So I came back because of the 7.0 changes. I get what BioWare is doing.

[Strathkin]

It results to quite the opposite though, WoW is a good example, in their latest expansion they gutted all forms of power rewards from solo and casual content, meaning there is literally nothing to do to progress your power solo or in a casual relaxing manner

 

And you are always at the mercy "are there competent people right now who are also willing to do certain high end content to progress power wise or should I just log out cuz there is NOTHING REWARDING TO DO SOLO

 

WoW is failing hard, from lawsuit to the current anti-casual elitist design, copying that doesnt sound like a smart move, shadowlands has been the worst expansion to date, especially for casuals who left in droves

 

I agree with this person, it kind of results in the Opposite in FACT, unlike the OP comments! I mean while everyone enjoys running Flashpoints, Operations, etc... in Groups sure. Yet having lost abilities, combat proficiencies, many toons are going to feel slower! Also punishing people who want GEAR to run GROUP content isn't nice, especially when you need or want to run various ones!

 

Why cause most GROUP people 'FILTER' so they run Hammer or perhaps only 2-3 others 90% of the time. So now my reward is I get to run even far less than the 2-3 FlashPoints, or 1-2 Operations OVER continuously? Sadly most Operations don't even have many available in their QUEUE!

 

Still I don't like they reduced abilities all Classes, and wished they only limited it by One... Example: Discipline One gets ability A1 & A3, Discipline Two gets A2 & A3, Discipline Three gets A1 & A2. Still worst is they removed Combat Proficiencies, and many TOONS feel slower, and far less choice to customize making in less FUN and FLUID to play!

 

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I mean if they WANTED to focus on GROUP content, how hard would that be?

 

▪ Just EXPAND the # of OPERATIONS available for GROUP content first and foremost! Then maybe introduce several new Conquests for Completing them (Regardless of Difficulty), as long as each required 3 different Flashpoints / Operations in the objective. Make them repeatable but only for VET or MASTER Mode. That should NOT require taking gear drops out of SOLO content however.

 

Doesn't have to be HIGH CONQUEST points but reasonable, like between 22,500 - 37,500 Conquest Points (depending the time required) that could be repeated each day; similar to the Galactic Defeat 200 Enemy's on Planets on in QUEUED content. It could change each day, from possibly 12+ groupings of 3 Flashpoints/Operations.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

 

That worked for GSF a lot at first offering the 87,500 Conquest for Striker, Scout, Bomber, and Gunship; yet they should offer one type of Conquest depending on the day! Still more focus should be MODERATE conquests that award repeated conquests, like earning 5/10/15/20+ Defeat's, or 10/20/30/40+ Assists in GSF that also give 15,750 - 22,500 depending on the goals they SET. As that far more encourage people to QUEUE.

 

I like the Defeat 200 Enemy (Galactic Conquest) can be done over and over continuously... ...those can be combined on several planets, or even QUEUED content, and repeated continuously. So offering more of those specific to Flashpoints, Operations or GSF of MODERATE conquests would help QUEUE content far more!

 

Don't like they are eliminating Gear from dropping from Solo Content, and in future it will be all but only a few MASTER mode. So we'll get 1 OPERATION in Master Mode, and may not even include the 1 Flashpoint even if run at Master. That will virtually have the opposite effect, hurting QUEUEs far more than helping!

Edited November 26, 2021 by Strathkin

[TrixxieTriss]

I could go on, but where you see little content, I see a lot of hard work that has clearly been put into this expansion, and I appreciate that work. Not to mention we're going to keep seeing more things as the 10th year anniversary year goes on. Op comes out in 7.1, I've read someplace (not sure where) that 7.2 will be a PvP patch, and they said crafting would be put in later this year. I believe someplace one of the Devs (Keith maybe) that the Expansion wouldn't really be complete until the end of 2022. Meaning more content would keep coming throughout the year.

 

There is a difference between a lot of hard work and actual playable content.

