I feel a bit funny saying this since I am playing SWTOR right now (enjoying the ride) and I haven't logged into Fallen Earth for a while. 

But I see a lot of gamers who are dissapointed with SWTOR theme park setup and looking for a more open world.

I played Fallen Earth a lot for about 8 months and they have recently gone FTP but really you can still play the whole game without paying up.  Its one seamless massive world with very very few instances (just some single player areas).  You can easily be a full time crafter / gatherer with no limit on the recipes you learn but there are loads! And its pretty gritty and realistic.

Some key points.

Multiple vehicles and mounts and you can drive for hours and explore areas for roaming bosses etc.

PvP has been revamped and there are multiple areas to fight over and the occuping side will gain benefits.

Community has always been strong and a lot of old MMO type players.

Has bunker bars which actually has a very good black jack and one arm bandit machines. I have spent some good hours gambling on black jack and taking time out.

Multiple fit outs for characters so loads of different items and armour etc.

NO CLASSES! Build how you want.

Good for solo play as well as group

Adult themes and scenary.

Can be flagged for PvP worldwide

Day and night cycle with weather conditions.  Rain can pour down and thunder start up. 

List goes on.

Like all MMO's there are improvements needed but I thought Fallen Earth would be my next big MMO after EvE and I will be returning once the roller coaster ride of SWTOR finishes. In Fallen Earth you can really get the feel of driving off into the wild and scavenging and exploring on your vehicle and knowing that you are miles from any other player.  If you find a good loot spot it feels just great having it to yourself. 

I just see a lot of gamers dropping out of the genre because they think all games are stuck on rails.  If you don't like an EvE like setup then I strongly recommend giving Fallen Earth a good 2 weeks on FTP and see how you feel.  The screenies below are like 1 year old. So don't do it justice.

I'd go back to FE in a heartbeat if they'd fixed the lame combat, it was some of the most clunky combat I've ever played.

I thought the combat wasn't bad in FE,  it was different.. a little clunky at times, but the shooter mechanics were decent enough.  

I love FE... haven't played it since it went F2P though.. so not sure how things have changed.  I was a big fan of icarus back then,  I anticipate they aren't the same company they once were.

I tried and the combat, specially in PvP, was awful and that kind of ruined everything else.

It was just too gritty of a game for me. I know that it was supposed to kind of be a "dirty" game to give it more of that post-apocalyptic feel, the but outcome wasn't for me. 

It seemed fun for a lot of people, and it definitely has a strong niche appeal. Unfortunantely I am just not in that niche.

I found the combat to be really wonky, but workable. I would not stop playing SWToR right now to play FE, but the crafting in FE much more in depth.

Fallen Earth is one of those games that for me I want to love, but just can't. Much like EVE. On paper both sound perfect for my tatste, yet both have designs implemented that I just can't move past.

With EVE it's the way skills are learned, to me it makes a play session feel worthless to my overall advancement in the game.

With FE it's the way in which the world was designed (put together), it just feels devoid of content. IF combat were better I'd probably not think much on that while playing.

FE is one of those games that has an awesome concept but just didn't live up to what it could have been. I really tried to like it but the whole game felt clunky. It's not an awful game - it just wasn't for me. 

I had a similar feel when I first played FE but as you progress up into the different sectors it starts to have lush forests and creeks etc.  I think its part of the lore on what was hit etc. 

I agree on the combat in some ways, especially with melee but I found pistols and rifles to be pretty decent.  Especially scope.

I just read up on the state of play in January.  It seems they are rolling out faction control type mechanic for global and also revamping art content in some areas.  I think there was a hint about housing as well. 

FE needs housing imo to really get the game fired up.  Its a game that promotes itself in that vein and without housing it feels a big part of the sandbox feel is missing.  However I think its a gimmie, just depends when.  With large guild housing it would be awesome seeing all the vehicles parked out front and having a big raid on a control point etc.

Still think its worth a look for the old gamer who wants that open world feel again. 

Personally I like SWTOR but I am playing it knowing its KOTOR just with other people running around.  For me its pretty and glossy but not a true MMO.

Originally posted by Zekiah

I'd go back to FE in a heartbeat if they'd fixed the lame combat, it was some of the most clunky combat I've ever played.

True.

I dont think they meant to do it on purpose but the real game in Fallen Earth is crafting. That works for me because I like crafting but if someone really isnt into intresting crafting I think the game would get old quick for them.

Not a bad suggestion Chryses, especially for SWG refugees.

I played FE for two years solid (I got used to the combat), but I stopped playing shortly after getting into SWTOR testing.

