Extortion of returning players

[Jadescythe]

It doesn't cost Starbucks $6 to make you a coffee either. But that is what they charge and if you want their product that is what you pay.

 

I don't necessarily agree to the analogy used here. $6 for your coffee is like your $15 sub. When you go to Starbucks for a $6 coffee and find out that they only have black coffee, Starbucks isn't charging you another $10 for the opportunity to go to a different store to buy the $6 coffee you actually wanted. Some servers only have the population to support certain content, so charging new players or returning players to move to a server that supports all of the content they were hoping to participate in seems counter intuitive.

 

I know BW has run events to help players previously, but players taking a break didn't jump on that e-mail and transfer a bunch of toons thinking their server would be dead if they ever returned in a month or a year. I have no problem with the price SWTOR charges for a transfer in a vacuum, but we have to consider the real possibility that transferring for some isn't a convenience, but a necessity to enjoy the game. And BW's ultimate goal is to have people enjoy the game to encourage them to spend money, not force them to spend money that makes them enjoy the game less.

[ekwalizer]

Geez, I thought that I was paying $15 per month for the cartel coins, and was getting the game for free. Or am I paying for unlimited access to warzones and operations and getting the story for free. Or maybe I am paying of the story and getting everything else for free.

 

The truth is that I am paying for all of these things, and I get nothing for free.

 

As a subscriber from day-1 (or Day 1 minus 7, if you want to look at it that way) the price of admission has not changed. The subscription price is the same now as it always was. The only thing that has changed for a permanent subscriber is that they now give me 600 comms per month.

 

Simply because the game is now free if you choose to accept those penalties doesn't change the fact that if you have always paid the price of this product the only change is that now you get something extra.

 

Again, the price is the same as it ever was. There is no subscription rate sans 500 CC/month.

 

But, let me go ahead and drop some blunt force learning on you. Let's say the 500cc/month isn't "free". You still receive them and they are still a valid means to fix your own problems. You simply choose not to. I'm pretty sure there is a word for people who are unwilling to use their own means to fix their own problems.

[ekwalizer]

I know BW has run events to help players previously, but players taking a break didn't jump on that e-mail and transfer a bunch of toons thinking their server would be dead if they ever returned in a month or a year. I have no problem with the price SWTOR charges for a transfer in a vacuum, but we have to consider the real possibility that transferring for some isn't a convenience, but a necessity to enjoy the game. And BW's ultimate goal is to have people enjoy the game to encourage them to spend money, not force them to spend money that makes them enjoy the game less.

 

Whose responsibility is it to verify they are going to receive what they think they are paying for? It sure would be handy if people could try this game out for free ... oh ...wait.

 

I have no sympathy for boomerang players. They already left once, they will likely leave again.

 

Let's say they really wanted that MMO experience (since we are talking about server density), because clearly the story aspect of KotFE didn't entice them to return. Regardless of the volume on their server raiders who quit after SOR are going to come back and find no new raids. PvPers who quit due to frustration of no pvp love are going to come back and find a whopping two new maps since 2.x. Really think they are going to stick around?

[TUXs]

I'm pretty sure there is a word for people who are unwilling to use their own means to fix their own problems.

And there you go, blaming the customer again. It's NOT their problem to fix - they've already proven they aren't nearly as addicted to the game as you and I are - they've quit before and this will simply encourage them to do it again. All that $10 fee PER TOON does, is make most of them to say "lol, hell no", and uninstall again.

 

Their problem is easily solved - they walk away. Why on earth should they pay Bioware $10 extra, PER toon, to enjoy the game? WHY? Because they weren't here for 90cc transfers? Because they had the gall to quit before? These aren't people like us, these are people who are returning to see if they might enjoy the game again, players giving the game a second chance...and I guarantee you that most walk away when they see their server dead and Bioware is charging $10 per toon to move.

 

If I went back to lotro and they demanded I pay $10 to move my toon to an 'active' server, I'd laugh, uninstall, and go find a new game to play. I actually enjoyed lotro...but then this game was released and I've never looked back...and I'll never pay Turbine to move a toon.

 

The only people being hurt by the current fee are US, who are here playing the damn game...US who enjoy the game...because these are returning customers giving the game a second chance that are being driven off. Bioware should make it EASY for these customers to stay. They should make it easy for them to find a place they enjoy playing...because after losing 2 million+ customers, there aren't a whole lotta people left who haven't tried this game.

