SWG Pre-CU was just an excellent idea. Instead of been a Jedi straight away, you had to level up your character and become a Master in 4 random professions which you had no way of knowing.
Once you achieved this, you became a Jedi and were properly powerful, though if you died often you would lose your "Jediness". This took bloody ages to achieve, but it was actually something worthwhile and a badge of honour for those who put the hours in.
NGE ruined the game, and made the Jedi a starting class. There weere people who had put in hundreds of hours work to becoming a Jedi, then it was wiped and people started brand new Jedi characters. It became a joke and is still known in the game development industry as one of the biggest blunders that a game company ever made. Conservative estimates say that they lost 40-60% of their subscription base near overnight.