Is TOR on an upward trend?

[TripleDaddy]

Last Thursday afternoon (server time), Tatooine was instanced on The Harbinger. Make of that what you will, but clearly some of the trials have moved to subscription. What that means in terms of overall numbers? Who knows.

[dandamanno]

Is TOR on an upward trend? According to the concurrent users thread somewhere around here it appears to be stable.

 

Now that the Origin servers are closed to new accounts we can safely assume no new growth there. So yah I would say it is stable now, but not on an upward trend. Sub reports will be out soon, my guess is around 800-900k.

 

Based on the thread I mentioned above there was a drop of around 30-40% concurrent logins between start of May and end of June where it stabilized. I just applied that drop to sub numbers.

 

All that matters to me is there appears to be enough people to keep the game healthy, and they are not spread out over 200 (lol) servers.

[Sarfux]

But only haters come to the forums I thought.

 

Are you trying to say people who like this game also visit the forums? That would be a first.

 

I visit the forums and I LOVE the game. I defend it from people who constantly bash it like it should be defended because it's a great game. Don't just assume everyone on the forums hates the game. I play with my laptop hooked up to a screen next to me and go on the forums while I play most of the time

[Fornix]

I visit the forums and I LOVE the game. I defend it from people who constantly bash it like it should be defended because it's a great game. Don't just assume everyone on the forums hates the game. I play with my laptop hooked up to a screen next to me and go on the forums while I play most of the time

 

The majority of us who enjoy this game however are just too busy playing most of the time though . But yeh, definitely not everybody here hates the game .

[DarthOvertone]

I would only be worried about GW2.

 

I would agree with this simply because BW has shafted the PvP community in SWTOR from the start. GW2 is a PvP game made for PvPers, not a PvE game with PvP as a sideshow. Plus there is no sub. Pretty easy choice really for a PvPer.

 

That said, I'll be sticking with SWTOR while also playing GW2. GW1 was very fun. It had it's shortcomings though and I suspect GW2 is similar so I suspect peeps won't be sticking with it for longer than a couple months, even if there is no sub to play it.

[GalaxyStrong]

I've only owned the game for a week now so, I can't speak on most of the comments. What I can tell you is this.

 

I haven't played PC games in over a decade. When I was younger I played them frequently but as I grew older I just played console games. THEN IT HAPPENED!!! Diablo 3 was released and I was excited but there was 2 problems.

 

1. computer needed new Graphics Card (original was old, integrated and sucked)

2. Not enough buttons on standard mouse (been using same mouse for like 6 years)

 

So, I spend the money for a new graphics card, power supply, installation and a Naga Hex (coolest mouse EVER). This was expensive but not CRAZY EXPENSIVE. So, I'm all set-up for D3 and start playing. After 1 1/2 months I couldn't even look at the game anymore I was so pissed-off. I'm not getting into a discussion about D3, all I'm gonna say is that Blizzard should be ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. So, here I am with a newly upgraded computer and a ****Y Blizzard game.

 

My friend came over one day and he could tell I was in a BAD MOOD. He asked what the problem was and I explained what happened. He told me to try WOW but, I wasn't about to give Blizzard another chance so soon ( I was just plain angry with them). Then my friend recommend SWTOR (he spoke in abbreviated form) and I say what the hell is SWTOR??? my friend explains, It's Star Wars The Old Republic it's an MMO that came out 6 or 7 months ago and it totally worth trying they even have a free trial up to lvl 15 . Well it's free to demo and I enjoyed Mass Effect so why not, let give it a try. I got to level 10 and was pretty much sold. I purchase the game right off the forum website. I'm level 17 Sith Lord and I am having a great time. I have constructive criticism (don't we all:rolleyes:) but for the most part I'm really enjoying the game. THANKS BIOWARE:D

[Valkirus]

I've only owned the game for a week now so, I can't speak on most of the comments. What I can tell you is this.

