PVP should be priority

[Eillack]

*1950s laughtrack*

[Hathur]

Bioware's own metrics show them that in investing into pvp is a waste of money. They can see what percentage of players play it (an astronomically low percentage of player populace) and that alone is enough to tell them that more pvp won't generate extra revenue for them.

 

They know added story content will generate revenue as it is what the greatest majority want.

 

That said, I have no idea how they plan to sustain subscriptions considering that each chapter takes about 30 minutes to finish.. and while 9 chapters upfront was worth a 1 month subscription, I certainly won't be subscribing past it with their current plan to release 1 chapter per month (assuming future chapters are also about the same length).

 

In all likelihood I will wait 10-12 months and subscribe for another month at the end of next year to play through all the chapters. But $15 for a 30 minute chapter per month, I can't really see myself doing.

 

Although, I am only a player who plays for the stories. I don't do group content, pvp etc. I played the game and all it's expansions solo content on several classes, than left for a year. Came back when expansion released, played that, left... came back for next expansion, played that then left. Same thing will occur here.. got my 9 chapters, loved them, will wait about a year for another 10 or so and then return.

 

Works for me as a consumer.. but I can't fathom how bioware hopes to generate sustained revenue from it.. the chapters are just too short to justify a constant monthly subscription... I can play through all 9 chapters with every class in about a week or less at a very casual pace.

[Newyankalt]

Except PVP is a minority and tons of people do not want it as seen by the M1-4X threads. Bioware isn't just going to shift what they're dong and say PVP is now the priority because it isn't...

[Uruare]

If they removed pvp from the game entirely and nobody told me so, it might take me months to notice on my own.

 

Just saying.

[Nefla]

lol no. If PvP was BioWare's priority then I wouldn't have ever played this game. I play it because it's like the ultimate single player BioWare rpg which means a strong focus on story, characters and roleplaying with tons of replay value. Being able to talk to or play it with other people is a bonus. PvP is something I have zero interest in and I will never touch.

[Newyankalt]

I'd encourage to go check out the server status for European servers currently to see all the PVE servers dominating... TOFN is standard but that is quite possibly the largest PVP population the game. North America PVP servers are wastelands.

[Newyankalt]

Or just check this out http://www.torstatus.net/ yeah PVP should be a priority...

[Mourkoth]

Yeeeeeaaaaaaano.

 

I'd argue that this is much the fault of the PvP community as it is the fault of Bioware/EA. When calls for balancing against things like premades were answered with a slew of insults from the PvP community, it became obvious what direction PvP would be taking.

 

I'm not saying that the PvP community is exclusively to blame, but ya'll sure did a good job of putting the last few nails in the coffin with such virulent behavior towards balancing requests.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Mourkoth

[JattaGin]

Bioware's own metrics show them that in investing into pvp is a waste of money. They can see what percentage of players play it (an astronomically low percentage of player populace) and that alone is enough to tell them that more pvp won't generate extra revenue for them.

 

^^this.

 

I PvP'd a lot until Autumn 2012. Since then I barely finish one weekly per month.

 

PvP is not what the majority of players is here for.

[Max_Killjoy]

^^this.

 

I PvP'd a lot until Autumn 2012. Since then I barely finish one weekly per month.

 

PvP is not what the majority of players is here for.

 

 

And while that doesn't mean that Bioware should ignore it or that the players who go in for it are any less worthy of considerations relative to any other part of the playerbase -- it does mean that making it a priority would be a mistake.

[DrewFromPhilly]

I used to do PvP primarily, but it's a waste of time at this point. The game has a lot of potential on the PvP front that sadly is just not being realized, and not only that BioWare has continuously gone in the opposite direction by alienating PvP focused players with shortsighted decisions and seemingly random changes and "additions" that actually take more away from the game than they add. Release ilum becoming the gree event, 8v8 ranked becoming ranked arenas, and so forth and so on.

 

To be completely honest with you, I have no faith in their ability to do anything remotely good as far as pvp is concerned. They cannot and will not do it. To them, they probably feel pretty satisfied with the ranked system they've added, a hamster wheel to keep players grinding through the same handful of content and all the while all they have to do on their end is keep a leaderboard on this website updated and occasionally hand out prizes and titles.

