I can. I only come back to the game when there is something new that I haven't done but here is my F2P advice to BW/EA and it is sure to bring players back.

 

Get rid of all the punishments for being F2P. Give the subscribers a lot more Cartel Coins to make their investment in the subscription worthwhile. There should be no restrictions on the F2P players. That is how the other F2P games survive and they do it well. ESO gives good store currency to their subscribers and faster exp and they sell their expansions. If BW, went to one very well done xpac each year that they sold and got rid of the F2P restrictions, there would be a lot more players playing the game. They can obviously still write a good story and if people knew that there would be an expansion say in December that had good content, and that the F2P restrictions were gone, they would come back.

 

Another thing BW needs to do is change all content to be group content including KoTFE and KoTET. People from my guild left the game because they didn't want to play the end stories single player. It is an MMO, make it an MMO again.

 

Unfortunately what they won't do is any of these things. That ship has sailed when they decided that they were going to punish people who didn't subscribe. It is completely stupid. They need to take a look at all the F2P or B2P games on the market and learn from their success or failures. Alas, they won't.

 

ESO also doesn't limit F2p, it is B2p but the F2p part after that is insanely good compared to Swtor atm.

Subscribing should still be an attractive option as those types of customers still exist in the market, especially the market of MMO's. You want the game to cater to those players and offer them tangible benefits beyond cartel coins.

 

I think the "pay2endgame" approach is good as you don't end up with people complaining about P2W that way.

 

Should some F2P restrictions be removed? Definitely the arbitrary and complex ones. Artifact Authorization needs to go away, credit caps need to go away, Toolbar restriction needs to go away, and a whole bunch of other stuff that end up being an unpleasant surprise rather than an invitation to sub.

 

But Ops and CXP should be sub-walled, and a PvP restriction should exist.

 

You can run as many raids / instances / pvp as you want in Eso, why should they limit it here in a more dying game than ESO is currently?

If SWTOR is losing players, how can Bioware turn things around

 

Take a page from its peers (WoW, ESO, FF14) and make a REAL, quality expansion with a lot of new repeatable content (not to mention great story, which was supposed to be what set SWTOR apart from its peers).

 

Simple, but not easy I imagine.

I have to ask - When you picture EA do you think it's some guys sitting round a table in a lair inside an active volcano, twirling their moustaches and laughing maniacally, doing everything in their power to just squeeze a little more money out of you?

 

I fixed this for you, but yes, this is exactly how we picture EA.

You can run as many raids / instances / pvp as you want in Eso, why should they limit it here in a more dying game than ESO is currently?

 

The more competitive the content, the less you want players to think they need to pay cash to get an advantage.

This is naturally hypothetical....not trying to spread gloom and doom here. The reality, however, is the game likely has less players than it had a year ago...or two years ago.

 

If that is actually the case, we could go on and on about what reasons we think those players left, but I think if any question should be asked it should be "can we get the players back?" and How?

 

That is what I would like to discuss here. Assuming the hypothetical is true, what could Bioware do, with the minimum possible effort and investment (time and resource) to return the game to higher player numbers?

 

I have some suggestions naturally. I would like to hear others opinions as well.

 

1) Offer former players 30 days of free play time and a bonus of 500 coins...and an additional bonus of 500 coins if you sub at the end.

 

Not much to explain here....send out an email, put out a public statement to all of the online video game sites. Get the word out...30 days and 500 coins.

 

2) Make the Amazon special.....2400 coins, 90 days, 40 bucks something you can use every 90 days.

 

IMO this is a huge draw item, as it offers a really good deal, one of the best IMO that is offered for sub options. This pack is the very reason I am subbed at the moment, and would likely remain so if they allowed it to be used every 90 days (currently it is 180 days).

 

3) Make a pass on ALL of the expansion content from SoR up through KotFE/ET/FA and make sure all of it can be done as a group, and remove the removal of companions at the beginning of KotFE.

 

Instead, players would be given the option of removal, or they could choose to keep their companions (but would still lose them story wise). I think this is one of the barriers (the lack of group play is another) that keeps folks from participating in the new content.

