I think they started producing this game in early 2007, that would make it one of the longest continually in development games and from what I've seen of late I think it is going to blow Kotor and Mass Effect out of the water in RPG stakes. It is for all intents and purposes a single player game with key moments multiplayer squad based, I don't think a story driven MMO would work otherwise.
When I made this thread last night I was bored so watched alot of the backstory clips on the swtor website, the amount of thought they have put into this I have not known in any game before, needless to say it manages to tie into Kotor and Kotor II very well which seems impossible considering the story of the second and that it was incomplete.
I have gone off video games in the last few years but I very much anticipate this.