What should the focus be for profits?

[iamthehoyden]

I think it's hardly a radical concept that games are about profits. This game makes money through subs and through the cartel market. These two income streams are not exclusive, since many subscribers also spend extra through the CM. However, people will not subscribe or buy items through the CM if they don't like the game. In order for either one (and hopefully both) of these income streams to be successful, you have to have players playing the game and engaged enough to spend their money.

 

I'm curious to see what people think the focus should be in order for this game to be profitable for a long time to come.

 

In my opinion, increasing the amount of attachment players have with their characters is one way, as players are less likely to abandon a character they have sunk time, money, and creativity into. This can be done by extending the storyline including companion story arcs, adding more options for character customization, and adding customization items to items such as ships.

 

Another, even better, IMO, way is to increase the connections players have with each other, since most players stay because of the other people. Giving guilds more robust tools, improving roleplaying items (which are fun even for non-roleplayers), including social mini-games, and so forth, would improve this aspect.

 

YMMV, and I hope it does. Curious to see what others think they should focus on in order to become/stay profitable.

[Andryah]

In my opinion, increasing the amount of attachment players have with their characters is one way, as players are less likely to abandon a character they have sunk time, money, and creativity into. This can be done by extending the storyline including companion story arcs, adding more options for character customization, and adding customization items to items such as ships.

 

While I agree with you in principle, character investment = different things to different people. So this is a circular discussion waiting to happen.

 

It used to be, and still is to some extent, total time and energy invested that holds a player to an MMO. It's still true for games with high sub/unsub/resub rates... like WoW. But in general.. more and more players are fickle and nomadic about MMOs, hopping from title to title. This is precisely why the Freemium/F2P business model is thriving so well. People can keep their feet in a game without paying, while paying for full access in another game. They can do this with several games at a time if they want (or, like me, sub to several games at once).

 

Anyway.. to comment on the topic... MMOs can ALWAYS be profitable.. you just scale the operations and support plan to be profitable to the paying player base. This is why games like AC and DAoC can stay open for business even with very small paying populations.

 

Now, profitable AND notable (as in in the top 3 or 4 in the market), you need broad player appeal and diversity of content updates. Which is exactly what this game is doing and has been for some time now. It does not please niche special interests enough to prevent whining and complaining... but it is profitable, stable, and growing modestly in subs and growing notably in revenue and profit contribution to the operation. So.. really.. what they are doing now is working just fine. They had a really bumpy start, but pulled things into trim nicely last fall.

 

But let's be realistic.. it's an MMO for the player who likes diversity of play and is not fixated on one facet of the game. Heavy PvPers are generally never going to be happy with this game. Same for heavy raiders. Even story junkies are not going to be content. It does fair well for altaholics though, IMO. Players need to diversify their interests within a game, or find a niche game that feeds their narrow tastes. This is not new to the genre by any means.

 

TL;DR it's a broad appeal game. Not deep in any single facet, except the SW IP. They offer a selection of things to do.. and it's up to each player to decide what they want to take advantage of and to do so with some degree of diversity or risk boredom and disappointment. But for every bored and disappointed player leaving... new players are entering the game... so from a business standpoint.. they are in the groove with the current business model and approach IMO.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Andryah

[Suntaru]

Profits? Is there a Ferengi in charge?

[Yungscion]

Profits? Is there a Ferengi in charge?

 

The execs of EA are the evolutionary beginnings of the Ferengi empire.

 

On topic, make a profit first, then reinvest in the game. If they can prove the game as is is making a profit, then they can probably get investment which will go into expanding the game.

 

What they really need to do is figure out how to turn F2P players into subs. I converted because Treek made my wife want to play, and since I will be doing activities with her and on my own, I would need to prevent locks (otherwise I would need to constantly buy CC), but that is an insanely rare reason to convert (playing without my wife I would just play a single character meaning the locks don't effect me).

 

They really should start sending polls to the F2P players and finding out:

 

If you converted to sub, why?

If you have not, why?

What would make you consider?

 

As far as expansions go, I would focus on story content (no so much on generic questing), improving the story participation (two bounty hunter can quest together and the quest will run with them both as participants, not just 1 participant and 1 spectator), and of course endgame activities (but try to innovate some variety over the standard dungeon/raid paradigm). Story and social interaction are all the makes mmorpg's stand out from all the white noise in the gaming market.