[Andryah]

5 is still quite a lot if you're paying 1k CC for each. I wasn't trying to say that everyone who comes back to the game will be in the worst possible situation. The one dude was saying easy peasy, transfer only one character. That's one end of an extreme. The other end of the extreme would be 40 or more characters needing a transfer.

 

I would imagine the average player probably has less than 10 characters. But even having ONE to transfer, for a returning player, is not necessarily easy, free, or cheap.

 

Back before there was ever a 90cc transfer promotion..... it cost 1800cc to transfer a character. Many players, including some in this discussion had server population issues more than a year ago and wanted to move.

 

What they most often did was load up one character with inventory and credits and then move that character to a new server. That gave them a legacy transfer, stronghold transfer, and all the inventory and credits they chose to carry with them. They did this because they realized that it made more sense to just move a senior character and then build new characters on that server after the transfer. It was the most expedient, efficient and cost effective way to move to a new server.

 

Today, absent a sale, players can follow the same formula successfully for improving their desired play style ... at 60% of the cost to transfer a character than many of us paid in prior years. And with the rich XP yields in this game now days, it's even easier for them to do this, more quickly, more easily, and with less expenditure of any resources (including the players time).

[Jadescythe]

Whose responsibility is it to verify they are going to receive what they think they are paying for? It sure would be handy if people could try this game out for free ... oh ...wait.

 

I have no sympathy for boomerang players. They already left once, they will likely leave again.

 

Let's say they really wanted that MMO experience (since we are talking about server density), because clearly the story aspect of KotFE didn't entice them to return. Regardless of the volume on their server raiders who quit after SOR are going to come back and find no new raids. PvPers who quit due to frustration of no pvp love are going to come back and find a whopping two new maps since 2.x. Really think they are going to stick around?

 

Sure, you can check in for free, realize you don't want to transfer your characters or reroll and just never sub again. F2P or not, it doesn't matter.

 

And yes, some players will frequently leave and come back. If you think SWTOR is staying afloat on the backs of loyal subscribers of 5 years, you're crazy. Every game loses players during content lulls and they come back with new content releases. But the game will see problems when the barrier to returning is too high and those players stop coming back.

 

There aren't enough potential new players for SWTOR to ignore potential returning players, which is why they have run so many promotions to get them in the door again. That will be wasted effort if returning players realize they will have to start over on a new server when they return.

[LordSkyKnight]

False. They are complimentary. They are included in the price of the subscription. The price of the subscription is the same as it was prior to the complimentary CC.

 

If there existed a subscription option at a lower rate to not include the complimentary CC you would have a valid point. But because that does not exist your premise is false.

 

You are incorrect. No matter what special words they use to call the coins you are receiving, you are paying for the package deal. They aren't free.

Edited October 6, 2016 by LordSkyKnight

[Andryah]

False. They are complimentary. They are included in the price of the subscription. The price of the subscription is the same as it was prior to the complimentary CC.

 

If there existed a subscription option at a lower rate to not include the complimentary CC you would have a valid point. But because that does not exist your premise is false.

 

/Agree.

 

It's always hilarious to see people try to redefine a term to fit their narrative.

 

So... with that... this is what the word "complimentary" means in the modern English language:

com·pli·men·ta·ry

/ˌkämpləˈmen(t)ərē,ˌkämpləˈmentrē/

 

adjective

 

adjective: complimentary

 

1. expressing a compliment; praising or approving.

"Jennie was very complimentary about Kathy's riding"

 

2. given or supplied free of charge.

"a complimentary bottle of wine"

 

synonyms: free, free of charge, gratis, for nothing;

 

And now.. we of course someone will retort and disagree with the dictionary definition, and common understanding of the word "complimentary" in modern language, be persistently redefined by a half of dozen forum members as "paid for".

Edited October 6, 2016 by Andryah

[Andryah]

You are incorrect. No matter what special words they use to call the coins you are receiving, you are paying for the package deal. They aren't free.

 

In commercial terms and conditions of agreements/understandings between parties....... Complimentary actually has a legal definition for the purposes of what it means between parties.

