Server population is dropping...

[aarka]

Hurry up and do something.

[blur]

At last count, there are 217 servers total worldwide. At 1.7 million players split evenly, and they aren't split evenly, that would be roughly 7800 players per server.

 

Even if you don't believe the 1.7 M number, lets say 500K. That's roughly 2300 per server.

 

But the little numbers in game say 53 or 12 or 9 etc... making people think "OMG the little number says 43, this server is dead yo!!!!!!!"

 

You might choose to mock, but if there were really as many as 7800 people on a server, you should be seeing a few more than 50 on the fleet in prime time. I mean, come on, that's just obvious.

Edited May 6, 2012 by blur

[contacts]

I think it's a case of the damage having been done early on in the December release. That was the window of opportunity for the game to put its best foot forward. Unfortunately, the lack of quality of life features and varying gameplay issues (which I've been mostly unaffected, but others have screamed about), have most likely hurt the game irreparably, in my opinion.

 

I truly wanted this game to be good. I wanted this game to be my new home for years after having played WoW for 7 years. I've cancelled my sub as I cannot wait any more for server transfers and other features like LFD. Here are things I've observed since the game's launch that's hurting the game leading to population decline. They are the little things:

 

1. Disconnected World

Traveling to the planets take time. You cannot just take a taxi from the fleet to the planet and to where you want to be on that planet. It's a lot of manual work.

-- Most of the faction planets are locked away from each other, which kills world pvp slightly. Not to mention, planets like Taris and Balmorra are recycled between the factions, so where's the immersion?

 

2. Flashpoints

BW did not make a good effort in streamlining the flashpoints with the quests. Beyond BT/Esseles, the rest of the FPs are relegated to droids and shuttles, instead of the FP being located on the planet right then and there for you to pick up and group up with players in the area.

-- With that said, it creates a domino effect where level 50s would ignore doing these "skipped" FPs opting, potentially, to just run what they've done so far, which is mainly BT/Esseles.

-- The lack of a LFG tool is a nail on the coffin, as you cannot do anything in the meantime if you want to run something in a PUG.

 

3. Gear & ePeen status

There is something missing with the sense of accomplishment in the game. And that comes from the way gear appears in the game.

-- I found that gear doesn't stand out in the crowd. It doesn't scream, "look at me!". Republic gear looks bland, War Hero gear is shocking, lightsabers all look the same, etc. The only exception is maybe the assualt cannon.

-- The issue here is that when you don't have "epic" looking gear that stands out from the rest, the server's populace doesn't recognize it, which means there's no desire to want to have that same item and that in turn affects the person wearing the gear. They don't feel special, and let's be real here, that's kind of why we play — to progress our character (via shiny carrot on the stick) and have others admire us for it.

 

4. PVP

There's no such thing as balance in an MMO really. The game did a pretty good job in terms of balance pre-1.2. Every class were more or less content with what they got and how they held up in a warzone. After the patch, with the sweeping changes and lack of rated warzones, it just made things a huge mess.

-- In regards to Ilum, the map was too big. If it was significantly smaller, where both factions had no choice but to run into each other, and if it somehow included levels 35-50 via class quests, then things would've worked out better. Maybe.

 

5. Quality of Life features that have yet to be implemented

Dual spec: Not terribly necessary, but it's convenient.

LFG tool: See Point #2.

Addons: Why turn away free development from fans that would only improve and polish the game?

 

 

TL,DR: Disconnected worlds, gear/char progression lacking epeen, pvp changes, and lack of dual spec/LFD/addons is resulting in population decline.

 

Yeah I agree, but none of these are deal breaking issues for me. I'm actually happy with the game, or would be, if my server didnt go belly up. I think people would have been willing to give the game a lot more time had the population issues completely unplayable.

 

lots quit after they realized the game wasn't for them, but at this point we are seeing actual fans of the game leave just because they can't access any of the content besides soloable dailies....

[Feeblezak]

Its not a problem with the amount of people playing, but the number of servers. The playerbase is spread too thin.

[Darth-Rammstein]

I have a feeling the free server transfers will end up being from one low pop server to another and optional making some servers even emptier. If you want a transfer to an already well populated server like the fatman or jedi covenant expect to pay $25 is my guess. Edited May 6, 2012 by Darth-Rammstein

[Sanxxx]

All that I can conclude from these threads is that you either believe that Bioware is lying when they say 1.7 million subs (subject to change since statement), the in game number indicator is wrong, or people are just beng more selective in their grouping options these days (and ignoring random invites in LFG).

