It's time to address the imbalance issue BioWare

[pawestman]

We need to hear something from you soon. It's pretty obvious a large chunk of the player base is starting to get impatient. It has gotten to the point where players don't have a lot to do once they hit 50. As much as I like the story, I couldn't stand doing all the questing zones so soon. I'm not saying fix it next patch, but we need to know that you understand that there's a problem, and that you're actively trying to think of solutions.

 

There has been a load of suggestions, and almost all of them would help to an extent. A few that have come across the boards include:

 

- Create a new playable race that would attract a LARGE number of players on the Republic side ONLY. This includes Wookiees, Ewoks, Yoda's race, etc.

 

- Give bonus experience, valor, and commendations to the underpopulated side (mostly Republic). This could be an increase of 20%. This alone would help the suffering side to catch up in gear, and it will attract Empire players that are on the verge of re-rolling.

 

- Take away same faction vs. same faction warzones. This seems to be the most drastic decision. This will upset Empire, and it will further hurt small servers. At the very least, DO NOT make the next warzone same faction vs. same faction like you planned.

 

- Increase the chance of the RNG bags for the underpopulated side. With the vast gear disparity, I feel this would help out. Increase the chances by ~10-15%.

 

- Bring back the old dailies until the population balances out. Ilum is becoming near pointless for both sides at this point. Neither side can complete their dailies in a reasonable amount of time.

 

- Allow faction transfers. Probably the least likely decision. Would require too much re-coding, and it would clash with the lore. My suggestion would be to allow the transfer, but reset the story line altogether. This way they can complete it and enjoy it, and it wouldn't be too difficult to do.

 

- Introduce a third faction. Some will agree this is the best solution, some will hate it. A third faction is a self-balancing tool. If one side is too strong, the other two can work together. Probably won't happen, but we can wish.

 

There are probably more, but you get the point. We have given you a huge list of ideas, and I think it's time you clue us in as to what your plans are.

Edited January 22, 2012 by pawestman

[DucksAlum]

I agree, a lot of big holes in this game, most of which are pointed out in this post. Pretty dissapointed in the second half (lvl 30+) in this game. I had been waiting for this game to come out for a very long time, now i'm already looking for other games to take its place.

[Monkins]

" Create a new playable race that would attract a LARGE number of players on the Republic side ONLY. This includes Wookiees, Ewoks, Yoda's race"

 

Why i would say no to Ewoks this is a good idea.

Star Wars and BW give us four humans...I think it was lazy. Even SWG had wookiees for christ sake! Lazy lazy BW. It will be this games un-doing.

[Jujj]

I don't understand this whine. Edited January 22, 2012 by Jujj

[pawestman]

I don't understand this whine.

 

I forgot it takes an IQ of 20 to understand this. Sorry.

[Absit]

2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 are BRILLIANT ideas. The rest I don't think would do much or would ever happen.

[Raijinvince]

It's possible end game balance will still..ehm..balance out. I'm only level 38, and I have no alts. I was gone for 2 weeks over Christmas where I didn't play at all, and only get to play about 10 hours a week max now. So, maybe more Republic people are in my same boat than Imps, and it will resolve itself in a couple weeks. 1 month in seems a bit early to be calling for server mergers or balance incentives.

[dcgregorya]

The major major problem with the republic faction imbalance and the valor farming and the change to Ilum dailies and all of this is not that it can't be fixed. It'll get fixed. It'll get fixed and all the people who benefited will keep their battlemaster titles and gear and those that were affected and didn't have those things handed to them on a silver platter will be stuck getting rolled for months while trying to farm valor and gear.

 

That's the real problem. Rolling back valor exploits is one thing, and it is a good thing, but the longer they go without fixing this imbalance in rewards for Empire (who can farm valor all day doing huttball while republics on my server can't even queue a game in the 50 bracket, nor can they run their daily's unless they watch Ilum until 3AM to run them) - the more the divide will widen.

[Crujido]

" Create a new playable race that would attract a LARGE number of players on the Republic side ONLY. This includes Wookiees, Ewoks, Yoda's race"

 

Why i would say no to Ewoks this is a good idea.

Star Wars and BW give us four humans...I think it was lazy. Even SWG had wookiees for christ sake! Lazy lazy BW. It will be this games un-doing.

 

Or they learned from SWG and saw how horrible the character models were and how hard it was to make armor for them.

 

The only way to stop the imbalance is:

 

Stop letting people play Empire and hope they re roll republic.

[pawestman]

It's possible end game balance will still..ehm..balance out. I'm only level 38, and I have no alts. I was gone for 2 weeks over Christmas where I didn't play at all, and only get to play about 10 hours a week max now. So, maybe more Republic people are in my same boat than Imps, and it will resolve itself in a couple weeks. 1 month in seems a bit early to be calling for server mergers or balance incentives.

