Is there an actual reason for Republic numbers being so low?

[NogFizzbin]

Those big butt jedi robes aren't helping.

[Horanax]

Sorry, I wasn't clear, I just meant dark-side Imps. You're basically the same as me. I have a Sorc and a Merc, just below 20. Both are good people, get the job done, without the unnecessary cruelty. I can actually get into that, while being evil for evil's sake turns me off. But I'm willing to go out on a limb and bet that at least...perhaps 75% of Imps go dark-side, for various reasons. They think it's expected of them, or they just want the evil look, or my theory, they like to role play (even if they aren't actual RP) the whole 'I'll kill you while chuckling evilly and not give it a second thought, because I'd never get away with this in real life'.

 

I could be completely wrong, on the number of evil Imps and their reasons for doing it. I can't wrap my head around anything else though.

 

 

Here is another completely random thought that has never been posted anywhere on these forums before, don't go look at the 30 threads about this topic cause then I would be a liar .

 

When the game was being promoted BW figured that there would be a much larger draw to the Republic since MMOs tend to have a "good side" heavy population. They therefore promoted the $* out of the Sith to show them as being not so evil after all. During this time they also showed the Sith as being although a bit ruthless in some ways to be more of a militaristic and organized society while the Republic were shown as being weak and pathetic, barely able to keep control of anything.

 

Now come to today from release why would this imbalance still be in place? Well we can use myself as an example. I rolled on a server as republic to play with friends who bought this game and moved over as a group. They have busier lives with family and work so are not yet ready to raid and that is fine, but with the low server population I can't find anyone else to raid with in the meantime. Hurray I can PVP, but as a PVE driven player with minor if any interest in PVP doesn't do much for me. After I got my 3rd character to 50 I rolled Sith on a server with another friend of mine, hit 50 just this week and should be raiding tonight.

 

With the server populations the way they are I know that I am being part of the problem not the solution. However, if I don't start raiding soon I will quit and find another game to play.

[Lightmaguz]

Throwing rocks <<<<< Shooting lightning.

 

There, I solved your problem.

 

I'd choose Yoda over Palpatine any day, so no. I'll keep the rocks.

 

 

The reason is those are mmo players and they are known for wanting to be evil ******es of doom, hence Destruction's population higher on WAR, horde(which's not evil but they think it is because they didn't read ****) higher in wow and so on til the Empire here.

[LasherC]

It's simple. Many, if not most, players enjoy being "bad". Being a light side goodie two shoes is very boring to a lot of people.

 

Then play as dark side on the republic side ? Personally, I find it more intriguing to be an evil jedi than an evil sith.

 

Empire get red lightsabers.

 

There are red lightsabers for the republic as well. As far as I'm aware, color has no connection to your faction.

[terminova]

Here is another completely random thought that has never been posted anywhere on these forums before, don't go look at the 30 threads about this topic cause then I would be a liar .

 

When the game was being promoted BW figured that there would be a much larger draw to the Republic since MMOs tend to have a "good side" heavy population. They therefore promoted the $* out of the Sith to show them as being not so evil after all. During this time they also showed the Sith as being although a bit ruthless in some ways to be more of a militaristic and organized society while the Republic were shown as being weak and pathetic, barely able to keep control of anything.

 

Now come to today from release why would this imbalance still be in place? Well we can use myself as an example. I rolled on a server as republic to play with friends who bought this game and moved over as a group. They have busier lives with family and work so are not yet ready to raid and that is fine, but with the low server population I can't find anyone else to raid with in the meantime. Hurray I can PVP, but as a PVE driven player with minor if any interest in PVP doesn't do much for me. After I got my 3rd character to 50 I rolled Sith on a server with another friend of mine, hit 50 just this week and should be raiding tonight.

 

With the server populations the way they are I know that I am being part of the problem not the solution. However, if I don't start raiding soon I will quit and find another game to play.

