Maximum Character Slots Per Server

[Lakemine]

Hey folks!

 

One of the questions that came out of the Dark vs. Light Event announcement was the current maximum character limits per server. There are some players who have all 40 slots filled, and were concerned about participating in the event.

 

I wanted to let you know that we are actively testing right now the possibility of increasing that maximum by 10. That would mean that a subscriber could have a server maximum of 50 characters. We are exploring if this is a safe change to make and I am hopeful that I will have an answer about this today.

 

As soon as I have any other information I will pass it on. I wanted to make sure you all knew that this was in process. There is no guarantees this change will happen, we need to make sure it won't cause any issues!

 

-eric

 

Thanks for keeping us updated. Hopefully this means more updates for more things overtime are in order? Hopefully? Anyway, keeping my expectations tempered till we get a 100% confirmation but thanks for testing and trying. (Or at least pass it along to the people who are testing it.) Keep us in the loop!

[Lakemine]

Yup! They are on sale right now as a matter of fact .

 

-eric

 

True....but....25% is a little weak considering the amount of rage from most people. At least a 50% if not 75-90% discount should have happened. Please give/pass along this idea/hint/request to the Cartel Market team lead, or at least the person in charge to can get this change made. Thank you.

[IanArgent]

That would be step one to salvage the event.

 

Step 2 would be giving 2 of those slots to subscribers for "free"

 

Step 3 would be to allow existing characters to participate in the event to the extent possible. If this is not possible, an explanation is owed as to why.

 

(Please note: I do not need the extra slots for myself - I've got the slots I need for the level of participation I'm planning.)

[xordevoreaux]

Are you seriously going to force your longterm subscribers to BUY their way into this event? You need to grant everyone at least 1 free slot.

 

Apparently.

[Lakemine]

I am looking forward to this event. For a couple of things that I think some people are missing. Lets first take last year for instance. We had back to back years of a casino boring event. This event last year produced nothing knew that I didnt even participate in it. So we could have a casino event again this year or absolute nothing until the new update after all the chapters.

 

Now I understand the frustrations on getting nothing really new in this event other than achievements and rewards. In my opinion they are currently working on new stuff in the upcoming chapters or expansion and don't have the resources to add a new content event. So what do they choose to do. They decide to put a event into content that we already have to keep people around until the release of the new chapters/expansion. This takes them little work to make happen. They release cool rewards and even stuff that usually you have to spend real cash or credits on the gtn to try to make it rewarding.

 

True, but for the Nar Shadda Nightlife event, some people were probably looking forward to it, because they don't have all the achievements for it. (Sadly I have no life and have them all, but just trying to think form another mindset.) And yes, I understand giving something for the players to do with little effort so they can focus on working and creating something new, is fine, and even though I understand and know that, in fact I have know that for years, and raised or lowered my expectations as such, most people will not accept that. "So you work little and give us a half filled doggy bag with treats that are just filled with frosting and still nothing new!?!?" is what most people think.

 

So yes, I understand making something with little effort to get players to do something is efficient so they can work on the next xpac or season 2 or whatever it is called, they need to be truthful and address such, though I doubt they will, as the backlash will be through the roof and into another dimension and I would feel very sorry for them, so them not answering that question I understand why not answering.......still want and would like a answer though.

[Lakemine]

That would be step one to salvage the event.

 

Step 2 would be giving 2 of those slots to subscribers for "free"

 

Step 3 would be to allow existing characters to participate in the event to the extent possible. If this is not possible, an explanation is owed as to why.

 

(Please note: I do not need the extra slots for myself - I've got the slots I need for the level of participation I'm planning.)

 

1. Yep

 

2. Yep (As we are already paying, why not give the minimum needed for the "event"? Not all 10 free, just 2. )

 

3. Doubtful. As its most likely a coding issue with using old flags and transferring them to new content. (Remember the romance companion bugs and Legendary status being bugged?) This is only guesswork by me, but yes I would like a 100% clarification as to why are current characters atm can't participate in this "event".

[IanArgent]

1. Yep

 

2. Yep (As we are already paying, why not give the minimum needed for the "event"? Not all 10 free, just 2. )

 

3. Doubtful. As its most likely a coding issue with using old flags and transferring them to new content. (Remember the romance companion bugs and Legendary status being bugged?) This is only guesswork by me, but yes I would like a 100% clarification as to why are current characters atm can't participate in this "event".

 

You don't have to tell me why I don't think they'll allow already-created characters to participate; I have been banging the drum of "flags database badly corrupt" since shortly after 4.0. If they address my point 3, I'd expect an explanation, not an opening of content to old characters.

 

C'mon, BW, tell us what's going on (a couple of sentences) with the flags database. Since you're in an explaining mood. We don't need an RCA, just an acknowledgement that there is an issue.