 

You have an agreement between yourself and the company in order to play this game. That company has used the legal and binding definition of "Complimentary".

 

You can be upset about having to pay CC to transfer, but you do not get to just redefine a term to fit your narrative against the studio.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Andryah

[Jadescythe]

/Agree.

 

It's always hilarious to see people try to redefine a term to fit their narrative.

 

So... with that... this is what the word "complimentary" means in the modern English language:

 

 

And now.. we of course someone will retort and the dictionary definition, and common understanding of the word "complimentary" in modern language, be persistently redefined by a half of dozen forum members as "paid for".

 

Whether something is compimentary or not is more a matter of perception when you are giving them something in order to obtain it. Complimentary would be samples at a liquor store. Even if you don't end up buying anything from the store, you still receive the samples for free. Cartel Coins, while called complimentary by BW, are only received if you purchase a subscription. Thus they are a part of what you are paying for and not "complimentary" as it is described in your definition.

 

I don't disagree with your definition, but disagree that the word applies to CC from a sub just because BW says so. The fact that you only receive them in exchange for money goes against the very definition of the word.

[LordSkyKnight]

They aren't for free. It's a standard tactic used by merchants world round to make the easily tricked people into believing they are receiving something for free. You pay for the package deal, they aren't for free. Believe whatever you desire, it changes nothing.

[LordSkyKnight]

Whether something is compimentary or not is more a matter of perception when you are giving them something in order to obtain it. Complimentary would be samples at a liquor store. Even if you don't end up buying anything from the store, you still receive the samples for free. Cartel Coins, while called complimentary by BW, are only received if you purchase a subscription. Thus they are a part of what you are paying for and not "complimentary" as it is described in your definition.

 

I don't disagree with your definition, but disagree that the word applies to CC from a sub just because BW says so. The fact that you only receive them in exchange for money goes against the very definition of the word.

 

This man understands it perfectly. I agree with you.

[PlasmaJohn]

I'm pretty sure there is a word for people who are unwilling to use their own means to fix their own problems.

Exactly whose problem is it? A customer that has a poor experience relative to other customers and is told the only way to correct it is to pay an additional fee is highly unlikely to remain a customer.

 

Wasn't Austin very publicly given marching orders by the CTO no less to increase subs? Do you think EA is going to keep a barrier to that in place regardless who is at fault?

 

I find the rebranding of Subscription as "Premium" an interesting change that might signal something in that direction. Or it could just be a reshuffling of the deck chairs. The former would surprise me more than the later.

[ekwalizer]

And there you go, blaming the customer again. It's NOT their problem to fix - they've already proven they aren't nearly as addicted to the game as you and I are - they've quit before and this will simply encourage them to do it again. All that $10 fee PER TOON does, is make most of them to say "lol, hell no", and uninstall again.

 

Their problem is easily solved - they walk away. Why on earth should they pay Bioware $10 extra, PER toon, to enjoy the game? WHY? Because they weren't here for 90cc transfers? Because they had the gall to quit before? These aren't people like us, these are people who are returning to see if they might enjoy the game again, players giving the game a second chance...and I guarantee you that most walk away when they see their server dead and Bioware is charging $10 per toon to move.

 

If I went back to lotro and they demanded I pay $10 to move my toon to an 'active' server, I'd laugh, uninstall, and go find a new game to play. I actually enjoyed lotro...but then this game was released and I've never looked back...and I'll never pay Turbine to move a toon.

 

The only people being hurt by the current fee are US, who are here playing the damn game...US who enjoy the game...because these are returning customers giving the game a second chance that are being driven off. Bioware should make it EASY for these customers to stay. They should make it easy for them to find a place they enjoy playing...because after losing 2 million+ customers, there aren't a whole lotta people left who haven't tried this game.

 

I get what you are saying, genuinely your point is well taken. What I vehemently disagree with is the notion that there are significant numbers of people returning. That just isn't the case.

 

Would I support another round of 90 CC, of course. Have I paid full freight? Yes I have.

 

To me it is binary. The game is either worth it or it isn't. I stopped playing for months. I didn't stop paying but I stopped playing.

 

Ultimately, I don't care where the price is set. I'm just tired of people whining about it and using words like extortion.

 

And yes, I do blame them. Heaven forbid people are held accountable for their own decisions and actions.