 

It was actually how they (unwittingly) made the Sith Empire look like the underdog and the Republic like the bully double-teaming them when it was the other way around.

 

People love the underdog.

[Armourboy]

According to the numbers released on the guild summit, it's something like 43% rep vs. 57% imp. total. So, there are reps somewhere. How active they are, is a wholly different question.

 

Most people at this point pretty much believe the numbers are a joke, and its really kind of hard to to argue when just about everyone you talk says there are more imps than reps on their server.

 

Take mine for instance. I thought we had a pretty healthy population on the Republic side, and its not horrible. However, I finally rolled my Imp toon and there are as many people on Dromund Kaas as there are on the Republic Fleet at primetime.

 

For the numbers that BioWare posted to be true there most certainly has to be some Republic heavy servers out there, but damned if anyone knows where they are

[Rafkin]

In my opinion the Repoublic quest dialog options just are not as interesting and there is a fine line between the dark/light options.

 

Imperial side a dark option is frequently killing someone and the light side is letting them live. Clear cut.

 

Republic side you're frequently just choosing between the lesser of two evils. Medicine for the troops(dark), medicine for the refugees(light). Both sides have these types of options but i see it a lot more on the republic side.

 

Right from the begining one of your Jedis first moral decisions is whether or not to tattle on two padawans having an affair. Kinda sets the tone for the lamness that is to come.

[MackumDog]

If all the good guilds and all the players are on one side, if your going to PVE then your going to choose that side. The problem is self propogating. Everyone should be allowed to start at neuteral and they choose their alligence.

[Dinadan]

Because more people are concerned with looking good and having numbers on their side than they are with playing what they truly want to.

 

I'm a 50 Sentinel, and a basically good person in real life. I made a BH and got to level 10 or so, at which point some Hutt wanted me to hunt down and cut off some dudes head. This dude wasn't evil, he wasn't a criminal (he might have cooked some books, don't recall), he was just trying to provide for his family and make it in the universe. Then I shot him in cold blood, and sawed his head off. I was actually sickened enough by this I deleted the character and started a fresh BH.

 

But, sadly, this actually appeals to a lot of people. I understand to many, it's just a story, no different than watching a gory movie. Except that these people are rooting for the villain, hoping his plan of mass genocide goes off without a hitch, killing the hero in the process.

 

Part of my enjoyment of this game was diving into the Jedi Knight role, being good and basically choosing the light-side options that I would naturally pick (although this game is very black and white, there were a few times I would have picked dark-side if not for the impact on my light-side orientation). So I have a hard time understanding a persons desire to shock, torture, kill and play a character without a shred of compassion or humanity. I honestly believe people who ENJOY this are at least slightly twisted themselves. But, I also realize I'm 'projecting' my own view of the matter onto other people, which isn't wholly rational.

 

The overwhelming server imbalance that occurs on most servers just goes to show that the Empire appeals to more people. Everybody wants to role-play their sick fantasy about being evil, hurting people and getting away with it. It's actually quite a disturbing look at society, imo. The only reason my neighbors haven't killed me in my sleep is because...they fear the consequences? And if those social restrictions were suddenly gone...it's scary to think what barbarians people would become without the law to keep them in check.

 

Roleplaying an evil character doesn't mean that person actually wants to murder and kill people in real life. By that logic, actors of any villain would want to commit genocide.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Dinadan

[Darka]

Then play as dark side on the republic side ? Personally, I find it more intriguing to be an evil jedi than an evil sith.

 

 

 

There are red lightsabers for the republic as well. As far as I'm aware, color has no connection to your faction.

 

That mind set has always struggled to be accepted here. Even with an alignment section and the devs stating that both sides have good and bad in them, many still feel Empire = all dark/evil Republic = all light/good. No exceptions.

[Darka]

If all the good guilds and all the players are on one side, if your going to PVE then your going to choose that side. The problem is self propogating. Everyone should be allowed to start at neuteral and they choose their alligence.

