Server forums?

[hkelias]

I agree. Please add server forums.

[Darkxenos]

+1 for server forums

[Conwolv]

Hi everyone! We wanted to explain a little more about why there aren't currently server forums:

 

While we absolutely agree that there are some useful threads and discussions that come from server forums, we have decided to not include them in our launch Forums lineup. Partially, this is because we do not feel we could currently provide the high standard of moderation, oversight, and maintenance in each of them that we aim to provide across the Forums.

 

Another factor is that, after observing server forums for other games, we feel that we can provide places on the Forums for the constructive content that typically comes from them while working to eliminate the extreme negativity of player callouts and other undesirable forum activity that can occur in them.

 

We now have several areas for guild recruitment and community discussion and organization, which we feel are excellent things that typically end up in server-specific forums. We encourage you to make use of all the Community Forums (especially the Server Event and Check-ins forums) as well as our expanded Guild Hall forums. Though the search feature is currently disabled, once it is restored it will be easy to search for guilds recruiting on your server (and we apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime).

 

Obviously, this is a decision we can re-evaluate as we receive community feedback, but we do encourage you to try out the sub-forums that we currently have to see if they meet your needs and desires for meeting other players. In the future, we may add additional sub-forums for various topics that require more space. We're always reading feedback and evaluating the needs of the community, and will continue to do so, so please do let us know what suggestions you have to improve the Forums!

 

An MMO is about community. Both large and small. From your group of friends you play with (husband and wife), the guild you play with, the server you're on and the community as a whole. By cutting off the ability for the server community to communicate, you're crippling it.

 

Many guilds gain the majority of their players from forum posts from their server community forums. People find other players of like interests such as PVP groups.

 

You provided guilds across the world their own forums, both public and private to help foster that community. Allowed those guilds to form alliances and "enemies" with one another, but now you wont allow them to communicate and participate in a server community on your forums? This seems like very backwards thinking.

 

So far, SWTOR isn't here to re-invent the wheel. Very little in this game is ground breaking (but done very well for the most part), I don't see why you feel the need to change how the MMO community (who is on the verge of splitting in two to come to your game) communicates and interacts on such a fundamental level.

 

We, the Community needs forums for our servers. It helps our server feel more like a home.

 

-

Conwolv of <Despair> @ The Harbinger

Edited December 20, 2011 by Conwolv

[Vicodin]

I'm sorry to jump in on this in such a negative way, when such a great game has been produced and so much work has been put into a smooth and successful launch.... but:

 

Are you guys insane? Server forums are an absolute requirement. When the community is as large as this one is things have to be paired down some otherwise the voice of the people gets lost in an deafening roar of voices. Also, you have a different evolution of common practices and prevalent opinions from server to server. In a phrase, no one cares what joe schmo and his guild from some other med pop RP server thinks about endgame progression. And he doesn't care about the mechanics of such and such boss on the PVE server down the block.

 

People want to feel they're part of a community of THEIR PEERS. Throwing everyone into one big smelting pot of a forums is a great way to alienate people from your server.

 

You could take your same logic and get rid of the class forums - yet you've had those for going on 2 years now, because Imperial Agents want to talk with other Imperial Agents, not Troopers. Players on The Harbinger don't want to talk to people from Lord Praven server.

 

Please reverse this.

 

I beg you.

[xSOVRINx]

+1 for server forums! Lets go BW give them to us!

[Shamien]

I must admit I didn't read all the posts in this and so my point might already be covered, but as RP-PvP server guild leader and working in cooperation with other guild leaders I see a server forum a necessity. We have guilds on both Republic and Empire side, and we need a decent channel to announce events, to organise them and overall, to know who is playing on "our" server to welcome and introduce them to the community.

 

There are many people who never visit the 10,000 subforums even though they might have the interest to participate in various types of server events. At the moment with prelaunch it's still easy to find the relevant posts, but how about in two months or so?

 

Another point still is that even on RP-PVP server there are non-roleplayers, and none of those would even consider checking out RP forums, even though there might be an RP-oriented PVP event coming they might be interested in. Without server forums, this will lead to dual or triple postings of the same subject in different forums to reach all whom this may interest, which in turn contributes to the amounts of clutter in the forums. Rethinking a lot is what is needed here.

