Valishin Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I could live with a cartel faction but I think the mandalorians make more sense as collective "team" where as with the cartel not everyone is playing on the same team with a shared agenda. At least the mandalorian clans supposed have a shared culture and somewhat of a shared agenda. Now if the point was to have a "neutral" faction then ya cartel would be the way to go. I think this would help balance out populations as most of the long term switching would come from the Empire. Its sort of like an upstart 3rd party in traditionaly 2 party politics. The side most closely align to the ideals the new comer will see the most significant draw from its own ranks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlacke Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 The best suggestion I have seen thus far to get players over to the Republic, and one that I will continue to push, is allow more alien-like playable species for the Republic only -- Kel Dor, Togruta, Nautolan, etc. I think this is a great way, that has zero effect on actual game play, to incentivize players rolling Republic. This i agree with completely, i think it's just about the only thing right now that would help with the imbalance issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valishin Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 We could turn the entire timeline on its head and introduce the Yuuzhan Vong. Not sure if it is a good idea, but it would be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staavis_SC Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 One of the problems of the faction imbalance lies also in the fact that a Jedi Consular is sub par to the Inquisitor in just about every department in my opinion, voice acting, vase and dishes throwing compared to lightning barbecue, better armor design. Inquisitors have vast numbers, by far the most popular class even on the Empire side it tends to be like three Inquisitors to one of every other class, lightning everywhere and the famous unlimited powaah thing that obviously a lot of people liked. Oh no doubt this plays a role, as does the total faceplant of the Jedi Knight / Sith Warrior classes. First, consider how many folks probably wanted to play an iconic Jedi or a fearsome Sith. They came, they rolled, they found the JK/SW severely lacking and totally not fun to play. Then, we look at what remains for them as choices: Republic ---------- Jedi Consular - Throwing everything but the kitchen sink and our lizard companion, who tanks (badly) and has the only weapon in the game that doesn't drop on loot tables and has no Orange moddable weapon. Well played! Stormtroopers - This might be cool, except everyone is a frickin Stormtrooper. The Troopers, are Stormtroopers. Their Companions? Stormtroopers. Consular Companions? Stormtroopers. Smuggler Companions? Stormtroopers. It sort defies logic that 90% of the Republic population appears to be Stormtroopers because the loot on our side is 90% Havoc Squad Trooper gear. So everyone looks the same, therefore no one can attempt to be unique. Smugglers - Truly the only thing cool about the Republic side. Han Solo fans get to be Solo, and Lightside / Darkside choices can be made for flavor. Smuggler is pretty awesome. Empire --------- Sith Inquisitor - You literally can be either Darth Maul or Emperor Palpatine. Why wouldn't anyone want to play that? It's fun as heck! And, you can be totally bad and enjoy the heck out of it! Bounty Hunters - Not only does it have the "Boba Fett" factor going for it, but the armors are unique enough that you can put together a personalized look, and not end up with 90% of the population looking just like you. Plus, rocket packs and rocket boots (in the animations) are a serious cool factor. Imperial Agent - or for spy fans....BOND, JAMES BOND. You can seriously pull off the Bond vibe here, sleeping with the hot chicks, killing off your enemies without a care, and you have your own version of M in the Keeper, as well as a seriously way cool hot chick that wants you pretty much right from the start. Is it really any wonder why Republic is so dead, when Jedi Knights (Obi-Wan, Anakin, Luke Skywalker, Kyle Katarn) and Sith Warriors (Lord Vadar, Asaj Ventress) are taken out of the equation by their total lack of effectiveness? When all the other options for fun and cool (outside of the broken Knights / Warriors) all reside in one faction, it truly is a no-brainer why we are struggling with Population Imbalance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlacke Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Well i believe that we all agree that Bioware needs to act soon regarding this matter. As things are now even ONE of the mentioned races being made exclusive for the republic would help immensely, if they wait for the problem to fix itself which won't happen of course, and let the Republic numbers become obsolete when compared to the other faction, then it wouldn't matter if they gave us four exclusive races and what not, because it will be too late at that point, and the game will suffer for it. Then they will start knocking on the door of George Lucas asking his permission to give Yoda's race to the republic in order for their game to not fall apart because of the imbalance issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artemisalpha Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 It seems that nerfing the Imperials isn't the way, but what benefits could Bioware give to the Republic that would be sufficient to draw players, but not so much that they'd imbalance play? I've seen an xp boost mentioned - but that stops mattering at level 50. Would the faction with the lower population getting a valor bonus be a good idea? Would that be enough to balance out the factions? Is it too late for something like a conscious design of Republic PVP awards to be "cooler" to make a difference? The success of WoW bringing balance by adding a pretty race ot the Horde suggests that if SWTOR made cooler looking Republic stuff that might work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kizah Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I play on Infinity Gate as Republic and I'm not sure what the Empire's population side is, but I haven't seen any complaints on our side about it - yet. As for WZ's, I lose some, I win some.. that's how it is with any WZ it just comes down to the players of the group, which doesn't constitute the entire faction. But we're talking about world PvP dying off, but again I haven't seen anything negative about Ilum but again I don't know the population ratio for the server. Personally, Empire got old and cliche just like Horde did for me on WoW. I enjoy playing the Republic more and have no interests going back to the Empire. I know that there is a faction imbalance but my fleet usually has 80+ people at all times, Empire - I have no idea and would be nice to find out. My community is great and I have no issues and my guild is full of nice people willing to help each other out, so as far as I'm concerned, yes I'm on a PvP server and no I don't know how the population weighs overall, but I still love and enjoy Republic. