A letter to the Devs: Please, Stop Dumbing the game down

[SentinalMasterWW]

This post may be sound a bit mean in some parts, I apologize for that, I am not personally attacking any Devs, nor do I encourage hate towards them. If I sound mean understand its from a place of frustration, like how when your boss gives you the talk on something you messed up, its not from a place of hate, its because they want you to do better. I love this game, I was excited for it when it was announced all the many years ago, I was just in Junior high when the game launched, my PC barely ran it but I was excited, it was my first Star Wars MMO. I only played for a limited time though my PC could barely run the game, and my folks didn't want to pay for it anymore. 

Flash forward to around war for Iokath, I came back to the game Post High School, I played on a crummy laptop but had a ton of fun coming back to this game, I played through all 8 stories, and loved them. 

When 7.0 was announced a lot of players were skeptical, I was optimistic. Some Changes were good, and some prunning was fine, Oh how Wrong I was. 

I played on the PTS, Sniper trooper was exciting for me, being able to play different specs on whatever class I pleased, it gave the game some freshness. At first I didn't notice the pruning, I'd later come to this realization on how bad it actually was. 

Onslaught launched in February of last year, We are basically almost 3/4 through this year, and almost into next year, 2024. 

SWTOR is on a decline, the game is dying. 

They are getting dumpstered on by the Competition. 

This game is loosing more players each and each month, 7.3 dropped around June, We actually LOST Players, Repeat WE LOST PLAYERS IN A CONTENT DROP. 

This game is not even close to the numbers ESO and World of Warcraft are at, Even if you count non-steam players, It's not even close. Just for giggles, Fallout 76, I repeat, Fallout 76 has more active players than SWTOR 

A game that has not had any Story updates, since September of last year, has more active players than SWTOR. 

The Dev's are killing this game, They do not care anymore. A bit harsh, but with the radio silence we get as fans, its hard not to see why. 

The Dev's babyfied this game, They removed any complexity to be had. 

-Abilites, Prunned and all the cool abilites Removed. 

-Gearing, Made even more convulated and complicated, The one thing they were trying to fix

-Endgame, Hope you like Grinding R-4 LOL, Nim Raids are pointless now, Why run it when you can run a master mode flashpoint to get your gear. 

Finally we get to PVP, Sorry to say but the Dev's turned what was once a solid game mode, into some of the Worst PVP in any game imaginable, a Fat joke of a mode now. Premades Q and farm players, Don't bother trying to fight them, they got pocket healers and tanks with them 24/7. The Horrible class balancing, I guess the Dev's Favorite class is Sorc/Sage seeing as how they have not had any Nerfs at all, Were barely prunned, and are great at everything. There is no Complexity at all in PVP nowadays. PVP seasons isn't saving PVP, Q times are getting longer now, since no one cares anymore. There is no point in playing lowbie or Midbie PVP anymore, You don't get gear scaled to your level, Great I'm level 38 and I got gear rated for level 70, so excited. Even than its a joke, everyone is running madness/Balance no suprise, Midbie is broken beyond belief, Yes lets have a level 79 toon in 306 Gear with gold Augs and a tactical, fight a level 49 toon. 

If you want a more in-depth on how bad PVP is right now, Go check out Cease's Post on it (https://forums.swtor.com/topic/930707-state-of-pvp-things-that-should-could-change-for-the-better/) 

Remember the year worth of exciting content we were promised here is a rundown of what happened in case you forgot 

-We got Ruins of Nuhl, probably one of the most hated flashpoints in the game (Anyone remember the insta kill bug with malgus, Fun times) 

-Return to Manaan, for like 30 minutes to an hour.

-R-4, its okay I guess. 

-Believe it or not Season 15 of ranked was actually going to be a thing (https://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/02152022/game-update-7.0-legacy-sith) 

Quote

PvP Season 14 - Season 14 of Ranked PvP has come to a close. New rewards will be available at Giradda the Hutt on the Fleet with our next patch. Highest ranked players will receive rewards based off of their highest ranked rating when Season 15 starts later this year! More information about the PvP Season 14 Rewards here.

