Vandrel-Blitz
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While we wait on Bioware, list your own server forums here.
I'll kick it off with the brandspanking new Frostclaw EU PVE Server forum.
I will maintain this OP with details of all that get added here.
EU:
Bloodworthy & Bloodworthy (Joint with TOFN & also on IRC: http://webchat.quakenet.org/ #Bloodworthy )
Keller's Void (TBA)
Legions of Lettow & Legions of Lettow (Temporary)
Scepter of Ragnos (Currently on IRC: http://webchat.quakenet.org/ #ScepterOfRagnos )
The Red Eclipse & Facebook page
Tomb of Freedon Nadd (Joint with Bloodworthy)
Trayus Academy (Currently on IRC: http://webchat.quakenet.org/ #trayusacademy )
US:
Helm of Graush and a Facebook page
Port Nowhere and another Port Nowhere forum
Tarro Blood and a Tarro Blood (Facebook Page)
The Fatman (Forum) The Fatman (Facebook group)
General Sites
Oldrepublicboard Operator is aiming to have server forums for everyone on there.
SWTOR.Fragworld.Org is offering moderated server forums for ALL US servers and soon EU also.
They also have a Guild Database to add and find guilds on your server.
Eotp Gaming is doing server forums for all EU servers
UK focused SWTOR Community site
Swtorowned Site with all server forums
Swtorserverforums Site with forums for all US servers.
The sad part here is Bioware took the time to sticky this thread, yet they can't be bothered to respond to the real issue at hand and solve it.
SWTOR customers are shelling out personal funds, real money, to create something that Bioware should be doing for us.
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As a reminder, in the early hours of tomorrow morning (December 22nd), we will be taking both the game servers and SWTOR.com offline for maintenance. This maintenance will begin at 2AM CST (12AM PST / 3AM EST / 8AM GMT / 9AM CET) and is expected to last until 6AM CST (4AM PST / 7AM EST / 12PM GMT / 1PM CET).
Get Ready to Play
After this maintenance period is completed, in order to continue playing Star Wars: The Old Republic you will need to have completed the following steps:
1) Create an account on SWTOR.com (if you have not already done so)
2) Within the 'My Account' section:
- Complete your contact information
- Add between three and five security questions on your account
- Redeem an official Game Product Registration Code (not a pre-order code; see below)
- Sign up for a subscription or enter a Pre-Paid Game Time Code
Once you have completed all of these steps, you'll be ready to play once the servers come back up. You can complete these steps at any time before the maintenance begins, or afterwards if you prefer. Right now, approximately half of those who played in Early Game Access have completed these steps and are 'ready to play', so we'd encourage all of you to complete these steps as soon as possible.
If you have issues completing any of these steps, please contact Customer Service via support@swtor.com for assistance.
Forums 'Read Only' During High Load Period
When we bring SWTOR.com back up after maintenance, we're expecting to see very high load as users complete their 'ready to play' steps as outlined above. As having everyone complete these steps and getting them back into the game is our highest priority, we have decided to keep the official Forums in 'read only mode', hopefully just for a few hours, until load subsides. (In other words, you will be able to read the Forums, but not make posts.)
If we experience unexpected load, we may take the Forums offline for a period. Remember, when we switch the Forums back to normal, you will not be able to post unless you have completed the steps listed above.
Here are answers to some questions you might have regarding the process:
What's a 'Game Product Registration Code'?
The Game Product Registration Code is the code provided with your retail or digital copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic. This code should be found inside the packaging of any retail edition of the game, or would have been emailed to you from Origin.com if you ordered a digital Standard or Deluxe Edition.
If you have purchased a retail copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic and find the Product Registration Code missing or unreadable please email support@swtor.com with the following details:
- The subject "Product Code Proof" in your email title.
- A detailed description of your problem.
- Attach a scan of your proof of purchase (receipt). Please write the name of the account holder on the receipt. Please make sure that your name is clearly readable on the scan.
