RinqualFireburst Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Wow (no pun intended), I had noticed my server going really quiet but I never realised almost every server is now lightly populated. I guess they expected the game to be far more popular. It's only been 4 months since release, so it doesn't bode well. Server mergers are an obvious step, but don't be surprised if they do what Lord of the Rings Online did to save their game, make it 'free to play'. And by free I don't mean free obviously, but free enough to use the pulling power of that word, lure loads of people in and them make money from an in-game store where you can milk players little by little, one micro-transaction at a time. Players still leave, but new players come in to replace them more easily than now because of the 'free to play' tag. I hope that doesn't happen though, because it ruins the game when aspects within it are aimed at making you spend money. You're already spending 15 dollars a month for a subscription. Wouldn't you rather the option to pay nothing, and spend 15 dollars a month in a cashshop if you so choose? Subscriptions are an achaic business model for MMO's that is being phased out. SWTOR is like the last car that was made without power steering and antilock brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyz Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 You're already spending 15 dollars a month for a subscription. Wouldn't you rather the option to pay nothing, and spend 15 dollars a month in a cashshop if you so choose? Subscriptions are an achaic business model for MMO's that is being phased out. SWTOR is like the last car that was made without power steering and antilock brakes. But it looks cool. Like the kids that get there mums car, put plastic chrome hub caps on it, A few stickers, and think it rooooooocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyz Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 It doesnt rock. We know this. They dont. They havent experienced quality. Dont break there hopes and dreams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumster Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I dont think the game requires free to play. All they need to do is merge the servers, Shut some down, And keep the servers heavily populated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceox Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 You're already spending 15 dollars a month for a subscription. Wouldn't you rather the option to pay nothing, and spend 15 dollars a month in a cashshop if you so choose? Subscriptions are an achaic business model for MMO's that is being phased out. SWTOR is like the last car that was made without power steering and antilock brakes. I dont mind paying one way or the other, what I hate is a game with mechanics designed to milk me as I play. Believe me, I have played Lord of the Rings Online for years, I saw the transition from subscription to 'free to play'. They sold the idea to everyone by saying that the store would only be used to sell content and some consumables and cosmetics that would not be an advantage in-game, i.e. no 'pay-to-win', but slowly pay to win has been creeping in, because its simply too tempting. Now you can literally buy primary stats! Want some more Strength? Buy an item that adds 10, or 20, or 30 (last time I checked up to +70). For me that ruins the game. I accept if it doesn't ruin it for others, good for them. We can agree to disagree. I prefer to pay my sub and play a game that is a game, not a shop in disguise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RinqualFireburst Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 It doesnt rock. We know this. They dont. They havent experienced quality. Dont break there hopes and dreams. One thing I always found humorous about the people that bought Civics back in the 90's, then they spent 15k upgrading it to look like an Accord or a Prelude... like, why not just buy an Accord or Prelude in the first place when it would have cost less than a Civic with all the upgrades. Anyways, that's kinda off-topic lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RinqualFireburst Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I dont mind paying one way or the other, what I hate is a game with mechanics designed to milk me as I play. Believe me, I have played Lord of the Rings Online for years, I saw the transition from subscription to 'free to play'. They sold the idea to everyone by saying that the store would only be used to sell content and some consumables and cosmetics that would not be an advantage in-game, i.e. no 'pay-to-win', but slowly pay to win has been creeping in, because its simply too tempting. Now you can literally buy primary stats! Want some more Strength? Buy an item that adds 10, or 20, or 30 (last time I checked up to +70). For me that ruins the game. I accept if it doesn't ruin it for others, good for them. We can agree to disagree. I prefer to pay my sub and play a game that is a game, not a shop in disguise. People think of cashshops as p2w. For some games it is true, but every game needs to addressed separately. All cashshops are different. WoW has a cashshop and also has a subscription. You can buy mounts and server transfers from what I understand. I've never played WoW, just things I've heard from browsing/trolling forums. Are mounts and server transfers p2w? I don't think so, just things that people can buy if they so choose. Everyone views it differently. If EA/BW brought a cashshop into this game and offered the same things, would anyone complain about it becoming p2w? Probably because of their pre-conceived notions of a cashshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyz Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 One thing I always found humorous about the people that bought Civics back in the 90's, then they spent 15k upgrading it to look like an Accord or a Prelude... like, why not just buy an Accord or Prelude in the first place when it would have cost less than a Civic with all the upgrades. Anyways, that's kinda off-topic lol. Yes but also relevant in a way too....loo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpurgo Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Servers are becoming total ghost towns. 