Note: The only other MMO I've played is STO, so everything I view is in its light. I'm also a huge fan of Trek as compared to Wars.
Overall review: HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Pros:
1.) Feels like one of those second-person pick-your-path novels, "You're standing at the entrance to the Haunted House. You hear a shriek emanating from the upstairs window. If you want to go upstairs, go to chapter 20. If you want to go to the tool shed and pick up a shovel to defend yourself, go to chapter 44." Yes, those novels were kind of cheesy, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. But to see it in a video game as the incarnation and visual representation of all these novels complete with voice acting and movie-type animation and thought to cinematography, it's frickin' bad-ass.
2.) Graphics are beautiful! I liked STO, but this blows it out of the water.
3.) It keeps true to the spirit of the Star Wars movies. Has similar type high moral and snarky characters that seem somewhat true to life, and it focuses on the characters. Despite liking the Trek universe overall better, Wars just has a cool factor Trek doesn't. It's more personal and a bit gritty. Trek seems to place more emphasis on "look at this really cool gadget that we totally made up within the realm of physics." Wars is all "hey, this is science FICTION so we do what we want; plus we're just conveying a story anyway so focus on the peeps, not the tech." You get involved with your character. You get involved with other characters and their stories. I will say that I have trouble making decisions sometimes, especially when the Light/Dark points come into play but you have this what-seems-like-a-real-person standing in front you. Do I do what's best/worst for them personally or hold true to my ideals?
4. Very few bugs. I've encountered a couple of minor, and I do mean minor ones. Nothing has prevented me from completing a mission or caused my character to die. The worst one I saw was when I tried to kill a squadron of people, they just wouldn't die. BUT, they kept regenerating in the middle of it so they'd also lose their target, i.e. me. So I got away scott-free (I'm not sure who Scott is, and how he gets away with it so much, but I'm glad he shared his luck with me this time.) This also was not in a major mission area. I was just gathering some stuff for my Archaeology crew skill/crafting. Again, very minor.
5. Very mature product. I was shocked by how robust the game is. STO was released, and by the time you changed ships for the first time and got your first promotion, you got in a rhythm and knew what to expect from then-on. This keeps you off-balance and changes intent, combat styles, etc. You can't beat all the bosses or enemies the same way.
Cons:
1. My biggest complaint is the server-based game architecture. STO did not have this, and YOU CANNOT SWITCH SERVERS. This is what hit me personally, so it likely won't be a big deal for most. But I have a Level 30 character on a different server that I had no idea when I signed up for that server that I couldn't migrate it. STO spoiled me here.
2. They could still optimize some of the respawn points and Medical Droids. Again, not a big deal and doesn't happen all that often. But a few times I've just thought "man, I've got to run all the way back there and all the way through those regenerated enemies again. Dang. And I've got to run to the Droid and heal first through all these other bad dudes. Aw." Doesn't happen much, and you shouldn't always be given a free pass back to where you were, but a couple of times have seemed more excessive than usual.
Squishy:
1.) Space missions. I personally find this a pro, but others might think this is a con. I like the fact that most of your missions are ground based. The ground missions are varied enough so you don't get bored with them easily. STO, yes, you need the space combat to feel varied for the most part. But when you do go into space, I like the fact that it's a completely different interface and feel. STO is a similar interface. Select your target, use the same buttons for similar type AOE, damage, buff, debuff, etc. Space combat in SWTOR is more like an arcade game -- on of those car/motorcycle racing games with a little bit of Mario Kart thrown in. Your ship is moving regardless of what you do. So you've got to steer it away from obstacles as well as hit some targets while you're doing this before they all hit you.
Overall, reiteration: FANTASTIC game, very mature, keeps my interest, more like reading a book than playing a game. I called my former college roommate (HUGE Star Wars geek who has read all the books, etc) and specifically recommended that he NOT get this game if he doesn't want to flunk out of getting his doctorate right now. It is highly addicting and really like immersing yourself in a different universe.
