Take away the Star Wars name, make the game a miscellaneous sci-fi MMO with Galaxies mechanics. No one would play it.
Scouts, creature handlers, and doctors were gone. Automated entertainers became a more present sight. Many players left, and because of this cities became barren and crafted goods and resources were much more difficult to acquire. The negative changes far outweighed the positive, and this has led many people to view the game and SOE in a very critical way, and rightly so. Having cancelled my account a few months after the NGE, I decided to give the game a second chance, see what has changed. The game still feels slightly awkward due to it's NGE control scheme, though you can tweak this in the UI settings to get a more old-school Galaxies feel. A vast amount of new quests, weapons, armor, and faction related changes have been added, though crafted goods are still hit and miss. Most quest related weapons and armor are very much superior to their crafted counterparts, making some crafting professions rather useless. Jedi are a dime a dozen, and not at all in line with Star Wars lore. The NGE added the Jedi as a profession, so they are a very popular choice for obvious reasons. If that bothers you, I suggest you get used to it, because you'll see a lightsaber igniting every few hundred feet. Creature handling has been re-implemented, though in a half-ass kind of way. Everyone has access to the profession now, though you'll sacrifice other talents if you really want the ability to have you own pets. The new creature handling system is a mix of bio engineering and the old creature handling profession, and is very costly. Equipment to raise and feed your pets is expensive, and you have to kill wild creatures to find DNA material to enhance your own pet.
Coming from a veteran who knows a thing or two about MMO's, this game is certainly dying. The player base is rather small. Some servers are incredibly under-populated and barren. Entertaining and exploring get old fast, and aren't the sociable experiences they were in the past. The graphics engine is still beautiful, though it is starting to show it's age. Most of the new quests the developers have introduced over the past few years are boring, and not very Star Warsy at all. The control system, stat bars, and skill system all seem like they belong on a console game. My final word? Take away the Star Wars name, make the game a miscellaneous sci-fi MMO with Galaxies mechanics. No one would play it.