If this game were released in 2004 it would have the potential to be one of the best MMO's of all time. In 2011/2012 it's full of tired mechanics and cookie cutter game design (save for the voice overs). Why would I continue to pay for a game that isn't fun for me? If you're having fun then by all means continue to send BioWare your money.

I think the better question is who gives a steaming pile of freshly laid crap about being able to play different race/class combos with the already available races and classes?

I'm pretty sure I only play an hour at a time because that's all I can stand. And as soon as I see the end of my gunslinger's story I won't be playing at all. When I played WoW I could play for hours and be entertained. I would only log off because I would realize that I'd been playing for hours and should probably do something that doesn't involve sitting on my ***. It took years for me to tire of WoW. It took weeks for me to tire of TOR. Why? Because they're basically the same game. They have the same combat, the same kind of talent system, the same kinds of quests, the same kinds of classes, the same kinds of PvP, the same kinds of instances (FPs & OPs). The only differences are the textures and the voice overs, and the novelty of those wears off in about a week. When I bought TOR I thought I'd be getting something fresh. Had I known then what I know now I would have saved my money.

I'd save my money and not buy the game in the first place. All I have to do to get the TOR experience is log into WoW, read the quest text out loud, and then queue up John Williams on Pandora, but only listen to the first 30 seconds of any song.

...completely rebuilding the game so that it's not a WoW in space with voice overs that becomes so painful to play you literally have to force yourself to the end of your storyline. The game was great for about a week until the novelty of the voice acting wore off. Now it's just a huge disappointment. I know some people love it, but this is my experience and my opinion.

I don't think everyone knew dual spec was going to happen. I certainly had no inkling that it was going to happen when I created my character. I suppose I should have anticipated it rather quickly thereafter though. When you're playing what turns out to be WoW painted with Star Wars IP you're bound to end up with WoW problems and WoW solutions to those problems. I guess I'll just quit for now and come back when they add death knights or space pandas.

Says... then drops... Something's stupid but it isn't my thread...

This has been my experience. As a sharpshooter gunslinger it doesn't appear that I out damage other DPS trees. If I do out damage other DPS trees it's not enough to notice without a combat log. I would have absolutely no complaint if the pure DPS AC's were the best damage dealers, but they aren't. At least not by enough to notice.

I don't recall ever saying that I thought completely changing roles in a party was the only reason to have two specs. I didn't address having PvP and PvE specs because both pure AC's and non-pure AC's will be able to do that to the same degree using dual spec. Being able to completely change roles in a party on a whim is what dual spec will allow the non-pure AC's to do. It will add that to their utility while the pure AC's get no equally valuable benefit.

So you say that I fail to understand that dual spec is not for having a DPS and a tank/heal spec, but then you immediately state it will often be used for that... I think you fail at not contradicting yourself.

Some people have brought up valid points. 1. Pure DPS AC's can still use dual spec to have a PvP spec. While I agree that this is useful it doesn't mitigate the fact that the non-pure AC's can do the same thing or use their dual spec to be able to fill a different role. The non-pure AC's still gain a huge utility boost where the pure AC's don't. 2. Pure DPS AC's can never be asked to do anything but DPS. So if you play a non-pure AC you could be asked or expected to fill a role that you don't enjoy. I'll admit that this is pretty annoying. I played a warrior and a death knight in WoW and I was routinely expected to be able to tank, and I hated tanking. But at least in WoW I was able to say "sorry, I don't have any tanking gear" and that doesn't fly so much in TOR.

My personal opinion is no. The gunslinger/sniper and sentinel/marauder have three trees that all do one thing - damage. All of the other AC's have access to some combination of damage, tanking, and healing. Dual specialization will be much more useful for these classes than for pure damage classes. For example, my mercenary being able to switch between damage and healing will be immensely more useful than my gunslinger being able to switch between damage and... oh yeah, a slightly different method of dealing damage. So why do I think this is a problem? What I foresee is pure AC's being less desirable for operations and flashpoints due to their lower adaptive utility. Under a worst case scenario the pure AC's will be excluded by guilds or groups due to their lack of adaptability. Just think about it. Who would you rather have with you in a group, a mercenary that can DPS or heal depending on the needs of the encounter, or a sniper whose only option is DPS? So what can be done about this? One option would be to revamp one trees from each pure DPS AC to give it significant utility, but this would be a lot of time and work. Another option would be to disallow changing specializations mid instance. In other words, if someone leaves the instance to change specialization they can't get back in. The instance would have to be reset and the group would have to start over from the beginning. /Discuss

In a retail setting I might agree with you. However, we're talking about online sales. When I go to Amazon I don't have to walk to the back of the store to get my item and then back up to the front of the store to pay for it. In a retail setting that exposes your customer to the plethora of other goods you have for sale. Amazon may have some ancillary advertising on the page listing TOR, but it's nowhere near what you'd get in a retail establishment, and it's not enough of a reason to discount it in an online setting. EDIT: Also, if demand is sufficiently high you still don't need to discount the item to draw people in. Having the item in stock is the draw.

Items for which the demand is high don't get discounted. Items are discounted to increase demand. You see, if I want an item but I cannot or will not pay the asking price for it then I am not adding to the demand for that product. However, if the seller discounts the item to a price that I'm willing to pay then my demand counts. Again, prices are lowered to increase demand not in response to already high demand. I'd say you need to take your own advice and learn economics.

I and two of my friends preordered with the intent to play together. One quite after three weeks, and I and the other friend are only sticking it out to 50 because we're completionists and want to see the end of our story lines. I'm very curious to see the next official sub numbers. If others enjoy the game and it grows or maintains subs that's great. It's just not the game for me.