Server population is dropping...

[Rouge]

Basilisk Droid is also dying, at 11 pm there were 20 ppl on Ilum! If I won't be able to move my char or servers won't be merged in two weeks it's going to be my last days of SWTOR.

 

Seems like you need a dose of reality to wake you up from the delusion: 20 people on Ilum isn't bad. Most people on your server won't be near 50 currently, yet you expect that should be the case and that they should congregate on Ilum to fill it for you. 20 people on Ilum isn't bad at all.

 

I don't understand why you people think that making threats - "server mergers or the subscription gets it!" - here on the forums would be noticed on BW by anyone except normal mods?

[Fezzhan]

Is your server name a secret or can you share it?

Shhh yes I'm the invisible man I'm the invisible man Incredible how you can see right through me

 

Sorry was writin the message and with these complicated names (why??? just use one word instead "tomb of the hutt that eaten two tuskarr on tattoine" server) i cant remind it.

Now i checked: is Tomb of Freedon Nadd (standard actually)

Edited March 1, 2012 by Fezzhan

[Fezzhan]

Here's something that no one's considered at all...that I'm aware of being that I only read the first 2 pages...

 

1. PST server populations are going to drop as soon as all the APAC players get their transfers.

 

2. Population balance between Imp and Repub is totally jacked, most servers favoring Imp to varying degrees.

 

3. Prime time is between ~ 4pm and 10pm

 

4. Merging servers will only create a larger divide between republic and imperial numbers.

 

5. Numbers = economy = players. No one stays on a server where the GTN is totally garbage.

 

Now what to do about these points...

 

In order....

1. We merge servers. Plain and simple. There's not a lot to be done about it.

 

2. Offer free transfers for Republic players to selected servers for a short amount of time. Obviously from the lowest republic population to the highest republic population until the balance is ~ 1-1.

2a. An additional server merge would need to happen to distribute the rest of the population across servers to close as many low pop servers as possible.

 

3. We need less BOP drops from dungeons and more items to put on the GTN besides random greens that drop from whatever, and crafted purples. I've taken a glance at a few servers to see a totally dead GTN, mostly republic side for just about anything. Having a decent market that can sustain players keeps players.

 

4. Open up a paid transfer service so people can jump ship and move to a different server if they chose.

 

End state---- More populated servers, better faction balance, faster queues, more Flashpoints, more raiding.

 

I know it's not as easy as all that because there are numbers to crunch and figures and coding and whatever else people want to throw in there, but something to the effect above needs to happen or people will end up leaving.

 

If they never planned this kind of action, this project coud take months to be enacted...

Just my 2 cents... the game is just 3 months old... reroll cahars isnt a nightmare... in Wow i have a char on sporeggar with 6 years... THIS could be a nightmare to lose... not a young char with 3 months or less

Edited March 1, 2012 by Fezzhan

[Jxspyder]

Are you trying to state that natural drop off in MMO's doesn't occur and isn't a fact?

 

Or do you believe that every single box sale always translates into mid-long term subscriptions once the first 30 days is up?

 

If you believe the latter, I have a bridge for sale in London if you want it.

 

Not at all. I'm also not trying to link that drop to any specific causitive action. Go ahead and keep your bridge.

 

 

Yet according to some on these forums there are 1.7 million people playing. Never have 1.7 million people been so elusive, come on guys where are you hiding.

 

Because all 1.7 million are logged on and playing at exactly the same time.......

Edited March 1, 2012 by Jxspyder

[Jxspyder]

You mean to tell me a mini rail shooter is insufficient to hold players' attention/dollars? Pre-launch there were numerous posters who insisted that a lack of meaningful space combat was perfect for keeping the masses indefinitely. Where be they now?

 

You mean you bought TOR for a mini-game? Did you buy WoW for it's rousing fishing game as well?

 

I have this wonderful toy I can sell you. Its called a slinky.. You + Slinky + Stairs = Endless amounts of fun..

 

Hundreds of hours of content doesnt make the content actually worth playing. And sorry but doing daily's and Huttball for the 5 millionth time doesnt count as exciting or fun.

 

You seem like someone that would be extremely easy to satisfy. Have all consumers forgotten what getting a good product actually is? This certainly isnt it..

 

You seem to have forgotten what an opinion is. This absolutely is one. It's not universal.

[Jxspyder]

Well, then you are truly delusional. Not one server population that I've seen has been listed as "heavy" or "full" anymore. They're all 'light' or 'standard' now. You can't possibly believe that all those 1.7 "subscribers" are actually playing the game.

 

Take me for an example. I'm currently a "subscriber" because I bought 3 months of game time (regrettably), however, I hadn't logged in for over a month prior to about 2 days ago.

Actually, the problem isn't that he's delusional, it's that you're ignorant. There are several servers that list as heavy and full. Aside from that, server caps were increased. When you increase server caps, you change the numbers that constitute standard and heavy.

