In an interview with Gamasutra, BioWare lead writer Daniel Erickson tried to put on a positive spin to the recent report that subscription numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic have been declining.
Daniel stated that “subscriptions are not dropping“, yet in the same interview stated that “the number of concurrent users at peak times has declined. Those light server populations may lead to server mergers“.
One doesn’t have to look very far to realize the only reason subscription numbers are not dropping is because BioWars just gave every player 30 free days of game time. I myself quit by February and if you couple my three month time-card, with the initial 30 free days and now the extra 30 free days from last week, I would still be considered an active player even though I quit two months ago.
The real indicator is server population and if BioWare is already talking about server mergers, that’s not a good sign, no matter how much free time they give out.
this game is wicked fun, and with he additions that came with 1.2 im not sure why anyone would quit
I quit this game when 1.2 came out. Game is pure garbage. I tried to stick it out as much as I could, but as a pvper the game is just DEAD, especially with 1.2 completely killing off world pvp in benefit to warzones.
Guild Wars 2 can’t come fast enough.
This game gets old real fast. The developers have gotten this all wrong and even though we all know the game was rushed into service it was what time was spent on development is why it has failed. With most of development working on sound and graphics rather than what makes a MMO survive in this competitive market shows a lack of depth in MMO game knowledge. Gone are the days where a developer can bring a game into the market and then patch to make it better – this is not how it works. WOW has a successful formula and even though we didnt want another WOW there are things in WOW that work really well and things that don’t. One would think in the development of a MMO to compete with WOW that you would get the simple things right like a search on the Auction House. Or Gear relevant to PVE would suffice rather than grinding for PVP gear because its better in the PVE environment and easier to get. I mean even simple stuff like PVP arenas or decent end game content, achievements all these things why people like MMO’s.
Who cares about how good the audio is in this game when we raid we are in VENT and do not listen to crap. Graphics – why would you make them to force people to have to purchase a new PC or graphics card? Why is WOW successful because it is playable on a POS system and thus many people can play it with limited funds.
Don’t get me wrong there are some things in SWTOR done really well such as companions and quests/storyline – but yeah I leveled five toons to 50 did the grind did the end game and quit after two months of playing. Very disappointed. This game will die another 50% when Diablo 3 is released, then the WOW expansion will hit and yeah what was this game called again? I never even complained about all the bugs/problems – that I can live with – a poor developed game I cannot, I wish I was in charge of EA I so would have fired those MF’s and fixed it because it is so easy to do.
@Imsotasty
the problem isn’t that the game is bad.. its that everyone that has quit playing . was hoping for a WOW clone. while saying they didn’t want a WOW clone…
how is EA supposed to make a game that you like. .when you send them mixed messages. yes the server pops are so dismal if ur not in a guild for raids. GL finding 8 people not saved to content online and willing to party with you.
server merges would fix this problem. or server battle groups for pvp and maybe a LFG que system.
im not hip on the patent process or whether or not WOW has a patent on there LFG system. but it would be a nice addition.
in wow. you have O background for your charecter. nothing makes you feel like your avatar is special.. you didnt punch a nobel in the face or try to steal a star ship. you dont have a bunch of ghosts waking you up in ur sleep.
i for one love this game for its uniqeness. i enjoy the fact you cant macro all your moves to two keys and sleep thru a raid. this game isnt ment to be easly played while stoned out of ur mind. stop crying about how it isnt RIFT OR WOW. last i checked it was called SWTOR.
Bioware lost a lot of subscriptions when they released the 1.2 game update. They completely destroyd pvp. 1st they removed rewards for lossing warzones , that caused all the casual pvp players to unsubscribe. They took weeks to unwind that mistake. They still have the pvp gear pricing WAY to high for casual players. They get sick of getting steamrolled by heavy geared guildes and bail. They removed world pvp entirely and didn’t replace it with anything worth while. Bioware cant seem to get its act togather. Bioware should fire the Head pvp designer, Im not sure he has ever played pvp. If EA where smart they would cut bait and run before this POS takes the stock down another 5 bucks .Ive already unsubscribed and am waiting for Guild wars. Until then diabo 3 is looking good.
Let’s break it down.
1) EA’s problem is being EA. They are not a great company when it comes to RPG style games, probably why they bought out Bioware.
2) Bioware’s problem, in my opinion, is being part of EA. Bioware’s track record of quality single-player games shouldn’t be in dispute. In EA’s defense, Bioware probably was unprepared to take on a project of this scope and ambition with their resources, and EA grew impatient after so many years of development, leading to an early unfinished release.
3) The game itself. Its not designed for PvP, but not a complete failure at it. World PvP, no question, failure. Warzones, the 10-49 bracket isn’t perfect, but its a lot better than I’ve seen in many games, including Warhammer and WoW. The lvl 50 warzone is more of a mess, but then so are most MMO’s out there. Still, I think the PvP market is pretty fickle. Better to focus their efforts on polishing the PvE side of things, and let PvPers find the next hot thing, or something better.
On the PvE side, undoubtedly there are a lot of issues, but don’t discount the big things they accomplished. Having voice over for the majority of the game is huge and quite engaging as a player while questing, either alone or in groups. The quests are interesting with strong stories driving them. Dungeons while lacking in the endgame, are well done and plot heavy. All that being said, the single biggest issue, has got to be ease of social grouping. Right now, particularly on low population servers, you might as well be playing alone. Scatterred over so many zones and not have a crosszone LFG channel of an LFG tool guarantees many players have little choice but to play solo. That gets old fast. For an MMO to survive, you need to have people talk and play with each other. You can’t force it, loners will always be loners, but you have to make it easy and accessible. I kept playing WoW longer than I would’ve otherwise because of the people in-game. That is what ToR is missing right now more than anything else.