 

At last count, there are 217 servers total worldwide. At 1.7 million players split evenly, and they aren't split evenly, that would be roughly 7800 players per server.

 

Even if you don't believe the 1.7 M number, lets say 500K. That's roughly 2300 per server.

 

But the little numbers in game say 53 or 12 or 9 etc... making people think "OMG the little number says 43, this server is dead yo!!!!!!!"

 

It all leads to a very muddy picture that would probably be best clarified by removing those numbers since they are obviously borked. Well, they are either borked or BW is lying. Myself, I have no problems getting warzones or even a group if I wish....but these days I don't wish. Warzones pop within a few minutes on lord adraas and are always going.

 

I guess i'm just trying to say that that little number in the corner is either revealing a lie or causing a bad condition because it is fubar.

 

I think blizzard stated once that the online pop of a server is some 10-20% of the total , so a 2300 pop sever would typically show 230-460 people online.

 

Looking at all the ancedotal evidence and the recent TorStatus trends I would put a hefty wager that current subs are closer to 500k rather than 1.7m.

Also, there is no definition of what constitutes 'massively multiplayer, EA might think this is 400 per server, I'm not sure many others would though

[CormacAlClian]

Its not a problem with the amount of people playing, but the number of servers. The playerbase is spread too thin.

 

Man has right... I give him that. The Problem is, that EA wanted this game to be another wonder of the world, and now - they just can't admit it didn't work and reduce the huge number of servers to improve situation for actual players.

Edited May 6, 2012 by CormacAlClian

[Feeblezak]

We just need server merges. its pathetic that they're not doing that.

[RickRedOne]

We just need server merges. its pathetic that they're not doing that.

 

And when they merge YOUR server, and make you change YOUR name.

 

You won't complain will you???

[KantaUO]

I'd rather lose my characters name and be able to play then not play at all...

 

Lfg hm flashpoint. Oh wait there are only 7 level 50s on and no tanks.

 

Que wz... Wait....wait...hours later...still no que.

 

 

Ya i would gladly lose my name to play a mmo instead of this single player game. They need to hit the pause button on all new content and fix server population issues now or there will be no one left to try out the new content

[Enamore]

^^ Exactly. Server merges need to happen now, ive never seen an mmo this quiet so early on *unless your on a high pop server of course*

 

I have enjoyed SWTOR since the first day of early access but now i have no desire to log on and wait 1 hr for a wz... in peak time, lifes too short.

 

For the love of cake bioware listen before its too late.

[spudrow]

feel like alot of people probably left because they finished the game and there wasnt much left to do. the game is great from 1-50 but after 50 u have 3 raids and pvp. this is standard in that most mmos have that as ur endgame content problem was that normal mode raids are waaaay too easy. i feel as though bioware probably shouldve it made it take longer to reach 50 and save bonus quests for post 50 content sort of a uve completed ur story now u need to help secure areas for ur faction. this would pumped a bit more lifeblood into the pve sector. raids shouldve been a bit harder (not by much) and i cant believe im saying this but not so easy to get geared on normal. one of the things wow did to add shelf life to the game was have endgame content be a huge grind. players were on all the time trying to get geared up for endgame stuff and then running it to get...more gear. it added months to the game even when badges came out it took a while to gear up and clear raids (wotlk was probably too easy hence the backlash) PVP was the same way if u wanted results u had to be on all the time. SWTOR tried to get rid of the grind (something i approved of) and unfortunately it really shorted the shelflife of the game post leveling. As for a fix i think they may need to swallow their pride and merge some of those usa servers that they added for the launch explosion. combine that with transfers and cross server LFG system it would help get things moving again. they will also need to double time it on making new content to keep people interested

[MinkyMike]

My server is completely dead. Never goes past light population. Planets never go past 15 - 20 people most stay below 5 - 7 for a good 90% of the day. Fleet hits 90ish people but most of the day its 20 - 30. I regret resubing to such a dead game no wonder I left this game after the second month after release. I should not have to lose all my progress and reroll on another server thats going to die soon anyways just to play this so called "MMO". They got intill the end of the free month they gave us to do something about this otherwise this will be the last time I give them my money and im pretty sure this is the same feeling with many many MANY players so I am not alone.

 

Would also like to add my server was one of the second highest queued servers on launch I stuck with it figuring that if this server kept half its population after the first month than it should notdie anytime soon and boy was I majorly wrong cause it died after the first month -_-.

