Subs down 25%

[KivanSane]

1.7 million , 1.5, 1.3 ...

 

You're measuring in the millions.

 

And you're not including six million make believe accounts that are actually time shared accounts from china rented by the hour or some such. Which wow likes to do to bolster their (fake) numbers.

 

a million subscribers is not bad , no matter how you look at it. And it was said from the beginning a good chunk of subscribers would leave after the first month or two.

 

Heck , I had to get a brand new computer before I came back. Thats what happens when you demand high end hardware to run your game.

 

People will come back , slowly , over time , as they upgrade their computers.

 

Thats life.

[Jett-Rinn]

I, for one, am glad the subs are dropping. Why? Well, because I'm an Age of Conan player, and frankly, all these people running around is really starting to piss me off.

 

I go to Fleet on Harbinger during peak time... 200 people??? What the hell man... give me some damn space. Just back off. No I don't want to join your Heroic, I mean god, what is this? Some kind of hip social scene? Last night I was out fighting mobs on Alderaan and some jerk comes by and starts doing the same quests I'm doing... and he asks if I want to join him...

 

That's right... join him. You SWTOR people are weird.

 

Well played.

[Altinar]

Your typical MMO goes something like ...

Launch --> Growth --> Peak --> Brief sharp decline --> plateau --> slow decline

 

So TOR seems to be falling into the typical niche. Of course, all of those looking for reasons to post hate for the game and that it's failing will rally around the 24% loss and scream "See?!?! We told you!" Meanwhile, those of us who enjoy the game will keep playing.

 

 

How is it falling into the typical niche? Launch had some 2 million players, 1.8 million of which subbed. Since then it has only trended toward decline, whether sharp or not; this does not fit the trend you just set up. Also, don't attempt to oversimplify the claims of those who don't like the direction the game is heading into "Lolol the tortanic is sinking hooray", because that simply isn't true; in fact, people like me are disappointed that a game with so much potential has such significant and unaddressed problems. In contrast, don't use the "those of us who enjoy the game will keep on happily playing" excuse, because that doesn't work either; many people continue to play for reasons other than enjoyment, and I suspect a large crowd plays the game simply because they love Bioware and feign ignorance to everything that's wrong with the game (and that's not a baseless assumption, enfranchisement can reach heights of fanaticism that are downright frightening).

[NyteSabre]

I know this will get lost in the 2k+ posts on this topic and chances are no one will read it, however I will write it anyway.

 

I have to wonder that the 400k sub loss is made up of casual players theory is flawed.

 

If I am a hardcore player who plays 20 hours a day, I pick up swtor, try to play it, don't like it or can't get into it, whatever the reason, wouldn't that person not play as often, and thus look like a casual player, when in fact he just simply couldn't get into the game and logged off after a short period of time?

 

Is it just me or does this casual theory seem flawed?

[Jett-Rinn]

I know this will get lost in the 2k+ posts on this topic and chances are no one will read it, however I will write it anyway.

 

I have to wonder that the 400k sub loss is made up of casual players theory is flawed.

 

If I am a hardcore player who plays 20 hours a day, I pick up swtor, try to play it, don't like it or can't get into it, whatever the reason, wouldn't that person not play as often, and thus look like a casual player, when in fact he just simply couldn't get into the game and logged off after a short period of time?

 

Is it just me or does this casual theory seem flawed?

 

It does to me too...I know a lot of hardcore progression raiders I mean a lot, and every one of them down to the man absolutely loathes hates and detest SWTOR; they call it a casuals paradise, diametrically most casual players I know are happy with TOR but want the casual end game that was promised during development, still the vast majority are happy.

[Dezzi]

It does to me too...I know a lot of hardcore progression raiders I mean a lot, and every one of them down to the man absolutely loathes hates and detest SWTOR; they call it a casuals paradise, diametrically most casual players I know are happy with TOR but want the casual end game that was promised during development, still the vast majority are happy.

 

How do you arrive at "the vast majority are happy"?

[Festeezio]

People will ignore this to the ends of the earth. Just watch. They already have. They'll tell you that TOR is the first MMO in history to lose this many and that the sky is falling.