 

But the real truth of the matter is that they left for a reason in the first place. Have any of the reasons people tend to exodus a game been shored up? Certainly not, if anything those reasons are more glaring today than they were immediately following SOR.

 

I can repost for the umpteenth time data from TORStatus leading up to the Q3 report which clearly shows server density was at best flat from the time 12XP began until even after the release of KotFE and TFA. The truth is the level of density was lower in January 2016 than it was in January 2015 by a lot.

Edited October 6, 2016 by ekwalizer

[Andryah]

i get what you are saying, genuinely your point is well taken. What i vehemently disagree with is the notion that there are significant numbers of people returning. That just isn't the case.

 

Would i support another round of 90 cc, of course. Have i paid full freight? Yes i have.

 

To me it is binary. The game is either worth it or it isn't. I stopped playing for months. I didn't stop paying but i stopped playing.

 

Ultimately, i don't care where the price is set. I'm just tired of people whining about it and using words like extortion.

 

And yes, i do blame them. Heaven forbid people are held accountable for their own decisions and actions.

 

^^ +1000

[TUXs]

I get what you are saying, genuinely your point is well taken. What I vehemently disagree with is the notion that there are significant numbers of people returning. That just isn't the case.

 

Would I support another round of 90 CC, of course. Have I paid full freight? Yes I have.

Fair enough...you're probably right...it's likely a very VERY small number of returning players...and maybe that's why Bioware has the price where it is. I'd like to assume there's SOME reasoning behind them not addressing dead servers in any way...maybe this is it.

 

I also get that you dislike the word "extortion" - it's not a word I would have used myself...but it did get the thread some attention, so you gotta give the OP points for that

[Jadescythe]

I get what you are saying, genuinely your point is well taken. What I vehemently disagree with is the notion that there are significant numbers of people returning. That just isn't the case.

 

Would I support another round of 90 CC, of course. Have I paid full freight? Yes I have.

 

To me it is binary. The game is either worth it or it isn't. I stopped playing for months. I didn't stop paying but I stopped playing.

 

Ultimately, I don't care where the price is set. I'm just tired of people whining about it and using words like extortion.

 

And yes, I do blame them. Heaven forbid people are held accountable for their own decisions and actions.

 

But the real truth of the matter is that they left for a reason in the first place. Have any of the reasons people tend to exodus a game been shored up? Certainly not, if anything those reasons are more glaring today than they were immediately following SOR.

 

I can repost for the umpteenth time data from TORStatus leading up to the Q3 report which clearly shows server density was at best flat from the time 12XP began until even after the release of KotFE and TFA. The truth is the level of density was lower in January 2016 than it was in January 2015 by a lot.

 

A lot in this post. You seem to have a black and white view of the subject, but consider that there is more that makes a game worth it or not than cost or features. Also consider that some players didn't leave specifically because of a lack of new Ops or PvP content. Some people had RL reasons to take a break while some just needed to step away so they would enjoy the game more when they came back. Whatever their reason for leaving, BW should want them to come back, even if its only for a few months here and there.

 

One thing BW has done very well is removing the barrier to entry around catching up. Leveling is extremely quick, so players will spend more time on story or playing the game the way they want rather than having to do X activity just to reach max level. But they've failed to provide means for players to play together in what is intended to be a very multiplayer friendly game. It isn't just about random PUG groups, although getting a group for DvL FPs on low pop servers is obviously significantly harder than Harbinger for example. It's also harder to find a guild that fits you if the server has less people and one major factor that keeps players in a game are the people they play with. There are fewer buyers/sellers on the GTN. Population impacts many in game activities.

 

While I agree that many players rely on flashy language and I don't feel they are being "extorted" at all, I hardly find any player to blame for the current server state. It's no secret that much of the population was driven away due to a lack of group content over the last 5 years, but no one complaining or whining as you say chose to play on a low pop server. They chose a server long ago and it died down over time or they were new and chose a server based on the type because BW does absolutely nothing to provide any indication of population in game.

 

Sure, there are some idiots who didn't take BW's 90 cc transfer option and are paying for it now, but you can't say anyone with a legitimate complaint is screwed because someone may take advantage now.