-Speaking of ranked, that was Thanos Snapped, and instead the Dev's split the Q (which was good) and made it so 8 Man premades could be a thing (not a good thing) 

 

The reason I bring all of this up, is that since 7.0 dropped we have gotten Over promised content only to be hit with the mediocrity bat, or they take anything that is somewhat complex and enjoyable and purges it from the game and replaces it with a babyfied version of it.

The dumbing down to the lowest denominator is hurting this game, You might get some new players to join, but their not subbing, their not sticking around for long, Y'know who did stick with you for 10+ years, and was excited to celebrate 10 years of SWTOR? The Fans, your loyal player base, the one you ignored and shoved aside, because their opinion was wrong, they didn't know what they wanted, The Dev's did. 

The Plummeting player base numbers speaks for how well that turned out. 

I made two posts back in the day; Why 7.0 Doesn't Work and the follow up post to it, I literally gave you the problems and some basic solutions, Am I saying my way is the correct way, no, there are tons of topics on this forum on how to improve this game. I even gave more ideas on bringing players back (https://forums.swtor.com/topic/930710-what-the-devs-can-do-in-80-or-sooner-to-improve-the-swtor-experience-for-players/#comment-9773621) 

There are a ton of posts on this forum, of players leaving feedback for the Dev's, all of it ignored, I understand you can't take every idea, but just some communication would go a long ways. If a Dev stated "Yes we see that, Premades are an issue we are looking into ways to help players" would go a long way in building that trust with the community. 

To @EricMusco & @JackieKo, SWTOR is struggling, the fans are not happy, they are leaving. Please take some time, and start implementing the features that players liked back. I think Adding player abilities back would be a good first start and fixing Combat style trees, on getting this game back on its feet. If you and the Dev team would have to take more time from making Story Content, to fixing Bugs and improving the base experience for players, I think most would understand and appreciate it. 

While I may be only one player out of thousands, I may be someone yelling at the clouds, Perhaps someone will hear what I have to say. Better to say something, than nothing. 

 

 

[TheVoyant]

The majority of what you described is where the player base is at. There's just too much in the wrong direction with zero accountability. 

I would love to say you're overreacting but most of it is pretty spot on.

I would say the average long time player simply hopes they don't make the game worse at this point. Most of us hate just about everything from the 7.0 era. The combat styles & loadouts, & map changes are about it in terms of positive.

Operations, Flashpoints, & PvP are all in worse states.

Class Balance is atrocious. The most complicated specs have to fight to be perfect, and even then they're not even close to being competitive with the mindlessly easy ones. 

But if we're being realistic there's no reason to be hopeful. We're the equivalent of Princess Leia sitting in a cell after watching our home planet be obliterated by the Death Star that was 7.0.

We have no Kenobi in the dev team to look to for hope. Maybe the GM of Broadsword values the customers enough to demand accountability? But why should we expect change or optimism when we've been saying the same things for 2+ years now.

They'll brush aside losing players because to them it looks like the normal trend, when not seeing the writing in the wall. Players want to have a decent product like they used to & are turning to games with devs who are honest.

Look at Baldur's Gate 3, a completely unfinished at launch game generating massive praise simply bc they engage correctly with their consumers & provide what is asked. This game literally shares the same market. It doesn't take a rocket science to see the ways this could be profitable if they just actually put in the effort & most importantly:

TREATED THEIR CUSTOMERS WITH RESPECT. 

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by TheVoyant

[Kazuone]

As Keith said: 7.X is a step to a bright futur for the game. I believe that.
Broadsword things surely paused/delay many plans for the game's. 

For now, the only thing I'm not happy with is the lack of communication on what are the plans for the game in 2024/2025.

