I love how people can only think in "WoW" terms. If something isn't the same as it is in WoW, people have a hard time comprehending it.
SWTOR has many similarities to World of Warcraft, but they are mostly things people have come to expect from a AAA MMORPG. Many of the larger aspects of the game, like dungeons, are in fact different.
Flashpoints are like instances in World of Warcraft, without the filler, and with an epic story line attached to them. Some are not very long, and some are. They are challenging, fun and feel like major parts of the story. I have seen people on Neogaf pay $10-20 for DLC that is worse then a single one of these flashpoints.
SWTOR is a game that has all the traditional trappings of an MMO, but adds in an epic story arch. One that is full of adventure and makes you feel like you are making a difference in the global climate of the time. I have encounter nothing in SWTOR thus far, that is directly copied from WoW, GW, LOTRO or any other game. Even the aspects of SWTOR that are the most similar(and there are quite a few), are Bioware's unique take on that particular MMO staple.
Story is a massive part of the game. If you do not want story in your MMO, then look else where. Yes, you could skip all the dialogue and just look on your map for directions on where to complete your next quest. But who really wants to do that on their first play-through at the very least? You did it in WoW because the story was presented as a forgettable mess and the medium they used to deliver it was boring and dated.
This is what really made me angry about what Jasmine from gamebreaker.tv said. She complained about the game because of all the dialogue between your toon and NPC's. All the story elements and cut-scenes. As she put it "I just want to get to max level as fast as I can". It makes me want to vomit that someone like that even has a voice in the gaming community (a small one, but still). She is stuck in the mind-frame that all the content in an MMO is at end-game. She refuses to realize that is no longer the case, and went on a rant for 10 minutes because of it.
This is coming from a guy who used to skip all the quest text in WoW, and was in a higher-end raiding guild and arena team then Jasmine ever was or will be. You just need to change your frame of mind when you go into SWTOR. Weather you like or not is a personal choice, but don't jump in thinking this is a race to end-game to see who can down the first raid boss. If you treat it like that you will miss out on a huge portion of why the game is so fun.
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