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

[cheesyhulk]

people play imp because they get cookies there

[Zootskyqua]

"Evil will always triumph because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet

 

[kottonmouth]

Bioware favours empire. On illum rep turrets are always bugged, rep armour looks boring comparatively, rep animations are comparatively slower, rep stories are comparatively boring, rep exclusive colours used to be sucky, on alderaan civil war imp turrets begin pointed at the rep ship. The list goes on and on but I'll stop there,

[Viera]

Hey,

 

I've rolled a few Imps before and am now 28 levels through my Sentinel and am just wondering where are all my fellow Republicans?

 

The Reps numbers seem incredibly low and the market is pretty much non-existant.

 

That doesnt bother me to much, but i was just wondering if there is an actual reason for this?

 

Regards

 

According to the developers the split is 57% imp 42% Republic basically across all servers.

[eisra]

No. I know the quest you're talking about. It's the one where the Hutt asks you to slay Huttsbane and take his head. You could have opted for the light choice and not kill him, so YOU were the one who chose to "decapitate" the guy.

 

So really, it's irrelevant that you rerolled another BH because you could've avoided that terrible terrible act if you chose to.

 

Exactly, a BH is constantly having "I'm not with the Empire." dialogue options. If you decide to go the Dark path, it is completely your choice. You do not even have a story reason to go Dark, it's not like you hypothetically become more powerful as a blaster wielding BH.

 

- Signed, a Dark V Bounty Hunter (PT)

[eisra]

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.

 

You do realize that you can be pure Light side in the Empire? I've got a pure Light side OP out to show the world the nicer side of a crisp uniform and an English accent. (except when I needed the medical supplies from Diplomacy, wth is up with that?).

[Toweleeeie]

The Empire is much more polished. The alien races look much cooler. Like other people have said animations are faster on Empire, so naturally PvPers choose that. The Republic fleet looks like a homeless shelter, even though the Republic has existed for 10,000 years. This brings me to my next point gear. THe consular pvp gear makes you look homeless, so you fit right in while waiting for your WZ to pop.

 

tl,dr: Bioware spent most of their dev time on Empire and it shows.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Toweleeeie

[Xienive]

I have been playing both now after being pretty much soley Republic aligned and Empire is just a lot more polished as others have said. The voice acting is better, the stories are more interesting...really you just need to truly play both and see for yourself. The Empire just "feels" like a higher quality game when you are playing on that side.

 

 

I don't think gear looks better on Empire side overall...maybe the end game gear yes...but Troopers and Smugglers I think look better than BH's and Agents, and I think Smuggler has the coolest end game PVP armor. I really think only the Inquisitor has an edge over Consular in gear overall.

[Florial]

Although sometimes the events in the game might modifies the personality of the character. For example in SWTOR I planned at first my Bounty Hunter to be a cold efficient killer just caring about getting the job done. But then when Mako (the first companion), joined my team, her reactions to my Bounty Hunter's actions had influence. Mako made my hero a bit more soft. (And I enjoy that in a game).

 

I had to laugh out loud because Mako is making me a bit soft. I'm a gal in real life and she is my good adventuring buddy. I feel a real bond with her. I'm even considering letting her have my ONLY male companion romance option since she really likes him. I'm prepared to be a nun and let my good buddy Mako have all the fun. I have to commend BioWare on the companions and how they really can influence your gaming decisions. As a BH, I just couldn't imagine disappointing a sweet companion like Mako. She would be the friend that I would call every day to just talk to if this was real life. Again, kudos to the developers on having real personalities for the companions. I'm just an all around softie I guess.....

 

One amendment though...I would have loved to off my last companion as a BH. I see no redeemable qualities in him although I'm slowing making my way through all the companion stories. I would have happily put the dog down the first time I saw him, lol.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Florial

[Dee-Jay]

There's a couple of things coming together:

 

1. Empire = British Nazis.

 

The whole black and red color an militarized look is just very appealing, even today. If you think why the Nazis, even today, make such good villains, you have your answer. Something about them is just so very cool (and very evil).

 

2. Aggressor > Oppressed

 

The Empire was presented as the aggressor in most of the CGI trailers. Being the aggressor is generally more appealing. It seems more dynamic, more threatening.