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auxili Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 I play on Infinity Gate as Republic and I'm not sure what the Empire's population side is, but I haven't seen any complaints on our side about it - yet. As for WZ's, I lose some, I win some.. that's how it is with any WZ it just comes down to the players of the group, which doesn't constitute the entire faction. But we're talking about world PvP dying off, but again I haven't seen anything negative about Ilum but again I don't know the population ratio for the server. Personally, Empire got old and cliche just like Horde did for me on WoW. I enjoy playing the Republic more and have no interests going back to the Empire. I know that there is a faction imbalance but my fleet usually has 80+ people at all times, Empire - I have no idea and would be nice to find out. My community is great and I have no issues and my guild is full of nice people willing to help each other out, so as far as I'm concerned, yes I'm on a PvP server and no I don't know how the population weighs overall, but I still love and enjoy Republic. Period. Well sure, closing your eyes to the problem will make it seem as if there is no problem. All problems in life can be ignored the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlacke Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Is it too late for something like a conscious design of Republic PVP awards to be "cooler" to make a difference? The success of WoW bringing balance by adding a pretty race ot the Horde suggests that if SWTOR made cooler looking Republic stuff that might work. Yes i agree that the Empire shouldn't be nerfed in any way, it's fine as is, and if they took something away from them we would have players from both factions unhappy. Giving an exclusive cool race to the Republic is a great option that will not affect game play in anyway. Blood Elves for Horde in Warcraft made a huge difference in their time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kizah Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Well sure, closing your eyes to the problem will make it seem as if there is no problem. All problems in life can be ignored the same way. I'm not closing my eyes, I stated I would like to see the Empire's standings on my server, I just don't know what they are. I understand this faction imbalance is an issue and I saw the path it went down in WoW with Wintergrasp. It was ugly. I hope BW makes the Republic feel more appealing to the people all on the Empire's ***, but I find it great.. but as previous posts said before - everyone wants to be the bad guys. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putok Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 It seems that nerfing the Imperials isn't the way, but what benefits could Bioware give to the Republic that would be sufficient to draw players, but not so much that they'd imbalance play? I've seen an xp boost mentioned - but that stops mattering at level 50. Would the faction with the lower population getting a valor bonus be a good idea? Would that be enough to balance out the factions? Is it too late for something like a conscious design of Republic PVP awards to be "cooler" to make a difference? The success of WoW bringing balance by adding a pretty race ot the Horde suggests that if SWTOR made cooler looking Republic stuff that might work. Aesthetics are definitely the big factor. Alliance had far more players than Horde until the end of BC. Part of it was Horde getting a reputation for being better, more mature, and more skilled players with all the "kiddies" playing alliance side and a new expansion offering a fresh start for those that wanted to defect, and part of it was BElves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamas Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Republic pvp armor is enough for me not to pvp with my 2 lvl 50 chars and just roll an IA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dargor- Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) Republic armors suck (for the most part). Especially trooper's high-end game armors all look the same, you hardly notice a difference in style from lvl 40 gear onward. It doesn't help that knights look like sissies 90% of the time either. Smuggler has the Han solo vibe, sure, but compare it to the ****** Agents and it doesn't stand up. Consulars are the only ones that are properly dressed from start to finish. Plain and simple. All their storylines aside from the Knight lack an epic finale with an epic final boss. Smuggler becomes a crimelord, woohoo... that's almost relevant to the rest of the republic. Trooper basically gets a pat on the back and a "good boy". Don't even get me started on the consular (altho I guess its fitting since these guys are boring even in the movies/other games). Fix those 2 simple things and you'll get more people republic side. Just for kickers, let's look at empire side finales. Bounty Hunter : You're the big bad mandalorian dog who doesn't take crap from anybody.Warrior : You make the dark council your *****esInquisitor : Same thing with dark council except you're still plotting to overthrow everybodyAgent : This'd be the only unimportant ending. You don't affect the galaxy at all. Intel bureau gets closed but it never really was that important to begin with so nobody will actually notice. So we got 3 good endings imperial side and only 1 republic side. Look at the figures and you'll notice population ratio are also 3:1, big surprise. Edited January 16, 2012 by dargor- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlacke Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Bump for more opinions and ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merex Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) Bioware should keep making faction vs faction Warzones. Longer queues are the sacrifice Empire makes for rolling on the overpopulated side. Create ways to make people reroll Republic. Keeping queues long for Empire is one of them. Creating reasons for people to stay Empire is exactly the opposite of what Bioware should be doing. Edited January 16, 2012 by