Are factions going to get balanced (numbers)?

[Trucidus]

Bioware won't like it, but the best way to fix the server population without changing game mechanics is to hit players where it counts... the wallet. Simply make Republic FREE to play until the server pop stabilizes. You'd still have to buy the game, but no game time spent playing only Republic characters that day would not subtract from your total available game time.

[Lexster]

Add a class that uses saber-chucks to the republic. Im already on that side, but saberchucks would rock.

[indigoterror]

It all depends on the players choice.

[CG_Osirhis]

Bioware won't like it, but the best way to fix the server population without changing game mechanics is to hit players where it counts... the wallet. Simply make Republic FREE to play until the server pop stabilizes. You'd still have to buy the game, but no game time spent playing only Republic characters that day would not subtract from your total available game time.

 

Hah...never going to happen.

 

The Republic are just going to have to face facts...people don't want to play Republic. Stop trying to get BW to force us to play with you.

[Goreson]

Bioware won't like it, but the best way to fix the server population without changing game mechanics is to hit players where it counts... the wallet. Simply make Republic FREE to play until the server pop stabilizes. You'd still have to buy the game, but no game time spent playing only Republic characters that day would not subtract from your total available game time.

 

Have you actually thought about what you are suggesting?

 

So, right now I'm pure Rep.

 

Which according to you would mean that I have SWTOR F2P (at least until the situation stabilizes).

 

Now, if I act upon that instinct to not play Rep again when I make my PTS character (translate: make an Imp) I will be charged. Right? How much? I mean after all I'm on the PTS, not an actual game server...

 

Maybe we can agree upon me having to pay $1 per month for playing Imp on the PTS because unlike all the other Imps on game servers I'm not really causing a problem, am I?

 

Right, let's take things one step further: I've now smelled blood! I want to play an Imp on a game server. Just one. Because, well, yes the stories are different for each class but I assume just like with Reps there are too many things identical as far as quests/FP go and on top of that with the classes mirrored the experience of playing an Imp class when you already played the counter Rep class, well, not really the same but close.

 

My game server is one of those with the highest population rate.

 

So, one more Imp is not going to make that much of a difference, is it? And if I promise that I'm going to play my Reps at least as much (probably even more) than that Imp, that should really balance things... just as if I'm not playing at all on that server.

 

Which means you can't actually charge me for it! (Well, of course, there's still that $1 for the PTS)

 

...

 

Do you really want to see such haggling in SWTOR? I mean yes, while each player can only play 1 character at a time, how are you going to determine how much that player should pay?

 

A simple 'as soon as you make any Imp character you pay the full price!' system? What if in early access I made an Imp, played it thru my starting planet but after selecting an AC (the wrong one), I never used that character again and instead only ever played Rep? Should BW charge me full price? Because in that case, guess what, there is no initiative to play Rep aside from the fun I already had, so I may as well close the book on all my Reps and only (or at least mostly) play new Imp characters.

 

Or are you suggesting that they use a timer? 'Wait, let's see: player X has played 25 hrs as Imp this month and and 75 as Rep. Therefore we will charge him a quarter of the usual rate. Which obviously needs to be calculated based on the plan he has signed up with (as obviously the monthly rate is actually different if you are not paying monthly but e.g. for 6 months in advance.

 

And then what? The whole money is going to roll over into the next period? 'Dear player X, based on our calculations based on your gaming ratio over the last 6 months we estimate that you have played 68.3% of the time on Republic side.

 

As you chose to pay for 6 months in advance on date (6 months ago -3 days) this means we will give you $ 53.23 credit towards your next subscription fee.'

 

That is not going to cry for exploitation, isn't it? Nothing like 'Mom/Honey, I'm home (from school/work)' 'Great, come eat something.' 'Just a sec, let me log into my Rep in SWTOR and send some of my crew off for some skillin'.' 'Whatever you say sunshine.' 'So, here I am, let's eat!' (9 min later) 'Sorry, just need to go back to the PC and move the mouse, wouldn't want to get locked out.' 'But why? You do that all the time!' 'See, if I pretend to play a lot with my Rep in SWTOR, I don't have to pay the full price for the subscription. Which is obviously cool considering that the only characters I'm really playing are Imps...'

