spicycookie Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I feel bad for you guys and I'm sorry you did not see this coming. After playing 15+ years of MMO. I knew already this was going to happen and I'm pretty sure a lot others have anticipated such an issue. We stuck it out on the heavy pop servers for the first month which is usually the heaviest ques in the game upon launch then it dies down.... A server transfer is a huge project in itself, it requires a lot of back end work and unfortunately you can level a 50 on a high pop server before they start providing a server transfer. These projects can't be done suddenly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bregah Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Ugh, all I know is.. I have held out for as long as I can on a dead server. I know re-rolling on a higher pop server, I would forget about how it was on a dead server.. I just cant help but ask myself, why is this my problem? It shouldn't be. I'm on a nearly dead server as well. I'm having fun despite the problems with the game, except when it comes to needing other people, and I don't have guildmates available. My guild has roughly 1/4 of the level 50's online during prime time (15-16 out of 60-70), so usually we can group up together. But with no dual specs, an awful LFG system, and very low population, if a key role (usually heals) isn't online in my guild, many of us are hosed (I'm a tank, BTW). I will not be re-rolling on another server. But what I can almost promise you is that as the end of the first paid month rolls around, I will likely simply unsubscribe. Very few warzone pops, nearly impossible to pug outside of my guild, and so many group H4's left undone across all levels. Merging my server with 2 or 3 others of the same size seems like a no-brainer. Unforntunately I get the impression Bioware will have to "learn" about this, as like so many other areas, they seem to not have taken into account lessons learned over the years by other MMOs. I may be crazy, but less than 100 people on the Imperial Fleet at all times, and 65 or level 50's on at 8:30 p EST on an east coast server is, in my book, pretty dead at this stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDX-TWO Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I posted this in an other tread and I think it would work. One easy fix would be to have one massive server with population cap instancing. When such instance or planet reaches a certain threshold lets say 200 people it creates a second instance of the same area this could be unlimited you can have 10 instance of the same area or more. And additional people are placed in a new phase and so on. Your server selection would look like this. US West Coast PVP server PVE server US East Coast PVP server PVE server Europe PVP server PVE server International PVP server PVE server You can also add RP servers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrelle Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 You're assuming that transferring to a higher pop (or rerolling for now) will be a viable solution. For the short-term maybe, but not much longer. Wait a few months, and your high-pops will dwindle. I don't think a reroll or transfer is worth it at this point. I would wait to see what happens. Unsub for a few months if you are 50. Come back if there are solid changes. The problem is first impressions. MMOs are not known for second chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viscidslime Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 1: Who would want to roll on a server with such a stupid name? I mean, i know this isn't a real point, and that most of the server names suck. But seriously? Sounds like the title to a bad B movie 2: Month old game 3: Server mergers are only done by MMOs that are in their death throws and one step away from shutting down or going F2P. Blizzard has had low pop servers since launch and not once have they ever considered merging. 4: Server mergers are bad press, scare away potential new players, and raise very polarizing questions like who gets to keep what name? Or guild name? What will the server be called? 5: Back to the names. You don't f with a MMO gamer's name. The best thing BW can do is take a page from Trion and offer free server transfer with a 1 week CD. 1. Subjective response 2. n/a 3. Subjective response 4. Subjective response 5. Subjective response Fact: 1. Server population in SWTOR is important a. A low population will result in incomplete game objective/mechanics b. Segregated(intended) player factions require more total players per server x Total # of player factions > IF WZ PvP /(lvl >=50) This statement alone, is all the reason needed to "allocate" and merge servers that do not meet the requirement for intended game play. I know, BioWare knows this to be true.. My only concern is, they are not addressing the issue, which is a major red flag in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I play on Telos Restoration Project. We're lucky to even get a single pvp queue during primetime. The Republic fleet has about 30, Imp fleet 40, during primetime. This is beyond ridiculous. I rerolled on Jung Ma so I could actually experience some content, leaving my main behind soley for raiding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khryn Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Whoa. First time I've gotten a warning over a rude post. I didn't even think it was that rude! Especially considering the vile, venomous things I've said on here in the past! lol. Anyhow. So you are telling me that at 8pm CST there are no more than 15 people in your fleet at any given time? I'm not really that callous