On dead servers, people leaving, and more.

[DarthOvertone]

The hardcore players are the ones that rush through the content. They burn it up, spit it out - cry that there isn't more to do. Unsubscribe and buy the next game. They may come back when a new content patch comes out and in 2 months, they are gone again.

 

The casuals are the ones logging on, slowly consuming content but provide a nice pad of numbers when you do a /who. They also make things like LFD and PvP queues work.

 

It's funny you say this. Have you actually done a survey of the people online on your server? I did last night. Out of the 41 people logged in on DR Pub last night, only two of the people I talked to didn't have a toon that was level 50 yet. Sir, you are wrong. The only people playing this game right now are people that have burnt up the content in this game, spat it out, but stick around because they like it and want the game to improve.

 

The casuals, not the hardcore players (by EA's own admission), are long gone. Maybe more of these dream casuals you speak about exist on PvE servers. I understand that my sample of players was on a West Coast PvP server, taken a bit off-peak, blah, blah, blah. But it's a more accurate picture than the one you are portraying.

 

Take a survey yourself tonight of the peeps on your Server. Tell me how it goes. Tell me how many casuals you discover slowly consuming content. lulz

 

 

Why am I posting this? I'm not sure really...

 

I'll venture an answer for you, but it's sheer speculation and I don't mean to be assuming. If other players are like me, everyone playing an MMO is looking for a home away from home, a fanciful escape with like-minded people who all cooperate in sustaining and perpetuating a fun and safe illusion. If the MMO doesn't feel like home, if a player can't find those like-minded people, the illusion fails.

 

In large part, this is a community issue. And while that's not something primarily addressed in this thread, it is another failing point of this game as the community management by BW has been abysmal since the beginning.

[SWGVet]

I gave up on my dead server (valor rank 98 Sorc) and moved to The Fatman. I simply got tired of doing the same 4 warzones with the same 8 folks every single time and waiting 20 minutes in between.

 

At this point I was thinking of doing the same, just start over fresh but the only thing I don't like is that "The Fatman" server is east coast and I am west coast. I could go to "The Harbinger" but that's PvE and I despise playing on PvE servers.

Edited June 1, 2012 by SWGVet

[foxxecho]

I gave up on my OG server too. Wasn't so bad really. But what WAS is when your pounding the pavement trying to get a group together or just trying to start some old fashioned MMO chat about stats or w/e and all the pvpers who are to stupid to reroll on fatman are all butthurt from que times and are nothing but jerks in chat.

 

Seriouslly flame flame flame. You could reveal what the winning lottery numbers will be that night and get flamed.

 

Hmm that was therapeutic...

 

EDIT: I pvp too but I when the ques went south I rolled a "pvp alt" on fats

Edited June 1, 2012 by foxxecho

[MillionsKNives]

The casuals, not the hardcore players (by EA's own admission), are long gone.

 

"Casual" from a business standpoint is very different from "casual" in a gameplay standpoint. A casual subscriber is someone who just comes by to check it out and move on to the next thing. They're just casually passing by, they're not here to stay. Someone who isn't a casual subscriber is someone who sticks around even in the time between content updates, and doesn't unsubscribe on a whim.

 

The people you would consider hardcore players fit much more closely to a casual subscriber than a casual player would.

[Abominant]

I gave up on my dead server (valor rank 98 Sorc) and moved to The Fatman. I simply got tired of doing the same 4 warzones with the same 8 folks every single time and waiting 20 minutes in between.

 

I thought of doing the same thing. Even got as far as level 25 before I started to realise that a majority of the population on The Fatman is sub-50.

 

The 1-49 queues are rediculously fast and each Warzone can have over a hundred players during peak times, but strangely enough, 90% of those players were sub-50. When I did a "/who 50" for each Warzone during peak times, there were maybe 3-4 groups in each at most, which is no better than my current server.

 

For anyone wanting to reroll The Fatman for better PvP queues at 50, you might be deceived since the high population has more to do with other people also rerolling than any actual stability at the level 50 bracket.