[Joesixxpack]

What a sensible op and subject. Those are good thoughts I agree with so will add some additionals.

 

I'll add an extra idea on behalf of the 2nd poster who unfortunately didn't have space for any in their lecture.

 

- New planets with variety beyond the basic cookie cutter (New explorations and intrigue). Makeb brought some interesting deviations from the norm. I'd like to see more, and environmental interactions if supportable by their end and the general player base.

 

- QA: Try harder. Every game I've ever played had bugs, etc. No big deal. They'd fix them though in a reasonable amount of time. The reasonable expectation player-side being aided by effective communication by staff. TOR's sketchy on fix and communication. Maintain what you've got well basically, for a high-quality product/service.

 

- PVE is fine as they present it I think. PVP could use and increased frequency of new content. MMOs and repetition are old pals, but TOR is stretching that a bit.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Joesixxpack

[iamthehoyden]

While I agree with you in principle, character investment = different things to different people. So this is a circular discussion waiting to happen.

...

But let's be realistic.. it's an MMO for the player who likes diversity of play and is not fixated on one facet of the game.

I don't think it's quite a circular discussion. Actually, the fact that different aspects of the game increase the level of character investment for different people ties in with your point that this is not a niche game - it's one that has a wide variety of items. While I mentioned a few things that can increase character attachment, there are others - a person who enjoys raiding will be more attached to a character they've taken through top level ops, for example. Improving the diversity of gameplay should (I would think) improve the attachment levels of a wider variety of players.

 

Anyway.. to comment on the topic... MMOs can ALWAYS be profitable.. you just scale the operations and support plan to be profitable to the paying player base. This is why games like AC and DAoC can stay open for business even with very small paying populations.

One note on this. Scaling operations and support to whatever size of player base you happen to have doesn't guarantee profit. You still have to make a decent game, although I suppose there will always be those who will find something to enjoy in even the most awful game. Perhaps I should have asked what swtor should do to maximize their profits, because, as #97 of the Rules of Acquistion state, 'Enough...is never enough.'

[iamthehoyden]

What they really need to do is figure out how to turn F2P players into subs.

I agree that f2p to sub conversion is definitely a key piece. There have been a few discussion around lately about the value of a sub. Personally, if you're going to be playing quite a bit, it makes sense to sub, but for some people the apparent reduction in value over time has been troubling. If they increase the value of subs then chances are they'll see more conversions.

[CosmicKat]

I think it's hardly a radical concept that games are about profits. This game makes money through subs and through the cartel market. These two income streams are not exclusive, since many subscribers also spend extra through the CM. However, people will not subscribe or buy items through the CM if they don't like the game. In order for either one (and hopefully both) of these income streams to be successful, you have to have players playing the game and engaged enough to spend their money.

 

I'm curious to see what people think the focus should be in order for this game to be profitable for a long time to come.

 

In my opinion, increasing the amount of attachment players have with their characters is one way, as players are less likely to abandon a character they have sunk time, money, and creativity into. This can be done by extending the storyline including companion story arcs, adding more options for character customization, and adding customization items to items such as ships.

 

Another, even better, IMO, way is to increase the connections players have with each other, since most players stay because of the other people. Giving guilds more robust tools, improving roleplaying items (which are fun even for non-roleplayers), including social mini-games, and so forth, would improve this aspect.

 

YMMV, and I hope it does. Curious to see what others think they should focus on in order to become/stay profitable.

 

Agreed.

 

The developers are, however, completely screwed when it comes to your last point, increasing player connections. This is not in the design and it would take a pretty drastic overhaul to accomplish it.

 

Most players of this game are always playing solo, because...

 

- The vast majority of pre-endgame PvE content is designed to be soloed.

- Group content is skipped by most players.

- Story focus not only makes grouping with the same base class inefficient, it makes it a pain in the butt. There are 4 base classes, so 1/4 of all other players are the same class as you for the sake of story quests. Story quests are generally long.

 

As long as players are intentionally steered towards soloing, most will never see how much better MMO's are with other humans and they will never grow any attachment to the world.

 

Soloing should always be possible but it should never be the focus of an MMO.

[TUXs]

I think it's hardly a radical concept that games are about profits. This game makes money through subs and through the cartel market. These two income streams are not exclusive, since many subscribers also spend extra through the CM. However, people will not subscribe or buy items through the CM if they don't like the game. In order for either one (and hopefully both) of these income streams to be successful, you have to have players playing the game and engaged enough to spend their money.

