Your technology needs help... lots of help... lots and LOTS of help. :(

I just want to chime in and say that the polygon counts on WoW models are insanely low, which is a big reason why that game does so well with performance. It wasn't always like that, though, with older computers. Lagrimmar and Ironlag where common names for some cities known for serious, well, lag.

SWTOR has some issues, that's for sure, but I've been impressed so far with how Bioware has prioritized the updates.

From what I understand about networking, your logic and explanations (I also read your 2nd technology post) seem right but it's the way you say it that bothers me. Maybe it's just me but it sounds "rude" and "condescending".

Well, maybe in the eyes of computer geeks that like to examine the most minute intricacies of the equipment and software they are using like a bunch of gear heads standing around a 1968 Road Runner marveling at the chrome valve covers for hours on end, but I'm guessing that those of us that log on, play the game, and log off could care less what engine they are using.

I'm on a five year old machine. I leveled with no problems, I'm leading our raids with no problems, my loading times are insignificant. The game is fun. I could care less what's under the hood. lol

Color code the OP so its easier to naviagate
Put stuff in spoilers to reduce massive size
Compare to a more modern MMO that has been released. Comparing anything to a game years and years ago isn't fair.

I just want to chime in and say that the polygon counts on WoW models are insanely low, which is a big reason why that game does so well with performance. It wasn't always like that, though, with older computers. Lagrimmar and Ironlag where common names for some cities known for serious, well, lag.

SWTOR has some issues, that's for sure, but I've been impressed so far with how Bioware has prioritized the updates.

I'm a lead artist in the games industry and been in it for over 10 years and the polygon counts on SWTOR never struck me as an issue.
Visible zones are pretty small in this game and for today's standards still pretty low poly. Their planets (other than Tatooine which is empty desert anyway) are all compartmentalized nicely, cut into small, manageable zones that block view into sorrounding areas.
Given the simplicity of the environment, the reuse of rather lowres textures etc, no game with THIS art in it should ever run under 50-60 fps on a average machine.

I would never bother ripping off the content to look at the actual wireframes and material usage, but unless they're assigning 10 materials per asset, this game should run like a ferrari.

I know that at some point their particle effects were incredibly unoptimized, because I could stand under some steam vent that sporadically released steam and have my FPS go from around 60+ to 5 just from the particle.
This has since been fixed but it really raises the question, how competent are they at fine tuning and what else is out there...

It is usually the small interior areas (boxes and connecting rectangles!) than run the worse for me.
Normally these would run the fastest as you can put each box in its own zone if needed and not draw the rest until you go around the corner, yet, exteriors run so much better.
I haven't bothered trying to track this down as I just don't care enough anyway, could be more particles, could be real time lights that are always being drawn even while out of sight, could be that the engine doesn't know to not draw things not in sight in general...

Something, beyond their network programming, is definitely wrong with their engine, or perhaps it all works and it is simply just that bad.

Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with having more polygons than WoW.

Edit: Also, after all the years in the industry I know how hard it is to find actually competent and proactive people that can take care of issues without somebody prodding them with a stick every week and asking why why why....
The larger the studio the more it becomes an art farm, where nobody actually seems to really know anything beyond hoe to get their assets into the game.
If your leads can't educate or identify and resolve possible issues then nothing will get done. Rarely will someone make them own their incompetence and kick their butts.

Edit: Also, after all the years in the industry I know how hard it is to find actually competent and proactive people that can take care of issues without somebody prodding them with a stick every week and asking why why why....
The larger the studio the more it becomes an art farm, where nobody actually seems to really know anything beyond hoe to get their assets into the game.
If your leads can't educate or identify and resolve possible issues then nothing will get done. Rarely will someone make them own their incompetence and kick their butts.