Will 1.3 And Transfers Save SWTOR?

[Insomnio]

Ya, but the game isn't a big steaming pile of poo. It's actually quite good and 1.3 isn't going to make it super better and increase subscriptions by 1000%, so get that idea out of your head now.

 

 

 

This game already has a lot of players. and the people that left the game aren't likely to come back to it at this point. It's a bit early to know whether or not this particular product has reached its peak, but it seems unlikely. The game is still relatively new and they are still working issues out. Yet the game still has more subscribers than most MMOs ever had anyway. Most MMOs never even broke 1 million players, yet SWTOR has at least that if not more. A lot of content is already planned out for SWTOR and the voice acting is done at the very least. We will continue to see new content roll out because most of it is already paid for.

 

 

 

Except they didn't do any "merging." Those servers still exist and there are no plans from Bioware or EA to shut them down or even merge them entirely at any point in the future. It's a nitpick, but the idea that they're merging servers to cut costs is absurd. The ONLY reason they have done the transfers is because players have been clamoring for them for months and the longer they spent not addressing the issue the less people wanted to play because no one wants to play on dead servers. Essentially the problem was "too many servers" not "omg game is going to die, WE NEED TO SAVE IT!"

 

 

 

Eh, not really. As far as MMOs go, SWTOR is still one of the most subscribed to MMO in existence. The only games that beat it right now are WoW, possibly Aion (but they've been on a steady decline since 2009) and MAYBE Lineage I & II. All this doomsaying is complete garbage and doesn't actually take into consideration that this is still one of the most popular MMOs of all time. Ok, so it's not competing with WoW, but WoW's a juggernaut that NO ONE is competing with. On top of this, the idea that content will suddenly vanish and won't be released is absurd. Plenty of games are free to play yet they still release regular content. Plenty of other games have extremely low populations in comparison to SWTOR yet they produce content at similar rates. Everquest is old and crusty and only has about 100k subscribers and just recently went free to play yet even they can release 2 expansions a year. There is no danger of SWTOR suddenly stopping the release of content.

 

 

 

The idea that the game needs that is silly though. When subscriptions drop below 500k come back and talk. Until then SWTOR is doing just fine, except for the fiasco of making way too many servers at the start.

 

I would have to say that the game definately hit its peak, every official published number of subscriptions has shown a marked decrease in players. The numbers have not leveled off yet and certainly will not be rising back up to its highest (or peak) number of players, barring some sort of "new way of playing" content like I mentioned previously.

 

As I mentioned, the STAR WARS name alone is enough to keep a significant number of people playing regardless of the state of the game. I am really interested to know when BW/EA will be publishing the next official subscription count- it matters more to the game and its content than you might acknowledge.

[metalgearyoda]

 

That should cover us for the next couple of years. can we please stop making these threads now?

 

its just

for "I want swtor to die now". Edited June 16, 2012 by metalgearyoda

[-Samhain-]

I would have to say that the game definately hit its peak, every official published number of subscriptions has shown a marked decrease in players. The numbers have not leveled off yet and certainly will not be rising back up to its highest (or peak) number of players, barring some sort of "new way of playing" content like I mentioned previously.

 

As I mentioned, the STAR WARS name alone is enough to keep a significant number of people playing regardless of the state of the game. I am really interested to know when BW/EA will be publishing the next official subscription count- it matters more to the game and its content than you might acknowledge.

 

You seem to know very little or nothing at all about business. At 6 months it's far too early to tell even if subscriptions dropped in every single month since then. It's far too early to tell whether this is the peak of this product or not, because there are still plenty of ways that Bioware can turn that around. On top of that, as was mentioned earlier, the game was never expected to have so many subscribers in the first place. The game is still exceeding expectations that the developers had. Plus the numbers are far higher than every other game out there except for WoW and Aion (based upon the latest numbers that I checked). Bioware can still turn subscriptions around as well, and their free-to-play to level 15 is a step in that direction. There were a lot of people that I know that didn't buy the game because they couldn't try it first; now Bioware is giving them that chance. Will all of them stick around? No, but depending on who tries and who stays the subscriptions can come back up. Also, content can boost subscriptions as well, and we keep seeing more of it. The idea that this game is suffering, dying, or needs to be saved is stupid. Stop perpetuating this myth.

