Changes to Gearing through Galactic Command

[doelow]

All I would ask Eric is that Bioware not ruin the game for the people who still enjoy it.

 

If you do make some change and you do manage to ruin the game for people who still enjoy it for the sake of forum complainers, well you'd be right back at square one wouldn't you, listening to more complaints on the forums.

 

You have an idealized view of gaming. But the people you are dealing with now are not ideal gamers. You want these people to play your game out of fun. But they are only interested in the rewards, not the experience. You could promise them rewards for smashing their head against a brick wall and they would do it for the rewards. This is the reality of the current generation of MMO players, and the reason your $200 million, fully-voiced, story based MMO has failed.

 

Keep this in mind if you decide to make changes. Because these people wont care what changes you make, as long as it rewards them.

 

I think that the idea of them smashing their heads against a brick wall is false though, because they hate the system of GC. To them, GC -is- that brick wall, and while they might grind the points, they aren't enjoying it. So, the idea that you present about people being willing to do anything for a reward isn't really true.

 

I'd also say that these games have -always- been about the rewards. That's what keeps people playing long term, not story stuff. I'm not knocking the story stuff. It's great. I just don't think it's good for retention. The game's launch proves that if anything. I'm not sure knocking people for wanting rewards is right. It's pretty normal to want rewards, especially in games like this that are all about long term goals.

 

If anything I'd say that people want the rewards -easier-. They don't want to bash against a brick wall and they don't want to grind. They just want to get tokens and buy the gear off a vendor. That's very easy in my eyes and dull, but hey, to each their own.

 

Ideal gamers as you define them don't exist. The "experience" lasts a month. After that it's all about retaining players through mechanics like RNG, grinding, raiding, character progression, RP, PvP systems, etc. There is a reason you have to be subbed to participate in the GC system. The "experience" isn't really what makes long term profits possible. It's the "addiction" factor. Gamers have always been goal driven and games have always been designed with that in mind- especially- MMORPG's. There is a reason sandbox is such a niche genre.

[AscendingSky]

All I would ask Eric is that Bioware not ruin the game for the people who still enjoy it.

 

If you do make some change and you do manage to ruin the game for people who still enjoy it for the sake of forum complainers, well you'd be right back at square one wouldn't you, listening to more complaints on the forums.

 

You have an idealized view of gaming. But the people you are dealing with now are not ideal gamers. You want these people to play your game out of fun. But they are only interested in the rewards, not the experience. You could promise them rewards for smashing their head against a brick wall and they would do it for the rewards. This is the reality of the current generation of MMO players, and the reason your $200 million, fully-voiced, story based MMO has failed.

 

Keep this in mind if you decide to make changes. Because these people wont care what changes you make, as long as it rewards them.

 

That's a lovely strawman you've built there, Mr. Shill.

[AscendingSky]

I'd also say that these games have -always- been about the rewards. That's what keeps people playing long term, not story stuff. I'm not knocking the story stuff. It's great. I just don't think it's good for retention. The game's launch proves that if anything. I'm not sure knocking people for wanting rewards is right. It's pretty normal to want rewards, especially in games like this that are all about long term goals.

 

This. I love BioWare-style storytelling. I've played through all the class stories, some multiple times. I've gone through RotHC and SoR. I've played all the Zakuul chapters. I like the story, I really do!

 

But... think about it in terms of a single-player RPG. Do you keep playing that game every day for years? No. You play through it maybe just once, maybe several times to check out all the endings and story permutations... and then you put it away and try a new RPG with a new story. Every once in a while you'll pull it out and replay it perhaps... but there's only so many times you can read/play the same story before you decide you want to experience a new one.

 

Story is a great hook for an MMORPG. It's a great way to draw in customers. Hell, the promise of the 8 class stories is what made me sign up; I'm not big into MMOs as a rule. But story alone is flat out not going to let you keep those customers over time. Not with the long development cycles between new story content. You have to focus on the aspects of MMOs that do retain customers, the stuff that isn't all one-and-done like a story can be.