 

Yep then all the Cling on/non factor guilds follow where the big guilds go, the types that usually have the most to say and least to contribute.

[grandmthethird]

That mind set has always struggled to be accepted here. Even with an alignment section and the devs stating that both sides have good and bad in them, many still feel Empire = all dark/evil Republic = all light/good. No exceptions.

 

that works for sith and jedi. but i feel BH trooper IA and smugglers are a bit more flexible from an RP point of view

[Brimmer]

1.) Imps have gear which seem to have had more effort or at least creativity tossed at it

 

2.) Imps are evil - many people like being evil

 

3.) Republic normal quest tends to be about save this person save that person. While the Imperial common quests tends to be about trickery a traps to foil the enemy. People seem to enjoy the imps more for that.

 

4.) Republic skills are buggy and often will have delays before the action fires

 

5.) there were many bugs giving the imps advantages without even taking about the ability delays - some have been fixed like the turret in civil war.

 

6.) imps have a greater population so that means people want to roll on their side to find groups quicker.

 

7.) Many people think that the republic can't be "evil" since they're the good guys, but that's incorrect. The dark side republic is even more evil than the imp dark side, since a republic player is ment to be the "good guys" yet you can do some evil actions that makes for some very shocked group members/NPCs.

 

-------------------------------------------

 

Republic's advantage:

 

Not having to do huttball every warzone - which this advantage is being taken away in the 1.2 update.

[Excid]

People would rather purposely kill/blow stuff up and be applauded for it. On empire, we are expected to do everything necessary despite how immoral it may be.

[Anizev]

I looked at screenshots of endgame gear.

 

and promptly rolled Imperial.

[VanguardXL]

My opinion on the server imbalance stems from a few observations;

 

1. PvPeens: The flood of PvPers with such stylish names as Masta'slaya, Ipwnjoo, or Jediseckz (all real, BTW) who aren't doing it for any kind of lore or story. Most of them don't know any of the story, having madly spacebarred to 50 fast as they could. They're Empire because 'bad guyz r cool'. They want to pwn face with l33t lightning d00dz.

As a caveat, this refers to a small, but vocal, minority of PvPers, not PvPers as a whole.

 

2. Mini-maxers: These are the players that must have the most efficient, even if it's by 1 second, characters. Republic classes has mechanical, animation related, or both differences and slight imbalances compared to Empire. Example: SI instant-cast Shock against the not-even-close-to instant Project is a more efficient power.

For them to be the most efficient number cruncher, they play Empire.

 

3. The Hardcore: These are the Raid Like A Job players. The ones that rush to 50 fast as they can, maybe skip the story, maybe not, all so they can raid non-stop and beat the game.

If you want to raid hardcore, you need people, preferably a lot of them. That way if someone cancels for whatever reason the raid can still go on on schedule. As a rule the first two categories will be the first in on a server. Thus, for the hardcore to fill their ranks they need to go where the population is. Not to mention the mini-maxers tend to make outstanding hardcore raiders.

 

It has next to nothing to do with "being bad" or Dark side over Light. It's been my observation Light or Dark doesn't matter to the above groups other if it nets them better gear to go one way or another. It has everything to do with "winning", just like COD or BF3 have to do with winning.

Edited March 11, 2012 by VanguardXL

[Knockerz]

I started off as player that only played imps. I had three chars between 30-40 and one 25 imp. However, one day I tried out a jedi and trooper and found out I like the animation better. Thus, I actually deleted the 25 and two 30-40 chars to make room for more republic chars. Now my jedi guardian is lvl 40 and trooper is 38. Plus, I have a 27 sage and a 19 sentinel. Although, I would have to say for sentinel and maraunder that I equally don't like one of their animations for both, but since I play republic side as my main side I leveled the sentinel instead of the maraunder.

