Swtor at its highest subscriber level in 3 years

[LordArtemis]

So, are folks indicating that Torstatus is saying something CONTRARY to the EA investor call, or are they saying it is showing a decline post december?

 

Because, of course, that is two separate things.

 

I also remember folks using Torstatus to make similar claims during the period the call indicates subs increased substantially, generally speaking of course.

 

What Torstatus does not show is folks that have actually subscribed or unsubscribed. Though it does show play patterns, they may be more representative of altered gameplay behavior instead of actual player losses.

 

That is one way to resolve the discrepancy. One other way is to of course dismiss Torstatus. It will not be the first time it was wrong (the time after the launch for F2P/Market comes to mind). Sometimes, it seems, the data simply gives the wrong impressions.

[DayneDrak]

As far as i remember they changed two servers after KOTFE release, so the impact on torstatus should not be that big. But it does not really matter how BW "tunes" the servers as they rarely do it, if at all. That impact on torstatus will occur on a specific day. If you look at torstatus how the sever loads are changing over time, you will get a clear pattern. And that is a growth in october and december followed by decline shortly after.

 

That just means people aren't playing a whole lot, not that they unsubbed. My wife is one of those folks who plays maybe 10 hours a week, but has maintained a continuous sub for close to 4 years. My kids have a sub too, but their so busy during the school year, they don't get to play much.

 

Rather than the sky is falling, it's also quite possible that folks aren't playing until the next chapter drops. We'll see if there's a pickup over the next few weeks

[GalacticKegger]

Personally, I could not care less about subscriber numbers, or quarterly reports, or earnings calls, or anything that has nothing to do with what I experience when I log in. Server or planet empty? So what? It's a single player story game that now reserves challenging group content for the 5% to 10% of players who actually progress through elder game to embrace end game. Thus the server or planet doesn't need anyone else on it but you for you to play the game as intended. At least not any more. And by many accounts here, people don't want to deal with other people anyway. Edited January 29, 2016 by GalacticKegger

[EzioMessi]

So, are folks indicating that Torstatus is saying something CONTRARY to the EA investor call, or are they saying it is showing a decline post december?

 

Because, of course, that is two separate things.

 

I also remember folks using Torstatus to make similar claims during the period the call indicates subs increased substantially, generally speaking of course.

 

What Torstatus does not show is folks that have actually subscribed or unsubscribed. Though it does show play patterns, they may be more representative of altered gameplay behavior instead of actual player losses.

 

That is one way to resolve the discrepancy. One other way is to of course dismiss Torstatus. It will not be the first time it was wrong (the time after the launch for F2P/Market comes to mind). Sometimes, it seems, the data simply gives the wrong impressions.

 

I would say (for me personally) torstatus indications (and anecdotes from in game) are more important than anything BWEA says about player numbers. Because ultimately, no matter how much money they're making, I want there to be other players on the game for me to have fun. They still are there, so I'm happy, but I find it VERY hard to believe that KOTFE caused a permanent increase to the "highest level in three years" simply because my old server is dead in all but the fact that it hasn't been shut down. There's more gold farming spambots than players on sometimes.

 

It's an issue I can deal with by transfers and making alts, and maybe the issue is caused by server migration instead of game decline. Regardless, to a player that loves group content, their earnings call would appear meaningless if they reside on a dead server.

 

Of course, if the "silent majority" loves playing a single player mmo then what the group content lovers like will eventually not matter, as these guys will be satisfied by good solo content released as a result of revenue investment from this quarter.

Edited January 29, 2016 by EzioMessi

[LordArtemis]

I would say (for me personally) torstatus indications (and anecdotes from in game) are more important than anything BWEA says about player numbers. Because ultimately, no matter how much money they're making, I want there to be other players on the game for me to have fun. They still are there, so I'm happy, but I find it VERY hard to believe that KOTFE caused a permanent increase to the "highest level in three years" simply because my old server is dead in all but the fact that it hasn't been shut down. There's more gold farming spambots than players on sometimes.

 

It's an issue I can deal with by transfers and making alts, and maybe the issue is caused by server migration instead of game decline. Regardless, to a player that loves group content, their earnings call would appear meaningless if they reside on a dead server.

 

Of course, if the "silent majority" loves playing a single player mmo then what the group content lovers like will eventually not matter, as these guys will be satisfied by any solo content released as a result of revenue investment from this quarter.