[Spikanor]

55 minutes ago, Kazuone said:

As Keith said: 7.X is a step to a bright futur for the game. I believe that.

i believe that not at all.

so far there have leak out of it is only destroying the game more what there are doing now.

why add a stupid trade tax, or increse the GTN tax, and more you see people not like it that is not going to help the infliation at all in this game.

there are a lot off other better way's to deal with it so why not listing to the communety idea's what players like to see and not come up with stupid idea's.

there is still the 7.0 big problem there need to clean up to us for what there not have done at all.

then we not have talk about the mega big list of bugs there need to fix still.

then we have the big comunication problem between the team and communety there need to fix.

there is a giga long list there need to do first before there is a bright futur for the game.

[Guyverarmor]

LOTRO has more of a player base than SWTOR at this point...and that game is older than SWTOR. Still pushing out new races, classes and content. Hell, next expac for LOTRO "Umbar" is coming out end of this year.

I wanted SWTOR to succeed so damn bad and yet somehow it has floundered. One the biggest IPs in history is being squandered. No matter how many White Knights on this forum coming to the defense of this game.. this game has failed. Plain and simple.

At this point, just give me a new SW MMO. I want to be able to log in and feel like I am playing in an open world set in the SW universe. This game gives none of that. The reason I sound salty and upset is because I KNOW this game could have succeeded. If there was anything that could topple WoW with an IP, it should have been SWTOR... and it made me so upset to not see it done.

Edited August 24, 2023 by Guyverarmor

[Ahwassa]

While these posts are mostly true these are ultimatly problems for players that are more deep within the games ecosystem.

I personally think the biggest problem that should be addressed is:

 

1. improve the experience that players have when starting new into the game (clean HUD, tutorials, hide all the overwhelming stuff and add it later, etc)

2. promote the game via social media, streamers, collabs, etc.

This game has probably the best storys/romances of all MMOs out there - but no one knows.

3. use your strengths (you have the best stories (and they are free) and lightsabers - show it to the world!!

 

PS:

I personally like the new skill trees - you have to plan now and some classes (merc, sabo) obviously had an ability bloat.

 

[felleto]

I think everyone is still pretty shacken up by you know... having to leave to a new office, starting at a new development studio, having half your team mates laid off. Things are not looking pretty for Bioware and I'm just glad they didn't just cancel the game outright. 

With that being said I would the next coming months will be decisive for the game, it's make it or break it time and I don't think they have the luxury of messing up the next content patch. Who knows mabe they will turn this around. I'm patient with my games, so I will give them my time and money for now and see what they can accomplish this year. 

[Guyverarmor]

3 minutes ago, felleto said:

I think everyone is still pretty shacken up by you know... having to leave to a new office, starting at a new development studio, having half your team mates laid off. Things are not looking pretty for Bioware and I'm just glad they didn't just cancel the game outright. 

With that being said I would the next coming months will be decisive for the game, it's make it or break it time and I don't think they have the luxury of messing up the next content patch. Who knows mabe they will turn this around. I'm patient with my games, so I will give them my time and money for now and see what they can accomplish this year. 

From then till now, only Keith has said something really and that was due to the leak of them moving studios. Since then it's been radio silence.

Like I said in another thread this is 100% reminding me of how Rift was handed off from Trion to Gamingo. Spoiler alert: It did NOT end well. The game is basically maintenance mode and dead except for a few whales.

[felleto]

45 minutes ago, Guyverarmor said:

From then till now, only Keith has said something really and that was due to the leak of them moving studios. Since then it's been radio silence.

Like I said in another thread this is 100% reminding me of how Rift was handed off from Trion to Gamingo. Spoiler alert: It did NOT end well. The game is basically maintenance mode and dead except for a few whales.

