I've played EQ and WoW primarily for the last decade plus, with several other MMO's sprinkled in. All I'm saying is, the core mechanics of grinding a semi-linear path is something I really am not interested in long-term and I don't think I'm the only one.
I think it was a mistake to make a WoW clone, and I call it that because that's the most recent and most commercially succesful MMO that has the grind and gear oriented core. Also because SWTOR was built to be a WoW clone from the developers mouths, and I didn't quote that first time around but seems this must be mentioned to not be marginalized as though restating the developer's intent is a slam on the game.
For what it's worth, I'm the kind of person that didn't have a max toon in WoW until probably level 80 and 3 + years later. I'm not a race to the end kind of person. End game content is a mystery to me. My beef, as stated, is with the sheer monotony of a game style that I am totally over. I have dropped my preorder of Diablo 3 for the same reasons, linearity and a redux of the same core gameplay of it's predecessors.
I'm not knocking anyone that likes SWTOR. Heck, if I was still into MMO's I think it would be great to play SWTOR over any of the rest although LOTRO is a close second in my book. Or, if I was new to MMO's it would be great to have SWTOR be my first MMO and have those memories.
But in addressing falling subs, real or imagined, the discussion I have to have is that I think the game is stale at it's core, yadda yadda yadda. That's all I'm saying. In regards to falling subs, or to stretch out the discussion and wonder why WoW hasn't lost 5 million subs to SWTOR, it's because there's really nothing substantially new to offer. In fact, I think WoW has been losing gamers as people like me tire of the same old thing. I personally think WoW will shrink considerably over the next couple of years. It's not my intention to be a hater of SWTOR. But for now as players of WoW try SWTOR they find they have more time invested and more options in WoW, or they give up like me as they find the same old fence to climb and don't want to do that anymore.
Perhaps it's no longer worth discussing until there are server merges. Incidentally, as someone who doesn't sub and also didn't check during the free period, what are the server pops now?