to the issue. What I'm saying is that I think there are more people than you are implying, at least enough to start a guild and get people together. This game isn't that empty even on the "light" PvE servers. If you can't find people, you aren't looking. If you can't find a guild, try bringing your chat window open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizzrobe Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 (edited) Whoa. First time I've gotten a warning over a rude post. I didn't even think it was that rude! Especially considering the vile, venomous things I've said on here in the past! lol. Anyhow. So you are telling me that at 8pm CST there are no more than 15 people in your fleet at any given time? I'm not really that callous to the issue. What I'm saying is that I think there are more people than you are implying, at least enough to start a guild and get people together. This game isn't that empty even on the "light" PvE servers. If you can't find people, you aren't looking. If you can't find a guild, try bringing your chat window open. Actually I just logged on to my server and there are 10 people in the fleet, it is currently 6:21PM EST. There are actually 10 level 50s on (the whole side, not in the fleet), which is a large jump from the 6 I saw most of last night. It really is pretty bad on some of these servers. Edit: I just did another survey (sith side only): /who 1-20 54 players /who 21-49 89 players /who 50 10 players TOTAL 153 players Edited January 26, 2012 by Wizzrobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanogasm Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 This issue is a leading make or break factor of any MMOs growth imo. A crucial stage. How Bioware handles the process is incredibly important. Remember back on launch day how huge an issue server queues were? Bioware even had to make a formal press release to media to show acknowledgement. It's a tough situation for them to be in now. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Brand new MMO. Huge IP. Lots of marketing hype. But now the honeymoon period is over, and the game is experiencing a normalization in server pop distribution. I think they designed the world a bit too vast, combined with instancing systems which exacerbate the feeling of 'where is everyone?' Eitherway, the lads at Bioware do need to get their heads around this. There is a huge negative stigma with announcing server mergers, but I think they should move forward regardless. It is almost a natural cycle of MMOs. We need to speak more openly about that as a fact of the MMO biz model. Launches these days attract huge numbers of lookers, but only a portion stick around. Growing the game is viable, but you need to ensure the game isn't in a downward spiral at the time you're trying to grow it. And MMOs requires a bustling environment of people in the game in order to succeed - it needs to feel like you're playing a massive multiplayer experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalex Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 To all those people mentioning to have anticipated this and not join light servers. I've been playing since early access on a so called "full" server which had 30 min queues in the beginning. It's completely dead now. Takes me 2 hours if I'm lucky to find a Flashpoint group, and its impossible to do heroic quests, especially on republic. So yeah, its not better and this is just going downhill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goretzu Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 It's almost comical that one month ago, people were on here whining that the queues were too long and QQ'd to the point that Bioware opened new servers. One month later, queues on the original servers are gone and the new servers are dead. I remember a month ago people giving advice on these forums to just be patient in the queue for a few weeks and it will all sort out and we'll have a healthy community. That's what I chose to do, in fact I am on one of the busiest servers because I had patience and didn't re-roll. Well I suggest to you now that you go back to your original characters on the original server you started on, and start leveling. If you want a decent server with a good population on each faction come on over to Jedi Covenant, one of the busiest servers each night. And people were saying this wouldn't happen because of the staggered start and because they weren't rolling out "too many" servers. What worries me most is like Warhammer Online, they don't merge servers fast enough. Dead servers lose subs very, very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_b_gross Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 (edited) Whoa. First time I've gotten a warning over a rude post. I didn't even think it was that rude! Especially considering the vile, venomous things I've said on here in the past! lol. Anyhow. So you are telling me that at 8pm CST there are no more than 15 people in your fleet at any given time? I'm not really that callous to the issue. What I'm saying is that I think there are more people than you are implying, at least enough to start a guild and get people together. This game isn't that empty even on the "light" PvE servers. If you can't find people, you aren't looking. If you can't find a guild, try bringing your chat window open. I wasn't guessing or making up numbers. If you go into the Social menu and select the "Who" tab, it will give you a list of all the people in our zone. Or you can just look at the number of people displayed in the upper left hand corner. I have a level 50 on Mask of Nihilus. That's so much fun it's a borderline obsession. It's got a