Merex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnouss Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I always play good. This is the first MMO where I have chosen the evil side and what it came down to for me was Force Lightning and the fact that I could choose to be light side Empire. After playing both sides, the class quests, ships, VO and look of the gear are more appealing to me on Empire. I switched my main from Sorc to Operative because their class storyline is my favorite. If I was allowed to switch to Republic with my Empire characters, I would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlacke Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Bioware should keep making faction vs faction Warzones. Longer queues are the sacrifice Empire makes for rolling on the overpopulated side. Create ways to make people reroll Republic. Keeping queues long for Empire is one of them. Creating reasons for people to stay Empire is exactly the opposite of what Bioware should be doing. Indeed, faction vs faction warzones are a must. Bioware will soon find themselves in heaps of trouble if they think they can just let this problem slide, imbalance this big and increasing has the potential of becoming a game breaker at some point if it's not addressed properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kizah Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Bioware should keep making faction vs faction Warzones. Longer queues are the sacrifice Empire makes for rolling on the overpopulated side. Create ways to make people reroll Republic. Keeping queues long for Empire is one of them. Creating reasons for people to stay Empire is exactly the opposite of what Bioware should be doing. I agree, they can leave Huttball but they should come out with more Faction vs Faction Warzones in the future, I feel as well that that plan would work the most rather than same faction Warzones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlacke Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) I always play good. This is the first MMO where I have chosen the evil side and what it came down to for me was Force Lightning and the fact that I could choose to be light side Empire. After playing both sides, the class quests, ships, VO and look of the gear are more appealing to me on Empire. I switched my main from Sorc to Operative because their class storyline is my favorite. If I was allowed to switch to Republic with my Empire characters, I would. This is exactly what i was talking about earlier in the thread when i mentioned that the fact Consular is sub par to the Inquisitor is a big problem, that damned lightning itself made the Inquisitor class the most popular one by far and gave a HUGE boost to the Empire numbers overall. Edited January 16, 2012 by Vlacke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auxili Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 I agree, they can leave Huttball but they should come out with more Faction vs Faction Warzones in the future, I feel as well that that plan would work the most rather than same faction Warzones. Agreed, same-faction warzones will simply make things MUCH worse. The fact that Bioware WANTS things to get worse is worrisome. They need to say something, anything, on the subject. We will continue posting in these threads until they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dargor- Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) This is exactly what i was talking about earlier in the thread when i mentioned that the fact Consular is sub par to the Inquisitor, that damned lightning itself made the Inquisitor class the most popular one by far and gave a HUGE boost to the Empire numbers overall. I know right When picking between the two people will say "Do I want to shoot lightning or kill my enemies with... air" the choice is easy to make. Of course consular animations are nice when you lvl up, but most people will go for the one that actually looks like a real mage option. Edited January 16, 2012 by dargor- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kizah Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Agreed, same-faction warzones will simply make things MUCH worse. The fact that Bioware WANTS things to get worse is worrisome. They need to say something, anything, on the subject. We will continue posting in these threads until they do. If i remember correctly when I played WoW, not talking about Battlegrounds but about World PvP - Wintergrasp and Tol Barad specifically. They put a cap on it so the Tenacity thing eventually died off on my server, which was Laughing Skull. I remember having to wait in queue for a Tol Barad and eventually getting in, and another not getting in at all and the idea was really solid to keep things balanced. As for Bioware, they need to stop with the same-faction idea, while it is different, it will eventually cause a problem with the overpopulation to one side as stated before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valsdad Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Agreed, same-faction warzones will simply make things MUCH worse. The fact that Bioware WANTS things to get worse is worrisome. They need to say something, anything, on the subject. We will continue posting in these threads until they do. To be completely fair, Bioware has probably had these warzones planned for a long time. They are just being really slow with changing their plans to fix the woeful imbalance. Corporations are stubborn, business plans and tracks take a long time for approval and even more time to change. Population imbalance sucks, I know, but Bioware is not going to deviate from their plans any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kizah Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 To be completely fair, Bioware has probably had these warzones planned for a long time. They are just being really slow with changing their plans to fix the woeful imbalance. Corporations are stubborn, business plans and tracks take a long time for approval and even more time to change. Population imbalance sucks, I know, but Bioware is not going to deviate from their plans any time soon. Yeah, to be honest it will all come down to how quickly and efficiently Bioware chooses to witness and handle the problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auxili Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Yeah, to be honest it will all come down to how quickly and efficiently Bioware chooses to witness and handle the problems. Yet they could still make a statement that at least acknowledges the critical issue as soon as they'd like. But they've refused to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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