 

I haven't played PC games in over a decade. When I was younger I played them frequently but as I grew older I just played console games. THEN IT HAPPENED!!! Diablo 3 was released and I was excited but there was 2 problems.

 

1. computer needed new Graphics Card (original was old, integrated and sucked)

2. Not enough buttons on standard mouse (been using same mouse for like 6 years)

 

So, I spend the money for a new graphics card, power supply, installation and a Naga Hex (coolest mouse EVER). This was expensive but not CRAZY EXPENSIVE. So, I'm all set-up for D3 and start playing. After 1 1/2 months I couldn't even look at the game anymore I was so pissed-off. I'm not getting into a discussion about D3, all I'm gonna say is that Blizzard should be ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. So, here I am with a newly upgraded computer and a ****Y Blizzard game.

 

My friend came over one day and he could tell I was in a BAD MOOD. He asked what the problem was and I explained what happened. He told me to try WOW but, I wasn't about to give Blizzard another chance so soon ( I was just plain angry with them). Then my friend recommend SWTOR (he spoke in abbreviated form) and I say what the hell is SWTOR??? my friend explains, It's Star Wars The Old Republic it's an MMO that came out 6 or 7 months ago and it totally worth trying they even have a free trial up to lvl 15 . Well it's free to demo and I enjoyed Mass Effect so why not, let give it a try. I got to level 10 and was pretty much sold. I purchase the game right off the forum website. I'm level 17 Sith Lord and I am having a great time. I have constructive criticism (don't we all:rolleyes:) but for the most part I'm really enjoying the game. THANKS BIOWARE:D

 

That is good. And you mention the only reasons we should be playing any game. To have fun. I hope your adventures thru the game continues to give you that experence. And it is players like you who like the game which will keep the doors open for it.

[Kyriosgundam]

Think that might be due to people playing for free to level 15?

 

Its too early to tell, but I agree that the game is shaping up nicely.

Indeed I have almost all features I wanted when the game launched (where are my extra characterslots grrrrr) and the only way seems up now.

 

It could be however since I transfered servers I am running into more new people everytime I log on and most of them are on TOR for the long haul even after they pass lvl 15. As to the features they dont matter to me much as long as the game continues to be a challenge for me I wont leave it anytime soon. Also I really dont think that BioWare, EA, or LucasArts will be pulling the plug anytime soon. I mean EA learned from Warhammer Online (which was poorly done to begin with and never had a very large fan base). Add to the fact that the content they have now alot of us havent even scratched the surface yet.

[alifaraaz]

To clarify I very much support swtor Love the game, only mmo that Ive enjoyed lvling an alt to max lvl on. The most important thing is to manage expections and not think its gonna go either way.

 

My hope is that it slowly rises over the course of the year. It's not gonna explode with hundreds of thousands of returning/new players. And it's not gonna crash ridiculously fast like the haters want either.

 

More realistically it will move up and down slowly based on people unsubbing and resubbing with patches or lack of patches etc. Some loved 1.2, for others it was their end. It happens, and it will happen for months most likely. And we can speculate all we want with the cuts and restructuring etc but we have to just want and see whether it grows or not.

 

Truth is EA have likely made their money back from the game, making it a foolish investment choice to drop it entirely now. However it is clear they are reducing future investment into the game, and enjoying the profits from it. However ofcourse its business, to make it succeed they need to pump more money into it, but they wont. They will pump a little bit slowly, continuing to improve the game and monitoring its success. If they're consistantly making their money back from subs then they will likely put more money in slowly.

 

As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

But also, the recession the world faces today didn't happen overnight.

 

It is the sum of all the small changes over the course of months and months that will decide SWTORs fate. Worst case scenario is much less content at a slower pace, resulting in loss of subs, but retaining enough to keep the game limping along. In my opinion atleast.

[rzrknight]

Dont know about you , but my dead line is 25/07/2012.

Launch of GW2.

