Very positive and well thought out post. Although my sub expires in a week, I will be back to play at some point down the road. I played WoW right at launch, lasted six months or so, and went over to EQ2 where I played for years. I returned to WoW many years later and enjoyed it immensely for a year and a half. I suspect that SWTOR will fall into the same pattern if another game doesn't capture my attention. I may be a bit of a game hopper these days and for that, I'm said. I've played a few MMOs like Asheron's Call 1, EQ2 and LoTR the longest (several years). They have had elements that I truly enjoy in an MMO like exploration, in depth crafting systems, collectibles, achievements, hobby systems like housing, fishing, etc. Aside from the fantastic class stories and companions, I have to admit that this game hasn't captured my interest level. I have done the tried and true approach of rolling up another character to see the stories but the same quests on the same planets has gotten rather old. I have tried to do the daily grind but that gets old for me after a few weeks. I don't know but I just lost interest at endgame where I didn't want to get on the hamster wheel and repeat content for upgrades to my gear. I think that overall, this is a fine game. I've enjoyed my time here and don't really have anything bad to say about BioWare except that their customer service is underwhelming. If things are added like hobby systems, housing, ship decoration, I may resub to this game. For now, going on to explore some other MMOs and hopefully stick around awhile.

Achievements can be grindy, fun or everything in between. I love when I get an unexpected achievement and it shows up in guild chat. I recall that WoW had some fun fishing achievements and it was a fun way to whittle away time. Heck, some play sessions I just fished to finish up some of the achievements. Grinding mobs? Now if I had to grind a million or a billion, it would perhaps get a bit old, hehe. Mob grinding isn't necessarily bad though. Did a bunch of grinding over a few months to get some of my deeds/traits done in LoTR. We would get a group together, grind some mobs and just hang out a bit. When we got sick of it, we logged off. It was something we worked on between the other content. Anything that gives more play options is fine with me. Give me some long term goals and I may stick around for a bit. Not to plug other games but I'm happy to see achievements in tSW. Some of them are quite whimsical like killing a certain number of zombies and you get various achievements that reference the Romero movies. It made me smile and I will probably be working towards all of them (within reason of course).

Kudos to the OP. That was a brilliant post and if the developers are reading, I certainly hope they are reading posts like yours. I personally love a robust achievement system in my MMOs. While I may not be a hardcore dungeon crawler or raider, achievements can keep me going for months and months when I've sort of reached that endgame state. Getting a bit bored with WoW? I worked on my Loremaster title, went back and did every single stinkin' quest that I could get my hands on in every zone. When I ran out of obvious quests, I had to do a bit of research (finding a very helpful website) that directed me to some of the out of the way quests. When I finally got my title after months of working on it, I was a pretty happy camper. In fact, that was the title that I wore proudly. I also felt that I really got an indepth view of the game by going back and doing some of the content that I missed. I think that WoW did achievments very nicely imo. Many players like myself need long term goals---whether it is the best gear, to be the higheset ranked PvPer, to have the most number of mounts, etc. I think that a good achievement system would do wonders actually.

Great post and I couldn't agree more. If SWTOR had many of the things you describe, I would be hanging around a bit longer than I have. Although I didn't play SWG as long as many of you, many of the activities in SWG (and other sandboxy games) appealed to me. One of the big problems as I'm playing my last character to 50 is the lack of an open world. I feel like a rat in a maze sometimes and miss the free roaming feel you could have in other games. Give me a landmass like the one in Asheron's Call for example or SWG. I'm an explorer at heart and perhaps someday, I will find my MMO that has those elements I really enjoyed.

You do make a good point here. I remember EQ2 right at launch and I do admit that I jumped ship a few months right after launch to play WoW because I was so frustrated with EQ2. I remember the performance, the lag and various other things that I loathed about the game. It was a truly horrid starting experience for my husband and I. Word of mouth started getting folks like myself back to EQ2 where I made it my home for years. Then there were the folks that stuck with it from launch to probably playing it today. I found many of those folks the old EQers who were very loyal to the game. Perhaps the same will happen here although I don't see SWTOR anywhere near the state of EQ2 (imo). This game runs pretty flawlessly on our computers. We were having some terrible connection issues but changed our internet provider and now our connection never drops below the max number of bars which is refreshing. I can understand the frustration of others though who may be having problems with the game. Dunno, I don't see doom and gloom for this game at all. Even though I have canceled my sub to play some other games, I will probably come back at some future point. Maybe it will be another EQ2 experience for us.

There are a number of nice folks that are unsubbing though for a variety of reasons. We may come back, we may not. I like this game. It just lost its long term appeal for me for a variety of reasons. Although I may be unsubbing, I've never felt that I've "raged" in any of my posts. Just trying to give me feedback in hopefully a constructive way... and to discuss the things I really enjoy. MMOs!! One edit about some of the doom and gloom posts and the game failing within a year. I think that SWTOR will settle into a nice groove at some point and be a great place for Star Wars fans. I just don't see them pulling the plug on this game any time soon. To say that this game will fail within a year is a bit like Chicken Little. Won't happen.