 

I think you make a fair point, and I think it is important to concede that the feeling that "the game was empty" back in the day when they had far too many servers probably helped the decline at that time....so perception certainly is a concern.

 

One thing I will say for sure. Players that enjoy group content have every reason to be concerned IMO. And rightfully so. Especially if these numbers prove real, and the subs continue to rise but group content continues to lose participating players.

[GalacticKegger]

... Of course, if the "silent majority" loves playing a single player mmo then what the group content lovers like will eventually not matter ....

It's already there. Edited January 29, 2016 by GalacticKegger

[Pagy]

So, are folks indicating that Torstatus is saying something CONTRARY to the EA investor call, or are they saying it is showing a decline post december?

 

Because, of course, that is two separate things.

 

I also remember folks using Torstatus to make similar claims during the period the call indicates subs increased substantially, generally speaking of course.

 

What Torstatus does not show is folks that have actually subscribed or unsubscribed. Though it does show play patterns, they may be more representative of altered gameplay behavior instead of actual player losses.

 

That is one way to resolve the discrepancy. One other way is to of course dismiss Torstatus. It will not be the first time it was wrong (the time after the launch for F2P/Market comes to mind). Sometimes, it seems, the data simply gives the wrong impressions.

very much this

 

quantity of subs and server populations are mutually exclusive and at best can correlate.

 

the investor doc is spun to celebrate sub numbers and good on them. that's what they are supposed to do. internally, they can analyse things a completely different way. they know how many people subbed, when they subbed, how long they subbed and if they stayed subbed after kotfe. they can also correlate that net new number of subs with historical expansion sales and compare apples to apples. because that's what happened here. instead of a sales figure for SoR they have net new subs.

[Cedia]

This is good news!

 

I'm still subbed because I want to support the game, but the romance bugs really soured me on it, so I went back to EQ2 until they can fix them.

 

Maybe EA will give the Austin team some more resources for testing so we don't have these kinds of bugs in the future.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Cedia

[Devlyne]

As far as i remember they changed two servers after KOTFE release, so the impact on torstatus should not be that big. But it does not really matter how BW "tunes" the servers as they rarely do it, if at all. That impact on torstatus will occur on a specific day. If you look at torstatus how the sever loads are changing over time, you will get a clear pattern. And that is a growth in october and december followed by decline shortly after.

 

And that's a very fair point. The only push back I would give you on that is that they only announced that they were changing two servers, we don't know how many they tweaked during 'backend maintenance' times, either up or down. To your point, that should show somewhat in the graph, but only to someone looking for it. To someone not knowing what they're looking at or that BW/EA does make those type of tweaks, it would appear differently. Or rather be interpreted differently.

 

It does make me wonder about some of the lag issues that people were reporting but have suddenly gone quiet. Not that I think this has anything to do with that.

 

And no, I'm not advocating either side. It's nice that they say sub numbers are up. It would be nice if they also said sales were up (though I am given to understand they don't do that). We'll see what April says and we'll go from there. I'll be here until it shuts down, more than likely. I can say that of the other game I subscribe to also; I'll be there until it either shuts down or I can't stand it any more.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Devlyne

[LordArtemis]

Well, in the case of myself and a few of my friends (hardly a conclusive sample) we have all generally returned to the game and subbed, despite leaving after the CSM debacle because of the crafting changes and the KotFE storyline.

 

But the amount that all of us play is likely far less than we used to play, since the amount of prior play is not required to meet the same in game goals.

 

Of course, end game does not play into that formula because none us participate in end game content of any type at this time. A few of us did until some of the folks they played with on a regular basis were banned during the period of bans/suspensions close to the CSM incident.

[TUXs]

No u. And for the record, I would consider that better than x-servers.

LOL! Me too

[Unperson]

Sorry, might be my inability to read a graph or something, but where on TORSTATUS does it give you any figures? All I see is a graph that tells me if the server is Heavy or Light.

 

>OMG Highest sub level EVAR

>Server Pop: LIGHT

 

DOES NOT COMPUTE

 

Where are the players? You tell me, but they sure aren't logged in. A large amount of accounts with a paid subscription does not necessarily entail a large amount of active players. Asserting that it does is a non sequitur. If you're going to keep trying to rustle jimmies on the boards (seems it's all you ever do), at least put some effort into it.