Edited December 15, 2016 by AscendingSky

[Betterclass]

I'm not going to waste time debating you. I'll just say thank you both for proving my point.

[AscendingSky]

I'm not going to waste time debating you. I'll just say thank you both for proving my point.

 

That's still a lovely strawman you've built there, Mr. Shill. Don't you think you ought to stop hitting it and acting like that's somehow the rational thing to do?

[Radzkie]

You have an idealized view of gaming. But the people you are dealing with now are not ideal gamers.

yo do me a favour brah

 

clearly define "ideal gamer"

 

lol ideal gamer

Edited December 15, 2016 by Radzkie

[cyrusramsey]

I for one couldn't care less about rewards. Gear for me is never an end-goal, but a means to an end, a way to participate in content that I enjoy. This content now has a large gate around it. Opening that gate is not currently worth the effort to me.

 

Mind you, in previous cycles I felt that gearing up was a pointless waste of time. I do not understand the people that need the treadmill to keep playing. But it was something I could get out of the way to then focus on what I did enjoy. Now.. unlocking the gate is all that's left..

 

I realize that it's a trade-off. Making BiS gear available through any means is being compensated by making it take longer to get to that point, but frankly, I didn't need this game to be as easy as it has become.. I've never complained about it, there are still challenges in this game for me, when I want them, and solo content being easy has never bothered me, except when it reaches the point where the grind has to be stretched to extremes just to.. to what? Compensate for this somehow?

 

Finding myself trying to give it another try--on one character, at least till I find out from this stream whether they're actually taking it seriously or just mean to give us a "See! we listened! Now get back to grinding!", but there's no sense of progress. I get boxes with things that I don't need for the content I can do now and will not help me to play the content I want to get to. So I disintegrate everything. And it's still extremely slow.

 

I used to love this game, not so long ago..

[Wayshuba]

I for one couldn't care less about rewards. Gear for me is never an end-goal, but a means to an end, a way to participate in content that I enjoy. This content now has a large gate around it. Opening that gate is not currently worth the effort to me.

 

Mind you, in previous cycles I felt that gearing up was a pointless waste of time. I do not understand the people that need the treadmill to keep playing. But it was something I could get out of the way to then focus on what I did enjoy. Now.. unlocking the gate is all that's left..

 

I realize that it's a trade-off. Making BiS gear available through any means is being compensated by making it take longer to get to that point, but frankly, I didn't need this game to be as easy as it has become.. I've never complained about it, there are still challenges in this game for me, when I want them, and solo content being easy has never bothered me, except when it reaches the point where the grind has to be stretched to extremes just to.. to what? Compensate for this somehow?

 

Finding myself trying to give it another try--on one character, at least till I find out from this stream whether they're actually taking it seriously or just mean to give us a "See! we listened! Now get back to grinding!", but there's no sense of progress. I get boxes with things that I don't need for the content I can do now and will not help me to play the content I want to get to. So I disintegrate everything. And it's still extremely slow.

 

I used to love this game, not so long ago..

 

I wouldn't get your hopes up. Going through the numerous threads on the system, you see the two most common sources of frustration being the terrible RNG (it's literally a complete joke) and the grind - even on a main character.

 

What they heard was:

- A way to get gear later (probably after 200 plus levels of grinding), in case you got unlucky. Of course, we know most are unlucky with the system, but that is beside the point.

 

- Grinding for alts is too much. When its the grind even on mains that is upsetting so many.

 

Point being, the points they brought up are not even the biggest concerns. Also, their comments about monitoring (makes me think about the stupid lifelock commercials), shows they really do not care one iota about the frustration their customers are experiencing. Nor do they understand (like the guild summit days), that they do not have a lot of time to fix this - like less than a month. Once most people move on, they are gone. They quickly become invested in another MMO and then SWTOR just becomes a distant memory.

