Imbalance is KILLING this game

[Icedanno]

Just finished my 8th WZ today. Every WZ spawned with less then 6 Republic players... one ever started 8 to 3 in the Imps favor. A couple of them eventually filled in the Republic to 8, but by then the Imps had essentially won the match already.

 

On my server the Republic side is a GHOST town. Takes hour or more for a WZ to spawn, and then it looks like above. My first guild had at peak 46 players. I bailed when it was clear that only me and 3 others were actually still playing the game.

 

When asked, (we have the email accounts), most said they wanted to PvP, but there was no sense trying to PvP on the Republic side in this game.

 

Yes yes.. the fanbois are already squeeking in with the "Go play Imperial" chant, or "It only takes a week to hit 50, reroll". Most of us DON'T live in our mom's basement and play this game 24 hours a day, so we don't have the time to 'reroll' characters.

 

That being said, pretty much every person that has quit the game has listed the same reason. They wanted to play on the Republic side, but with the server imbalances of 2 to 1 and 3 to 1 there is no way to enjoy PvP.

 

Imbalance is KILLING this game, more then anything. Next billing cycle, Bioware is going to really start noticing that.

 

Hopefully they will do something about it before it gets ... worse(er).

[Icebaron]

I didn't see anything in the guild summit that would address this. Did I miss it or was it just not there?

[DarthPAWS]

Just finished my 8th WZ today. Every WZ spawned with less then 6 Republic players... one ever started 8 to 3 in the Imps favor. A couple of them eventually filled in the Republic to 8, but by then the Imps had essentially won the match already.

 

On my server the Republic side is a GHOST town. Takes hour or more for a WZ to spawn, and then it looks like above. My first guild had at peak 46 players. I bailed when it was clear that only me and 3 others were actually still playing the game.

 

When asked, (we have the email accounts), most said they wanted to PvP, but there was no sense trying to PvP on the Republic side in this game.

 

Yes yes.. the fanbois are already squeeking in with the "Go play Imperial" chant, or "It only takes a week to hit 50, reroll". Most of us DON'T live in our mom's basement and play this game 24 hours a day, so we don't have the time to 'reroll' characters.

 

That being said, pretty much every person that has quit the game has listed the same reason. They wanted to play on the Republic side, but with the server imbalances of 2 to 1 and 3 to 1 there is no way to enjoy PvP.

 

Imbalance is KILLING this game, more then anything. Next billing cycle, Bioware is going to really start noticing that.

 

Hopefully they will do something about it before it gets ... worse(er).

 

if you would read what has happend in the last few days you would have the answers you seek on what is going to be done on the PVP side of this issue;)

[Icedanno]

And that would be....?

[Amien]

I've been loving the PvP here! If you want to REALLY see game imbalance, download the LOTRO client and roll a f2p reaver (It is a very strong creep class, it's not like they gave you a crappy class to play as a free player ).

 

Don't get me wrong, the game is wonderful and I'm still in love with all the classes, it's just annoying that the devs ignore the PvMP in that game.

 

If your going to introduce a game feature, you need to keep it up to date for the population that plays that feature.

[Kourage]

Legacy is the answer.

[NDiggy]

I didn't see anything in the guild summit that would address this. Did I miss it or was it just not there?

 

It was briefly mentioned, but they pretty much swept it under the rug saying it was a player problem and there was nothing they could do.

[Beergogglez]

Nothing they could do ? How about fixing Mirror class imbalance? haha the republic are have certain abilities ..do less damage or have longer cd's compared to Empire.

[Icedanno]

lol, player problem all right.. .as in no players left!

 

Just finished 10th WZ today. Last two started 8 to 4 in favor of the imps. All I can say is the Imp players are loving PvP right now.

[va_wanderer]

Can't really change the fact that zergs are the dominant PvP lifeform and that means people will go on PvP servers to where they think they can score an easy win- the larger faction.

 

The lack of targets is a result of this. They can't MAKE PvPers play the smaller faction- and it's part of why they're moving more warzones to being same-faction playable, so you don't get stuck in Huttball for eternity.

[NDiggy]

These are their bright ideas:

 

Q: Any plans for dealing with faction balance?

