It's time to address the imbalance issue BioWare

[DarthNemis]

Agreed 100%.

 

Incentives are the way to go.

 

New race for the Republic:

- Togruta

- Kel'Dor

- Nautolan

- Wookie

 

Any one of these races would help in increasing interest in the faction.

 

- Yoda's race would be a killer even though it probably wont happen.

 

The option to play that certain little green (gray, whatever color ) fellow would put a huge dent in the Empire numbers.

 

 

We should also give the republic the option to roll cathar. meow!!!!!!!!

[Vlacke]

We should also give the republic the option to roll cathar. meow!!!!!!!!

 

I am not so sure about Cathar, they are cool don't get me wrong, but i think making them Republic exclusive would contradict the lore.(Not sure about this, i may be wrong)

 

On the other hand making any of the races i mentioned in the post above Republic exclusive wouldn't hurt the lore much at all.

 

And i have to say this again, Empire has 3 exclusive races to choose from and Republic only 2 at the moment.

 

Lets face it, any of these races i mentioned would increase people's interest in the Republic faction.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Vlacke

[HyperThomas]

Short term "help" then a long term solution is NEEDED! I have a thread of my own on this Issue.

[Dogfatherxx]

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

 

Well, you did use some big words like "playable."

[Sumire]

How about letting people craft low end PVP gear for starters.

[theMachineGrim]

The biggest issue I've seen is the jump from getting level 50 to running hard modes.

Players are forced into PvP, which will ultimately hurt their experience if they HAVE to PvP or get ridiculed by their teammates in FE or BoI.

 

If any of these happened, you'd see the game fail just as MXO did. (Not a similarity example)

 

And OP, don't ridicule your thread posters. You look as stupid as they do.

 

Don't play Favorite Youngest Child. The eldest will only attack harder.

You will see opposition, your quest hubs being attacked on leveling planets and Ilum worse than ever. (We are the Bad Guys, Group together like we do and FIGHT)

[GRINnBARRETT]

I disagree with the exclusion of same faction WZs. I think they actually make for shorter queues and are therefore crucial to maintaining viable pvp in the game.

 

As far as faction imbalance, I'm not really sure how I could expect Bioware to solve a player caused problem. Other than the "not really a mirror class" abilities issue, the Empire is not given an advantage so player creation is at the whim of the players. Many chose Empire b/c they want to be the bad guy. Others b/c they have to be on the more populated side in order to be competitive (i.e. they suck).

 

Giving better incentives to the underpopulated side would only tip the scale in the other direction. People tend to gravitate to the easy button. It's not really a long term solution.

 

Adding a 3rd faction is not viable in the lore IMO. Maybe in one specific area but not in the game in general.

 

New playable race(s) may be a good idea, but then you'd get the whine from the Empire side that they want something as well.

 

Ilum...I have no idea what's best there. We went from watching each other shoot rockets, to mass pvp on a grand scale (due to inflated rewards), to wastelands. Personally I won't waste my time doing dailies there as a Repub b/c the time to reward factor is laughable.

 

Many people laugh at the Wintergrasp suggestions but at least there was a system in place (as controversial as it was) to alleviate some of the population imbalance. It also capped players so there was at least some incentive to go there as a member of the underpopulated side.

 

Sorry about punching holes in your ideas. That wasn't really my intention when I started. I'm just like you, frustrated that the only place I can find balanced pvp is in instanced WZs. Frustrated that I can't participate in OWPVP in a way that doesn't involve me getting gang baptized.

[DarthNemis]

I am not so sure about Cathar, they are cool don't get me wrong, but i think making them Republic exclusive would contradict the lore.(Not sure about this, i may be wrong)

 

On the other hand making any of the races i mentioned in the post above Republic exclusive wouldn't hurt the lore much at all.

 

And i have to say this again, Empire has 3 exclusive races to choose from and Republic only 2 at the moment.

 

Lets face it, any of these races i mentioned would increase people's interest in the Republic faction.

 

We really treated the cathar awful on Taris if you did the story line their. I dont think it would hurt lore at all to make cathar republic exclusive after that.

[ColeWorld]

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.

 

I think everyone is forgetting one of the greatest strategies of all time : Not participating.

 

 

 

Of course I understand that this is a bit aggravating to not be able to do something whenever you want, but at the same time its just one of those things that are around. Unless you can gather the numbers to compete I suggest you stop Illum until they put some way to have a fair competition.

 

 

While I understand that 75:5 is a gross exaggeration I wonder what the actual faction numbers are on each server, because I have this theory in mind that the side thats "underpopped" merely has people that don't feel like doing Illum at the moment.