- Customer Service will get back to you as soon as they can.
If you have purchased a digital copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic and find the Product Registration Code missing or unreadable please email support@swtor.com with the following details:
- The subject "Product Code Proof" in your email title.
- A detailed description of your problem.
- Attach a scan of your proof of purchase (receipt). Please write the name of the account holder on the receipt. Please make sure that your name is clearly readable on the scan.
- Customer Service will get back to you as soon as they can.
Why do I need to sign up for a subscription?
You first 30 days of Game Time are included in the purchase of any edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but you must add a valid payment method to activate your account. This method of payment varies by country, but includes most major credit cards plus ELV and Paypal (in some territories). Please visit our Billing and Subscription FAQ for more details. You can also activate your account using a Pre-Paid Game Time Card, available at most major retailers.
Whenever you activate your account, your 30 days of free Game Time will begin. When using a credit card, ELV or Paypal, you will not be billed for your second month of play until your 30 days of free Game Time is complete. You may cancel your subscription at any time in your first 30 days of play. Your unused Game Time will still be available on your account and you can still play until this expires.
While you're at it,
GIVE US SERVER FORUMS
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=3500
It's only been asked for over 1,000 times now in that thread, though you can't see that because your support team decided to remove several hundred posts.
Respectfully,
Your friendly neighborhood Support Manager
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I want them as well, but Bioware just stated they will never have them according to this:
Very piss poor decision, the management of this game is making me sad. The moderator excuse is just stupid, most games have volunteer moderators. I want to find a good guild, but don't feel like using a bunch of community sites we already have about 50 different forums since this was announced. Way to decentralize the community and make it a pain to find any info Bioware!
Added the massively link to the 1st post, thanks
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1st post updated with Bioware's latest responses
Thanks to Dvius
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To have a forum specifically for every server with all the sub forums, moderate,post etc is not a 5 mins job.
I disagree in full. I've been using vBulletin for many years now, since it's early days. I can tell you that creating forums and sub-forums is as easy as "CLICK, CLICK, TYPE, CLICK, DONE". Creating a sub-forum requires nothing more then:
/admincp/forum.php?do=add
Assign:
Title
Description
Display Order
Parent Forum
SAVE
Then assign a moderator
/admincp/forum.php?do=modify
moderator.php?do=add
Enter in the account name that will act as moderator for the section
SAVE
DONE
/repeat on all until each server has it's own forum section.
Managing the forums is very easy to accomplish when you are a large company that just made a lot of revenue off of sales. You can afford to hire entry level personnel who can sit around and watch forums all day at a low-cost salary range.
I know from running my site that there is still a lot of time involved and the resources to moderate them properly would be huge.
Again, see above. Large company = new product = revenue = hire employees = done. This is vastly different from any home-grown back woods small communuity or hobby site out there. This is a major business and high-vis product that carries a lot of employees. It can be done.
How many servers in total are there any ? 40/50?
Still doesn't matter. Sony was able to accomplish this for SWG and every other MMO they carry, why can't Bioware? Infact, every other MMO has been able to do this....why can't Bioware?
They haven't even sorted the servers out etc so until that is done there no way you'll get anything like them.
Erroneous
They can still give us sub-forums for the known servers. Plus, the game is LIVE. Servers are live. People are playing. There's zero excuse why they cannot do their jobs and add server forums.
I'm sure they will come but not this year..or even Q1 2012. they have bigger fish to fry at the moment
Did you catch their response statementon the 1st post here? They stated they have no plans to add server forums at this time. No plans, as in they do not desire to add server forums at all.
This is still subject to change and review however, but we must lobby to get it done.
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I understand everyone wants server forums and trust me so do I. But it's seeming like they are unwilling to do so as they don't seem to have the desire to moderate them.
So my vote is for someone to make an unofficial forum and have it setup for the server forums. Less moderation of course. Could really pay off for whoever can get it up and running successfully.