 

If I could have Fried Chicken Littles for dinner, I'd feed an entire nation on as many Chicken Littles as are here. OM NOM NOM!!

 

You remind me of the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[Wayshuba]

Well, I can't speak for the whole game but I'll give a sampling form our guild as an indication.

 

Prior to the 1.2 "Jesus Patch", on a given Monday we'd have 25-30 guildmates on, with weekends usually running around 40-60 guildmates. Post 1.2, while still members of the guild, a typical Monday will have 8-12 on and on weekends we may have 20-30. More than a 50% decline in participation. Now, I am not saying this applies to the whole game but it probably is a good sampling of what has happened.

 

Oh, I should point out we have about 130 total members and we are on a fairly busy server (Jedi Covenant). Take it for what it is.

 

Lastly, I guess is 1.2 was the "Jesus Patch" and so many subs have been left, that will make Patch 1.3 the "Hail Mary" patch? And we know how often those succeed in football.

[vojinsa]

Well, I can't speak for the whole game but I'll give a sampling form our guild as an indication.

 

Prior to the 1.2 "Jesus Patch", on a given Monday we'd have 25-30 guildmates on, with weekends usually running around 40-60 guildmates. Post 1.2, while still members of the guild, a typical Monday will have 8-12 on and on weekends we may have 20-30. More than a 50% decline in participation. Now, I am not saying this applies to the whole game but it probably is a good sampling of what has happened.

 

Oh, I should point out we have about 130 total members and we are on a fairly busy server (Jedi Covenant). Take it for what it is.

 

Lastly, I guess is 1.2 was the "Jesus Patch" and so many subs have been left, that will make Patch 1.3 the "Hail Mary" patch? And we know how often those succeed in football.

 

works pretty well.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Sx_XGe1yY

[HumanSheild]

wait till the end of may comes around and another 400k if not more go bye bye.. They dont even mention how may players are on free trials or the free month time.

[DorkTrooper]

Prior to the 1.2 "Jesus Patch", on a given Monday we'd have 25-30 guildmates on, with weekends usually running around 40-60 guildmates. Post 1.2, while still members of the guild, a typical Monday will have 8-12 on and on weekends we may have 20-30. More than a 50% decline in participation.

 

So the addition of a handful of features and content made half your guild quit playing?

 

That makes no sense. If they were not already enjoying the game up to that point, why were they still playing prior to the update? 1.2 didn't actually remove anything from the game, to my knowledge. Were they just really unhappy with a couple of nerfs?

Edited May 10, 2012 by DorkTrooper

[Jett-Rinn]

How do you arrive at "the vast majority are happy"?

 

I belong to one of the largest guilds on CO they are mostly casual and mostly happy.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Noviru
baiting

[Noviru]

Hey everyone,

 

This is a heads up that we recently had to remove or edit several posts from this thread. As a general reminder to everyone, please make sure your posts are adding constructive content that is relevant to the topic.

 

If you believe someone is being rude, off-topic, or is otherwise violating our Rules of Conduct, please flag the post for review instead of responding in kind.

 

Thank you.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Noviru

[Catch_TwentyTwo]

I know this will get lost in the 2k+ posts on this topic and chances are no one will read it, however I will write it anyway.

 

I have to wonder that the 400k sub loss is made up of casual players theory is flawed.

 

If I am a hardcore player who plays 20 hours a day, I pick up swtor, try to play it, don't like it or can't get into it, whatever the reason, wouldn't that person not play as often, and thus look like a casual player, when in fact he just simply couldn't get into the game and logged off after a short period of time?

 

Is it just me or does this casual theory seem flawed?

I tend to agree; I honestly believe that of the 1.3 million or so that are left, the vast majority of them are the casuals, who are still happily going through the content and have much left to complete. (I fit squarely into this category!)

 

I think that the 400k who left would have a high percentage of hardcore and power players, who were able to drive through the content like fresh laid snow and have completed eveything, thus they have now become bored and moved on.

 

I consider an MMO of this size to be a marathon, not a sprint, which is why in an earlier, long buried post in this thread I said that I foresaw a good 5 years of gameplay ahead for me.

