The end of the arguement. Is SWTOR in decline? Can it be saved?

[malangus]

1.2 fixed everything I found annoying with the game.

 

Not for me. While I haven't the fastest machine (only a Dual Core 2.4 GHz and a 6850 Video Card), I noticed some things that got broken lately.

* Lag apparently is back, specially noticed in PvP (more on that later).

* People/boss position is not accurate (lag???), is noticed a lot in PvP. Dunno if it's connection related or engine related. Sometimes they looked like stuck on a place, while they are not.

* Timings on interface (specially crafting timers) have gone very erratic since 1.2.

* Toolbar actions not available when cooldown animation is over. Sometimes take like 2 secs after cooldown animation ends. Could be related to previous timing problem, or just lag. Again is more visible in PvP.

 

 

But also to give credit, I like the new warzone, the world event indroduced this week. If they keep adding events like this one to change the normal routine, is nice.

[Avatarless]

TERA open beta is this weekend and the company developing it seem to know what fun is about:

 

http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test-patch-notes

 

P.S: Please give my Agent her giggle back!

Edited April 19, 2012 by Avatarless

[Brorim]

TERA open beta is this weekend and the company developing it seem to know what fun is about:

 

http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test-patch-notes

 

P.S: Please give my Agent her giggle back!

 

Tera ?? no thank you .. TOR is much better

[ConradLionhart]

TERA open beta is this weekend and the company developing it seem to know what fun is about:

 

http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test-patch-notes

 

P.S: Please give my Agent her giggle back!

 

Less hardmode dungeons than SW:TOR but seems decent.

 

But, no raids? People already complain about the 2 operations in SW:TOR at launch being not enough.

[VanRedPool]

TERA open beta is this weekend and the company developing it seem to know what fun is about:

 

http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test-patch-notes

 

P.S: Please give my Agent her giggle back!

 

Downloaded!

TERABETA

FTW!

[Balthazod]

You will always get a drop in subs after the first few months.

The problems with SWTOR were school boy errors some one needs sacking and even now after 1.2 they still not being addressed.

More content is no good if you cant access it.

The populations need to be increased merge servers increase population sizes on servers.

How many times do we need to ask for a LFT system. I have spent hours waiting and advertising for a team to do FP's untill I am so bored of the game and even cleaning my house seems like fun..

Only 3 warzones what were they thinking.

SW has a loyal fan base so the game can survive just need some practical patching and stop pissing Europe of with all day patch's.

[Shockazilla]

As typical with online publishing, you'll find numerous articles about popular products and brands, such as games. Everyone wants to have an opinion and sound important, but their level of analysis and cited sources is sadly weak and non-objective.

 

Also, just because you quote someone, it doesn't mean it is legitimate. I can quote Jimbo from some trailer-park who says "SWTOR will die". A lot of journalist use this trick to make themselves sound legitimate.

 

I just read an article about Apple's new iPhone in 2007, published by Bloomberg Businessweek, that said the iPhone as a fad and it's only reason for existence is to defend the iPod business. Well, um, the results today speak for themselves. The same type of sad articles are written for all types of popular products, services, and media, but shouldn't be headed anymore than the Inquirer, Midnight Star, or any other tabloid.

 

One of those article also indicates that the sales of SWTOR is better than expected, and that fact is used to demonstrate EA's value to investors. Yet they indicate that SWTOR is poor performer. And a lot these figures, are published publicly and can anyone can look at the numbers, run some figures to determine things like the corporation's sustainability and other aspects of their health, profitability, and risks.

 

Yet, what does this have to do with playing SWTOR and having a good time? I think this just shows that many have absolutely no lives, and maybe are dependent on SWTOR or another MMO to give them meaning and purpose in life, and unfortunately, perhaps, these are the ones that are most vociferous.

[Tsaritsin]

To me it's not so much the state of the game (which isn't great by any standard imo) as it is the state of the team developing it. I've lost any faith I had in them with this latest patch and their complete silence on the matter. I'm taking my money elsewhere before it gets worse.

