Aaargh. If only someone who demo plays the game would pay attention to the maps and travel time
How big are the origin worlds like a Tython or Hutta in comparison to a WoW zone, how long exactly does it take to cross a certain distance in an area? No one knows
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Interesting write-up to be sure. Still, some things are a bit worrisome. The UI isn't working well? Really? I can understand at times things are in alpha, but this isn't the first 5 years of MMO development. The UI should be intuitive to anyone who's played MMOs for a while. Makes me worried that isn't working correctly.
Still, it sounds like a game on rails. I also can appreciate that you have to play the game as presented, but seriously, all starting areas in most games are fairly well polished. I'd like to see some time spent in the mid level and near end-level content. It would be nice to know if the game is done or just the starting area.
Ok, fine, it is MMO. We still have the problem: "Looking for healer". "Looking for tank." ANet takes care of this. Can BW?
Its called a companion character. Its also called Hybridization.
You can pull a healer companion character in if you need a healer, or a tanking one if you need a tank and BioWare has stated that they will
1) Take the place of a party member
2) Work as an average player, not a great player
Anet takes care of not needing a healer by forcing everyone to have a healing skill. So in order to take away healers they made everyone a healer. Interesting approach.
Really theres no need to make the comparison. You asked if BioWare took care of that. Its apparent they did.
Why not just get 4 companions and cut out all the grouping hassle. Oh wait thats called a single player game...
This article is the first SWTOR related information in quite some time that has actually renewed my interest. Everything else I have seen/read seems dissapointing.
Ok, fine, it is MMO. We still have the problem: "Looking for healer". "Looking for tank." ANet takes care of this. Can BW?
Its called a companion character. Its also called Hybridization.
You can pull a healer companion character in if you need a healer, or a tanking one if you need a tank and BioWare has stated that they will
1) Take the place of a party member
2) Work as an average player, not a great player
Anet takes care of not needing a healer by forcing everyone to have a healing skill. So in order to take away healers they made everyone a healer. Interesting approach.
Really theres no need to make the comparison. You asked if BioWare took care of that. Its apparent they did.
Why not just get 4 companions and cut out all the grouping hassle. Oh wait thats called a single player game...
Very happy to hear there may/will be a bit of grit in the game. I live in Australia with it's medieval gaming legislation though, so I hope this doesn't cause problems at the censors....
I'm not 100% convinced about the way there dialogue choices will work. Surely the opinion of 3 heavily armed individuals would almost always out-weight the opinion of only 1 heavily armed individual?:) Although it is promising that you found this bit fun, and it may encourage me to play or even over-play my characters traits to try and ensure that their evil/good desired outcome is achieved.
I was sent to make an example of someone who’d crossed the Hutt. My task was to kill him and deliver his head to his wife in a sack. Showing up to undertake this gruesome endeavor isn’t a matter of a simple firefight and looting the head off the guy’s corpse, only to return to the some quest NPC and gain an experience reward. Instead, what transpires is actually a fairly brutal cutscene where the bounty hunter clocks the guy over the head with his pistol, presses his knee into the poor guys back while he lays helpless on the floor and pretty much saws his head clean off his neck. While absent of blood, it is still fairly graphic and I was both shocked and impressed to find such a scene in the game.
That part right there is why i like Bioware's cinematic design to quests, it gives more weight to what your doing, instead of either being told or it's contrived (like clicking on a coprse and picking up a head) your actually shown it. Granted some things should be left to imagination. But it's quite a bit different in my opinion of seeing something like you put your knee down and chop the guys neck off and actually seeing your character tackle the guy, put his knee on and can see the character doing the action.
The only thing that might be a problem is it might get a stronger rating then other similar games for depiction of violent scenes which might cut off a few people, but we will have to see how it goes.
But back to my point i feel theres a big difference from when someone types and when you see it. Just as on this very forum theres a difference when someone types something and when you are talking face to face with them. You lose the emotions which is why we have to type lol or :P to show we are joking or /sarcasm when we are using sarcasm because these types of bahviors doesn't go through well in text, and i feel it's the same way there.