[Milkies]

I think everyone is forgetting one of the greatest strategies of all time : Not participating.

 

 

 

Of course I understand that this is a bit aggravating to not be able to do something whenever you want, but at the same time its just one of those things that are around. Unless you can gather the numbers to compete I suggest you stop Illum until they put some way to have a fair competition.

 

 

While I understand that 75:5 is a gross exaggeration I wonder what the actual faction numbers are on each server, because I have this theory in mind that the side thats "underpopped" merely has people that don't feel like doing Illum at the moment.

 

Agreed, this is what i'm doing. I havent set foot in ilum except on the day it came out. It's gotta be hilariously frustrating for the stupid empire horde. Reroll you dummies, faction balance is more important than looking "COOL EVEL BRO".

[RazielHex]

Agreed, this is what i'm doing. I havent set foot in ilum except on the day it came out. It's gotta be hilariously frustrating for the stupid empire horde. Reroll you dummies, faction balance is more important than looking "COOL EVEL BRO".

 

That's cool, Huttball will allow us to better ourselves and still get the stuff we want. You'll just continue to lose out.

[Haligator]

I don't have anything to add to this, just some questions.

 

So, is all this Sith talk about passion the reason they have those VD growths hanging off of their faces? Is that why they look cool? Or is it that they all seem to have the same throat cold?

 

I've read elsewhere that the faction imbalance is mostly on the European servers, and that the North American servers are more balanced? If true, this would suggest that they needed different marketing in Europe, to convince the Europeans not to roll the toon with the obvious VD. But, why spend good marketing money to run a sexual health campaign in Europe, when that might not even work?

 

In summary, I believe that any industry experts who believe that kids and Europeans could have been dissuaded from running around as Darth Vader with VD on his face and a weakened immune system should make their own Star Wars MMO.

 

Adding in little yoda characters might work, though.

[Hansuki]

Since you can roll both factions on the same server, I predict a future release of content that threatens both sides of the universe and requires factions to work together OR presents an option to defect to the opposing faction. Defection would add an awesome layer of strategy to endgame raiding content as now all classes are available to form an 8-16 man group with.

 

To defect or not to defect? Are you evil enough to betray the empire for personal gain? Or good enough to stand with old enemies against new foes?

[Anduiin]

I don't have anything to add to this, just some questions.

 

So, is all this Sith talk about passion the reason they have those VD growths hanging off of their faces? Is that why they look cool? Or is it that they all seem to have the same throat cold?

 

I've read elsewhere that the faction imbalance is mostly on the European servers, and that the North American servers are more balanced? If true, this would suggest that they needed different marketing in Europe, to convince the Europeans not to roll the toon with the obvious VD. But, why spend good marketing money to run a sexual health campaign in Europe, when that might not even work?

 

In summary, I believe that any industry experts who believe that kids and Europeans could have been dissuaded from running around as Darth Vader with VD on his face and a weakened immune system should make their own Star Wars MMO.

 

Adding in little yoda characters might work, though.

 

nope, server imbalance on some servers in NA can be as bad as 5:1 and I think the average is 3:1. Infinity Gate seems like it's about 1.5:1 at the moment as I have both a republic and empire characters and just checking regular populations on the fleet.

[slonep]

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

 

What a dink.

 

You're upset because more ppl should play the Rep side and you think BW should reward the Rep side because it's underplayed? What?!?!

 

Who cares! Play where you like. You'll get no reward for it. Weirdo.

[DarthKallous]

What they should do is make the PvP side of Ilum instanced and then make it a Q system so for every 1 Republic there is 1 Empire. It will be bad for Empire players but it will stop ALOT of QQ and it might make some Empire go Republic which solves the imbalance issue.

[ViperPump]

Another fix for imblanace that needs to be addressed is ilum. THE WHOLE 1.1 PATCH needs to be reverted

[Dovahbrah]

 

Who cares! Play where you like. You'll get no reward for it. Weirdo.

 

Because thats worked out so well thus far. Appears he is right about the IQ thing.

[Rockstar]

I would really like to think that the devs are actually looking into a fix to this imbalance issue, but unfortunately, as far as I know, there has not been any acknowledgement that a problem even exists.

 

 

In fact, some of the statements and future plans seem to be in outright denial that there is even an issue. For example here is a quote from Gabe Amatangelo:

"We’re aware that on some servers, either Republic or Empire groups have been capturing the Ilum control points, entering the enemy’s base and ‘camping’ the medcenters"

 

Republic or Empire. This is a quote taken from the official response regarding the base camping the day of the Illum changes. On my server Empire was camping the base spawn farming kills, and, judging from the forum posts that day, not a single person stated that republic was doing this on their server.