 

I'm curious to see what people think the focus should be in order for this game to be profitable for a long time to come.

 

In my opinion, increasing the amount of attachment players have with their characters is one way, as players are less likely to abandon a character they have sunk time, money, and creativity into. This can be done by extending the storyline including companion story arcs, adding more options for character customization, and adding customization items to items such as ships.

 

Another, even better, IMO, way is to increase the connections players have with each other, since most players stay because of the other people. Giving guilds more robust tools, improving roleplaying items (which are fun even for non-roleplayers), including social mini-games, and so forth, would improve this aspect.

 

YMMV, and I hope it does. Curious to see what others think they should focus on in order to become/stay profitable.

 

I absolutely agree!!!!!!! GREAT post!

 

Players who are "attached" to their characters, play longer. Social games, more customization options, mini-games are fantastic ideas!!!! I'm also a firm believer in "player housing". Yeah yeah yeah, it may sound silly, but giving people the ability to customize their "world", is a HUGE thing to an MMO. It allows me to shape a small part of the world to "my" style. It can be instanced housing, but it needs to be easy for others to visit, while I'm online or not.

 

However, the bottom line for SWTOR is content right now. It needs more stuff to do. 5 Ops is terribly lame. There's no adventuring, no exploring. They need more content. More reason to return to the core worlds. More reason to leave the freaking Fleet. I honestly can go months without ever leaving the Fleet once. How is that "fun"? Ops, FPs, daily missions that aren't set only in another tiny little section of the world, but not ridiculously spread out like on Makeb either. Non-combat quests for those times when you're just doing whatever. Content.

[Andryah]

One note on this. Scaling operations and support to whatever size of player base you happen to have doesn't guarantee profit. You still have to make a decent game, although I suppose there will always be those who will find something to enjoy in even the most awful game. Perhaps I should have asked what swtor should do to maximize their profits, because, as #97 of the Rules of Acquistion state, 'Enough...is never enough.'

 

Scaling your operations plan to make a profit is exactly what companies do though.. OR, they cut their losses and shut the product down. What they don't do is continue to run in the red quarter over quarter. We watched Bioware do this very thing last year. Subs plummeted.. and they had two rather large rounds of layoffs and restructuring while they worked to stabilize the game.

 

As for "enough is never enough"...while in idealistic terms.. this is true in business... on a more pragmatic level... a business (any business) has a target cost, revenue, and profit margin they have to meet (that's driven by their Ops plan). They will look at that plan quarterly and make adjustments to the plan (up or down) depending on how well cost and revenue are tracking to plan. They will look for opportunities to grow their business for sure... but it's clear to me that Bioware is doing that.

 

The circular discussion centers around player retention. Once you ask players that question.. you get a never ending circle of personal wants expressed by each person (as exemplified in some of the posts in this thread) and these will often be at odds with each other as well.

 

You want to have a player based opinion discussion on what will make this game profitable. [the game is profitable and doing well by the way] Such a discussion will go nowhere in the context of specifics. Only Bioware has the actual data and analytics to answer your question, and the answers are largely proprietary.. so they won't share them with us. This is precisely why I steered clear of making any personal specific desire list into this discussion... it leads nowhere other then an exchange of player wants/needs masquerading as what "the plan" needs to be for Bioware.

 

IMO, you either trust a company to move a product (in this case an MMO, which is really an entertainment service, not a classic product) forward over time, OR you don't. If you do.. then you trust them to do their job. If you don't, it's a mistake to invest time and energy into the product, as a consumer. You have plenty of choices in the market.. there is no monopoly in MMOs. And while players love to discuss and dictate "success points" to developers, it's not their product and not their job to do so. You either trust them to move the game forward, or you don't. An MMO development and support operation is not a democracy where players get to actually vote, much less dictate anything.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Andryah

[Damask_Rose]

 

As long as players are intentionally steered towards soloing, most will never see how much better MMO's are with other humans and they will never grow any attachment to the world.

 

Soloing should always be possible but it should never be the focus of an MMO.

 

While I don't think soloing should be the only focus, it should continue to be a major focus. Those of us who enjoy soloing, and there are a lot of us, dislike the way the focus shifts dramatically to group play once you get to the end game. A soloer can get just as attached to the world as someone who groups. It is your opinion that grouping is much more enjoyable than soloing, but in my experience grouping in this game is about as much fun as a trip to the dentist. (Something about grouping in SWtOR seems to bring out the worst in people. I've run across more jerks in this game than I have in 13 years playing others.) One of the great joys of City of Heroes/Villains was the complete scaleablility of nearly all content. Soloing and grouping were equally supported.