On paper, FE is just about the perfect hybrid (as far as I'm concerned) but it was too themeparky for many sandbox enthusiasts, and many others couldn't wrap their heads around things like mounts persisting and needing fuel / food.

What ended up getting to me was the slow pace of bug fixing and new content, and the frequent 'revamp' of combat over fixing broken stuff. What made me stop logging in was the change to G1, not because of F2P, but because they did away with (I know it's back now) the Public Test server in advance of launching Alpha County - and the result was a bit of a mess. 

I like Icarus, and I still like their game a lot. I look at is as: I didn't quit, I just stepped away for a bit. How long I stay stepped away for depends on how much fun I'm having elsewhere.

Originally posted by Hopscotch73

Not a bad suggestion Chryses, especially for SWG refugees.

I played FE for two years solid (I got used to the combat), but I stopped playing shortly after getting into SWTOR testing.

On paper, FE is just about the perfect hybrid (as far as I'm concerned) but it was too themeparky for many sandbox enthusiasts, and many others couldn't wrap their heads around things like mounts persisting and needing fuel / food.

What ended up getting to me was the slow pace of bug fixing and new content, and the frequent 'revamp' of combat over fixing broken stuff. What made me stop logging in was the change to G1, not because of F2P, but because they did away with (I know it's back now) the Public Test server in advance of launching Alpha County - and the result was a bit of a mess. 

I like Icarus, and I still like their game a lot. I look at is as: I didn't quit, I just stepped away for a bit. How long I stay stepped away for depends on how much fun I'm having elsewhere.

Summed me up in a nutshell actually. I even logged in last night to mess around for a bit but I always expect to pop back once I finish SWTOR or whatever.  I think housing is a must for them as the game does fall between sandbox and theme park and housing would give old school MMO gamers another MMO  to roam around in.

Bioware went 100% themepark and in some ways I applaud them not trying to cover all bases.  Whatever you do, do it 100% 

I tried FE recently since i was there at release but the game was borderline unplayable and i thought it might have changed.

And i have to say it had the absolute potential to be a "skyrim-mmo" for me, but what effectively killed it for me was

a. dead and empty in the starting zone (and i picked high pop)

b. mob-respawn timers

With b. being the most annoying shit ive ever witnessed in a game. The respawn timers are around 30 seconds which means you can't go two meters without the mobs respawning.

I understand that as an MMO it was geared towards hundreds of players but its just not how it is anymore, you can't seriously do any of the combat missions because you get mauled by respawning mobs.

They need to tie the respawn-rate to the ammount of players online at any given time in a zone, not to an arbitrary value.

I actually liked how you need to fight mob-packs and can get swarmed by zombies and shit, but i can't take it when i get mauled by shit i already killed insta-respawning.

Things that killed it for me:

No Economy: Whatever you crafting or found, could be bought from a vendor (except rares)
Also, everyone can craft whatever they want.

Low population: I saw people in some quest hubs, but the game is very lonely, which leads me onto the biggest issue for me:

No Social/Grouping/Community mechanic WHATSOEVER: You will never see a group as you will never need one. I partnered up with another person a few times when we would be doing same quests, but existence is very lonely. No chat, no gathering of people, towns empty, i don't even think i saw a guild.

It is TOO solo friendly and then once you reached cap, at the time there was nothing. So i think i bailed when i got to T3.

But easily the best of the group of MMOs i played in the last couple of years and kept me the longest. If i was to go in an active guild, i would actually resub.

  Downloading now. I just pray that me and wifes crappy pc's can handle it (not so sure about that). 

Seeing some of the newer screenshots the game seems a little less "brown" now and that's pretty nice. 

Cya ingame :)

edit: damn typos

Im a little bit jealous of that :)

Wish my wife played FE.  Its the kind of game that works really well with 2 people, for missions and crafting plus something cool about driving through the desert on bikes together :)

I think the game would scale well on any PC.  Remember sector 1 is a little barren but it gets a lot more greener in s2

going from one failing game to another failed one? hehe

but in all honesty, Fallen Earth is a great concept and would have been the best MMO ever if it didn't feel so...frustratingly plasticky

it was such a chore to craft and to go out there and look for quest targets. it just all felt very wrong

I think they should have focused on one feature: either a complete sandbox or a total theme park, but instead they tried to mix them up and got a mess out of it.

I played it for about two months on and off and quit when something new came out

Well FE is a great concept, but its so slugish and unpolished, minus proper server performance, rubberbanind , melee hitting you from 20 m ,actualy standing behind ya...