I'm thinking about this because I have a 60-day time card on my desk and I have zero incentive to use it now. But I hope I will in the not too distant future (before f2p makes it worthless, for example). This is not a troll thread. This is not a SWG/sandboxes are better thread.

This is for players who have bought and played SWTOR and found it lacking, but who would  go back if certain changes were made --  with the understanding that this is a themepark game and will never be a sandbox.

In my case, I don't believe this game has to be so on rails. I believe a theme park can offer an open world. I would go back if there was some real exploration potential. And I want that exploration to pay off sometimes with easter eggs. I don't see why there can't be planets added that are more open than the current available choices. I also want a more living world -- give me some improved AI, some ambient sounds (birds, water, day-night cycle?), and some better social hubs. 

I'm not a raider, endgame gear-grinder. I don't mind those things and do partake of them sometimes, but I want  other things to do that are worthwhile.

What would it take for you to go back to SWTOR?

After i quit SWTOR i resubed to Rift and having more fun now.

I find Rift has so much more things for a casual like myself.

I would consider going back to SWTOR if they merge servers or allow transfers and implement a LFG function.

Just cancelled my SWTOR sub and think I'll go back to Rift too.  Best MMORPG out there at the moment.

The changes that I would ask for to make me come back and play SWTOR, would make other players call SWTOR a 'SWG-clone' :p

Nothing I think. There are just better examples of that game type that I would play ahead of it tbh.

the open pvp world.

Put X-Wings and TIE Fighters in it.

You know, REAL Star Wars?

Pfew ... so many things ...

- Meaningful world pvp on the actual planets and no overly powerful NPC defenses

- Reasons for factions to run into eachother instead of being artificially restricted to their own halves of worlds

- Less emphasis on gear-treadmills

- Capitals on the planets; scrap the friggin' fleets.

- Optimization efforts (less lag with many people around, shorter loading screens)

- Crafting not suddenly tied into instanced content at max level

- More fun and alternative content in the worlds at max level, instead of a mainly instanced endgame

- Immersion enhancing stuff: day & night cycles, critters, swimming, etc.

- Craft and buy other spaceships

- Free roaming space content

- Multiplayer spaceship flight and pvp. (Turrets, etc).

A complete revamp of the game changing it to how the original SWG was. Oh the irony. The game is so linear that I just couldn't bare to play it any longer. A waste of $80 for me, but it's all good I guess.. 

 all other mmos shutting down. thats pretty much it :P i do plan to go back in a year or so, just to experience whatever new stories they might add, but the game with its story as a main selling point just cant keep up the pace with other mmos, which have it much easier to add content. Everything else this game has to offer was already done in other games, and it was done better too, so i really have no desire to go back right now.

If i want to raid ill go back to wow, if i want to pvp ill go play aion, gw, you name it. heck i could even pvp in wow too, and many other games had at least half decent and working pvp systems. If i want to craft... ill go play any other game, lol. But swtor storytelling is unmatched so far, and will remain like that unless they decide to rush with new story updates, like many mmos did with their expansions. 

a miracle

For me, it'd have to get roleplaying elements. To actually deserve the mmoRPG title.

Currently, in my opinion, it is not a roleplaying game at all. It is -Not- "Your saga". It's Bioware's saga, with us being allowed to watch from the sidelines.

I don't feel any kind of investment in my character, as a person. The world doesn't feel alive at all (as Darkpony mentioned, critters, better AI, NPC's that feels like they're part of the world)

Currently, I cannot see a shred of reason why I should pay a sub fee to that game, when there are other, even cheaper, games out there with better content, graphics and worlds.

Originally posted by DarkPony

Pfew ... so many things ...

- Meaningful world pvp on the actual planets and no overly powerful NPC defenses

- Reasons for factions to run into eachother instead of being artificially restricted to their own halves of worlds

- Less emphasis on gear-treadmills

- Capitals on the planets; scrap the friggin' fleets.

- Optimization efforts (less lag with many people around, shorter loading screens)

- Crafting not suddenly tied into instanced content at max level

- More fun and alternative content in the worlds at max level, instead of a mainly instanced endgame

- Immersion enhancing stuff: day & night cycles, critters, swimming, etc.

- Craft and buy other spaceships

- Free roaming space content

- Multiplayer spaceship flight and pvp. (Turrets, etc).

