Shae Vizla Launch Updates

[JohnnyGatt]

19 hours ago, Darev said:

1.   Just because it CAN be done (technically speaking) on some other game, doesn't mean that THIS game uses the same code / connections---cloud servers or not.

And we are just talking about the tech And possibilities for the game.

I learned about the technology at the Australian Gaming Development Conference this year  Some engineers from EA presented it. They are talking about attempting to implement it across as many platforms as they can in the future. They are setting up dedicated links between their servers that are less likely to be affected by basic Intranet traffic. 

So they can get an Excellent connection between Australia and San Francisco Much faster than the average Australian could connect to San Francisco and much faster than somebody in the US could connect to Australia. EA said they had it working in some games And didn't want to make it public to prevent gamers In the games it's currently testing from Dropping when they saw a slightly higher ping. They were confident it would be widely used in MMO's/RPGs and are still working on increasing performance for FPS games. The technology is server side So will work on older games as well according to the presentation. 

I believe one of the games they're testing is Diablo 4 as I have played with Americans and we were discussing our ping times when in the same zones and all of us had low ping So I was connected to an Australian server They were connected to a US server But we were next to each other doing the same crap and PVPing. All the open-world zones Have players from Taiwan, Australia and the US playing side by side killing the same bosses..

And as for your comments about the time zones People Play at all sorts of wild times. This type of Technology will allow people who are playing in the middle of the night in the U. S. to still get PVP matches. That's the benefit for Americans. whereas for Australians. simply increasing the accessible player base will make the world a difference. Also allowing Australians to compete in international competitions which was the main focus of the presentation,

And the language barrier is not an issue at all. I've played multiple games on Asia Pacific servers with both English and Chinese-speaking players playing content side by side. Very little communication is needed in this game Unless you're trying to raid together. Any game that has multiple languages and communities like Guilds simply implements language options in gilded descriptions That's another thing Diablo did with no problems at all.

 

Edited March 10 by JohnnyGatt

[TrixxieTriss]

@JackieKo Can I make a suggestion in case you guys haven’t already thought about it. 

Now might be a great time to send out another email to the APAC community saying Transfers are opening on Wednesday (our time). This will remind those who may be busy or have left the game again since January. 

It would also be a great marketing opportunity to get the older APAC players back if you were to offer free transfers to them as well if they Subscribe this week or next. And I would go as far as offering 1-4 free transfers for F2P & Preferred players too if they had an account before the server opened. This would show you want to grow the community. 

[Gabriaye]

Any of my mates/friends of friends/workmates/anyone I talk to about gaming that continue to play this game after the way we were treated will be getting a mouthful from me, I will not support another aussie spending a cent here.

Id rather throw the money in the trash, where they throw us, as EVERYTHING we have spent/ earnt way as well be thrown out if its all locked over on the US servers.

You trashed us on the live stream "hahahaha no transfers till all us (BS USA players) get our achievement hahahaha, aussies are below us" 

stick the money iv spend in a place I'm not allowed to say here, i will never spend another cent. 

 

Its actually funny, Iv been around since the start, as i have wanted this game to succeed until now...

 

I will openly say that EA, Bioware, Broadsword, Treat APAC like second class gamers, and what us to bow down to our USA overlords, and not to bother buying game from a company that treat us as such.

 

Edited March 11 by Gabriaye

[DawnAskham]

14 hours ago, TrixxieTriss said:

@JackieKo Can I make a suggestion in case you guys haven’t already thought about it. 

Now might be a great time to send out another email to the APAC community saying Transfers are opening on Wednesday (our time). This will remind those who may be busy or have left the game again since January. 

It would also be a great marketing opportunity to get the older APAC players back if you were to offer free transfers to them as well if they Subscribe this week or next. And I would go as far as offering 1-4 free transfers for F2P & Preferred players too if they had an account before the server opened. This would show you want to grow the community. 

If they wanted to grow the community, they wouldn't have launched an APAC server as 'fresh start', nor restricted transfers for so long and to such an extent.

This is a dead server as far as group activity, it just may take a few months to be noticeable to all, only solo leaning APAC players and Seasons reward farmers will spend any time here.