One part of me thinks that this will be case for swtor. BUT, a group of passionate developers with independence and the know how can really do amazing things. The question that remains is if swtor developers are this passionate to go above and beyond. I think they have delivered some amazing story patches. It took them long but I was very happy with the flash point for old wounds. I will keep breathing my hopium for as long as the game lives I guess, it's a good game and I feel better paying my sub to them than to acti-blizz or ESO (that game has elder scrolls only in the name)

Edited August 24, 2023 by felleto

[Spikanor]

53 minutes ago, felleto said:

Things are not looking pretty for Bioware

thats there own fault why its not looking good for then.

anthem is the most hate game there is there have release.

there have lost also one of there older game titels to a other company for a remake.

and now there lose this game also so yea its all there own fault if its looking bad for then.

[OlBuzzard]

5 hours ago, SentinalMasterWW said:

This post may be sound a bit mean in some parts, I apologize for that, I am not personally attacking any Devs, nor do I encourage hate towards them. If I sound mean understand its from a place of frustration, like how when your boss gives you the talk on something you messed up, its not from a place of hate, its because they want you to do better. I love this game, I was excited for it when it was announced all the many years ago, I was just in Junior high when the game launched, my PC barely ran it but I was excited, it was my first Star Wars MMO. I only played for a limited time though my PC could barely run the game, and my folks didn't want to pay for it anymore. 

Flash forward to around war for Iokath, I came back to the game Post High School, I played on a crummy laptop but had a ton of fun coming back to this game, I played through all 8 stories, and loved them. 

When 7.0 was announced a lot of players were skeptical, I was optimistic. Some Changes were good, and some prunning was fine, Oh how Wrong I was. 

I played on the PTS, Sniper trooper was exciting for me, being able to play different specs on whatever class I pleased, it gave the game some freshness. At first I didn't notice the pruning, I'd later come to this realization on how bad it actually was. 

Onslaught launched in February of last year, We are basically almost 3/4 through this year, and almost into next year, 2024. 

SWTOR is on a decline, the game is dying. 

They are getting dumpstered on by the Competition. 

This game is loosing more players each and each month, 7.3 dropped around June, We actually LOST Players, Repeat WE LOST PLAYERS IN A CONTENT DROP. 

This game is not even close to the numbers ESO and World of Warcraft are at, Even if you count non-steam players, It's not even close. Just for giggles, Fallout 76, I repeat, Fallout 76 has more active players than SWTOR 

A game that has not had any Story updates, since September of last year, has more active players than SWTOR. 

The Dev's are killing this game, They do not care anymore. A bit harsh, but with the radio silence we get as fans, its hard not to see why. 

The Dev's babyfied this game, They removed any complexity to be had. 

-Abilites, Prunned and all the cool abilites Removed. 

-Gearing, Made even more convulated and complicated, The one thing they were trying to fix

-Endgame, Hope you like Grinding R-4 LOL, Nim Raids are pointless now, Why run it when you can run a master mode flashpoint to get your gear. 

Finally we get to PVP, Sorry to say but the Dev's turned what was once a solid game mode, into some of the Worst PVP in any game imaginable, a Fat joke of a mode now. Premades Q and farm players, Don't bother trying to fight them, they got pocket healers and tanks with them 24/7. The Horrible class balancing, I guess the Dev's Favorite class is Sorc/Sage seeing as how they have not had any Nerfs at all, Were barely prunned, and are great at everything. There is no Complexity at all in PVP nowadays. PVP seasons isn't saving PVP, Q times are getting longer now, since no one cares anymore. There is no point in playing lowbie or Midbie PVP anymore, You don't get gear scaled to your level, Great I'm level 38 and I got gear rated for level 70, so excited. Even than its a joke, everyone is running madness/Balance no suprise, Midbie is broken beyond belief, Yes lets have a level 79 toon in 306 Gear with gold Augs and a tactical, fight a level 49 toon. 

