Who Is To Blame For Server Imbalance: We Are

[DS_Romer]

It's funny, I chose Empire because the community I'm part of had a mass imbalance in favour of the Republic (Say, 12 Republicans and 3 Empire including me). I naturally assumed this would be the case on the servers to, as so many who like Star Wars are Jedi fanboys.

 

Still, I'm honestly not suprised people think the Empire has a better story line. Jedi stories are pretty much always just full of cliche after cliche. People always like the anti-hero. The bad ***. The character who follows their own rules.

 

I know people who have enjoyed all the storylines though.

Edited January 25, 2012 by DS_Romer

[Arutassin]

Bioware can't fix server imbalance, not ever, because we as players decided as a majority to go sith instead of republic, so please stop complaining about a problem Bioware did not create.

 

Anyone care to prove me wrong?

 

LOL.

 

This thread proves you wrong!

[DariuszPol]

Bioware can't fix server imbalance, not ever, because we as players decided as a majority to go sith instead of republic, so please stop complaining about a problem Bioware did not create.

 

Anyone care to prove me wrong?

 

People were telling FROM THE START that majority of players will go Empire. Most of us want to have dark hood, red lightsaber, cool creepy mask and cast lightning from our fingers and choke people to death.

Not too many people want to run around with yellow lightsaber, brown skirt, throw dirt at people and blue clouds Sorry.

 

Bioware should think about 3rd faction at that point or make Republic a little more cool. So it's not like our fault. We play what we want to be. It's game designer job to think what will happen. People were saying it from the start but Bioware didn't listen.

 

They even make this worst when they didn't allow lvl 50 to join people under lvl 50 (at least 36-50) because now we can't even do proper PVP. Ilium is empty (not even lvl 13-14 exploiters to kill) and it's hard to play hutball because soon we got info that "there is not enough player". And jumping from hutball to planet back and forth all the time is really annoying.

[iconicman]

My thoughts:

 

Historically I've always played the 'light' side characters in any MMO, mainly because I prefer the warmer, nicer environments or character models (story hasn't been strong on previous MMOs).

 

However having played all the starting classes on both sides, I can definitely say that the Empire side has far more interesting conversation choices. I could definitely identify my character picking some light side choices. The Empire is far more interesting, yes it has a power hungry selflish elite leadership of Sith but that doesn't have to define EVERYTHING about it.

 

On the Light side however I found the game very cheesy with really bland coversations. Dark side choices were often completely EVIL and therefore you couldn't really stray far from the holier than thou stereotype.

 

I also think the graphics and animations are better for the Empire.

 

Lightning vs Pebble throw?

 

Choke vs fall over?

 

Jet packs vs lumbering monoliths?

 

Sniper/gadgets vs failed romeos?

 

The armor designs, ship designs etc are more interesting too.

 

There just seems to be more scope to breathe with your character in the Empire, you can go all out Meglomaniac, ruthless selfish merc, or even architect for change and stand up for the little guy.

 

That choice doesn't really appear in the light side for me.

[Andurial]

Population imbalance exists in all games with more than one faction. Even after years of balancing server populations and making one side more appealing than other, you'll find servers where one side is favored over the other. This is especially pronounced once the faction transfers and server transfers are enabled.

 

As it is right now on majority of servers Republic is outnumbered. In my opinion, this is not a problem in most cases. Yes it is more difficult to find groups, yes there is less guilds, yes economy may be smaller, but all those things can be overcome. Less guilds means less crappy guilds and more quality guilds and tightly knit groups. Smaller economy means less trash that is being sold, etc. Less people to deal with in General and less Chuck Norris and Anal jokes.

 

Where this becomes problem is when a game developer doesn't take possibility of population imbalance into account and doesn't put constructs in place to make certain things balanced. Take Warzones for example. They are population balanced right now. 50s play against other 50s and it's 8v8. You don't get 40 Imperials vs 8 Republic. What is imbalanced and what most people will complain about is Open World PvP, a.k.a (sk)Illum. There are no balancing mechanisms in place to ensure equal number of players from both factions is present in the zone and there is nothing to aid the underpopulated faction against overpopulated one.

 

If they added some form of buff that is based around numbers currently in the zone, say for example something like Tanacity in Wintergrasp in WoW, then underpopulated faction would at least have a fighting chance. Right now it is base camping extravaganza. Any form of PvP is nullified and all fights are either 1v10 or pulling enemy into the base for instant kill.

 

So are players to blame? No. Players chose their side. It is the fault of game developer, in this case BioWare, for not anticipating this and putting mechanisms in place that would equalize the playing field in Open World PvP.

 

Open World PvP in this game is pathetic to be honest. One zone where you clash against other 50s. Actually, the problem is not PvP at all, the problem is lack of "world", so how can we have an Open "World" PvP when there is no "world" to begin with? I'd call it Sanctioned Planet PvP instead of Open World PvP, but you get my point.

