Trust me, you are not alone in this. Until this day, after playing TOR I'm asking:

~ why I can't switch sides ?

~ why my trooper can't become one with the force ? Or have kid (unlockable class) that will be one with the force ?

~ why I can't switch weapons ?

~ why I must travel to same planets every 3-4 lvl without need to go back EVER ?

~ why I must do everything always the same in exact same order ?

Seeing Star Wars (that is focus on war between 3 sides, dark side, light side and people that don't use force) and Star Trek (EXPLORATION BY BIG E!!!!) I can't stop wonder why they decide to do another generic mmo about nothing just to fill pockets.

Today I'm thinking that it would be better if TOR or Star-Trek would came AFTER Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet shown that you can create rich game and have big success without 1:1 copy of the WoW. So I think that Bioware and Cryptic would do things much better. Bioware could mix sanbox style games like EVE etc with their storytelling etc. Cryptic could do everything different.

Sad part is that we won't see good Star-Trek / Star Wars MMO for next 10 years or something :-( Hope ArenaNet would score big big big and George Lucas would went to them and beg for mercy and ask to make Star Wars game without sticking his finger to their work. I would love to see what ArenaNet could do with Star Wars franchise, 500 milion dolars (300 development and 200 advertisment) and 5 years of work. 

So back to topic - single player ? No. This world is too big for one person to fill.

Originally posted by Zecktorin
Well even in single player sandbox game I would want to be able to invite friends. Make it a living breathing world kind of like X3 and etc. But be able to invite your friends.

single player game means just you. if you invite friends it becomes a multiplayer game.

just go play SWOTR, it's pretty much a single player game with the option to group up if you really want to.

Originally posted by Jakdstripper

Originally posted by Zecktorin
Well even in single player sandbox game I would want to be able to invite friends. Make it a living breathing world kind of like X3 and etc. But be able to invite your friends.

single player game means just you. if you invite friends it becomes a multiplayer game.

just go play SWOTR, it's pretty much a single player game with the option to group up if you really want to.

haha Key word is non linear lol.... SWTOR is a fun game, but its very linear.

Personally I am looking for a Star Wars: Rogue Squadron game. Dog fights, Empire VS Rebellion, Control points in the galaxy that you battle over.

However as tp the OP, Star Wars galaxies would have been a perfect game to add elder scrolls type tool kit where players could create their own Moons or  planets.

Two things:

1) Yes, it would be beyond nifty were there a game that was parts ELITE, parts STO, parts this, parts that - that you could play for years and kiss the MMO genre goodbye.   Ahem, there could even be various DLC/xpacs for it - so there could be a continued source of income for the developer of the single-player game.

2) Speaking of STO though and going the other way, I wish other MMOs allowed that depth of single-player experience by allowing you to form parties from NPCs.  The SSI Gold Box MMO, eh?  Or imagine WoW if you could put together your own party of five ala STO...but uh, not WoW - better.  :)

Touching upon the first - it's a tough one, since this is a MMO site - but yeah, definitely.  I want that single-player game that offers months and months of non-linear play...years of play.  I want to explore, I want to revisit worlds to see what has happened since I was there, etc, etc, etc - I want that space based virtual universe simulator... where it's not about doing X, Y, or Z - but it's about doing whatever I want.  Of course, that could also mean that it's short lived...heh, I fought the law, but the law won and all that...

Touching upon the second again - yeah, I don't like people but I like MMOs.  :)

Originally posted by Gorwe
No, you are most certainly not! I'd love Star Trek with right and proper Sense of Exploration! NOT god-damned ST:O!  [edit]

What do you expect from Sci-Fi Exploration? Scaled Real Time Travel (SRTT) or instantaneous point to point travel a la Kotor? In SRTT it could take 3 days or real world time to travel from one world to another. Or it could take 3 months, or 3 years. In a year of typical game play you can discover 2 uninhabitable worlds. Or it could be 1 Mars (desert) type planet a day for 10 years. No magnetosphere, no atmosphere, no life just a dead dry rock in space.

