Honest opinion- do you think the game is in trouble?

[Moroder]

It's very hard to ignore the various harbingers of doom that have popped up over the months. Since my own rp server (Lord Kalypho) has turned into a ghost fleet, i abandoned my IA and went to a better populated server. This is within 6 months of playing. Something I never thought that I would have been doing in the first year.

 

I have defended swtor tooth and nail since day one, but even i had a bit of "oh dear...maybe I have been wrong" as I was re-rolling another character last night.

 

So being honest, are any of the die hard defenders of the game starting to feel the same way?

[Jedlosson]

It's very hard to ignore the various harbingers of doom that have popped up over the months. Since my own rp server (Lord Kalypho) has turned into a ghost fleet, i abandoned my IA and went to a better populated server. This is within 6 months of playing. Something I never thought that I would have been doing in the first year.

 

I have defended swtor tooth and nail since day one, but even i had a bit of "oh dear...maybe I have been wrong" as I was re-rolling another character last night.

 

So being honest, are any of the die hard defenders of the game starting to feel the same way?

 

Free Transfers to my server started only yesterday. Why would I change my opinion of the game now? If I waited several months already, I can wait a few more days over which the game will get back on its feet.

[Amyas]

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/172482/BioWare_looking_at_freetoplay_for_Star_Wars_The_Old_Republic.php

 

Bioware "EA" is thinking about making it free to play so 100% yes.

[Moroder]

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/172482/BioWare_looking_at_freetoplay_for_Star_Wars_The_Old_Republic.php

 

Bioware "EA" is thinking about making it free to play so 100% yes.

 

I read that, and that is part of the reason for my concern. Does F2p necessarily mean the game is a failure though?

[Typeslice]

New severs are buzzing and 1.3 will at the very least keep current players happy, if not bring quite a few back. Population will probably stabilize with 1.3 and it grows even a little from today (estimated 70k concurrent players), it's by no means dieing. Is it ever going to be wow numbers? no, but no new game ever will. Just cause it isn't a wow killer doesn't mean it's dieing.

[Quraswren]

I think the game has some growing pains.

 

Players that expected to much too soon that also wanted the game RIGHT THIS SEC (and well before Dec 20)

 

Given the way things are pacing, the game is doing pretty well.

 

Servers transfers were a good thing as the populations were too scattered to make sure the game launched flawlessly. Thats being looked into.

 

Then we have LFD features coming as well as what seems to be a great performance enhancement on the PTR for most computers. I've got a good PC and still say better performance on the PTR. So thats good.

 

Will SW continue to lose subs. Maybe - Maybe not.

 

There are enough good things coming down the line to keep me playing, I'm now on a well populated servers and things are looking better everyday and for the long run.

 

I think SWTOR was clearly stumbling but is now recovering nicely.

 

I read that, and that is part of the reason for my concern. Does F2p necessarily mean the game is a failure though?

 

Not even close. Games like DCOU and LOTRO are very successful as F2P and are even fun so it's in no way means it's going to kill the game even if it was to happen. Which BTW - is just speculation at this point.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Quraswren

[Woobies]

It's very hard to ignore the various harbingers of doom that have popped up over the months. Since my own rp server (Lord Kalypho) has turned into a ghost fleet, i abandoned my IA and went to a better populated server. This is within 6 months of playing. Something I never thought that I would have been doing in the first year.

 

I have defended swtor tooth and nail since day one, but even i had a bit of "oh dear...maybe I have been wrong" as I was re-rolling another character last night.

 

So being honest, are any of the die hard defenders of the game starting to feel the same way?

 

I am in your boat. I was a stronger supporter of SWTOR and actually love the game but BioWare's poor customer service and lack of communication is killing the game for me. They seem so disconnected from its player base and their lack of responsiveness to questions or concerns really leaves me feeling like they don't care. My current sub runs out in August so I will see if their customer service improves by then. If not, I won't be resubbing.

[BenjaminminU]

I'm not worried, upcoming content looks amazing: Group Finder in the next few weeks, HK-51 coming soon, a new warzone "ancient hypergates" that rewards players for killing each other as well as objectives, and the new planet "Makeb"

[Kourage]

Invite all your friends we can still kill WoW!