If you want a more in-depth on how bad PVP is right now, Go check out Cease's Post on it (https://forums.swtor.com/topic/930707-state-of-pvp-things-that-should-could-change-for-the-better/) 

Remember the year worth of exciting content we were promised here is a rundown of what happened in case you forgot 

-We got Ruins of Nuhl, probably one of the most hated flashpoints in the game (Anyone remember the insta kill bug with malgus, Fun times) 

-Return to Manaan, for like 30 minutes to an hour.

-R-4, its okay I guess. 

-Believe it or not Season 15 of ranked was actually going to be a thing (https://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/02152022/game-update-7.0-legacy-sith) 

-Speaking of ranked, that was Thanos Snapped, and instead the Dev's split the Q (which was good) and made it so 8 Man premades could be a thing (not a good thing) 

 

The reason I bring all of this up, is that since 7.0 dropped we have gotten Over promised content only to be hit with the mediocrity bat, or they take anything that is somewhat complex and enjoyable and purges it from the game and replaces it with a babyfied version of it.

The dumbing down to the lowest denominator is hurting this game, You might get some new players to join, but their not subbing, their not sticking around for long, Y'know who did stick with you for 10+ years, and was excited to celebrate 10 years of SWTOR? The Fans, your loyal player base, the one you ignored and shoved aside, because their opinion was wrong, they didn't know what they wanted, The Dev's did. 

The Plummeting player base numbers speaks for how well that turned out. 

I made two posts back in the day; Why 7.0 Doesn't Work and the follow up post to it, I literally gave you the problems and some basic solutions, Am I saying my way is the correct way, no, there are tons of topics on this forum on how to improve this game. I even gave more ideas on bringing players back (https://forums.swtor.com/topic/930710-what-the-devs-can-do-in-80-or-sooner-to-improve-the-swtor-experience-for-players/#comment-9773621) 

There are a ton of posts on this forum, of players leaving feedback for the Dev's, all of it ignored, I understand you can't take every idea, but just some communication would go a long ways. If a Dev stated "Yes we see that, Premades are an issue we are looking into ways to help players" would go a long way in building that trust with the community. 

To @EricMusco & @JackieKo, SWTOR is struggling, the fans are not happy, they are leaving. Please take some time, and start implementing the features that players liked back. I think Adding player abilities back would be a good first start and fixing Combat style trees, on getting this game back on its feet. If you and the Dev team would have to take more time from making Story Content, to fixing Bugs and improving the base experience for players, I think most would understand and appreciate it. 

While I may be only one player out of thousands, I may be someone yelling at the clouds, Perhaps someone will hear what I have to say. Better to say something, than nothing. 

 

 

The development team is without question a knowledgeable and capable group of associates.  The have an above average level of understanding and comprehension.  Otherwise, they would not be where they are today.  IMO they KNOW what is going on.  They unquestionably understand a great deal.

That being said ... there is a difference between knowledge and understanding and the usage or application of wisdom from said abilities.  

SWTOR is at a crossroads.  I've said this more than once.  Right now someone inside of Broadsword has some choices to make.  In your post I noticed how many times you mentioned PvP concerns.  Even though I don't personally engage in that aspect of the game ... I have close contacts with several other players that do.   I can tell you that your concerns ARE valid.  I've visited the section in the forums for PvP on more than one occasion.   People like @TrixxieTriss and SEVERAL others have been begging for a more positive direction in the PvP aspect of SWTOR for several years now (long before we moved to this new forum board).  

PvE is just as concerning as PvP.  And entire essay could easily be drafted on this one subject alone.  And as you have already pointed out the forum board has literally dozens of threads on this topic as well.  They cover everything from armor / face roll game style / companion abilities (or a lack thereof):  CONTENT anyone????

Companions ... interactions ... themed content.  Remember the 8 classes?  Frankly I sometimes now have to stop and think just remind myself of what the heck the classes were (it's been so long that we actually needed to know).