[Hajizan]

You seem to know very little or nothing at all about business. At 6 months it's far too early to tell even if subscriptions dropped in every single month since then. It's far too early to tell whether this is the peak of this product or not, because there are still plenty of ways that Bioware can turn that around. On top of that, as was mentioned earlier, the game was never expected to have so many subscribers in the first place. The game is still exceeding expectations that the developers had. Plus the numbers are far higher than every other game out there except for WoW and Aion (based upon the latest numbers that I checked). Bioware can still turn subscriptions around as well, and their free-to-play to level 15 is a step in that direction. There were a lot of people that I know that didn't buy the game because they couldn't try it first; now Bioware is giving them that chance. Will all of them stick around? No, but depending on who tries and who stays the subscriptions can come back up. Also, content can boost subscriptions as well, and we keep seeing more of it. The idea that this game is suffering, dying, or needs to be saved is stupid. Stop perpetuating this myth.

 

5 people on fleet, 63 total on server, This game is a huge success!

[_Zorth_]

And two very big reasons are being addressed, as mentioned. Heck, if you include ranked warzones, that's three.

 

Servers dying are an effect of people leaving..

Why did they leave?

The lack of content and the illusion of choice.

[-Samhain-]

5 people on fleet, 63 total on server, This game is a huge success!

 

You chose to remain on your server instead of transferring? Or there aren't transfers for your server yet? Because my server has about 750 people on the fleet now.

[Price]

i tried out 1.3 on PTS, and i think the combination of the group finder making it very easy to find groups, along with the character transfers are definitely enough reason for me to stay!!. Times are getting better, but i really do hope that the next content patch that they showed at e3 isnt coming 4 months from now. they needs something alot sooner then that!!

[Hajizan]

You chose to remain on your server instead of transferring? Or there aren't transfers for your server yet? Because my server has about 750 people on the fleet now.

 

No transfers yet

[Rickwala]

EA is the most hated company in America and you can see why. The ruin games and bleed good game development companies dry. Easy example of what their influence can do is Dragon Age 1 and 2, never seen a sequel to such a fantastic game be so terrible.

[Insomnio]

You seem to know very little or nothing at all about business. At 6 months it's far too early to tell even if subscriptions dropped in every single month since then. It's far too early to tell whether this is the peak of this product or not, because there are still plenty of ways that Bioware can turn that around. On top of that, as was mentioned earlier, the game was never expected to have so many subscribers in the first place. The game is still exceeding expectations that the developers had. Plus the numbers are far higher than every other game out there except for WoW and Aion (based upon the latest numbers that I checked). Bioware can still turn subscriptions around as well, and their free-to-play to level 15 is a step in that direction. There were a lot of people that I know that didn't buy the game because they couldn't try it first; now Bioware is giving them that chance. Will all of them stick around? No, but depending on who tries and who stays the subscriptions can come back up. Also, content can boost subscriptions as well, and we keep seeing more of it. The idea that this game is suffering, dying, or needs to be saved is stupid. Stop perpetuating this myth.

 

Nearing completion of a university business degree, and owning 2 of my own businesses, I feel comfortable saying I know a little bit about business.

 

The game is suffering. Thats completely transparent to almost everyone. Is it dying? Debatable, but as I have mentioned several times, it has the Star Wars IP- no matter what happens to the game, there will be a number of players here hanging on until the bitter end, just because of the Star Wars name.

 

And it will not "die" out right and suddenly. If you are not aware, EA is a monolithic publisher, and they undoubtedly paid a hefty sum to obtain the Star Wars IP. They will not let that sum of money be in vain, and one way or another they will attempt to squeeze every penny out of the star wars fan while they still have the rights to the IP.

 

Acting like TOR is in perfect shape and the ideal game is not the how you get changes implemented, and new types of content introduced. If the developers think that everything in the game is perfect and well received, then nothing will ever change- and things do need to take a differnet direction.

 

Am I a doom and gloomer for having a critical eye on the game? No, that is not my intent. I really hope the game fills out its true potential at some point, and it is going to take an amount of change to do so- I hope everyone will be able to refrain from being overly sensitive about discussions of a video game.

[jofos]

Everyone blames EA for the problems with SWTOR but I'd have to say look at LA. They hold the IP and in all honesty SWTOR is not that far from what they got SOE to turn SWG into.

