Server population is dropping...

[SinisterZz]

From a Dev's standpoint something like this is never easy.

 

What i would suggest is lets say a server closes down. Everyone who logs in get a screen that they have 1 week(longer maybe?) to move to another server with friends/guilds/whatever.

 

Only servers with the lowest populations will be shown in the list of servers you can select and also an automatic query has been done to see if your name and those of your alts are avaible.

 

If Some names are in conflict you have the choice to make some changes. ( I hope noone dies of changing a name?)

 

After a month said server will be permamently closed and the lower population servers can get normal - heavy pops.

[Drakkip]

From a Dev's standpoint something like this is never easy.

 

What i would suggest is lets say a server closes down. Everyone who logs in get a screen that they have 1 week(longer maybe?) to move to another server with friends/guilds/whatever.

 

Only servers with the lowest populations will be shown in the list of servers you can select and also an automatic query has been done to see if your name and those of your alts are avaible.

 

If Some names are in conflict you have the choice to make some changes. ( I hope noone dies of changing a name?)

 

After a month said server will be permamently closed and the lower population servers can get normal - heavy pops.

 

I think you auto move all the characters to the server. Allowing only a week could mean someone who is busy or otherwise not logged on would lose their characters? Kinda seems harsh.

[SinisterZz]

I did say longer? And no autodeleting would not be an option ofcourse

[LordKexxx]

I feel that most of the EU servers are very low in population and something needs to be done about it. I think merging some servers is a good idea because am sick of struggling to find people to do quests with. The max I have ever seen any one location at is about 30 players which is a tad balls.

I just want EA to *********** respond and tell us what they are going to do or even what they are thinking about doing, show us you are looking in to this!!

[GalacticKegger]

The only people I see taking themselves seriously on these forums are the fanboy defenders.

Well gee whiz. Guess I'm a fanboy defender then. But since the game will be around long after most griefers implode and leave to vandalize the next new MMO's community, I'll just be patient. Funny thing ... patience. How often it is mistaken for blind ignorance by those who lack it. Edited April 19, 2012 by GalacticKegger

[Nyteblades]

They keep saying its in development with no ETA.. Well thats because they already have it. They just choose to let the new kids use it and not let everyone.

[Shaduko]

Are they even able to change a legacy name (if you transfer and it's unavailable)? Because I thought that it was hard-coded in or some crap... which is what they told me when I asked if this would be available soon.

[zuile]

So if they can do those asia pacific transfers can't they rig up some system for the rest to transfer servers even if they have to designate which, then just give us transfers where we pick the destination later?

[Squaaa]

Im on Drooga's Pleasure Barge...

Population has dropped considerably since launch. At any time there are about 30 players on the fleet.

PLEASE PERFORM A SERVER MERGE!!

Just cut the number of servers in half

[Mpafra]

I have a 50 lvl player on Chuunda whos population is light all the time! The w8ing time for a WZ is about 30 min in solo ,with pre-maid party it gets worst!!!And this in rush hours. In Fleet there are about 20-25 people in rush hours! We dont even bother to log into game on morning hours! We are just alone 1 person in the hole fleet! We chose this server because it was recomended from developers during the game start to avoid overpopulated servers and queues. That was our mistake! Now one by one the guild members are leaving the Game! We were hoping on 1.2 to fix these MAJOR problems instead of legacy! Legacy is somewhat good but extra. This game althoough it has much potential it is left untreated!

One advise :

Please fix the server population, possible solutions are Server Merg, Server transfer, Cross Server wz's. And please make it as fast as possible! It has no meaning paying subscription to play an MMORPG alone! Its not an MMORPG then. Our guild members will get lost or return to their old games as people cant w8 for another big patch who can come in about 3 months again!

With regards

A Starwars fan!

[SinisterZz]

I made a char on The Tomb of ... and i was in the first zone and i see like 70 people on in that zone alone. And somehow i wanted to keep on playing. But then I reminded myself i have a lvl 50 on Tassaa Bareesh with so much playtime invested i cannot leave him behind, but logging in on that server and seeing about +- 100 people on republic side server wide is a huge letdown. I just do the raids with guild and log of. Getting more and more pissed off that BW hasn't commented yet in an official way about this issue.

 

I advice everyone to make a newchar on the already full servers so queu's will be so long that everyone will start complaining and BW will have no choice then to act accordingly and give everyone free server transfers or server merges.

[Xenirath]

While i feel transfers might be nice, it doesn't solve the real issue. People are leaving standard pop server for high or very high.

 

If you start merging standard servers to other standard servers then you start to have queues to log in. If you start offering free transfers standard servers become light because people want 200+ on every planet.

 

No matter how you look at it there will always be people who are not happy, if you dont like your server reroll to a higher pop one. If you like your server than this clearly isn't directed at you.

[Engalius]

I was in one of the first waves of early access. Started on Sith Meditation Sphere. By Christmas the server was so dead I left for a while. Came back around 6 or 7 weeks ago to give this a second chance. By the end of the first day back I was re-rolling on Harbinger. 17 people at fleet during prime time.