 

3. Aesthetics

 

Republics dominating color is brown, which is pretty bland in itself. The dull grey capes and generally sober look of most things doesn't help. Pebbles being lame compared to Lighting is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

4. Perception that Republic = Alliance 2.0 (carebear faction)

 

With upwards of 90% of SWTOR players being ex-WoW players many people entered the game expecting the Republic to be overrun with "wannabe Jedis", "Mary-Sues" etc. while all the "cool kids" are hanging out with the "oh so evil" Empire. They imagined things would be just like they were for the early Horde in WoW, when they attracted the more able, more ambitious and simply better gamers on most part. However this effect is so pronounced that it actually reversed itself into the opposite.

[illgot]

Throwing rocks <<<<< Shooting lightning.

 

There, I solved your problem.

 

honestly I like the physical feeling and sound when you are hit with driods or vases vs lightening.

[Wesgile]

Bioware favours empire. On illum rep turrets are always bugged, rep armour looks boring comparatively, rep animations are comparatively slower, rep stories are comparatively boring, rep exclusive colours used to be sucky, on alderaan civil war imp turrets begin pointed at the rep ship. The list goes on and on but I'll stop there,

The Empire is much more polished. The alien races look much cooler. Like other people have said animations are faster on Empire, so naturally PvPers choose that. The Republic fleet looks like a homeless shelter, even though the Republic has existed for 10,000 years. This brings me to my next point gear. THe consular pvp gear makes you look homeless, so you fit right in while waiting for your WZ to pop.

 

tl,dr: Bioware spent most of their dev time on Empire and it shows.

basically.

 

which kinda reminds me about that one thread that hangs about in the jedi knight section back then.

[BCBull]

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.

 

When I was 6, I hit a kid in the nose with a swinging monkey bar.. When I was about 11, I hit my best friend in the eye with a rock, gave him a black eye I don't know why! I'm sorry!!!!

Edited March 12, 2012 by BCBull

[Colow_Leper]

You know, I get the feeling that BW thought that the vast majority of people would want to be the "good guys", and would choose the Republic side, so they tried to make the Imperials as cool as possible so that it would attract at least *some* players.

 

Problem is, most of us seem to like being evil in a game, and the added "cool factor" just put the tin lid on it.

 

Upshot? Republic players are somewhat of an "endangered species".

[Krunche]

A big part of it for me was because, since the empire is prejudiced against aliens, most of the people you encounter speak English (or your native tongue). A huge draw to this game for me was voiceover questing. Having an alien say "gobblety gobble goo" and reading it in subtitles does not constitute as a voiced quest.

[TheDancingHare]

You know, I get the feeling that BW thought that the vast majority of people would want to be the "good guys", and would choose the Republic side, so they tried to make the Imperials as cool as possible so that it would attract at least *some* players.

 

Problem is, most of us seem to like being evil in a game, and the added "cool factor" just put the tin lid on it.

 

Upshot? Republic players are somewhat of an "endangered species".

 

I do think it's sadly ironic how they SWORE up and down that there wouldn't be a faction imbalance the way there is in WoW. They were right. It's actually worse.

 

I don't mind being the underdog. I don't find being a jerk in real life or a game appealing. I love being a trooper and I love being Republic.

[Smuglebunny]

I have a hard time with the dark side decisions. Its like you threaten a guy, he tells you info, and the option is to kill him anyway? Nah I dont wanna do that.

 

EVEN MOBSTERS have a code of honor. I know the sith are supposed to be evil as evil can be but, im not feelin it half the time.

 

BUT and here is the HUGE BUT:

 

I stopped playing a trooper commando at 41 cuz it was just SOOO boring. Go do this, go do that. Im a soldier...um super boring.

 

Sith warrior: Now that is an interesting story. Some of the things you do are messed up, but its just way more interesting.

 

Everyone knows the jedi/good guy story. Defeat evil, save galaxy, rinse repeat.

 

The good guy stories in this game are boring as heck and the empire stories are interesting.

 

But I cringe at the DS decisions. yikes.

[Bluestone]

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

 

Because not many people play Republic on your server.

[KrimzonWarrior]

Hey,

 

I've rolled a few Imps before and am now 28 levels through my Sentinel and am just wondering where are all my fellow Republicans?

 

 

Because we all are voting for Obama.

[Colow_Leper]

I do think it's sadly ironic how they SWORE up and down that there wouldn't be a faction imbalance the way there is in WoW. They were right. It's actually worse.

 

I don't mind being the underdog. I don't find being a jerk in real life or a game appealing. I love being a trooper and I love being Republic.

 

Thing is there's no way for any games company to enforce this - other than by banning people from rolling the over-populated side on a particular server (if they tried that there'd be screams from people threatening to rage-quit because they're not allowed to play the side they want).

 

So - the answer to the original question is - "because we, the player, have made it like that".

