Merges, Cross Server or Death

[DarthBanker]

Too much drama in the title? Apologies.

I can only speak for what I see and the servers I play on, but I think we all know that the populations on many servers is falling. It has reached such a low now that PvP is no longer fun, and therefore no longer viable. I am keen to hear if this is a common problem, and any solutions and more specifically timelines for those solutions.

It goes like this - low population server, usually light - long WZ queues and the matchmaking system throws PUGS up against the Premades as that is all that is available. In our case, only the Republic forms Premades so this matchup happens roughly 75%. A massively lopsided match ensues, Iterate several hundred times.

Now the republic has a significant gear advantage, and matches become more lopsided. Iterate further.

Many of the competitive PvPers from the disadvantaged faction quit, re-roll republic, or cease queuing. Queues are now longer, and those entering are less geared and experienced, widening the competitive gap.

I don't have access to population metrics but it has reached a point now where people are simply not engaging in PvP and those that do are struggling through a gear grind where they are essentially crops for the opposing faction to farm.

 

The solution would seem to be either server merges or cross-server queues. If we do not get some indication that this is going to happen soon, you will have not have enough population remaining for it to matter. Please give us some news regarding implementation of the measures you are taking to alleviate the population issues and I suggest you do it before the matter becomes terminal.

So to sum up, is population loss a significant problem game-wide, and is it going to be fixed shortly as they relate to PvP? I don't mean to inflate its importance or imply any exaggerated sense of our own importance but I can honestly say that several subscriptions hang in the balance here.

 

Good luck all, especially you Bioware. It must be heartbreaking to have all your work feel like its doing as much harm as good. I hope you find sustainable success through this.

[Fidopro]

Yeah, my original server with my two 50s is pretty much dead now.

 

this should be their highest priority

[LordOfThePeople]

We have 24 people at one time queuing up.. or between 14-28.

 

Just played a 4 on 7 game for my first one of the day. 11 people... 28 people is us getting extremely lucky were we can queue and get a pop with in 2 mins or so.. As of right now, i queue wait 20m for a game, play it, wait 20m, REPEAT. so a game every 35ms or so, thats fun.

 

Im just going to quit after my free month, and i know alot of people are doing the same.

 

How hard is it to impliment cross server REGULAR WZ queues if you have the coding for Ranked WZ queues? THIS WOULD FIX PVP FOR AWHILE AT LEAST

Edited April 30, 2012 by LordOfThePeople

[Pizzel]

Theres a thread where they posted timeline is "early summer" for xfers. No word on pvp cross server yet. I feel both are top priorities. Both of these features should have been in by 1.2. Not the silly legacy stuff.

 

Search the forums and u can read the post. My 3 50's are unplayable besides raids now. Server is so dead its disgusting

[Fidopro]

early summer is not going to cut it. Can you find a dev post where they said that? If you can I will probably unsub right now

[Gethsemane]

early summer is not going to cut it. Can you find a dev post where they said that? If you can I will probably unsub right now

 

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/swtor-preps-character-transfer-service-for-this-summer/

 

take it your un-subbing now?

[FunkBandit]

Too much drama in the title? Apologies.

I can only speak for what I see and the servers I play on, but I think we all know that the populations on many servers is falling. It has reached such a low now that PvP is no longer fun, and therefore no longer viable. I am keen to hear if this is a common problem, and any solutions and more specifically timelines for those solutions.

It goes like this - low population server, usually light - long WZ queues and the matchmaking system throws PUGS up against the Premades as that is all that is available. In our case, only the Republic forms Premades so this matchup happens roughly 75%. A massively lopsided match ensues, Iterate several hundred times.

Now the republic has a significant gear advantage, and matches become more lopsided. Iterate further.

Many of the competitive PvPers from the disadvantaged faction quit, re-roll republic, or cease queuing. Queues are now longer, and those entering are less geared and experienced, widening the competitive gap.

I don't have access to population metrics but it has reached a point now where people are simply not engaging in PvP and those that do are struggling through a gear grind where they are essentially crops for the opposing faction to farm.

 

The solution would seem to be either server merges or cross-server queues. If we do not get some indication that this is going to happen soon, you will have not have enough population remaining for it to matter. Please give us some news regarding implementation of the measures you are taking to alleviate the population issues and I suggest you do it before the matter becomes terminal.