 

Anyway, please don't get your hopes up for today. BW could care less about upsetting their paying customer base. Bear this is mind, and the silliness of their actions on the livestreams make a lot more sense.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Wayshuba

[mydocs]

Add gear drops back to operation bosses. This way people have a choice. Gear through ops or simply through playing the game with cxp. Seriously no one does ops anymore (or anything else) because there is no point.

 

This. So much this. Since 5.0 launched, i see no reason to run an operation. It gives no gear and far too less cxp. Please re-add tokens to Operation-Bosses!

[CaesarAnavelG]

I'll keep this brief. I am a one-year sub player that came in with 4.0 after quitting Destiny as my main social game. One year later and all the mistakes and mishaps of Destiny seem to be creeping into SWTOR.

 

These aren't solutions but serious things to consider...

 

#1: RNG loot available to only one character (a la destiny)... why? I loved the token system and I think many other players did too. It made sense... kill boss, get loot. Kill specific bosses, get specific loot. I came into this game with KOTFE and was able to build several SM/HM toons in a few months... 3 weeks into KOTET and I've gotten 1 set piece after 50 crates across three characters. This is RIDICULOUS.

 

#2: tiny CXP payouts (1/4th CXP rank or less after level 20) per activity, multiple nerfs to CXP output for elite/champ enemies, changing multiple enemy ranks in earlier activities.... it just smells like s**t because it is s**t. This is the kind of seedy, opaque, lying between your teeth behavior that made everybody turn on Bungie with their dishonest CMs and dishonest development streams... and outright disregard and spiteful behavior against their player base.

 

DON'T ACT LIKE BUNGIE DID, YOU WILL (CONTINUE) TO LOSE PLAYERS.

 

#3: no new content makes it hard to enjoy the game when subjected to a new gearing system that does not cater to fun and is not fun, even with playing with my friends and guildmates, people I love playing anything with at this point

 

The subscription remaining time is ticking. I doubt I will renew until fundamental changes are made. I can have fun with my guild other places at this point, because it's certainly getting more difficult to do so in the current state of the game.

[DisIzMe]

yo do me a favour brah

 

clearly define "ideal gamer"

 

lol ideal gamer

 

I can help you with that:

 

Ideal Gamer (and ideal person in general) = Betterclass.

[cyrusramsey]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. Going through the numerous threads on the system, you see the two most common sources of frustration being the terrible RNG (it's literally a complete joke) and the grind - even on a main character.

 

What they heard was:

- A way to get gear later (probably after 200 plus levels of grinding), in case you got unlucky. Of course, we know most are unlucky with the system, but that is beside the point.

 

- Grinding for alts is too much. When its the grind even on mains that is upsetting so many.

 

Point being, the points they brought up are not even the biggest concerns. Also, their comments about monitoring (makes me think about the stupid lifelock commercials), shows they really do not care one iota about the frustration their customers are experiencing. Nor do they understand (like the guild summit days), that they do not have a lot of time to fix this - like less than a month. Once most people move on, they are gone. They quickly become invested in another MMO and then SWTOR just becomes a distant memory.

 

Anyway, please don't get your hopes up for today. BW could care less about upsetting their paying customer base. Bear this is mind, and the silliness of their actions on the livestreams make a lot more sense.

 

Not getting my hopes up, but I've sufficiently enjoyed this game for the last four years that I am still going to sit down and see what they have to say. I consider the chance that what they have to say will make me happy to be extremely small.. but there's a chance that it will make me resub and grudgingly continue playing while advocating further change.

 

The thing is.. take away the gearing part, and I'd be very enthusiastic about GC. There are surprisingly few bugs with 5.0 (there are plenty, but compared to previous expansions? Really not so bad), there's some light content to keep us busy with the promise of more, I even like most of the class changes, which is probably a first.

 

I would've been happy with 5.0 it wasn't for being locked out of the content I want to be playing. So.. I hope they're going to make it possible for me to play how I have been playing, ideally with more than a month to spare till 6.0, but the reason I am optimistic that they seem to be getting the message, is because I don't remember them ever giving in this quickly before. Previous live stream it was said that there were no plans to make things easier for people with many characters, and now that's suddenly a big part of 5.1.

