If you enjoyed WoW for several years you'll also enjoy LOTR. Although you'll find much of the same, it's not as drastic of a difference as playing SWG will be. SWG is what I consider first generation MMO, in the same league as EQ1, DAOC, Earth and Beyond (defunct) and to some extents Eve Online. The interface is archaic, simple things such as finding groups and selling items aren't well implemented, and it's much more of a grind than a pick up and play experience. You will be stepping backwards in the MMO evolutionary chain by trying out SWG after you've spent a good amount of time in WoW.

See my review of the old school SWG somewhere in Gamespot, but the bottom line for me is that if it didn't have the Star Wars license and was instead set in some generic sci fi setting it wouldn't have lasted 6 months because the game itself wasn't that compelling. Also your comment of lag in certain cities has perpetually been a problem, among other things. I'm not suprised at all to hear someone say they had lag or frame rate issues on a game engine that's years old, especially if their system already plays WoW just fine.

There are tons of simply broken quests and skills, strange lag situations in seemingly empty areas, and other bugs that have literally been in place for years. I remember having a GM ticket unresolved after 4 weeks, and it was a simple bug. There is definitely a sense of both finality and indifference from the SWG community as to the future of their game world, much like I saw in the last 6 months of Earth and Beyond.

LOTRO is very similiar to WoW, which means you'll be able to pick up and play it without learning a ton of new things. It's fresh and the graphics are good and it's not over populated yet, and they got many aspects of Tolkien really spot on. It's not exaclty better than Wow, just different, but still very fun for casual players. Seeing as my 70 druid and WoW guild is struggling through Gruul's lair ATM, it's nice to load up LOTRO and have that same wide eyed questing fun time that I remember back in 2005 with WoW.