Exactly. As a developer coming into an extremely competitive market it would be silly to ignore any of your competition, especially the most successful competitor the genre has ever seen.

But why can't we? They are competing for my money and as such they do not have the luxury of competing against 2004 WoW. Right now their game launches against 2012 WoW. And no matter how you feel about how Blizzard rolling out updates, their leveling process is smooth, super new-user friendly, and streamlined like nothing else. There have been so many quality-of-life features added to the game it would be hard to list them all without referencing patch notes. Bioware needs to look at these features very quickly and realize the benefit in them.

I don't see myself resubscribing to WoW, but I know what I liked about the game and what I feel other MMOs should have, not because I want another WoW, but because there are things that every modern MMO should have.

I can appreciate your analogy but I don't necessarily agree with all your points. I will definitely agree that SWTOR had a huge focus on story, one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved my Inquisitor storyline. But outside of the story development, the leveling process was exactly the same as WoW. I was killing cave slugs, killing x number of humans, gathering x number of items, turning them in, and eventually progressing my class story. In fact I would attribute my fast leveling not as a race to end-game since I don't plan on it (at least as seriously as I did in WoW), but to progress my story. I went out of my way to finish quests on planets, did the bonus series, etc.

What else is there for me to drink now, using your analogy? I didn't skip content for the purpose of end-game. I enjoyed every drop of the story but now I have run out of that. What is going to keep me paying for it? Bioware wants monthly subscribers, and as much as you describe it as a "fine wine", without your "hard liquor" people won't keep paying.

While I agree with some of your points, I disagree with a couple. World PvP existing more so than any other time in WoW's history before the implementaion of honor. When people recall old city raids, Southshore/Tarren Mill fighting, and anything like that, it was all before honor. The addition of honor, and shortly thereafter, battlegrounds killed world PvP and it never returned.

If I recall correctly (and through my fact-checking at WoW Wiki), Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair were actually both available at release however it took players a long time to get enough people attuned and geared to attempt the raid instances.

While SWTOR needs time to grow, it has very little time to grow. I am already finding myself bored with the game, logging off after running one Hard Mode Flash Point and doing a couple dailies. And it's not boring due to lack of content, but the stuff I do every day to "gear up" is unexciting and takes a long time just to travel to places I need to do it.

You're right, "unfortunately" probably wasn't the right word to use. Perhaps I should have said "The truth of the matter is that people expect that kind of polish." Because like you said people do, and they are ultimately competing for your money. I don't disagree with anything you said. At this point I am seeing myself playing up through February or so just to see what they have to offer, do some Flash Points with my friends, and calling it good. But until that point they have that very small window in order to convince me otherwise.

One of my good friends has had his patience almost gnawed to the bone the past 2 days with a bugged class quest he couldn't finish. He has logged out of the game in frustration both nights. He tried solutions on the forums, has had a ticket open for 2 days, yet he is still stuck. At this rate they may not even get a single monthly fee out of him.

It is very true that Blizzard has had seven years to polish WoW. But unfortunately for many people, this is the kind of polish they expect from an MMO now. SWTOR doesn't have the luxury of competing against WoW when it was released, it has to convince people that SWTOR is worth their money more than the current version of WoW. And no matter how anyone feels about certain decisions about raid difficulties or anything else, it is a very polished experience.

As with any game, the community is going to have it's share of juvenile players. SWTOR already does and the general forums are easily competing with some of the worst the WoW forums ever had to offer.

I have to disagree with the world PvP. While it may be non-existent in WoW, it is also that way in SWTOR. Most days I find myself on Ilum seeing people in general chat asking if anyone is trading nodes. There were a few level 50 Jedi ganking Imperials on Bellsavis one night, but that has been the extent of the world PvP I've seen. From what I have read most people feel the same way. There are few instances in the course of questing and leveling where Republic and Imperial leveling areas actually intersect. It feels like Bioware went out of their way to keep the areas separate.

Your point about the LFG tool is true and it's hard to give a good answer. The LFG tool enabled people to run dungeons easily but as you stated, caused a huge portion of the population to idle in cities. I spend most of my play time in SWTOR on Ilum doing daily quests and queued for Warzones in order to get gear. I have been unable to find a group for regular or hard mode Directive 7 or False Emperor in 6 days. And other than Warzones, that has been my only goal.

Which situation is better? Questing out in the world or sitting in cities for instances? That answer I think lies with the individual.

As far as the greeting goes, it not just that. Many of the NPCs exist as fake objects. Even if they didn't greet you, as you said, they are completely non-interactive. They aren't selectable, you can't click on them, or hover over them for a tooltip. They are there but don't really exist. That is what I mean when it creates a disconnect from the world.

Perhaps "mature" wasn't the right word to use? Perhaps more realistic in their expectations? The Old Republic community has a huge portion with the mentality that there is nothing wrong and nothing needs to be fixed. I think you would be hard pressed to find a person who despite the fact they absolutely love WoW would say that it is perfect and nothing needs to be changed.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. If anything, I appreciate the discussion.

Well that is awesome too. I haven't played every MMO in existence so I don't pretend to know every feature they all had. I was merely commenting that SWTOR is the first MMO that I played with it and it is awesome. You probably shouldn't get so mad at stuff on the internet as your fake email suggests. :)

I think there is content. Plenty of Hard Mode Flash Points to run and things like that. I might even have more fun in warzones if combat that snap to it that I've come to expect in an MMO.

That's what I hear. I know there are a few standing offers for Dro if he came back too. :)

I think the main thing that would prevent me from resubbing WoW is my desire to raid again. One of my main motivations of quitting was that I wouldn't be able to give enough time to raiding with work, friends, and a baby boy. And I had become so accustomed to having raid-quality gear and seeing the content that it would be hard to be playing and not get that gear.

Right now I don't have that raiding desire in SWTOR, which I guess is a bonus? Heh