I don't think this game caters to either.

As much as I want this game to succeed because I've been wanting a new MMORPG to play since like 2 years ago, it's hard to be optimistic about the future of this game considering its current state.

Currently this game is very unfriendly towards competitive raiding and pvp due to poor responsiveness and fluidity in combat and lack of combat logging.

Having no real competitive community will probably lead to poor retention.

The hardcores will just go back to the other MMORPGs to raid and pvp competitively.

The casual gamers will most likely jump ship when the next big MMORPG is released.

But not only is this game unfit for competitive play, I don't think it has much to offer for casual players either.

Hanging out on Imperial Fleet doesn't give you that sense of a community like you got when you chilled in Stormwind/Ironforge even when there are 100+ people on the ship.

Players who play for the social aspect of MMORPG won't be satisfied in SWTOR.

There are no holiday events and mini game quests that are fun for casual and solo players.

I can list more things but it might make me sound like a WoW fan boy even though I am not. I deleted that game from my hard drive a year ago.

Unless they are a devout Star Wars fan, it's hard to say that casual players will stay with this game when another MMORPG has so much more to offer for casual players.

The questing and leveling experience in SWTOR is great but that is about it and the novelty will wear off soon.

WoW is amazing in that it caters so well to casuals and hardcores at the same time, although the last 2 expansions have made dramatic changes to cater more to casuals.

I think the strategy BW should have used was to win over the hardcore community from WoW.

Many of the veteran WoW raiders are getting burned out and apparently unhappy with the changes Blizzard is making.

I used to be a complete WoW nerd hardcore raider. I personally know of many WoW raiders in top guilds that were so ready to switch over to SWTOR for competitive raiding.

I will just say that pretty much all of them are having second thoughts right now.

why not cater to both?

Like I said, the game is not exceptional at catering to either.

There are no holiday events and mini game quests that are fun for casual and solo players.

Why do people seem to always forget that this game has been out for only a few of weeks? They are still fixing bugs and working on early new content and you expect holiday events? Christmas was less than a week after launch, and new years a week after that.

I also commonly see a lot of banter going on in general chat. Even in this short time I've already become familiar with some of the other people in my server, just from doing group quests or speaking with them in general chat.

I can answer this:

This game is a casual MMO with casual mechanics, casual leveling, and casual raiding.

It probably doesn't have much appeal for hardcore gamer types who thrive on challenge an achievement. Every nightmare/hard mode in the game is already beaten on probably every server on the game. There's no challenge. Many people already have at least one 50. Leveling is short and fast even for many casual types. The game's mechanics are fairly slow-paced (1.5sec GCD... I hear wow casters have this too but I don't play Wow) and many of the animations for skills are long (mortar barrage for example). This effectively slows combat down and makes it more static than most.

SWTOR is a fun game but it is decidedly casual.

I can answer this:

 

This game is a casual MMO with casual mechanics, casual leveling, and casual raiding.

 

It probably doesn't have much appeal for hardcore gamer types who thrive on challenge an achievement. Every nightmare/hard mode in the game is already beaten on probably every server on the game. There's no challenge. Many people already have at least one 50. Leveling is short and fast even for many casual types. The game's mechanics are fairly slow-paced (1.5sec GCD... I hear wow casters have this too but I don't play Wow) and many of the animations for skills are long (mortar barrage for example). This effectively slows combat down and makes it more static than most.

 

SWTOR is a fun game but it is decidedly casual.

There was only MC for vanilla wow and Conquest had it cleared within a month and a half on our server (Kilrogg), so the big difference is.........not sure.

One other thing...

I am willing to bet most adult MMO gamers don't play just 1 MMO. I play 4. I am special and I don't think too many people do it like I do... I'm a bit of an MMO fanatic. I have subs to all 4 and I play each whenever I feel like it.

Still, I don't buy into this whole, "If X game sucks I'll wait for Y." When, in reality, it is probably more like, "X game is meh right now so I'll get a sub for Y. X is fun still and I play it a bit but Z is coming soon but I really do like X and Y..."

Lots of gamers buy into what I call the "religion." Many gamers treat their MMO like a religion and choosing to quit is akin to renouncing one's faith and going to a new place of worship. They LOVE their MMO and the day after they leave it, they HATE that MMO. Anyone who talks bad about their NEW MMO is a heretic and must be shouted down lest their taint spread.

There's also a lot of gamers who don't. They play several MMOs. Who cares if one is better than the other. Who cares if X game kills Y game? I hope it doesn't because I might happen to play both of them. Variety is the spice of life. Play your games like it.

There was only MC for vanilla wow and Conquest had it cleared within a month and a half on our server (Kilrogg), so the big difference is.........not sure.

Yeah, but even though I didn't play WoW, I know enough to know it had quite a few end-game dungeons. SWTOR just remakes the same ones you did before at lower levels. Rift does this too... but Rift's experts have different mechanics, additional bosses and additional dungeons (all at launch).

Then again, it isn't fair to compare Rift or WoW to SWTOR. Rift, on which I can speak of because I have experience with it, is an end-game centric game. It is designed to get you to 50 without much grind and then give you lots to do. Because of this, their dungeon encounters are really well made overall and is a prime focus of their game.

Dungeon crawling/raiding here is a pure afterthought (and you don't even get the best gear available from them so there's not all that much incentive to do them).

I think the strategy BW should have used was to win over the hardcore community from WoW.

Many of the veteran WoW raiders are getting burned out and apparently unhappy with the changes Blizzard is making.

This exactly. We have nowhere to go anymore because "casual player" cancer has killed everything. That being said I understand why.

If you were making an mmo which demographic would you choose? Pleasing this casual cancer is beyond easy. Give them something they are familiar with, make it dead easy to understand, require no thinking, and give them some pretty environments. Done. It's much more difficult to engage a community that actually wants to be challenged with dynamic, complex, and well thought out game mechanics.

Get the cancer back to the consoles and we'll get our games back. Until then... we're screwed.

Lol I've yet to hear of the game that got saved by holiday events.. seriously, they're better (and they are) working on bugfixes and expanded content.

Yeah some hardcores will leave soon I'd imagine, but that was to be expected, the game is quite easy at this stage. Add some 'elites' that can't play without their favorite macro into the mix.

That will not kill the game. Potential lack of updates/development/fun might, client or server issues might. I also don't think its casuals that run from game to game as you claim they do, but it's my view.

Time will tell