 

So you can cling to those numbers as much as you like, it doesn't change the fact there are 35 people on the fleet during prime time.

 

Pot, meet kettle. It also doesn't change the point that the number of people on the fleet constitutes the server's population.

[finkelmana]

Has there been any OFFICIAL reply/post/etc on the population issues many of the servers are having? Edited March 1, 2012 by finkelmana

[Andryah]

Has there been any OFFICIAL reply/post/etc on the population issues many of the servers are having?

 

Devchat is your friend. It tracks EVERY OFFICIAL POST on everything.

[Bumofdunland]

I'm happy to provide my server name.

 

Tarro Blood, Republic, pretty much dead. No one to play with, can't ever get flashpoint groups together. I see it will be impossible for me to raid with this ghost town of a server.

[Fiachsidhe]

I can't believe so many people are using the absolute crappiest means of proving their server is dead.

 

1. One anecdote of the time you /who'ed in fleet, doesn't cut it.

What day was it?

What time was it?

What is the average age of player on your server?

What time zone is each player on your server in?

How often each day did you check? How many days?

 

You can't go in a club at 5:00 on a Tuesday and judge the clubs popularity based on the traffic.

 

Maybe more adults and students play on your server and can't be on all night. Maybe your server takes off after 10:00p.m.

 

It's insane to try and eyeball it once or twice and then proclaim your perception as fact.

Is your server dropping? Maybe. But no here is proving it.

 

EDIT: Though I have to say Bioware's seemingly traditional avoidance and communication isn't helping at all. They seem to revel in our speculation and get off on it, that's if they even care enough to do that much.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Fiachsidhe

[hurriedcorgi]

I can't believe so many people are using the absolute crappiest means of proving their server is dead.

 

1. One anecdote of the time you /who'ed in fleet, doesn't cut it.

What day was it?

What time was it?

What is the average age of player on your server?

What time zone is each player on your server in?

How often each day did you check? How many days?

 

You can't go in a club at 5:00 on a Tuesday and judge the clubs popularity based on the traffic.

 

Maybe more adults and students play on your server and can't be on all night. Maybe your server takes off after 10:00p.m.

 

It's insane to try and eyeball it once or twice and then proclaim your perception as fact.

Is your server dropping? Maybe. But no here is proving it.

 

EDIT: Though I have to say Bioware's seemingly traditional avoidance and communication isn't helping at all. They seem to revel in our speculation and get off on it, that's if they even care enough to do that much.

 

 

I play at completely random times being a full-time student and near full-time bar manager for work and I can say, in my experience, that it has become drastically more difficult to do anything as a group. There is what appears to be a cut in about half of the amount of people on the server at any given time - from the fleet, to the guild, to the planets, to wzs... I have taken Quan classes and can I prove that the population is down? No, but, I'd sure like to place a bet if anyone will take it!

[Fiachsidhe]

I play at completely random times being a full-time student and near full-time bar manager for work and I can say, in my experience, that it has become drastically more difficult to do anything as a group. There is what appears to be a cut in about half of the amount of people on the server at any given time - from the fleet, to the guild, to the planets, to wzs... I have taken Quan classes and can I prove that the population is down? No, but, I'd sure like to place a bet if anyone will take it!

 

I'm really sorry to hear that. I know for a fact that most mmorpg's pops are cut almost in half after launch. Many just don't bother sticking around.

 

So who knows, maybe your server is hemorrhaging players. If so let's hope Bioware does something soon.

 

Most games die down between major updates. Not really sure what's going on here. The tools to figure out server pops aren't good.

[Alluvio]

The rest of my guild decided to pack up and leave Sedyn Kyne for Sith Wyrm because of the low population. I had to follow suite or I would have no one to play with. I never even got to see end game because I was seven levels below 50. (I had to save up to buy a new computer to play the game with and couldn't get it at launch.) Now, I'm considering cancelling my subscription to take a break from the game because I can't get myself enthused to start over on the only class I wanted to play.

 

(Protip: I would've shelled out the $20 or whatever for a transfer, but that's not even an option for a few months. I'm not waiting that long.)

 

It just seems like they have way too many servers for the number of accounts they have at this time. I wouldn't say they game is dying, and I appreciate them being over, rather than under-prepared... but still. There's been a lot of talk of merging. I encourage them to do it sooner, rather than later. I like this game, appreciate the effort they've put into it, and I want to see it succeed. I just place my own enjoyment of something as a priority when I'm a paying customer.

[Norumaniac]

Cho mai is dead. Twin spears is on its way. I have 50 on both servers btw.

[rebab]

Uthar Wynn is also Dead we need a Merge badly!

[xxdragonragexx]

I'm happy to provide my server name.