[ekwalizer]

One thing BW has done very well is removing the barrier to entry around catching up. Leveling is extremely quick, so players will spend more time on story or playing the game the way they want rather than having to do X activity just to reach max level. But they've failed to provide means for players to play together in what is intended to be a very multiplayer friendly game. It isn't just about random PUG groups, although getting a group for DvL FPs on low pop servers is obviously significantly harder than Harbinger for example. It's also harder to find a guild that fits you if the server has less people and one major factor that keeps players in a game are the people they play with. There are fewer buyers/sellers on the GTN. Population impacts many in game activities.

 

While I agree that many players rely on flashy language and I don't feel they are being "extorted" at all, I hardly find any player to blame for the current server state. It's no secret that much of the population was driven away due to a lack of group content over the last 5 years, but no one complaining or whining as you say chose to play on a low pop server. They chose a server long ago and it died down over time or they were new and chose a server based on the type because BW does absolutely nothing to provide any indication of population in game.

 

Sure, there are some idiots who didn't take BW's 90 cc transfer option and are paying for it now, but you can't say anyone with a legitimate complaint is screwed because someone may take advantage now.

 

I do not blame any players for the states of their servers. But the number of people returning is marginal at best. Which means the bulk of those complaining are the ones that refused to take advantage of the deal. Again, if Bioware decided tomorrow to drop the price perpetually to 90CC to transfer off dead servers, I would be elated.

 

What irritates me is the same people pushing this narrative are the ones who for 10 months refused to fix their own problem when it would have cost them nothing. None of these dead servers became that way overnight. The problems were likely compounded when transfers went back on sale a while back ... but the known trend for many months was people were moving to Harb, JC and SL ... I can't speak to the European servers.

 

The reasons people leave are their own, not mine. Thus I don't care why they left. I simply expect them to take ownership of their own gaming experience. [/u ]That said, I do not view them (typical boomerangs) as a valued commodity. I fully understand that this is only my opinion, but as a high end raider if someone isn't committed to being here, I have no use for them. Again, just me.

 

Some games are not for everyone. In fact, no game is for everyone.

 

Whether we like the way Bioware addressed server density or not, they did in fact provide a method for effectively free character transfers. That is undeniable. People not being subscribed at the time does not negate that fact. People not being happy with the ramifications of moving from A to B also does not change that.

 

I personally agree with the way they did it. I think they could have done more ... such as shutter the so called dead servers once the 10 month event ran its course and force transfer those poor souls remaining to bigger servers.

 

But I also believe they should have accepted Guildmaster tickets as they did in the server mergers of 2012. So, in that regard they didn't do enough.

 

You bring up an issue that usually gets glossed over. It is stupid easy and fast to level up. So, what is stopping them from rolling on a populated server while they accumulate enough complimentary CC to port over their "main main" with all their credits and swag. Along with it comes the entire legacy perk system, achievements and collections. Problem solved, problem staying solved all for the cost of that 31st day of payment. Why is this an unacceptable answer?

 

They don't have to move them all and they certainly don't need to spend $8.13 to move one. They can wait 31 days from the day they resub. In the interim they can be enjoying the game and relearning the game with a fresh start. But this is never acceptable.

 

Or they can realize that they are in full control of their happiness, spend another $20 and move two characters immediately. But what happens when these same people who can't be bothered to do any research move those two toons from Pot5 to another dead server? Is that also the studio's fault? (I actually kind of think it is for leaving dead servers open)

 

The simple fact of the matter is the customer is not always right, and no, I have never worked in any form of customer service. In the age of information, ignorance is a choice. Google was at their disposal. F2P was at their disposal. They dove in head first without checking the depth.

[Transcendent]

We could debate the definition of "easy, free, or cheap" as they vary person to person. However, the price of transferring one character at full price would fall onto the cheap end of the scale when compared to other MMOs. In fact, you can transfer two toons at full price and still pay less than the standard for transferring a single toon in most other games.

 

This is the one single point that still, to this very day, baffles me as a player. Absolutely I understand that each character has legacy / guild / strongholds and all of that attached to it, however in most multiplayer games you simply login, perhaps choose a character to play, and then login to a server directly.