I’m not saying the devs haven’t done a lot of work. My point is some of their efforts weren’t required, ie pruning classes and then needing to rebalance the whole game around it. As well as rebuilding the whole gearing system again from scratch.

Imagine if they’d put that time into actual playable content. They’d probably would have been able to launch the OP in December or even add extra story or flash point.

On top of that we have people saying BioWare had a huge influx of funding. Which I’m still disputing because it seems to be hear-say because no one can show me where this info has come from.

I was more than willing to accept it as truth until someone pointed out to me that no one can categorically point to where the info came from that started this rumour.

All I’ve sort is clarification so I could read it myself. And when I’ve asked for links to it, one person accused me of being hysterical. But at the same time they can’t back up their own claims.

If EA really have boosted swtors funding as I’ve seen posted here, on reddit and Discord, why can’t anyone quote a source for this info. Some one has started this rumour and others have freely accepted it as fact (like I nearly did) with out checking to see it’s true.

I’ll happily accept its true when some one shows me the source of this rumour. At which point I will ask, what the hell did BioWare do with it all?

[TrixxieTriss]

It seems like some piece of the gearing equation is missing, tbh. However, it could be that the devs need some metrics in the new system, so they left it very simplistic to start.

 

As for catering to a specific player base, I don’t think 1 new raid in 2 years and some raid specific gear means the devs are catering to raiders. In fact, I know a few raiders quitting the game in 7.0 because they don’t feel like re-gearing to do the exact same raids they were doing before. When 7.2 comes out, I’m not going to say the devs are catering to pvp’ers. I’m going to say, “oh yeah, I guess it’s your turn now.”

 

When I say catering to a specific player base, I meant group content over solo players. And yes, I do agree that the content for that is minimal.

The issue is around the gearing system focusing on OPs players at the expense of other players. Then there are the changes to conquest that seem to be 180” change in using Alts or being a solo player in a small guild.

BioWare are undoubtedly switching back to MMO group focus at the expense of the solo players. The same as they switched from MMO group players back with 5.0 and Kotet/kotfe to solo oriented players.

It’s because BioWare keep changing back and forth of what they want swtor to be that we have lost so many players over the years.

They don’t need to be so heavy handed or exclusional to certain play styles to make the game better or inclusive and inviting to everyone.

[MystyqeofXev]

[TrixxieTriss]

 

That’s an interesting analysis of death of a game. But it was made too early at the end of the Kotet/Kofte period.

The conclusions by the maker of the vid are mostly out dated now. Because he concludes that BioWares strengths were the story and the business model they finally achieved for Kotet/kofte is what the game should have always been.

I wonder what he’d say they’ve done since then as they swerved from trying to be mainly a solo game back to now trying to be an MMO. And in the process, start losing the very players they’d catered to for 4-5 years.

I’m disappointed that there isn’t a follow up from the maker discussing BioWares obvious institutional schizophrenia when trying to decide what they want the game to be and who the core players are that make them money.

Its obvious they’ve lacked a proper long term plan of who to focus on and 7.0 is doing a 180” turn yet again.

[divinecynic]

I totally get what you are saying, but the truth is there is never enough story content because there is no company big enough to constantly spit out fully voiced stories on a consistent basis. Many of us pointed this out back in development. Every time new story content is released it's usually swallowed within a few days by the content locusts and then away they go to the next game. So they are going to leave no matter what because the game has little to offer outside the story.

 

I still remember back when this game was released. Over $200 million dollars was spent to make a fully voiced 1 to 50 level experience and players reached it within days. Then complained because the other parts of the game ( the MMO) were lacking. Bioware would have been better off making this a single player game and charge for DLCs.