[Jett-Rinn]

I tend to agree; I honestly believe that of the 1.3 million or so that are left, the vast majority of them are the casuals, who are still happily going through the content and have much left to complete. (I fit squarely into this category!)

 

I think that the 400k who left would have a high percentage of hardcore and power players, who were able to drive through the content like fresh laid snow and have completed eveything, thus they have now become bored and moved on.

 

I consider an MMO of this size to be a marathon, not a sprint, which is why in an earlier, long buried post in this thread I said that I foresaw a good 5 years of gameplay ahead for me.

 

I agree with this, the issue is why does Bioware think that their primary demographic (casuals) are the ones that are leaving? It makes no sense,

Edited May 10, 2012 by Jett-Rinn

[Dezzi]

I agree with this, the issue is why does Bioware think that their primary demographic (casuals) are the ones that are leaving? It makes no sense,

 

Because by marginalizing the players who are leaving by labeling them as "casuals," they can dance around and downplay the issue that fans are leaving.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Dezzi

[Blistrich]

Subs are important, yo. They will directly affect how much fun you'll have playing tonight.

 

Right?

[Gungan]

Subs are important, yo. They will directly affect how much fun you'll have playing tonight.

 

Right?

 

It's a multiplayer game, so yes it does.

[Dezzi]

Subs are important, yo. They will directly affect how much fun you'll have playing tonight.

 

Right?

 

Those poor souls on emptying servers will say "Yes!"

 

Subscriptions fund development; development makes the game better (hopefully); better games attract new players; new players bolster server populations; healthy server populations make the game more fun; fun games encourage players to subscribe; rinse and repeat.

[Hades-LotD]

I don't think it is fair to blame casuals when this game lacks tools and incentives to create the grouping environment needed to enjoy the end game content. Sitting around in fleet spamming "LFG" is not what many casuals want to pay $15 a month to do.

[Blistrich]

It's a multiplayer game, so yes it does.

Tonight... as in tonight... which may be the last night of our lives for all we know... the total number of subs SWTOR has (a dismal 1.2 million) will directly affect how much fun you have doing whatever you're going to do?

 

Seriously?

[Wayshuba]

Prior to the 1.2 "Jesus Patch", on a given Monday we'd have 25-30 guildmates on, with weekends usually running around 40-60 guildmates. Post 1.2, while still members of the guild, a typical Monday will have 8-12 on and on weekends we may have 20-30. More than a 50% decline in participation.

 

So the addition of a handful of features and content made half your guild quit playing?

 

That makes no sense. If they were not already enjoying the game up to that point, why were they still playing prior to the update? 1.2 didn't actually remove anything from the game, to my knowledge. Were they just really unhappy with a couple of nerfs?

 

I didn't say anyone quit. But the interest level plummeted (though we do know some have chosen to let their subs expire and not renew).

[Drakkip]

/

I didn't get any of those things when I bought my car last year - don't want them and don't need them. The good ole CD player still works for me.

 

Ok, insert 8 track then lol.... My point being that comparing it with old tech isn't really much of a comparison. If all vehicle are coming out with MP3 interfaces / CD players, releasing a car with an 8 track as standard and saying it's ok because that how cars were released 30 years ago, is not really the standard you should be aiming for

[JeramieCrowe]

Because by marginalizing the players who are leaving by labeling them as "casuals," they can dance around and downplay the issue that fans are leaving.

 

You guys, c'mon. You're dancing around that statement with your OWN definitions of casual/hardcore. You're not going to get anywhere. To understand what he meant, you HAVE to use THEIR definition of casual/hardcore, and Damion Schubert lined that all out right here.

 

Read that, because their definition of casual/hardcore is very different from both of yours and, indeed, very different from the average gamer's definition.

Edited May 10, 2012 by JeramieCrowe

[Nemonia]

There won't be server merges since its more hassle for them and it is also admitting that the game is really dieing.

 

If they added server transfers and cross server Warzones by the summer, this game may have survived. There's not a chance they'll add it until some point later this year, at least with the latter.