 

If only their WvW system works , for me , it will be funnier already then this one.

[ikemenn]

Dont know about you , but my dead line is 25/07/2012.

Launch of GW2.

 

If only their WvW system works , for me , it will be funnier already then this one.

 

mines 20/7/2012. bye bye....

 

people keep saying its normal to fire people after the game is developed.. from a business person myself, its detrimental to the end goal profit. you fire people they get paid severance pay. forceful "resignations" can be another sugar coating word in the business world.

 

if they are expecting to let go of people after the game has released, why not put people on term employment contracts in the first place with no severance pay at the end?? that's what i would do. restructuring is another way of saying business is not doing so good.

[Fornix]

Dont know about you , but my dead line is 25/07/2012.

Launch of GW2.

 

If only their WvW system works , for me , it will be funnier already then this one.

 

Their WvW system will only work, if people use it. And so far it's too early to tell whether that'll be the case. That's usually the main problem with any form of world PvP, it quickly ends up being a zerging mass, the opposing force loses interest and it's just a matter of time before actual PvP dies out.

[Fornix]

mines 20/7/2012. bye bye....

 

people keep saying its normal to fire people after the game is developed.. from a business person myself, its detrimental to the end goal profit. you fire people they get paid severance pay. forceful "resignations" can be another sugar coating word in the business world.

 

if they are expecting to let go of people after the game has released, why not put people on term employment contracts in the first place with no severance pay at the end?? that's what i would do. restructuring is another way of saying business is not doing so good.

 

I'm not sure what contract regulations are like in the US, but over here you are required by law to give someone a definit contract after several years of employment. Due to the development times of MMO's, they simply may not get around that if similar laws apply to the US. Unless you would plan on switching development teams mid development.

[Gwena]

I wouldn't say the game is on an "upward trend" right now, it seems like more of a lull to me.

 

While I do see tons of players around me on Dromund Kaas and the Fleet, I don't know how many of them are from the free trials (looking for legacy name is not enough, as you can choose not to display it). Overall, population seems to me to be holding steady -- I have not noticed a large increase nor a decline in how many people I normally see on the Fleet, as an example. Just my observations, though.

 

IMHO, how many popularly requested features and how much "fun" new stuff there is to do in 1.4 will be more likely to cause either an upward (or downward) trend.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Gwena

[Cordelia]

This game has definitely stabilised on MY server, The Red Eclipse, it has definitely increased in numbers, I cannot say whether this is due to free trials or not, but given that I saw IMP Taris with nearly 200 people on it night before last, that has to be a good sign, a lot of my IRL friends have been joining up, given some persuasion on my part after being disappointed by first Diablo 3 and now TSW. ( Get a free 110% drive through mobs mount at level 10 with my legacy perk? hell yes.)

.

 

I hate to say this but the increase of numbers on your server, 'Red Eclipse' is due to it being a forced destination server for Europeans. Of course you have seen an increase in population because all the English PvE players in Europe are being forced onto it. I myself had to move all my European characters there. It isn't because new people are joining the game.

[Nydus]

mines 20/7/2012. bye bye....

 

people keep saying its normal to fire people after the game is developed.. from a business person myself, its detrimental to the end goal profit. you fire people they get paid severance pay. forceful "resignations" can be another sugar coating word in the business world.

 

ikemenn, I'm not sure if you've followed the history of the computer game market but it is not like the rest of the business world. It is primarily funded by people who don't play or understand the underlining product and you'd be flabbergasted to see how poorly the talent (i.e. "developers") are treated.

 

Quite frankly, even with successful games it is not uncommon for large swaths of the development team to be let go shortly after release (they usually wait for a patch or two).

 

A recent example would be Obsidian Entertainment and Fallout: New Vegas. Whatever you think of the game, within months of release it had sold 5 million copies and generated some $300 million dollars for their publisher. Objectively, that is "hit". Guess what Obsidian Entertainment was forced to do a year later?

 

- Arcada