...Sure, you don't exactly own the game in the sense you can boot it up months later and redo a storyline (given the time commitment, why would you want to?), but hey, pop in another $15, and behold, yet another story set in the same timeline, just with less saber action!
You say that like it's a good thing. The time limit and the necessity of paying extra if I want to play the game a few months down the line is *exactly* what I don't like. Not everyone can afford to keep spending money like that, nor would everyone want to keep playing the same game for a solid month just to make sure they get as much value for money as possible.
Let's be realistic for a second. This is very much a single player game masquerading as an MMO. The main plot concerns only your own PC, most of your character interactions are with your companions and from a plot POV, having a friend tag along in your story phases adds *nothing*.
Indeed, from what I can tell, the only value in grouping is that it allows you to deal with tougher than than usual enemies (and more of them at once.) Since the toughness of the enemies is just down to their basic stats being fiddled with by the dev to create high reward grinding, it's an entierly artificial motivator...which, to be fair I suppose, sums up most MMOs in general.
Also, once the novelty wears off, the group conversation system isn't nearly as immersive as it first appears. You're basically rolling a dice to see who gets to speak. Then there's the fact that the NPCs you talk to in this mode speak as if there's only one of you. Neither the NPC nor the PC dialoge even acknowledges that there's another person standing right next to them.
It would have been a bit better if there was more interaction. Say for example if one PC picks a LS response while the other picks the diametrically opposite DS response then they *both* voice and argue their positions and it's the dice roll decided who wins said argument. If they both pick the same one then the higher score chimes in first with the other(s) assenting, or just make their neutral/snarky comment last. As it stands it just feels very shallow.
If you play it for the PVP then I still don't see the value. Last I checked, MP games, or SP games with MP modes don't require you to pay to play (not yet at least!) You buy the game and either get free access to pub servers, pay for a private one or start your own. Sure, pub servers aren't always conducive to the best gaming environment, but the option is there and realistically, it's the one most gamers opt for.