[AHierophant]

You have a source for that? There is no way it has over a million anymore. If it had more than a million, then all these merges wouldn't be happening.

 

Merging servers has nothing to do with overall population. I realize you've got an ax to grind but the hysterics aren't making your arguments any more persuasive.

[EATtheDEAD]

Even if swtor losses a **** load of subs it wont shut down. EA has kept WAR online for years and that game is 6 feet under.

 

The only reason why SWG closed is because LA forced SOE to shut it down so SWTOR would have zero star wars competition.

[Soluss]

Everyone blames EA for the problems with SWTOR but I'd have to say look at LA. They hold the IP and in all honesty SWTOR is not that far from what they got SOE to turn SWG into.

 

Dont know why everyone thinks this. It was SOEs doing. Please cite an actual source showing that LA is what caused the NGE. I have read several ex developer blogs that all lead to it being SOEs decision.

[Soluss]

Merging servers has nothing to do with overall population. I realize you've got an ax to grind but the hysterics aren't making your arguments any more persuasive.

 

Merging servers has everything to do with overall population. Overall... most servers were dead. This is why they did the transfers.

[seanisawake]

Yes it will.

[Insomnio]

Merging servers has everything to do with overall population. Overall... most servers were dead. This is why they did the transfers.

 

His wording was poor, but his thought was correct. It was not overall population, but population distribution that brought about the serious need for transfers.

[-Samhain-]

Nearing completion of a university business degree, and owning 2 of my own businesses, I feel comfortable saying I know a little bit about business.

 

If you knew "enough" about business then you wouldn't be claiming that peak subscriptions have been reached after only 6 months. The game is new. It took years for WoW to get where it's at now and there are still markets that SWTOR hasn't penetrated yet (China, for example). Servers look dead but it's only because there were so many to begin with. The initial server push had something like 140 servers. That's insane, especially for a new MMO. Right now they're running at around 215, which is WAY too many. WoW only has about 500, but most of those are dead servers and they actually have the population to support that many.

 

The game is suffering. Thats completely transparent to almost everyone. Is it dying? Debatable, but as I have mentioned several times, it has the Star Wars IP- no matter what happens to the game, there will be a number of players here hanging on until the bitter end, just because of the Star Wars name.

 

That is an extremely small minority of people. Out of all the people playing how many of them only play because it's Star Wars and not because of any other reason. And out of those how many will play even if the game isn't fun? You're trying to wave away 1.5 million subscriptions by saying that "oh, there's always these people that will stay just because it's Star Wars." That's crap. People play because the game is fun. If it's not fun for you, fine, don't play. If it is fun for you, then why are you complaining on the forums? Are you frightened that other people don't think it's fun? That 1.5 million subscribers are just a bunch of idiots that wouldn't know fun if they got run over by it? Even people playing Galaxies didn't think that way...most of those people enjoyed Galaxies because it was Star Wars but also because that sort of sandbox style MMO wasn't really available elsewhere.

 

Acting like TOR is in perfect shape and the ideal game is not the how you get changes implemented, and new types of content introduced. If the developers think that everything in the game is perfect and well received, then nothing will ever change- and things do need to take a differnet direction.

 

No one ever said that it's in perfect shape or that it's completely ideal. That's not the point. The point is there's a big difference between "needs improvement" and "this game needs to be saved from its certain demise." Further, there isn't any indication that Bioware is not going to make future changes or that they won't implement stuff the community wants or that they are suddenly going to have a massive drop in developers because they aren't making enough money. SWTOR had 1 million subscribers on DAY 1. WoW wished it could have had those numbers in its wildest dreams.

[-Samhain-]

Merging servers has nothing to do with overall population. I realize you've got an ax to grind but the hysterics aren't making your arguments any more persuasive.

 

Exactly. Put a million subs on 20 different servers and people will complain it's too crowded and that the game is doing excellent and then put a million subs on 200 different servers and you'll hear people talking about how the game is dying because there's only 20 people in the fleet on THEIR server. The total number of subs doesn't change, but your perception does.

[Blackardin]

i have recently returned, to find my server is a ghost town and that this problem is wide spread and without a general population this game wont be able to carry on,

 

my question is will 1.3 be enough to keep old players busy and enough to bring back old subs and encourage new players to join, because this seems like its heading F2P or closure.