 

But all of that aside, I'm growing tired of MMO pvp anyway. I left SWTOR to play GW2 and it has better pvp in that it isn't mindless - everything can miss and can be dodged, procs and buffs are far less forgiving, and so forth. It's not nearly as carebear as this game, is what I'm saying, and even then I got bored with it. There isn't anything exciting about it to me anymore, just at the fundamental level it's too easy. I've long thought that the average pvper in swtor would have their *** handed to them in not only other MMOs, but also in more challenging skill-oriented games like those in the FPS genre for example.

 

If you've come to SWTOR only for pvp this is simply the wrong game for that, and in my opinion it's the wrong genre as well.

Edited November 1, 2015 by DrewFromPhilly

[AlrikFassbauer]

Open world PVP content is dead because of gankers who find some sort of accomplishment in killing people 40 levels below them, even with level sync and level 28 on Tatooine can't stand up to a 65. Especially given how story driven this game is as well people don't want to be ganked 24/7.

 

This is what I belive as well.

And worse : The PvP community does nothing against Gankers.

Gankers, however, glorify their deeds as "the best start to start an open world PvP battle".

Edited November 1, 2015 by AlrikFassbauer

[Xhelis]

If and when I PvP, I do so at my discretion. Maybe I feel like participating PvP today, maybe I don't, but that is MY decision to make and no one else's. Not yours and not Bioware's.

[Talosred]

Basically pvp is only good for a couple of things and has always been the case, quick credits in-between quests and quick gear sets , and gives out nice experience also.

 

But yeah its a side thing, and not a big deal just wish we had more huttball maps Hoth huttball would be good.

[anesvik]

No. I have tried pvp. But the anger if you make one mistake is insane. If you mess up in Ops or something, u say sorry and no one bats an eye. I try to be understanding of all kinds of players....but screw pvp. I was really into Huttball the first few times. But then hated it after awhile cuz all I saw was people yelling at each other in chat the whole match. Even out of pvp, you still see them raging on fleet or in mass areas. I am sorry, I cant care to much about an aspect of the game that breeds these kinds of people.

[Merwanor]

PvP should be a minor distraction, just like the space missions in the game. Everytime an MMO starts to design its game around PvP it becomes terrible. This game is finally turning the focus back on what made it unique, the story aspect. And PvP in theme park MMOs is always terrible, I have played a lot of this type of MMO and no one has good and fun PvP. So no, PvP should not be the priority at all.

 

I actually rolled on a PvP-RP server when the game launched and I so wish I could transfer all my characters to a PVE.RP server as PvP in this game is just crap, and my server somehow just turned into a normal PvP server.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Merwanor

[horrorfaneightys]

Look, I get that you enjoy it, and I do hope you get more content/incentive to do it. But make it a priority? God no. If PVP was the priority for this game, I wouldn't be playing. From a lot of the comments in this thread, it seems like I'm not the only one.

 

I think you need to accept that this game is geared more towards PVE.

[Infernixx]

PVP should be BioWare's priority, becau-

 

hahahahaha oh wow

 

no. hahahahaha

[DariusCalera]

I find it amusing that people call it a minor distraction because. honestly, that is also what NiM OPs, and a lesser extent HM OPs are as well.

 

The player base that can, and actually has, completed the operations in both of the harder difficulties is extremely small when compared to the over all population of the servers.

 

In fact, if you take a look at the participation in ranked PvP you will see those numbers are far greater than the numbers of players that have successfully completed NiM operations.

 

Now, I'm not saying that PvP should be the absolute focus but it does need some undivided attention for a few patches. At the very least, throw in a couple new WZs. It's been 2 years since Queshball was added.

 

Also, after reading this thread I see a lot of people bashing PvP and PvPers. However, it is the PvPers that are constantly asking BW for tutorials IN GAME so that new players can understand bolster, the maps, and requesting that BW generally make less of a shock when someone new starts playing.