You want a non-linear game world, well how so? Like SWG were the scaled mission spawn would randomly appear in the game world. If another player was already there, he would take it and a new spawn point would have to be calculated. This would keep happening until you could get to the location before any other players. Or like Matrix Online (MxO), where the mission would spawn on a unique floor of one of the many enterable building in the game world. Or City of Heros (CoX) Where you enter a randomly spawned mission instance. SWG’s The Village had a mission event where once an hour for 30 minutes the village was sieged by Sith NPCs, sounds a lot like GW2’s DWEs to me.

Or maybe it could be a random quest generator that pulls from the five typical quest types, kill 10 of X, escort, defend, deliver, or craft. So you go to the mission terminal and you only pull Kill 10 of X missions for 8 years. Is this what you are asking for?

Originally posted by Jakdstripper
yes you are.

TBH it's probably easier to make a Star Wars or Star Trek game similar to Skyrim (with the space components). If you start to make an MMO you'll end up making way too many compromises (e.g. PvP, PvE, etc.). With a solo or at least small scale coop game (like NWN) you don't have to take that much care of player actions which will kill other player's enjoyment of the game.

Originally posted by Jakdstripper

Originally posted by Zecktorin
Well even in single player sandbox game I would want to be able to invite friends. Make it a living breathing world kind of like X3 and etc. But be able to invite your friends.

single player game means just you. if you invite friends it becomes a multiplayer game.

just go play SWOTR, it's pretty much a single player game with the option to group up if you really want to.

For a single player game they added way too many restrictions to the game.

http://www.lucasarts.com/games/1313/

Going to finally be a Star Wars game worthy of playing.

Originally posted by Gorwe
SRTT would be fine. It would convey the Spirit of ST just fine. But do not do 1 real day=1 day in game(that'd be mistake imo). That's why TES style of travel would be fine(tis SRTT if you ask me...).

Concerning quests-there should be overarching storyline that is MASSIVE and has 2-4 endings. There ought to be chained events a la GW 2 DEs that don't matter too much(escort duties anyone;)). Those should be random. It also should make you start from ensign and you make your way up to whatever you like(not everyone wants to be a capn).

I'd be ok with that...

The nearest galaxy is 2.5 MILLION light years. I am not saying that the scale would be 1 day = 1 day, but more like 1 day = 1 million light years of travel. Until a high speed travel network can be crafted (1 month of crafting) at the newly discovered location. FYI, if an exit is not defended and lost, it must be required to travel there again.

Colony ships (think aircraft carrier/supply ship + battleship) are slow moving tanks, of crafting purposes. Cruisers are persuit fast glass cannons. 4 or 6 cruisers could take out a Colony Fleet, or just slow it down and diminish its supplies. BTW Destroyers are part of a Colony Fleet, they provide escort defense. Think of destroyer as an off Tank DPS, 1 Destroyer will take out 3 to 4 Cruisers. Destroyers can not hope to pursue and overtake a Colony fleet, just not that fast and too heavy. So what would you do for 2.5 days of travel? Craft and repair the fleet. Defend the fleet from any days long assaults. There are a few more ships that I haven’t described.  That is a small taste at how I would handle space exploration.

Why start out any player at officer ranks? All players should start the game as enlisted and work up 9 rates just to unlock officer ranks on a character. The the first 6 become unlocked. The next 5 (Admiralty) should have some other unlocking task.

I suppose there could be a massive non linear story arc. But don’t expect to be the main character in the story, you are just red shirt #61.508.325. You exist only to serve your part in accomplishing the tasks set before you or failing them.  If 75% of your faction fails this month's tasks, then it progresses down that failed branch. getting closer to a failure conclusion. Guess what conclusion the opposite faction is approaching? When the story ends, a new story begins. Exciting, probably not you are a small cog or spectator in the big picture. Maybe you are a Senior Chief who wins 97% of your monthly tasks, and you gain a reputation amongst players as a force to be reckoned with. Next month you unlock 1 of 25 slots to the academy, and you don’t wash out. So now you are an officer and a step closer you crafting your own story line.