A Shame That A Good Idea Was Turned Into Such a Terrible Game
SWG had a great premise. Set players in the Star Wars Universe, have an Empire and a Rebellion, and let the players do whatever. Sadly, the developers hijacked the game and made it into what focus groups wanted, not the actual players. Back before the first major upgrade, the CU, the game had depth, and felt just like Star Wars. It really did. I remember once I was in a cantina and some players in stormtrooper armor walked in. I hear the fight start, and see a JEDI! "Wow!" Everyone in town rushed to come see the fight. Seeing a Jedi was a sight back then, since there were only like three confirmed people that had made it that far.
Now, if I were to see an entertainer anywhere in the game, let alone in a cantina, I would be as excited as that time I saw my first Jedi three years or so ago. The game has become a lesser clone of World of Warcraft, and it's so clearly SOE trying to emulate Blizzard's success, I'd be surprised if they denied it. WoW's system works terribly with SWG's. The NGE destroyed what was left of the game.
I quit in May, which was hard to do. But once I started playing other games, I realized how in bad shape SWG really is. I play EVE Online now, which I encourage anyone looking for a truly great sci-fi MMO to try out. And anyone that still wants to play a sci-fi MMO that isn't purely in space and more like the SWG Golden Era (the time right after Jump To Lightspeed came out), I'd wait for Tabula Rasa. SWG is just not worth investing time into now, unless you like feeling dissapointed after 2-4 months.
PLEASE! NEW PLAYERS! If you plan to play the free trial, talk to veterans. The first two days are cool, but after you hit level 30 or so you have nothing to do except grind to 80, and then buy Mustafar and hit 90. DO not buy this game.