Potential New player with a couple questions : Star Wars Galaxies Discussions

I am looking for a new game to play and I was wondering if you guys could answer a few of my questions.

A little bit about myself; I've been playing FFXI for a couple of years and I am getting bored with it. The grind is horrible to me. The fact that if you want to be succesful you have to be a "cookie-cutter" job build has worn on me too. I like the social aspect of it, with the "Linkshells" (for those who are unaware it's a loose network of people who can talk to eachother, outside of public channels, no matter where in the game world they are). I am also fed up with the fact that you pretty much have to be a "hard-core" gamer to make decent headway in the game. I am limited to a couple of hours a night to play, so i need those hours to be productive.

From what I have read, this game seems pretty casual gamer friendly. Some things I am curious about are:
How is the game socially?
How is the economy, stable or filled with credit sellers/buyers?
Is the high end/premium equipment available to casual players or do you have to be "teh sup3r l33t cR3dIt bUy3rZ" to get it?
Does the game suffer from a lot of Bugs?
Is the community, in general, helpful to new players?
I have noticed a lot of complaints about the last patch. Is the game still fun or has it become "FFXI Star Wars"?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Alot depends on the game. Most mmorpgs you need to play alot to get up there. I always recommend AC haha.

Very social game

Stable economy, not many credit sellers/buyers

Crafted weapons/armor is pretty much the best you can get in game. The only thing that really makes people uber is Armor/Clothing attachtments you can put on that add to your skills.

Every time I see a noob in Theed or Eisley, I always ask if they need help dont know about other people.

As for the last patch... not sure which one you're talking about. They put on in yesterday that "basically" made experience 8xs as slow, but them they took it out 6 hours later because they realized that they went too far.

OK, great, that answers my questions.

I was referring to the XP nerf that I had read about. But good news there. I guess I'll go grab it this weekend.

One more quick question. I've read that some servers are focused more on PVP and others on RP. I'm sort of middle of the road as far as that goes. Do you have any server suggestions (assuming I have a choice in server)?

Thanks a lot.

I play on Eclipse and love it. People set up PvP events some times, and there are also a few RP guild around. Good economy too.