 

The story on republic side isn't that bad as people make it out. It's just more obvious where the story is heading. However, imp side story is better. Probably start leveling imp side chars when I'm done leveling my republic chars.

[LasherC]

That mind set has always struggled to be accepted here. Even with an alignment section and the devs stating that both sides have good and bad in them, many still feel Empire = all dark/evil Republic = all light/good. No exceptions.

 

I actually agree with that. The empire IS evil and the Republic IS good. The point is YOU can be an evil republic...an or a good Sith. That's what seems intriguing to me

[PhatVN]

Empire's gears look much better than Republic

[Brimmer]

Empire's gears look much better than Republic

 

For the most part yes but you can't be a Cad Bane hat wearing, lando calrissian cape wearing gunslinging scoundrel like the smugglers can.

[fadingdimension]

I think the 57%ish of players who play Empire simply preferring to play Empire is the reason (57%-43% was the numbers given at the Guild Summit). People who play Empire like the classes, story, environments more.

 

This seems like a good enough reason.

[Leverage]

True I'm afraid.

 

I have a sage, shadow, sorcerer and assassin and the consular animations are just so 'meh' compared to the inquisitor ones. I wanted to play a jedi not a druid with a glowbat. There are also minor mechanical differences that make the inquistor seem smoother to play.

 

I actually disagree. There is at least some flavor with the Consular's abilities (my main is a Shadow).

 

I started to roll a Sorc Alt as I wanted to have a healer but not do the same storyline on the Consular again. I couldn't even get off the starting planet I was so bored with EVERYTHING being lightning spam.

 

Now the BH storyline is extremely interesting and fun and I have found that very enjoyable on an alt.

[LasherC]

If lightning bores you. then you're doing it wrong

[Geglad]

Because more people are concerned with looking good and having numbers on their side than they are with playing what they truly want to.

 

I'm a 50 Sentinel, and a basically good person in real life. I made a BH and got to level 10 or so, at which point some Hutt wanted me to hunt down and cut off some dudes head. This dude wasn't evil, he wasn't a criminal (he might have cooked some books, don't recall), he was just trying to provide for his family and make it in the universe. Then I shot him in cold blood, and sawed his head off. I was actually sickened enough by this I deleted the character and started a fresh BH.

 

But, sadly, this actually appeals to a lot of people. I understand to many, it's just a story, no different than watching a gory movie. Except that these people are rooting for the villain, hoping his plan of mass genocide goes off without a hitch, killing the hero in the process.

 

Part of my enjoyment of this game was diving into the Jedi Knight role, being good and basically choosing the light-side options that I would naturally pick (although this game is very black and white, there were a few times I would have picked dark-side if not for the impact on my light-side orientation). So I have a hard time understanding a persons desire to shock, torture, kill and play a character without a shred of compassion or humanity. I honestly believe people who ENJOY this are at least slightly twisted themselves. But, I also realize I'm 'projecting' my own view of the matter onto other people, which isn't wholly rational.

 

The overwhelming server imbalance that occurs on most servers just goes to show that the Empire appeals to more people. Everybody wants to role-play their sick fantasy about being evil, hurting people and getting away with it. It's actually quite a disturbing look at society, imo. The only reason my neighbors haven't killed me in my sleep is because...they fear the consequences? And if those social restrictions were suddenly gone...it's scary to think what barbarians people would become without the law to keep them in check.

 

 

Holy generalizations Captain O!

 

We just have a bunch of sickos huh? How is that moral high-ground treating ya lately? Is it windy and cold? That Light not keeping you warm?

 

Thats some funny stuff. Proof positive why walking totally in the Dark or Light, in reality or play, is just jolly good times in entertainment for people like me.

 

 

 

-Lad

[Lightmaguz]

Empire's gears look much better than Republic

 

 

That's purely point of view, in my point of view both sides are all horrible excepting inquisitor and warrior which are bearable, I wouldn't use my Warrior's champion set if given the choice.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Lightmaguz