Successful game companies realise that APAC is worth investing in. But not EAware.

[darkwarrior_]

I have been playing games for 20 plus years, ea has done the same garbage over and over with all the games it publishes.

They come out with a new game load up on all the hype make as much as they can off the initial success then instead of being diverse or listening to the players they just let it dissolve.

This game is no different and when they moved the servers all to east coast I laughed and thought to myself that it wont be long now as they are cutting costs for profit.

I really am amazed that anyone in the apac area even plays as the ping is ridiculous so it is understandable to see someone complaining about it as they leave.

EA wont say any apologies so maybe a fellow player saying so will at the very least show someone cares, sorry to see you go and sorry a game with so much potential was trashed by a greedy publisher.

 

Good luck in the future gaming endeavors!

[JediQuaker]

APAC Total server populations combined were as big or bigger than Harbinger at the time. Even the our biggest server was bigger than many US west coast servers and only slightly less than Harbinger.

 

But, then again, Harbinger also no longer exists. Both Harbinger and the APAC servers were probably merged due to having not enough population.

[OlBuzzard]

I have been playing games for 20 plus years, ea has done the same garbage over and over with all the games it publishes.

They come out with a new game load up on all the hype make as much as they can off the initial success then instead of being diverse or listening to the players they just let it dissolve.

This game is no different and when they moved the servers all to east coast I laughed and thought to myself that it wont be long now as they are cutting costs for profit.

I really am amazed that anyone in the apac area even plays as the ping is ridiculous so it is understandable to see someone complaining about it as they leave.

EA wont say any apologies so maybe a fellow player saying so will at the very least show someone cares, sorry to see you go and sorry a game with so much potential was trashed by a greedy publisher.

 

Good luck in the future gaming endeavors!

 

This is exactly what I'm referring to. This is the REAL name that EA has now established. I'm surprised that Lucas Arts or Disney either one is putting up with the way this has been handled.

 

Surely the contracts and their names are worth more than this ? Maybe ??

 

I guess time will tell.

[Nemmar]

It's a crappy situation but the only way to solve it is to get the game growing again, so there's enough of an audience interested in coming back to justify a new oceanic server.

 

Even if you look at classic WoW, there are 2 oceanic servers to 11/12 servers on the other regions. SWTOR has 2 servers in north america and 3 in europe.

If we got by the same proportion you got 2/11 for classic in NA and 2/12 for europe.

That corresponds to 0.36 servers in NA in SWTOR.

And 0.5 servers in the EU.

 

It doesn't justify having an oceanic server at the moment. We need more players in the game.

 

Simply putting this is why you don't have an oceanic server in SWTOR. It is not Blizzard is a better company or anything. They do the exact same thing. It's all about the population numbers and Bioware has the numbers i'm sure that showed that.

It sucks but it is what it is.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Nemmar

[TrixxieTriss]

But, then again, Harbinger also no longer exists. Both Harbinger and the APAC servers were probably merged due to having not enough population.

 

Before the last merge/move, Harbinger WAS the undisputed largest populated server in the game. It did not need to be moved to the east coast due to population.

I do understand them renaming because they merged all the west coast servers together and called it Satele Shan.

But one of the main reasons Satele now has less players than Star Forge is because they moved the geographical location to the east coast, which made many west coast and nearly all the remaining APAC players leave.

Neither had anything to do with population and everything to do with EA wanting save costs by putting the servers in the same data Center.

[TrixxieTriss]

It's a crappy situation but the only way to solve it is to get the game growing again, so there's enough of an audience interested in coming back to justify a new oceanic server.

 

Even if you look at classic WoW, there are 2 oceanic servers to 11/12 servers on the other regions. SWTOR has 2 servers in north america and 3 in europe.

If we got by the same proportion you got 2/11 for classic in NA and 2/12 for europe.

That corresponds to 0.36 servers in NA in SWTOR.

And 0.5 servers in the EU.

 

It doesn't justify having an oceanic server at the moment. We need more players in the game.