Edited June 1, 2012 by Abominant

[kirorx]

If other players are like me, everyone playing an MMO is looking for a home away from home, a fanciful escape with like-minded people who all cooperate in sustaining and perpetuating a fun and safe illusion. If the MMO doesn't feel like home, if a player can't find those like-minded people, the illusion fails.

 

In large part, this is a community issue. And while that's not something primarily addressed in this thread, it is another failing point of this game as the community management by BW has been abysmal since the beginning.

 

This has me thinking, a real eye opener. I am a starwars fan and i played SWG for 8 years and that place felt like a home away from home, heck i even owned a home on dantooine.

 

I have been playing this game since Nov. and it is now June and i still dont feel that same feeling here. This place is just like any other video game. Its like a starwars mini game series with a fleet that acts as a hub.

 

I am constantly voicing things i think can improve this game but really its pointless, the truth is its already been many many months and my jedi is still a space samurai playings the same 3 warzones and i cant hold any ingame friends because on the rare occasion i meet someone new they never return or dont last very long.

 

There is no virtual world here, its just a video game and maybe its time to just take a break for a while, I guess i keep thinking...'"hey its new", but its been 6 months and its business as usual.

Edited June 1, 2012 by kirorx

[Jaigen]

You are neglecting a main point here.

 

This is not about catering to elite, casual, whatever.

 

This is about keeping players in the game.

 

All these moves to make things easier has resulted in a dead, quiet, non existing community that has less players per server than games long thought to be dead and/or dying. The catering to the people who can only play 2 or 3 hours a week has killed the game for the playerbase that keeps MMOs alive, active and gives a community for those so-called casual gamers to play in.

 

It's not about catering to any side. It's simply about what works and does not work. Spoon feeding everyone/making things so easily achieved for players who only show up 4 hours a week fosters no community whatsoever except a silent, dead one that drives the majority (and it is by a wide margin they are the majority) of MMO players away.

 

Very wrong. The casuals form the bulk of the mmo . But if you play for 1-2 hours each day you don't want to wait 30 min to get into a WZ. This is what drove people away. Before patch 1.12 was released in WoW I ditched my level 60 rogue for a shaman simply because they massive differences in alliances and horde pops made it nearly impossible to get into a BG as alliance. And if you consider grinding 5 weeks WZ easy i say you seriously have no life. In short BW is not spoon feeding enough.

Edited June 1, 2012 by Jaigen

[Jaigen]

"Casual" from a business standpoint is very different from "casual" in a gameplay standpoint. A casual subscriber is someone who just comes by to check it out and move on to the next thing. They're just casually passing by, they're not here to stay. Someone who isn't a casual subscriber is someone who sticks around even in the time between content updates, and doesn't unsubscribe on a whim.

 

The people you would consider hardcore players fit much more closely to a casual subscriber than a casual player would.

 

That's not a casual. How the hell did you get this idea?

[Rhaj]

Haven't read through the entire thread, but just wanted say I agree with the OP. Me and the small group of friends I play with are stuck on a dead server, and we're bored. We've leveled alts, we PvP, and when we finally get a queue we play against the same people every time.

 

I've commented on this before, as have many others, and there just hasn't been any action to address these issues. It's pretty depressing, because I do like the game overall, but MMOs just don't work without lots of people to play with.

 

Canceled my subscription to SWTOR a little while ago, just waiting for GW2 and looking for another game in the meantime.

[Mannic]

I've come to the conclusion that Bioware is never going to figure it out. They don't appear to really be listening to player feedback and are far too reliant on in-game metrics, metrics that they apparently are misinterpreting. The atmosphere internally seems to be one of denial. We've already seen it several times with James Ohlen, denying that there's any sort of performance issues except for players with ancient machines and denying that the game is linear.

 

We've seen Bioware's inability to comprehend proper treatment of an MMO community on many occasions, starting with some of the stupid decisions they made early on; implying the game was going to be released in Spring 2011 then letting the news of a later release be leaked through various dodgy sources, then saying "we don't respond to rumors," even though the rumors were actually underestimating how much the release had been pushed back; like staggering the weekend beta invites and early access invitations, deciding there would be no grace period for those who might not get their copies of the game by release, opening WAY too many servers on release, over-moderateding the forums, the lack of communication on the official forums, the refusal to address negative feedback, the constant spinning of issues, and the inability to overcome their own inertia after release.