So to sum up, is population loss a significant problem game-wide, and is it going to be fixed shortly as they relate to PvP? I don't mean to inflate its importance or imply any exaggerated sense of our own importance but I can honestly say that several subscriptions hang in the balance here.

 

Good luck all, especially you Bioware. It must be heartbreaking to have all your work feel like its doing as much harm as good. I hope you find sustainable success through this.

 

Gear gaps and premades will always exist, but que times because of small populations really should have been addressed by now. Theres no world pvp and if I saw the other faction in the open world i'd crap my pants. With that being said and the addition of same faction wzs just merge servers pop imbalance isnt relevant

[Twor]

8PM, one 50ish WZ running for Reps

[CoNfuSioN_]

for a lot of players, it's an ORPG, not an MMORPG.

 

Hey, we have tauntauns, a family tree, and new emotes. I guess that's supposed to keep us paying 45-60$ in subscription fees until they make the game enjoyable again, right?

 

The Rakghoul Plague lasted a week. The Servers dying Plague has gone on for a few months. Do we get a title for surviving this one? lolz

[Irenicus_Jon]

My server has 18 people on imperial fleet right now (prime time for us). By the time the third installment of "you-know-that-game" comes out I'm expecting that will drop to somewhere below 10.

 

Mid summer you say? This solution will not work if it were implemented two weeks ago, let alone tomorrow.

[Gethsemane]

prime-time Saturday afternoon our fleet had me on it yep just me. You can guess what most other players where doing....

 

If that doesn't concern bioware, well i'm afraid this game deserves to fail. Your only as good as your last game folks, your history wont protect you. Ask the folks at Mythic, oh that right you cant, EA sealed their coffin.

[LordOfThePeople]

their solution is to let the dead server die more.

[anticept]

Gear gaps and premades will always exist, but que times because of small populations really should have been addressed by now. Theres no world pvp and if I saw the other faction in the open world i'd crap my pants. With that being said and the addition of same faction wzs just merge servers pop imbalance isnt relevant

 

The que times on "bigger" servers is not ideal either if you want to do match off rush hours 15+ mins que daytime hour+ nighttime.

 

Same faction wzs was their answer to population imbalances gives more popups for imps instead of just 95% huttball and it can hinder the popups for republic sides by having the "smallish" player pool playing against the same faction.

 

I can understand the unwillingness of BW to create X-server wzs or merging their servers if they only see the subs and have no metrics following the actual activity in servers. But one of these options need to be implemented in the next month or before if they wish to keep this game alive. I personally won´t be sinking anymore money in this game after my sub and the free month run out unless there will be merges or the worse option of X-server ques.

[Sintel]

I have been playing since Beta and I love the concept behind this game. Bioware did a great job in all the areas they focused on. It has been my favorite MMO launch to date (which dates back to beta UO)...

 

I am very very sad to say I have started thinking about unsubscribing....For the very reasons Darthbanker stated.

PvP is totally busted because of population issues. It is not fun to play 10 matches and come up with a score of 0 wins 10 losses. It's very discouraging to roll against the same teams over and over...all in BM+ gear and in vent and then look at the teams I'm stuck with that are new 50's in pve gear.

 

Yes I do group and queue…If I can actually find 4 pvp players that are not fresh 50’s.

 

The republic side on my server has a very small well organized pvp team that we hit over and over and over. They don’t have to worry about pve geared players and I’m guessing they are in vent.

 

The only time we can beat them on a consistent basis is if we get 8 good pvp players in 2 teams..get in vent and queue at the same time.

 

The issue with that is now I'm tired to someone else s play schedule and If I get on late I’m too late for the 8 man team...I can't pvp when I want without getting beat down badly…I wouldn't even mind a 33% success rate when I'm not in a pre-made.

 

Early summer will not work for me. If the issue isn’t resolved in some manner I do not think I will be re upping after the free month.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Sintel

[Jatne]

for a lot of players, it's an ORPG, not an MMORPG.

 

Hey, we have tauntauns, a family tree, and new emotes. I guess that's supposed to keep us paying 45-60$ in subscription fees until they make the game enjoyable again, right?