While it is true that SWTOR is hurting (without question) ... restoration / restructuring / growing the game is not impossible.  However, if things remain status-quo then the fate of the game is sealed.

Which now brings me full circle:  Someone has some decisions to make.  In fact ... some of those should have already been made and initiated by now.

Now would be a good time for a senior representative of Broadsword to introduce themselves to the community with plans and insight for the future.

[Qua-Tari]

Agreed with most if not all points said above. Thing is, there's really not much to do at the endgame. Tiny drops of story content are good for a hour or two whenever a new part drops, and that's it. Galactic Seasons are ok but not fulfilling, and there's an empty void once the season ends.
There needs to be more, much more viable group endgame content. R-4 operation can be almost ignored except for the small hardcore dedicated player group, and flashpoints need to matter more than just for quick looting & turning in blue piece to Hyde & Zeek to unlock mods, all they're good for afterwards is conquest points for guilds and tech fragments. Personal conquest is so easily reached through increasing some reputation once a day, you can do it for most if not of all characters long before the weekend is there, and after that there's hardly much more to do than sitting there and twiddling the thumbs.

Obviously people get bored when there's nothing meaningful left to do. Flashpoints don't really matter, operation are just there for tech fragments, and can be ignored as well depending on how easily the cap can be reached legacy-wide. Gearing is all done through mods purchasing at Hyde & Zeek once you unlock the highest tier. Oh yes, and there's PvP with the dedicated player core, though it seems that has also been gutted and dumbed down, and new players are often discouraged from trying it after being trashed by experienced and geared veterans once or twice.
As of right now, it looks like Swtor has been maneuvered into a dead end after the changes at 7.0, and it might require more work to get back out of it and make the game more appealing to casual players, than the current owners are willing to put in.

Edited August 24, 2023 by Qua-Tari

[sharpenedstick]

This game is very near to maintenance mode. You have to be realistic in terms of what's going to be possible in the future. Especially because Broadsword is almost certainly going to be working with less resources than EAware had, and they've carried over all the time-serving failures who have been running this game into the ground over the last several years.

Positive changes are possible, but at this point I'm not optimistic.

[Char_Ell]

1 hour ago, OlBuzzard said:

Now would be a good time for a senior representative of Broadsword to introduce themselves to the community with plans and insight for the future.

What does this mean?  Keith Kanneg is a senior representative of Broadsword and SWTOR's Executive Producer.  You already know him.  You also know he communicated to the community multiple times in June in response to the leaked Broadsword transition news and the announcement of the actual transition. 

I get the impression you want somebody else at Broadsword higher up the command structure than Keith Kanneg to introduce themselves.  If that is the case then I ask the question: how many times did Gary McKay address SWTOR players in his role as General Manager of BioWare and Keith Kanneg's previous boss?  All I recall is Gary McKay mentioning SWTOR in one or maybe two blog posts prior to the blog post announcing SWTOR dev's team transition to Broadsword.  Broadsword has not updated their website to show SWTOR as one of their games.  Broadsword has not updated swtor.com or forums.swtor.com to remove the BioWare logo and replace it with theirs.  I think these actions (or lack thereof) communicate quite clearly the importance of SWTOR being added to their portfolio, which to be clear is SWTOR is not very important.  I therefore have no expectation of hearing from anybody at Broadsword higher up the food chain than Keith Kanneg unless and until Keith Kanneg's role as SWTOR's Executive Producer ends.  Perhaps not even then.

[Quantum]

42 minutes ago, Char_Ell said:

What does this mean?  Keith Kanneg is a senior representative of Broadsword and SWTOR's Executive Producer.  You already know him.  You also know he communicated to the community multiple times in June in response to the leaked Broadsword transition news and the announcement of the actual transition. 