 

Simply putting this is why you don't have an oceanic server in SWTOR. It is not Blizzard is a better company or anything. They do the exact same thing. It's all about the population numbers and Bioware has the numbers i'm sure that showed that.

It sucks but it is what it is.

 

But the players were there before they moved and merged. At the time we had the population. It is and has always been about the penny pinches cutting costs and not reinvesting. They would rather lose players by cutting costs than grow numbers and make the same money.

[TrixxieTriss]

I have been playing games for 20 plus years, ea has done the same garbage over and over with all the games it publishes.

They come out with a new game load up on all the hype make as much as they can off the initial success then instead of being diverse or listening to the players they just let it dissolve.

This game is no different and when they moved the servers all to east coast I laughed and thought to myself that it wont be long now as they are cutting costs for profit.

I really am amazed that anyone in the apac area even plays as the ping is ridiculous so it is understandable to see someone complaining about it as they leave.

EA wont say any apologies so maybe a fellow player saying so will at the very least show someone cares, sorry to see you go and sorry a game with so much potential was trashed by a greedy publisher.

 

Good luck in the future gaming endeavors!

 

Thank you for the kind words. But that’s not why I’m leaving or I would have 2 years ago. No, I’m unsubbing due to a customer service dispute with naming characters and it was just a long line of things that finally made me draw a line in the sand. I’m also not uninstalling because I’ll go free to play, I just don’t want to give these guys my money anymore.

The reason for the thread was to point out that other games do value APAC.

[foxmob]

what I don't understand is that why, if both NA servers are in the same place, do I lag more and have a higher ping on SS than SF? weird.

[TrixxieTriss]

what I don't understand is that why, if both NA servers are in the same place, do I lag more and have a higher ping on SS than SF? weird.

 

That is weird? If it’s much higher or really bad, maybe send a message to Musco and see if you can get Keith involved because Keith actually helped me a bit after the move because APAC speeds were over 300ms. Now they’ve got them down to 230-260ms.

The other option to contacting Musco is to contact Owen on the EA/swtor community tech support. He has a direct line into the swtor team.

[OlBuzzard]

But the players were there before they moved and merged. At the time we had the population. It is and has always been about the penny pinches cutting costs and not reinvesting. They would rather lose players by cutting costs than grow numbers and make the same money.

 

This is another part of what I'm driving at. IMO... If they are serious about the game... If they are serious about the Star Wars Legacy (*** see note ***) ... here are some area where they really need to take care of business :

 

1. The return and GROWTH of companions (as opposed to the blocks of wood that they are now )

2. PvP restored and improved.

3. Better gear acquisition (supposedly this is being addressed in 6.0)

4. New content ... again 6.0 is coming

5. Return of the 8 stories (4 classes each side )

 

AND... I'll go out on a limb on this next one... It's a long shot but IMO it will add both much needed content .. additional stories as well as digging into the already established lore of SWTOR.. and yes I'm talking about the addition of a new class.

 

Sooo what does this have to do with the OP .. thread. EVERYTHING ! All of the items listed above are areas where cuts have been initiated in order to save money and improve margin ... I would guess that it has backfired.

 

ADD to that this thread. I had no idea that an entire group on this scale had lost a proper connection to the game. When the server that handles that entire group is unplugged that is effectively what happened. That's just plain nuts. Granted at the time (what we will continue to call ) APAC group my not have been 8 years ago the same as it is today. That said someone should realize by now that it was a bad choice to cut off what has turned out to be a GROWING market. Someone choose to cut off a sizable opportunity for market share.

 

OOPS !!

 

Add all of this up: NOT GOOD !

 

In short... OK.. Here we are now. So what ? What is going to be done about it? It's no shame to admit that some things did not go as planed. It's no shame to admit that maybe some positive changes are needed... It's also no shame to listen to others who are pleading for wisdom to be exercised when reading these forums and advocating changes that are needed.

 

If I didn't think that B/W was more than capable I would not invest the time to type this stuff out.