[King_Cashio]

I thought this was dismissed as the 1-15 F2P model ala WoW's 1-20 F2P last week?

 

Going F2P after all this server move stuff would shoot any community building efforts of this past week right in the arse.

[Moroder]

I thought this was dismissed as the 1-15 F2P model ala WoW's 1-20 F2P last week?

 

Going F2P after all this server move stuff would shoot any community building efforts of this past week right in the arse.

 

ya see i read it as that as well (1-12 f2p model). dont think anyone is certain what way they are going

[Spatology]

i get the feeling none of you have played on a real server.....

 

No, the game isnt in trouble.

 

It is getting EXACTLY what it needs. Rated WZ's, New PVE content, balanced servers.

 

If anything the game is getting better. The only people who left were the game hoppers who would have left anyway.

[Shingara]

Yes and No, i dont think the game is in trouble as they have done some good content since launch and anything over 500k subs is profit, what we have coming looks amazing and with the xfers in now and group finder coming and ranked finaly coming its all good on that front.

 

Where i think no is the none stop hatred that can only best be described as a water army of people who have taken it upon themselves to scream and shout so there voice is the loudests on any article, youtube video, blog or even on these forums about swtor to say how bad it is in there eyes, how its missing everything from any mmo to ever exists and how its losing numbers.

 

It doesnt matter if there wrong or the fact 90% of the things they say the game is missing were never once said to be being put into the game or that there numbers on subs are fictional, it makes people who look up information on this game to see if they want to try it to only see negative posts in the main part and thus makes people think about not even trying it even though they had a genuine interest in just trying it.

 

The trial coming in july will let people see for themselves but whilst the water army is doing there best to damn the game i doubt many people not into mmos or looking for another mmo will try it until then.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Shingara

[Valloran_Hex]

I don't think you're wrong to say and feel this, and I think there are a number of us who were basically feeling the same way, especially after the free transfer issue and losing legacy names. I said elsewhere it wasn't the changes that were the problem, or the nature of an MMO to make changes during the first year - It was a feeling that as of late, EA has stopped really listening and observing as to what would be a good course of action to proceed.

 

We had a guild pre-beta, and were active on Rubyat Crystal for several months. Prior to the announcement of the server transfers, I saw at least ten of those players quit the game all-together, and another five waiting to see what 1.3 really brings. I think that there were problems prior to release that were never fully resolved, but the game was lush and for a while, was really great to play.

 

That being said, I'm not thinking I'm a doomsayer, but I think that when an MMO loses 400,000 subscribers in one quarter, and the complaints are piling up, there are inherit problems with the basic mechanics and general operations. That being said, I think SWTOR can correct these, but the big question, will it be enough before players who were dedicated lose interest?

It's very hard to ignore the various harbingers of doom that have popped up over the months. Since my own rp server (Lord Kalypho) has turned into a ghost fleet, i abandoned my IA and went to a better populated server. This is within 6 months of playing. Something I never thought that I would have been doing in the first year.

 

I have defended swtor tooth and nail since day one, but even i had a bit of "oh dear...maybe I have been wrong" as I was re-rolling another character last night.

 

So being honest, are any of the die hard defenders of the game starting to feel the same way?

[Amyas]

IMO Bioware "EA" is taking to long to place things that most MMO players are used to and expect from any mondern MMO.

 

I hope the next patch turns the game around because right now it is very much in danger,

[split_light]

I don't think there is any doubt that the game is not doing as well as they'd hoped. That said, I don't think it's a loss yet. I have been playing the game since early beta access and love it. My wife feels similar. If they can continuing ironing out the end game, and get features like the group finders and ranked PvP in and working properly I think things will stabalize, and slowly people might even start to come back.

 

What's killing the game for me, and I think a lot of people, is poor customer service. They have been slow to react to issues and once they do react it's often with a canned response with little or no baring on the question. My personal issue at the moment revolves around the transfer. I previously played on two servers and both are being transferred down to the same one, leaving me not enough space. My choice now is to either wait and hope they open transfers further, or ditch some characters and leave them to die and merge the two together. I think a little forethought and planning could have saved a lot of grief to me and many others.