 

Coming back and looking at the available servers I couldn't believe it: FIVE SERVERS for the whole game? THIS is your idea of keeping the game going? Not to Bioware and not to anyone being objective. That's embarrassing. This game had dozens of servers going back in the day. Clearly the attempt at focusing as a single player game and forgetting everything else hasn't worked. Stories are fine, but once people read them they toss them to the side and move on. Like it or not, this game is designed as an MMORPG which means money is being spent to keep it going just like any MMORPG. You need repeatable or group content of some kind to keep players coming back. You also need difficult but reachable progression of some kind so that players have something to look forward to. Otherwise, you're going to keep losing people no matter how many yarns you spit out.

 

The key is that this game does not follow the design of other MMORPGs. It never did. More money has been spent on single player content than group. That is very clear. There is way more solo content that group. There always has been. Good solo gameplay has replayability. Look at most of Bioware's or Bethesda's catalogue. People replay them all the time. As to the state of the game when you came back, the Steam launch actually had it pretty active. However if solo wasn't enough, neither was group. If you thought that was embarrassing, there is plenty of blame to go around. As to focusing only on solo content. The closest we go to that was Kotet & Kotfe. Group content since has been being released.

 

However I do agree that group content is important. I do agree a sense of progression is important. I just think it needs to apply to every player. I prefer players playing their way. Something else to keep in mind is that we are not just talking about single player vs multi-player here. Bioware is flat out sacrificing the sense of progression in all other forms of play to increase it for Master mode Ops. Not even all Ops but just the new one. That's what putting the best gear in the game only there does. It's not even needed to run Master mode. It's reward for running it. What makes it worse is it won't work. Most players are still not touching a Master mode Op. They never do.

 

We will see if I am right in the end. Like I said, I hope I am wrong and the game is healthier than ever all the way through 7.0. I do think we will get a bump at launch. That's how it goes. However, most likely it will drop off hard. Too many casuals disagree with you and are going to stop playing the game as much, if at all.

 

You keep arguing how you think the game should be. I am arguing what the changes are likely to do. Killing the casual population isn't going to help the game. That's the bigger issue. Casuals are the biggest part of the player base and 7.0 is very unfriendly to them. They will just go play something else.

[Strathkin]

There is way more solo content than group. There always has been. Good solo gameplay has replayability. Look at most of Bioware's or Bethesda's catalogue. People replay them all the time...

 

However I do agree that group content is important... Bioware is flat out sacrificing the sense of progression in all other forms of play to increase it for Master mode Ops. Not even all Ops but just the new one. That's what putting the best gear in the game only there does. It's not even needed to run Master mode. It's reward for running it. What makes it worse is it won't work. Most players are still not touching a Master mode Op. They never do.

 

You keep arguing how you think the game should be. I am arguing what the changes are likely to do. Killing the casual population isn't going to help the game. That's the bigger issue. Casuals are the biggest part of the player base and 7.0 is very unfriendly to them. They will just go play something else.

 

Yet I think I agree with you. I mean above I said just forcing people to only do Flashpoint's / Operations in VET or Master Mode be horrible enough to earn better Gear; cause people like variety. It should be thru any method really, as people can't get to 80 without subscribing.

 

Yet reality may be FAR worst than that, as it's instead run the same MASTER MODE OPERATION endlessly! I don't even know if the Master Mode Flashpoint will work, as they likely want to ensure your a SUB continuously to keep earning new or better gear.

 

That will really hurt the Casuals, and also several others from playing. Galactic Season was a good method to encourage more Subscribers! If they showed all the benefits to everyone? Yet did they HIDE the rewards, or not show benefits to non subscribers. I'd say very short sighted, and honestly not very wise.

 

*sigh*

Edited November 26, 2021 by Strathkin

[Thepyrethatburns]

I get what Bioware is doing too.

 

It's a Hail Mary.

 

As is easily googled (In fact, unlike people who make up stuff about financials, I'm going to link.)

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/ubisoft-to-make-star-wars-game-marking-end-to-ea-exclusivity

 

EA loses the exclusivity license in 2023. To quote my own post:

 

This doesn't necessarily mean that that EA is losing the ability to do Star Wars games.