The thing is, that's a issue..... this company is expecting it's customers to create out of pocket expenses and do their job for them, that's completely unsat.
No one should have to tac on additional debt to their financial situation just because the company does not want to do the work. Wrong answer.
The right answer, and only solution, is that Bioware coughs up the money they generated from sales, our money, and hires a couple of moderators to watch over server forums that THEY create for US.
Bioware is a company, we are the customers, this is business. Our money pays for the product and services as well as the supporting staff. The company has generated more then enough revenue to justify additional costs for hiring more personnel.
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city's feel empty even with full servers, they should only have one instance in major city's to fill it out better
This is due to the fact that all of the servers have a population cap of around 2,000-3,000. So naturally they will be empty.
Bioware needs to correct this issue.
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it really just feels like they produced a single player game, and tried to make it multiplayer as an afterthought.
A number of people have made similar comments. It does make you wonder.
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The lack of server forums coupled with the spectre of queues is going to make it VERY hard to subscribe beyond my initial 3 months.
Quite right,
This matter only compounds the larger issues at hand. The game is great, the majority loves it but the delivery and sustainment plan is heinous.
These forums have generated so much frustration that customers are already considering unsubscribing from the game. THE FORUMS HAVE DONE THIS?!
Top that off with the server population caps (que time) and we have a serious....issue.
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I have sent in a follow up response to their customer support via the ticket I had open. I requested them to forward this case to the appropriate manager/director for their review.
I'll keep everyone updated if/when a response is given. Hopfully they don't simply forget or ignore this thread.
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Seeing as how a number of you have been discussing guild recruitment, I would like to paint a prime example for Bioware to evaluate.
Day 1, early game access, I created a guild recruitment thread in the guild hall. I did not put my thread in any of the sub-forum areas because, quite frankly, my guild is not applicable.
My guild is a international coast to coast PvP/PvE guild that is a gaming community and due to this we have both EMPIRE and REPUBLIC guilds, essentially we have characters in both factions. We happen to presently play on a US PVE EST server, however we have members from all over the world and we focus on all aspects of the game.
Saddly, within seconds of my guild thread creation, a Bioware moderator moved my thread to the OTHER > PvP > EMPIRE sub-forum section. So, I responded and reported the thread notifying the moderator of their error, naturally I got no response and no support.
I then made a new thread, in the same area of the main guild hall (along with the 100 other threads) yet this time I made sure to clearly state in the title that my guild was international, that does PvE and PvE yet we're on a PvE server. Within seconds, that thread was moved to OTHER > PVE > EMPIRE sub-forum.
Again, I attempted to report the moderators error in moving my thread, because now at this point I have 2 recruitment threads buried in Empire ONLY forum sections, yet my guild has both factions. Naturally I got no response.
Lastly, I read the sticky (rules) thread stating that we are only allowed to create "2" threads if our guild is international. So at this point I'm lost, Bioware expects me to recruit for a international multi-faction gaming community guild with only 2 threads when their sub-forum sections are not only broken down by PvE/PvP/RP but also by faction and regional location. So what am I to do? I cannot recruiting in all sections, clearly because moderators insist on moving the threads, yet due to this fact I am now limited severally on my recruitment capabilities.
While the above is true in my personal case, it is a great example of WHY the current forum layout DOES NOT WORK, period. We need server forums to be successful and right now we are setup for failure.
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Its been proven and confirmed that server caps are around 2.5-3k. Nowadays thats a picnic box.
That is completely unsat if true
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Logged on to play after a terrible day, sitting in queue for 40 mins so far (even though estimate was <20 mins) and i still have 150 in front on me.
This is a total joke, I know ill get the wrath of the fanboys but its true, If you want to take customers away from WoW you need to sort these problems out as people dont have time to sit around all day waiting to play.
I want to play when its convenient for me and not when the server dictates.
