I came across this five-page hands-on review of SWtoR from E3.

One whole page of the five is devoted to gushing over SWtoR's AI behavior, and one of the main elements they swooned over gave me a good chuckle:

Artificial intelligence is something many MMOs are lacking when compared to single player games. Many times MMO enemies seem binary, with only a couple different states to choose from. The two primary enemies are instantly aggressive or aggressive when engaged. While The Old Republic does have these mobs, they add a tertiary option: aware. This third mob type appears to acknowledge players when they enter a certain range, but will not engage unless the player moves closer or possibly stays in this "aware range" for a prolonged amount of time. This third option, while subtle, does help to make players feel like they are part of the world by reducing the "gamey" feeling accompanied with the "on/off" mobs in many MMOs.
There is also a handy diagram to illustrate this cutting edge innovation in advanced MMO AI:


I thought to myself, "Gee, the stupid boars in LotRO have been doing that for a couple years..."



(It's still a good review, BTW, if you're interested in SWtoR)