BioWare: Here is what caused the faction imabalance and here is how you fix it.

[Russell_Solo]

Isn't Star Wars supposed to go back and forth between the two factions. In a year from now when Republic is majority then Empire will be crying to strike back. Sounds a lot like politics.

[Tentou]

This would work if instead of buffing the entire underwhelmed faction they instead allowed people to control "Heros" similar to Rangers in LOTRO. By basing the amount of and refresh duration each faction has access to these heroes on population numbers, it allows siege breaking techniques regardless of the current unbalance. 50 Imps vs 25 Reps and 3 Heros with 250k+ HP means 1v1 encounters are preserved and the large zerg fights are balanced.

[Tavend]

You can never allow the player base to solve faction imbalances. It will never work, since we are pretty much hard wired to go where there are more people. Only way to fix pop imbalance at this point, is to put a cap on the overwhelemed side. when it rolls over to another server, same thing. Force people to play the underdog, or tell them to get lost. Forced pop balance FTW

[fungihoujo]

One could also add a 'dogs of war' mechanic to open world pvp- the side with fewer numbers gets NPCs with about the health and abilities of someone their level until they're perhaps within a +/- range of maybe 10%. Give them 50% aoe resistance and some decent AI- won't be as good as players of course, but they'd help. Companions being usable for the side that's outnumbered would help too.

 

I'm not overly fond of the unbelievable bolstering WoW had- since it made classes that were mobile and had good healing/CC breaks, like pallies, extremely OP when outnumbered- or classes with many high damage instants and AoEs, like mages. On the other side, single target classes with no ability to avoid CC were roflstomped regardless of the buffs given.

 

I imagine that problem would come here too- I can see a Trooper being able to simply walk through a horde with their huge hp buffs, while an operative gets turned to paste after they get off that single one shot kill from stealth.

 

In game buffs aren't a good solution- incentives, NPC equalizers are much better ideas.

 

Just you watch, you give a comm, valour, xp boost to low level Republic characters- people will roll that side to give it a try... and once they have a high level Republic character it's much easier to just play that side when you feel like it.

[JSusie]

So the OP could have just wrote:

 

Give the smaller faction tenacity, just like WoW did with Wintergrasp.

 

 

But instead he turned it into a terribly written essay. I literally could tell by the first paragraph that that the entire post was going to be filled with nothing but garbage.

 

 

Buffing the smaller faction failed miserably in WoW, to the point they scrapped it completely and went in another direction. Looking at BW's track record do you really think they're going to be able to do it any better than Blizzard? Maybe you should have spent a little less time climbing your pedestal and a little more time doing some research without your rose tinted glasses on.

[Kuari]

On many EU PvP servers imbalance ratio is huge, to the extent of being unplayable.

From what i heard situation is somewhat better on US servers.

 

You know, if most of these complaints are from the EU, that would make a lot more sense. Very different mindsets from NA.

[fungihoujo]

You can never allow the player base to solve faction imbalances. It will never work, since we are pretty much hard wired to go where there are more people. Only way to fix pop imbalance at this point, is to put a cap on the overwhelemed side. when it rolls over to another server, same thing. Force people to play the underdog, or tell them to get lost. Forced pop balance FTW

 

Yes, telling people to unsub to your game is going to work well, this is clearly the best solution and I'm sad you don't work for BW.

 

I'm sure if you paid for a ticket to your favourite hockey team's home game, and they told you at the door 'nope, sorry, you have to wear the other team's jersey and cheer for them since there's too many home fans right now', you'd be happy to do it.

 

I'm sure if you went into McDonalds for a Big Mac and they said, 'nope, you have to have a fillet of fish because nobody orders that', you'd be more than happy to eat it.

 

I'm sure if you went to buy a blue car, and were told 'nope, you get a pink car because nobody buys that one', you'd be more than happy to hand over your money.

 

 

Unlike you, most people don't like paying for something they don't want.

[-kobie-]

Did someone try to discuss the moral merits of the 50s generation compared to today? Ask any African American about that. Please.

 

Or homosexual, or woman.

 

Attributing an overpopulation of Sith to some sort of societal moral decay is simply absurd and reeks of the "Get off my lawn" mentality that so many boomers have.

[Sylvan]

I agree 110% with the obvious bias Bioware gave the Sith Empire during the pre launch updates and especially in the 3 trailers.

 

The first one saw the Jedi get utterly facerolled. "Fair enough" i thought, there needs to be some drama to kickstart things.