Edited March 11 by DawnAskham

[emperorruby]

16 hours ago, TrixxieTriss said:

@JackieKo Can I make a suggestion in case you guys haven’t already thought about it. 

Now might be a great time to send out another email to the APAC community saying Transfers are opening on Wednesday (our time). This will remind those who may be busy or have left the game again since January. 

It would also be a great marketing opportunity to get the older APAC players back if you were to offer free transfers to them as well if they Subscribe this week or next. And I would go as far as offering 1-4 free transfers for F2P & Preferred players too if they had an account before the server opened. This would show you want to grow the community. 

they did not listen https://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/31124/game-update-7.4.1

[ShadowyKai]

Too bad, they went with the retroactive requirement for free transfers.

I have an account with a subscription that I let lapse for a short while after the end of Galactic Season 5. Had I known that it needed to remain subscribed the whole time to qualify for free transfers, I wouldn't have waited to renew the subscription.

If they're going to require us to do something at a certain time, can't they at least let us know about it before that required time is over?

[emperorruby]

@JackieKo @KeithKanneg you have chosen the path of destruction a bloodbath has begun apac players that miss out or their payment failed for some reason will not take this well at all most likely are gone for good Shae Vizla server might not survive with out them and miss a good marketing opportunity

[emperorruby]

@JackieKo @KeithKanneg proposal a second wave of free transfers for apac players only to cut them off them being able to give very bad backlash in the GAME UPDATE 7.4.1 "BUILDING A FOUNDATION" COMING MARCH 12TH! thread on reddit and on discord and if you think you can make 500cc to 1000cc per character i consider it a mistake from a pr stand point trust is lost with the apac community and most likely they wont pay that 

Edited March 11 by emperorruby

[Nommaz]

"Players who have been Subscribed since before January 2, 2024 will receive 16 free transfers to the Shae Vizla server."

Tone deaf..
I guess my sub will stay cancelled at the end of the paid time.

 

[JohnnyGatt]

I am astounded there has been no further conversation from the BS team about their thoughts or in response to the hundreds of requests for a re-evaluation of who gets free transfers.

I guess they're waiting to see how many actually do pay for transfers and may even hold it off for a week or so and say, look what we've done after hundreds of Aussies have already paid for our transfers. We're going to give it to you for free now. Aren't we great?! 

Or am I just predicting that they're way better at deceptive marketing than they are and they are just truly ignorant of the APAC community and what has been discussed in their own forums?

Or is it that they just don't give a crap what we think or if we stay?

If it's not actually deceptive marking It does not bode well for the future of SWTOR in this region.  

[DawnAskham]

2 hours ago, JohnnyGatt said:

I am astounded there has been no further conversation from the BS team about their thoughts or in response to the hundreds of requests for a re-evaluation of who gets free transfers.

I guess they're waiting to see how many actually do pay for transfers and may even hold it off for a week or so and say, look what we've done after hundreds of Aussies have already paid for our transfers. We're going to give it to you for free now. Aren't we great?! 

Or am I just predicting that they're way better at deceptive marketing than they are and they are just truly ignorant of the APAC community and what has been discussed in their own forums?

Or is it that they just don't give a crap what we think or if we stay?

If it's not actually deceptive marking It does not bode well for the future of SWTOR in this region.  

Whether this is some sort of deceptive marketing strategy OR just another in a long list of ill conceived ideas that do more harm than good, neither bodes well for the future of SWTOR.

[Duck_Cider]

On 3/10/2024 at 5:14 AM, Darev said:

     a)    International cross server queues may SOUND like a good idea, but there are hurdles to overcome and honestly really only helps PUGs and hurts (potentially) GUILD based runs (a guild member drops for whatever reason and all the people who can PUG are already doing so and unavailable for a last minute availabe spot in a guild run).

    b)   The language barrier - already discussed in other posts

    c)   The Time Zone difference - Shae Vizla is about 16-18 hours ahead of East Coast time, depending on how Daylight Savings time works between US and Australia/Sydney.    So...8 PM in NYC = Noon the next day in Sydney (roughly).  Works for Friday/Sat nights in the east coast, but Sun  - Thu that's the work week, lunch time.    There might not be enough NUMBERS of players to make it worth the investment.