30 people in Fleet at peak hours. -.- This game is already dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaarkaart Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I hope there are mergers soon WITH the gained Legacy. Just checked Uthar Wynn.... 3 people on Imperial Fleet, ***. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szadek Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) You have 20 days of play time remaining. When your play time runs out, you will no longer be able to play. Please sign up for a recurring subscription plan or redeem a Game Time Code. Like me there are many but many with 3 months subs and I am 100% shure that this subs will go down the Toilet. 1.2 Its a patch to trow sand in to people eyes and get some subs for a couple more months. Tks god.....it is over! I am Moving Forward. Edited March 28, 2012 by Szadek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeful_Deity Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 So just for kicks because I did a /who survey on my server (Jedi Covenant) at 8:35 PM EST 134 on the Republic Fleet 776 Reps online levels 10-50 Prime Time for us fluctuates between about 130 to 180. We're often categorized as "Heavy" during thos periods. Faction balance seems to be fairly even, perhaps a slight edge towards Republic. Pessimistically, if the Imps are only 2/3 as numerous as as the Reps ...there would be somewhere around 1,300 people playing simultaneously ranging from 10-50. It isn't super impressive, but it is solid imo. The take away, I guess is that only about 1/5 of the players online at that particular time were in the fleet. An improved LFG system will go a long way to connecting those people and will help player perception of desolation in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) deleted Edited March 28, 2012 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pogmahone Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 At 9pm on the bondar crystal server we have 100 republic players total and 200 imperial total Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowOfVey Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 My server (lord adraas) feels like the population is increasing actually. Course that's just one server Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoboRope Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Had no idea those charts existed. Hedarr Soongh / population trends / last 60 days http://www.torstatus.net/the-shadowlands/trends/60d#!/hedarr-soongh/trends/60d See all those people quiting or re-rolling on the fatman? This needs to be fixed LOL I did! Just to try it out and OMG it was like the 1st day all over again. Very nice. They need to give out free xfers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captiosus Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) Speaking only for myself, the idea of rerolling yet again is not appealing. I've been in three guilds that have fallen apart due to inactivity of players and have had to reroll on higher population servers twice since launch, only to watch both of them fall from "high" to "standard" and are now probably on the precipice of becoming "light". I have watched the Pub population on three servers fall off a cliff. On one of my Jedi alts on one of the aforementioned high-turned-to-standard population servers, I was literally the only player on Taris for an hour and a half tonight. Pub Fleet had a whopping 27 players during peak hours and Imp Fleet only had 39 during the same time frame. How many times am I going to have to reroll? Each time I did so, the population was high and seemingly jumping but then fell apart within a month or a month and a half. The game has a severe customer retention crisis. People are getting to level 50 and bailing, or getting tired of population issues and simply unsubscribing rather than rerolling. I've read all of the supposed new parts in 1.2 and, frankly, I don't see it getting any better. The Legacy System, which is going to be the lion's share of the patch (hence the naming of it), it's just more single player and role playing goodies. So I can unlock newer classes on the "other side", but who cares? The content will be the exact same! I can carry over powers from my previous characters? Meh. Getting to 50 isn't terribly difficult at all as it is, making it faster through the Legacy system just means people will burn out and leave faster. A new Operation? Great! Yet I'm willing to bet people will run through it in less than a week. I could go on, but you get the picture. I'm not holding my breath for server merges. It feels like BW doesn't even care about retaining customers anymore; They'd rather play the attrition game. After three months, TOR feels like (yet another) smash-and-grab: Company comes out with a shoddy MMO using a popular license, rakes in the initial sales cash and sales on initial