 

On the other hand, this doesn't mean that they will be allowed to continue with either Star Wars games in general or SWTOR in particular. It is known that SWTOR is the last SW game that falls outside the Disney established canon and that Disney prefers for everything to be under one umbrella. (I imagine the KOTOR remakes are going to reflect that.)

 

As such, while there is no reason to panic on the game's future, it would be a smart idea to complete all the class stories that you want before 2023 rolls around just in case.

 

2022, more than any other year, is where Bioware is going to be justifying cost of license renewal for a ten-year-old game in a genre that's on life support.

 

To quote one of my Facebook posts from Sept 11 2020 (because I do read financials):

 

------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Fortnite has 250 Million people playing... ( holy ****. )

Minecraft has 112 Million...

Warframe has 50 Million...

League of Legends has 33 Million...

FFXIV has 18 Million...

ESO has 15 Million...

WoW at its peak had 12 Million.. 12 million. let that sink in.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

A quick google shows a max of 289,000 people logged in but the average per day this month was 190,000. Given an estimate of 20% being paying customers either through Cartel market or subscriber fee. For the sake of simplicity, we'll just say $15.00 per month either way. That's a revenue stream of $142,500.00 currently. Out of that comes costs of running the game which I don't have the inclination to research or guess at.

 

In 2023, the profits from SWTOR are going to have to justify extending the license on a game that falls outside Disney canon and is thus frowned upon by the Mouse. While it is hard to find EA's financials on what they paid for the exclusivity license, we can extrapolate from Hasbro. Hasbro pays $35 million a year and 20% of SW toy sales for their exclusivity license. From that, we can guess a ball park figure for EA's exclusivity license. Even if they go with a non-exclusive license,the costs of licensing and maintaining a game that brings in $142,500 a month do not paint a rosy picture.

 

As such, 7.0 is probably a Hail Mary. While there is no guarantee that the game will shut down in 2023, they have to be able to justify costs. 7.0 indicates that they don't think their current approach will do it but, frankly, it is unlikely that 7.0 will change the math significantly enough to keep the lights on.

 

Still, I suppose they have to try.

 

Still think what they're doing with Weeklies is stupid though.

 

Edit: I accidentally said "$142,500.00 a year instead of "a month". Obviously, that sounds like a lot until you realize that, apart from that being revenue and not profit, that still has to justify a license that probably runs for 1-2 million for a non-exclusive license for a year.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Thepyrethatburns

[MystyqeofXev]

Thanks for doing the research. If their "hail mary" is to gate rewards, and make the game (and by default rewards / progression) LESS accessible for casuals, and provide more rewards for {NICHE CROWD}, then I don't see this ending well.

[Pirana]

I get what Bioware is doing too.

 

It's a Hail Mary.

 

As is easily googled (In fact, unlike people who make up stuff about financials, I'm going to link.)

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/ubisoft-to-make-star-wars-game-marking-end-to-ea-exclusivity

 

EA loses the exclusivity license in 2023. To quote my own post:

 

 

 

2022, more than any other year, is where Bioware is going to be justifying cost of license renewal for a ten-year-old game in a genre that's on life support.

 

To quote one of my Facebook posts from Sept 11 2020 (because I do read financials):

 

------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Fortnite has 250 Million people playing... ( holy ****. )

Minecraft has 112 Million...

Warframe has 50 Million...

League of Legends has 33 Million...

FFXIV has 18 Million...

ESO has 15 Million...

WoW at its peak had 12 Million.. 12 million. let that sink in.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

A quick google shows a max of 289,000 people logged in but the average per day this month was 190,000. Given an estimate of 20% being paying customers either through Cartel market or subscriber fee. For the sake of simplicity, we'll just say $15.00 per month either way. That's a revenue stream of $142,500.00 currently. Out of that comes costs of running the game which I don't have the inclination to research or guess at.