I think there'd be a fair bit of demand for cross-server queuing. Might even get people using group finder for SM ops. Just depends if the benefit of faster queue pops is worth the implementation cost - it's not a small request. On your letter points:

a) The system should help people do what they want to do. I don't like a policy that effectively says, "we have a way to make your queue pop faster, but we won't implement it, since you should be on standby to fill a possible missing spot in a guild run."

b) Add checkboxes for which servers to get matched to. The whole thing should be opt-in. If someone only wants low-ping content, and they're willing to wait for that, fine. Maybe home server only, maybe willing to queue within their region (like a NA player queueing SS+SF). But while ticking the box to more remote servers includes the risk of being matched to high-ping content there, it also brings the benefit of getting a faster low-ping pop on their own server, where some of that pop is filled by other cross-server queuers with high ping.

c) The current choices for someone wanting group content during their server's off-peak time are "stay queued on home server, but wait very long time for pop" or "setup char + gear on remote server, get faster pop, but can't bring rewards to home server without a transfer". Being able to queue on remote servers, and claim the rewards on their home server - while still queued on their home one, in case they get lucky with a local pop - seems like a win/win.

 

On 3/11/2024 at 11:43 AM, TrixxieTriss said:

It would also be a great marketing opportunity to get the older APAC players back if you were to offer free transfers to them as well if they Subscribe this week or next. And I would go as far as offering 1-4 free transfers for F2P & Preferred players too if they had an account before the server opened. This would show you want to grow the community. 

On 3/12/2024 at 10:02 AM, JohnnyGatt said:

I guess they're waiting to see how many actually do pay for transfers and may even hold it off for a week or so and say, look what we've done after hundreds of Aussies have already paid for our transfers. We're going to give it to you for free now. Aren't we great?! 

They might want some data on transfer usage first. Not only in general (so all the talk about needing credits for strongholds, guild ships, and NiM repairs, but not GTN shopping, can be assessed), but also comparing use by APAC players vs rest-of-world players. If it shows that APAC players are more likely to use transfers to bring actively played chars, as intended by the devs, that would provide evidence for the devs to consider extra transfers for that specific group. Seeing how the results differ by transfer number (1st, 2nd, 16th) might also suggest where they draw the line. I'm not expecting 16 free transfers to show up again.

Possibilities from here:
- 4 for pre-existing (acct. created before SV launch) APACs who missed the 16, but are subbed, or start a sub before free transfers expire in 30 days?
- Nothing for pre-existing APAC f2ps - the devs could point them at the previous line, and say if they've never paid a cent in the game's history, they'll probably never get a better deal to start paying for than that one.
- 1-2 for pre-existing APAC prefs? (Plus pre-existing APAC subs who missed the 16, if no 4-transfer sub? Brought up to 4 total, if 4-transfer sub happens? Additional? Depends on dev target.) Current players could at least transfer legacy for free, or bring imp + pub. Former players would benefit even more: they'll want to try the game before committing any new money. Since they have spending history (pref), the devs would want their trial to go especially well. A free transfer would let them try the game using a familiar char, with a decent mix of abilities, plus access to some group content, all on a low-ping server.

Edited March 13 by Duck_Cider

[Darev]

I like your option B.     The opt in for which servers to connect to.  It's a really good idea.

[AussieAlan]

Oh come on, so even though I have been subbed since December last year, I am subbed until August this year, because there was less than a day between having enough money to resub after my 2-month sub ran out I miss out on free transfers, seriously.

This is the thanks for being a sub on and off for like 8 years.

Shame EA Shame.

Edited March 12 by AussieAlan

[Celwinn]

I've been subbed since Dec 1 2023 and I have no free transfers? 

 

[TrixxieTriss]

@JackieKo is there nothing you can do to help these people?

[Stansman]

6 hours ago, AussieAlan said:

Oh come on, so even though I have been subbed since December last year, I am subbed until August this year, because there was less than a day between having enough money to resub after my 2-month sub ran out I miss out on free transfers, seriously.