game time cards and 3 month subs, and then the game takes a dive. Edited March 29, 2012 by Captiosus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laghard Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 my server is already dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenceriker Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Dead servers cower in fear, Bioware is no where near. Will sever mergers happen before 2 months from now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramicule Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 EA/Bioware would rather let the game die than merge the low pop. servers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rentonrar Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 So just for kicks because I did a /who survey on my server (Jedi Covenant) at 8:35 PM EST 134 on the Republic Fleet 776 Reps online levels 10-50 Prime Time for us fluctuates between about 130 to 180. We're often categorized as "Heavy" during thos periods. Faction balance seems to be fairly even, perhaps a slight edge towards Republic. Pessimistically, if the Imps are only 2/3 as numerous as as the Reps ...there would be somewhere around 1,300 people playing simultaneously ranging from 10-50. It isn't super impressive, but it is solid imo. The take away, I guess is that only about 1/5 of the players online at that particular time were in the fleet. An improved LFG system will go a long way to connecting those people and will help player perception of desolation in the game. My server is roughly the same it's basilisk droid an eu server. the population has dropped has droped significantly in the last 3 weeks. I put this down to pre patch burnout and mass effect 3. Im an altahoic crater and i like to pvp. The queue times are short at peak times and i dont have problem finding a grup for fp or ops on the fleet. My guild has dissapeared we had 50 active members last month this has dropped to 5 or 6 at peak times. ive been concentrating on maxxing professions and getting to battlemaster on bounty hunter. Looking at torstatus it looks like ppl have re-rolled on the tomb of freedon nadd server. I thought about doing that but id be starting over so i decided not to re-roll. So the only reasonable option for me is server transfer . Im happy with the game at this point but this might change if population continues to drop. My sales on gtn have dropped from 10-12 sales a day to 2-3. Things are going improve when 1.2 hits but i would still like the option of server transfer. Basilisk droid has a large polish bias and i would prefer to play with ppl that live in the uk or at least speak english. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captiosus Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Things are going improve when 1.2 hits but i would still like the option of server transfer. I legitimately wish I had the same level of optimism. I truly do. I don't know if the "improvements" from 1.2 will be enough to bring people back and I've already had some friends/guildmates pushed over the fence and unsubscribe because of the sweeping class changes coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyStain Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I legitimately wish I had the same level of optimism. I truly do. I don't know if the "improvements" from 1.2 will be enough to bring people back and I've already had some friends/guildmates pushed over the fence and unsubscribe because of the sweeping class changes coming. It will make things better. My server peaks at like 140 right now, I expect it will go back to at least 200 for at least a few weeks. There are a ton of people who unsubbed sure, but there are a ton who are still subbed but aren't playing any more. This describes almost every single of my guild mates. A huge factor is that we've all had the best gear for over a month now and have been clearing the same raids over and OVER and OVERRRRR. This patch WILL boost populations for at least awhile. Maybe even only a few weeks. They will have to do transfers when 1.2 gets old or else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weddge Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 It will make things better. My server peaks at like 140 right now, I expect it will go back to at least 200 for at least a few weeks. There are a ton of people who unsubbed sure, but there are a ton who are still subbed but aren't playing any more. This describes almost every single of my guild mates. A huge factor is that we've all had the best gear for over a month now and have been clearing the same raids over and OVER and OVERRRRR. This patch WILL boost populations for at least awhile. Maybe even only a few weeks. They will have to do transfers when 1.2 gets old or else. I honestly think they should just combine servers. They have way too many servers at this point, pretty much just to alleviate all the problems they had at launch. Just half the number of servers they have now, and combine the low pops with eachother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyStain Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I honestly think they should just combine servers. They have way too many servers at this point, pretty much just to alleviate all the problems they had at launch. Just half the number of servers they have now, and combine the low pops with eachother We'll have to see how 1.2 does to have a better idea, but I agree it seems like the only actual solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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