[Lakemine]

You don't have to tell me why I don't think they'll allow already-created characters to participate; I have been banging the drum of "flags database badly corrupt" since shortly after 4.0. If they address my point 3, I'd expect an explanation, not an opening of content to old characters.

 

C'mon, BW, tell us what's going on (a couple of sentences) with the flags database. Since you're in an explaining mood. We don't need an RCA, just an acknowledgement that there is an issue.

 

*nod* Yep.

[Resputin]

Apparently.

They are not forcing you to do anything. Its your choice to not delete one of your chars or buy a char slot. By deleting a character( say gunslinger) making a new gunslinger and leveling it up to lvl 65 what do you really lose? You lose valor, titles, and name? I have been in game since launch and I know lots of people who have 16 chars lvl to 65 and everyone I know plays 4-6 majority of the time and the others are just collect dust and they might log them in a couple times for crafting/missons. I am sure everyone has two chars that are maxed they could delete. If you dont I would love to know how you spend your time on each of your chars that makes you feel you cant delete one of them.

[UTlNNl]

This is an excellent first step. Now make at least two of them unlock automatically for subscribers. Edited June 28, 2016 by UTlNNl

[DarthSpuds]

25% is a punch in the gut!

 

YOU created this problem because of NO FORESIGHT! And you want the consumers to pay for YOUR problem?

 

No thanks.

 

^ This.

 

And I'm not even close to maxed out on Character Slots yet.

 

But I know a gouge when I see one.

 

All The Best

[JediBoadicea]

Eric,

 

Raising the character limit is a good move.. since for some players they are at the 40 cap on a server already.

 

That said... as most of us already know... you can run this entire event with two character slots. So IMO, you should grant two of those 10 slots for free to all subscribers. It costs you nothing and would disarm much of the complaint about the event as it takes away one of the more tangible reasons to be unhappy about the event.

 

Now.. the real problem is... this should have all been thought through and ready ahead of the event.. because now you are going to get complaints from people who felt forced to delete characters or move to another server to do the event.

 

You really need a core team inside the studio that risk assesses (from the player perspective) choices you make like this event. Personally, I think the event is a good thing to offer through the summer months, but some of the actual justifiable barriers from a players perspective were either not anticipated, or disregarded. Either way.. you need a "what could go wrong from the players perspective" assessment before hand, not after the fact. It would have saved us all from much of the needless angst, rage, and player-on-player conflict in the forums for the last 4 days.

 

The player base, broadly speaking, is extremely pessimistic about the state of the game, and while some of it is unjustified, some of it frankly IS justified. Worse.. it feeds the "game is in maintenance mode" meme and the "CM is all they ever do" meme. Both inaccurate memes, but easily played when simple things like risk assessment of impact to players in terms of character slots are not considered ahead of time.

 

TL;DR Please appeal to the producers to stop being reactive and be more proactive. I know you cannot meet every players needs, but things like character slots IS a need you can meet at little or no cost to the studio. The good will it fosters would disarm many of the games critics.

 

This, a million times. Thank you, Andryah, for putting this forward so reasonably. I've often thought this myself. It's been discussed in guild chat a hundred times, too. "Why don't they have a core group of players to consult before they make changes?" It's totally understandable that, in the reality of things, most of the devs probably don't actually play the game much, if at all. (I mean, they're busy making it, and who generally likes to use their off-work time to immerse themselves in more work-related activities?) And it's generally true in any case that fans (in this case players) always spend more time with the material than the creators do.

 

I really do believe the devs have all the best intentions at heart. (How often they may be forced to do dumb things by corporate mandate is another thing altogether.) But too often the decisions being made don't sync up at all with the reality of the experience on the ground for the players. I sincerely and strongly feel it would behoove them to have either a core player consultancy group or the player risk assessment personnel Andryah suggested. Yes, I know that supposedly there are people on the beta server out there, but I think it's safe to say what is being collected from those folks is data on things related to mechanics, not questions like "What about this could seem unfair/annoying/tedious? and "What matters most to you about this?" and "What would you most like to see out of this?" and "Does this hook arrangement absolutely suck in the opinion of someone who actually decorates SHs?" and "Does anyone in their right mind actually want more of this ridiculous HK-55 themed crap?" Which are the key questions that absolutely need to be asked.

 

I love this game. Unlike a lot of folks who post on the forums, I'm generally 75% positive about everything that comes out. But if I - as a loyal player and consistent CM spender with a positive outlook - am baffled and annoyed (sometimes extremely annoyed) by changes 25% of the time, I'm sure that percentage is a lot higher for a lot of other players, given the knee-jerk outrage & venom behaviors that are too typical of "gamers" in general.