 

Why is this different for an MMO? Surely at account level (which we see with account unlocks you can purchase) BioWare can store that additional information, or at the very least seperate out the information of legacy / strongholds to account level. That way, you could play in multiple guilds on the exact same character on different servers, with the guild information (and last known location of character) being stored at server level per character (much as it is now).

 

That would essentially strip out any requirements for even needing server transfers. The only reason I can see for requiring that transfer fee in the first place is to ensure server capacity on the destination server itself is adequate, and the way around this would simply to bring back a queue system if the server itself is at capacity. Can't login to a specfic server? No problem, login to another one while retaining all of the relevant information at account level.

 

It really does seem to me, that in this day and age, with all of the technology available, even having something antiquated like server transfers and fees is not required. Unless it's purely down to additonal monetary gain for providing a subpar technological solution?

 

Still can't quite figure it out. It definitely isn't an engine limitation.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Transcendent

[Rolodome]

And there you go, blaming the customer again. It's NOT their problem to fix - they've already proven they aren't nearly as addicted to the game as you and I are - they've quit before and this will simply encourage them to do it again. All that $10 fee PER TOON does, is make most of them to say "lol, hell no", and uninstall again.

 

Their problem is easily solved - they walk away. Why on earth should they pay Bioware $10 extra, PER toon, to enjoy the game? WHY? Because they weren't here for 90cc transfers? Because they had the gall to quit before? These aren't people like us, these are people who are returning to see if they might enjoy the game again, players giving the game a second chance...and I guarantee you that most walk away when they see their server dead and Bioware is charging $10 per toon to move.

 

If I went back to lotro and they demanded I pay $10 to move my toon to an 'active' server, I'd laugh, uninstall, and go find a new game to play. I actually enjoyed lotro...but then this game was released and I've never looked back...and I'll never pay Turbine to move a toon.

 

The only people being hurt by the current fee are US, who are here playing the damn game...US who enjoy the game...because these are returning customers giving the game a second chance that are being driven off. Bioware should make it EASY for these customers to stay. They should make it easy for them to find a place they enjoy playing...because after losing 2 million+ customers, there aren't a whole lotta people left who haven't tried this game.

Well put. This is what it really comes down to. Will the player decide to stick around or will they be put off by the added cost to get a normal experience?

 

A lot in this post. You seem to have a black and white view of the subject, but consider that there is more that makes a game worth it or not than cost or features. Also consider that some players didn't leave specifically because of a lack of new Ops or PvP content. Some people had RL reasons to take a break while some just needed to step away so they would enjoy the game more when they came back. Whatever their reason for leaving, BW should want them to come back, even if its only for a few months here and there.

 

One thing BW has done very well is removing the barrier to entry around catching up. Leveling is extremely quick, so players will spend more time on story or playing the game the way they want rather than having to do X activity just to reach max level. But they've failed to provide means for players to play together in what is intended to be a very multiplayer friendly game. It isn't just about random PUG groups, although getting a group for DvL FPs on low pop servers is obviously significantly harder than Harbinger for example. It's also harder to find a guild that fits you if the server has less people and one major factor that keeps players in a game are the people they play with. There are fewer buyers/sellers on the GTN. Population impacts many in game activities.

And this. Took the words right out of my mouth. People leave for a variety of reasons and they come back for a variety of reasons. Unintended barriers to entry are never a good thing.

 

I've always assumed that the reason the cost is so high is because BW doesn't want people completely abandoning light servers and forcing them to shut them down because they are now literal ghost towns. I'm sure BW thinks it matters that people might be put off by the cost, but they are currently weighing that against the potentially disastrous pop layout of servers if they make it too easy (that is my guess/assumption).

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again (not that reiterating it matters): I think they need to do some kind of megaserver or cross-server setup, such that what server you're on is a lot less relevant. Then people can play with each other and BW doesn't have to worry about opening up a can of transfer worms.

[Rolodome]

This is the one single point that still, to this very day, baffles me as a player. Absolutely I understand that each character has legacy / guild / strongholds and all of that attached to it, however in most multiplayer games you simply login, perhaps choose a character to play, and then login to a server directly.

 

Why is this different for an MMO? Surely at account level (which we see with account unlocks you can purchase) BioWare can store that additional information, or at the very least seperate out the information of legacy / strongholds to account level. That way, you could play in multiple guilds on the exact same character on different servers, with the guild information (and last known location of character) being stored at server level per character (much as it is now).