[iamthehoyden]

However, the bottom line for SWTOR is content right now. It needs more stuff to do. 5 Ops is terribly lame. There's no adventuring, no exploring. They need more content. More reason to return to the core worlds. More reason to leave the freaking Fleet. I honestly can go months without ever leaving the Fleet once. How is that "fun"? Ops, FPs, daily missions that aren't set only in another tiny little section of the world, but not ridiculously spread out like on Makeb either. Non-combat quests for those times when you're just doing whatever. Content.

I think you make a good point. You can spend a good bit of time customizing your character and running (and re-running) dailies, ops, fps, and wzs with guildies, but without regular content influxes, especially of the exploring variety, you run out of new stuff to do even if you're not a "content locust."

 

Lately I've seen a drop of activity in game. That could just be summer; it could be that the last couple major patches have been focused towards the top-end raiders. I'm glad they got more nm content, but it does leave something of a lull for a lot of the player base in terms of content. I'm curious to see what 2.3 and 2.4 bring in these terms.

[iamthehoyden]

You want to have a player based opinion discussion on what will make this game profitable. [the game is profitable and doing well by the way] Such a discussion will go nowhere in the context of specifics. Only Bioware has the actual data and analytics to answer your question, and the answers are largely proprietary.. so they won't share them with us. This is precisely why I steered clear of making any personal specific desire list into this discussion... it leads nowhere other then an exchange of player wants/needs masquerading as what "the plan" needs to be for Bioware.

 

IMO, you either trust a company to move a product (in this case an MMO, which is really an entertainment service, not a classic product) forward over time, OR you don't. If you do.. then you trust them to do their job. If you don't, it's a mistake to invest time and energy into the product, as a consumer. You have plenty of choices in the market.. there is no monopoly in MMOs. And while players love to discuss and dictate "success points" to developers, it's not their product and not their job to do so. You either trust them to move the game forward, or you don't. An MMO development and support operation is not a democracy where players get to actually vote, much less dictate anything.

I think it would be obvious that this discussion cannot dictate a business plan to BW with specifics. We are not insiders with access to the kind of information that would make such a thing possible. To say that a group of fairly experienced mmo players know nothing about what makes (and keeps) good games profitable would see a little off though. They don't know everything (obviously) but they do have ideas, some bad, some good, some on point, and some off. This thread wasn't intended to provide a "plan" for BW, it was intended (and I know this may come as a shock on this forum lately) to be a discussion, an exchange of different ideas, and feedback for the developers (one of the stated purposes of this forum).

 

Your position that we should rarely question the decisions of BW is well established. I've seen ample evidence that the developers actively look at a wide variety of feedback, including the forums. They may decide to act or not act based on what they hear, but you cannot be heard if you don't speak.

[MSchuyler]

So many experts; so little knowledge. The amount of solid business information we have on SWTOR is minimal, assisted by reading tea leaves and abject unsubstantiated speculation. I wish we really knew, but we do not. We consumers are not in charge of the business plan. Most of us have never seen one. In fact, a relatively large percentage of subscribers have no visible means of support and use their parents' credit cards. They are hardly in a position to offer business advice to grownups.

 

By and large we have no real concept of profit and loss, of software development standards and best practices, and of the real costs of running a game like this. Even the developers themselves have very narrow areas of responsibility. Rendering rocks with a super duper graphics program does not make anyone a business expert.

 

As consumers, our only role, really, is to subscribe and/or spend money--or not. We vote with out pocket books. It's unlikely anyone at BW/EA is assigned to wade through these forums on any regular basis. It makes no business sense to do so. Just think what the conversation would look like:

 

"So, Joe, what's the story on the General Forum this year?"

"Well, no one likes anything we do. We're damned if we do, damned if we don't"

"How many people actually use the forums?"

"We're pretty sure it amounts to about 5% of the subs."

"So they can be safely ignored, for the most part.'

"Correct."

 

So the General Forum allows you to let off a little steam, but except for making you feel good about complaining, it doesn't do any good.