 

Just for the record the Wintersgrasp buff was a failure because being CC'ed by 50 people can't compare the the buff provided. Nothing was "fixed" (to some degree) until people were barred from joining WG and Tol Barad due to the other faction not have enough people inside. Even then there were still problems.

[Commogroth]

My thoughts:

 

Historically I've always played the 'light' side characters in any MMO, mainly because I prefer the warmer, nicer environments or character models (story hasn't been strong on previous MMOs).

 

However having played all the starting classes on both sides, I can definitely say that the Empire side has far more interesting conversation choices. I could definitely identify my character picking some light side choices. The Empire is far more interesting, yes it has a power hungry selflish elite leadership of Sith but that doesn't have to define EVERYTHING about it.

 

On the Light side however I found the game very cheesy with really bland coversations. Dark side choices were often completely EVIL and therefore you couldn't really stray far from the holier than thou stereotype.

 

I also think the graphics and animations are better for the Empire.

 

Lightning vs Pebble throw?

 

Choke vs fall over?

 

Jet packs vs lumbering monoliths?

 

Sniper/gadgets vs failed romeos?

 

The armor designs, ship designs etc are more interesting too.

 

There just seems to be more scope to breathe with your character in the Empire, you can go all out Meglomaniac, ruthless selfish merc, or even architect for change and stand up for the little guy.

 

That choice doesn't really appear in the light side for me.

 

Very well stated. Design and story choices, made by Bioware, have made the Empire more attractive to the majority of players. Only ignorant fanboys place the blame on the players. The good news is, with that being said, that also means that Bioware can do things to help alleviate the problem....as many have pointed out in this thread. So that leaves the ball in Bioware's court to, at this point, at least announce some sort of framework for a plan. I fear that for now they may be in "let's hope with time it balances out itself" mode, and the question then would be: and what point do you come to the conclusion that it is not fixing itself?

[Beansoup]

Analyzing your target audience, behavior patterns, psychological profiles, influences, statistics, polls, there's a whole science behind this kind of thing. Then you got data from months of beta, guild deployment program, the opportunities were there and missed one by one until it came to this.

 

You don't just make two factions and hope for the best. You hire ppl to analyze stuff and tell you how likely it is for your target audience to pick each faction. Then they tell you what kind of improvements each faction needs to be more likely to attract more players and keep adjusting by making them cooler, prettier, whatever works until statistics tell you that it should be balanced. WoW's horde faction wasn't made ugly as hell by accident.

 

But ok, let's just say it's the players' fault. That works too.

 

Hehehe, that last line gave me a good chuckle.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Beansoup

[Briljin]

This what happens when you give one side slightly advantages in animations, story line and graphics. BW should have known going into this that the Empire side was going to be huge and spent more time trying to make the Republic side more attractive.

[Chuckskyline]

What is funny about all of this.. to me anyway..

 

is I see so many Light Sided Empire people.. because it "looks cool" but they don't have the....."guts" to be truly evil.

 

Ha.

[Commogroth]

What is funny about all of this.. to me anyway..

 

is I see so many Light Sided Empire people.. because it "looks cool" but they don't have the....."guts" to be truly evil.

 

Ha.

 

Extremely good point. I never thought about this. The sheer number of LS Imps should tell you that it isn't merely the fact that "being evil is always cooler" that drives the imbalance, as there are a heck of a lot of "good guys" playing Imps. It is design, story, mechanics, and overall appeal difference that Bioware built into the game.

[Kabjat]

Ah the good ole USA mentality...

 

Its someone elses fault I made a poor choice.

 

trolling a thread with racist comments assuming the OP's nationality offers nothing to the discussion. You broadcast your ignorance and how sadly bitter you must be in your life saying things like this.

 

OP, there is no way to prove you wrong and any speculation or clever play with words that have been presented in this thread thus far do not prove you wrong or show that you are right.

 

This is a topic that will likely never have a definitive answer. It's my opinion that player preference is the primary reason for faction imbalance coupled with the fact that Imp is downright MORE FUN to play.

 

This is only my opinion. The rest of you stating your opinions like they are FACT need to simmer down.

[ShotByBothSides]

I tried a Jedi Knight....it bored me. The story, my character's voice actor, the starting quests/area/enemies were all very "bleh" to me. I was disappointed because I really wanted to play a melee tank, and Sith just don't really do it for me.

 

So I tried an Agent. The story is entertaining and I love the voice actor for my character.

 

Guess which one I stuck with?

 

I would consider making a Republic character if I had more character slots available on my server. If I ever get around to paying for a second account, that is when I will roll Republic, I guess.

 

Snap

I did exactly the same; the Agent is a new experience for me and the story and character abilities are all refreshingly new.

 

The voice and the look of my female Agent really reminds of those cheesy 60's spy TV series and movies, I suspect that was the intention behind a lot of the story script too. Remember "No One Lives Forever"?