Sometimes there are just things I feel that get lost when you don't show the characters emotions and just type it out instead.
Aaargh. If only someone who demo plays the game would pay attention to the maps and travel time
How big are the origin worlds like a Tython or Hutta in comparison to a WoW zone, how long exactly does it take to cross a certain distance in an area? No one knows
this is from one of the fansite's writeups, hope it helps:
One last note on travel is the size of planets. Hutta is not that large of a planet and would be equivalent to a medium sized zone from any comparable game. To make a WoW reference I would say it would be equivalent to Westfall or something similar. By stark contrast, Dromund Kaas felt absolutely huge. I would say the city alone was the size of Hutta if not larger, and the zone outside of city was even larger! I unfortunately did not have enough time to fully wander but I do not think planet sizes should be a concern to anyone.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
I was sent to make an example of someone who’d crossed the Hutt. My task was to kill him and deliver his head to his wife in a sack. Showing up to undertake this gruesome endeavor isn’t a matter of a simple firefight and looting the head off the guy’s corpse, only to return to the some quest NPC and gain an experience reward. Instead, what transpires is actually a fairly brutal cutscene where the bounty hunter clocks the guy over the head with his pistol, presses his knee into the poor guys back while he lays helpless on the floor and pretty much saws his head clean off his neck. While absent of blood, it is still fairly graphic and I was both shocked and impressed to find such a scene in the game.
That part right there is why i like Bioware's cinematic design to quests, it gives more weight to what your doing, instead of either being told or it's contrived (like clicking on a coprse and picking up a head) your actually shown it. Granted some things should be left to imagination. But it's quite a bit different in my opinion of seeing something like you put your knee down and chop the guys neck off and actually seeing your character tackle the guy, put his knee on and can see the character doing the action.
The only thing that might be a problem is it might get a stronger rating then other similar games for depiction of violent scenes which might cut off a few people, but we will have to see how it goes.
...
Yeah - sounds great for a mature audience...
And what happened when AoC tried this (mature audience approach)?
First patch out of the box they started toning it down IIRC?
Does AoC even have breasts any more? (I don't know - but I would suspect not the way things were going)
Because although it might sound 'cool' and seem tough to try this - in reality it's far cooler to have subs.
And the irony of marketing to a 'mature audience' is that you tend to attract the immature wannabes rather than your real target audience.
And what happened when AoC tried this (mature audience approach)?
First patch out of the box they started toning it down IIRC?
Does AoC even have breasts any more? (I don't know - but I would suspect not the way things were going)
Because although it might sound 'cool' and seem tough to try this - in reality it's far cooler to have subs.
And the irony of marketing to a 'mature audience' is that you tend to attract the immature wannabes rather than your real target audience.
AoC still has naked tits. Shrug, who cares.
Bottomline is things don't need to be kiddified or sugarcoated all the time in MMO's. Even more, makes things too kiddy stuff and you'll probably end up distantiating the older group of MMO gamers. Average age of MMO gamers has moved to quite above 20 over the years.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Bottomline is things don't need to be kiddified or sugarcoated all the time in MMO's. Even more, makes things too kiddy stuff and you'll probably end up distantiating the older group of MMO gamers. Average age of MMO gamers has moved to quite above 20 over the years.
Who cares? Censorship Boards for a start.
No - you don't need to sugarcoat things... but if you start being too graphic or controversial you start attracting unwanted attention and potentially losing customers.
Yes - you and I might be over 18 and not care about censorship ratings on games we buy for ourselves - but there are millions of consumers out there who do care.
For example - where I live WoW attracts a "M" rating that is:
M: There are no legal restrictions on the sale or hire of computer games classified M. It should be remembered however, that computer games classified M are not recommended for people under 15 years as these contain content that is recommended for a mature audience.