This is the thanks for being a sub on and off for like 8 years.

Shame EA Shame.

Same here,  I've been subbed continually since about September last year except for a few hours when my sub ended and I had to wait for there to be money in my account to resubscribe, I've also bought a considerable  number of Cartel Coins in that time and I miss out on the free transfers too..I'm damned angry right now.

[TrixxieTriss]

14 minutes ago, Stansman said:

Same here,  I've been subbed continually since about September last year except for a few hours when my sub ended and I had to wait for there to be money in my account to resubscribe, I've also bought a considerable  number of Cartel Coins in that time and I miss out on the free transfers too..I'm damned angry right now.

@JackieKo @EricMusco @KeithKanneg there are more & more people having this issue. Surely you can do something to help them. Please don’t wait a week to address this & to discuss this issue with the community or you will lose a bunch of players. Staying silent right now will 1000% make this blow up. 

[JackieKo]

6 hours ago, Celwinn said:

I've been subbed since Dec 1 2023 and I have no free transfers? 

 

If you meet the criteria stated for free transfers, and are not receiving them, I encourage you to reach out to support. And please be sure to include your account name. You can either follow these steps or email support@swtor.com.

[TrixxieTriss]

3 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

If you meet the criteria stated for free transfers, and are not receiving them, I encourage you to reach out to support. And please be sure to include your account name. You can either follow these steps or email support@swtor.com.

You could also fix this by adjusting the requirement to say any current APAC subscribers qualify for free transfers 😉

[Tarlen]

Typical response seems to be

'I can see that you have a question about free character transfers on Shae Vizla. Surely I will answer your question here.

I would like to share that due to the breakage in your subscription sadly you are not eligible for the transfer, I understand that it was just for a couple hours but sadly it will not count as recurring and due to which you will not be eligible for the transfer.

I really wish I could have made this possible for you but this is out of my hands and I cannot change it.

You can share your feedback with the Dev. team about this using the below mentioned link.

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/927917-general-feedback/

Please accept my sincerest apologies if this is not the most ideal resolution you were hoping for at the moment.`

Way to crap on the community for brief issues like outdated cards, billing/bank issues.

Poor form @JackieKo and @KeithKanneg 🤦‍♂️

Edited March 12 by Tarlen
grammar

[Tarlen]

It's actually a circle J.

Forums tell you to lodge a ticket. CS responds telling you to lodge feedback on forums hahahahahaha

[TrixxieTriss]

31 minutes ago, Tarlen said:

Typical response seems to be

'I can see that you have a question about free character transfers on Shae Vizla. Surely I will answer your question here.

I would like to share that due to the breakage in your subscription sadly you are not eligible for the transfer, I understand that it was just for a couple hours but sadly it will not count as recurring and due to which you will not be eligible for the transfer.

I really wish I could have made this possible for you but this is out of my hands and I cannot change it.

You can share your feedback with the Dev. team about this using the below mentioned link.

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/927917-general-feedback/

Please accept my sincerest apologies if this is not the most ideal resolution you were hoping for at the moment.`

Way to crap on the community for brief issues like outdated cards, billing/bank issues.

Poor form @JackieKo and @KeithKanneg 🤦‍♂️

Wow, that is absolutely terrible 🤯

So because you didn’t have your sub on reoccurring & it expired for a few hours, you don’t qualify & they won’t do anything to help you?

How many people are going to end up being affected by this? Especially those who pay 30-60 days at a time. This is really terrible customer service. 

Come on @JackieKo how is this acceptable to you guys? Please can you look into this. You may find this is going to be a larger issue than you think. 

Edited March 12 by TrixxieTriss

[Tarlen]

@TrixxieTriss I doubt they care. They just see it as potentially more $$$ spent on CC because of their self believed service of offering half CC transfers.

They don't look at it as potentially lost subs.

Delusional to the max

[Stansman]

I'm seriously thinking of quitting over this, all the money I've spent on this game and now I feel I'm being ripped off over a rule technicality.