 

Try again.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Unperson

[ekwalizer]

While TorStatus does not give subscriber numbers, or the number of players per server, etc ... what it does show is activity levels. Which does make it a good tool to gauge server density. While, in the past I have gone for periods of a month or two without logging in and remaining subscribed I don't necessarily think that everyone does that, or even a majority of people do that. I doubt many people would stay subbed indefinitely and not be playing the game.

 

Looking at the annual pull from TorStatus, One thing is clear. From May until the sever upgrade in late October activity was way down compared to Jan-May. Another thing it doesn't really take into account on the annual pull is the completely dead PvP servers.

 

This is NA servers Jan15-Jan16.

 

This is NA PvP servers last 60 days.

[CrazyCT]

>OMG Highest sub level EVAR

>Server Pop: LIGHT

 

DOES NOT COMPUTE

 

Where are the players? You tell me, but they sure aren't logged in. A large amount of accounts with a paid subscription does not necessarily entail a large amount of active players. Asserting it does is a non sequitur. If you're going to keep trying to rustle jimmies on the boards (seems it's all you ever do), at least put some effort into it.

 

Try again.

 

Try again for what? I asked where the figures were. All TORSTATUS shows is a history of what Bioware have deemed the server status at that time. Great if I want to know that Bioware said the server was light at 2am on a Tuesday and heavy on a Thursday at 8pm. It doesn't say how many were logged on, how many of them were subbed, how many were preferred, how long they stayed on for, if they bought anything from the CM. There are no figures.

 

Server is light? Then how many players make it light? How long is a piece of string? A piece of string that only Bioware can see and they tell you if it's long or short. You don't know what they define as long, or if their definition has changed at any point. Quoting TORSTATUS is about as useful as quoting your own blog as proof.

[Devlyne]

While TorStatus does not give subscriber numbers, or the number of players per server, etc ... what it does show is activity levels. Which does make it a good tool to gauge server density. While, in the past I have gone for periods of a month or two without logging in and remaining subscribed I don't necessarily think that everyone does that, or even a majority of people do that. I doubt many people would stay subbed indefinitely and not be playing the game.

 

Looking at the annual pull from TorStatus, One thing is clear. From May until the sever upgrade in late October activity was way down compared to Jan-May. Another thing it doesn't really take into account on the annual pull is the completely dead PvP servers.

 

This is NA servers Jan15-Jan16.

 

This is NA PvP servers last 60 days.

 

I'll glance at it when I get home. Unfortunately, this network does not like file sharing sites (Photobucket, imgur, tinypic, etc.).

[Unperson]

Try again for what? I asked where the figures were. All TORSTATUS shows is a history of what Bioware have deemed the server status at that time.

 

Server is light? Then how many players make it light? How long is a piece of string? A piece of string that only Bioware can see and they tell you if it's long or short. You don't know what they define as long, or if their definition has changed at any point. Quoting TORSTATUS is about as useful as quoting your own blog as proof.

 

Nah, you posted one of your usual smarmy retorts in response to a question somebody made asking WHERE all those subscribers were. When shown evidence -an aggregate of server population as measured by, you know, BW themselves- that the silent majority simply aren't "playing the game" as you said, you suggest we shouldn't trust the server status readings provided by Bioware because reasons (we don't know what they mean! they haven't given figures with a 99.99% confidence level! stuff is unknowable!).

 

So on one hand we should trust EA on their earnings call hype, but on the other hand we shouldn't trust their own server pop readings. How's that cognitive dissonance working out for you? Yep, raise the evidence threshold arbitrarily high, so that no evidence can ever be conclusive proof that you put your foot in your mouth.

 

So where is *your* evidence that those subs are actually playing the game?

Edited January 29, 2016 by Unperson

[Holocron]

So there are is major thing that people aren't seeming to realize here. Bioware does not report subscriber numbers anymore.

 

The last report said there was a 33% growth in subscribers likely due to the new movie pending release.

 

This current report says that there is the largest amount of subscribers growth in the past 3 years.

 

That second report is the one that is most telling. Putting the movie, Christmas, and KOTFE launch aside, just because it was largest growth in 3 years, does not mean anything other than it was largest growth in the last 3 years. That could be 100 new people for all we know. Notice they didn't say since the launch of the game, or give a number of subscribers gained. They have only stated in the last 3 years rather than the entirety of the game, which means we are nowhere near the peak of players swtor was getting at launch, because if we did they would hype the crap out of that.