[iamthehoyden]

So many experts; so little knowledge. The amount of solid business information we have on SWTOR is minimal, assisted by reading tea leaves and abject unsubstantiated speculation. I wish we really knew, but we do not. We consumers are not in charge of the business plan. Most of us have never seen one. In fact, a relatively large percentage of subscribers have no visible means of support and use their parents' credit cards. They are hardly in a position to offer business advice to grownups.

 

By and large we have no real concept of profit and loss, of software development standards and best practices, and of the real costs of running a game like this. Even the developers themselves have very narrow areas of responsibility. Rendering rocks with a super duper graphics program does not make anyone a business expert.

 

As consumers, our only role, really, is to subscribe and/or spend money--or not. We vote with out pocket books. It's unlikely anyone at BW/EA is assigned to wade through these forums on any regular basis. It makes no business sense to do so. Just think what the conversation would look like:

 

"So, Joe, what's the story on the General Forum this year?"

"Well, no one likes anything we do. We're damned if we do, damned if we don't"

"How many people actually use the forums?"

"We're pretty sure it amounts to about 5% of the subs."

"So they can be safely ignored, for the most part.'

"Correct."

 

So the General Forum allows you to let off a little steam, but except for making you feel good about complaining, it doesn't do any good.

I have to say, this kind of response to a calm, harmless discussion is kind of amusing.

[Hizoka]

I think it's hardly a radical concept that games are about profits. This game makes money through subs and through the cartel market. These two income streams are not exclusive, since many subscribers also spend extra through the CM. However, people will not subscribe or buy items through the CM if they don't like the game. In order for either one (and hopefully both) of these income streams to be successful, you have to have players playing the game and engaged enough to spend their money.

 

I'm curious to see what people think the focus should be in order for this game to be profitable for a long time to come.

 

In my opinion, increasing the amount of attachment players have with their characters is one way, as players are less likely to abandon a character they have sunk time, money, and creativity into. This can be done by extending the storyline including companion story arcs, adding more options for character customization, and adding customization items to items such as ships.

 

Another, even better, IMO, way is to increase the connections players have with each other, since most players stay because of the other people. Giving guilds more robust tools, improving roleplaying items (which are fun even for non-roleplayers), including social mini-games, and so forth, would improve this aspect.

 

YMMV, and I hope it does. Curious to see what others think they should focus on in order to become/stay profitable.

 

the idea of boosting profits is the wrong idea when making MMOs. If you make a great game it will make money, if you are just seeing to make money you will take shortcut after shortcut and we are left with current SWTOR.

 

If you ever talk to the orginal WoW dev team (the ones making wildstar now) they will tell you they were trying to make the best MMO possible, generating a positive profit loss statement was not what they were worried about. If you make a great game it will make a huge amount of money because its a great game. If you make a game simply to make money will will fail simply because the passion needed to make the game great simply isn't there.

 

When EA bought out bioware EA made it impossible for the coders to work with that passion in mind that is why nearly all of the "bioware" team is gone. Bioware is only a name now it is not the company that made neverwinter nights, baulders gate, and Mass effect 1 that made most of us fans of bioware.

 

Honestly at this point SWTORs lifeline is very limited. Its sub playerbase will more then likely go to 0 once wildstar hits this holiday season/ beginning of next year.

 

SWTOR has subs not because of the games quality because we all know its pretty bad with the EA bean counters not allowing for proper testing and what not. People are playing SWTOR because they want to play an MMO and do not want to play wow so it leaves SWTOR. Once Wildstar hits SWTORs "massive" servers will be the ghost town everyone saw before the first set of server mergers.

[Callaron]

If you ever talk to the orginal WoW dev team (the ones making wildstar now) they will tell you they were trying to make the best MMO possible, generating a positive profit loss statement was not what they were worried about. If you make a great game it will make a huge amount of money because its a great game. If you make a game simply to make money will will fail simply because the passion needed to make the game great simply isn't there.

 

MMO's are big business these days, which means making money is important.

And this doesn't hold true just for EA, but for all publishers - you speak of Wildstar, and seem to be utterly convinced that those devs are working purely out of altruism, that profit never even crossed their minds.

Guess what, Wildstar is owned by NCSoft (AKA the publisher) - which happens to be a company that is renowned for shutting down numerous MMO's when they were disappointed with the profits they were making.

More on topic, I think it's a good idea, Hoyden - at the very least it makes for an interesting topic.

[ManiacDavis]

PvE satisfies players for a day.

PvP satisfies players for a lifetime.