 

It's hard to re-roll when you have a 50, several mid-30s, and multiple 20s. Not even paid server xfers available. All those useless credits and tradeskills. But more importantly the time involved and connection to your toons.

 

Harbinger, even with it's high population, still has the same issues as the dead servers. After 25 no one wants to do anything other than solo quests. There is no reason to. Nothing special or exciting for completing the FPs. No achievements. Regular quests give comms so why do the heroics? Looked all day thu, fri, sat for foundry and never even got half a group together. And now every moron and retard on the server is standing at the port-in point on fleet causing lag and infecting everyone coming in. I personally don't want a damn thing to do with the rakghoul plague. How about working on making multi-player content that people actually feel they NEED to do. Make comms ONLY drop from heroic quests and areas. Something. Right now this is a single player game, not an MMO.

 

Why pay a sub to play alone?

 

Give away all the free game time you want, doesn't change the fact that this game lacks all the elements that make an MMO an MMO. It's massive and online but it just isn't multi-player. Haven't seen a heroic since pre-Alderaan and half way done with Hoth on my main on my new server. The 'populated' one. Now I have to re-equip 4 pieces of my companions gear every time I zone or re-summon. Behind the scenes nerfs have made me and my companions much less effective than they already were, and Kaliyo was already bad as a tank.

 

It's really whatever at this point. Bioware may lead the industry with it's single player games, but they just have no clue where to even start with MMOs. (I say this, yet ME3 and DA2 were both enormous disappointments.) I think it all comes back to the human equation, though. Most people want instant gratification and to be handed everything. If they die to anything, mob or boss, it's all "it's too hard!!!!!! *sniff*." 6 or 7 years ago these same people were not even considered part of the gaming community. One more thing to thank Blizzard and the common idiot for.

 

I soo agree with this person. All Bioware has done was create a Massive Online Single Player Game its the impression that I've got.

 

 

Funily enough, I came across this earlier today:

http://www.play.tm/news/32131/star-wars-the-old-republic-will-flop-big-time-says-angry-ea-employee/

 

http://www.starwarsmmolevelingguide.com/swtor-a-300-million-failure/

 

Funily enough whoever this employee was, took the words out of my mouth and made spill my drink:

 

"Theyve spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. S**t you not. More than 300 million USD! Can you believe that? And you know what theyre most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound. No seriously. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. Thats the best they have.

 

I hope they provide some actual content soon, not just this ... fail fluff.

 

 

If you are going to give me fluff, at least make an effort.

Edited April 21, 2012 by LexiCazam
IC - quote

[KonradA]

I am playing Empire on Hex Droid and I can't say I enjoy my stay there any more. Too bunch into other players while questing is a rare event. This is a MMO, isn't it? MASSIVE multiplayer online game. Not on Hex Droid.

 

I like SWTOR, I really do, when I can enjoy the game with others because I believe that's the purpose of the game. If I want a thrilling singleplayer experience I'd choose another game on the spot. It's sad, because I do want to enjoy this game but I feel that I can't if I'm not able to quest with other players. Do I really have to give up on this game for this reason?

Edited April 19, 2012 by KonradA

[Kthx]

I hope they provide some actual content soon, not just this ... fail fluff.

 

If you don't enjoy the story, I don't think it matters what BioWare does for you, you will not enjoy this game.

[Photoshop]

I dont know why Bioware doesnt put in a character transfer program? If anything, it would bring back a lot of people to re-sub again.

[Engalius]

Perhaps I should have been more specific. I really enjoyed the game but not as an MMORPG as this game has been marketed as. The fluff i was refering to is this quiet literaly bare bones patch that was more a slap to the face than anything and the majority of my resentment comes from the fact that one feels like they have been taken for a ride.

And not just by the hype of 1.2 but the game in generall.

 

 

But to be absolutely fair, this game is awesome in terms of its single player aspects. The cut scenes and voice owers are very well done and definately draw you in to the toons storyline. You care for what happens to your guy and the planet you are on. Its very very cool, unfortunately going from one planet to another and constantly having issues finding group's is very frustrating at times. I do not mean that the game is super empty at all times but its definately starting to feel like it.

 

Also the iteminization is pretty sweet throughout the game and what they have done albeit some of the end tier is just.... horrid to look at.

 

Despite having said this, i have to say that after finishing my storyline I have started to see the game for what it is. Voice overs, clever cinematics and that is about it and then you notice the bugs. The lack of basic norms of what is expected of an know.

 

Classic examen. Combat logs. We had to wait for 1.2 to get combat logs, half stars one to boot. When F2P games manage to implement them at start up. You would think that a company that sunk 200 to 300mill is unable to implement such a basic feature... Well...

 

And the list goes on... And on.. And on....

 

Now I am not saying that the "team" is not hard at work trying to fix the issues at hand, all I am saying is... Its an amazing single player game and I would definitely be buying it if it was offered as such.

 

 

As an MMO as it currently stands, sadly no. so its not a matter of whatever BW does that would make me happy. Its more a question of when and if.

