Sad to see the game fall on it's arse like this. I enjoyed playing up to a point and then it became the same ole BS grind for gear. The "bottom line" issue is that BW, like so many other companies, made a game for a finite period of time. Failure is an integral part of their plan. They simply want to keep the masses mesmerized for 5 years. Certainly there are individuals within these companies that take pride in what they have produced. Yet, this sort of corporate bent on creating a moneymaker, instead of creating "ART" is what is pushing these game into being so cookie cutter alike that it is sickening. Grinding for gear is a ridiculous waste of time. Yet, it has become the benchmark for games. It is so, because it's the cheap, lazy, and accepted method of keeping people coming back for more. That's why the gear you got this month, after camping mob X for 40 hours this week, will be useless next month. Think of it like this... If you feel compelled to log in because you feel like someone will get better gear in your absence, then you are playing the wrong game. If you want to return to the game because that world attracts you, then the developers succeeded in producing art. Here's the test: If you can stop playing SWTOR for 2 weeks, and still want to play... It only took a week for me to realize there was nothing there.

The inability to interact with world objects and the end game grindfest for gear forces me to see how small the TOR world really is both literally and figuratively. I want something more than a pretty tapestry and a paper doll to play with. Also, BW went too far with the balancing. Every character and class plays virtually the same. The story lines make it somewhat different and entertaining. But at level 50, ... see above...

Kinda like Sony happened to EQ, SWG, EQII, Vanguard, etc... The Irony is that some company will come out of left field and create an amazing concept and the "Big Boys" will commecialize it to death.

Had the newer MMOs simply stuck with improved graphics, instead of all this balancing of classes and such, they might be doing better. What people really want is the latitude to invest in their online persona. That's kind of hard when every class has been "balanced" into three classes (Tank, DPS, and CC). SWTOR has been one of the worst. It's doesn't end with the space battle on rails. The entire class structure is on rails. Even a rock/paper/scissors approach would have been an improvement. They could learn a lot from UO during the "guild wars" period. Less IS more. Give the players a virtual world that works (i.e. doors that open) , stop limiting where on the map you can and cannot go., and have three or four stats. So what if everyone becomes class X, Y, or Z? Who cares? Asherons Calls failings had nothing to do with the fact that your character could become any class you wanted. Luke Skywalker was a Jedi. But I recall that he could fire a blaster. In UO, there were casters and melee or some combination. You didn't have to "reroll" each time you wanted to experiment with something else. UO gave the players a virtual world to adventure within, and left the rest up to you. After the advent of EQ, Origin desperately tried to "update" the game mechanics of UO and successfully killed it. They didn't realize that the problem wasn't their game, but simply the modern interface and graphics.

Which bodes the question... Can someone be more dead and "dead"?

And there's the rub... After 50, it all becomes a max/min grindfest. The person that has nothing better to do than endure the mind numbing tediom gets to dress his paper doll up better than everyone else. BW went the safe route. They made Kotor III, made it co-op, and added a WOW style grind to keep the jobless and shut ins busy a while longer.

In my opinion, the reason that there is little social involvement within the game is because there is no emotional investment required by the game. The vast portion of the game is simply a tapestry. You can do nothing to effect the world. There is no player housing, no guild halls, and literally only one place to hang out... the fleet. If you step away from your computer for more than a few minutes, you are logged off. For me, TOR was more like a single player game that allowed co-op. I say "was" because after leveling two characters to 50, the games limitations were glaring. Consequently, I'm taking a break from the game but hoping that it becomes more than it is in it's current form. I cancelled my sub a few weeks back. SWTOR is a fun game, but not interesting enough for the long haul.

Well Just cancelled my sub... Loved the Story lines (played Rep Shadow to 50 and Imp Sin to 50 and virtually all classes an sub classes to 12-34). Classes are virtually identical even between practical classes. In effect.. DPS, Tank, or Healing. You choose the cute graphic... End game gear grind... same as WOW and all the other Max/Min games out there. I'll check back from time to time to see how the game progresses. Enjoy!

You're missing the point. We like SWTOR and want it to grow. We simply see the light at the end of tunnel... and its the front of an oncoming train.

Who knows? It's all speculation. The bottom line is that if BW doesn't make HUGE changes, SWTOR is HISTORy.

A lot of the people are just leaving to random games like League of Legends (My son just started playing that). He left WOW about a year ago, played Aion briefly, and played an Inquisitor on my SWTOR account till level 6 and bailed. Other than the MMO addicts, I think the online community is ready for something more than the "safe" model of MMO that exists now.

BTW, on my server, My guild has 202 members of which 32 were 50s and about 15 high level 40s. I'm sure that many of the 202 are alts. I'm the only one left that logs in daily, and of the rest I've seen only two in the past week. Even so, the other two have said that they are leaving the game as well. None of these players moved on to other guilds or other servers. They simply left the game altogether..

Oh... I'm sure that BW will increase the level to XX and add another zone or two... that isn't the issue. SWTOR is a Max/Min game just like WoW, Just like Aion, Just like (insert MMO here)... Unfortunately, it has less of what those others have to keep people busy while they develop the next big thing. SWTOR is a wonderful game. I really enjoyed it. But, I'm at the end and it's painfully obvious that it is the same ole' same ole'.

As I posted in a previous thread that was closed for ... whatever reason, the game is waning because after you hit 50 and the story line ends, SWTOR simply becomes a grind fest for gear. The game encompasses 4 square miles of each planet, and there is no interaction with the environment. Turns out that SWTOR is just another WOW clone in KOTOR wrappings. Unfortunately, BW created the beginning and WOW had a long lead. The game has been fun, but is at it's end now.

In reality, you are correct. In the game however... you suck. I don't mean that in a prejorative sense either. It's not because you are a bad person or a bad player. Its because of scale. Instead of the difference between a level 1 player and a level 50 player being 10%, 20%, 30% etc... It's more like 1000000% In a world PvP situation a lvl 30 character cant even hit a level 50. And the level 50 can kill an army of level 30s is 10 seconds.