This is key right here. Bioware needs to soak this statement in and do some cognitive thinking on their current situation.
Server population caps right now are out of control. There possibly can't be more then 1,000 people on a server at a time, I refuse to believe otherwise with the current caps.
Even during the peak times, no matter where I went in the "starting areas" there didn't appear to be more then 100 people in a given instance. Multiply that by the number of starting areas, plus the other areas of the game, there simply isn't that many people around to warrant a cap like we have.
How many instace/spaces are there that players can occupy anyway? 20? 30? So we'll say there's 30 locations in the game right now that players can exist in a instance, and we'll say there's 100 people in each. So we have 3000 players on a server at a time?
I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, if anyone has any better numbers to crunch then please add your input here.
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I just read a post about someone being mad they have a companion. Do not use it. No one requires you too. Another post said they are tired of ques. The game, at most, is a week old. People are excited to play it. In my experience so far, I have had not one single second of queing. Another person is mad that there is no one on their server. I feel like that is the opposite of the last problem. Graphics suck? Can't find quests past a certain level? Cancelling for lack of content?
If I was someone who had not been playing the game already, I would read these forums and think this was the worst game ever. The official launch was today and I have been hooked for 6 weeks already.
BTW, I know the search function is not there right now, but spend a minute looking before you start a thread that exists a 100 times.
I understand your frustration but you need to look at both sides. If no one ever said anything, never complained, then there would be no fixes.
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The following is a brief statement from Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer, Live Services:"We know there have been questions about the queues on the servers, so we wanted to take a moment to give you some insight.In order to ensure that the service would be smooth and stable, we staged how we brought people into the Early Game Access program, adding people in waves. As you know, there are a lot of folks who want to play the game right now and we want to make sure they have lots of people to play with. Balancing this with figuring out when to bring new servers online to help alleviate the size of the queues is part art and part science. On one hand, you do not want people to wait too long – on the other hand, you want to make sure that people have a dynamic, engaging community to play with for long after launch. Either way, we have one clear objective – to make sure folks have fun.While we can’t promise that there won’t ever be queues, we can promise you that we are taking this matter seriously and constantly reviewing them to make sure that they are manageable and reasonable."
You current server population caps are a complete failure, they have to go.
It's 9:30 AM EST, Dec 20th, and the EST server I'm on is full?
If your customrs have to wait 10, 20, 30 minutes or even an hour to get into the server they play on then that is simply unsat.
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Good lord
I was hoping that Bioware would revisit their server population caps prior to launch but now I am severally disappointed.
This needs to get another eval and be fixed. Server performance cannot be that huge of an issue with the current population caps.
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Giradda the Hutt
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I decide to a get a ce afterall, I ordered it a few hours ago. Will it ship tonight?
GameStop is a complete failure on this. I had my order in July 21st. December 16th I got a email from them with a confirmation number that says my shipment was "notified" to them (mail service) but it doesn't confirm receipt of the package or shipment. IE: GameStop has yet to drop the package in the mail (nearly 4 days later).
Thanks a lot GameStop
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I agree wholeheartedly with the decision.
but without a sufficient number of moderators to 'police' proceedings, said servers can degenerate into quagmires of childish slinging-matches.
I'm content to wait until BioWare has the system/moderators in place to ensure an enjoyable experience on the server forums.
Bioware has made a lot of money off of sales already. I can garuntee you they have more then enough to hire some entry level personnel to act as moderators in shifts for the server forums alone.
Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance
Right now, it's piss poor performance because they didn't do proper planning. It all falls back on someone and right now it's falling on the Community/Support Staff Managers.
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I'm really shocked that Bioware is so against this. In a effort to over through their absolute minded ways (see what I did there?) the Fatman community has started our own sever forum.
We are in the beginning stages but soon.. very soon it will spread like wild fire. Other strong weild server communities I'd suggest the same for you.
