They never talked about housing AT ALL? It was never, ever, part of their plans? Something about it not being what TOR is "all about"?

Bummer. This, to me, implies a LOT of things.

It would seem that BioWare is too caught up in this "HEROIC!" business. Becoming LIKE a character in the movies. Fulfilling dreams of playing as a "Darth Vader" or a "Boba Fett". Paradoxically, they're trying to get it across that you have your very own personal experience and that your story is unique because of your choices along the way.

It's definitely a selling point for many fans, but I personally don't believe that I'll be feeling any more special than the thousandth player to become the "greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy". Or the hundredth player to kill the captain.

Oh, and did I have the choice to NOT become a part of the Great Hunt? How is it a "personal experience" if they intend for all bounty hunters to be Boba Fett, and all smugglers to be Han Solo? Just how linear can the game get from the very beginning?

And how many times have I heard them brag about it being the "first fully-voiced MMO"? Yes, it's new. And yes, it's a feat. But I wanted to become my own character in the galaxy, not "fill the shoes" of a character who has his or her own voice, accent, and personality already given to them. NPC voice-overs are fine, definitely, but there's a reason why some RPGs don't give a voice to the player character.

... Wait a second, what does being fully-voiced have anything to do with the quality, depth, and longevity of the core game play anyway?

"Filling the shoes" is what it all seems to be about now. And I was really, really, REALLY disappointed when it was mentioned that one can play TOR as if it were KOTOR III. Yes, we did fill the shoes of two important characters in the Old Republic (and we do fill in the shoes of characters like Shepard in Mass Effect), but KOTOR I and II are NOT MMORPGs.

It was mentioned in the interview about the players feeling heroic from "beginning to end". I choked there. They intended for TOR to END as if it were a single-player RPG?

It's as if they just confirmed that TOR would be KOTOR III, but with monthly fees and a multi-player component that is OPTIONAL. I was most afraid of this. Will other players and the player-run economy even matter in your "personal experience" at all? Or will it be purely a single-player experience?

Let's face it: being affected by other players directly and indirectly and becoming immersed in the web of player experiences, unconsciously or not, is what makes an MMO an MMO, dynamic as they are. The fact that it's an option to play the game as if it were a single-player BioWare RPG makes me question the necessity of a monthly fee and the toting of TOR as if it were were truly an MMORPG. The focus on bringing in the single-player elements of their previous RPGs may not be the healthiest thing for TOR to succeed as a genre that is meant to be shaped by thousands of players online.

However, I'm starting to believe that they're developing TOR as a "modular" KOTOR, in which the developers and writers can play around with the story and have thousands of players become a part of that story, politics and economics all considered. This actually isn't a bad thing, and maybe there's a lot of potential there to grow as, primarily, an MMORPG. (Bad memories of The Matrix Online still haunt me though.)

But I do still want to become my own character with my own motivations and ideals. I want to live in the Old Republic at my own pace and choose my own paths, all as a part of a living, breathing community full of unique individuals with their own aspirations in the galaxy. Will a player Jedi ever fall to the Dark Side in this game?

Just sharing my thoughts. I'm aware that I'm part of a minority, and that it's foolish to be talking about all this, since TOR was never meant to be a sandbox MMO from the beginning, but I used to have such big dreams and hopes about the game. Maybe it was wrong to hope for something like a spiritual successor to SWG. (Most definitely improved, of course.)

I will still be playing it though, damn it BioWare.