 

In 2023, the profits from SWTOR are going to have to justify extending the license on a game that falls outside Disney canon and is thus frowned upon by the Mouse. While it is hard to find EA's financials on what they paid for the exclusivity license, we can extrapolate from Hasbro. Hasbro pays $35 million a year and 20% of SW toy sales for their exclusivity license. From that, we can guess a ball park figure for EA's exclusivity license. Even if they go with a non-exclusive license,the costs of licensing and maintaining a game that brings in $142,500 a year do not paint a rosy picture.

 

As such, 7.0 is probably a Hail Mary. While there is no guarantee that the game will shut down in 2023, they have to be able to justify costs. 7.0 indicates that they don't think their current approach will do it but, frankly, it is unlikely that 7.0 will change the math significantly enough to keep the lights on.

 

Still, I suppose they have to try.

 

Still think what they're doing with Weeklies is stupid though.

 

I do agree with most everything you mentioned, but those World of Warcraft numbers are nowhere near its peak. They were somewhere in the neighborhood of forty million plus. Those numbers were probably current numbers. You can easily find their peak numbers online.

 

Most of us do get what EAWare is doing, they are rolling the dice to see how things unfold, and this is no doubt, their biggest gamble since launch. For true fans of this game, I do hope it ends well.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Pirana

[DiamondDove]

I get what Bioware is doing too.

... brings in $142,500 a year do not paint a rosy picture.

 

I think your assumptions are out. There is no way SWTOR would be still supported, let alone receiving new content, if the annual income is only $142,000. That would not even pay for Keith. We do know that it has earned in excess of $1 billion so far (NB not profit or turn-over, just income). That averages more than $100 million per annum. I think the current income is anyone's guess unless it is reported by EA at some stage.

 

Edit - update based on the poster's edit: even an estimate of $1.7 million per annum seems too low based on previous publicly available information. I suspect it would also be too low for EA to invest in updates. However, this is pure speculation on my behalf.

Edited November 26, 2021 by DiamondDove

[Thepyrethatburns]

I do agree with most everything you mentioned, but those World of Warcraft numbers are nowhere near its peak. They were somewhere in the neighborhood of forty million plus. Those numbers were probably current numbers. You can easily find their peak numbers online.

 

Most of us do get what EAWare is doing, they are rolling the dice to see how things unfold, and this is no doubt, their biggest gamble since launch. For true fans of this game, I do hope it ends well.

 

Wiki disagrees.

 

------------------------------

 

World of Warcraft was a major critical and commercial success upon its original release in 2004 and quickly became the most popular MMORPG of all-time, reaching a peak of 12 million subscribers in 2010.

 

-----------------------------------

 

I did a little poking around and it seems that the active player base for WoW for 2021 is roughly 4.75 million. Blizzard's count of 46 million peak and 26 million current seems to include everyone whose account has not aged off.

 

Much as I appreciate those figures (because, using Blizzard's methods, SWTOR has 10 million accounts that haven't aged off which would make for a brighter future for the game), I feel it's more accurate to rely on figures of how many people are actually logging on on a regular basis.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Thepyrethatburns

[Thepyrethatburns]

I think your assumptions are out. There is no way SWTOR would be still supported, let alone receiving new content, if the annual income is only $142,000. That would not even pay for Keith. We do know that it has earned in excess of $1 billion so far (NB not profit or turn-over, just income). That averages more than $100 million per annum. I think the current income is anyone's guess unless it is reported by EA at some stage.

 

Edit - update based on the poster's edit: even an estimate of $1.7 million per annum seems too low based on previous publicly available information. I suspect it would also be too low for EA to invest in updates. However, this is pure speculation on my behalf.

 

The thing is that, up until 2023, they don't have to pay for licensing. As such, the costs are currently lower. Once they have to start paying licensing, costs turn into a different ballpark.