Edited May 6, 2012 by MinkyMike

[zuile]

When I checked earlier just past 9 BST I counted 23 light, 20 standard, 1 heavy, 1 very heavy EU English servers, at 1.18 it was 33 light, 11 standard, 1 heavy. Should of done a count inbetween then at like 6 but whatever imo the servers that were light at 9 need to have transfer to the 10 servers that transitioned from light to standard between 1 and 9 or they should be merged, maybe even more consolidation than that.

 

More light than standard servers when into prime time is really bad even with it being only by a little.

[Ghaiana]

When I checked earlier just past 9 BST I counted 23 light, 20 standard, 1 heavy, 1 very heavy EU English servers, at 1.18 it was 33 light, 11 standard, 1 heavy. Should of done a count inbetween then at like 6 but whatever imo the servers that were light at 9 need to have transfer to the 10 servers that transitioned from light to standard between 1 and 9 or they should be merged, maybe even more consolidation than that.

 

More light than standard servers when into prime time is really bad even with it being only by a little.

 

You forgot quite some servers, there are about 85 EU servers.

[braxtor]

I unsubbed a few days ago for a variety of reasons, including the lack of active players on the server.

 

Bioware/EA have shown they are not able to handle a massively multiplayer online game. They either lack the resources to do it right, or worse, lack the technical ability to. I stayed with the game from beta until now and it still is plagued with more bugs and minor annoyances than any game I've ever played. It also is terrible on performance - lag spikes, disconnects, and frame rate issues when there is more than like 10 people in the same area. I played the GW2 beta last weekend and was amazed how smoothly it ran all around. I remember towards the end of the SWTOR Beta saying "Are they seriously going to release this game in 2 weeks? This game is definitely not ready". Lo and behold, they decided to release it. Arenanet has the right idea, they've delayed the launch of GW2 for some time, and still have not set a release date other than "when it is READY". And hell from my experience with the beta, it's much less bugfree than SWTOR ever has been or will be.

 

Level 50 content is underwhelming all around. Some of the flashpoint encounters are the best parts of the end-game, but GOOD LUCK getting those groups together. Your guild won't want to run it because everyone's already decked out in full columi and rakata from the easy raids. The raids are WAYYYY too easy and some of the encounters are just a waste of time. Like seriously, who thought the "loot council" in EV was a good idea? Or Foreman Crusher in KP? The funny thing is the only difficult fights were the ones that were difficult due to the bugs that Bioware failed to address for months and months. Fighting SOA on HM used to be "difficult" because of how buggy it was. Once the bugs were patched, the mechanics to the fight are really simple and you realize you were just fighting bugs the whole time!

 

And about the flashpoints... they actually were some of the most fun content at level 50. But not having a group finder and only being able to group with people on your own server made this a serious pain to get together. People say they would want a group finder to be same server because of WoW cross-server community issues. This game will not have a community anymore if they do not at the very least MERGE THE DAMN SERVERS! GW2 Beta even allows free transfers to other servers! IN BETA!!! Oh, and give some options for PvE queuing. Why let there be PvP queues but no PvE queues? It's the biggest reason a lot of people don't even bother with PvE - it's so much easier to just queue for PvP.

 

PvP is okay, but nothing to keep me subscribing.

 

I have no faith in Bioware/EA to do things right in this game anymore. I really wanted this to be an MMO game I'd want to keep playing, but it really has just become a more interesting universe than WoW, but with worse everything else. I quit WoW over a year ago and won't be returning to that either.

 

As to what someone said: what game will I play to "replace" this? I won't be playing any more grinding for gear MMOs that's for sure. Now I spend more of my free time playing guitar, watching movies/episodes, playing SF4, SC2, working out, researching things I'm interested in, etc.

[UnmarkedFaith]

I guess you don't play the game because you enjoy it then clearly as you view this game as a waste of time then you should unsub. If it will make you happy than you should. If you don't want to play on a dead server and your not willing to adapt to the situation by re-rolling because you feel its a waste then you should unsub.

 

I have re-rolled may times myself, I have changed servers about 4 times now but it doesn't bother me because i actually enjoy the game very much.

 

You my friend are a type of person who will never see end game. A alt-a-holic..... the people who prefer 1 or 2 toons and raiding / end game. Imagine having a 50 waiting for a group for a flashpoint end NEVER getting one, or pvp que and it never popping...only reason its fun for you is cause you:

 

a.) probably play part time

b.) have 8 lvl 20-30's

c.) havent seen the end game

 

Not trollin you just stating facts...not being mean...