However Age of Conan is MA15+: MA15+: Computer games classified MA15+ can only be sold or hired to people aged 15 years or older, unless they are accompanied by their parent or guardian, or in Queensland by an adult.
So, right there you have a potential barrier to sale.
Mum and Dad>> Okay.... here's the cash to buy that game you wanted...
Teen>> Thanks! Can you come with me to buy it?
Mum and Dad>> Why?
Teen>> "Ummm its MA15+ but really it's okay... it's not too violent or anything...and ummm..."
Mum and Dad>> Yeah... we think you can you buy something else then...
Not to mention there are parents who will not buy a game if they cannot play it while their kids might see it.
Not wishing to detract from this too much, but is it just me that this game went from it looks like a kiddy game with the graphics to being worried that it might be too dark and hardcore that it will get a higher rating and thus block off certain crowds? Did the feelings about the game just shift 180 degrees?
Just made me raise an eyebrow.
As for the game itself, sounds cool. I would say more but i think i've touched on this all in numerous other threads.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Not wishing to detract from this too much, but is it just me that this game went from it looks like a kiddy game with the graphics to being worried that it might be too dark and hardcore that it will get a higher rating and thus block off certain crowds? Did the feelings about the game just shift 180 degrees?
Just made me raise an eyebrow.
As for the game itself, sounds cool. I would say more but i think i've touched on this all in numerous other threads.
People hate just for the sake of hating. That's all this is.
Not wishing to detract from this too much, but is it just me that this game went from it looks like a kiddy game with the graphics to being worried that it might be too dark and hardcore that it will get a higher rating and thus block off certain crowds? Did the feelings about the game just shift 180 degrees?
Just made me raise an eyebrow.
As for the game itself, sounds cool. I would say more but i think i've touched on this all in numerous other threads.
People hate just for the sake of hating. That's all this is.
Yep, I noticed it too. It seems when one lame argument doesn't work, they try to aim in another direction to see if people can be distracted by that instead.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
Bottomline is things don't need to be kiddified or sugarcoated all the time in MMO's. Even more, makes things too kiddy stuff and you'll probably end up distantiating the older group of MMO gamers. Average age of MMO gamers has moved to quite above 20 over the years.
Who cares? Censorship Boards for a start.
No - you don't need to sugarcoat things... but if you start being too graphic or controversial you start attracting unwanted attention and potentially losing customers.
Yes - you and I might be over 18 and not care about censorship ratings on games we buy for ourselves - but there are millions of consumers out there who do care.
For example - where I live WoW attracts a "M" rating that is:
M: There are no legal restrictions on the sale or hire of computer games classified M. It should be remembered however, that computer games classified M are not recommended for people under 15 years as these contain content that is recommended for a mature audience.
However Age of Conan is MA15+: MA15+: Computer games classified MA15+ can only be sold or hired to people aged 15 years or older, unless they are accompanied by their parent or guardian, or in Queensland by an adult.
So, right there you have a potential barrier to sale.
Mum and Dad>> Okay.... here's the cash to buy that game you wanted...
Teen>> Thanks! Can you come with me to buy it?
Mum and Dad>> Why?
Teen>> "Ummm its MA15+ but really it's okay... it's not too violent or anything...and ummm..."
Mum and Dad>> Yeah... we think you can you buy something else then...
Not to mention there are parents who will not buy a game if they cannot play it while their kids might see it.
While I do see your valid points to the censors, but just about everyone has heard of Star Wars. There maybe very few parents or people out there who hasn't heard of it. So if the kid asks his parents to buy Stars Wars the Old Republic they might not question it. Not to mention. If you go back and look at the movies its not like decapitation is anything new to genre. Star Wars has been hacking off arms, limbs, torsos, and even heads, since Empire Strikes back.
Look at Revenge of the Sith where it got a PG-13 rating and little kids still went to see the movie. Only to have Anakin murder little kids oh sorry not little kids.... Younglings.... please don't refer them to as children... censors. It might not of shown it, but you still know what happened.