Humm, you are making me tempted to go back and fire up my account again. I really enjoyed LoTR while I played it. I burned out with Mines of Moria, some dramas in my guild and all that good stuff. I do agree that the game was lovely to play. I still miss my little cottage. I'm a lifer so I assume that all my goodies will still be there waiting for me. LoTR was so great in that aspect and truly was immersive. As to the worlds in SWTOR, yes they have always felt a tad bit lifeless to me. The enviroments are well done but could be better imo.

You made some very good points in your post and I would like to expand on your EQ2 comment. I adored EQ2 (never played EQ) and played that for many years. EQ2 had so many things that I truly loved in a game---amazing crafting system where you could be a crafter at heart and it took quite a bit of dedication, amazing housing system with free form decorating, good guild stuff, collections (love my shinies) and so many other things that I'm forgetting. EQ2 had a..........depth to it. Activities to entertain you in so many ways that just wasn't about doing dailies and grinding for gear. Of course EQ2 had gear grinds and I did get on those treadmills to raid a bit. I just found so much more to keep me interested. I also enjoyed the group content and actually spent many of my play session with my guildies. It had some epic quest lines that could take you months to complete (the Claymore series). We spent many an evening down in some dungeon, chatting and waiting for whatever boss you needed to kill to spawn. EQ2 had a bit more camping than I was used to but it forced you to socialize and get to know your groupmates pretty well. I thought that EQ2 did so many things right and had many of the elements that I love in an MMO. If SWTOR had some of EQ2's depth, I would probably stick around a bit more. I do like SWTOR but as others have said, it feels like a well done single player game. I know that no game is perfect at launch. I can tolerate bugs and unpolished content. However, there are so many things that would have been awesome in SWTOR. For example, I was excited about customizing my ship. Or as I'm out and about in Dromand Kass, I look at all the interesting buildings and wish that I could have an apartment somewhere. My personal house. What about some neat hobbies like pod racing, gambling, etc. Whenever I enter a casino, it calls out for minigames. Heck, just let us sit in chairs. Although my sub is lapsing, I will have fond memories of this game and will defend it somewhat to the naysayers in other gaming communities. Will I be back? Probably, it all depends if they add things that I love in an MMO. We shall see. I haven't written off SWTOR yet. Oh and my comments are from a casual gamer. I think this game desperately needs server merges, LFG tools and all that good stuff that is coming down the road. The legacy system was a great idea and I see that as giving one long term goals to work on. I also love the class stories, the companions and would love to see more companion activites at least once you reach endgame. It was fun getting there but once the companions are maxed out, it just becomes blah.

Well said funky. I do wish that I could find a game that I could sink my teeth into for years like I have in the past (Asheron's Call 1, EQ2, LoTR and to an extent, WoW) but sadly, I find my more recent experiences in the latest MMOs rather lacking. Both Rift and SWTOR lasted to the six month mark and that was about it. When I find that it is just running dailies, dungeon running, or PvPing for gear, a game quickly loses appeal At least Rift had the collectables for me and I entertained myself for a few months just running around, collecting my shinies, completing collections, and playing the AH a bit. Now fishing is coming to Rift (or perhaps has come) and I may check it out just for that element and to see what they've added. I lasted in WoW a bit longer just because the game had so much content plus the fluff I like (cooking, fishing, archeology, achievements). It took me several months in WoW to get my loremaster titles and I really enjoyed that experience although it was frustrating at times. SWTOR is just bland in the extracurricular activities that I enjoy in an MMO. I don't think people coming to the boards to vent their frustrations is necessarily a bad thing. As long as the posts are constructive and don't devolve into name calling and other nonsense. I know that SWTOR gets bad press in other gaming communities. When I see a SWTOR thread, I always try to give some input and my input is always positive. I think that BioWare did a pretty good job with the game overall (my opinion) but it just lacks the variety for me at endgame. Then again, I don't get too riled up with gaming companies and take it too personally. I do admit that I was mad at Turbine with the Asheron's Call 2 debacle for a long time but I got over it to play LoTR. I admit that I feel very badly for the true Star Wars fans who mourned the passing of SWG and hoped to find a comparable experience in this game. That would be a bitter pill to swallow I must admit.

I think the game will survive but perhaps fill a niche market. The two big things BioWare needs to do sooner rather than later if merge serves and introduce a LFG tool. I think this would alleviate some of the angst. A couple of things that would make me happy is introduce more sandboxy things in the game. As the game stands right now, once you reach 50, there isn't much to do other than grind dailies, PvP or so HM FPs/raid. Rerolling and exploring the other class stories is an option but going through the same content multiple times becomes mind numbling. Perhaps if there were alternate leveling paths, it wouldn't be so painful. I do love the class stories but I just can't bring myself to level yet another character and see the same old content a third, forth, fifth time. Give me some hobby systems. Give me player housing. Give me another crafting profession to make said items for my house. So much potential there. I'm not sure about GW2. I played it a bit and really liked what I saw. Also, don't forget about TSW which launches this month. I've been playing it and have to stay that I'm intrigued and preordered. It can also flounder being a Funcom game but it also may be a sleeper hit too. It is hard to say how new games will fare.

