Come back to the game after long break and made a new character. I decided I'd aim to get call the codex entries as I played. However, from what I can tell Dromand Kaas (and possibly other planets) has entries that simply can't be collected. Is this still true in 2024? Thanks

That is good news.

I’d like to be able to turn it off. I’ve come back to the game after a very long absence (I played at launch) and want to experience the class stories while playing a game that poses at least some level of challenge. At it is, I’m just breezing through all areas and this seriously is putting me off keeping my sub going.

The problem as I see it is that SWTOR has never really given the feeling of a living world, for a lot of MMO fans this is a very important feature. It almost feels like it was a deliberate decision to strip away standard MMO features in favour of a linear quest grind with a class story. I see where you coming from with the RPG element however that element really seems tied to what feels far more like a simple player experience. I’m not saying that SWTOR is a bad game, I do think however that it’s currently far too limited and needs development time in non-combat related activities and development of the world. The problem is that launching the game in the stat they did will now limit future development as it cost them subscribers, the empty severs were evidence of this. My current mind-set is to give them until 1.3 is released, then if I’m still bored with the game cancel my sub and check back in a year. I want the game ot do well, I want a great SW MMO to play, but at the moment I don't think we're getting that.

If it hopes to succeed in the current market, yes. You seem to be getting quite defensive about the game but this is the bottom line no matter how you look at it. Does this game have the rounded content needed to be successful in 2012? The answer at the moment is no. People were pointing this out during beta.

Immaterial, I’m not saying that they conned anyone. I’m saying that what they released doesn’t have the content to compete long-term in the current market and that a direct comparison to the release version of WoW is nonsensical for a MMO released in December 2011.

I do wish people would stop attempting to compare this game to WoWs early days. We are in 2012, SWTOR is a modern MMO, released by a big name RPG developer and the game is in competition with its contemporaries. They’ve had 5 years to look at what else is out there and gain an understanding to the market and customer expectations.

It matters to a lot of people because they see the potential in the game and want it to be better. Also if you want a SW MMO then it’s the only game in town these days. I don’t think anyone is trying to get the people who are enjoying the game (or think it doesn’t need improving) to follow them, they just disagree with these people. Personally I am at a loss as to why anyone who plays the game and enjoys it in its current state wouldn’t still be in favour of improvements, or why these people seem incapable of looking at the situation objectively and realising that something is going wrong.

<Bang> That was the sound of a nail being hit on the head. Do we need server merges? Yes. Do BW need to also sort out the root cause of the low server population? Even more so. A lot of people seem to think that merging the servers together will solve all the issues. It won’t it’s just a stopgap that will buy time.

The leaps of logic the fanboys are now making to defend the problems are getting funnier and funnier. Reread what you just typed. “Unless you are the only person left in your guild what’s the problem? . . . you only need 17 others to go play.” I’m assuming this isn’t sarcasm.

Star Wars Fan: “The original trilogy are fantastic films.” Star War Fanboy “Everything about Star Wars is great. Lucas can do no wrong, Jarjar Binks was a shrewd move and a deep character that kept true to the SW ethos.” SWTOR fan: “This game has a lot of potential but really has a lot of room for improvement. I’ve had loads of fun with it but I see its very obvious faults. I relly hope BW pull something out of the bag so it’ll still be going strong in a years’ time.” SWTOR Fanboy: “SWTOR is fantastic, it’s great just as it is. I wish all these trolls would stop whining. Any changes are a bad thing, unless BW say they’re a good thing, in which case they will become a good thing. God I love BW so much, I bet once they read this post I’ll get an invite to the pub with the dev team.“

Interesting post, all the things you mentioned are not part of the MMO experience. I do at times think they should have just not bothered with an MMO and made KotOR3 and made it to the same standard as the Mass Effect series (not counting the ending)

Cool, will BW be suspending the subscription charge for all the people on ghost town servers in the meantime? Grated that’s a rhetorical question to make a point but it’s a point worth making. People back in a January were saying that game may not have much longevity and were predicting all but empty servers within 6 months. BW have failed to address the longevity issues or put any contingency into place for low server population. So either they couldn’t predict what a bunch of players could or they simply didn’t bother to plan.

Super can indeed refer to something’s size (e.g. Supercarrier) and when placed before the word server I certainly inferred that it meant a server with a large capacity. From what I can tell, the people saying that BW aren’t the ones referring to superservers do appear to be correct in at least that. It seems to be the gaming news websites that have started this off, possibly starting with PC Gamer. Not that there’s a big differed if the actual word is used or not.