I get the impression you want somebody else at Broadsword higher up the command structure than Keith Kanneg to introduce themselves.  If that is the case then I ask the question: how many times did Gary McKay address SWTOR players in his role as General Manager of BioWare and Keith Kanneg's previous boss?  All I recall is Gary McKay mentioning SWTOR in one or maybe two blog posts prior to the blog post announcing SWTOR dev's team transition to Broadsword.  Broadsword has not updated their website to show SWTOR as one of their games.  Broadsword has not updated swtor.com or forums.swtor.com to remove the BioWare logo and replace it with theirs.  I think these actions (or lack thereof) communicate quite clearly the importance of SWTOR being added to their portfolio, which to be clear is SWTOR is not very important.  I therefore have no expectation of hearing from anybody at Broadsword higher up the food chain than Keith Kanneg unless and until Keith Kanneg's role as SWTOR's Executive Producer ends.  Perhaps not even then.

The folks clamoring on about hearing from people at Broadsword, simply don't know how Broadsword is structured, they are used to larger studios like Bioware, or EA itself with a much more tiered hierarchy.  The only person that Keith would be reporting to is likely Rob Denton,  the founder and owner of Broadsword.  From my experience,  and I've been following a Broadsword title since Broadsword was founded, he rarely if ever directly communicates to the players, he expects the individual games teams to handle that.  

[OlBuzzard]

2 hours ago, Char_Ell said:

What does this mean?  Keith Kanneg is a senior representative of Broadsword and SWTOR's Executive Producer.  You already know him.  You also know he communicated to the community multiple times in June in response to the leaked Broadsword transition news and the announcement of the actual transition. 

I get the impression you want somebody else at Broadsword higher up the command structure than Keith Kanneg to introduce themselves.  If that is the case then I ask the question: how many times did Gary McKay address SWTOR players in his role as General Manager of BioWare and Keith Kanneg's previous boss?  All I recall is Gary McKay mentioning SWTOR in one or maybe two blog posts prior to the blog post announcing SWTOR dev's team transition to Broadsword.  Broadsword has not updated their website to show SWTOR as one of their games.  Broadsword has not updated swtor.com or forums.swtor.com to remove the BioWare logo and replace it with theirs.  I think these actions (or lack thereof) communicate quite clearly the importance of SWTOR being added to their portfolio, which to be clear is SWTOR is not very important.  I therefore have no expectation of hearing from anybody at Broadsword higher up the food chain than Keith Kanneg unless and until Keith Kanneg's role as SWTOR's Executive Producer ends.  Perhaps not even then.

I'm not arguing that your point is either right or wrong!  BUT (for whatever it's worth) ... the evidence seems to strongly collaborate your position.   I would also suggest that another point that you mentioned in your response is the lack of importance of SWTOR.   That also may or may NOT be true.

As for the overall chain of command ..  I'm not overly hyped about WHO is actually communicating ... but the lack thereof (regardless to whom the responsibility falls) is also another clear-cut indicator of where this game is actually at in terms of its developmental progression (or a lack thereof).

BTW.. please note that this response should be read with a very calm tone.  It is not intended to be one of reprisal.  (I hope that makes sense).

It should also be noted that OP has some very valid concerns!

[Char_Ell]

48 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

It should also be noted that OP has some very valid concerns!

I read the OP and all I got out of it was a jumble of complaints and assertions without any evidence in support.  I understand the view that many players have about SWTOR getting dumbed down with 7.0.  I think the OP's concerns are so much water-under-the-bridge at this point.  That horse has already left the barn.  The "dumbing of the game" is done.  At this point, to my knowledge, we don't even have any indications from the devs that they are considering further "dumbing down" of SWTOR.

[OlBuzzard]

14 minutes ago, Char_Ell said:

I read the OP and all I got out of it was a jumble of complaints and assertions without any evidence in support.  I understand the view that many players have about SWTOR getting dumbed down with 7.0.  I think the OP's concerns are so much water-under-the-bridge at this point.  That horse has already left the barn.  The "dumbing of the game" is done.  At this point, to my knowledge, we don't even have any indications from the devs that they are considering further "dumbing down" of SWTOR.