healthy server population, you can buy stuff, sell stuff, find groups, join a guild, quit a guild to join a new one, run into someone while doing your dailies and make a new friend, etc. On Defenestrator, there are simply no people. I'm not ant-Bioware, I'm not QQing (it's only an alt, it's not like it's ruining my experienece), I'm not saying it's evidence of massive icompetence or the impending failure of the game. I'm just giving you a piece fo data that you seem to lack (which, if you happen to play on a healthy server, is not surprising). Edited January 26, 2012 by andrew_b_gross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizzrobe Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I wasn't guessing or making up numbers. If you go into the Social menu and select the "Who" tab, it will give you a list of all the people in our zone. Or you can just look at the number of people displayed in the upper left hand corner. I have a level 50 on Mask of Nihilus. That's so much fun it's a borderline obsession. It's got a healthy server population, you can buy stuff, sell stuff, find groups, join a guild, quit a guild to join a new one, run into someone while doing your dailies and make a new friend, etc. On Defenestrator, there are simply no people. I'm not ant-Bioware, I'm not QQing (it's only an alt, it's not like it's ruining my experienece), I'm not saying it's evidence of massive icompetence or the impending failure of the game. I'm just giving you a piece fo data that you seem to lack (which, if you happen to play on a healthy server, is not surprising). It's nice to see somebody else from the Defenestrator chime in. It seems in most every thread people tell me I am exaggerating when I tell them the population numbers I see on a daily basis on this server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLauncher Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I'm happy to see this issue is gaining attention. It used to be an uphill battle just to get people to acknowledge that low population servers even existed, never mind what to do about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannic Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 (edited) To all those people mentioning to have anticipated this and not join light servers. I've been playing since early access on a so called "full" server which had 30 min queues in the beginning. It's completely dead now. Takes me 2 hours if I'm lucky to find a Flashpoint group, and its impossible to do heroic quests, especially on republic. So yeah, its not better and this is just going downhill. Besides, wasn't this game supposed to be "zomguber! popular!" anyway so that choosing any old well-populated servers should have been good enough? The launch day servers were supposed to be just the beginning of what they would eventually have. There are at least 30 too many servers in NA. Many of the launch day servers have never filled. Edited January 27, 2012 by Mannic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barracudastr Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Bioware knows what servers are dead and what ones aren't. They just aren't choosing to merge for whatever reason... maybe they think there will be an influx of players soon? Maybe they hope the patch with legacy and all that will surge the game again I dont know. But it sucks for those on low pop servers that have to put up with the silent treatment we get oh so often from bioware whenever theres issues. It reminds me of playing korean based mmorgs tbh.... communication wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludwork Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Pretty much everyone who whines about server merges is on a "light" server. There are only about 10 light servers, the vast majority are standard. That's why asking for server merges is premature. Light servers are light. shocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jigsaw-Complex Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I hate MMO forums. I really do. There are 3-4 topics on the same melodramatic topics every couple of days, and it's always the end of the world. These people are yelling so loudly for no reason that they simply ignore the truth, and that's really why i hate the internet. In real life, i could just punch somebody in the teeth and tell them to shut up while i learn them some truth. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLauncher Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Pretty much everyone who whines about server merges is on a "light" server. There are only about 10 light servers, the vast majority are standard. That's why asking for server merges is premature. Light servers are light. shocking. You've already had it explained to you why "Standard" isn't necessarily a healthy designation. I'm not going to tire myself doing it again, especially for someone who's purposefully being obtuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myndenx Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Doesn´t bioware has to pay maintenance per each server? I would think that it may be in their best interest to have less servers with the same number of subscriptions, rather than many with several half empty servers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paralassa Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Hi there! There is an active discussion thread for this topic: Server population is dropping... In the interest of consolidating discussion, we have closed this thread and ask that you use the one linked above for any further discussion. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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