 

In short: the whole thing is way too messy!

 

And gets even worse because the terms and conditions for a 'fre Rep' account would actually have to state that BW can (at any given moment) charge you the full price of the subscription when they consider the population balanced: 'Joe, what are today's numbers? Looks like another day where we have a at least 50% Rep population on all servers!' 'That is how many days in a row?' 'Three' 'Yeah, I guess that should be enough... switch all the free account to subscription. Thank goodness we have forced everybody who opened an account to set up subscription details. Oh, yeah, don't forget to press the button so that all 'free account' people get an email advising them that their account is now no longer free and their money has been taken as per their subscription details...'

 

Bravo!

 

The Republic are just going to have to face facts...people don't want to play Republic. Stop trying to get BW to force us to play with you.

 

Hey! I always thought you Imps would have more fun doing something with Reps and not just play with yourself? Hm... maybe I was wrong...

 

I'm sure that BW can set it up so that you guys can't interact in any way, shape or form with us Reps. I mean pure PvE may be something that you Imps really like, no? *drops french accent*

 

And frankly, you are not going to tell me that you guys have a cooler cat on your side than the Smuggler on our, are you? Force lightning, choke, purple lightsabers, pishpash, watch the opening cinematics again, because that shows that nobody is as groovy as a smuggler! And yes, sorry, we are just as sweet mofos as that in-game

Edited January 28, 2012 by Goreson

[Wren_Atticus]

I rarely bother posting in the cesspit that is the forums anymore, but surely BW has noticed that subs are falling off and few new ones are coming in to take their place.

 

I like the game, and I don't plan on quitting, but I get on my Imp toon and there's 200 people in the fleet, lots of stuff for sale on the GTN, and WZ's are so numerous we have to play each other in Huttball.

 

I'd rather play my Republic toons, but with the numbers so skewed, there's really no point. The above reasons are only the beginning.

 

Is anything going to be done or is this just going to be a Empire/Sith game?

 

Anyone posting without constructive feedback will be reported for violation of TOS. Don't waste your time denying this isn't a problem, it is.

 

Just throw out some bonuses to the faction that is badly outnumbered....for you to help your faction get these bonuses, you'd be required not to log in onto an opposing faction character for, say, three days. Bonuses to help the economy, drops, PvP costs, etc. When the factions are more balanced, turn off the bonuses...if they unbalanced again, turn them back on.

 

I want to see the game succeed and I'd like to be a long term subscriber, but things are going to have to change guys. I hope you devs can see this. I don't even have access to your data and I can see it just from logging in the different factions and looking at numbers on the fleet on a couple of different servers.

 

You have years developing this game, I'd hate to see it go the way of so many failed MMO's just because you won't figure out a way to balance the factions.

 

You totally are adding to the problem.

 

"I want to play my Republic characters, but not until others do". Well how many people are saying that? You can't complain about the problem when you are part of it. I got sick of it too. I rolled Republic and play Republic now. I was annoyed I lost my invested time on my BH, but what could I do? So now I'm a smuggler. And looking at nerfs. Almost should have stayed a BH in hindsight.

[Mormack]

There's nothing that's going to make the republic more attractive to most...Personally I wanted to play republic but my friends chose Empire. I'm playing with them. I like both sides but a lot of people will choose the "evil" side.

[SithZigg]

BioWare is aware of the imbalance, and are thinking of solutions. But to be honest faction imbalance is never really going to be solved. Where people choose to play, and what side they decide to play on, is entirely up to the individual. Giving incentives, or bonuses, to the losing side only shifts the imbalance from one faction to the other.

[Scorpali]

I believe a cinematic in which the Jedi actually win a fight without assistance would help (not fix, but help) the faction imbalance. The closest thing the Jedi have to a figurehead in this game is Satele Shan, and she's gotten her *** handed to her in every cutscene I've seen. We need a Mace Windu or a Yoda or SOMETHING to make the Jedi seem cool again. I don't care about image, which is why I can tolerate playing Republic right now, but a lot of people do care.