 

The second one saw a group of troopers get utterly facerolled, despite having the element of surprise. Satele Shan appeared but couldn't stand up to a young Malgus, got beat up and only a suicide move from a trooper saved her...and still, still malgus wasn't beaten. "eh...there must be another trailer where the republic are the clear winners...surely" I thought.

 

The third trailer saw Satele and the first smuggler shown running away from Malgus as her Master got cut down.

 

3-0 to the Sith empire. Imbalance was always going to be on the way.

 

Don't even get me started on the very clear disparity between how good every Sith Inquisitor looks to how ridiculous every Jedi consular armour looks (PvP and high end PvE sets I mean..orange stuff is cool as beans).

 

Malgus should have taken more of a beating in the final duel with the Jedi in the "decieved" trailer. The winning blow should have been a really close call, with Malgus recieving an injury.

 

The "hope" trailer should have shown Malgus getting his arsed kicked royally, with the final shot him having his facemask and life support devices fitted, whilst at the same time showing Satele Shan becoming the Jedi Grandmaster and a whole academy full of awesome looking Jedi sparking up their lightsabers in her honour.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Sylvan

[PhazeFadis]

Long post to say people always prefer the evil side... and 2 faction PvP doesn't work unless it's a warzone only format.

 

This stuff has been known for almost 10 years.... Bioware was apparently not paying attention.

[Kuari]

Long post to say people always prefer the evil side... and 2 faction PvP doesn't work unless it's a warzone only format.

 

This stuff has been known for almost 10 years.... Bioware was apparently not paying attention.

 

Were you not paying attention to BioWare's CONSTANT attempts at trying to keep up to date information on this? Nope, of course not... you made that post, why did I ask?

[JSusie]

Yes, telling people to unsub to your game is going to work well, this is clearly the best solution and I'm sad you don't work for BW.

 

I'm sure if you paid for a ticket to your favourite hockey team's home game, and they told you at the door 'nope, sorry, you have to wear the other team's jersey and cheer for them since there's too many home fans right now', you'd be happy to do it.

 

I'm sure if you went into McDonalds for a Big Mac and they said, 'nope, you have to have a fillet of fish because nobody orders that', you'd be more than happy to eat it.

 

I'm sure if you went to buy a blue car, and were told 'nope, you get a pink car because nobody buys that one', you'd be more than happy to hand over your money.

 

 

Unlike you, most people don't like paying for something they don't want.

 

Sorry, but that's now how it works.

 

Let's say you want a Big Mac. You walk into McDonalds and ask for one. They respond with "Sorry we're all sold out of those, would you like something else?".

 

You either eat a different meal or go somewhere else. Econ101 says not everyone gets what they want, or what they pay for.

 

For every Imperial out there shouting about how they should get to play the grossly overpopulated faction if they want to, there are Republic players saying why should they have to get the shaft in order to play the Republic.

[Meraxos]

When you create new characters on the Empire side your first companions for the four classes are:

Girlfriend

Girlfriend

Girlfriend

Cool Monster

 

On the Republic side they are:

Dorky Farmboy

GI Joe

Lizard

Droid

 

This is a HUGE factor in the popularity of the Empire. A large percentage of the player base of lonely socially awkward male geeks will take the virtual girlfriends, no question about it.

[Baudrillard]

Giving bonuses to lesser played factions is the dumbest thing that can be suggest...

 

 

"yes we know you like playing thi side but this side is 50% more powerful"

 

yeah.. smart decision...

 

While critisizing, without offering alternatives is smart! I adore your ability to be so shameless, a piece of that would make my life so much easier...

 

... but after all, I am a Jedi Knight!

[thefixx]

/agree

 

It's also because "The Sorcerer" is waaaay overpowered. I rolled one just to see and omg, even at lvl 10 "SHOCK" and "LIGHTNING" are way more powerful than consulars "PROJECT" and "TELE WAVE"..

 

Top that off and ALL the Empire races look awesome. Who wants to play dumb looking characters. Zabrak are red with empire, they are wimpy tan with republic. Miralan and Miraluka don't look half as cool as Rattakkai..

 

Lots of things made this imbalance.

 

But in the end, it sucks and the warzones are soooooooooooooo boring and pointless.

[Vunak]

Aion tryed the whole buff thing in PVP... didnt work. It really is a terrible idea.

 

Give XP bonuses to the opposing faction that is so overwhelmed that they need it. Other then that, limit the amount of characters being made per faction.