 

I don't know what he realities might be around legal BS for having players to consult, but Eric, if you're still reading this thread (and I don't know you have the constitution to read forum insanity regularly, but I hope at least someone does - particularly in the Suggestions thread, dangit!), I hope this is an idea that might resonate with you and that might gain some traction.

[imischa]

I accept the red pill!

 

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill -- the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill -- you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

 

Morpheus aka Eric Kappa

[JERIMAYUS]

The discount on server slot unlocks should have been 90% off not a lousy 25% off. Anything under 50% is an unacceptable insult to your player base. Many of us have to buy these just to participate in your so called event.

 

Before any of the defenders of this whole mess tell me "it's optional just don't do it" let me remind you that the results of this little experiment the devs are doing will have a direct impact on the future direction of the game. If I or anyone else wants any input on the future direction of the game we must participate in this so called event.

[Valethar]

Yup! They are on sale right now as a matter of fact .

 

Oh, is that what they call it? A 'sale'?

 

I'm going to be polite and not laugh at that.

[Exly]

Although I'm not maxed out, it's nice to hear that some of our concerns are being taken seriously. Thanks Eric.

 

~ Eudoxia

 

Responding to our concerns is the least that they can do considering that they failed to properly prepare for eventualities such as this long before announcing the "event" requirements. Unfortunately, for me, I like to prepare in advance, and already deleted characters in order to be able work towards earning my rewards.

 

They should not have waited so long to look into this, and their decision not to has already had a negative impact on me that I will not forget or forgive them for.

[tonitirola]

you guys totally loosing it?????

first make this silly event and force us buy char slots and then reduce payment from heroics.

and thx a lot for reduce char slots in market for 25%

very mercifully lol

 

just makes me feeling good i stopped my sub and dont give you my money anymore until you start realize what you doing.

[idnewton]

Not by much Was really hoping for 50% or more off

They don't care about actually discounting the price, they just want to be able to say it's discounted and not be lying, so people will grudgingly accept it. Don't hold your breath -- this event is for their benefit, not yours. Edited June 28, 2016 by idnewton

[AscendingSky]

This is obviously nothing more than a cash grab that may backfire completely and kill the cash cow.

Horribly conceived, terribly implemented, and at best telling those who have supported the game for so long now that we dont matter even though we are the ones that kept it alive.

Worst example of subscriber appreciation in gaming history

 

Yep, all this, 100% on the money. Revenues for EAWare must be down if they're resorting to even more blatant methods of cash grabs than usual. I don't think the whales are going to save you this time, EAWare.

[EricMusco]

Hey folks,

 

The team spent today looking at what our options are for increasing the server maximum by 10. As of their current investigation, there are some hurdles we need to get over before we can implement this. I will continue to pass on updates as I have them over the next few days!

 

-eric

[Master_Gabe]

So, I'm still going to have to do my event characters on Shadowlands. Thanks, EA.

[Geseb_Var]

Hey folks,

 

The team spent today looking at what our options are for increasing the server maximum by 10. As of their current investigation, there are some hurdles we need to get over before we can implement this. I will continue to pass on updates as I have them over the next few days!

 

-eric

 

Isn't it just a global variable you can increase?

 

Thanks for keeping us updated.

[Valethar]

Isn't it just a global variable you can increase?

 

Yes. The global variable in this case is how many extra character slots they can sell while stringing everyone along on the cap increase.

[Sadriel_Fett]

This probably wouldn't even be a "rushed issue" if you guys had just made this event playable with existing toons and retroactively completing only the achievements we had already completed in the Legacy system. That's what kills me, most of the achievements are already in the Legacy system. They just added them again, with the extra part of the "event" requirement to it. BW certainly reaps what it sows this past year.

[Nothing_Shines]

Hey folks,

 

The team spent today looking at what our options are for increasing the server maximum by 10. As of their current investigation, there are some hurdles we need to get over before we can implement this. I will continue to pass on updates as I have them over the next few days!

 

-eric

 

Remember back when it was "we can't add more than a handful of new slots for each player or the servers will explode from the strain" and then suddenly the max number jumped from 24 to 40 and they started pushing us to roll more alts, alts, alts?

 

Now there are suddenly "hurdles" to overcome to add more slots again. But don't worry, the cartel unlock is discounted a generous 25%. Meanwhile, the price of hypercrates has jumped 20%.

 

Guys, seriously, don't bother. I'm all good now. My sub is still lapsing whether there are 40 slots or 400. I'll see you at the end of Season 2. Maybe. Depends on ESO, really.

 

I thought STO was going to get my money instead, but the game looks hideous, is overly complicated for no reason I can discern and CTDs every time I hail starfleet (on a brandy new comp, too), so that got binned right quick. Wish there was another sci-fi MMORPG coming that wasn't being made by Bioware. Medieval fantasy is definitely my second choice.