Who Is To Blame For Server Imbalance: We Are

[Jxspyder]

I fail to see how server imbalance is the playerbase's fault. I have a 50 Jedi Guardian and a 50 Sith Sorcerer and I can honestly say the Empire side is a hell of a lot more polished than the Republic side.

 

My playthrough of my Jedi Guardian was 'ok', I say ok because it was my first character and it was all new. My playthrough of my Sith Sorcerer was a totally different experience, the game seemed more 'complete'.

 

It is as though they worked hard and long on the Empire side and then thought... "Damn, we forgot about the Republic side. Quick throw something together!". I feel the same way about a lot of the planets too, some feel rushed and poorly designed while others seem better designed and complete.

 

You can't blame the playerbase for wanting a better experience

 

See, the really pathetic part is that I had the exact opposite experience.

 

So how does that equate to Sith = better experience?

 

 

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.

 

How are the Empire stories not just as much cliche after cliche?

Edited January 25, 2012 by Jxspyder

[Kabjat]

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.

 

if you'd just rolled troll you woulda had da looks AND da ladies! xD

 

Vol'jin for Warchief!

 

but yeah, I know what you mean. I played Horde and it seemed like on MY server the Allies outnumbered the horde...at least when it came time to do Tol Barad >.< Rolling Empire just made sense to the husband and me.

[Kabjat]

And this is where you fail. See, most opinions I have read or heard tend to be split between the two. So where does that leave us? With a complete lack of support for your claim as a deciding factor in balance.

 

But go ahead and pretend that your opinion is somehow more valid than anyone elses.

 

 

 

 

And just as many people FROM THE START were saying that the majority would go Republic. In fact, the pre-release polls on the topic were largely balanced, with SI being most popular, followed by JK.

 

you seem to not realize that you are doing the exact same thing that you are insulting this guy about. Double standards seem to be rampant on the forums. You both have a PERCEPTION of the way things are. There is absolutely NO WAY to definitively prove that either of you are right or wrong. Threads like this are pointless because this type of arguing always results.

 

Trying to place blame for the server imbalance is about as useful as reporting gold spammers. Nothing ever comes of it.

[battlee]

i went repub a few days ago, all i've seen on the planets i've been on is quite a few republic leveling now, like 20-30 in the zone instance, i am placed in, so prolly alot of imps changed over ( i changed aswell ) i like the jedi story when you get furhter into the game as shadow, quite interesting i must say

[Ekahab]

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?

 

Yes, you are right...its MY fault the BH is a Sith only class.

 

Its almost my fault the Sith stories are so much more interesting compared to the Repub class stories I have done.

 

I wont mention gear, both sides have equally silly looking outfits.

[Exoteis]

WRONG WRONG WRONG.

 

Server population can be somewhat controled.

 

There is a couple of factors that made people goes towards the empire.

 

-1: Wrong mirrrors: 6 out 8 classes are better on the empire side.

CD that are 60s for imperial and 90s for republic.

Abilities that does damage instantly for empire, and after 1.5s for republic.

Abilities that doesn't trigger with movement for republic, but does for imperials.

etc.

 

-2: Sorcer class have seen better animation deisgn in it's spells. Fact is sorc is one of the most played class, where as it's mirror, the sage is played way less.

Whereas the other classes are somewhat equal in numbers of players.

 

-3: Most cinematics/trailers/teasers from the game previous to the launch shown the imperial being stronger fighting 1vs2, etc.

 

All those are minor factors, but all added, it means big imbalance.

[Lucubration]

To the OP: no. It's a little late into both the science of analytics and into the MMO industry to claim Bioware couldn't have predicted the faction imbalance during the design stage. They failed to not only predict and try to counteract the imbalance, but also to design game mechanics that would in any meaningful way compensate for that imbalance.

 

The best they've got are fixed-size warzone teams and walking into the enemy base on Ilum insta-kills you. The former is unoriginal but useful, if you're a fan warzones; the later is a fairly thoughtless and unhelpful mechanic, especially with two other republic spawn points in the zone and the daily/weekly quest objective being not in the republic base.

[Jxspyder]

you seem to not realize that you are doing the exact same thing that you are insulting this guy about. Double standards seem to be rampant on the forums. You both have a PERCEPTION of the way things are. There is absolutely NO WAY to definitively prove that either of you are right or wrong. Threads like this are pointless because this type of arguing always results.