[Slaxon]

Actually, the faction imbalance is in because it's iconic. One Jedi vs. One Hundred Sith is way cooler than the other way around. Winning against all odds is iconic.

[ProfessorWalsh]

Math fail

 

I stopped reading

 

Meh, it was early in the morning. That is called a typo. Your attempt to attack the entire argument over a typo (when the intent was clear) is obviously a sign that you weren't reading it at all.

[Plainhorrible]

I hate to be that guy but... kinda like the.... Wintergrasp buff system? Except this will be population related instead of loss related? I'm sorry I don't know all the details... TLDR

[gunslinger]

the solution is a self supporting one: if you do not like the fact that you, as an imperial, cannot get into anything other than huttball, or if you as an imperial crave a challenge of fair or even overmatched combat, then you can roll a republic character.

 

the incentives are that you will get into all the warzones more quickly and more often. you will have the challenge that you want pvp to be.

 

but instead, you demand that bioware give you something else as your reward. an addition reason to do something because the in-game reasons are simply just not enough for you to be bothered with switching factions.

 

i agree with the sentiment that the cause does not lie with bioware but with the players. More players want to be the bad guy. If the good/bad imbalance were just experienced in this game, your point would hold more validity. as this is not the case, your point loses credibility.

[LionRampant]

You're wrong in assuming that the only place the imbalance matters is in world pvp. It matters in every aspect of the game - the most populated side will have a far superior auction house for example. The simple fact is, imps win more battlegrounds because they had more level 50's (don't even try the counter argument). Now they are geared simply due to NUMBERS and nothing else.

 

It's a huge flop, I'm glad I've cancelled.

[ProfessorWalsh]

Well, while I understand what you're saying and do agree that something must be done to increase the Republic populations, I think that increasing damage or damage mitigation for the underdog will only perpetuate the problem. Here's why: If a Republic player gets buffs to where it takes 2 (or more) Empire players to take them down, then the Empire will call more friends. Once the Empire buddies show up, and they will, we'll be right back to square one.

 

Note: Though I snipped it from your reply, I played DAoC too and I loved DAoC PVP.

 

Now, as to this, the only time it would take 2 Empire players to take down a Republic player in the system I'd implement would be if there already were 2 Imps to every Rep player. Calling in more numbers wouldn't help because the enemy only gets stronger the more people you call into the zone on your side.

 

Likewise, the Reps, if more came, would become weaker as the numbers would change.

 

If there were equal numbers on each side then it would be 1:1 with no bonus given either way.

[RedEnsign]

I'd really love to read all 24 pages of this but my queue could pop at any time so I'll just ask. Has anyone pointed out to the OP how DAoC tried some of his ideas and they flat out failed? DAoC tried increased EXP, RPs, and BPs for the underpopulated Realms. It did not work. DAoC tried giving underpopulated Realms free level 30s. It did not work. You've got to face the facts people or just stop PvPing in MMOs. The VAST majority to people PvPing in these MMOs just want easy wins and will flock to wherever that is. They don't care about increased exp or special races for playing the under populated side. They just want easy wins.

 

You either have to accept that is how it goes or move on. Selfish otherwise irrelevant nobodies who need to feel good about themselves by stomping people in a meaningless video game. That's the highlight of their lives. Stomping people in meaningless video games. You can offer all the incentive you want but unless that incentive is free wins vs lesser geared players, it's not going to happen. Banging your head against the MMO wall telling Bioware it's their fault when the same thing happens in most every other MMO is just plain ignoring the facts.

[Jessedw]

the solution is a self supporting one: if you do not like the fact that you, as an imperial, cannot get into anything other than huttball, or if you as an imperial crave a challenge of fair or even overmatched combat, then you can roll a republic character.

 

the incentives are that you will get into all the warzones more quickly and more often. you will have the challenge that you want pvp to be.

 

Queue times are not any shorter for republic, in some cases they are faster on the Imp side. I have chars on both sides...imps get games faster because they still fight each other...yes it is huttball a lot but at any given time there is usually no more than 7 people waiting to queue on either side, if only 7 republic queue and 16 imps queue...it will create the huttball match and keep the republic 7 waiting until an 8th queues up. It really sucks at level 50 on an underpopulated server.

[AlyxDinas]

There are so many better reasons for the faction distribution than anything Henry managed to barf up in the OP. Reasons, I might add, that are far less self aggrandizing that the self congratulatory nonsense offered and require far fewer intuitive leaps.