 

Damion: We think the Legacy system will help a bit and that was one of its goals. Most of our designs are resilient enough to deal with some imbalance on some servers. We can try and entice people to play certain sides or factions, but at the end of the day its each player's fantasy and up to them.

 

Georg: We allow players to play both factions on a single server, so we are hoping Legacy will help a bit with that. That's all we have planned short term. Further down the line, optional character transfers is a possibility.

 

Gabe: Cooler outfits in the end game progression could help influence people to switch sides.

 

I have no idea how Legacy is supposed to help. People that want the unlocks will just grind out the levels and then abandon the character. It won't help the faction balance issue unless they actually play that character a meaningful amount of time at 50. The last guy think people will play Republic for cooler end game outfits even though they have to wear rags, bath robes, crummy capes, and pope robes for leveling and if they don't have access to end game gear. Good times, BW is clueless about this issue.

[NDiggy]

Can't really change the fact that zergs are the dominant PvP lifeform and that means people will go on PvP servers to where they think they can score an easy win- the larger faction.

 

The lack of targets is a result of this. They can't MAKE PvPers play the smaller faction- and it's part of why they're moving more warzones to being same-faction playable, so you don't get stuck in Huttball for eternity.

 

Honestly though, if Imperials were always stuck in Huttball wouldn't that be one big incentive to trade sides and play Republic if you're a big PvP'er? BW is basically removing one big reason Imps have to even play Replubic.

[Icebaron]

Suggestions to fix imbalances;

 

1. Fix mirror classes. (I don't think they make that big a difference, but perception is everything being players choose a faction)

2. Bonus in exp gains, honor gains, legacy gains and affection gains to your faction. The greater the imbalance, the greater the gain should be.

3. More clothing options between the factions, and blur the lines. I know you want Jedi looking one way and Sith looking another way, but if everyone thinks one faction is cooler then you should give up on this idea. Jedi in black robes and the like. (just look at the pilot gear rewards for space combat).

 

 

Those three solutions would fix the problem within a month.

 

To fix it even faster, enable free faction swaps on servers heavily one sided.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Icebaron

[Icedanno]

Those are excellent suggestions, Ice. Shouldn't take too much work to put in, all that is required is for Bioware to admit that the look of gear and heavy push towards Imperial players in all the advertising was a mistake and they are going to try and fix this and balance out the servers.

 

So, no, it has no chance of happening.

[Kourage]

Nothing about Legacy is going to entice me to play Republic. I play Humans and a Cyborg. None are force users.

[DarthTHC]

Let's assume your misbalance numbers are right. BW gave numbers of like 54-46% during the guild summit, but that's overall not necessarily PvP focused. So let's say the PvP population is really 3:1 in favor of the Empire...

 

Seems to me, PvP players want to win more than they want a challenge. Since Imps dramatically outnumber Reps and WZ's pop with that sort of 8-3 misbalance, wins with little to no effort seem guaranteed. Therefore, PvP players are weak.

 

Also seems to me, PvP players can be moderately patient for their wins. With such a disparity in numbers, it would seem that the Rep side would pop into WZs much faster than Imps, yet Imps stay Imp. Does that mean challenge-free wins are worth standing around Fleet waiting longer?

 

Maybe some of it is that the "killer" mindset identifies more readily with the Imp side in this game...

 

But I keep going back to the challenge. Where's the fun in beating your 3 year old brother over and over and over again at checkers? Wouldn't you rather have a bit of a challenge? Why not change and balance it out?

Edited March 6, 2012 by DarthTHC

[Tinasa]

If they really want to fix the issue with imbalance they would take a page from Star Wars and make playing a Dark Side character more meaningful. How?

 

Well supposedly taking the dark side path makes things quicker, but it's effects on the person using it is often detrimental. So, just knock off 10% of the hit points that Dark Side users have. That's right, make the effects of using hate as a driving force, wear down their bodies, just like in the movies, and not just with the addition of a scar on their face. Make the use of Dark Powers, costly.

 

Let them have all the "cool" stuff that some think the Empire side has, let them keep their numbers. Make playing a Dark Side character mean something. Chop off 10% of their total hit points and watch the balance begin.