 

If BW would listen, a lot of people that are trying to get Lt. Pierce or 4X would find their matches a lot more enjoyable because a lot of the mechanics would be spelled out beforehand.

[Mourkoth]

I find it amusing that people call it a minor distraction because. honestly, that is also what NiM OPs, and a lesser extent HM OPs are as well.

 

The player base that can, and actually has, completed the operations in both of the harder difficulties is extremely small when compared to the over all population of the servers.

 

In fact, if you take a look at the participation in ranked PvP you will see those numbers are far greater than the numbers of players that have successfully completed NiM operations.

 

Now, I'm not saying that PvP should be the absolute focus but it does need some undivided attention for a few patches. At the very least, throw in a couple new WZs. It's been 2 years since Queshball was added.

 

Also, after reading this thread I see a lot of people bashing PvP and PvPers. However, it is the PvPers that are constantly asking BW for tutorials IN GAME so that new players can understand bolster, the maps, and requesting that BW generally make less of a shock when someone new starts playing.

 

If BW would listen, a lot of people that are trying to get Lt. Pierce or 4X would find their matches a lot more enjoyable because a lot of the mechanics would be spelled out beforehand.

 

 

Yup, and POT5 is the most populated server out of them all, because PvP is so much more popular than PvE content.

[ALaggyGrunt]

Dark Reaver gear bolsters well enough to do HM FP.

 

As for PvP itself, matches are usually really one-sided. It's gotten even worse with the new release because the PvE types are going after their companions. Guides are nice, but they don't hold up to actually having played the game and knowing what [insert class here] can and will throw at you. One guy who only knows how to guard and call incoming isn't too bad, but 4-5? Three guesses how that turns out.

[Mourkoth]

Dark Reaver gear bolsters well enough to do HM FP.

 

As for PvP itself, matches are usually really one-sided. It's gotten even worse with the new release because the PvE types are going after their companions. Guides are nice, but they don't hold up to actually having played the game and knowing what [insert class here] can and will throw at you. One guy who only knows how to guard and call incoming isn't too bad, but 4-5? Three guesses how that turns out.

 

Doesn't help that we still have premades destroying casual PVP, because they adamantly refuse to support any potential risk of being faced against equal odds (by rejecting any propositions for group-exclusive queues that factor in for queue syncing).

Edited November 1, 2015 by Mourkoth

[RavageXX]

Priority? No... but it should get SOME attention. As a Dev, why have an entire section of your game if you're just gonna ignore it for the most part and pretend like it doesn't exist? Edited November 1, 2015 by RavageXX

[Mourkoth]

Priority? No... but it should get SOME attention. As a Dev, why have an entire section of your game if you're just gonna ignore it for the most part and pretend like it doesn't exist?

 

Because, true to any group event with a competitive element involved, the people are too frequently divided by their desire to obtain what they want in order to win, or keep what they need in order to win.

 

It creates enough of a divide that no matter what you do, you're still going to be making a large chunk of the community angry.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Mourkoth

[Jaryk]

There's a big difference between being a priority and being the priority.

The OP seems to advocate that Bioware should make PvP the priority, which I disagree with.

PvP should, however, be a priority.

 

While story in the form of single player pve content and to a lesser extent small group content is clearly the game's focus, taking care of the other kinds of content the game offers is still important.

 

Even though they are only the focus for smaller segments of the game's overall playerbase, PvP and Ops should each be a priority for Bioware. They each add variety and longevity to the game by encouraging a healthy diversity in the kinds of players the game attracts and by adding different types of gaming experiences for the standard player looking to try something different every once in a while.

 

The way I see it, Bioware's development priorities should be as follows:

1. Story / Major Bug fixes

2. Flashpoints / New Alliance content / Quality of Life improvements

3. PvP / Ops

4. GSF / Space Missions

5. Other stuff

 

I will add, however, that the longer any one aspect of the game is neglected, the more of a priority it should become. Without attention, PvP (or anything else) can wither and drive away the portion of the game's population that enjoys it, and though that portion may not be a majority of players, losing it still hurts the game as a whole.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Jaryk