[DariuszPol]

Extremely good point. I never thought about this. The sheer number of LS Imps should tell you that it isn't merely the fact that "being evil is always cooler" that drives the imbalance, as there are a heck of a lot of "good guys" playing Imps. It is design, story, mechanics, and overall appeal difference that Bioware built into the game.

 

On the other hand I do have Jedi Maruder but only on lvl 19 (lost interest very fast). And he is "good guy with dark side options". So I run around with white robe and red lightsabers Looking good

 

Where is the difference ? As Jedi Knight your light choice is to forgive someone who wanted to kill you or... kill mother of 2 childrens that was heling war orphants in front of her childs. You can choose between idealist naive idiot or cruel idiot who want to be cruel.

 

As Empire you often kill idiot who wanted to kill you as dark side option and on light side you capture him and sell on slave market or give him to imperial agents for little talk.

Both choices have sense while when I was playing as JK - most choices have no sense at all.

 

Simple as that.

[eldelphia]

I actually assumed that more people would want to be Jedi than obviously do! It's never occurred to me to play Empire. I'm actually surprised it's so unbalanced.

[Zilkin]

Bad guys are so generic...but I guess people like being sheep sometimes...

 

I've seen few of these in this thread, and find them hilarious considering how cliché the whole JK storyline is. No I'm not going to spoil it, but seriously.

[Poor_Grammar]

Yeah it's totally my fault for wanting to be on the same faction as my irl friends. That totally isn't the point of mmo's. No, really.

 

I should have used my X-men powers to know it would be such an imbalance. Totally my bad.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Poor_Grammar

[zandadoum]

I should have used my X-men powers to know it would be such an imbalance. Totally my bad.

i gave you three choices:

 

1) wolverines blades

2) xaviers mental power

3) be happy on your swtor server

 

you obviously chose wrong

[Poor_Grammar]

i gave you three choices:

 

1) wolverines blades

2) xaviers mental power

3) be happy on your swtor server

 

you obviously chose wrong

 

Dammit, I choose eye lasers to compliment my friends abilities, and now I'm called FOTM as well.

[Funus]

My reason was simple - my guild, which includes friends I've been gaming with for almost 10 years now, went Empire. I'm quite sure this was the reason for many people.

 

Having played 6 out of 8 starting classes during one of the beta weekends, there were stories I liked on both sides, so I wasn't dead set on playing a specific side (in case of Republic, I really liked the Trooper one).

[Girean]

Hey it wasn't easy for Luke.

[Jtheargonaut]

It all boils down to personal opinion, my wife likes to play Sith, which explains alot realy...now that i think about it... hmm..

 

Anyway, i realy enjoy republic,but she loves her sorc. so i rolled an agent, we play our imperials together.

 

She now has decided she likes smuggler. So we roll republic, and bounce back and forth throughout the week.

 

I think both sides have very engaging stories, and this is my personal opinion here. I dont see how people can say republic is generic cookie cutter goodguys.. i have found this old...republic, to be corrupt.. and the troopers/security forces on these planets are in no way the "good guys" of star wars.

 

I think portraying the republic as having corruption amongst its ranks gives for some great moral dilemas. (of course in game for character progression)

 

Maybe it makes a difference as well that we tend to play in groups of two to four, with different classes.. it makes for interesting story twists with the conversation rolls.

[gizbug]

Too many servers causing server imbalances. Ditch about 1/3 of the servers, allow merging, and the issue will be fixed.

[Commogroth]

Too many servers causing server imbalances. Ditch about 1/3 of the servers, allow merging, and the issue will be fixed.

 

The math isn't quite right on that. Across the board that is a massive imp-to-repub ratio. Merging servers won't change that number.

[MukeFreerider]

After 6 years of WoW and either my dumb luck or lack of planning, I learned my lesson.

 

Seemed like every server I rolled Alliance toons on, allies were horribly outnumbered anywhere from 3:1 to 5:1 by the horde.

 

People want to play evil scary looking things for whatever reason. I've always preferred being a heroic good guy, but I'm not getting steamrolled due to population imbalances like I did in WoW and that's why I rolled Empire for this game.

[Kryptorchid]

Unfortunately, I see the faction imbalance as BioWare's fault because they created the following environment:

 

1. One faction is perceived as being "good and honorable" while the other is perceived as being "powerful and vindictive." Most people IRL are good people, so when they play a game, they like to experience something different. This psychological slant *could be* blamed on the players, but BioWare could have given the Dark Side options on Republic to cater to that mentality, but they are merely just "I will kill you" or "I want more credits" type of decisions. On top of that, the Imperial stories seem to possess more depth than the Republic ones.

 

2. Setting up a 2 Faction game is a recipe for faction imbalance. They could have organized this game differently.

 

3. Mechanically, the Imperial classes perform better over their Republic mirrors. Your min/maxers and beta testers know this, that info trickles into the community, so naturally, people will flock to the side with the higher performance ceiling.