 

While normally I would agree, servers are VASTLY imbalanced. Republic is just bland compared to the Empire. Add that to the fact that many people like being the "evil" side, and you have an overpopulated side that keeps growing.

[pawestman]

The major major problem with the republic faction imbalance and the valor farming and the change to Ilum dailies and all of this is not that it can't be fixed. It'll get fixed. It'll get fixed and all the people who benefited will keep their battlemaster titles and gear and those that were affected and didn't have those things handed to them on a silver platter will be stuck getting rolled for months while trying to farm valor and gear.

 

That's the real problem. Rolling back valor exploits is one thing, and it is a good thing, but the longer they go without fixing this imbalance in rewards for Empire (who can farm valor all day doing huttball while republics on my server can't even queue a game in the 50 bracket, nor can they run their daily's unless they watch Ilum until 3AM to run them) - the more the divide will widen.

 

I don't really mind the whole issue with Ilum on that first day. People grinded 40-50k. While it is a lot, those valor levels don't really mean a whole lot. Especially while the RNG bag is still in place. I just want the servers balanced so that there can actually be PvP. Having Empire vs Empire warzones and no world PvP is a bad system.

[Jetflair]

From Republic side I don't see imbalance as a huge problem.

 

But I can understand that in places where republic side is pretty small situation can be very bad for both sides as neither can get war zones. Personally I rolled on republic side so that I could be on the side which has faster sues.

 

Lack of content is big problem however. Besides pvp that is bit broken there doesn't seem to be much to do. The instances feel bit easy and at least give me feeling I have not to do them.

 

To me also it seems the most interesting part was pre 30 levels. There also was some interesting places for new players like Athiss. After that blah.

[dcgregorya]

From Republic side I don't see imbalance as a huge problem.

 

But I can understand that in places where republic side is pretty small situation can be very bad for both sides as neither can get war zones. Personally I rolled on republic side so that I could be on the side which has faster sues.

 

Lack of content is big problem however. Besides pvp that is bit broken there doesn't seem to be much to do. The instances feel bit easy and at least give me feeling I have not to do them.

 

To me also it seems the most interesting part was pre 30 levels. There also was some interesting places for new players like Athiss. After that blah.

 

Playing warzones where the enemy team can outdamage and outheal and outmitigate you by 15% across the board because they can run their quests and you cannot is pretty clearly a huge problem.

 

Just as clearly as the fact that you're not a Republic player on an unbalanced server if you think it isn't a competition killer.

[FellintoOblivion]

I don't think eliminating same faction battlegrounds is going to encourage people to start a new character of the other faction. It's more likely to just frustrate people and reduce their play time.

[Grinnnz]

You act like the good side being imbalanced is a new thing. this happens in all mmos.

Thats why i rolled empire. That and i rolled with other hardcore pvpers ive played with for the last 5 years.

 

evil side will always have the better pvpers and usually the good side has the better pvers (care bears).

 

Wow had the same problem but has gotten better by introducing arenas which hid the problem of imbalance.

 

Short answer, there is no fix other than to give yu something else to do that takes your mind off the imbalance.

 

A side note; recently i have been playing alot of huttball on swiftsure and i play against alot of empire with a few republic scattered about. Its happening everywhere.

[ZDProletariat]

Stop being such an impatient child. Content takes time, period.

Either stay, or leave. Stop whining about things not being introduced on a regular, frequent basis.

[ColeWorld]

I think its pretty funny imo.

 

 

Its been less than 30 days since the official release. How about we relax and give the game some time before we start saying everything is imbalanced.

 

 

I know from a personal example, my cousin isn't getting the game until he gets paid next month. And i'm sure he won't be the only one coming in.

 

 

 

The problem isn't imbalance in population, in most cases that can be overcome with proper communication skills. If you have people that don't want to WZ or hit up the World PvP with you then that means that your side has a vital problem. Which is why we need to bring in our friends and what not to the game to help us out. Or try to actively get people in there to fight then that means that the community on your faction isn't up to snuff, in which I feel for you.

 

 

At the same time the only thing that you can do is try harder. Quitting is never the answer.

 

 

Personally whenever I take a loss its my fault, there is something I could have done better to pull out a victory.

[Dravinian]

You act like the good side being imbalanced is a new thing. this happens in all mmos.

Thats why i rolled empire. That and i rolled with other hardcore pvpers ive played with for the last 5 years.

 

evil side will always have the better pvpers and usually the good side has the better pvers (care bears).

 

Wow had the same problem but has gotten better by introducing arenas which hid the problem of imbalance.

 

Short answer, there is no fix other than to give yu something else to do that takes your mind off the imbalance.

 

A side note; recently i have been playing alot of huttball on swiftsure and i play against alot of empire with a few republic scattered about. Its happening everywhere.

 

PvPers based on skill level are not separated by a choice of between good and evil.

 

There are good PvPers on both sides. It "appears" that there are more good PvPers on the under populated side, because there is a smaller pool to choose from and therefore less idiots to fill Warzones and you see the same names more often.