 

Complete silence on everything it would seem, but they find it perfectly ok to talk about the problems on 3rd party sites, yet refuse point blank to talk to their PAYING customers on the forums, I find that highly insulting tbh.

 

We had two threads regarding performance problems, both of which exceeded 100 posts and where then restarted, both of which received 0 comments from Bioware.

 

Endless threads regarding Server Population problems, with posters simply wanting info on whether server mergers or server transfers will be an option soon, how did they get treated ?, they got ignored, instead Bioware chose to start talking on a 3rd party site.

 

A large number of threads all regarding the many many bugs in this shabby unfinished game (yep, they deserve that), all met with either no reply or the standard Biodrone - "We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve it", lol, yeah how exactly ?, oh by adding even more content, and making even more changes to the game that then result in even more bugs, some of which are game breaking, yes I of course refer to 1.2.

 

If the Game dies a horrid death then they only have themselves to blame.

 

The basic game is a good game, but Bioware/EA's attitude towards paying customers quite frankly stinks.

 

And for those that are still wondering why there is so mate hate, QQ and negativity on the forums, well that's what happens when you ignore people, that's what happens when you ignore your customers.

 

They get my money for a few more months, a few more months to the sort the bugs, if they cant even be bothered to sort the bugs and get the BASIC game up to standard, then it's cancel time, because I am sick to death of PAYING to play a BETA.

[AvuroN]

I just canceled this weekend. The game has problems, but I was willing to give them a chance until I was excluded from the 30 day reward.

 

I actually will put up with bad customer service for a great game. I will not, however, put up with bad customer service for this game.

 

I don't want to sound rude, but personally I don't believe that people who didn't even bother making atleast a bit of an effort to get to endgame content should be rewarded.

[unseenmaji]

Anonymous may not liking way EA has gone about things. Cooperate greed needs to be exposed and the truth revealed it sad when money becomes first over custom satisifcation.

[seektravota]

many sage friends have left. you should rebuff sages back, and keep the hybrid spec.

[Bafucin]

It can be saved if the hire me.

 

Less focus on the Legacy Bioware! And cut down on this Free to play stuff, it just scream SUBS GOING DOWN!

 

One problem, the game need a lot of work. Rework of so much stuff, it was made wrong from the start.

[Solo_Han]

The game is great and I love it .

 

You are all pouring numbers out of your, you know what .

 

If you hate it that much why don't you simply leave the forums and the game in stead of lingering around

here spewing your poison ?? Unless you WANT it to fail.

 

I WANT it to succeed, TOR is FOUR months old . Get real people .

 

Talking trash about TOR seems to feed your need for attention. Perhaps you do not believe that

people acknowledge you for your Genius enough on a daily basis, so you come here and try to look like

you are clever and full of insight based on the fact that you can predict why the game is failing ..

 

Rather pathetic if you ask me. ( which you probably won't, and I do not really care if you do, )

 

1.2 fixed everything I found annoying with the game. After such a huge game fix/upgrade things can only IMPROVE.

I'm looking forward to more flashpoints, capitol guild ships ( omg what is that anyways ? ) , more operations, more levels, more planets. The franchise contains limitless possibilities.

 

SWTOR only needs saving from you forum epeens. You are the only danger the game faces . So, if you do not like it.. Go away and leave the game to people that appreciate it .

 

You sound pretty, well, extremely defensive over this.

 

People aren't saying they don't like the game. People are saying that it is flawed (which is true), contains a lot of bugs still (which it does), and has much emptier servers than in January (which it does, on some servers, cripplingly so).

 

People who have cancelled their subs (myself included), post here for numerous reasons. Personally, I still like the game, but find it simply too buggy, frustrating and empty to play. I have since gone back to WoW for a while and am enjoying it.

 

Anyone who says that WoW is terrible, I can't quite see why you love TOR so much, and hate a game, that for the most part uses all the same mechanics, and plays nearly exactly the same, so much. I can only assume that it's the fanboys vs. haters relationship that seems to of developed over the years. Back in time people used to just play what they wanted, no one felt obliged to play a game because it would feel like cheating if they played another one, people would just play what they liked to play... But I digress.

