Remember when MMO's were worlds not games

yyyyeeeeaaaahhhhhh!

grind mentality.

I can think of games back when, where people stayed the same level for months because what they enjoyed doing, and more importantly, what the game offered didn't require a specific level or gear...

every MMO has had the opportunity to grind. I'm simply saying (badly obviously) the majority (in my experience) back before WOW, didnt feel the need...

My mmo experience goes back to EQ 1 start as well. And I remember a much different story than others seem to. Sure there were those that chose to raid and grind out the best gear and other things, but there was a difference. There wasn't this overwhelming pressure by the community to get that gear. You weren't nothing if you didn't have the best. Even a commonly geared person could be a big part of the community and often wanted for groups.

I played EQ1 for 2 years before I became a raider. And I had tells as soon as I logged on to go group in whatever dungeon or zone every single day. You didn't have to be uber geared to be respected and liked. Of course it all changed when GoD was released, and it became impossible to even do the group areas without the best raid gear from the previous expansion.

Now if you aren't all purple you can't even start being someone in an MMO.

I went on another MMO the other day just to check things out and I was really impressed vs what I experienced with SWTOR because I could look around in all directions and know that I could explore and spelunk and do whatever I wanted, go wherever I wanted, in a world of somewhat limitless possibilities...

This freedom of direction and experience was really a breathe of fresh air after playing within SWTOR's confines for a month.

SWTOR is just too... static... too "fake" in that you can't go anywhere, do anything... By the time you hit 50, you've seen it all.. there's no hidden nooks or crannies really, nothing left to see, no planets you've missed out on...

Makes me feel like I'm on a railroad 3rd person game with some MMO features.

I had a friend who didnt kill a mob for 8 months while he was busy being a player city leader in SWG. All he did was govern the affairs of his city and he loved it...

Actually newts were the dogs that got kicked by both Omnis and Clammers - not sure what server you played on but on RK2 they got kicked the least by Omnis.

Tradeskills were crap outside of CompLitt and engies with tradeskills kept whining that it cost too much IP compared to their need for AS weapons. Which, btw, they were more or less the only class doing because only they could make high-tier equip.

So no, newts were oportunists by nessecity (in a game where the trading system was crap but you at least could meet in Newland/Borealis and do your trading with the other factions - and you could read what they wrote!) and the tradeskilling system was limited to a select few classes (soldiers with tradeskills? yeah right).

And ppl were also chasing items in AO - just look at how it went from farming Tarasque to Smug/Mercs to The Beast in SL on to the various sectors with AI - and over all of it, the tower battles.

Not sure what game you played, but a lvl 10 RP'ing in a Borealis BY claiming to label the game....nah dude

There were no limits to raids, more bodies were better. So of course you wouldn't send someone away because of gear

Thats awesome in my opinion. Unfortunately the way things are currently you will never have that kind of experience in SWToR.

I think in retrospect it all started to go downhill when raids got smaller. Back in the days of EQ 1 where 100 people could get together to go kill a mob, you didn't have this kind of micro-scrutiny of each and every persons performance. When I played my ranger I didn't know if I was the best dps on trakanon and it didn't matter as long as the mob died. Now with 10 and 25 man raids or whatever you only can afford to bring the best you can find so you have to grind out the gear and stay competitive. It's no longer about the boss dying, it's about topping the meters so you can keep your spot.

everquest will be f2p in March have fun

Where exactly is the difference, grind wise? I find it to be the same, except that SWTOR has halways instead of open worlds.