 

It would not surprise me if this was simply due to lack of internal communication, but who knows, perhaps the drop in subscriptions was not insignificant.

 

Hope? Eh.. I hope I will be left with a desire to continue playing after the stream. Not expecting anything that will get me excited, they are too far down the wrong track.

[DawnAskham]

Lack of new content is the biggest reason I won't be continuing beyond the month I paid to return and see the new story and expansion, though the GC system just reinforces my decision.

 

Four weeks ago, I could play HM / NiM content (which was already old content for me) and my character power level was as high as it could be relative to the content because I had already successfully completed it many times (and no - not just EV / KP highlight op of the week farming, which I agree was a stupid idea).

 

With 5.0, my character power level has been reduced relative to the content, while the content is still the same - nothing has changed or been added in the way of progression / difficult group content.

 

So to me the level cap increase and gear reset strikes me as a giant 'f*ck you' from Bioware, as the the level cap was clearly raised simply to require players to spend a bunch of time doing old content to get back to parity, which would have been bad enough, but then they go and and double down on the 'f*ck you' by changing gearing to this RNG time grind abomination that requires hundreds of hours of uselessly playing crap few desire to play just to get a chance at getting gear to get back to parity relative to old content.

 

Unless they announce operations will start dropping gear / tokens relative to the difficulty, there isn't a prayers chance in hell I'll resubscribe, and due to the lack of new content (or confirmation of new content - and not more lol uprisings), even if they announce such a change, it is highly unlikley I'd maintain a sub for any length of time.

 

Sadly I believe this game is done as EA just doesn't have the willingness to risk investment beyond a bare minimum, though IMO they are losing out on money by being so stingy (I gladly forked over $50 to Blizzard for a real expansion and have kept a sub there for months).

Edited December 15, 2016 by DawnAskham

[gabigool]

The thing is.. take away the gearing part, and I'd be very enthusiastic about GC.

 

I can't even think of a good reason to level an alt to 70, let alone grind CXP. I think the entire system is garbage.

[PlasmaJohn]

Sadly I believe this game is done as EA just doesn't have the willingness to risk investment beyond a bare minimum, though IMO they are losing out on money by being so stingy (I gladly forked over $50 to Blizzard for a real expansion and have kept a sub there for months).

I wonder if their GSF mistake has a bigger meta than I originally considered.

 

I forget where but a dev communicated that they won't spend any more effort on GSF because there's not enough people playing GSF. The problem is that people aren't playing GSF because it desperately needs work to get it into a playable state and content. Classic chicken and egg.

 

You have to spend money to make money but I suspect they operate on don't throw good money after bad.

[Soljin]

I can't even think of a good reason to level an alt to 70, let alone grind CXP. I think the entire system is garbage.

 

I like the DvL concept....I like the idea of the crates they would be a a cool bonus incentive. If gearing was handled separately in an Non-RnG system I would like the crates as added incentive to play different types of content....

 

The problem with Galactic Command IMO is specifically the RnG gearing being tied to it.....If gear tokens were added to crates at a specific drop per crate that could be turned into a vendor for specific gear pieces I would 100% love the GC system.

 

For that matter GC could still drop gear as long as each crate contained a gear token mandatory...when you get a certain amount of tokens you buy a set piece.....

 

It is exciting that you may get a cool piece of gear...I get where the exciting comment came from...Problem is its a negative reinforcement system....AKA Excitement turns to anger and frustration because there is no guaranteed progress...AKA bad luck can continually strike a specific player...

 

They failed to install baseline progress (AKA Gear tokens/Vendors) into the GC system and they failed to integrate Command ranks to legacy and as a result the system is awful.

 

Awful!

On a side note: Now they have reintroduced incentive to the game... good, bad or ugly it has exposed the lack of systems to prevent cheating and just straight bad behavior... BW's first instinct is to nerf CXP gains which in turn further hurts their reputation with the players.

