Dowding, what mainstream MMORPG has interdependency among crafters, or even crafters that are truly needed for more than repair. Every other MMORPG you get the best items from quests and loot, not crafters. At least the best stuff in SWG comes from crafters. Actually telling why crafting is as it is now is a violation of the NDA. We're basically still restricted to mention anything that happened prior to the NDA being lifted. However, let's just say the majority of people found inter-dependency (and the mechanisms that enforced it) not fun at all. Crafting originally was meant to be a game within the game for "hard core" crafters. It instead became a diversion for the "mainstream" player, any player that wanted to craft. The changes over the course of beta drove off the "dedicated, hardcore" crafters.
Anyways, if you like EQ, you will not like SWG. EQ is an Achiever game, while SWG is more a Social game. There isn't a constant level grind, and there isn't always the next best item that's being dropped by the next tougher creature/NPC. No constant dangling carrot like in EQ. There is still a lot to do in the game of course, but it's very canned. Once you do a couple of "missions" or "points of interest" then you've done them all. Only the text of the story changes, it's still kill a few things and blow up the lair/generator. There are some themeparks that will require a little more effort to do, but there aren't a lot of them and should be burned through fast. As are the few static "dungeons" around the worlds. It's basically an exploration (see this planet, see that planet) and do things with your friends sorta thing. Oh and of course the Rebellion vs Empire thing in the form of PvE and PvP. This content is still in the infancy stages from what I gather though. I haven't tried it out much myself.
As for bugs, there's a pretty lengthy list of major bugs that still need to be squashed, including some horrid ones (permadeath in some cases, CTDs, getting out of sync/ghosted, getting stuck and not moving.) I don't know if these will be fixed in a week.
The game has potential. I can recommend it to some friends, because I know they'll enjoy it. If you liked Ultima Online, you'll probably like SWG. If you liked EQ for the leveling and next spiffy item, you won't like SWG for very long at all.
I'm gonna get the retail because my friends and I enjoyed UO for years. We should be able to enjoy SWG for awhile at least. We're socializers and explorers, and that's what SWG really has to offer.
Saurdaukar... well, duh.
Space flight isn't a part of SWG yet, and won't be until a full add on expansion pack probably over a year from now. I don't even see how you can compare it to XW vs TF.
Sox62. Like I said above. No, the game really isn't ready for a launch as smooth as DAoC had. However, it should beat WWIIOL and Anarchy Online for launch. As for balancing... no MMORPG is going to release completely balanced. There are things that not even a beta test can uncover. Mickey has it right. I'd think by September things should be stabilized in terms of bugs/balancing.