 

This is not a rant .. (not this time) ! If anything it is a plea for help to those who have the resources and ability to do so !

 

Again I would respectfully ask: How much is the name of B/W worth ?

(helpful hint... I'm not talking about the $$$$ )

 

*** (note) ***

If it were not for the Star Wars franchise and lore ... it is entirely possible that this game would be on total life support right now... Even worse than it is !! That should be something to consider.

Edited August 13, 2019 by OlBuzzard

[TrixxieTriss]

 

*** (note) ***

If it were not for the Star Wars franchise and lore ... it is entirely possible that this game would be on total life support right now... Even worse than it is !! That should be something to consider.

 

I would go even further and say if this was not a SW game, it would have been shut down years ago because there would not have been anyone here to play it. Plus, EA would have dumped it to cut costs, which they can’t do with this game because they probably have an agreement with Disney to keep it open.

[TrixxieTriss]

Tested my ping to Oceanic WoW this morning and it was an amazing 4ms Ping.

What I wouldn’t give to have that in swtor. Instead I’ve 230-260ms in swtor

Edited August 13, 2019 by TrixxieTriss

[OlBuzzard]

I would go even further and say if this was not a SW game, it would have been shut down years ago because there would not have been anyone here to play it. Plus, EA would have dumped it to cut costs, which they can’t do with this game because they probably have an agreement with Disney to keep it open.

 

Only time will reveal the next few chapters in this game. Part of it has been nothing short of amazing... while others filled with a lot of difficulties and distrust.

 

I would like to share one last thing on this matter:

 

This is not the first time I have personally seen an opportunity given to a company to either make the needed changes and grow ... or stand firm with a philosophy that I for one personally do not understand. Some might suggest that lack of understanding into this sort of business assessment and cunning is why I'm not a multi-millionaire. So be it !

 

I have seen and been a part of companies with as good a potential as any in the continental US... good products.. and at one time: a good hard working staff. Yet due to the repeated decisions of two or three who actually controlled the company .. it wasn't long before their quality began to suffer, their customers one by one dwindled and finally the doors were closed. One in particular was as good as any could ask for... They made circuit boards. Many of them used in some very sophisticated applications. Their quality efficiency was in the mid to upper 90 percent range (on occasion over 98%) The company WAS very good. The average employee worked as hard as any place I have ever been a part of. Those same employees wanted things to work. But greed took it's toll. Today the building ... which once housed state of the art production equipment ... was gutted and sold to a medical firm years ago !

 

It could have been avoided !

 

Well ... I guess I'm just rambling like an old man again!

 

I'm sure that all of this means about as much to B/W as any of the suggestions I've made (or any of the posts) for that matter.

 

Even still ... I hold no grudges. I still have hope !

[Celise]

I would go even further and say if this was not a SW game, it would have been shut down years ago because there would not have been anyone here to play it. Plus, EA would have dumped it to cut costs, which they can’t do with this game because they probably have an agreement with Disney to keep it open.

 

total speculation until you can prove that point. But EA don't just give out numbers. That is besides the point though, because if it were really that poor as you said, they would of shuttered shop awhile ago. Clearly your opinion is wrong on that account because not only is the game still here, but EA is still putting more content in play, clearly means that it isn't half as bad as you might claim.

 

Don't forget Dead space, EA put up with losses in revenue in 2 and 3 before canning the entire series and then cutting off another of their arms in Visceral games a few years later, they allowed some latitude before deciding though. Clearly SWTOR isn't there yet even after half of their Bioware arm was cut off in a savage self abusive manner.

 

I doubt Disney has much to do with what EA does with SWTOR beyond the realm of certain canon limitations. But there is no way EA would keep a game open operating at a substantial loss each month, it would be like stabbing themselves in one of the veins in the leg, why would they let themselves bleed to death to see out a contract? It makes no sense for any business to do such a thing.

 

It is more likely SWTOR is doing just enough to keep going, but beyond that there is nothing worth mentioning.