 

CXP Nerfs need to stop ASAP! Bioware should address each problem directly and specifically not apply sweeping Nerfs that effect the entire game and player base. If a "loop hole" is discovered the CXP cap will keep it from getting out of hand (which is why it was put in place). As such take the time to properly fix the "loop hole" with precision and minimal ripple effect.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Soljin

[DanNV]

If anything I'd say that people want the rewards -easier-. They don't want to bash against a brick wall and they don't want to grind. They just want to get tokens and buy the gear off a vendor. That's very easy in my eyes and dull, but hey, to each their own.

 

The problem here, is that the gear isn't the reward for people who want to play end-game content. The gear is the required tool you need to have in order to play that content. BW made the same mistake you did in the quote. They believe the reward is the gear. They are now paying for that in reduced subs and reduced revenue. (And from the panic schedule for last week's live stream, I expect those numbers are substantial.) The worst part is, they've made this mistake before, n 1.x and almost killed the game then. This time they don't have the F2P card to play to save it and they don't have months to sort it out a bit at a time.

 

BW has two general sorts of players in the game. Those who don't do the end game content for whom getting the nifty gear is the reward, those people are likely to like a GC type of system so long as the grind isn't going to take 6 months to a year per character (those are the ones saying just increase the CXP gains per whatever activity.) The second group is the people who play end game content (raiders and PVPers, they need the gear as the tool to play the content, those are the players who want tokens to drop from bosses again or who want tokens with every box drop so they can buy the gear they need to do the content. BW has some easy fixes to make both groups happy but doing so requires admitting they failed to listen for over two motnhs while they got negative feedback on the RNG gearing idea (both on PTS and then here when they announced it.) They have dig themselves a hole that where they can't just revert to the old system and call it good because that will upset the first group of players who would then start leaving. So, they have to create a hybrid now. Drop tokens from each and every Ops boss like the old system and keep some sort of improved GC system and then they have to work out something for PVP as well.

 

FWIW, my suggestion for PVP would be bolster to X set of stats based on the stats you have in the gear you are wearing. That makes gear irrelevant other than the stat mix, removes the problem of how PVP players get the gear to play and terns PVP into a skill based game instead of a gear based game.

 

For Eng game players, put tokens back on each and every ops boss so people playing can get gear to progress to the harder content. Do not relate this gear to anything to do with GC levels. Base it strictly on progressing from easier to harder content. (Meaning even in SM, TOS should drop better gear than KP, although the argument can be made that TOS is really HM and NiM as designed rather than SM and HM.)

 

For those who don't play end game, keep the GC system, increase the CXP gain rate and let them get the better gear that way. For them the gear is the reward, so the grind will mean something to them instead of being the thing that drives them out of the game.

[TUXs]

Read post #321 above.

 

The game was financially dead - the only thing that saved it was Cartel Store purchases by F2P and Premium players.

 

It's a fact, and anyone who has been here any length of time, and/or has bothered researching the subject already knows that.

 

All The Best

I don't think this is the case at all...

 

The switch to F2P was 100% driven by the allure of making MORE money off of microtransactions...I don't believe it had anything at all to do with saving anything...it was purely motivated by profit. Box sales had already paid for development, they simply wanted more than $15 per customer.

 

Unlike the players addicted to their games, EA doesn't care what games exist or don't exist - they only care about making money. They're willing to shut down anything they need to, they have no attachment to their products...they are merely tools to making $.

[DanNV]

So to me the level cap increase and gear reset strikes me as a giant 'f*ck you' from Bioware, as the the level cap was clearly raised simply to require players to spend a bunch of time doing old content to get back to parity, which would have been bad enough, but then they go and and double down on the 'f*ck you' by changing gearing to this RNG time grind abomination that requires hundreds of hours of uselessly playing crap few desire to play just to get a chance at getting gear to get back to parity relative to old content.

 

I think a lot of end game players see it this way and BW doesn't get it. They gave a big middle finger to a good chunk of their paying player base and can't figure out why they are leaving.

