Why did Bioware do this?

This game blows every other MMO are of the water in the artistic side, but when it comes to the technical aspect (netcode, engine, cross server, etc) they fell flat on their freaking face

Saying voice acting is just a gammick is retarded

Artistically it is nothing special. Other MMOs have had voice acting, other MMOs have had cut scenes, just not to this extent. Artistically speaking, I think other MMOs have more to offer than SWTOR.

The funny thing is, even given the extra six months the game would still probably be missing Guild banks, UI customisations, group finder etc... and be plagued by ability delay, poor performance, long loads times and what not.

The only way they can really find out what people really want is by making the game live, having thousands of people play and the by listening to feedback/metrics. Obviously if the game was in the state it is now at release it would have fared a lot better but it is the feedback that got it here.

So nice of you to mention "other" MMOs have done it to and not provide a single name lol

The only one I can think of that came Before swtor and had good voice acting was DCUO, it was nice to hear Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, but it was nowhere near to this extent.

Overall this game has Good writing, storytelling and character and its not just quality, they have a ton of it, the only artistic aspect I think is kinda weak are things like armor design, but aside from that I never felt so engaged when playing an MMO.

But as I said before you take a step out of your class story and you have to deal with the game technical deficiencies

Well other MMOs are doing it now, so SWTOR's one advantage may not be for much longer.

Also how important are voice overs in a MMO? I think it is nice to have to present the story of the world, but MMOs are about repeating content and playing with others, grouping with others, etc. Voice acting really doesn't contribute to that.

It's like saying one FPS has better voice acting than the other. It's nice to have but it's really not what the genre is about.

Yes, GW2 is including voice acting, not to the same extent not even close, but thats ok because they are also doing their own thing with Dynamic Events, etc

FPS today are all about multiplayer BUT high quality voice acting is a MUST if you want to do an amazing single player campaign, I mean lets look at some of the names that have worked on Call Of Duty series, Kiefer Sutherland, Gary Oldman, Sam Worhington, Ed Harris, these are not just voice actors, these are Hollywood Stars, so yeah I think is pretty much mandatory if you want to make a good game these days unless you rely only on multiplayer

Having said that I think voice acting is even more important in RPGs than FPS games, the only type of MMO I think could do without voiceacting would be a Player-Driven Content Sandbox, because there you kinda create your own gameplaye experience and your own story.

There is one thing that baffles me about this game and it is the fact that they spent so much money on voice acting,

So nice of you to mention "other" MMOs have done it to and not provide a single name lol

The only one I can think of that came Before swtor and had good voice acting was DCUO, it was nice to hear Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, but it was nowhere near to this extent.

Yeah, that's what I mean. I don't know what Elder Scrolls is going to do but the Voice over seems to be a thing that MMOs are moving towards to, so that one thing that SWTOR has may not be that much of a advantage.

Aion had awesome voice acting, they were a little liberal with the cut scenes though.

Well you know, if other MMOs are copying it I think its a sign that Bioware took a step on the right direction, and again, artisticly I trust them, but in the technical aspect this game has many problems and could really learn from other MMOs

lol Aion... and amazing voice acting on the same sentence... thats funny