 

The extreme slowness with which Bioware has responded to the need for server merges is laughable, and to me is illustrative of why Bioware sucks at the MMO gig. The problem started all the way back in March, when there was a clear drop in prime-time server activity. Already over half of servers were failing to get above "standard" population, even in prime time. The game was already showing apathy trends identical to games like WAR, but rather than learning from the example of those games and quickly responding with server merges to preserve the game population, they simply did and said nothing.

 

Bioware has come off as aloof and arrogant throughout this process, and I'm sure when this game finally hits rock-bottom, they'll blame it all on "fickle" MMO players rather than ever acknowledging that they have been their own worst enemy when it comes to this game's decline.

[TheWhitePlague]

So ETA is still sometime this year?

 

My account ends in 6 days, was hoping mergers would happen before then, I would stay.

[Talarchy]

LOOOL!!! Oh yes because then the 3 other people on my server will be so happy. Yes much more important than server transfers. Get your head out your ***.....

 

Wait... Have I just been trolled?

 

No, Im not trolling at all. I feel sorry for you your server is so dead, I got a free transfer to a new server when asia pacific servers opened, so I guess Im spoilt having 100+ people on the fleet.....

 

Personally, I don't really care about you or the 3 people on your server, I was referring to speech bubbles to help ALL players, I think you need to get your head our of your a** if you think that suggesting speech bubbles was something purely for your benefit (or detriment)

Edited June 1, 2012 by Talarchy

[stuga]

I just cancelled my account I have not logged in for just over week and tbh not missing it I am sad to say that but I was hoping I would have had the same feeling of yes i want to play this game for hours per day like when I played in swg.

But I will have that feeling again on the 11th of june in another game which is out think many people may have heard of this game ie swg.

[Talarchy]

I just cancelled my account I have not logged in for just over week and tbh not missing it I am sad to say that but I was hoping I would have had the same feeling of yes i want to play this game for hours per day like when I played in swg.

But I will have that feeling again on the 11th of june in another game which is out think many people may have heard of this game ie swg.

 

Basilisk FTW!

[KassKass]

I just cancelled my account I have not logged in for just over week and tbh not missing it I am sad to say that but I was hoping I would have had the same feeling of yes i want to play this game for hours per day like when I played in swg.

But I will have that feeling again on the 11th of june in another game which is out think many people may have heard of this game ie swg.

 

 

Huh is SWG making a comeback ?

[BrotherJohn]

They dont have to do anything but merge all servers down to at most 10 and even 10 in my mind right now is to many. if and when say 8 servers has a 10 minute que time you open up ONE and only one server and wait to rinse and repeat. simple as that.

 

this game is beyond the point of becoming a mega mmo and at best will only be a fringe mmo for least a year until they release sever new worlds, level cap increases, open world pvp, open space pvp and even then it will still be a fringe mmo with diehard players and sw fans playing.

 

I am sure i will be one of the suckers to keep playing but they needed to merge servers like a month ago and yet they simply say its coming and oh yeah it will be mostly a money making scheme with paid transfers.

 

They should have already started manually transfering the most active guilds on a server to the guild masters server of choice. what are you waiting for bioware. oh wait i know they dont even waste time on these forums, they just pay people to delete posts. =)

[Evironrage]

Standard pop servers are as follows.

Fatman PvP (east coast)

Jedi Covenant PvE (east coast)

Drooga's Pleasure Barge PvE (west coast)

All other servers are light.

[Raeln]

It's funny you say this. Have you actually done a survey of the people online on your server? I did last night. Out of the 41 people logged in on DR Pub last night, only two of the people I talked to didn't have a toon that was level 50 yet. Sir, you are wrong. The only people playing this game right now are people that have burnt up the content in this game, spat it out, but stick around because they like it and want the game to improve.

 

The casuals, not the hardcore players (by EA's own admission), are long gone. Maybe more of these dream casuals you speak about exist on PvE servers. I understand that my sample of players was on a West Coast PvP server, taken a bit off-peak, blah, blah, blah. But it's a more accurate picture than the one you are portraying.