 

Also, ask yourselves why are the devs scrambling to attract subs through exclusive stories/rewards, and why they are reworking the cartel market almost on a weekly basis so they can wring out every last cent from us. I personally suspect in the recent past that EA gave them an ultimatum that they turn their profits around, or they will be fired/shut down.

[Ghisallo]

Two quarters. Subs have been up for two quarters. 30 percent, then highest in three years. Just wanted to clarify.

 

I agree, we have to wait at least one more quarter before we can say if this "grand experiment", if it can be called that can be seen as a success.

 

Yes but

 

1. The first 30% was up because of people wanting to start the expac when it drops...

2. People coming in on movie hype bumps it more.

 

Would we have seen this IF they had not made KotFE sub only? I think I can safely say no.

 

Adding in that they count the 30 days of game time with purchase a " subscription" and it becomes even more...well to be honest, shady, imo.

 

We see nothing about actual revenue growth (which we have seen before for other games EA puts out) and the like. Add in the fact that places like game stop started selling 60 day game cards for under $8.00 , the actual meaning of the number of subs where it matters, medium to long term profits, seems tenuous

Edited January 29, 2016 by Ghisallo

[Pagy]

Try again for what? I asked where the figures were. All TORSTATUS shows is a history of what Bioware have deemed the server status at that time. Great if I want to know that Bioware said the server was light at 2am on a Tuesday and heavy on a Thursday at 8pm. It doesn't say how many were logged on, how many of them were subbed, how many were preferred, how long they stayed on for, if they bought anything from the CM. There are no figures.

 

Server is light? Then how many players make it light? How long is a piece of string? A piece of string that only Bioware can see and they tell you if it's long or short. You don't know what they define as long, or if their definition has changed at any point. Quoting TORSTATUS is about as useful as quoting your own blog as proof.

the bioware apologist can't even agree that bioware would want to set their arbitrary pop levels in to favor higher pops than lower ones.

 

fact remains, pops are low. sorry if this fact scares the fanboys

[CrazyCT]

the bioware apologist can't even agree that bioware would want to set their arbitrary pop levels in to favor higher pops than lower ones.

 

fact remains, pops are low. sorry if this fact scares the fanboys

 

How many times are you going to keep repeating the "pops are low" line? Provide evidence. Evidence kinda like a quarterly report, a legal document, stating that subscriptions are at a 3 year high. TORSTATUS showing 'Low' could be that the servers can handle a lot more, or that it's Low compared to what Bioware would like. Without figures to compare year on year, the graph is pretty useless. All it does is show you some pretty colours.

 

Fact remains, you are going to keep stating opinion as fact without providing any evidence to back it up.

[Pagy]

How many times are you going to keep repeating the "pops are low" line? Provide evidence. Evidence kinda like a quarterly report, a legal document, stating that subscriptions are at a 3 year high. TORSTATUS showing 'Low' could be that the servers can handle a lot more, or that it's Low compared to what Bioware would like. Without figures to compare year on year, the graph is pretty useless. All it does is show you some pretty colours.

 

Fact remains, you are going to keep stating opinion as fact without providing any evidence to back it up.

so basically in your vehement, exhaustive fanboy defense of bioware, you'll only accept evidence that either doesnt exist or doesnt prove you wrong.

 

k got it bro, good strat imho

[CrazyCT]

so basically in your vehement, exhaustive fanboy defense of bioware, you'll only accept evidence that either doesnt exist or doesnt prove you wrong.

 

k got it bro, good strat imho

 

As opposed to ignoring the facts that have been stated and continuing to believe the "game is dying"?

[Pagy]

As opposed to ignoring the facts that have been stated and continuing to believe the "game is dying"?

nonono no need to keep posting.

 

torstatus doesnt matter because it harms your precious bioware.

 

we get it bro

[CrazyCT]

nonono no need to keep posting.

 

torstatus doesnt matter because it harms your precious bioware.

 

we get it bro

 

Still waiting for your evidence. Gonna go play for a bit, I'll check back later to see if you've managed to find ANY evidence to back yourself up.

[Pagy]

shhhhhshhhhhh it's all going to be ok torstatus doesnt exist everything is fine.