I played, had an OK time, and then quit around level 45 - because the world was too empty. (Gardens of Talla server).

I think there could be plenty of fun to be had in this game... if there were, um, anyone actually out there in the world. Perhaps others had a different experience, but after the beginning rush, I never saw more than aboiut 10 people on any planet. I am yet to see anything that ackowledges or offers a solution to this problem.

It's a shame, really. If the planets were filled with players, engaging in random open world battles and so forth, it could be thrilling. But as a single player game, it is really not so fun.

The legacy system seems a smart call to keep people playing and trying new characters - but it doesn't address the fudnamental issue. That for many players, this feels like an empty MMO. You can quote all the numbers you like at me; the game felt empty.

Until that is addressed, it's hard to feel any desire to resub.

A lot of the people who are left are just space botting their characters...no wonder it was hard to find drops in the Auction House.

That was also the reason why i quit.  Not saying there's not a lot of people playing I just never found any. never being more then 20 people on a planet, and i actually leveled my second 50 without seeing a soul all the way through (besides battlegrounds) which i fought the same republic group time after time.

I forget the server name  Iron something

It is a bummer. The game is decent. But it gets old.

I am still playing. I have a few friends that i do PVP with and at least chat on Ventrilo so it isn't comepletely boring. I just wish there was more open world PVP. I have run into a few people but not many. 

I am on Belsavis now and there are allegedly 10-18 people in there at night. I have only seen 1 or 2.

They say that there is endgame stuff to do. I sure hope so.

I can't wait for Planetside 2. It can't come soon enough for me.

I agree with the OP but would like to add that, what's really hurting TOR is the lack of social tools and planet exploration. There's just no reason to go or be on any planet but to quest. Bioware laid out all the nice cities that have cantina's but there's no reason other to log off to be in them or there is a quest tied to it. The only social interaction between players is to group up for combat and that gets old very fast. In my opinion the game was just made wrong. The SW IP is to large and vast to shoebox it into a very tight linear themepark model.

It felt so empty I started over on what was suppose to be the busiest server. (Jekk Jekk) Even though there was more people per planet by far from my old server it still felt empty. Why is that? I really don't have a answer.

I quit this month for that reason and others. I love to play alts and going through the same empty servers and content was to painful. The crafting was ok at best. The reverse engineering gets old fast. The combat was fun though lacked challenge as you level like all mmo these days. The search continues for the MMO that can hold me longer then 1 to 3 months.

Bring on D3 and GW2! Will give Aion a try again when it goes free to play next month.

Never mind 1-3 months.

I have trouble lasting more than a few days.

Probably because my first MMO was wow. Loved old school wow..hate wotlk and cata so gave up.

LOTRO - 3 days

RIft - 2 days

Age of conan - 1 day...god that was a bad one.

SWTOR - 2 days...couldnt log in anymore..felt depressed playing it.

Will try Tera this beta weekend and then w8 for GW2.

So i guess its back to dl porn [mod edit]

I wont go back to wow since burnt out on it and full of idiots now.

If someone made a decent ww2 mmo that would be a new experience.

The market is crying out for something decent and addictive and its there for the taking.

Bioware did not learn anything...community.....community...community.

You could try ultima online.....ppl still playing that ^^....go figure

Easy enough it isn't a MMO by definition.

It is designed for single players.

I have no problem playing on a empty server. Most of the time I dont want to be bothered. But to each its own.

"Why would anyone play an MMO in which the world is empty?"

The answer is simple. Its not an MMO. Its a single player game masquerading as an MMO.

Bioware really missed the entire point of the Star Wars IP which is the battle between the Rebellion and the Empire.   In theory, every planet should be up for grabs with unique open world PvP incentives for each planet (some may have resources, others may have additional raid or dungeon content).

It's sad that MMO developers are losing sight of what really creates an immersive, long-term, gaming experience. 

I cant understand why ppl have this need to group together all the time in a land of make believe.

There's people on the servers, but it feels empty do to how they designed the game.  That is why I like more open world design with out instanced zones.  