 

Tarro Blood, Republic, pretty much dead. No one to play with, can't ever get flashpoint groups together. I see it will be impossible for me to raid with this ghost town of a server.

 

Republic don't count lol.

[obiwoncarlnobi]

my server tassaa bareesh has 40 people on fleet in peak time, its a complete joke i mean we all kinda know eachother which is cool,

 

but when ya wait 2 and a half hours at times for a wz which is 90% huttballs, or go to ilum and theres not a soul there or try to get a group for FPS etc its a complete disgrace and makes you think hang on a minute im actually paying for this crap,

 

a group of 15 of us have all cancelled our subs in a hopeless bid to get the problem noticed. cya in 12 months swtor.

[Goretzu]

Here's something that no one's considered at all...that I'm aware of being that I only read the first 2 pages...

 

1. PST server populations are going to drop as soon as all the APAC players get their transfers.

 

2. Population balance between Imp and Repub is totally jacked, most servers favoring Imp to varying degrees.

 

3. Prime time is between ~ 4pm and 10pm

 

4. Merging servers will only create a larger divide between republic and imperial numbers.

 

5. Numbers = economy = players. No one stays on a server where the GTN is totally garbage.

 

Now what to do about these points...

 

In order....

1. We merge servers. Plain and simple. There's not a lot to be done about it.

 

2. Offer free transfers for Republic players to selected servers for a short amount of time. Obviously from the lowest republic population to the highest republic population until the balance is ~ 1-1.

2a. An additional server merge would need to happen to distribute the rest of the population across servers to close as many low pop servers as possible.

 

3. We need less BOP drops from dungeons and more items to put on the GTN besides random greens that drop from whatever, and crafted purples. I've taken a glance at a few servers to see a totally dead GTN, mostly republic side for just about anything. Having a decent market that can sustain players keeps players.

 

4. Open up a paid transfer service so people can jump ship and move to a different server if they chose.

 

End state---- More populated servers, better faction balance, faster queues, more Flashpoints, more raiding.

 

I know it's not as easy as all that because there are numbers to crunch and figures and coding and whatever else people want to throw in there, but something to the effect above needs to happen or people will end up leaving.

 

 

I don't think there's enough republic players in general. Removing all Republic from a server and leaving Empire isn't viable.

[Veimi]

Trayus Academy republic as good as dead. Judging by doing /who on peak times every day, I'm averaging around 150-170 people online total at 7pm gmt+1. That counts all levels. Fleet numbers are around 5-30.

[Ansultares]

The rest of my guild decided to pack up and leave Sedyn Kyne for Sith Wyrm because of the low population.

Just wait until next month, when they decide to move from Sith Wyrm to Canderous Ordo.

[zorniza]

Trayus Academy republic as good as dead. Judging by doing /who on peak times every day, I'm averaging around 150-170 people online total at 7pm gmt+1. That counts all levels. Fleet numbers are around 5-30.

 

Yeah, United Nations guild have been forced to reroll Legions of Leethow empire side, because we couldnt recruit more people. Rathe radical solution that i would like to avoid...

[Stradlin]

Well, about 30 minutes ago, my server, Prophecy of the Five, had 146 on Imperial Fleet, and 58 Republic Fleet. Healthy on Imperial Side, not so much on Republic side. Republic side has definately a ghosttown feel to it, even during peak hours.

 

 

I'm not sure if it is good idea to use number of people in Fleet as an indicator of a healthy server. I see this happening a lot. " Wellp.. around december we had 150 people in fleet during peak. I checked 23 secs back, and we stil had that 150! So server is fine!" Too easily people forget the number of people who have their character(s) at lvl cap has increased in pretty massive fashion over the few months. With this in mind, amount of people in Fleet should increase as well.

[cheesebourger]

the saddest part is like me, most people are level40+ by the time they realise just how bad a dead server is (was busy grinding levels..then suddenly: oh no!! its dead!)

[semmbion]

Death Wind Corridor has 40 people in the republic fleet on a Friday night at 8 pm. 40!

 

AT ~9:15 I tried to make a False Emp HM group. I would heal, my RL friend was dps. all we needed was a tank and another dps. We spend 30 minutes looking and I whispered every tank on the server. After 30mmins we still didn't have a group. It took so long that by the time we found a tank, we lost our dps and vice versa.

 

This is f'ed!

 

x-server PvE NOW.

[BlackZoback]

Death Wind Corridor has 40 people in the republic fleet on a Friday night at 8 pm. 40!

 

AT ~9:15 I tried to make a False Emp HM group. I would heal, my RL friend was dps. all we needed was a tank and another dps. We spend 30 minutes looking and I whispered every tank on the server. After 30mmins we still didn't have a group. It took so long that by the time we found a tank, we lost our dps and vice versa.

 

This is f'ed!

 

x-server PvE NOW.

 

Tanks are hard to come by, this is not shocking to most, and has nothing to do with server populations.