 

Sadly I believe this game is done as EA just doesn't have the willingness to risk investment beyond a bare minimum, though IMO they are losing out on money by being so stingy (I gladly forked over $50 to Blizzard for a real expansion and have kept a sub there for months).

 

I would gladly pay for a real expansion. Instead I get garbage that has taken all the fun out of the game. Even for free that isn't worth the price. So, I currently have one game I'm playing with to see if I like it and another one or two to download this weekend and try if the stream doesn't pan out (and I expect it won't, but we'll see.)

[gabigool]

I forget where but a dev communicated that they won't spend any more effort on GSF because there's not enough people playing GSF.

 

IMO this is the problem with the studio. Brilliantly distilled into one sentence.

 

They have great metrics and crap analysis. Their fundamental thought process on how to manage this type of game is so far from reality we're doomed to be stuck with the crap we get.

 

Devs: When you don't support something, people stop playing it. Its not the other way around.

 

I swear I doubt any of them ever played an MMO, let alone worked on one. But hey, put 'em in charge.

 

The point is, if it's in the game, you support it. Period. Not optional.

 

The devs had a choice on how to handle Operations in this game. They chose the lazy path. People quit. their metrics show less people raiding. Hmmm.

 

Seriously - in total *********** seriousness - do the devs honestly think that sometime between 2012 and 2015 the population of the world decided they didn't like raiding? Ar they really that unwilling to accept that, perhaps, the studio actually has some sort of accountability for the decline?

 

Why is it that everyone I used to raid with in this game is raiding somewhere else right now?

 

Ben - until you get this fundamental concept through the heads of the higher ups there, we're all ****ed. I know your consultant told you that an asian grind would work but they forgot to notice that we're already paying a sub and there's no *********** content.

 

We need content. People will pay to play it if it's of high quality, of all types, and at a reasonable cadence.

 

Content bro. That's your cash grab. You guys have been wasting an opportunity that comes around so rarely it's honestly sad.

 

Support your damn game. Stop mucking around breaking it like you just did. Your playerbase, for the most part, hates this. It's a sick joke.

 

Are you proud of that?

 

You guys need to find the reset button. Put your heads down. Create a plan. Communicate it to the community. We'll buy into it. Then sell it to upper management. Show them they can keep treading water or they can hit the jackpot. Bring in some MMO talent to help you. Make this game great again. Because right now, it pretty much sucks.

[Kirtastropohe]

While story stuff is interesting and can occupy a player who is interested in both light and dark side choices a couple of weeks at best, the bottom line is that this is an MMO, not a single player game, and what do we have when we finish the story?

 

Sure, some will RP, some will just do dailies of one sort or another, but for a great many, end game progression is what's left, and with the lack of actual new group content that's been systemic for years, all that was left is getting the best gear. RNG destroyed the drive of all those players, while at the same time totally insulting and guaranteeing that casuals would not be able to get gear for a terribly long until unless they got really lucky.

 

This plan is so ridiculous. Did an agent from a rival company infiltrate BW/EA and Palpatine style institute a system meant to destroy the game from within? I can think of no other reason how people paid to create and maintain a game could implement such self-destructive changes.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Kirtastropohe

[PlasmaJohn]

The problem with Galactic Command IMO is specifically the RnG gearing being tied to it.....If gear tokens were added to crates at a specific drop per crate that could be turned into a vendor for specific gear pieces I would 100% love the GC system.

I'd still hate it. I'm running more content now than I used to due to being hyper focused on maximizing GC ranks one one character and I'm still only rank 27. In my first 16 boxes I've had phenomenal luck 4 usable set pieces, 2 usable relics, one purple mainhand and one blue mainhand (with just about the same stats ). Then a long dry spell until crate 27 where I got my first repeat set item.

 

Currency per crate doesn't solve the long slog to tier 2 and tier 3. And you know they'll give you just enough currency to maybe squeak out one set per tier. Which blows because I very much value being able to run all the possible roles my AC can do.