 

That all said, I do have high hopes for the future of the game. I think if they can keep the features flowing, iron out there customer service system, and get there server merges finalized and back on track this still has the potential to be ag reat game.

[mrsmcmullen]

No - I think with these free transfers happening there will be more players popping up. I moved from a almost dead server to a very well populated server. Im enjoying the people on it. They are funny and make the game fun. So no. the game is not in trouble.

 

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/172482/BioWare_looking_at_freetoplay_for_Star_Wars_The_Old_Republic.php

 

Bioware "EA" is thinking about making it free to play so 100% yes.

 

First of all, that source is not an accurate nor trustworthy source. The original article got pulled and that article is of an article that they read somewhere else, which is not around.

 

So well done to those who keep posting article of an article that is no longer around. Until Bioware themselves say something, I'm not believing none of it.

 

In my opinion, this game as way more potential then star wars galaxies, and that same game lasted way past it's due date and people still paid to play it until it finally just shut down.

[Darkulous]

The problem is that BW/EA/LA marketed this game as the next WoW. They marketed it as a WoW killer. They set the bar. Than they launched a 7 year old MMO. They spent most of their development time and money recording sound, which the engine can hardly run.

[mrsmcmullen]

I don't think there is any doubt that the game is not doing as well as they'd hoped. That said, I don't think it's a loss yet. I have been playing the game since early beta access and love it. My wife feels similar. If they can continuing ironing out the end game, and get features like the group finders and ranked PvP in and working properly I think things will stabalize, and slowly people might even start to come back.

 

What's killing the game for me, and I think a lot of people, is poor customer service. They have been slow to react to issues and once they do react it's often with a canned response with little or no baring on the question. My personal issue at the moment revolves around the transfer. I previously played on two servers and both are being transferred down to the same one, leaving me not enough space. My choice now is to either wait and hope they open transfers further, or ditch some characters and leave them to die and merge the two together. I think a little forethought and planning could have saved a lot of grief to me and many others.

 

That all said, I do have high hopes for the future of the game. I think if they can keep the features flowing, iron out there customer service system, and get there server merges finalized and back on track this still has the potential to be ag reat game.

 

Responding to the red - I have never had any issues with customer service. I sent in a ticket for names changes cause two of my names went with my legacy and since my legacy was taken, it made the new legacy name I had look awful and didn't fit. They answered me in less than 8hr and game me two name changes for those two characters. So I think this statement, varies from player to player.

[Kerwynn]

I think the game is in a great deal of trouble sadly.

Content is just not coming quickly enough to keep players satisfied and we know that MMO gamers are voracious consumers of content. Most of the folks I started with completed all the content, hung around for a couple months hoping for more and finally gave up and left.

 

The server transfers were excellent in theory, but awful in execution.

 

Initially, the server I transferred to was great as we went to standard/full, then they added several more servers to it and now it has become so overpopulated that there are wait times to log in, not a single mob up most of the time and mob camping that is insane.

 

We all avoid fleet as much as possible since with 350+ people (in two phases no less) on fleet the lag is so bad you can't move.

 

I gave up even trying to level a new character since it takes me hours just to complete a small quest chain due to lack of quest mobs and items being available. I watched last night in the red light sector as 25 or so people picked a spawn spot and stood there killing one thing over and over to get a quest done. Terrible. Black hole is even worse.

 

I understand growing pains, but this is not growing pains, this is poor planning. I am now fighting to keep our core raid group from just quitting in disgust.

 

I am incredibly frustrated that so much work went into building our guild and defending this game to people who bad mouth it, only to watch it fall apart due to incredibly bad server balance (population). I must say our PVP'ers love it, but then that is all they do. They are not out trying to get the black hole dailies done.

 

Please re-balance the servers with appropriate population/mob caps before more people leave. If enough people, quit out of frustration, you won't have to re-balance the servers tho.. hum......

 

Of course if it goes free to play, all of our guild is gone anyway so I guess none of it matters...

[TUXs]

Hell yes it is.

 

Bioware moves at a snails pace. They claimed to have 600+ employees working on THIS game, yet released content SLOWER and thinner than what could have been coded by 3 SOE employees.

