Just started playing today and have to say I'm liking the look of this exciting world!
I've just left WoW as I was getting very bored with it, also have played numerous other mmorpgs in the past - stumbled into SOR based upon the high rating that it received on MMORPG.com.
A number of quick observations based on a few hours gameplay - albeit on newbie island!
1) How refreshing to not find myself greeted by a constant barrage of l33t d00ds and beggars/illiterate goons posting on the general chat channel
2) Fantastic graphics and nice interface...I suspect I'm going to need to upgrade to 1meg memory to fully appreciate it but I was going to do that anyway
3) Haven't taken the time to chat with many people yet (only came across a few others on the noob island), but I can tell from the forums that the playerbase is far more mature (and quite probably more intelligent) than that of WOW/SWG/EQ2
4) I actually got a new sense of achievement when I managed to work out how to craft my first pair of boots - never having been a great one for reading manuals I blagged my way through it. Very nice to actually have to think a bit and not be spoonfed everything immediately (like a certain other mmorpg I've already mentioned).
5) Very nice to see a senior community memebr and gamesmaster knocking around the newbie zone answering peoples questions - not seen this level of support in other mmo's.
6) Sorry - seems like I'm waffling on a bit now

NB: I'm a Matis called Bellini...I'd read that Matis typically have Italian(ish) sounding names