started some months later. After launch but before the oceanic servers first opened.

 

Then you must remember incorrectly or didn't realize that those flashpoints were already in the game at launch. I remember Esseles being the big thing that was presented to the audience even before the release of the game to show off how group conversations and decisions work in dungeons.

 

I just checked and found an article from the 23rd of December 2011 on the website buffed.de, which is the biggest german website for MMOs, and the author wrote about all the different flashpoints currently in the game:

 

https://www.buffed.de/SWTOR-Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-Spiel-17102/Specials/SWTOR-Die-Flashpoints-bis-Stufe-50-in-der-Uebersicht-860923/

 

They even released guides for both Esseles and Black Talon when the game was still in Early Access and not officially out yet. Maybe they were only available to players on the german servers at launch and came later to the other servers, but that would be pretty odd indeed.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Phazonfreak

[Char_Ell]

Those flashpoints where not there at launch - i remember us doing esseles when it first came out. Heroics yes, and you needed groups for them. Flashpoints, no. They started some months later. After launch but before the oceanic servers first opened.

 

Black Talon, Esseles, Hammer Station, Athiss, Mandalorian Raiders, Cademimu, Red Reaper, Colicoid War Games, Taral V, Maelstrom Prison, Boarding Party, The Foundry, Battle of Ilum, False Emperor were all available at launch. I'm not sure why you think otherwise unless you didn't actually play any of them until months later.

[Phazonfreak]

Black Talon, Esseles, Hammer Station, Athiss, Mandalorian Raiders, Cademimu, Red Reaper, Colicoid War Games, Taral V, Maelstrom Prison, Boarding Party, The Foundry, Battle of Ilum, False Emperor were all available at launch. I'm not sure why you think otherwise unless you didn't actually play any of them until months later.

 

and Directive 7, which adds up to 15 initial flashpoints. I also forgot to mention the Eternity Vault operation. I thought that this operation came later with the 1.1 update, but it was also available right after launch.

 

Update 1.1 in mid January of 2012 extended the Karagga's Palace operation with new areas and bosses and kicked off the entire Rakghoul plotline with Kaon Under Siege.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Phazonfreak

[vingmotor]

well company greed. and the fact that the game ended when the class stories ended. and it became space barbie instead.

[foxmob]

EV was the biggest reason I quit raiding. Although I eventually stopped during EC, EV just exhausted me with the constant bugs/glitching on multiple bosses. I didn't notice it nearly so badly in KP, but between population droughts on origin servers and game-breaking glitches on bosses, it became too frustrating to raid.

 

also, in pvp, the only thing you could play was huttball, which was fun, but mind-numbing 10 times in a row. it was also a game determined almost solely by who had the guardian tank, a stealth to leap to, and a decent fire puller. today, almost any class can carry the ball. not so in 1.0.

[Suzsi]

Black Talon, Esseles, Hammer Station, Athiss, Mandalorian Raiders, Cademimu, Red Reaper, Colicoid War Games, Taral V, Maelstrom Prison, Boarding Party, The Foundry, Battle of Ilum, False Emperor were all available at launch. I'm not sure why you think otherwise unless you didn't actually play any of them until months later.

 

Did they not give any kind of end game gear at launch? Because yeah, I really don't remeber them being there. I remember doing class stories, planet stories, side quests, and heorics being group content. Then at some point Belsavis dailies which where quite tough to solo, really better grouped, especially on my sentinel which was literally one of the hardest classes to play at the time. Maybe our guild just wasn't organised, most didn't stick around long. They were a full 40 man WoW raiding guild but never really took off in SWTOR.

 

I remember huttball launching and something that was end game group instanced content sometime after launch. But I had a baby then, so no real surprise here of details being fuzzy lol - not much sleep was had.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Suzsi

[OddballEasyEight]

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but I'll say it anyway...

 

A large portion of the initial playerbase came from other games like WoW and the like.

 

Those games were *very* aimed at end-game content, whereas the early iterations of SWTOR was aimed at the leveling experience and story.

 

So, these people just blew through the storylines, skipping every cutscene, and got to the endgame and there was nothing to do.

 

So they left.

 

But then, this game wasn't really made for them

 

I was one of the early ones, and I actually talked to some of the people who were max level (was it lvl 50? I don't remember) less than a week after launch, and that's what they all said... they skipped right through the *actual content* to get to what they thought would be the content.

 

But it's not their fault... most other MMO's regard leveling as a grind that has to be done to get to top level which is where all the fun starts.

 

But this game isn't (or at least wasn't) like that.