 

Also, the $15 per paying player is an estimate since I don't know how much people spend on the Cartel Market. I could very easily be lowballing it but I don't suspect that I'm doing it by much.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Thepyrethatburns

[Pirana]

Wiki disagrees.

 

------------------------------

 

World of Warcraft was a major critical and commercial success upon its original release in 2004 and quickly became the most popular MMORPG of all-time, reaching a peak of 12 million subscribers in 2010.

 

-----------------------------------

 

I did a little poking around and it seems that the active player base for WoW for 2021 is roughly 4.75 million. Blizzard's count of 46 million peak and 26 million current seems to include everyone whose account has not aged off.

 

Much as I appreciate those figures (because, using Blizzard's methods, SWTOR has 10 million accounts that haven't aged off which would make for a brighter future for the game), I feel it's more accurate to rely on figures of how many people are actually logging on on a regular basis.

 

Never take anything that Wiki has listed at face value. I can go in there and edit anything I want, at any time. Regarding your last statement, irrelevant to my previous statement.

[MystyqeofXev]

WoW has been trending downward (and hiding sub numbers) since 6.1 (WoD).

 

SWTOR? /shrugs. My hope is somebody takes this franchise and does something with it, ala "EQ Next" (DIAF Daybreak Games).

 

Give people an updated, new engine, SWG with NO NGE or that other nonsense.

[Pirana]

The funny thing is, that during beta, this game was routinely being called the 'WoW killer', along with a number of other MMO's on the market. I played that game for maybe six months and it simply didn't interest me, but I can see the allure of it. The ironic thing though, is they're destroying their own game, whether it's their convoluted systems or the recent allegations. Every dog has its day. SWTOR would love to have the population that game still has though.

[ralphieceaser]

WoW has been trending downward (and hiding sub numbers) since 6.1 (WoD)

Shadowlands has caused a huge exodus due to the disaster it has become due to their obsession over high end content design and the lawsuits which has lead to many other mmorpgs getting a huge influx of players and Swtor has been one of the few big ones along ESO and FF14 that have taken many ex-wow players.

 

So the death of wow has benefited everyone else since it seems the numbers of specifically mmorpg players isnt rising by a huge margin so it is a matter of each mmorpg getting a slice of that mmorpg playerbase, the death of one can benefit the other and WoW atm has been quite dead, even with their new patch most of the game is dead and guilds have been dying left and right with only high end mythic ce tryhards somewhat remaining stable.

Edited November 27, 2021 by ralphieceaser

[Thepyrethatburns]

Never take anything that Wiki has listed at face value. I can go in there and edit anything I want, at any time. Regarding your last statement, irrelevant to my previous statement.

 

Fair but I could also say "Never take anything Blizzard says at a stockholder meeting at face value"

 

If the IRS said that EA (and Blizzard) had to make their balance sheet public or the FTC said that they had to present active (as in revenue-generating) subscriber numbers for their MMOs as part of their shareholder value, we wouldn't have to look at third party analysis. They don't so there we are.

[Pirana]

Fair but I could also say "Never take anything Blizzard says at a stockholder meeting at face value"

 

If the IRS said that EA (and Blizzard) had to make their balance sheet public or the FTC said that they had to present active (as in revenue-generating) subscriber numbers for their MMOs as part of their shareholder value, we wouldn't have to look at third party analysis. They don't so there we are.

 

I wouldn't take anything anyone has to say at face value, but I certainly wouldn't take my information off a site that anyone can edit.

[Thepyrethatburns]

I wouldn't take anything anyone has to say at face value, but I certainly wouldn't take my information off a site that anyone can edit.

 

Fair enough.

[MystyqeofXev]

Years ago, (I think Lehman Brothers was still a thing), during WoD, Activision had an open call where they fielded calls. One of the analysts asked, "You are no longer reporting subs, why?" (Or words to that effect).