 

Fact is, anyone who's played since late January will tell you that their server is a lot emptier... Forgetting the Light, Standard, Heavy, Very Heavy, Full ratings... Just by playing it, you can tell it's pretty barren compared to previously. Some people might say, "My server had a 20 minute queue last night, I don't know what you're talking about!", well, you're one of the lucky ones who rolled on the correct server from the start. Around 70% of them are suffering, and around 20% have less than 200 people playing on them - total, at peak times... I made characters, I did the maths, and those are fairly accurate figures.

 

 

I really don't want TOR to fail, I want them to continue their work, and make it into the game it can potentially become. But terrible (or, more accurately, no) communication to your customers over population issues (or most 'negative' things tbh) and providing free time to more hardcore players, and not those that have supported you since closed beta (I'm talking about myself here) I simply don't wish to pay to support. I'm not alone in this, I assure you. 5 friends started playing at launch, I was the last to unsub.

 

 

To answer the thread question:

 

Is it in decline?

It depends on what you're considering its peak... As it's a new game, there hasn't been a stable peak. But I would say in terms of general server populations, yes. There's too many servers for the amount of people actively playing the game. I think that's a fair assessment that most would agree with.

 

Can it be saved?

I don't think it's going to go anywhere, so I don't think there's too much to really 'save'. I think the HeroEngine is a piece of crap though. And a house built on crappy foundations won't last long before the cracks start to show, and the building starts to crumble, before, inevitably, the foundations have to be reinforced. But no, I don't think it's in real trouble. At least not at the moment.

[Maniigoldo]

Less hardmode dungeons than SW:TOR but seems decent.

 

But, no raids? People already complain about the 2 operations in SW:TOR at launch being not enough.

 

less hardmode?

say that again once u run hardmode dungeons endgame and when u get ONE SHOT because u forgot to block or dogde

 

thats right u can get one shoted in tera if ur not paying attention.

[Maniigoldo]

You sound pretty, well, extremely defensive over this.

 

People aren't saying they don't like the game. People are saying that it is flawed (which is true), contains a lot of bugs still (which it does), and has much emptier servers than in January (which it does, on some servers, cripplingly so).

 

People who have cancelled their subs (myself included), post here for numerous reasons. Personally, I still like the game, but find it simply too buggy, frustrating and empty to play. I have since gone back to WoW for a while and am enjoying it.

 

i stop there.

enjoy your 1 pixel game farmville

[faymar]

TERA open beta is this weekend and the company developing it seem to know what fun is about:

 

http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test-patch-notes

 

P.S: Please give my Agent her giggle back!

 

Tera is fine if you are into Raid or die or Chris Hansen specials, It's vast legal problem aside I just don't think it will put much of a dent in TOR's subscriber base, and when I say subscribers not the QQ brigade that purchased the game just to cry on the forums.

[Solo_Han]

i stop there.

enjoy your 1 pixel game farmville

 

By stopping there, you simply prove the rest of my post, and make me lose hope in the future of the industry... I encourage you to read it, but if you want to act like a child, then so be it.

[Devlonir]

Complete silence on everything it would seem, but they find it perfectly ok to talk about the problems on 3rd party sites, yet refuse point blank to talk to their PAYING customers on the forums, I find that highly insulting tbh.

*points to weekly community Q&A and Dev tracker posted just above the forums of this very website*

 

Sorry, didn't read the rest of your post. But Bioware does communicate with their user base, not by putting silly blue responses somewhere as some other games but by weekly 'blog posts' so to speak to answer to problems that are put forward by the community.

 

Performance has been answered before, and they keep tweaking it as is so often said. And almost every other problem except server sizes has been answered in the past. They take their time and answer when there is something to answer, not giving useless informations or soon comments when there is basicly nothing to say yet.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Devlonir

[Solo_Han]

Sorry, didn't read the rest of your post. But Bioware does communicate with their user base, not by putting silly blue responses somewhere as some other games but by weekly 'blog posts' so to speak to answer to problems that are put forward by the community.

 

You would really rather get a weekly blog post, than daily interaction with developers? Really?

 

If so, can I ask why?