 

Please, input the server forums as soon as possible.

[Bordeau]

Please for the love of all that is holy add server forums. The current offerings do not meet my needs, nor the needs of any progression based guild. They are at best an amusing distraction, or a way to meet up with local players, nothing more. I implore you to seriously consider adding the server forums ASAP. Heavily moderated or not, there must be some form of communication outside of game for players on specific servers. I understand the potential for unruly and rude behavior will exist if there are more forums than there are mods. But (Bioware) you can't honestly think the current setup is anything worthy of a game of this caliber. Edited December 20, 2011 by Bordeau

[Nelle]

I'm really shocked that Bioware is so against this. In a effort to over through their absolute minded ways (see what I did there?) the Fatman community has started our own sever forum.

 

 

http://fatmanswtor.com/

 

We are in the beginning stages but soon.. very soon it will spread like wild fire. Other strong weild server communities I'd suggest the same for you.

 

 

So Bioware whats it going to be? Provide a sever community forums for the legion upon legions of fans flocking to your newest title or will you ignore the requests and force people from the community to take matters into their own hands?

 

Choose your side!

 

 

Edited December 20, 2011 by Nelle

[oredith]

people read the forums when they're not playing the game, ie, when the server's down, maint, or WHEN THEY ARE AT WORK

 

if there aren't server forums for people to bond over, you end up with people all over general forums that have no continuity.

 

seriously, SWTOR is not KOTOR multiplied, it's a MMO, and a MMO is about the community, not just the game.

 

server forums are an absolutely critical part of community building.

[arnoldlol]

Realm forums are used to build community. It's nice and all for North American guilds to get together and bond, and European guilds - but without realm forums the interaction will be reduced to basically afk in capitals and /1 which is already full of trolls...

[Vicodin]

Dear Bioware

 

Server forums are not optional, they are mandatory.

 

Love Bordeau

 

Get into mumble ya bum.

[Fickey]

Looks like a few are just making their own... which has been done before in many other games. Still, they should of been there in some from...

 

Just shows how dedicated some will be to provide an unofficial fix

[Vicodin]

AND ANOTHER THING...

 

you gave every tom dick and susan who wanted to create their own guild ... a forum. But one for each server is too much?

 

/endrant

[Dahkot]

It's a fairly inept decision by you Bioware.

 

Great game , but no server forums shows how your lack of judgement like trying the no grace period move just smacks of not really knowing how to do the customer service side of things.

[Marcato]

Server forums would be nice so I could see the 3 other people that rolled on Thana Vesh.

 

P.S. Play on Thana Vesh.

[Kuza]

SWTOR Server Forums

 

 

This is not a petition, this is a request. Please leave valid feedback.

 

This game needs server forums, but why you ask?

 

 

 

The list can go on and on. Nearly 200 replies to this thread as of Dec 14th, 2011 and still no response from the Bioware staff.

 

Server forums are essential to comradery within a MMO that carries multiple servers. Servers become their own little worlds with their own little social groups. People within those little worlds, generelly, only care about what is going on in their world.

 

Building a community that is required to divide in-game means you must facilitate a means to which the community can filter internally. "We" don't care about the economy on other serves. "We" don't care about PvP on other servers. "We" don't care about Guild X that's recruiting on the other server. "We" want to trade/sell/buy and communicate with people on our own server.

 

SWTOR is off to a good start, let's not tarnish the image so soon. Make things right and give us server forums!

 

 

EXAMPLE:

http://skylineownersusa.com/images/swgservers.png

 

 

 

 

 

---- Some helpful feedback from your loyal customers ----

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: Dec 19th, 2011

This thread had nearly 400 replies and over 10,000 views.

 

I came here to post the same thing.

[Woolamander]

No server forums? What were they thinking!?

[sohte]

Epic launch music -

 

[Vandrel-Blitz]

I'm really shocked that Bioware is so against this. In a effort to over through their absolute minded ways (see what I did there?) the Fatman community has started our own sever forum.