 

Trying to place blame for the server imbalance is about as useful as reporting gold spammers. Nothing ever comes of it.

 

Except I'm not trying to claim that I'm factually right because a bunch of people I've seen have agreed with me. Which would mean I'm not doing exactly the same thing as the other guy. No where in my post will you find "My opinion is right, yours is wrong." What you will find, given the context, is "My opinion is different than yours, therefore you can't claim a subjective belief is objective fact."

 

 

But you might have to go back about 10 pages and read the actual conversation that's being quoted to get all that.

[TheRockit]

Sith happens.

 

Get over it.

 

[Themanthatisi]

Sith may be more interesting, but I went Republic because I thought it would be more challenging like in KOTOR 1 and 2, dark side was easier to play... I am lvl 41 Setinel and loving the game much!!! I will admit though, I do not do PvP.

[Skylarke]

I enjoy playing both sides equally, so I guess I'm not part of the "we" the OP speaks of...

 

/shrugs

 

As far as faction balance goes, on Beregen Colony, it seems pretty equal to me when I play (usually off peak times).

Edited January 25, 2012 by Skylarke

[Haligator]

It looks like you're all just arguing about who is arguing, now. So, stop.

 

As for the thread topic, I tried the Empire and the Republic, but I knew I'd end up leveling Republic toons. Who can get into that Empire power ********?

 

The exception, in my experience, is the quest-line that starts on Hutta, for the Bounty Hunter and the Imperial Assassin. Hutta is a lot of fun.

 

Hutta notwithstanding, I'm ready to declare the Republic the faction for adults.

[Ujest]

The truth of the matter as for why more choose Empire is we hazz cookies.

[MikeMonger]

the mass amount of catering towards sith i imagine would be their fault,

 

Such as?

 

Precisely HOW are sith players "catered" to?

[JediRaffa]

Hmmm. So let me get this straight.

 

Regardless of faction, you can gain lightside or darkside.

 

So effectively I can be a sith (empire) and yet be heavy on lightside....right ??

 

Same as if I were a Jedi knight but heavy on darkside....

 

So.....why not.....just get rid of factions ? If everyone can be good/bad/neutral regardless of the faction you choose then why not just do away with it all together which will fix your faction imbalance....

[Ralkora]

I'll bite...

 

Say I create a house with two rooms, but you can only enter one.

 

In one room is a boring dude with a brown robe who will offer to teach you to meditate. In the other room is a bad***** with a sweet black robe who offers to teach you the secret of power.

 

Which room do you choose?

 

In a 2 faction game, if one side is way more attractive to players than the other...guess where they will go?

 

Thats not biowares fault though. That's the star wars universe. That's lucas's fault.

[NoxiousAlby]

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?

 

I remember a thread started about a month before launch in which players discussed what was likely to ruin the game, server imbalance was the number one issue.

 

As how it should have been done, take a leaf out of some eastern MMO's. They actually place caps on servers for factions. If the server you want to play Imperial on is full then you rolled the character on another server or wait until the developers release additional spaces for character creation on the server you want.

 

The method sounds archaic but it works

[kottonmouth]

Im a dark jedi. I only play when my friend is online, he is a dark smuggler. Why play on the zerg faction? Besides its cooler to be an anti-hero than the 1 of many standard emo (empire).

[ArcadesSabboth]

I'll bite...

 

Say I create a house with two rooms, but you can only enter one.

 

In one room is a boring dude with a brown robe who will offer to teach you to meditate. In the other room is a bad***** with a sweet black robe who offers to teach you the secret of power.

 

Which room do you choose?

 

In a 2 faction game, if one side is way more attractive to players than the other...guess where they will go?

 

This assumes you're the type of person who is more interested in ****** power, rather than meditation. While that may be true for you, it's not an absolute statement. This is the OP's whole point, the PLAYERS choose what is more attractive. While it's probably a safe assumption that more players would like to "act out" in ways they never would IRL in a video game, what could Bioware possibly do to force players to choose meditation? If they change what the Republic/Jedi stand for, you'd have countless fanboi QQ posts about deviation from a known brand. If you lock servers that have too many Sith, you'd have people deadset on playing Sith unsubscribe. It's a no win situation for Bioware.