What about people who don't want to leave their guild? I’m on the server that BW put my guild on. Once the server pop went down were we all supposed to abandon our characters and start from scratch on a new server? Is that really what we should have to do?

I gradually slipping from content to unhappy, I’d class my current stat as disillusioned and borderland apathetic. I’ve seen a noticeable decline in server population in the past month which isn’t helping but if I’m honest I have to say that I’m just bored with the game. It’s never felt like a proper MMO to me, the world has always felt to sterile and there is nothing to do beyond the level/gear grind or the frustrating datacron hunting. I’m seriously considering unsubbing and checking back in a year to see what’s been added. The issue is that I’m not convinced that SWTOR will still be a subscription game in a year. I loved the game at launch, but knew back then that it would be a temporary thing, there just isn’t enough non-combat content and the world is far too sterile.

This forum really needs a sticky post with definitions of words like “moaning” and “whining”. As you said complaining about legitimate issues isn’t whining, but neither is maturely raising a talking appoint about how a major decision about the game is being presented. Seriously reread the OP. Hell the only people I see whining are the fan boys who moan about anything they perceive to be negative. “That person doesn’t think the game is the second coming. The whiner. God I love this game, I’m goann name my first kid BioWear. ”

No people aren’t calling the server merge a marketing ploy. The OP is asking peoples opinion on the way they are publicising the server merge. I’ve just reread it and it’s not ambiguous.

Definitely marketing spin. The bottom line is that people have gotten bored with the game, leading to very low server populations. They’re merging servers to counter this but that doesn’t look or sound good. Enter the phrase “We’re implementing SUPERSERVERS” Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it one SWTORs death knells? No it’s a SUPERSERVER! Bottom line, yes it’s a marketing term, and it’s not an answer to the underlying problems of low server population.

But a lot of what people are suggesting would not be used by just a small percentage of people. Whether people call them sandbox elements or not, extra activities to do are generally popular in MMOs, log on to a WoW server, on or off peak and you will find plenty of people doing the fishing or cooking dallies, check the auction house and you will see plenty of ingredients and buff food collected or made using fishing and cooking. Head to an arachnology site and you will find people doing arachnology. Granted 9am is not peak time but there were 5 people on the fleet just before I logged out. I said back at a lunch that the game seemed like really good fun but I had concerns about its longevity unless they got more social and downtime activities. I believe a bunch of fanboys told me that I was clueless and didn’t understand game design. :-)

I’ve already pointed out that the first 5 moths of the game are not representative of its profit long term. This is just blind faith, furthermore neither 1.2 or the rakgoul thing permanently brought people back, they may have got curious people to relog but I’ve seen no evidence that suggests anyone resubbed. Regardless like I said it didn’t bring people back pertinently, getting people to relog for two weeks isn’t the answer. They need content that will make people keep playing.

You have no clue whether a new update will fill the servers or not. To suggest that it will is more than a little naïve. Also not all developers are coders and keeping abreast of community feeback and opening a dialogue with the customer base can only be a good thing. Finally do you really think that making money for 5 months after a massive advertising campaign supported by one of the most famous intellectual properties on the planet is all that hard? It’s too early to say if the game is successful or not but things don’t look good for it. You obviously like the game a lot but you are obviously letting that colour your opinion. I also like the game but based on the evidence and a bit of common sense things do not look good. BW need to sort it and sort it quickly.

No one is arguing that it SWTOR will ever be or should ever be EVE. As for SWTOR being more successful you aren’t comparing like for like. What defines success? SWTOR made more money in the past few months but is haemorrhaging subscribers like no ones business. EVE’s been around for 9 years and shows no sign of dying. As it stands I’m not sure what state SWTOR will be in in 9 months let alone 9 years. To be clear, I want SWTOR to succeed, and I hope BW do pull something out of the bag to get numbers back up. As it stands though it feels like there’s a very real divide between the devs and the community, the devs should be part of the community.

I’m guessing you don’t have any first hand knowledge of the EVE. I’m not sure on about whether it’s gaining or losing subscribers at the moment but it’s no failing. It has a very active player and developer base. It’s never going to have the same number of subs as a AAA mmo like WoW or SWTOR should have because it has a far smaller target market and grew from much humbler beginnings.

Thanks, I may well take a look next weekend.