 

Take a survey yourself tonight of the peeps on your Server. Tell me how it goes. Tell me how many casuals you discover slowly consuming content. lulz

 

The game is now 6 months old - yes, many are going to have 1 level 50. How many have 2, 4 or 6 level 50s?

 

As far as EA claiming casuals have left - EA's definition of casual doesn't match mine.

[MustangKing]

Same thing just happened to me today my guild decided they were just bored of the game theres not enough content to keep us coming back it really sucks I enjoyed this game for the most part but theres only so many times you can keep beating the same bosses over and over and over and they need to do something drastic NOW...not by years end because by then its to late

[Duren_Col]

How about playing on the PTS tomorrow should be full with people if we all from ghost servers come.

[stonelead]

My guild has shrunk from over 100 to around 20, and we have also gone to 3 games now as only about 10 log on to SWTOR. we are getting ready for GW2.

The guild was set up for SWTOR, but every week at least one person will say they have had enough, the others dont even bother posting, just leave.

[tegororn]

My subscripton ends at the end of this month. İm outta here if they dont announce an exact server transfer date by that time. Edited June 6, 2012 by tegororn

[budoy]

Well,i 'll talk objective.I played all ''Other game''s,including this fresh one,D3,a.k.a ''Lord of Error'' And all i can see people are waiting and asking so much from developers.SWTOR is a new,fresh game.Of course it wont be full with some endgame contents like ''Other game'' has.Everybody wanted swtor to be an expension pack of other game.I know most of ''Hardcore guys'' came here from ''Other game'' like me.And i am asking,if they saw what did their precious gamemakers do with their fresh game.How many bugs,how many errors.But they'll buy whatever they give right? I know because i saw everyone did swear to swtor at General Chat at 15 May .They said ''This is the end.Its freaking or f...ing d3 i'll never play this game anymore.'' So did they see what they've got now? Or they wanna more? I am definitly not a fanboy of some company.I play whatever game is good.But lets be realistic.A 7 years old game with years of update,years of patches contents and i cant see why everyone is trying to compare it to some 7.5 month game.One says ''Put an arena to this game and it'll be allright.Another yells ''I want more pve i had it at bla bla bla.'' Guys i think everybody needs to calm down and give this game a chance.Every reasonable people can easly see they'll put everything right in some time.Personally,i stopped playing swtor for 2 weeks to really see if D3 really worth it.But i kept my subs alive.I dont say anyone to do that like me.I did it because i dont care 15 euro per month,its a funny number you can spend more within a casual day.Especially if you are sitting at some coffee shop with your gf

 

Finally,as a game lover all i can say i am not playing swtor right now.But its not because of this game is bad.Real reasons for me is my friends and low population.And i'll be back when i can see good numbers on fleets.I know Bioware is a good,capable company.They'll fix a lot of things with some time.BtW D3 is not what was i expected.And i am reading half of the world also thinking like me.Yes,its also definitly a good game with some great potential.But if people will give D3 the chance Swtor hasnt got,it'll make me sad.Its definitly will be a brain-washing if that happens.You can just read what i wrote down here and pass it away but you'll see it in time.GW2 comes out soon,am i correct? And everybody will rush there for their dream game.But it also wont be perfect.Or should i say it wont be ''what they dreamed like.'' We saw it at D3 fails.It'll have bugs,problems,some pve lovers wont love it or something else.Or other games or mmos i dont know what could i say.We still arent in a perfect age.By the time we all played ''Other game'' because it had no other option in its time.Being perfect wasnt the reason why it hit the millions.

 

Complaining wont help the game,open threads with some real good ideas.Instead of humilating them,tell your ideas.We did it about social gear optimization for medium and heavy armor and now i see they really doing it.Its a minor change but it shows they care about your ideas.There is some basic logic.If they are doing it,it means its a doable thing.If they arent doing it,it means they have better or some secret weapon thing in their hands.I mean,it would be really funny if we knew the game making more than BW employees.Really? So why cant we do our own mmo and conquer the world Guys,seriously.This guys are doing this since most of us were kids.Have some faith.Or become a game designer,create your own perfect mmo and i promise,i'll be the first one who 'll pay to you.Will see you on new updates.

 

i totally agree! :-)