So Bioware whats it going to be? Provide a sever community forums for the legion upon legions of fans flocking to your newest title or will you ignore the requests and force people from the community to take matters into their own hands?
Choose your side!
While I applaud your efforts, this is however the sort of thing that drives me bannana sandwich. Bioware/EA is causing it's customers to pay out of pocket expenses to do their jobs for them.
This is completely unacceptable and unsat.
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They really need themselves a custom forum that can handle all of these requests, as vbulletin seams unable to do so.
Off topic here but the issue is they are using vBulletin 3.8.5
They need to upgrade
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Obviously, this is a decision we can re-evaluate as we receive community feedback, but we do encourage you to try out the sub-forums that we currently have to see if they meet your needs and desires for meeting other players. In the future, we may add additional sub-forums for various topics that require more space. We're always reading feedback and evaluating the needs of the community, and will continue to do so, so please do let us know what suggestions you have to improve the Forums!
Thank you for the response Allison,
With over 8 years of MMO experience, most of which comes from employment, I can tell you that the current setup here does not meet our needs.
This community is far too large and requires more filtering then what's presently here. This game badly needs server forums before launch.
I completely agree on your "con" remark, server forums do bring a lot of negative things...however they do not exceed that of the positive side. Yes, more moderation will be required but honestly, it's best to think quality over quantity here. SWTOR would be better off with a few entry level staff moderators overseeing the server forums at $20k/yr working from home in shifts then having no server forums at all.
You guys made a killing on sales here, I'm confident you can afford the personnel.
We now have several areas for guild recruitment and community discussion and organization, which we feel are excellent things that typically end up in server-specific forums.
The forum areas, as of right now, are unsat.... period. There's simply too many people here for that to properly function. As we've noted in the first post with other customer feedback, threads are buried 3 pages deep only seconds after they are created.
The traffic volume exceeds the capacity of the current layout.
We encourage you to make use of all the Community Forums (especially the Server Event and Check-ins forums) as well as our expanded Guild Hall forums.
Allison, while I appreciate the above I do find it as somewhat of a negative impact because you are expecting your customers to do your work for you. That is the role of the support team, support the customers. We are not here to create discussion filters or moderate.
A company connot expect it's customer community base to create and maintain it's own content.
Though the search feature is currently disabled, once it is restored it will be easy to search for guilds recruiting on your server (and we apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime).
In all honesty, searching through 100's upon 100's of pages for stuff that "might" or "may" be relevent to a specific server is just, again, unsat.
In closing,
I strongly urge you to reconsider the move to not include server forums. This is a wonderful game and I wish it great success, but to get there we must have access to the tools to be successful. Give us the tools and we will make this community great.
If you are understaffed and not able to support the requirement I will be more then happy to assist.
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Hi there, folks. We've removed some posts from this thread and want to explain why. We understand the desire for server forums, but posts that only consist of "/signed" or "+1" are not constructive and are something we do not allow. Please make sure that all your replies help further conversation, as we don't allow petitions. Thank you!
Meluna, can we get some form of response to the issue?
I also submitted a ticket for this, (898981)
I understand how official channels must be notified and proper approval must be given for official statements but at the very least can we get 'some' type of response aside from that you understand the desire.
Something like:
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Hi Van,
Thank you for contacting the SWTOR Bioware Support Team.
We understand the desire for such forums and the pro's/con's associated. This is something that we are presently looking to add in the near future and we appreciate your patience during this process. Our staff is determined to deliver the upmost service to our customers and we sincerely value your input.
The community staff will be working effortlessly to keep everyone up to speed with the latest and greatest as it becomes available.
Regards,
Your name here
Support Team
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P.S. I may/may not have "some" support experience
Thanks!
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Have you ever been in a successful relationship with a woman?
lol....
Server forums?
in Community Content
Posted
1st post updated again,
Thanks for keeping this topic going folks. Don't let up on the pressue against Bioware. Spread the word and put their feet to the fire.