 

The above quote took 8 hours for them to write up from the moment a forum admin stated that an official response was coming. This means that they chose their wording VERY carefully, and they CHOSE to say Republic was camping bases. That depresses me because I see it as evidence that they are not admitting that there is a problem. Finally, there is the announcement of another faction vs faction warzone. This makes me think they see it and just don't care.

 

So I would be very grateful is someone could prove me wrong and show me a quote of the devs actually acknowledging that there is a problem (even in this thread, didn't have time to read through it), because all I see is that the devs either are blind or they just don't care.

 

I also would like to throw in my suggestion to fix the problem. Faction to faction switching, but ONLY at 50 and ONLY when you completed your class questlines. I think this would fix a lot of issues with having to deal with story line problems and what not. If there was a final quest that lets you choose a side at the end with a actual reason in the storyline to do so, then that would make more sense, and it wouldn't punish those who want to switch by having to re-roll just because they picked the overpopulated side.

 

 

Just my 2 cents.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Rockstar

[Craay]

I'm a Republic guy. I've got to post here if for no other reason than to agree with the OP on the problem in hopes that developers will see the massive response to this and take heed. In essence, I'm casting my vote: The faction imbalance is going to kill the game if not quickly addressed.

 

Bioware, please take heed. I know 2 people in my gaming circle that became fed up enough to go back to their prior game of choice, although saddened by that choice... they told me, "when they fix it, let us know." Another friend gave up playing Republic and went over to Empire becoming part of the problem instead of becoming part of the solution.

 

Me? I won't keep playing forever either without some hope that you guys are on it. My server (Jung Ma) isn't as bad as others... but that's largely because many Republics are hearing of it and instead of switching factions, they're re-rolling on Jung Ma. From what I'm seeing, wise Empire players are just as concerned as the Republics are because we really enjoy this game and we all want to see it succeed massively.

 

Please, Bioware. I love this game. This is a huge issue that needs addressing. Thanks for paying attention to us paying customers. :-)

[slonep]

Because thats worked out so well thus far. Appears he is right about the IQ thing.

 

Oowww. Deep burn and so well thought out. I'll think twice before entering in a contest of wit with you again sir.

Edited January 25, 2012 by slonep

[Superawesomerman]

It's not that at all. You paid to play this game. THe company has no right to deny you access to the game you purchased, which includes faction.

 

Faction imbalance is a problem created by players, not developers. It is on the onus of players to recognize and fix if they see fit.

 

Pretty sure that putting any fix in the hands of the players would be basically rhe worst thing ever if they wants to make more money.

 

Players "fixed" ilum by first spawn camping and then win trading.

 

Anyone who says it's the players onus is either a) blindly optimistic or b) designing pvp for bioware.

[RazielHex]

Pretty sure that putting any fix in the hands of the players would be basically rhe worst thing ever if they wants to make more money.

 

Players "fixed" ilum by first spawn camping and then win trading.

 

Anyone who says it's the players onus is either a) blindly optimistic or b) designing pvp for bioware.

 

Give it 90 days, or maybe twice that, and you'll see population shifts.

 

Hell, I give it two months if there's a Legacy Achievement unlocked by having 50s on each faction, or VR65/70s on each faction.

 

That's really all the incentive someone would require.

[SirUrza]

- 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.

 

Could work.

 

- 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.

 

Has worked in other mmos.

 

- 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.

 

Queue times would become obnoxious and mean fewer people would probably pvp. I don't see how that's a good solution and I don't think it'd make people reroll, some of us choose empire because we wanted to play a specific class.

 

- 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%.

 

This could work.

 

- 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.

 

No.

 

- 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.

 

You answered yourself.

 

- 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.

 

Same as above, too much work. This solution out of all of them negativity impacts SWTOR. How you wonder? BioWare is taking their eye off the ball to work on something else. Let's look at SWG for instance. If SOE hadn't been so busy working on Jump to Lightspeed, could the combat upgrades and nge been better? Definitely. Don't get me wrong, I liked Jump to Lightspeed, SOE moved on to new systems instead of addressing their broken ones.

[RazielHex]

Same as above, too much work. This solution out of all of them negativity impacts SWTOR. How you wonder? BioWare is taking their eye off the ball to work on something else. Let's look at SWG for instance. If SOE hadn't been so busy working on Jump to Lightspeed, could the combat upgrades and nge been better? Definitely. Don't get me wrong, I liked Jump to Lightspeed, SOE moved on to new systems instead of addressing their broken ones.

 

Been doin' that since Everquest man.

 

"Feydark is buggy and no one goes there? Don't worry about that. Lookie here! IT'S KUNARK!"