To MikeB Thanks for the detailed game review and game play looking forward to this title now as its shaping up to be really something awesome! Holograms, Datacrons, and grouping seem to be really looking great! Good job on trying out your experiment. I wonder how grouping up all the time effects your compainons if you don't use them or pull them out? Will it effect their story development and will you miss things thinking ohhh i might of needed a certain companion with me at the time for this mission or story arc.
Bottomline is things don't need to be kiddified or sugarcoated all the time in MMO's. Even more, makes things too kiddy stuff and you'll probably end up distantiating the older group of MMO gamers. Average age of MMO gamers has moved to quite above 20 over the years.
Who cares? Censorship Boards for a start.
No - you don't need to sugarcoat things... but if you start being too graphic or controversial you start attracting unwanted attention and potentially losing customers.
Yes - you and I might be over 18 and not care about censorship ratings on games we buy for ourselves - but there are millions of consumers out there who do care.
For example - where I live WoW attracts a "M" rating that is:
M: There are no legal restrictions on the sale or hire of computer games classified M. It should be remembered however, that computer games classified M are not recommended for people under 15 years as these contain content that is recommended for a mature audience.
However Age of Conan is MA15+: MA15+: Computer games classified MA15+ can only be sold or hired to people aged 15 years or older, unless they are accompanied by their parent or guardian, or in Queensland by an adult.
So, right there you have a potential barrier to sale.
Mum and Dad>> Okay.... here's the cash to buy that game you wanted...
Teen>> Thanks! Can you come with me to buy it?
Mum and Dad>> Why?
Teen>> "Ummm its MA15+ but really it's okay... it's not too violent or anything...and ummm..."
Mum and Dad>> Yeah... we think you can you buy something else then...
Not to mention there are parents who will not buy a game if they cannot play it while their kids might see it.
While I do see your valid points to the censors, but just about everyone has heard of Star Wars. There maybe very few parents or people out there who hasn't heard of it. So if the kid asks his parents to buy Stars Wars the Old Republic they might not question it. Not to mention. If you go back and look at the movies its not like decapitation is anything new to genre. Star Wars has been hacking off arms, limbs, torsos, and even heads, since Empire Strikes back.
Look at Revenge of the Sith where it got a PG-13 rating and little kids still went to see the movie. Only to have Anakin murder little kids oh sorry not little kids.... Younglings.... please don't refer them to as children... censors. It might not of shown it, but you still know what happened.
To MikeB Thanks for the detailed game review and game play looking forward to this title now as its shaping up to be really something awesome! Holograms, Datacrons, and grouping seem to be really looking great! Good job on trying out your experiment. I wonder how grouping up all the time effects your compainons if you don't use them or pull them out? Will it effect their story development and will you miss things thinking ohhh i might of needed a certain companion with me at the time for this mission or story arc.
A lot of the affection +/- opportunities (if not all of them) crop up during class-quest stuff so you should be pretty safe as far as companion interaction goes. I'm not sure if they react to stuff you do in sidequests while they are out.
Again with the missing the obvious Mr.OP. The classes are race-restricted. That right there is enough to lose my interest without bothering to read anything else about the fail of a mmo that SWTOR is.
Comments
We were given a space presentation. Perhaps you'll hear more about it soon! Stay tuned.
Nice write up! I can't wait to play this
Aaargh. If only someone who demo plays the game would pay attention to the maps and travel time
How big are the origin worlds like a Tython or Hutta in comparison to a WoW zone, how long exactly does it take to cross a certain distance in an area? No one knows
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Interesting write-up to be sure. Still, some things are a bit worrisome. The UI isn't working well? Really? I can understand at times things are in alpha, but this isn't the first 5 years of MMO development. The UI should be intuitive to anyone who's played MMOs for a while. Makes me worried that isn't working correctly.
