It is very easy to understand under normal circumstances. Decreasing player activity is linked to the subscription numbers and I think the last months confirmed this theory. If the player activity would have dropped ~50% from launch, it would be an indicator for a chilled playerbase. It is perfectly normal, that in the first month of an MMO there are loads of players, who play twice the time they normally would. But, according to very reliable statistics, the player activity dropped way more, than these healthy 50%. Furthermore, this proves, that many players stopped to play SWTOR and this means, that they cancel their subscription. So you see? This is not that hard to understand... and please dont start with your "above the curve" argument. Because .... Out of ~2,4mil sold copies remained 1,3mil active subscriptions. Total loss of players 54% (not to forget, that there are many nominal members because they are at the moment , thanks to this free month, active in the subscription statistics (I'm one of these nominal members))

Gz Boy, you figured the reason nr. 102 out, why the people cancelled their subscription. Now, try reason nr. 1 - 101. (little hint, read and understand the written criticisms in this forum)

True, but I have another theory. A MMO needs the hardcore fraction. They are the theory-crafters the math crunchers and they give us a good competition. The hardcore player gives a purpose for the average player. If you cant keep the hardcore player, because your content gets cleared too easy, they get bored and leave. If a game has no hardcore player, the average player has therefore no competition to beat and gets bored too. Life is about competition in every way. Never asked yourself, why the Blizzard games are so successful? They are very easy to learn and everybody can step in fast. But, they also give a hardcore player a good challenge. Diablo 3 will be a good example for this. (and WoW is too) SWTOR is too easy, because a dedicated guild of average players can clear the SWTOR nightmare OPs. (And Soa is only a challenge, because this encounter is heavily bugged) So there was no challenge for the hardcore player in SWTOR. (Yes, I know, that this game was never intended for the hardcore player, but this was the biggest fault in SWTOR made by the developers) People are constantly looking for a challenge and I dont see this in SWTOR.

No, I am paying 15$ / month to post in these forums. So you cleared Naxx40 in vanilla WoW? And you are really holding on to your claim, that normal SWTOR OPs > Vanilla WoW? Really? Please, because I was in one of the very very few guilds, which cleared Naxx40 (after statistics only 4% of the guilds in WOW cleared the Naxx content in Vanilla) back then and I have to say, that this was the hardest PvE experience I had so far. (And I played WoW in the endgame PvE up until the T11 content) And the difficulty jump in the SWTOR OPs from normal to HM was not even recognizeable. Only nightmare was slightly harder.

You make adventurous claims, and dont even bother to defend yourself. I find this lack of proper argumentation, mildly amusing. It is hard to compress the failure of WAR into several sentences. But, a PvP player is not satisfied only with a "PvP friendly" labeled MMO. It has to be "PvP friendly" within, in combination with a finished MMO-base and all the little features all of us are accustomed to. Regarding WAR, yes there was "PvP friendly" within at first. But, the whole MMO-base was missing. Beginning with the outdated (but very hardware needy) graphics, over the plethora of bad design / balance and development decisions and ending with the destruction of the working PvP system. And because of these wrong decisions WAR failed. As a dedicated PvP player myself, I can only say, that we very well know, what we want to see in a MMO. Up until now, the PvP players were treated like the ginger haired stepchild by the MMO-developers and that it the wrong way. A PvP player wants more, than 3 WZs and a unfinished and uninspired OpenPvP planet and I am glad, that the PvP base at whole shows signs, that we arent that easily satisfied as the developers thought we would. GW2 will be a next good shot (after I played the Beta weekend) and it will draw the PvP base in.

I dont consider myself a hardcore gamer and I experienced this myself. Dont wiggle around. You stated, that the OPs in SWTOR in normal mode, are more difficult, than the Vanilla WoW Raids. Please, after this adventurous claim, I have to ask you to elaborate.

1. Why is it ridiculous? Ridiculous is, that you are thinking from your subjective point of view. Because, there are many people, who burned through the"endgame"-content and stated, that the difficulty level is way to low and is only unwillingly hightened by the plethora of bugs. 2. Normal OPs > Vanilla WoW Raids? Were you even thinking, before you typed this text?

...who will play an outdated game? ...WAR? Seriously? This is your argumentation?

Please, dont make such adventurous claims, because it is slightly problematic to follow your thoughts. All of the PvP problems were discussed in the beta forums X-times with constructive criticism. But there was no reaction from BW/EA. So you cant assume, that BW/EA did something on account of the PvP playerbase, because there was no communication. Because, if BW/EA would have listened to the constructive criticism in the beta forums, the PvP system in SWTOR wouldnt be in its current state. But thats OK, as a PvP player I wrongly assumed, that SWTOR would be the right game for me. Most of the PvPer realized or will realize, that they made a wrong choice, and will correct that. SWTOR will retain its fitting customer base and there will be enough to be profitable. But, honestly they have much work to do, to achieve that. @DieAlteHexe I'm sorry my terminology wasnt appropriate relating to my comment on your nick. Better said: I wrongly assumed that you are german, based on your nick.

Thats OK, and I see that SWTOR will remain with a healthy subscribtion base to be profitable for EA/BW. But, as you said, players like me will find their enjoyment elsewhere. and btw. dont use a german nick .... its misleading

In some definitions pessimism is very close to realism. Hmm... I play(ed) less than half of the time than you and consumed the offered PvE raids and the PvP system quite quickly. And if they define the endgame to "roll alts until you squeal", its not that healthy. Because many many people dont share the thought on this definition of the endgame. Nah, please you make it too easy for yourself. I could fill pages with the wrong choices BW/EA made. And the worst thing was, that they clearly didnt do what the PvP asked for in beta. The best argument for this is Ilum.... and my resume is with this one word concluded.

I try german: Wenn man in Betracht zieht, was SWTOR bisher anzubieten hatte. Wird man seine Erwartungen an zukuenftige Erweiterungen / Patches und Storyfortfuehrungen dementsprechend anpassen. Or english: If you see, how much SWTOR offers to a gamer now. You will moderate your expectations in the future expansions / patches or coming story lines.

Believe me... its not.

A little analogy there: You walk into a clothing-shop and check all the available offerings in there. All you find are outdated and overpriced rags and untasty clothes. Believe me, if you would walk to the shop-manager and ask him, if he could offer you some clothes of a better quality. You wouldnt expect him coming out of the storage-room with a Versace suit.

I'm glad, that there are people out there, who are so easily entertained. But, after 2 content-patches there are some disbelievers, who dont think that these flowery words are in fact the truth. And what exactly? As a dedicated PvP player I already know, that this game wasnt designed for our kind. For dedicated PvE players, there is not that plenty to do either. So yes, SWTOR will be a field test for me how many real casual player are out there, because this game is clearly made for the casual Joe.