Originally posted by NismoGTR

Is the game sand-box type open environment? Are there things to do besides PvP and PvE, like is player interaction common? Is there a purpose for player interaction like trading and whatnot? I am a fan of the franchise but never tried the game because I thought it was strictly instanced PvP and PvE stuff, but I like the freedom of sand-box type game more. And how many characters can I make with one account? And is it true that I can't tranfer a character to another server without paying a fee? And how many servers right now would you say are reasonably populated? 

I'll try to add something new to the discussion.

The game environment is, even with a quite rigid levelling scheme, still very open to exploration and making your own way in the world. It is not the sandbox it was in the beginning, but after around level 40 you are going to be pretty much making your own story up. This fits in nicely with the type of people that tend to like Star Wars - imaginative people who like to create scenarios, as opposed to just experiencing them. ust my opinion, no flames please.

The options for player-interaction are actually pretty good. The storyteller system allows you to create scenarios with a wide variety of npc toons, rewards, scenery, and atmospheric effects. If you want to create a garrison of stormtoopers guarding treasure in the Corellian wilderness with a treasure chest and your favourite Star Wars music, you can. Then you can invite friends to group up and play through waves of attacks, with rebel players on one side, Imperials on the other.

The trade scene is very strong. Many players create one combat toon and one crafter. The crafter they then use to set up a shop or shops around the galaxy. The recent Beast Master system needs a lot of components to get into and all types of crafter can make money from this.

The latest chapter also included a Collections system. Some collections are like the badges of old where you just had to travel to some place of interest or kill a named mob to collect. Some though require you to physically collect objects. Again, the options for trade are there.

There is also a fairly strong Entertainment scene. While we are not talking about making music like oyu see in LOTRO, there are non-combat toons hanging out in the cantina's, networking and so on.

The thing to bare in mind about all this is it all depends on how many players there are in your galaxy (the server). Obviously if there are few players, there won't be the strong scenes I have described. I can recommend Far Star as a good Europen server, not sure about the US servers.

All sounds great, right? It is, I love the game. Sadly I do not play atm. not because of the game, but because it just will not run properly on my Vista laptop. Even my old 2.6ghz XP machine needed 1gig RAM before it would run smoothly. It seems the antiquated SWG engine just does not make the transition to dual-core computing very well

Originally posted by raihiryu

My main is a lvl 46 Pali, and man... I was getting sooo BORED with him. Only reason that I got back on to play him was because my mom plays... and had a few lvl 30 quests that required a group. She doesn't team much, because she likes to get to know her toon before she has some a$$hole tell her she running it wrong. And let's face it, the majority of those that play WoW are a55holes. At least in my experiance. She plays to follow the story line, so doesn't like grinding, and she really likes leveling to get the 'cool new powers' and further the bit of story that is in WoW. And besides, from what I hear, the end content is where WoW really starts. So for her, the faster leveling means less a22holes, and more playing through things she wouldn't normally be able to without me taking her through it. When I jumped on to find I was able to level faster, I too was happy. I mean after all, isn't the story, 'cool new powers', and fun factor the reason that most of us play in the first place?

And, sad to say, there are as many asshats at level 70 as at level 30. The answer is finding a good guild, not levelling.

You should get a badge for actually getting the help you needed from a CSR

I was disappointed when I head they were going to make this change. when TBC came out I also thought it was a mistake not to carry any of the old factions, Scarlet Crusade, over into the new world. Knowing you are never going to need the gear Old World factions give out means they become nothing more than quest vendors. Take out this, and the need or opportunity to go through most of the original instances, and most of the 'original' game becomes irrelevant as you level alts.

Speeding up the levelling process just makes it worse. I have a 42 Pally I levelled twice in three hours today. I made the mistake of turning down an invite to RFD at the beginning of my session. It is entirely possible I will take this toon all the way to Outland without visiting a single dungeon along the way - not because I don't want to , but becuase I will make it to 60 so quick I would have to literally stand around doing nothing and haunting the LFG channels to get into one.

Clearly this is a move by Blizzard to get more alts up to 70 so there are less reasons for subscribers not to buy the new pack next year. But it devalues what they have already made and adds nothing to the game for new subscribers of which there is apparently no shortage.

In some ways it is nice to level quickly. My main is a 70 hunter so it will be nice having a choice of toons and playstyles for endgame activities. But I feel I, and my pally, will be missing out on  the experience of growing through the Old World and seeing what it has to offer from a different perspective.