 

Oddly enough, over time, WoW's populations of Alliance and Horde generally balanced out.

[Proto]

Nope, Bioware is to blame and I'll give you examples as to why:

 

 

NOTE: I'm going to draw comparisons from the MOST-BASIC-LEVEL of new player decisions that are probably made when starting new characters and making long-term choices.

 

1) Pre-release character progression videos on their site. This showed class progression in terms of gear / style before the game released. Everyone, and I mean damn near everyone can agree that the artwork looked way better for Empire with that 'bad-a s s feel.

 

2) Starter zones are much better on Empire. Look at Hutta, Korriban, and compare it to the Republic zones. There is no comparison.

 

3) Class name choices by Bioware gave Empire the advantage.

'Sith Sorcerer or Jedi Sage' aka Consular? Some people don't even know what the hell a Sage or Consular is.

'Commando Trooper or Mercenary Bounty Hunter'? Tough choice, not.

'Vanguard or a Powertech'? I mean really, these are no brainers.

'Jedi Guardian' or 'Sith Juggernaut'? Again, easy pick.

'Jedi Shadow' or 'Sith Assassin'? Yet again, who would want to be a shadow of anything when you can be an assassin?

 

Or even without the advanced class name comparison the sith sound better:

 

Jedi Knight or Sith Warrior

Jedi Consular or Sith Inquisitor

Smuggler or Imperial Agent

Trooper or Bounty Hunter

 

The names they chose swayed people's decisions on where to play.

 

4) The stories. Hands-down the Empire storylines are epic, fun, filled with excitement, deceit, betrayal, and suspense. The Republic storylines are way, way too goody-goody with hardly any excitement. Play a consular class and see what I mean (cure the old hag that trained you that now has Alzheimer's, w t f srsly?). The only exception is the Smuggler that has great moments.

 

 

So you wonder why there is such an imbalance? I don't. Its clear to me that whoever was in charge of everything over at Jedi Central really fouled it up.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Proto

[Commogroth]

I think the marketing cinematics had a lot to do with it too. Even in the Hope trailer...you know, the one that was supposed to show off the Republic...who ends up being the bad*ss? Darth Malgus. It takes two people to take him down, and he almost kills Satele for a second time. Not to mention he gets the awesome General Grevious theme that plays when he shows up.

[SableShadow]

Completely subjective, and your opinion on which one is cooler.

 

Objectively, more people subjectively liked imp.

 

I ended up Imp because of BW's guild placement strat; enough guildies wanted imp in early placement, so we went imp.

 

It's like electoral votes; pluralities pulling majorities with them.

 

My smuggler is sitting at level 1 while I cap my op.

 

 

I think the marketing cinematics had a lot to do with it too. Even in the Hope trailer...you know, the one that was supposed to show off the Republic...who ends up being the bad*ss? Darth Malgus. It takes two people to take him down, and he almost kills Satele for a second time. Not to mention he gets the awesome General Grevious theme that plays when he shows up.

 

People actually believe trailers? Explains why so many utterly horrid movies still get watched, I guess ...

Edited January 25, 2012 by SableShadow

[Commogroth]

Objectively, more people subjectively liked imp.

 

I ended up Imp because of BW's guild placement strat; enough guildies wanted imp in early placement, so we went imp.

 

It's like electoral votes; pluralities pulling majorities with them.

 

My smuggler is sitting at level 1 while I cap my op.

 

 

 

 

People actually believe trailers? Explains why so many utterly horrid movies still get watched, I guess ...

 

In this case, the game trailers were like campaign ads. And the campaigning for the Republic was terrible.

[SableShadow]

In this case, the game trailers were like campaign ads. And the campaigning for the Republic was terrible.

 

I believe trailers before I believe campaign adds.

[PeacefulViolence]

I think that Bioware is also to blame, not just us, they advertised Empire faction as being pretty much superior or funner, and the people are to blame because they believed it, It is true that the Empire faction has better storylines but that is also subjective, i know many people that like the Republic storylines more.

 

The bottom line is, people should have seen this coming, it already happened before in WoW, and the majority still rolled Empire, now you guys have to deal with this mess until it gets sorted out.