 

Pretty much spot on especially the getting rid of Fleet part.

They're fixing some of the UI issues now but i don't think it's enought to warrant a monthly fee.

The game offers nothing long term and i have no interest in logging in just to raid.  There are way better games for that.

For me it was the lack of PvP options at max level. Getting stuck in one battleground over and over gets really really tiresome. They are fixing this to an extent with 1.2 by having 3 battlegrounds for same faction combat and battleground ratings to work towards. 

Could be taken a bit further though, I think a rotating roster of 6-8 significantly different PvP zones - with very different objectives, not just different maps - would satisfy me. Also an open world PvP zone that isnt a complete failure would be nice.

I hate to say it, but as far as themepark PvP goes, they could really take a leaf out of WoW's book. There is lots of diversity there which keeps it from getting stale, including working world PvP objectives every few hours.

The PvE endgame in SWTOR was also wayyyyyyy too easy. My Sorceror was in the best gear available within the first month. Hell, in EQ2 people are still not clearing the majority of Plane of War that was introduced back in August (only two bosses down out of eight). 

They sort of had the right idea by having multiple difficulty options, but doing the hardest (nightmare) was pointless in terms of gear progression and the hard mode which gave access to the best gear in the game was far too easy. If people complete the game too easy in a gear grind game with few non-combat gameplay options... why would they stick around?

Either the combat progression needs to be harder, or they need more to do aside from combat.

Originally posted by ph3n0m73

a miracle

Nah thats asking for too much.  Nothing would make me return!  SW was already pretty much dead to me, and Bioware only made the IP even worse, but its not like Lucas cares anyway, he's just greenlighting anything and everything nowadays to get  a fat check.

Totally different endgame (current endgame is so stale that its ridiculous, log in once a week to raid...no thanks - and i did all on NmM - and NO making it harder/longer does nothing, just lenghtens the grind which would make me quit even faster)

Good (meaningful) open world PvP

More emphasis on class story during leveling instead of gazillion generic quests

+many other "little" things mentioned in posts above

I played the Sith Warrior story out in full and it left me dissapointed.

I think the plot was scripted on the back of a fag packet. What happened to the brilliant story lines?

I hope they didnt pay the story guys too much.

Originally posted by DarkPony

Pfew ... so many things ...

- Meaningful world pvp on the actual planets and no overly powerful NPC defenses

- Reasons for factions to run into eachother instead of being artificially restricted to their own halves of worlds

- Less emphasis on gear-treadmills

- Capitals on the planets; scrap the friggin' fleets.

- Optimization efforts (less lag with many people around, shorter loading screens)

- Crafting not suddenly tied into instanced content at max level

- More fun and alternative content in the worlds at max level, instead of a mainly instanced endgame

- Immersion enhancing stuff: day & night cycles, critters, swimming, etc.

- Craft and buy other spaceships

- Free roaming space content

- Multiplayer spaceship flight and pvp. (Turrets, etc).

 

This, and:

- finally some real ambient sounds and not silent planets

- tons of rework in animated city life/animated wild life, not these theatre stages

- ehem, CHAT BUBBLES

- hobbies and stuff NOT involving killing: dancing, music, farming, fishing, housing, fashion making, creature handling asf.

- as Pony said more fun and alternative content would be MOST important, I SO have enough of "go there kill this and use termal at the end of the cave" copy-paste quests.

They would have to do so much totally off the radar of their perception. I just don't see that. Even this 1.2 content took them 4-5 months to make, given it will likely come in May. I just don't see they have the ability to make all that, or even half of it.

One trait I have noticed about Gamers is that generally they don't give ,"Do-Overs", when they feel they have been wronged. They are very passionate about their games, and are ardent defenders of those they love, and make horrble enemies when spurned. If I could tell game developers one thing it would be, "Don't piss them off on release,they will live you standing there alone and move on."

Originally posted by Boatsmate

One trait I have noticed about Gamers is that generally they don't give ,"Do-Overs", when they feel they have been wronged. They are very passionate about their games, and are ardent defenders of those they love, and make horrble enemies when spurned. If I could tell game developers one thing it would be, "Don't piss them off on release,they will live you standing there alone and move on."

Ehem... totally unrelated, but answer to your sig, hehe. XD