Why does BW abandon their subscribers?

[kickinhead]

Now it's over....

 

Over the last few weeks on our small-pop-server, almost all active pvp-players on the rep side have left: 5-10 started to play WoW again, some unsubbed and some are twinking on another server.

 

Now, we get maybe 4 hours per day, where we can get roflstomped with 4-6 players against a full team of Imps that have been able to play PvP for hours against each other with about 3 or 4 times the players that we have.

 

Why does BW focus it's attention on stupid legacy-stuff that no1 cares about and risks loosing players in masses? Why don't they give us server-mergers and/or transfers NOW? They've already transfered tons of ppl, what's taking so long?

 

And btw. the 0.4 Mio subscribers you've lost since March aren't casual players, they are players from ghostservers and I'm predicting, that they'll loose even more players in the coming weeks if they don't let us transfer chars NOW.

 

Simple question: BW, do you want to make money and not loose half a Mio subscribers in the next 3-4 weeks, then give us transfers NOW. You won't loose subscribers, because ppl on RP-servers can't fistbrawl while drinking a space-brew in the cantina, but you will loose them if you don't let ppl transfer.

 

This issue transends which type of player you are; nobody will pay monthly for a game, where you cannot enjoy ANY content because of lack of players on your servers.

 

With all the competition coming up, there is NO way ppl will endure this treatment by BW any longer and anyone who is denying that fact, is totally in denial.

 

*Edit: I'm just in Teamspeak with my guildies and about 5 of us have just now cancelled their subscription, including me - well done BW.

Edited May 10, 2012 by kickinhead

[footmassage]

Agreed.

 

Prime-time here in the UK. As I type there are 5 people on the main Republic space station. I can't remember the last time any of my auctions sold! I play this game for the enjoyment of PVP only, I've now been sat in the WZ queue for almost an hour. Completely and utterly ridiculous. I've just unsubbed, 12 days playtime left, unless something drastic happens (which I can't see somehow) within that time I wont be back.

 

Shame, it has the potential to be a great game, however the breakdown in communications between whats actually needed in game to make it work and what ACTUALLY gets done is amateurish at best.

[kickinhead]

Agreed.

 

Prime-time here in the UK. As I type there are 5 people on the main Republic space station. I can't remember the last time any of my auctions sold! I play this game for the enjoyment of PVP only, I've now been sat in the WZ queue for almost an hour. Completely and utterly ridiculous. I've just unsubbed, 12 days playtime left, unless something drastic happens (which I can't see somehow) within that time I wont be back.

 

Shame, it has the potential to be a great game, however the breakdown in communications between whats actually needed in game to make it work and what ACTUALLY gets done is amateurish at best.

 

It's ridiculous how slow and in denial BW is: there are actually 210! Servers worldwide afaik and on 80% of them, it's quite annoying to find BG's and Ops-groups and on the lowest 30-40%, you simply cannot play the content. Does BW really think ppl keep paying for that or are they happy if they just have half a million subscribers within a month?

[DarthOvertone]

The faction imbalance is becoming worse by the day. With the 1.2 inauguration of Imp Wars, any possibility that there may one day be a balance has been lost.

 

IMO, BW should simply scrap Factions altogether. Allow mixed faction teams in the WZ queues. Also open up the Fleet GTN's to be faction-less as well.

[kickinhead]

The faction imbalance is becoming worse by the day. With the 1.2 inauguration of Imp Wars, any possibility that there may one day be a balance has been lost.

 

IMO, BW should simply scrap Factions altogether. Allow mixed faction teams in the WZ queues. Also open up the Fleet GTN's to be faction-less as well.

 

Server-Transerfs is the only way to cure faction imbalance and lost servers: Just only allow a certain amount of Imps/reps in total on a server and you have full servers and faction-balance.

 

And if sm1 really wants on a server to join an already Overpopulated side, make him pay MOOONEEYYYY and things will balance themselves out quite quickly...

[MrSIlverSurfing]

The largest pub guild on one server went to Tera. I was an IMP, but we are all now owning newbs in Tera (same guild there). They all are canceling their SWTOR subs and my free 30 days is about over. About 1/2 my Imp guild is leaving this week for D3. Not sure why Bioware is acting crazy with PVP balance. I don't want even want to talk about what they did to the Mercs in this game. You watch the losses for the next quarter. If you thought 400k was bad this quarter you haven't seen nothing yet. Edited May 10, 2012 by MrSIlverSurfing

[AngryBuddhist]

They will lose critical mass and become what Warhammer is today if they do not merge servers NOW.

 

I wonder if they are too stupid, too arrogant, or too bureaucratically entrenched to make the only move they can make to survive.

[kickinhead]

The largest pub guild on one server went to Tera. I was an IMP, but we are all now owning newbs in Tera (same guild there). They all are canceling their SWTOR subs and my free 30 days is about over. Not sure why Bioware is acting crazy?

 

Jepp, it's just sad; this game seriously has so much potential, but BW doesn't know what they're doing and they'll destroy this game within the next month or two...

[Tiriensoul]

Agreed, unsubbed just a few mins ago... can't stand this no more.

In the future, release with Transfers... If any developer out there reads... Release with transfers.. Release with transfers....

[MrSIlverSurfing]

Server merges should have been priority one. Its sad that with all of their statistics/metric they didn't see this coming months down the road. Wishful thinking for 1.2 is what I think.

[kickinhead]

Server merges should have been priority one. Its sad that with all of their statistics/metric they didn't see this coming months down the road. Wishful thinking for 1.2 is what I think.

 

They don't know what's going on.... they said the subscriber-drops is due to casual-gamers (what they are saying here is that they were players that would've gone anyways and wash their hands of all responsibility).