[Rabrac]

LOL. Didn't BF3 sell 5 million units in its first week? Unless they sold it for under 3$ then that article is an utter lie. Nothing to see here...

[Kurfer]

The problem is this game still sits in the dark ages of MMO's...raid finders and group finders are a must. Most people don't even bother with PvE anymore. It's just not good design to have people wait around for a healer/tank for hours esp for a FP/Op that is so out of whack in balance it's sick.

 

The new FP has virtually no reward for the difficulty of the second boss, it's not a L2P issue it's a pop issue. It's hard to get 4 decent geared players let alone 4 GOOD players for a group these days.

 

Even being in a guild that in my eyes is one of the largest on the server (25 members online usually) there are only maybe 3-4 healers/tanks and the weekly/daily limits does not promote team play.

 

With the abortion of class balance in pvp 1.2 ALL of our healers respecced to DPS and since we have another dark ages element in having no dual-spec feature people won't respecc for pve/pvp role changes.

 

Mark my words, this game will be forced to server merge in 3 months...the global pop will be so low they won't have the money from EA to maintain the amount of servers they have.

 

The great thing about thick headed dev's, reality never supports their insane agenda.

[Vagessel]

TERA open beta is this weekend and the company developing it seem to know what fun is about:

 

http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test-patch-notes

 

P.S: Please give my Agent her giggle back!

 

I actually laughed out hard. Thanks for the jollies. Yes, jiggling and breast physics can be fun ... for 5 minutes. They don't hold subscriptions month after month. It's going to be a nice little niche game - with a substantial population of ERPers, but mentioning it in a thread about SWTOR is about as inane as that one comparing STO to SWTOR.

[Kurfer]

I actually laughed out hard. Thanks for the jollies. Yes, jiggling and breast physics can be fun ... for 5 minutes. They don't hold subscriptions month after month. It's going to be a nice little niche game - with a substantial population of ERPers, but mentioning it in a thread about SWTOR is about as inane as that one comparing STO to SWTOR.

 

Game looks good but let's face it, for US players it's an asian MMO with an asian grind. It won't last and will be just like all the rest (Aion, Lineage II)...

 

Plus it has that odd looking pedo style little girl character. They should setup an internet task force that tracks the habits of the people who choose that type of character to learn more about how predators and pedos interact online.

[iceperson]

I actually laughed out hard. Thanks for the jollies. Yes, jiggling and breast physics can be fun ... for 5 minutes. They don't hold subscriptions month after month. It's going to be a nice little niche game - with a substantial population of ERPers, but mentioning it in a thread about SWTOR is about as inane as that one comparing STO to SWTOR.

 

tera will corner the pedo market.

[DepecheNova]

I'll throw my 2 cents in. Imo they keep it running and take your cash, while promising to fix said issues (everone knows what they are). I un subbed because of 1.2. They promised that it would change mmo's forever & that it would be ground breaking. I tracked this game for years hoping that it would be the game changer , they said that they'd do away with kill ten of these ten of those. That the crafting sytem would be worth it & that the sytem that they were gonna bring in made it easier for guilds and groups to operate.

The legacy system i waited soo long for is terrible. So we waited in vein from beta testing hoping that the very basic's would be fixed and for months they dangeled a scabby carrot in our faces . I have been gaming mmo's since 96

and was shocked to see the game in the state it was in upon release. The very basic things in mmo's that people expect weren't there. Simple things like lfg system (even though i cant stand pug's) i would have used the system, because thats what was needed. I was in a good guild not on a heavy server , but in the beginning like everyone else we plugged away and got our numbers up and we raided and cleared 95% of the content, hoping that 1.2 would be the answer to diminishing numbers on our server. The game is dying for a good reason, beacuse people were sold a lie. Once people did all the raiding they saw the game for exactly what it was unfinished. U cant bring in new content and not address the major issues at hand, hoping that people will stay with u through this (Testing) Phase. Thats what i saw it as, and am not paying good money to something thats broken . Maybe in a year or so when they have enough content and the bugs are fixed maybe just maybe people might return. But i cant see it happening as games like GW2 will change the way mmo's are made.