Still, it sounds like a game on rails. I also can appreciate that you have to play the game as presented, but seriously, all starting areas in most games are fairly well polished. I'd like to see some time spent in the mid level and near end-level content. It would be nice to know if the game is done or just the starting area.
lol, if you say so.
The Bounty Hunter is the Class I plan on playing, so this is real awesome to be able to read up some on it! Thanks for the info!
~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!
Come Join us at www.globalequestria.com - Meet other fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!
Why not just get 4 companions and cut out all the grouping hassle. Oh wait thats called a single player game...
This article is the first SWTOR related information in quite some time that has actually renewed my interest. Everything else I have seen/read seems dissapointing.
You can only use 1 at a time.
Great preview, would love to see more of it.
But pls write 'SPOILER' when you write down examples of the story ->
//Spoiler
'My task was to kill him and deliver his head to his wife in a sack....'
//end Spoiler
:-)
When the war of the beasts brings about the worlds end,
the goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar.
Nice write-up, thank you.
Very happy to hear there may/will be a bit of grit in the game. I live in Australia with it's medieval gaming legislation though, so I hope this doesn't cause problems at the censors....
I'm not 100% convinced about the way there dialogue choices will work. Surely the opinion of 3 heavily armed individuals would almost always out-weight the opinion of only 1 heavily armed individual?:) Although it is promising that you found this bit fun, and it may encourage me to play or even over-play my characters traits to try and ensure that their evil/good desired outcome is achieved.
I was sent to make an example of someone who’d crossed the Hutt. My task was to kill him and deliver his head to his wife in a sack. Showing up to undertake this gruesome endeavor isn’t a matter of a simple firefight and looting the head off the guy’s corpse, only to return to the some quest NPC and gain an experience reward. Instead, what transpires is actually a fairly brutal cutscene where the bounty hunter clocks the guy over the head with his pistol, presses his knee into the poor guys back while he lays helpless on the floor and pretty much saws his head clean off his neck. While absent of blood, it is still fairly graphic and I was both shocked and impressed to find such a scene in the game.
That part right there is why i like Bioware's cinematic design to quests, it gives more weight to what your doing, instead of either being told or it's contrived (like clicking on a coprse and picking up a head) your actually shown it. Granted some things should be left to imagination. But it's quite a bit different in my opinion of seeing something like you put your knee down and chop the guys neck off and actually seeing your character tackle the guy, put his knee on and can see the character doing the action.
The only thing that might be a problem is it might get a stronger rating then other similar games for depiction of violent scenes which might cut off a few people, but we will have to see how it goes.
But back to my point i feel theres a big difference from when someone types and when you see it. Just as on this very forum theres a difference when someone types something and when you are talking face to face with them. You lose the emotions which is why we have to type lol or :P to show we are joking or /sarcasm when we are using sarcasm because these types of bahviors doesn't go through well in text, and i feel it's the same way there.
Sometimes there are just things I feel that get lost when you don't show the characters emotions and just type it out instead.
This is how i see most MMOs
My character laughs
This is how i see Bioware's MMO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bgDi2BYtIY&feature=related
One makes you smile but the other makes you laugh or at least it did me.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
this is from one of the fansite's writeups, hope it helps:
One last note on travel is the size of planets. Hutta is not that large of a planet and would be equivalent to a medium sized zone from any comparable game. To make a WoW reference I would say it would be equivalent to Westfall or something similar. By stark contrast, Dromund Kaas felt absolutely huge. I would say the city alone was the size of Hutta if not larger, and the zone outside of city was even larger! I unfortunately did not have enough time to fully wander but I do not think planet sizes should be a concern to anyone.
http://www.torocast.com/index.php/editorials/item/524-fansite-summit-gameplay-impressions
Very cool stuff pointed out in this article.
What do you mean? We don't have a problem with this. Who does?
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Yeah - sounds great for a mature audience...
And what happened when AoC tried this (mature audience approach)?