[kodrac]

Don't forget Dead space, EA put up with losses in revenue in 2 and 3 before canning the entire series and then cutting off another of their arms in Visceral games a few years later, they allowed some latitude before deciding though. Clearly SWTOR isn't there yet even after half of their Bioware arm was cut off in a savage self abusive manner.

 

That game wasn't Star Wars and they didn't have an expensive license agreement for it. Trixxie's right, if this game didn't have the cash cow franchise tag and the need to keep the license, and the ability to pay for it through the Space Barbie shop, it would've been canned long ago. The name alone makes them money and that's why it stays open.

 

But more to the topic, we're all expendable. APAC or otherwise. EA has many fingers in many pies. They don't care who they piss off because there'll always be another pie they can give the finger to. If Trixxie quits, they won't care. If you quit, they won't care. When I quit they won't care. It should be obvious by now with how many thousands have already quit.

Edited August 13, 2019 by kodrac

[Einobi]

The heart of the TECHNICAL matter is lag. The issue is not where the server is located geographically. The server geographical location is directly proportional to the lag time and that is why the server location is discussed but that is not the issue. The issue is differing lag among different players depending on your geographical location to the server.

 

The heart of the matter is NOT one of TECHNICAL. It is one of leveling the playing field. Differing lag among different players does not contribute to a level playing field. The heart of the matter is one of LEVEL PLAYING FIELD.

 

We need to frame the problem correctly before we can even talk about solution.

 

If it is a problem of LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD, there are a lot of things which the dev can do without the need to relocate server geographical location. Look at how EVEONLINE deal with differing lag among players when engaging in MASSIVE field battle without even touching on server geographical relocation. Even with my small tiny brain, I can think of MANY MANY FEASIBLE things which the dev can do to level the playing field.

 

Extending even further, the REAL PROBLEM, I repeat "THE REAL PROBLEM", is whether there is on the part of Bioware a will and/or recognition of the importance and the subsequent commitment of resources to implement and to achieve a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD within the game. At present, this game is still skewed towards PVE game play and lesser PVP game play. In PVE game play, lag does not CRITICALLY affect the game play experience because if you fight certain bosses a few time, you will know what to expect next and to predict your next move with ease. This mitigate the lag handicap. However, in PVP play, every moves from the opponent is UNPREDICTABLE and therefore lag CRITICALLY affect the quality of game play.

 

So until PVP game play carries the same or even exceed the weightage of PVE game play, the resource commitment will not be forecoming to implement a level playing field (unlike EVEONLINE which is heavily PVP oriented and lesser PVE oriented).

[Ayushman]

As playing from Asia I would love a closer server. But investment vs return may not be nowhere near the sweet spot for EA to consider such things. along with not much effort to promote an aging game, EA would rather let it die than do anything.

[robertthebard]

Trixxie has been here for ages, she includes the word quit as part of a larger point, and you chastise her and tell her "there's the door." If you're trying to tank this game, that type of attitude is a great way to help it along toward its inevitable downfall.

 

Funny, to me the opening read a lot like an advertisement for Blizzard. So much so that all I read was "if you don't make it more like WoW, it's going to fail", a post I've seen in a lot of beta forums for MMOs over the years, which is then followed by "it's too much like WoW/a WoW clone, it's going to fail". Threads like this one are one of the reasons I've never played WoW.

[fushnchips]

lol pushing a dead horse up hill here Trix they would never give APAC servers on a game hanging on by the skin of it's teeth so your post is like comparing oranges to apples girl

[Lenlo]

I can't really say I agree with the Op. There's no market out there for an old game. SWTOR would need to be retrofitted and redone, and I can't see EA doing that.

 

With Anthem completely face planting I really wish this were the case. It would ultimately be vastly cheaper for EA to reinvest in SWTOR than to risk more money on a new IP with a mind numbingly bad reputation. Unless SWTOR were to be essentially relaunched or the F2P model were to be much more generous; I simply don't see SWTOR attracting enough players back to remotely justify new servers.