Regardless of how either of us perceive OP ... it does not make their concerns any less valid.   Neither does the historical past of the team etch into stone their current position or directives to the future of SWTOR.  Neither does the position or future directives of the said team require my stamp of approval in order to seek validation.  (Although it should be noted that it would be in everyone's best interest if the team DID listen to feedback from the community from time to time.)

[Spikanor]

18 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

Although it should be noted that it would be in everyone's best interest if the team DID listen to feedback from the community from time to time.

on some topic's i think there need to listing to the feedback always and not from time to time alone.

if there release a new update with the new patch note's then you need to listing good to the feedback players give about it always and not only from time to time.

same go's for the expension note's there need to listing to the feedback also good since maybe there chance some things here and there still what gets the most hate or people not like.

or in most case explane it good what is going to chance.

take the 7.3.1 update is also a good example from keep listing to the feedback always since you can still chance things before you release something that make things only more worse.

 

there have listing to the gelactic season feedback always and chance it at the next season like we have see from season 1 feedback has chance season 2 big time.

what there need to do is the same thing only then on other place's to listing and do something with the feedback and chance things if its need.

[xordevoreaux]

12 hours ago, SentinalMasterWW said:

This game is loosing more players each and each month, 7.3 dropped around June, We actually LOST Players, Repeat WE LOST PLAYERS IN A CONTENT DROP. 

Care to cite your source on this? Because the game developer does not and has never released official player participation numbers.

Any number you pull out of the air won't be verifiable, but anecdotal.

[Char_Ell]

3 minutes ago, xordevoreaux said:

Care to cite your source on this? Because the game developer does not and has never released official player participation numbers.

I can supply the source I'm pretty sure the OP refers to as I check it regularly and I know at least one other frequent forum poster that uses it and has recently posted links to it.

https://steamcharts.com/app/1286830#1m

[Spikanor]

12 minutes ago, Char_Ell said:

I can supply the source I'm pretty sure the OP refers to as I check it regularly and I know at least one other frequent forum poster that uses it and has recently posted links to it.

https://steamcharts.com/app/1286830#1m

but that only shows the players that use the steam version not the once's that have download the launcher from the site.

[Char_Ell]

11 minutes ago, Spikanor said:

but that only shows the players that use the steam version not the once's that have download the launcher from the site.

That is correct.  However that doesn't mean that people won't use Steam player activity data and apply it to the game's entire player base regardless of that fact.   

The question about what percentage of SWTOR's player base uses the Steam version of the game client is one that does not have a conclusive answer.  However if a recent poll conducted on the /r/swtor subreddit is accurate then the majority of SWTOR's players use the Steam client.  In my opinion that gives Steam player activity data much more weight and if Steam data shows a significant downtrend (>10%) then it's likely standard client player is trending down as well.  Only the devs and EA have the actual numbers but of course they will not share those with us because they don't want players to focus on the negative more than they already do.

[Jdast]

18 minutes ago, Spikanor said:

but that only shows the players that use the steam version not the once's that have download the launcher from the site.

Which is far more than you need to establish statistical significance, the baseline for which is 0.05 percent.

Even if you don't believe that Steam numbers reflect a broader trend, losing 3300 players in three months is troubling in its own right.

Dasty

[OlBuzzard]

2 minutes ago, Jdast said:

Which is far more than you need to establish statistical significance, the baseline for which is 0.05 percent.

Even if you don't believe that Steam numbers reflect a broader trend, losing 3300 players in three months is troubling in its own right.

Dasty

Agreed!  Valid point!  (Particularly when from a standpoint of percentages .. 3300 of SWTOR current player total count is considerably more significant than the same 3300 in a game such as WoW.  In any case, that sort of an impact absolutely cannot be ignored. 

And to that end .. (as I mentioned earlier) someone has some decisions to make (if that hasn't already taken place).