 

Maybe it will cause some to abandon the Empire side. Couldn't hurt.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Tinasa

[zee-ro]

If they really want to fix the issue with imbalance they would take a page from Star Wars and make playing a Dark Side character more meaningful. How?

 

Well supposedly taking the dark side path makes things quicker, but it's effects on the person using it is often detrimental. So, just knock off 10% of the hit points that Dark Side users have. That's right, make the effects of using hate as a driving force, wear down their bodies, just like in the movies, and not just with the addition of a scar on their face. Make the use of Dark Powers, costly.

 

Let them have all the "cool" stuff that some think the Empire side has, let them keep their numbers. Make playing a Dark Side character mean something. Chop off 10% of their total hit points and watch the balance begin.

 

Maybe it will cause some to abandon the Empire side. Couldn't hurt.

 

Speaking even as someone who plays Sith marauder mostly, I have to say I think that's a pretty great idea. I dislike imbalance, even when in my favour.

[Hokonoso]

lol, player problem all right.. .as in no players left!

 

Just finished 10th WZ today. Last two started 8 to 4 in favor of the imps. All I can say is the Imp players are loving PvP right now.

 

come join my server if u want to play reb, they always outnumbered us in ilum (until today, now ilum is 100% dead). my server is helm of graush, #'s are very balanced and we even get huttballs where it is imp v reb instead of just imp v imp, but we mostly get voidstars and alderaans it seems, bad rng i guess.

[Serbegorn]

The factions are more or less balanced population wise. The problem is that the average republic player (wuss) isn't into PVP as much as the average Sith player. You picked the losing side bub. QQ

[Icedanno]

Thank you fanbois for the "QQ" calls. All Imperial players I'm sure.

 

Someone mentioned how Imperial players would want more of a challange and maybe switch to Republic side with the imbalances as bad as they are...

 

Hah! Why are most players Imperial? They know it's the zerg team and they want an easy run to gear up. Plain and simple.

 

I'm sure a very few are turned off how easy it is to rack up wins as an Imp player, but really... for the most part Imps are just farming the half dozen or less Republic players that show up over and over and laughing all the way to the gear bank.

 

Sounds like Bioware has pretty much conceded that PvP balance is badly broken, but they don't really care. Like was mentioned before, subs are even, especially with the Asian market coming in...

 

However, in the next couple billing cycles there will be a LOT of players leaving due to this issue, maybe then they will pay attention...

[Lord_Rezo]

If they really want to fix the issue with imbalance they would take a page from Star Wars and make playing a Dark Side character more meaningful. How?

 

Well supposedly taking the dark side path makes things quicker, but it's effects on the person using it is often detrimental. So, just knock off 10% of the hit points that Dark Side users have. That's right, make the effects of using hate as a driving force, wear down their bodies, just like in the movies, and not just with the addition of a scar on their face. Make the use of Dark Powers, costly.

 

Let them have all the "cool" stuff that some think the Empire side has, let them keep their numbers. Make playing a Dark Side character mean something. Chop off 10% of their total hit points and watch the balance begin.

 

Maybe it will cause some to abandon the Empire side. Couldn't hurt.

 

Sure, kill the gameplay favoring one faction with lore means...

 

But hey, then make the Republic Jedi's unmarriable. Make the troopers mindless and take away ALL their choices (as they dont ask choices, someone tells them jump and they ask how high). Make the Smugglers being followed ALWAYS a by a lovely Hutt and make them be in Carbonite for two months or something like that.

 

And i could be giving more bad points on being republic.

[Toweleeeie]

I have more of a problem with the match starting and my team (Reps) is always down 1 or 2 players. The match should never start till both teams are full. I dont care if I am sitting in the start area for 10 extra minutes.

 

At least make it so their win doesnt count when they have more people or the match ends in a count down for not enough players win.

[Tal-N]

It was briefly mentioned, but they pretty much swept it under the rug saying it was a player problem and there was nothing they could do.

 

You must have been watching a different summit because the one I saw had them directly addressing this issue and admitting that it is a concern.

 

The legacy system is simply one way the imbalance is going to be addressed, the second is that there will be factionless versions of all warzones where you have mixed teams. These will be explained as being training simulations and not the actual Empire vs republic encounter.

[Icedanno]

Hope there will be at least a few Republic players left when they finally role this stuff out.