 

The Rakghoul Plague lasted a week. The Servers dying Plague has gone on for a few months. Do we get a title for surviving this one? lolz

 

I LOL'd IRL. You should have gone with "The-Mythic(Or whoever reworked Ilum)-team-killing-PvP-and-in-turn-the-game plague" IMHO!

[Pizzel]

I thought my server was bad with numbers in the teens on the fleet. Man being the only 1. It's like being the last man on earth. What are you going to do?

 

It is disgusting what some loyal players are going through. Bioware has got to speed this up. Issue number 1 for this game

[Xinika]

for a lot of players, it's an ORPG, not an MMORPG.

 

Hey, we have tauntauns, a family tree, and new emotes. I guess that's supposed to keep us paying 45-60$ in subscription fees until they make the game enjoyable again, right?

 

The Rakghoul Plague lasted a week. The Servers dying Plague has gone on for a few months. Do we get a title for surviving this one? lolz

 

Lol well done.

[Quinlynn]

We have 24 people at one time queuing up.. or between 14-28.

 

Just played a 4 on 7 game for my first one of the day. 11 people... 28 people is us getting extremely lucky were we can queue and get a pop with in 2 mins or so.. As of right now, i queue wait 20m for a game, play it, wait 20m, REPEAT. so a game every 35ms or so, thats fun.

 

Im just going to quit after my free month, and i know alot of people are doing the same.

 

How hard is it to impliment cross server REGULAR WZ queues if you have the coding for Ranked WZ queues? THIS WOULD FIX PVP FOR AWHILE AT LEAST

 

Yep same on my server. ~45 repubs at peak and imps will be at ~150. Imp group comp is so superior that it becomes pointelss at times. After peak times the que can take as long as you suggest to pop.

 

My free month end will likely be vacation time for me too.

[Helistin]

I thought my server was bad with numbers in the teens on the fleet. Man being the only 1. It's like being the last man on earth. What are you going to do?

 

When the last player on the server logs out, does the server still exist?

[Quinlynn]

When the last player on the server logs out, does the server still exist?

 

Do you want the green pill or the red pill?

[CoNfuSioN_]

Lol well done.

 

I've heard of you before, or at least your guild. I'm in Balance on the deadweight, a few of my guildies want to reroll on whatever server you guys are on so that we're not the best game in town on repub side. God it would be nice to have another repub guild that could give us competition.

 

here's a vid of us just goofing off for fun because we can't find a challenge on our dead server.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icIIUwfCZz8

 

The guy filming, Hespera, runs a balance shadow. I'm Irish, the assault vanguard.

Edited April 30, 2012 by CoNfuSioN_

[LordOfThePeople]

Yep same on my server. ~45 repubs at peak and imps will be at ~150. Imp group comp is so superior that it becomes pointelss at times. After peak times the que can take as long as you suggest to pop.

 

My free month end will likely be vacation time for me too.

 

our fleet (empire) 15 people..... and republic side maybe 5-10 totals of maybe 100 players ACTIVE on this server... probably more like 60-70

Edited April 30, 2012 by LordOfThePeople

[Helistin]

I just got to play my first(and seems like only warzone) today. Too bad it was 6 vs 2 and was over in a moment. And yeah, it's peak hours now, 8:53 pm cet.

[Torcer]

Too much drama in the title? As.

 

No, Ques are BY FAR the biggest PvP issue (As in, not being able to PvP at all). 25 minutes in Prime, 3 hours + on Saturday morning. Not being able to play the game is sort of a problem when you're paying $15/month.

 

The servers are dead, it's sad, depressing and even those of us committed to the game won;t last that long with such low population - it's called a MMO not a MO.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Torcer

[Kurfer]

I've heard of you before, or at least your guild. I'm in Balance on the deadweight, a few of my guildies want to reroll on whatever server you guys are on so that we're not the best game in town on repub side. God it would be nice to have another repub guild that could give us competition.

 

here's a vid of us just goofing off for fun because we can't find a challenge on our dead server.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icIIUwfCZz8

 

The guy filming, Hespera, runs a balance shadow. I'm Irish, the assault vanguard.

 

You're right, your server is bad to let n00bs like that run on them. Terrible playing...the problem is once these dev clowns figure out x-server queues you guys are going to get stomped by average competition.