 

That would essentially strip out any requirements for even needing server transfers. The only reason I can see for requiring that transfer fee in the first place is to ensure server capacity on the destination server itself is adequate, and the way around this would simply to bring back a queue system if the server itself is at capacity. Can't login to a specfic server? No problem, login to another one while retaining all of the relevant information at account level.

 

It really does seem to me, that in this day and age, with all of the technology available, even having something antiquated like server transfers and fees is not required. Unless it's purely down to additonal monetary gain for providing a subpar technological solution?

 

Still can't quite figure it out. It definitely isn't an engine limitation.

I don't know if it was money-grubbing in the beginning, but it seems that some of it became that way at some point, if it wasn't at the start. I remember I was reading the breakdown for server transfers more closely recently and it was saying how... when you're transferring an existing legacy to a new server (one that either doesn't have a different legacy or the level of it is lower), any strongholds you purchased with credits (e.g. Dromund Kaas, Coruscant, etc.) will NOT be transferred over to the new legacy. But if you purchased them with CC, they will.

 

I was like.... wooooooooow.

 

Now maybe it's a legitimate technical constraint. Maybe. Maybe there's something in the engineering of the game making it such that cartel purchases are set up to handle account wide unlocking and the systems are not in place to handle it for credit purchases. But you'd think if that was the case, they could just copy/paste the cartel system and put it in place for credits as well.

 

Another one that makes me go every time I see it, is how in the CM, the cost for every species is 600 CC. Yet the new species are account wide unlocks and the old species are legacy unlocks. I've never purchased one of the old species from the store, so I don't know... maybe it says legacy and does account? I unlocked all of the old ones through the legacy thing... getting each to level 50. But the point is, you'd think if the price is going to be the same like that, then buying it from the CM should be an account unlock (and then if you do it through the level 50 method, then it's only legacy unlock). That would make actual sense and not look like desperation.

 

In areas like this it feels as though there was a lot of patchwork development done. New/updated systems mashed atop antiquated ones. And the antiquated ones didn't all get updated to match and BW was like *shrug*, why bother updating them! MORE MONEY.

[Savej]

I get what you are saying, genuinely your point is well taken. What I vehemently disagree with is the notion that there are significant numbers of people returning. That just isn't the case.

 

 

Significant numbers of people do come back to try xpacs and to play in games that have well received movies attached to them.

 

Note that Jan 2015 was right after SoR (Dec 2014 release with big bugs that weren't all fixed until Jan) and by Jan 2016 everyone had been done with KOTFE chapter 9 (on at least one character) for months. But we did have very nice spikes of players playing and subbing (record numbers according to BW) in late 2015.

[ekwalizer]

I've always assumed that the reason the cost is so high is because BW doesn't want people completely abandoning light servers and forcing them to shut them down because they are now literal ghost towns. I'm sure BW thinks it matters that people might be put off by the cost, but they are currently weighing that against the potentially disastrous pop layout of servers if they make it too easy (that is my guess/assumption).

 

The cost isn't even remotely high. It is seriously like $8.13 per move. That means you can actually move three characters under this payment scale for the price of a single move in just about every other MMO.

[ekwalizer]

Significant numbers of people do come back to try xpacs and to play in games that have well received movies attached to them.

 

Note that Jan 2015 was right after SoR (Dec 2014 release with big bugs that weren't all fixed until Jan) and by Jan 2016 everyone had been done with KOTFE chapter 9 (on at least one character) for months. But we did have very nice spikes of players playing and subbing (record numbers according to BW) in late 2015.

 

That is flat out false. It was not record numbers, they said they reached numbers they hadn't seen in the previous three years. They also, pointedly, did not quantify how many of those remained beyond the initial 30-day resub.

 

While TORStatus does not show subscriber numbers, it does show activity. And a picture is worth 1000 words, so here it is yet again: http://imgur.com/yaQsxBd

Edited October 6, 2016 by ekwalizer

[Rolodome]

The cost isn't even remotely high. It is seriously like $8.13 per move. That means you can actually move three characters under this payment scale for the price of a single move in just about every other MMO.

Just about every other MMO lol................ I once played an MMO where transfers were free. Guess you missed that one in your travels.