 

Which is why <50 the only Warzone I seem to ever lose as a Republic is Hutball and I put that down to the Empire having far far more experience in that Warzone, I hardly ever get to play Huttball.....thankfully. In Void and Aldaran, Republic, in my experience, wins the vast majority of matches. Sure we lose the odd one or two out of ten, but the other eight or nine we win.

 

This will clearly change when I hit the 50 bracket because of the gear disparity created simply by the population disparity, but I doubt i will be playing that long.

[riny]

I have to agree with the OP. I'm on a PVP server and enjoy open world PVP. Not really into the warzone thing, but do it occasionally. In open world, once I got past Tat, I found almost no open world PVP. Me and my friend spend 3 hours a night combing thru different planets looking for enemy to kill. We usually end the night with one or two fights (sometimes none) after 3 hours. This is not what I signed up for - reminds me to much of Nagafen's decline in EQ2.

 

I've considered going Republic, but I've played one on PVE and it is very bland and the toons give me the impression of having some small limitations wrt their mirrors.

[pawestman]

Stop being such an impatient child. Content takes time, period.

Either stay, or leave. Stop whining about things not being introduced on a regular, frequent basis.

 

Not sure if srs.

[pawestman]

I think its pretty funny imo.

 

 

Its been less than 30 days since the official release. How about we relax and give the game some time before we start saying everything is imbalanced.

 

 

I know from a personal example, my cousin isn't getting the game until he gets paid next month. And i'm sure he won't be the only one coming in.

 

 

 

The problem isn't imbalance in population, in most cases that can be overcome with proper communication skills. If you have people that don't want to WZ or hit up the World PvP with you then that means that your side has a vital problem. Which is why we need to bring in our friends and what not to the game to help us out. Or try to actively get people in there to fight then that means that the community on your faction isn't up to snuff, in which I feel for you.

 

 

At the same time the only thing that you can do is try harder. Quitting is never the answer.

 

 

Personally whenever I take a loss its my fault, there is something I could have done better to pull out a victory.

 

What? There is a heavy population balance on nearly EVERY server. That is a problem. You cannot overcome anything when there's 75 imperials for every 5 republic on Ilum.

Edited January 22, 2012 by pawestman

[pawestman]

I have to agree with the OP. I'm on a PVP server and enjoy open world PVP. Not really into the warzone thing, but do it occasionally. In open world, once I got past Tat, I found almost no open world PVP. Me and my friend spend 3 hours a night combing thru different planets looking for enemy to kill. We usually end the night with one or two fights (sometimes none) after 3 hours. This is not what I signed up for - reminds me to much of Nagafen's decline in EQ2.

 

I've considered going Republic, but I've played one on PVE and it is very bland and the toons give me the impression of having some small limitations wrt their mirrors.

 

Exactly. It's not only the Republic that is displeased. The biggest issue with PvP right now is the fact that the two factions aren't fighting each other most of the time. World PvP is nearly nonexistent, and Empire fights itself 90% of the time.

[Aerodi]

Some nice ideas in there, though I highly doubt any faction changing or non-human races will be coming soon. I don't think the hero engine can handle more different body types in larger areas. Not without some serious optimizing anyway.

 

Ilum, as it stands, is pretty horrific. I had a 22v61 yesterday. This, after the patch that supposedly put a lower cap on the number in each Ilum shard.

 

I seriously hope their next warzone is not same faction, that would be a huge over estimation on how much republic players I speak to will put up with.

[pawestman]

Some nice ideas in there, though I highly doubt any faction changing or non-human races will be coming soon. I don't think the hero engine can handle more different body types in larger areas. Not without some serious optimizing anyway.

 

Ilum, as it stands, is pretty horrific. I had a 22v61 yesterday. This, after the patch that supposedly put a lower cap on the number in each Ilum shard.

 

I seriously hope their next warzone is not same faction, that would be a huge over estimation on how much republic players I speak to will put up with.

 

 

Wow, you're lucky. We're usually outnumbered 5:1 on a good day on Ilum.

 

Yes, I agree. Creating another same faction warzone would probably keep the Empire players playing on the overpopulated side. Taking away the same faction part might encourage even more to come over to Republic.

[hidy]

" Create a new playable race that would attract a LARGE number of players on the Republic side ONLY. This includes Wookiees, Ewoks, Yoda's race"

 

Why i would say no to Ewoks this is a good idea.

Star Wars and BW give us four humans...I think it was lazy. Even SWG had wookiees for christ sake! Lazy lazy BW. It will be this games un-doing.

 

Actually this is a great idea. If BW would stop focusing on the story (which everyone spacebars thru), the romance, and all the other crap mmoers dont really care about - and focus on more playable races/species (which is why so many ppl enjoy SW). Not enough variety. Such a rich galaxy with all kinds of species, but we are so limited.