 

PvP development is cheaper and lasts longer, focus on this to profit more.

[Hizoka]

MMO's are big business these days, which means making money is important.

And this doesn't hold true just for EA, but for all publishers - you speak of Wildstar, and seem to be utterly convinced that those devs are working purely out of altruism, that profit never even crossed their minds.

Guess what, Wildstar is owned by NCSoft (AKA the publisher) - which happens to be a company that is renowned for shutting down numerous MMO's when they were disappointed with the profits they were making.

More on topic, I think it's a good idea, Hoyden - at the very least it makes for an interesting topic.

 

carbine was working on the game for 4 years before NCsoft bought them. they were funding it themselves which makes a massive difference in the long term.

[Hizoka]

PvE satisfies players for a day.

PvP satisfies players for a lifetime.

 

PvP development is cheaper and lasts longer, focus on this to profit more.

 

wow that is one of the dumbest things i have ever seen on the internet.

[Andryah]

carbine was working on the game for 4 years before NCsoft bought them. they were funding it themselves which makes a massive difference in the long term.

 

Well.. we are off topic but......

 

Nonsense.

 

Carbine was bought out by NCsoft in 2007. For your statement to be true.. the Carbine founders would have had to be working on the game since 2003. So.. ten years and still no game? Or, you got your facts wrong?

 

I'ma go with: you got your facts wrong.

 

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ncsoft-acquires-carbine-studios

 

And if you have faith in NCsoft... Richard Garriott would like to have a word with you... as would the more then 100 thousand CoX players who got left hanging with no MMO to play last year.

Edited July 14, 2013 by Andryah

[Andryah]

wow that is one of the dumbest things i have ever seen on the internet.

 

Heh. on this we agree.

[Pietrastor]

I'm curious to see what people think the focus should be in order for this game to be profitable for a long time to come.

Continuation of class stories and class-tailored content. It should be the #1 priority for EA/BW. While improving the game mechanics all around and introducing new ones is definitely important and should be continued, it's the class content that is the best and center element of this game. Continuing it will be the mark of success for it.

[Jenzali]

PvE satisfies players for a day.

PvP satisfies players for a lifetime.

 

PvP development is cheaper and lasts longer, focus on this to profit more.

 

Exclusive PvE players will gnash their teeth at this statement but provide no logical evidence to the contrary

 

I would add RP and sandbox content to that list of "satisfies players for a lifetime" as well, as both have incredible longevity for the amount of developer work required to make such features.

 

Disclaimer: I enjoy all 3 aspects of the game, but there's no denying that the PvE content gets stale very quickly.

Edited July 14, 2013 by Jenzali

[MrJurgens]

Agreed.

 

The developers are, however, completely screwed when it comes to your last point, increasing player connections. This is not in the design and it would take a pretty drastic overhaul to accomplish it.

 

Most players of this game are always playing solo, because...

 

- The vast majority of pre-endgame PvE content is designed to be soloed.

- Group content is skipped by most players.

- Story focus not only makes grouping with the same base class inefficient, it makes it a pain in the butt. There are 4 base classes, so 1/4 of all other players are the same class as you for the sake of story quests. Story quests are generally long.

 

As long as players are intentionally steered towards soloing, most will never see how much better MMO's are with other humans and they will never grow any attachment to the world.

 

Soloing should always be possible but it should never be the focus of an MMO.

/Agree

 

I think the whole "story-driven" experience BW was aiming for just made them shoot themselves in the foot. I skip all those side-quests because even with the cinematics, it doesn't make them any more fun. I wouldn't do it even if someone wanted me to help them out with it.

 

More group content, both for PvP and PvE, is needed to keep this game afloat. BW took a really risky move having this game's focus be on re-rolling and going through all those planet quests. I didn't signup here to play Solo Wars™: The Questing Republic™.

 

Personally, I'm here for PvP. Although PvE gets more love than PvP they are getting shafted as well, but only to an extent.

 

I would like more sandbox features and more ways to customize my characters so I can let out the fashionista within me. That, and PvP, is what makes me enjoy MMOs. I'm still here because I enjoy the PvP and customizing my characters, but I'm not ignorant and I know there are A LOT of issues that EAware really needs to address.

 

And lastly, I believe soloing should be a very minimal focus in MMOs in general. These are Massively Multiplayer Online games. Why play these games if you're into soloing? Go play a single-player game, not an MMO.