 

The Blizzard rep answered before the guy barely finished his sentence, "We have other ways to measure success" (again, words to that effect)

 

Thus was born the "time-played" metric.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Activision would rather have one (1) whale paying a million dollars a month, rather than 999,999 subs paying $1 each.

 

Years from now, the demise of that company will be studied in economics classes on how NOT to run a franchise.

[Pirana]

As someone that's old enough to remember the 80's very well and had the Atari 2600, I always looked for games from Activision, because they simply made the better games overall, notable is the first Pitfall game. When I read they acquired or joined forces with Blizzard, I thought for sure it would have been a 'marriage made in heaven'. I really don't know everything that's going on with that company as I'm not in their board meetings or conference calls, but I would love to be a fly on that wall... lol

 

And I agree, if they wind up eventually folding WoW at some point or the business as a whole, this will go down as one hell of a learning lesson. To be that high up on the mountain only fall that hard, is unfathomable.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Pirana

[ralphieceaser]

Years from now, the demise of that company will be studied in economics classes on how NOT to run a franchise.

 

As long as the focus on short term profit is accepted and tolerated by society as the norm I doubt it.

 

WoW has been losing pop for a while now, shadowlands just made the effect much worse yet it has still remained extremely profitable.

This isnt about the time played metric, it is about revenue generation, a person who plays all days to grind whatever new system but doesnt buy much with $$ doesnt matter much, but a person who buys WoW tokens to exchange for gold and buy boosts for gear is absolutely a goldmine, as well as whales who buy whatever new silly mount WoW throws at them cuz +1 mount,

 

Since the invention of the WoW token they ve practically made the game P2W if gear progression is your goal, the easiest and least painful way to get gear in WoW is to buy a few wow tokens, sell them to the auction house and then buy boosts from one of the many enormous boosting communities, from m+ to mythic raid boosts including funnel options.

 

Now everytime a players join late, or a player rerolls, they arent gonna be invited to groups even if they are capable due to having low ilvl, but they can easily buy boosts to get to max gear level. And with all forms of casual relaxing gearing being gutted and giving absolute trash tier gear, the only option for you to catchup is to buy boosts and spend real $ to blizzard.

 

Just to be clear, I have no issue with boosting, I am just pointing out how it has become a goldmine for blizzard with how boosting has been popularized that even the president of blizzard is doing it for their guild xD

[Rion_Starkiller]

When I say catering to a specific player base, I meant group content over solo players. And yes, I do agree that the content for that is minimal.

The issue is around the gearing system focusing on OPs players at the expense of other players. Then there are the changes to conquest that seem to be 180” change in using Alts or being a solo player in a small guild.

BioWare are undoubtedly switching back to MMO group focus at the expense of the solo players. The same as they switched from MMO group players back with 5.0 and Kotet/kotfe to solo oriented players.

It’s because BioWare keep changing back and forth of what they want swtor to be that we have lost so many players over the years.

They don’t need to be so heavy handed or exclusional to certain play styles to make the game better or inclusive and inviting to everyone.

 

Most content crosses over between the types, but here's how I see it: Solo players are getting story (including FP) -- probably about the same as Onslaught. They're also getting a new Galactic Season. Additionally, they are getting combat styles as they are primarily for the SP crowd to play through stories differently, such as a Bounty Hunter Sniper (MP players will primarily use the loadout system, and change between imp/pub versions of their specs).

Edited November 27, 2021 by Rion_Starkiller

[MystyqeofXev]

Most content crosses over between the types, but here's how I see it: Solo players are getting story (including FP) -- probably about the same as Onslaught. They're also getting a new Galactic Season. Additionally, they are getting combat styles as they are primarily for the SP crowd to play through stories differently, such as a Bounty Hunter Sniper (MP players will primarily use the loadout system, and change between imp/pub versions of their specs).

 

Is the {NICHE GROUP} unable to access that content? I've said all along, put the absolute best gear behind Crafting or PvP and {NICHE GROUP} will whine so loud, you'll have to uninstall Discord.