 

The design fail of this cycle is that this system doesn't encourage us to play what we want. Its emergent focus is to gain as much CXP as efficiently as possible to get people back to where they were.

[TUXs]

IMO this is the problem with the studio. Brilliantly distilled into one sentence.

 

They have great metrics and crap analysis. Their fundamental thought process on how to manage this type of game is so far from reality we're doomed to be stuck with the crap we get.

 

Devs: When you don't support something, people stop playing it. Its not the other way around.

 

I swear I doubt any of them ever played an MMO, let alone worked on one. But hey, put 'em in charge.

 

The point is, if it's in the game, you support it. Period. Not optional.

 

The devs had a choice on how to handle Operations in this game. They chose the lazy path. People quit. their metrics show less people raiding. Hmmm.

 

Seriously - in total *********** seriousness - do the devs honestly think that sometime between 2012 and 2015 the population of the world decided they didn't like raiding? Ar they really that unwilling to accept that, perhaps, the studio actually has some sort of accountability for the decline?

 

Why is it that everyone I used to raid with in this game is raiding somewhere else right now?

 

Ben - until you get this fundamental concept through the heads of the higher ups there, we're all ****ed. I know your consultant told you that an asian grind would work but they forgot to notice that we're already paying a sub and there's no *********** content.

 

We need content. People will pay to play it if it's of high quality, of all types, and at a reasonable cadence.

 

Content bro. That's your cash grab. You guys have been wasting an opportunity that comes around so rarely it's honestly sad.

 

Support your damn game. Stop mucking around breaking it like you just did. Your playerbase, for the most part, hates this. It's a sick joke.

 

Are you proud of that?

 

You guys need to find the reset button. Put your heads down. Create a plan. Communicate it to the community. We'll buy into it. Then sell it to upper management. Show them they can keep treading water or they can hit the jackpot. Bring in some MMO talent to help you. Make this game great again. Because right now, it pretty much sucks.

Very well said...as expected

[SerraShar]

I was playing on my low level toon , and noticed this Galactic nonsense only start at level 70 .

 

So you want peoples to run around with their level 70 and grind to get shinies boxes ?

 

Why not make it happen at level 1 or level 10 ? So the actual stuff peoples get can be used . Most players when they get to 70..they are already geared . They aren't naked..looking for a towel !

[Wayshuba]

I don't think this is the case at all...

 

The switch to F2P was 100% driven by the allure of making MORE money off of microtransactions...I don't believe it had anything at all to do with saving anything...it was purely motivated by profit. Box sales had already paid for development, they simply wanted more than $15 per customer.

 

Unlike the players addicted to their games, EA doesn't care what games exist or don't exist - they only care about making money. They're willing to shut down anything they need to, they have no attachment to their products...they are merely tools to making $.

 

Just to clarify. No, they did not make their money back on boxed sales. EA clearly states in their financials they make roughly $8.50 in profit on an initial boxes sale. So initial sales of the boxed game only recouped $17 million of the $300 million investment.

 

Secondly, BW did an article with MMOBomb about a two years after F2P. They clearly stated the game was in very big trouble on six months after launch, to the point they thought it was going to close down less than a year after launch. To repeat, they themselves confirmed it was in major financial trouble and on the cusp of being closed. EA then directed them to put all resources on getting F2P implementation out the door. They stated this is why their F2P implementation is a bit odd compared to others on the market, because tthey had no one with experience with F2P and, because of the rapid deadline set by EA, they didn't even have time to hire someone with this experience.

 

It had nothing to do with extra profits according to management at Bioware at the time. It had everything to do with the title being in very serious trouble.

 

Edit: Forget the previous note on looking yourself. Here is the proof:

http://www.mmobomb.com/swtors-4th-anniversary-bioware-opens-free-plays-perilous-path/

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-03-03-star-wars-mmo-dev-calls-for-an-end-to-whales

Edited December 15, 2016 by Wayshuba