[Rhizoprionodon]

Part of the issue is that there is no incentive to join lower population servers. This consistently leads to new players joining already bulging servers, and encourages people on low level servers to roll alts on other servers (this was especially common pre-legacy).

 

How about bioware make rare loot rates inversely proportional to server population size. That will encourage new players to fill from the bottom up, since they will have a higher chance of rare drops. Otherwise people are just going to keep filling the full servers.

 

If you don't want to go that route, why not peg some servers as full (canderous ordo comes to mind) and prevent new players from joining them?

 

Finally, if bioware chooses to merger servers, why not have a frank conversation with the servers effected. It would not be difficult to use a google docs style poll to determine the best approach for the light population servers.

 

Just be careful, because some people need the lower populations in order to run the game more smoothly.

[Drunkenpig]

Part of the issue is that there is no incentive to join lower population servers. This consistently leads to new players joining already bulging servers, and encourages people on low level servers to roll alts on other servers (this was especially common pre-legacy).

 

How about bioware make rare loot rates inversely proportional to server population size. That will encourage new players to fill from the bottom up, since they will have a higher chance of rare drops. Otherwise people are just going to keep filling the full servers.

 

If you don't want to go that route, why not peg some servers as full (canderous ordo comes to mind) and prevent new players from joining them?

 

Finally, if bioware chooses to merger servers, why not have a frank conversation with the servers effected. It would not be difficult to use a google docs style poll to determine the best approach for the light population servers.

 

Just be careful, because some people need the lower populations in order to run the game more smoothly.

another problem they have is that they have few rare spawns and little need for harvesting.

If the only place I could get mats was from gathering in a specific location, I would want to go there when the population was low, and the same for a rare mob spawn that drops something unique and worthwhile. As it is, when I essentially am alone on the whole damn planet, I am playing a solo RPG, and the fact that I have the whole world to myself is pointless. One more reason just to hang out in fleet and play my 501st game of Hutball. Great.

[Drunkenpig]

...and rare drops from mobs and resource spawn harvesting gives more opportunities for owpvp.

 

You listening, BW?

[Kthx]

I dont know why Bioware doesnt put in a character transfer program? If anything, it would bring back a lot of people to re-sub again.

 

I don' t know why players don't read the dev tracker before complaining.

 

They have put in a character transfer program. It is currently available for Australia/Asia, to help players migrate to the new servers there, and then it will be made available in other regions.

[Zsavooz]

whether this is true or not, here you go.

 

According to a new report from Cowan and Company, subscription numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic are in decline. According to the report, subscriptions peaked in February with 1.7 million subscribers. At the end of Q1 of fiscal year 2013, the analyst group is predicting a fall in subscriptions to 1.25 million.

 

Full article.

 

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/347636/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-Subscriptions-Declining-Says-Analyst.html

[GreySix]

Now I am not saying that the "team" is not hard at work trying to fix the issues at hand, all I am saying is... Its an amazing single player game and I would definitely be buying it if it was offered as such.

Except I can't play cooperatively with my wife on any Star Wars single-player game.

 

Thus we both play this one.

 

And there are many like me.

 

And we don't like wow or any other MMO game - because they aren't Star Wars.

Edited April 19, 2012 by GreySix

[Kthx]

The fluff i was refering to is this quiet literaly bare bones patch that was more a slap to the face than anything and the majority of my resentment comes from the fact that one feels like they have been taken for a ride. And not just by the hype of 1.2 but the game in generall.

 

This is your opinion. But obviously a huge community of players continue to enjoy playing and subscribing to this game. And 1.2 brought an increase in player numbers, so clearly the overall sentiment is not that it was a slap in the face.

 

The lack of basic norms of what is expected of an know.

 

I don't know what this means.

 

Classic examen. Combat logs. We had to wait for 1.2 to get combat logs, half stars one to boot. When F2P games manage to implement them at start up. You would think that a company that sunk 200 to 300mill is unable to implement such a basic feature... Well...

 

Which F2P game are you referring to? The offline combat log is what the overwhelming majority of the community wanted. The thread that polled the community about this had at least a 3:1 ratio for offline logs, based on the damage combat logs had done to the player atmospher in other games.

[Kthx]

whether this is true or not, here you go.

 

According to a new report from Cowan and Company, subscription numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic are in decline. According to the report, subscriptions peaked in February with 1.7 million subscribers. At the end of Q1 of fiscal year 2013, the analyst group is predicting a fall in subscriptions to 1.25 million.

 

Something doesn't add up: The original interview (available at http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168878/Star_Wars_The_Old_Republic_sub_numbers_already_declining__analyst.php) states "by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2013" [emphasis added]. Q1 of fiscal year 2013 ends in June of 2012. There is a huge difference in predicting it will have dropped to 1.25 million one year from now vs. three months from now!

 

I don't think it would at all be shocking if SWTOR was down to 1.25 million subscribers one year from now. What I really want to know is how they make this prediction. From the article, it seems like they pulled the number from thin air.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Kthx