AOC also had instanced zones but playing it last year it felt way more populated than SWTOR.  Not sure about now, haven't been there in awhile.  But AOC had many, many more people in it than SWTOR, and the environments and characters were hi res and very beautiful, with respectable framerates.

Originally posted by Soopaman

I cant understand why ppl have this need to group together all the time in a land of make believe.

They aren't talking about grouping, just seing other people while you are on missions... you hardly see anybody. Even the Fleet is pretty quiet.

The game would definitely be more fun if it wasnt such a solo experience, if they included some - any.. grouping tools to make forming/finding groups easier, then it would be worth playing, as it is, it just isnt fun and thats a shame because the flashpoints really are the better part of the game experience, if you can get into a group to do them, and waiting around in fleet for half hour to an hour at a time begging people to do a flashpoint isnt just not fun, its depressing.

It is the way of the themepark. Step back and visualize this from a greater perspective. Themepark MMORPG's content consists primarily of quest hubs. These quest hubs contain level appropriate missions that reward players for doing them at the correct levels. Furthermore, once completed these missions either A.) Offer little incentive to re-do them or B.) Are simply not repeatable. For these reasons, the player is compelled and pushed by the game to constantly move forward, into higher level areas. What occurs, after a brief moment in which the majority of the playerbase is located in the lowers levels, is that the easiest content (the low level quest areas) is gradually made obsolete for the vast majority, as the player characters grow in power.

Take, for instance, World of Warcraft. It is not uncommon in a game that sports millions upon millions of subscribers to encounter no one while you level. It is inevitable, in the themepark's current form, and SWTOR's condition is no different.

Many may argue that phasing and instancing are the greatest factors that contribute to a lifeless game world. I beg to differ, however, and believe that the way progression is implemented within these games is the principal reason as to why leveling often times feels lonely. Even without phasing or instancing, these games would inevitably suffer the same fate. The difference would be neglible, and the benefits brought about by instancing and phasing far outweigh it.

EDIT: Some here are also stating grouping (or lack of) as the element responsible for making game worlds empty. Again, making grouping a necessity for progression is only a band aid fix. Soon, the playerbase outlevels the content and those lower level zones feel empty again. Furthermore, grouping as a necessity for progression introduces a slew of complications to a game, most noteworthy is the punishment to the casual gamer, that aims to play maybe an hour or two some days of the week, and often times has a hard time finding other like-minded people to play with.

Originally posted by Soopaman

I cant understand why ppl have this need to group together all the time in a land of make believe.

You don't get it. It's not about having to group up all the time. It's about community interdependency among players and having things to do outside of combat. TOR lacks any social tools and systems that allows for that to happen. Without those tools, and a game with all combat, all you have is a SPRPG  and not a true MMORPG.

Originally posted by Soopaman

I cant understand why ppl have this need to group together all the time in a land of make believe.

The idea behind a MMORPG was for ltos of people to be able to group togeather and play a game.. That is why they exist...

If you want to play a game by yourself there are tons of SP games already out there that do that job a lot better..

Originally posted by Soopaman

I cant understand why ppl have this need to group together all the time in a land of make believe.

Uh .. there is a MASSIVE difference between what you are saying and what the OP meant. He isn't saying there should be enforced grouping, he's saying the game world is empty of players leaving him feeling like the Omega Man.

When your MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER Online game feels about the same as just playing a single player game like one of the Elder Scrolls titles, something is very very wrong.

   To answer the question in the subject line, I don't know but the people in WoW don't seem to have a problem with it. Since they added the dungeon finder to WoW the world is pretty much empty.

  My friends and I have been having the same discussion since we played Rift. Why do developer's design MMO's that a player can make it to lvl cap in a week? Rift was guilty of it, SW:TOR is guilty of it and I'm pretty sure there are many more and will be more in the future. We all started playing MMO's in EQ. I played it for 6 years and only had a capped character for a short time once and then they put out an expansion and I was not capped again. I so want a game that takes that kind of investment again. It's time for a genre wide design change.