Mechwarrior Online also is using the CRY ENGINE 3. While it's debateable about the MMO aspect of the game it's still impressive. It's a shame SWTOR didn't go with the CRY ENGINE 2 so they could upgrade to 3 later on without re-doing a ton of work. The Hero Engine was supposed to be good...but nothing comparable to that and development on Hero is stagnant. I think BW is about the only company actively doing anything with it. Other than the engine creators....sad.

Like you I have been leveling with a buddy. Neither of us have a lot of time to play the game so when we do get on at the same time I enjoy actually seeing his story as he sees mine. I'ts kind of a spoiler though as I plan to level all classes eventually. As mentioned earlier the environments are unique. Not some medieval castle or jello mold cutout environments, but actuall unique planetary areas that have a character much like those in the stories. While there are other RPG's and games out there, some from BW (ME series), that also have great environments these are uniquely SW and have that SW feel something not easy to achieve. KOTOR II environments had a bit of that issue. Not to jump off topic but for anyone that thought there wouldn't be anymore story mode after 50 you have to remember.....that was Chapter 1. BW isn't likely to just leave you hanging with no Chapter 2.....etc. Not sure you can count this as something I like about "The Game" but the developers certainly are listening and implementing changes that the player base wants. That shows me they care and want this MMO to continue beyond the typical 1 year or less. Only a few other Dev teams I know ask for inputs as much as these guys, and they are Devs for successful MMO's. I really like that.

In desperate need of the Overhaulin'/Chip Foose treatment. Get the family (developers) in on the deal. Pretend the car got stolen. Replace the original engine (the hero engine) with a newer, better, and more reliable engine (Unreal Engine 3). Repaint the car (add better high res textures). Add some new rims, tires, interior, and sound system, and surprise the owner (player base) with it.

Like most others that have posted here I believe the best course is to add both elements to a game. Them park elements to add story, and sandbox elements to keep the players interest. EVE Online is considered a sandbox game but it does include story just not completely in-game a lot of it is outside lore. Not every model will work for every game and therefore to future proof a game it is going to need a good balance of sandbox and them park playing. This game being set in the SW universe has tons of lore and backstory already set in place...it could easily have done just as well as a sanbox and not a "on the rails" theme park ride. Hope BW adds some sandbox play to the space portion to shake things up a bit along the lines of what SWG did. That in my opinion would make this game perferct.

As it is currently I say YES. I'm an old gamer, been around for a long time and I've seen games come and go. Just about every MMO that has come along in the gaming industry has had a rocky start. I honestly believe this one has had the smoothest launch I have seen in about 4-5 years. Does the game have issues....you bet it does, some sub killers for many. I believe however that Bioware does care and will do their best to fix it. The difference between the launch of the most popular MMO on the market currently and this one is the generational gap. When WoW launched it suffered some of the same exact issues as this one. The difference was that the community came up with suggestions, workarounds, and fixes for Blizzard to implement to improve their game. This community seems to be filled with whining, crying, instant satisfaction, self important/entitled players that do nothing but forum post with whines and rants about how they are paying for a product and not getting what they paid for. Bioware will fix this game. They have invested too much time, money, and effort to just let it die. I'm not in agreement with their choice of engines used to build the game but they made it work, and they made it work pretty well from what I've seen so far given what they had, and I believe they will continue to do so. The engine has a lot of potential but it will take a lot of time to get it sorted. I'm not a fanboy of SW or Bioware. I'm just saying this MMO has a lot of potential and is the smoothest launch I have ever seen. Leveling is fun and not a huge grind fest. Something many other MMO's cannot lay claim to. Give it a few more months. By the time this game is 1 year old it's going to be fantastic. I look forward to the ride. I'll end my wall of text here..

While the new things you are implementing are great and most of them should have been part of the original content, at least you are listening to the player base so far. I think one of the biggest things you need to do is add content and rework your space game to be more open ended. The space rails/Disneyland Star Tours ride you made for space combat is sad. Running the same missions repeatedly until you want to gouge your eys out is wrong. I love the game so far but it needs a whole lot of work before I'll stay subscribed for more than 3 months.