Although I like Star Wars and have watched the movies multiple times and read some of the books, I'm coming to the realization that I'm just not a sci-fi kind of gal. I did play SWG and I'm a bit sad that I didn't give it more of a whirl but again, the sci-fi element was my stumbling block. I do love the sandbox elements though and wished that I had stuck around a bit longer. I do feel the pain of the folks looking for a new Star Wars experience and can understand the huge disappointment. With that said, I share many of your frustrations. I love the class stories and would love to see all of them. I adore the companion system and frankly this is an incentive to play these days. I love seeing their stories and interacting with them. Hubby and I started our first republic characters to try to recapture some of that magic. Unfortunatly, I just feel really blah about the environments. As you say, the warehouses all seem to look the same. This game, for the first time, is one where I haven't explored every nook and cranny. For some reason, and I can't put my finger on it, I'm just not inspired. Seeing a huge crashed ship in the distance of Ord M? I would love to go there and explore. Exhaustion zones keeping me from going to that interesting looking place in the distance---blah. I feel like a rat in a maze. Although the artists have done an admirable job in capturing the environment (my opinion--I like being positive), I think it is a bit of me and my preferences and a bit of blah factor is seeing so many things just looking the same.

Yes, I've gone back to an MMO but sometimes it is to start brand new characters if enough time has passed. If a game adds things that I really enjoy, it may tempt me back. The only problem for me is if I've played an MMO into the ground like I did with EQ2 or LoTR, the cooling off period needs to be for a long, long time. Although I have a lifetime sub to LoTR, it has been several years at least since I've been back.

I played LoTR in beta and picked up the lifetime after a year of playing (slight mistake on my part). Spouse and I played well into Mines of Moria and just got bored with the game. We did instances, we did raids....it just got very old after awhile. I still may go back one of these days to look around. I have very fond memories of LoTR though. Great community, wonderful stories, rich atmosphere, etc. We pretty much saw all the content during the times we played. Also being part of a few wonderful guilds really helped. Some things about LoTR I liked very much and I wish that we could see some more of this in SWTOR: -Interesting hobby systems. I love my fishing, cooking, player housing. Although the player housing wasn't done as well as EQ2 for example (all my opinion of course), I enjoyed having our own neighborhoods where people could proudly display their trophies. On the other hand, I hated the hook system of decorating and wish that we could see more of an EQ2 system. -The music system. That was a mini game in itself. -Traits/ deeds. Sorry but I need my little carrots on a stick and I didn't mind grinding for some things if they were worth it. I spent many an evening with guildies just working on our various traits. -The cosmetic clothing system was fantastic -Holiday events were fantastic and I did every one of them. I did enjoy the the plague event in SWTOR and would love to see more of this stuff in the future. I realize that all my comments are fluff but fluff is important to me in any MMO. If a game is just gear grinding with no fun activities in between, it quickly gets old. Also, I'm not sure how LoTR has changed since it went F2P so my comments are based on the game quite a few iterations ago. One side note: Interesting to see a few Asheron's Call 1 players around. If they made an AC3 with some of the features of AC1, I would be there in a heartbeat. I loved that game and played it for years.

Perhaps you are right but perhaps it will be a sleeper hit. I had no plans to buy Secret World but got that invite and have been playing for a few weeks now and it is growing on me. I do have concerns about many details that aren't in the game yet. Release is less than a month and I'm not sure if it can be pulled together. If the current cc system isn't fixed, the initial impressions are going to be very negative. The jury is out on this one and I will take a wait and see approach. At least I can get several months of gametime out of it. The danger though is with some really interesting games coming out or already out. They can really pull players away from SWTOR which is in a bit of a lull. I'm sure that whenever GW2 hits, it will cause some impact to SWTOR, even if it isn't a sub based game. If TSW is a hit, it also may be an impact. Who knows? As to games like D3 which I haven't played, they can pull people away but I always find myself missing my MMO world and usually come back.

I am on my 3rd class story. Not sure if I will finish it by the time my sub ends but I will try--if I can tempt myself to log in. I love the class stories, I love the companion system. The problem for me is seeing the same content on all three characters. I can do it once, even twice. The third time around just is getting a tad bit old. We will have seen/played all the classes on the Imperial side. I watched my husband whole class story of his Sith Warrior since we played together almost the whole time. I don't have any desire to play his class quite frankly. My hubby and I were going do some Republic characters but I'm worried about burning out on the same old planets again. Since I'm feeling a bit of boredom with the game already, we decided to take a break and return to SWTOR at some future date when things are fresh. And they add more things that I really enjoy like hobby systems, achievements, etc. One aside and I will be honest. I think that I'm more of a traditional fantasy gamer. I like my elves, I like my dwarves and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm also entralled with more modern environments like what I saw in TSW. Although I do like Star Wars, I think that I'm more at home in other enviroments. That is a big factor for me as well. Although I thought that the environments were well done, they just didn't engage me as much. I found al the factories started looking alike after awhile. That is just me though and not the fault of BioWare. In fact, I'm a bit spoiled by BioWare since they established a pretty good standard in storytelling although I'm finding the voice acting and stories in TSW really excellent too although my character can't talk back or make dialogue choices....sad face.