 

But it's not about casual players at all, it's about ppl basically PAYING FOR A SINGLE-PLAYER EXPERIENCE!!!!!

 

I've played tons of games with no monthly subscriptions that had better service to online players than this game - it makes me horrendously mad that I've already payd for 2 additional months (even though I've cancelled today) because I really thought: this game is so awesome; it's bad now on our server, but it will get better and I'll keep on playing anyways. But BW actually managed to get me to quit this game, that could've been an incredibly nice experience for months and years to come....

[MrSIlverSurfing]

They actually said 2 weeks ago that numbers haven't dropped. I have never seen any game run the way this one is ran atm and I'm old as dirt.

[rawfox]

Just look at the great Q&A

It is outstanding !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ya i know they dont handle the real questions of life there, but ...

[kickinhead]

They actually said 2 weeks ago that numbers haven't dropped. I have never seen any game run the way this one is ran atm and I'm old as dirt.

 

haven't they published numbers very recently where they stated that subs went down from 1.7 mio to 1.3 or sth like that since march?

 

And it's not only the subs that dropped, the playtime in total must've dropped incredibly and the server that were low, definitely got lower, cuz ppl that are still subscribed stopped playing as much or are switching to other servers.

 

The sub-drops actually point a more optimistic picture than what's really going on, on at least the lower half of the servers in terms of pop:

 

- a lot of unsubs

- a lot less active players

- ppl switching to other servers

- ppl twinking (albeit on the same server) because on the higher level, nothing is going on

 

I cannot believe how BW can be that ignorant and spit on the paying customer by always repeating the same stuff whilst not giving an exact time-window.... although, as we've seen before, a clear time-window wouldn't actually mean anything...

 

I really wonder what the BW-guys are doing...... I've seen the guild summit and I thought: those are some intelligent and funny dudes..... how can they F this wonderful game up so badly?

[NDiggy]

They will lose critical mass and become what Warhammer is today if they do not merge servers NOW.

 

I wonder if they are too stupid, too arrogant, or too bureaucratically entrenched to make the only move they can make to survive.

 

They're too attached to Legacy. We'd have had server transfers months ago if not for Legacy being tied to servers. I could care less about Legacy, I'd gladly give up all 32 of my pointless Legacy levels to play on a populated server. I rolled an alt of Fatman Imp side, there were 55 Imps just playing Voidstar. We struggle to hit 20 players in Fleet during prime time on Veela Pub side. Our WZ queues often go over an hour. I can deal with the PvP imbalance, or the complete lack of crafting or challenging pve as long as I have a populated server to play on.

[Stovokor]

Wanted to post something similar but OP pretty much captured what many players are feeling. Time is off the essence, if immediate action is not taken this game is gonna fall off a cliff very soon. If this vicious cycle accelerates there will be little chance to recover, as there won't be viable populations even for players that want to stay and play this game like me. The negative connotation of so many lost subs will also impact the game. Even with 1.2 PvP delay Bioware should have subsequently fast-racked server transfers & ranked war-zones to take precedence and be implemented soon after. Summer is way way too late. Legacy was just filler, how could that ever be considered a retention mechanism .... If there is no population to play with, legacy is for naught. How is it the player-base has a grasp of the current situation but Bioware is in some spin / denial mode ????

[Monterone]

They're slow to admit it because reduction in our numbers and a merging of servers also means letting go of many employees eventually. Just going from 200+ servers to probably a 3rd, which is all that's needed, will likely leave people unemployed.

 

I have a solution however. Since most of the player exodus is the result of the eff ups of the PvP design team, I say they sack them first and then give the server admin guys a chance at designing PvP from now on. Maybe they'll do a better job!

[Torcer]

The need for Server mergers is blindingly obvious. It does feel like BW is punishing the people who actually want to play, even though it's mostly apathy.

[Mrcheezle]

Heres the link to see what company was voted worst in America by a landslide.

 

http://consumerist.com/2012/04/congr...-for-2012.html

 

The fact that EA blew away Bank of America, Verizon, and Comcast should tell you just how bad and hated they are.

 

This is what EA does.... Releases games prior to their completion, hold back finished content to make available at a later date for a price, give empty promises about content then say "we are going to work on that in the future.."

 

BTW get ready to PAY for these transfers that you have long awaited, unless you have already rerolled to The Fatman server. EA will first charge players to transfer to less dead servers, then 6 monthes to a year after that when those very slow servers are completely unplayable they will give all those remaining players free transfers so they can shut down those servers.

[Majestic_Jazz]

I feel sorry for you guy's troubles and frustrations with SWTOR. With many other MMOs coming out this year and others already out, hopefully there is another MMO out there for you that will satisfy you.

 

As to why does BW abandon their subscribers? Maybe this is subjective but I don't feel as if Bioware has abandoned me. I am still here and I continue to plan to be here in the long run. I love the direction that SWTOR is going. Again, that is just my opinion and I completely understand that not others agree.

[footmassage]

The server I rolled is now a complete ghost-town. Even the NPC's look bored!

 

If people on similar servers are willing to keep paying for a 'MMO' (I use the term lightly, very lightly) that feels more like a single player 'Wander-Around-The-Spacestation-Wondering-What-To-Do-Then-Realizing-There-Isnt-Anything' game then that's their choice, me personally, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.

[kickinhead]

I feel sorry for you guy's troubles and frustrations with SWTOR. With many other MMOs coming out this year and others already out, hopefully there is another MMO out there for you that will satisfy you.

 

As to why does BW abandon their subscribers? Maybe this is subjective but I don't feel as if Bioware has abandoned me. I am still here and I continue to plan to be here in the long run. I love the direction that SWTOR is going. Again, that is just my opinion and I completely understand that not others agree.

 

I'm guessing ur on a high-pop server?