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Really it was just the Legacy System which wasn't complete at launch, as I recall.
SWTOR was pretty polished right out of the gates, if horribly generic just beneath the shiny candy coating. The most amazing hook for me was the interactive cut scenes that you'd share with others,
But that single spark fizzled quickly when I started picking up on the repetitive animations, bland camera angles, and voiceover responses that didn't quite match what I thought my answer selection indicated it would convey. Suddenly it felt as if I was watching someone play a toon that looked like the one I created. I wasn't really adding anything to the scene with personality OR affecting the outcome in any meaningful way.
The companion system was nice, but (at least on my soldier), trying to make all of the companions useful for my toon's build and gaming style was nigh impossible.
All in all, Bioware seemed to deliver what it said it would. I'll take the responsibility myself for buying into the hype and believing their marketing lingo into thinking it would be something different then what I feared it might be.
Management was very smart - at least in my situation - for closing down SWG. If SWG was still an option, I would have resubbed after giving SWTOR a very lengthy and whole-hearted test drive. I don't think I'd have been alone in that. With only SWTOR to provide the Star Wars fix, it may have kept some dollars rolling in that would not have otherwise.
I really don't get this line of reasoning. SWG ran for eight years. It was released at a time when the new movies were fresh on everyone's minds and they even released two expansions capitalizing on this. (Rage of the Wookies and Trials of Obiwan). Yet by the time it shut down it was barely surviving. If it had been a success, there would have been no need tor TOR and it wouldn't have shut down.
If SWG was still around, a few players would go back to it after playing TOR, see the outdated graphics, clunky combat,bugs galore, and boring leveling experience and quit. I don't see how a game that couldn't survive on its own when it was the only Star Wars MMO in town could do better when one with higher quality is there as an alternative. Something for the haters to keep in mind when they say "TOR is only alive because it's Star Wars." TOR sold more than SWG ever did and TOR has more subs than SWG ever did. If TOR is only surviving because its Star Wars, then what does that make SWG?
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
To each their own. SWG provided me not only a Star Wars fix, but also the sandbox elements I prefer, and the immersion I'm after when I play an MMO. Your assessment of SWG is purely subjective. It DID survive on it's own, this much is a fact. Whether it survived "barely" or (as you say "couldn't survive on its own) is not known by players. Whether it could survive alongside another Star Wars MMO is speculative.
What is not speculative is that I know, without a doubt, that I would have quit SWTOR sooner and returned to SWG if it was there, and I would be playing it even to this day. It's my belief that I would not be alone in this. Whether that playerbase would be enough to justify SWG's existence or not, is - again - speculation.
Of course it's all speculative. I'm just throwing my "speculation" out there. One thing I do know is this: Successful games don't shut down. The last estimate I read on SWG subs was 50,000. Obviously that along with the TCG profits wasn't enough. The last time I popped into the NGE the game looked dead as a door nail. I'd run across a player every now and then but I would see far more NPCs than players. I'd walk around Restuss for long periods of time and the only opposing players that attacked me were the occasional spies hiding among the NPCs.And this was before the security leak and shut down announcement. The guild I joined after the NGE which was around 50 players was down to a couple guys who weren't even bothering with guild events anymore. When the shut down announcement came, most of the reaction I saw across the internet was "That game was still going?" The only tears I would read on the internet was a few posters on this site. The same ones who continue to carry a grudge and blame TOR for NGE's failures.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Before the security breach in May 2011, SWG was not looking good, there was only 1 server that was thriving, and it was locked out to free transfers as was FULL, but after the security breach, the servers were growing, and 2 more servers had to be locked out to free transfers, with a fourth growing. I do not know what made the servers grow, as no other free period made that happen before. Then they announced it to be shut down - makes no sense, and to give it 6 months notice too, and none of it makes sense, as they could have waited a couple of months to see what the populations would have been like and it still would have had 4 months notice. Usually games that shut down only give 1-3 months notice, never 6 months, plus it shuts down right before SWTOR launches - There is definitely more to the shut down that it "barely surviving" and not being successful. The fact it was announced to shut when populations were growing proves It was being shut down regardless even if it sustained that success
If SWTOR sustained its millions of subs, SWG would have been a faded memory, as EVERYONE hedged their bets on its success and then EVERYONE lost. I think if Smedley could see the future and see the decline of SWTOR in 2012, he would have put more effort into saving SWG, but as he said later when he was able to save EQ mac, is that LA called the shots with SWG and was powerless. SOE did not want SWG shut down, devs worked round the clock to keep updates coming, and deserted Vanguard. After the shut down announcement, updates started to come to Vanguard again.
If SWG stayed alive, I would have played both, and still probably be playing SWTOR as SWG would have kept me from playing it loads, but SWG was not alive, so all my time went into SWTOR over a few months, and then was enough to play the game, the stories are the only thing that made the game worthwhile, and that is finite fun. SWG was infinite fun, as you made the content and the gameplay yourself.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
what difference does it make how many people play it? will it effect how much u like it?