Looking down to find a red health bar accompanied by a yellow energy bar, I might have mistaken the smuggler class for a rogue, if everything were a little more fantasy themed instead of futuristic.

Even the cover system -- the smuggler's signature ability -- played very much like going in and out of stealth. Cover reduces the damage your smuggler takes while simultaneously offering him or her more options via new skills which will only appear while in cover. Just as you may have predicted, your skill bar will slide up while the smuggler is in cover, revealing a whole new "stealth" er... "cover" hotbar.

Using skills consumes energy from the smuggler's bar, but energy is rebuilt over time. Much like those of the rogue, the cooldowns I dealt with were short, making their attacks rely on efficient energy usage.

I clicked that button and my character pulled out a small holo-device -- the classic Star Wars telephone. A little hologram of my quest-giver appeared, and it triggered a cinematic dialogue sequence right then and there, advancing me to the next stage of the quest. I thought this feature was very cool, and it gave a seamless transition into the next quest phase. It's very much in the vein of Star Wars to use a device like this instead of hoofing it back to the quest-giver, and I really appreciated it.

Right after entering the game, I was told to walk through the green laser-door in front of me. This see-through green panel denoted a "storyline instance" -- one that would allow only my party and myself to enter. I hit the panel, expecting a quick loading screen, but I was surprised to find myself passing right through it and into the next room. The instancing had occurred without me even realizing it. The only confirmation I had that I was in a special instance was the system notification of my instance ID in the bottom right corner.