 

They have done NOTHING to help PvP.

They added ONE new WZ in 6 months.

They added ONE new OP in 6 months.

They added TWO new FP in 6 months.

They are STILL 'tweaking' classes.

They removed ALL incentive for OWPvP in 3 months.

They haven't added ONE space mission in 6 months.

They haven't fixed the sound bug after 8 weeks.

They have consolidated populations, but done NOTHING to address the reasons those consolidations were necessary in the first place.

 

Yeah...the game is in trouble and they seem content to let it go.

Edited June 19, 2012 by TUXs

[HeawiNobal]

Im hoping it isnt in trouble.

 

I really enjoy the game... especially now that I transferred to a highly populated server. I think BIOWARE dropped the ball on multiple occasions with rushed fixes (too many servers at launch, tell people to reroll on a light server to avoid queues) and then taking to long to get the properly fixes going (transfers/population correction should have happened months ago)

 

The game itself is fun and everything I want in a SW MMO with more awesome content coming... the problem is, players want the current content in order before giving us new stuff.

[Krelios]

Honest opinion? No, I don't think the game is "in trouble" at all. They dropped from 1.7 million copies sold to 1.3 million subscribers. That means that more than half of the people who bought a copy are still paying for the game. That's good!

 

Anything more than 500k subscribers is profitable and more than a million without a full feature set is due largely in part to the Star Wars name and BioWare loyalists. The pace at which BioWare is adding features and content is astonishing to anyone who's been playing MMOs since EverQuest (like I have) and every time they announce what they're going to add in the near future the game looks even better.

 

Honestly, I've had more fun with SWTOR than any of half a dozen others I've played over the years and when I renew my six-month subscription next month, I'll continue to enjoy it.

 

That being said, I'm sure someone will come along shortly to call me a fanboy and I honestly don't care. The OP is asking for honest opinions and I gave mine. I am not saying there aren't things BioWare can improve, I'm saying that they are, in fact, improving them. I think people who wanted something this game never said it was going to be are leaving and that's certainly to be expected. I think there are people who genuinely wanted this game to be their favorite and are disappointed that they don't like it. None of that means the game is "in trouble" as it still has one of the highest subscription bases of any paid MMO that isn't WoW. As has been said before, WoW is going to be the only WoW-killer, the rest of the market just needs to carve out a niche and deliver to it.

[TUXs]

They dropped from 1.7 million copies sold to 1.3 million subscribers.

 

Wasn't that number from March?

[Kerwynn]

Honest opinion? No, I don't think the game is "in trouble" at all. They dropped from 1.7 million copies sold to 1.3 million subscribers. That means that more than half of the people who bought a copy are still paying for the game. That's good!

 

Anything more than 500k subscribers is profitable and more than a million without a full feature set is due largely in part to the Star Wars name and BioWare loyalists. The pace at which BioWare is adding features and content is astonishing to anyone who's been playing MMOs since EverQuest (like I have) and every time they announce what they're going to add in the near future the game looks even better.

 

Honestly, I've had more fun with SWTOR than any of half a dozen others I've played over the years and when I renew my six-month subscription next month, I'll continue to enjoy it.

 

That being said, I'm sure someone will come along shortly to call me a fanboy and I honestly don't care. The OP is asking for honest opinions and I gave mine. I am not saying there aren't things BioWare can improve, I'm saying that they are, in fact, improving them. I think people who wanted something this game never said it was going to be are leaving and that's certainly to be expected. I think there are people who genuinely wanted this game to be their favorite and are disappointed that they don't like it. None of that means the game is "in trouble" as it still has one of the highest subscription bases of any paid MMO that isn't WoW. As has been said before, WoW is going to be the only WoW-killer, the rest of the market just needs to carve out a niche and deliver to it.

 

 

I don't think you are a fanboy, I think you are accurate. My issue is I love the game but can't play it due to extreme over population of our server. They fed EIGHT servers into our one and it is awful awful awful. I can't play, that is my issue. There are no mobs up to even kill. Other than OPS I cannot go out and enjoy the world stuff. So ya I am pretty frustrated.