[Valkirus]

I'd rather lose my characters name and be able to play then not play at all...

 

Lfg hm flashpoint. Oh wait there are only 7 level 50s on and no tanks.

 

Que wz... Wait....wait...hours later...still no que.

 

 

Ya i would gladly lose my name to play a mmo instead of this single player game. They need to hit the pause button on all new content and fix server population issues now or there will be no one left to try out the new content

 

I will complain. My char's name is a part of who he is. They donot need to merge servers, all they need to do is have a functional cross server LFG tool to allow those on low pop server to experence end game content. Those on heavy pop servers, big guilds, etc, can choose not to use it.

[netslayer]

or they could just open up paid character transfers im tired of being forced to level another character I dont even want to play just so I can play with others and have the experience of an MMO I want to play my guardian that I have worked for and leveling is not so fun that I would go out and do that crap again. my account is deactivated and will not return unless this is offered or the population issue is resolved.

[glabgr]

Ok i am feeling almost like the most of you so i decided to post my thoughts about it.

First of all when you pay a game and you love the concept like Star wars from the movies etc. you are the last person you want to see this game die and stop playing.

BUT we should consider if we are in denial............Because population really dropping and its something everyone seeing , only 2-3 servers have Very heavy and in specific hours, trust me i am checking this all the time.

Well i see solutions like :Reroll........ No i dont want to startover its not a solution for me its a solution for Bioware but wait....i am the one who is paying , so why to reroll and not transfer or start merging the servers.

Or another solution is cross-server LFG tool so u dont have to merge or transfer or nothing, history says its working it worked for wow , trust me i was there for 7 years.LFG and LFR saved the game for new players......

I want to beleive that bioware knows about it reads about it after all i saw a post that says that they will not add cross-server LFG for now because if u meet a jerk and he is from another server he has no problem to be a jerk so it will ruin your game because he will not see you again.Come on bioware if the jerk is from my server what will change hah? I can find him and chat with him? Jerk is a jerk in my server or from another server period.

Let us worried about it , just create a damn LFG tool so we can go see the Flashpoints after all we leveled to 50 for this reason not going around the fleet.........

Put a transfer tool now or merge the servers, you can do it you have the tech tools you did it already for the asia servers so why not for EU and if you want us to pay ok i will pay if its going to save the game i love.But just do it and do it fast .

 

I sayd all i had to say about the matter and i want to believe that many of us feeling like i do and i hope Bio will listen and do something fast or the population will start dropping faster and faster and nobody will stay around to play.

Edited May 6, 2012 by glabgr

[arcdaemon]

This game is dead stick a fork in it.

[Lhaim]

Transfers or merge now. I wont be paying for an empty server once the free 30 days run out.

 

How could you do the same mistake you did with warhammer again...amateurs.

[Satans_Puppet]

or they could just open up paid character transfers im tired of being forced to level another character I dont even want to play just so I can play with others and have the experience of an MMO I want to play my guardian that I have worked for and leveling is not so fun that I would go out and do that crap again. my account is deactivated and will not return unless this is offered or the population issue is resolved.

 

Why would you pay for the transfer when this is an issue that Bioware should be fixing for free? They should have predicted the inevitable drop off and had X Server queues in place for PvP or arranged server merges for low pop servers. They should be analysing the data at every turn to see which factions are doing what and when so that they could make the proper move to merge servers to optimise player strengths.

[Unruhe]

Transfers or merge now. I wont be paying for an empty server once the free 30 days run out.

 

How could you do the same mistake you did with warhammer again...amateurs.

 

Well when you keep employing people that made a failure, this is what you get in return, I guess.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Unruhe

[Mastershroom]

Infinite empire currently has a population of 20 republics on fleet and that drops to under 4-5 when warzone que pops

Hey, first time I've seen one of my own on the forum.

 

Yeah, our server got annihilated by the Australia transfer. I used to play on Hedarr Soongh, got a Gunslinger up to 50 and realized there was literally nothing to do since the server was empty. Re-rolled on Infinite Empire, which, at the time, was one of the highest population West Coast PvP servers. I live in Ohio, but I went West Coast because I work til really late at night, by which time East Coast servers are already emptied out. Anyway, it was way better than Hedarr Soongh, and for the most part I've been able to find groups for flashpoints, never had to wait too long for a WZ queue...but now it seems 2/3 of our population is gone instantly, there's rarely more than 20 people on the fleet and 4 or 5 on a planet, and I haven't been able to get a Flashpoint group together in 10 levels.