 

 

http://fatmanswtor.com/

 

We are in the beginning stages but soon.. very soon it will spread like wild fire. Other strong weild server communities I'd suggest the same for you.

 

 

So Bioware whats it going to be? Provide a sever community forums for the legion upon legions of fans flocking to your newest title or will you ignore the requests and force people from the community to take matters into their own hands?

 

Choose your side!

 

 

 

While I applaud your efforts, this is however the sort of thing that drives me bannana sandwich. Bioware/EA is causing it's customers to pay out of pocket expenses to do their jobs for them.

 

This is completely unacceptable and unsat.

[nokizaru]

I'll probably get flamed for saying this, but despite also wanting server forums, I agree wholeheartedly with the decision. I have little doubt that server forums will be implemented in the future, but without a sufficient number of moderators to 'police' proceedings, said servers can degenerate into quagmires of childish slinging-matches. MMO veterans can only attest to the base behaviour that has plagued similar forums for past titles. You can argue that we're all adults and we should be allowed to self-moderate...but it's naive to think this game will be spared the same level of idiocy as other communities have experienced. I'm content to wait until BioWare has the system/moderators in place to ensure an enjoyable experience on the server forums.

[Vandrel-Blitz]

I agree wholeheartedly with the decision.

 

but without a sufficient number of moderators to 'police' proceedings, said servers can degenerate into quagmires of childish slinging-matches.

 

I'm content to wait until BioWare has the system/moderators in place to ensure an enjoyable experience on the server forums.

 

 

Bioware has made a lot of money off of sales already. I can garuntee you they have more then enough to hire some entry level personnel to act as moderators in shifts for the server forums alone.

 

Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance

 

Right now, it's piss poor performance because they didn't do proper planning. It all falls back on someone and right now it's falling on the Community/Support Staff Managers.

[Vokda]

Server forums plz. kthx

[KrystiK]

Yes server forums PLX!!

[Mystertee]

Server forums are much needed...NOW!

[ippollite]

Its an incredibly poor decision if im honest. This game is an MMO, but feels like a single player game often.

 

The realm forums in both vanilla and Burning crusade were possibly the best place on the forums. Alliances were made, people found players they could hang out with, the community policed itself and even if people did call out other players, we were capable of exercising our own judgement on the matter. Finally it fostered a healthy rivalry and a means for people to chat/flame/antagonise and mess around with the opposite faction. It built an amazingly boisterous healthy rivalry and certainly encouraged world pvp via bragging rights and maybe knocking people off their pedestal.

 

The forums were a great place to manufacture, forster and develop the community in a way you just cant do inside the game itself. Its simply too fast paced. You see a person in game, and you might not see them for another month or so. By then you've forgotten this was the dude you spent twenty minutes fighting. On the forums we could continually chat to them, keep the machinery ticking along and the next time you saw them you were in for some awesome fireworks.

 

I think youre looking at with far too much cynicism to be honest. Either that or youre (the company) dressing up a financial decision as a moral one. If you genuinely believe that server forums HINDER community i would ask you to pay special attention to those who call for them. Most of the posters have made well meaning and reasonable points. They arent trolls. They arent looking to use the forums for pure mischief. They want them because it helps them feel connected to the community at large.

 

I have no flags on my account. Ive made plenty of posts, lots of them constructive. I make my point with reasons (if a smidgen long windedly), and i believe absolutely that realm forums smack talk is nothing more than a means to enhance the world and give a sense of identity to those random people you come across every day in the game. And thats just your negatives. You can also add trading, grouping, guilding, raiding, and a thousand other things that makes your achievments on YOUR realm relevant to the other people reading. It gives you a stake in your server and thats whats going to be keeping people here after the month 'free' time ends.

 

Please listen to your customers. This is something we really want and we really want it because it helps foster alliances whilst also bringing the world to life and encouraging a bit of mischief. It FOSTERS and ENHANCES community. It doesnt destroy it. You (the company) have made a mistake in not developing them and i would strongly encourage you to reassess the situation

Edited December 20, 2011 by ippollite