[maamets]

Something has to be done

 

Yes, I think BW has to hire a chinese slave for every Empire rolling western emo crybaby so that they could play their "balanced" game.

 

Shees - ever thought that you could be a part in the solution? Go roll Republic and have targets galore.

[salvadorellama]

While this isn't a horrible argument when it comes to PVP, it totally fails in the realm of PVE. My main is a gunslinger and I'm on a heavy population server yet still can rarely find groups for HM FPs. I'm now leveling an empire toon on the same server because of this. There are constantly people looking for more for HM FPs on the fleet on empire side. It's just too frustrating to have a 50 character that I can't find anything to do with besides PVP, so the only way to have fun seems to be jumping ship to the Empire.

 

Most people posting seem to be assuming this is a PvP related thread. In fact, when I PvP on my Republic toons it seems we can't lose. I personally think it's because most Imps are (ahem)young, play Sorcerers and have hotkeyed a controller to their PC and just use 4 abilities they can push buttons with.

 

You have it right; it's not about PvP, it's about being able to find people to group with for FP's, heroic dailies, etc.

 

It's also funny how people think we're "whining" when we're just pointing out that eventually a majority of people that choose to stay with the game will just reroll as Imps so they can actually have people to do PvE content with.

 

When a two faction game dissolves into people that mainly play one faction, the game won't be what it was meant to be. It's not about me "getting over myself", it's about trying find ways to overcome problems.

 

If I were a betting man I'd say the people calling "whiner" and the like are the people playing Imps that don't see the problem from the other side of the tracks. As long as they can own Ilum, run all the FP's they want, have a pretty purple saber, and play Huttball all day, there isn't a problem in their eyes.

[salvadorellama]

Sometimes it would be nice just to know our thoughts on the game we're now paying a sub for get heard. I know a lot of stuff gets posted on the forums, and I realize BW reps can't reply to every post, however many people in the community (I hope) would like to know what BW's official stance is on this and what is being discussed internally.

 

Perhaps promote someone to forum duty and have them post what is being discussed so the player base knows what is going on with the game we choose to play. A "middle man" between we, the players, and the BW developers.

 

Just sayin'...

[Goreson]

Most people posting seem to be assuming this is a PvP related thread. In fact, when I PvP on my Republic toons it seems we can't lose. I personally think it's because most Imps are (ahem)young, play Sorcerers and have hotkeyed a controller to their PC and just use 4 abilities they can push buttons with.

 

You have it right; it's not about PvP, it's about being able to find people to group with for FP's, heroic dailies, etc.

 

It's also funny how people think we're "whining" when we're just pointing out that eventually a majority of people that choose to stay with the game will just reroll as Imps so they can actually have people to do PvE content with.

 

When a two faction game dissolves into people that mainly play one faction, the game won't be what it was meant to be. It's not about me "getting over myself", it's about trying find ways to overcome problems.

 

If I were a betting man I'd say the people calling "whiner" and the like are the people playing Imps that don't see the problem from the other side of the tracks. As long as they can own Ilum, run all the FP's they want, have a pretty purple saber, and play Huttball all day, there isn't a problem in their eyes.

 

You know, and I'm not really sure how else to say this, the answer to your problem is to get some friends who play SWTOR!

 

I assume you have some RL friends? Get them to play SWTOR (if they are not yet doing so).

 

Unless they are living on a completely different schedule you should be able to team with them. Whether that is Imp or Rep would be completely up to you!

 

And if you happen to have no friends who want to play SWTOR or they all have better things to do while you play SWTOR, look in game!

 

Yes, granted, there may not be hundreds of peeps flagged as LFG on Rep, potentially because you picked the 'wrong' server (should I now explain that by saying 'wrong' I mean a server may have changed since you first started? Nah), but with a bit of looking/watching the chat, you will find other people!

 

Maybe they are not quite on your level: above, below, who cares, they can help in a Heroic!

 

And yes, please understand that I'm saying this as a Rep who has not yet played Imp.

 

The only reason I see (for me!) to switch to Imp is because once you've gone thru all the quests, all the storylines on Rep, eventually you want something else.