 

I think the bigger problem is getting them past the warehouse of horse manual splattered across these boards....most of which is just plain nonsense. I read a complaint from a guy about lack of content the other day. I asked how much of it he had done. Seems he had completed part of one operation.

 

The game is as fun as any I've ever played, but you would never know that based on the constant stream of hyperbole, conjecture, and just plain nonsense being promulgated on this board.

[Blackardin]

Exactly. Put a million subs on 20 different servers and people will complain it's too crowded and that the game is doing excellent and then put a million subs on 200 different servers and you'll hear people talking about how the game is dying because there's only 20 people in the fleet on THEIR server. The total number of subs doesn't change, but your perception does.

 

You do understand that you may as well be yelling at a brick wall, right?

 

I'm hearing you, and it is refreshing to see some actual intellect, business sense exercised on these boards, but I fear it is lost on many.

Edited June 16, 2012 by Blackardin

[Dext]

Rofl. Everyone knows it's dying. I guess you didn't get the news about all these merges happening. Oh wait, they just did for the fun of it, and not because of DYING server populations.

 

Thanks for sowing you know nothing about what there server cap was and have 100+ server's. They put to a lot of servers and with such a lot player cap at head start the game had to just keep adding servers. All that your saying here is if it is now WoW the game is dead.

 

MMO's TOR did have a drop of 25% subs not to long ago but even wow has droped in subs.

 

In October 2010, World of Warcraft reached 12 million subscribers

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-04-world-of-warcraft-subscribers-dip-again

 

What there about now.

World of Warcraft subscriber numbers remain at 10.2 million

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/09/world-of-warcraft-subscriber-numbers-remain-at-10-2-million/

 

No matter how you look at it, it is a big drop.

[Mrtwo]

When I actually play SWTOR, I don't see anyone in General or any of my friends saying anything about how SWTOR will end and the game is heading toward F2P, etc

I think the kind of people who make these threads and call for nerfs are the same people who brag in warzones and end up with 30k damage. Don't whine and make cliche threads on the Forums just because you can't reroll or pick a good server in the first place. I intially rolled on a dead PVP server, put the guy on the Fleet to get rested XP, rolled a Juggernaut on a bigger server and waited for transfers. Still waiting and got a 50 juggernaut in return.

[Oronoco]

That was from over ONE MONTH ago. From March to May they lost 400k...I'm sure they didn't gain ANY of those back.

 

They got me and a 2 of my friends back. just to regear before 1.3 and I just sent a friend trial to another person.

I thought all MMO's took a hit after release? and then if they are good they swing up slowly?

 

To answer the OP I think it will increase subscriptions a little. But really people need to get over the doomsday posts. the people who quit SWTOR are the same people who will try and quit every other game out there. The people who are still playing and who plan to keep playing LIKE THE GAME, and they will just keep playing and maybe send a few trial invites to their friends.

[Oronoco]

EXACTLY! *Sarcasm ahead! Warning issued by those whom are too stupid to realize it!* Why would they roll 10 servers into 1? Because the game is just doing SO FANTASTIC !!! HAHA, those people crack me up!

 

People left for very specific things that were not, and still, are not being addressed!

 

To all the people saying MILLIONS still play, uh no... not by a LONG SHOT!! If they had over a million, they wouldn't be having to merge 10+ servers into 1 across the board!! LOGIC!!

 

They NEED to get their crap in order already! It's been MONTHS of HUGE issues NOT being addressed!!

 

THIS is why I unsubbed, the important issues are not being addressed, promises of things, then we receive nothing... You can't say THIS IS COMING ON THIS DATE... Oh wait scratch that... JUST DON'T PROMISE IT THEN!! JUST MAKES YOU LOOK INCOMPETENT!!!

 

 

They had to in the first few weeks of release up the Cap on servers and release a ton of new servers just so people could play. yes a bunch of people left the game they admitted that. but they also increased the server caps again one of the benefits of the fleet (or anything with the pop too high) being instanced into chunks of population is huge server caps you dont see on other games. They said in the first month or so of the game coming out that they wanted to have super servers... Also you keep using the word promise and I havent seen them 'Promise' anything, saying something 'should' be available at a certain time is not a promise it's an estimation.