 

End of story, frankly.

 

Now, you could ask a different question - "Why is the Imperial side more attractive to players?".

 

I can't think that it's anything to do with play styles, stories, or even the character styles - the imbalance started right from start - before anyone had really got into the game at all.

 

Are we all closet nazis? Is it a way of venting pent up aggression by taking out our frustrations on hapless NPCs? Are we, as a player base, inherently evil?

 

*shrug* No idea.

 

Personally I've always seen myself as the hero - from right back in the days of table-top pen and paper role-play games like Runequest. So in WoW I was Alliance (any faction with undead in it ain't the "good" side in my book!) and, on SWTOR, I'm Republic (I have got a Bounty Hunter character though....).

 

There's an easy way to even things up, though. Just roll more Republic characters.

 

You can shout at EA or Bioware and complain about it - but it's our fault - we did it.

[KrimzonWarrior]

for serious though, I think given that classes are faction exclusive (unlike WoW), ultimately people who are imperial will roll Republic to play those classes and see their story. That may somewhat help.

 

There is a strong argument to be made that the classes are just mirror images of each other. I think this applies best to Consulars/Inquisitors and Warriors/Knights, but not as much for the others.

[Crazysithslayer]

I'm an Imp who rerolled Republic. Let me tell you guys one thing. The only reason I'm playing this faction is because of faction imbalances and I don't like to play on the faceroll side. EVERYTHING and I mean everything about Imps is more appealing... cooler armor (besides trooper which is pretty epic, but then I look at a fellow consular and look for a barf bag immediately), better story in general; more in-depth, more fun, cooler companions, and a general cool factor which the Roman Catholic Church-esque Jedi do not have.

 

The Republic/Jedi have to be remodeled slightly into more of a ****** faction. At this point they just look like treehugging losers that get stomped on.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Crazysithslayer

[Lord_Karsk]

Because the idea of being the "bad guy" is appealing to the little kids.

 

Actually this is very true.At late nights all week long there is way more huttball

rep vs rep. This is for one reason only.Momy says it's sleepy time.

 

Anyways cannot blame players for playing imp in the end.After all it is biowares

fault 100%. Now i know what you will say blabla.But listen, how mny of us dident want to play a Jedi like Obi Wan etc. Then we play this game and the Jedi doesnt even look like actual Jedi. The armors etc are a disaster, have nothing to do with beeing a jedi.

 

I remember just before launch the guild numbers for Empire were atleast 4-1 higher.

Remember pre launch most events etc the developers mostly showed of the Empire, talked about how cool the Empire was.Most videos, even the raid video was from Empire.

BioWare did everything they could to sell the Empire faction.

 

And we sadly know the developers are very pro Empire.I have read alot of interviews

with the bioware devs and they all say the play Empire, mostly SI.This is a fact !

We know from the early developer videos they could show of the Empire sooner because

they started working on the Empire faction first.Then made a copy paste of fleet station, skillls etc and made Republic.This is why all the animations are smoother on Empire side.

All the starter worlds Empire side is 5 times more easy to play, more easy to get around, better loot(no joke)better stories.

 

And even after all this they show up on the guild summit laughing and lying about the numbers beeing 43-57 in favor of Empire.Even if these numbers were true somethng they are not they do nothing.They do nothing to help the imbalance on certain servers were imps out num rep by more then 4-1.Nothing. Why ? because server merge=bad press.A defeat.Players can not transfear characters away from the empty servers.

So they are stuck.

 

Me i have played Empire as well ALOT. But i enjoy Republic more even thou

Empire is better made in everyway.But hey dont listen to me, i alredy unsubbed to swtor

waiting for gw2 like the rest of the people in my gw2 guild.Btw they are all former swtor players who think the same way.We wanted nothing more then to live in the star wars universe but we got instead space samurai looks and un heroic stunlock combat made by pro Empire developers.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Lord_Karsk

[LithIX]

They say evil prevails when good men fail to act.

 

What they ought to say is:

 

Evil prevails

 

I couldn't help posting the quote above. Kinda holds true to SWTOR, aint it?

[halorix]

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.

 

Of course you realize that the republic quest lines are rife with people killing people "for the republic" and taking medicine away from the sick because its republic property?

 

i play imperial side alternating between light and dark characters, at this point i have two 50 lightside a 40 and only one 50 darkside with the next darkside being 17, this somehow makes me a sick person? or someone who realizes its just a game and that its actually you who has problems if you think EVERYONE who plays empire is sick and no one on republic is.