First patch out of the box they started toning it down IIRC?
Does AoC even have breasts any more? (I don't know - but I would suspect not the way things were going)
Because although it might sound 'cool' and seem tough to try this - in reality it's far cooler to have subs.
And the irony of marketing to a 'mature audience' is that you tend to attract the immature wannabes rather than your real target audience.
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
AoC still has naked tits. Shrug, who cares.
Bottomline is things don't need to be kiddified or sugarcoated all the time in MMO's. Even more, makes things too kiddy stuff and you'll probably end up distantiating the older group of MMO gamers. Average age of MMO gamers has moved to quite above 20 over the years.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Who cares? Censorship Boards for a start.
No - you don't need to sugarcoat things... but if you start being too graphic or controversial you start attracting unwanted attention and potentially losing customers.
Yes - you and I might be over 18 and not care about censorship ratings on games we buy for ourselves - but there are millions of consumers out there who do care.
For example - where I live WoW attracts a "M" rating that is:
M: There are no legal restrictions on the sale or hire of computer games classified M. It should be remembered however, that computer games classified M are not recommended for people under 15 years as these contain content that is recommended for a mature audience.
However Age of Conan is MA15+: MA15+: Computer games classified MA15+ can only be sold or hired to people aged 15 years or older, unless they are accompanied by their parent or guardian, or in Queensland by an adult.
So, right there you have a potential barrier to sale.
Mum and Dad>> Okay.... here's the cash to buy that game you wanted...
Teen>> Thanks! Can you come with me to buy it?
Mum and Dad>> Why?
Teen>> "Ummm its MA15+ but really it's okay... it's not too violent or anything...and ummm..."
Mum and Dad>> Yeah... we think you can you buy something else then...
Not to mention there are parents who will not buy a game if they cannot play it while their kids might see it.
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
Not wishing to detract from this too much, but is it just me that this game went from it looks like a kiddy game with the graphics to being worried that it might be too dark and hardcore that it will get a higher rating and thus block off certain crowds? Did the feelings about the game just shift 180 degrees?
Just made me raise an eyebrow.
As for the game itself, sounds cool. I would say more but i think i've touched on this all in numerous other threads.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
One days play, and wants his op limmiting cooldown reduced. TOR seems mmo-ish, but Mike just presented his mmo gamer credetials in spades.
Game looks to be fun to play. I hope i wil have time for it.
People hate just for the sake of hating. That's all this is.
Yep, I noticed it too. It seems when one lame argument doesn't work, they try to aim in another direction to see if people can be distracted by that instead.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
While I do see your valid points to the censors, but just about everyone has heard of Star Wars. There maybe very few parents or people out there who hasn't heard of it. So if the kid asks his parents to buy Stars Wars the Old Republic they might not question it. Not to mention. If you go back and look at the movies its not like decapitation is anything new to genre. Star Wars has been hacking off arms, limbs, torsos, and even heads, since Empire Strikes back.
Look at Revenge of the Sith where it got a PG-13 rating and little kids still went to see the movie. Only to have Anakin murder little kids oh sorry not little kids.... Younglings.... please don't refer them to as children... censors. It might not of shown it, but you still know what happened.
To MikeB Thanks for the detailed game review and game play looking forward to this title now as its shaping up to be really something awesome! Holograms, Datacrons, and grouping seem to be really looking great! Good job on trying out your experiment. I wonder how grouping up all the time effects your compainons if you don't use them or pull them out? Will it effect their story development and will you miss things thinking ohhh i might of needed a certain companion with me at the time for this mission or story arc.
A lot of the affection +/- opportunities (if not all of them) crop up during class-quest stuff so you should be pretty safe as far as companion interaction goes. I'm not sure if they react to stuff you do in sidequests while they are out.
Again with the missing the obvious Mr.OP. The classes are race-restricted. That right there is enough to lose my interest without bothering to read anything else about the fail of a mmo that SWTOR is.