 

Who knows, maybe it'll be (eventually) the same on Imp?

 

But for now: Don't get a life, get friends!

[rzrknight]

Simple NO.

 

You dont give a side a bonus for having less people cause that is forcing people to pick a side heck , i would make all my 7 names holders change to the republic just to fool the numbers.

 

Now understand that the most they can do if give you cool fluff stuff , anything other than that and the empire players like me will get mad , and we are indeed the majority, think of how many more subs they would lose.

[salvadorellama]

Simple NO.

 

You dont give a side a bonus for having less people cause that is forcing people to pick a side heck , i would make all my 7 names holders change to the republic just to fool the numbers.

 

Now understand that the most they can do if give you cool fluff stuff , anything other than that and the empire players like me will get mad , and we are indeed the majority, think of how many more subs they would lose.

 

Instead of just saying "no", why don't you offer constructive feedback?

 

Besides the bonuses I suggested (if you bothered to read the thread at all) are in no way game breaking and would just be a nice boost to a severely underpopulated faction, mainly to help the economy and help people get crafted gear.

 

Read the thread and contribute or get out.

[salvadorellama]

There's a lot of posts going around about the hugely disproportionate factions and ideas to fix them.

 

Editted the original post to clarify for people that don't read the entire thread.

[JuicyFruits]

Just temporarily allow people to switch side, empire to republic. Keep the same AC. (Bh merc > Trooper commando. Sorc > Sage, etc etc).

 

Problem fixed.

 

I would personally use that option to transfer all my characters.

[Silversable]

Republic-side stories are lame stereotypes stretched over three chapters, chockful of holes and inconsistencies.

Republic-side fashion designers must have enjoyed their days as Monks... or Gutter rats.

Republic-side ship designers think that looks do not matter. Performance-wise, they are right. But looks sell.

Republic-side NPCs do not have one full brain to share among them.

The Old Republic is just that : old. Almost senile. If you play the good guy there, you play the part of the fool, repeatedly asking for more punishment. If you play the bad guy, you get the same, with the slight side benefit of being able to say "I told you so" (which does not change a damn thing...).

 

Star Wars is a setting based on principles. But principles, if not backed by actual benefits, do not sell to people who are merely playing a game.

 

The Empire got all the cookies.

 

Adherence to canon is no excuse.

[salvadorellama]

Republic-side stories are lame stereotypes stretched over three chapters, chockful of holes and inconsistencies.

Republic-side fashion designers must have enjoyed their days as Monks... or Gutter rats.

Republic-side ship designers think that looks do not matter. Performance-wise, they are right. But looks sell.

Republic-side NPCs do not have one full brain to share among them.

The Old Republic is just that : old. Almost senile. If you play the good guy there, you play the part of the fool, repeatedly asking for more punishment. If you play the bad guy, you get the same, with the slight side benefit of being able to say "I told you so" (which does not change a damn thing...).

 

Star Wars is a setting based on principles. But principles, if not backed by actual benefits, do not sell to people who are merely playing a game.

 

The Empire got all the cookies.

 

Adherence to canon is no excuse.

 

Yeah, when I first got my ship as a Agent, my jaw dropped.

 

I never worried too much about how the ships looked before the game was released, now I think otherwise.

 

The trooper ship is a flying box, the smuggler ship is a Falcon ripoff, and the consular ship is just lame.

 

You are right in that the Empire got all the cool stuff, but let's give suggestions on how to fix the problem.

 

You can add ship overhauls to the list.

[salvadorellama]

Just temporarily allow people to switch side, empire to republic. Keep the same AC. (Bh merc > Trooper commando. Sorc > Sage, etc etc).

 

Problem fixed.

 

I would personally use that option to transfer all my characters.

 

Temporarily? I want to switch all my toons to the Empire permanently.

 

Republic got screwed. I'm just trying to draw attention to that fact and offer up ideas on how to make it better (not that BW is going to listen).

 

I'm keeping my sub for now, but by the time the next game comes out (GW2?..I don't know what's big coming next) I'll probably be leaving unless major changes are made.