 

And, the most important change IMO.....

 

4) All high end progression content, like ranked PVP and Operations (hard mode) will now have a guaranteed gear drop...either some kind of token to redeem for a gear piece, or an unassembled item that grants a single piece.

 

I have other suggestions, but I think these changes would be the easiest to implement in the short term, and have the most appeal overall.

 

I would like to add more later, but I will start here.

 

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

you're not looking at the cause of the problem, but you are only looking at curing what is on the surface instead which won't solve the issue. What would solve this is getting EA to change it's mind on what it is doing with its Bioware arm and if you can't manage that, swtor doesn't have a hope and doom posts are besides the point with a situation like that.

Its a good point. Can you expand on exactly how you think the free to play option needs to change? Id like to hear more.

 

Honestly Artemis, I dont think they can. If you remember before kotfe, I said they were playing a bet that story people were their bread and butter and screw the Endgame people. It would either sink or swim, and it sank. The game lost about all the endgame progression people, which are the long term subs.

 

And unless they get off their asses, and make some decent endgame content (not just 1 boss a month), they will never get that player base back again, or not for a extended period of time. But the answer certainly isnt giving F2P more benefits they they have now, that is what the codes are for.

 

BW made their bed, now they can sleep in it...

The problem with the free option is that if I un-scribe I lose pretty much everything I can't create a new character and I can't play the new content the free to play option is only really valid for new players not people who want to stop paying till content comes out they want.

 

I would personally say they need to decide if they want free to play to be a valid option or not. Right now if anyone has completed the base game free to play is not valid.

 

My view however is if you make this a AAA game then people will pay for it if its not an AAA game and you want people to play and on occasion buy things then free to play needs to be better for ex subscribers.

They need to 100% tie into the new movies. Using the planets from the new movies is the most obvious way, but also explore some of the themes from them as well. Jedha and Guardians of the Whills lore would be amazing for instance.

 

This invented content doesn't work. The only reason many people are here is for Star Wars lore. We had direct tie ins to the movie universe at launch but since 2.0 it's been largely Bioware inventions.

Edited January 1, 2018 by annabethchase

They need to spend a few dollars on it, rather than continually sucking the life out of it every which way from a dwindling playerbase.

To lend my support to what Eli and Solar said -- at the end of the day, it is about content, content, content.

 

I have never been one to view good story content as mutually exclusive with decent, repeatable gameplay. I don't know how long the development cycle takes, but Keith acknowledged as part of taking over the helm that he had to revamp and hire people with different skill sets. We should soon see whether or not that change comes to fruition. I can tell you, though, that it was difficult to recruit friends during 5.0 when it was essentially a solo game.

 

Outside of content, I think getting the gearing system right is also important, though good content will always take precedence. If it's inherently fun to play, people will play. Fortunately, I think the gearing system right now is about right (note: not saying Solar endorses this latter point! ).

 

Absent a faster release of content, however, even altoholics like myself will rotate in and out, but that is probably true for any and everyone -- which is why you see people often leave and then come back as I myself did.

 

Couple of minor points / disagreements:

 

Lord Art, I think it would be a tremendous waste of resources to go back and revamp old content. It's done. I say focus on future new development.

 

As for the debate on Flashpoints vs. Chapters -- I come down squarely on the side of Flashpoints are better because it gives you options for grouping. I get that some will spacebar through it, but that is their choice. To come full circle then, this brings me back to my first point...

 

Good story and good content are not mutually exclusive -- and they need to do both harder and faster.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Dasty

Edited January 1, 2018 by Jdast

SWTOR cannot turn things around. There needs to be more cash investment in the game, something not going to happen.

 

The game's reputation has already been tarnished. If EA or BW were thinking of investing in Star Wars MMO they will need a new game.

 

BW reputation is also been significantly tarnished. Between this game, ME Andromeda and a new project that is losing devs like no tomorrow, it does not seem to be a company anyone would trust with anything.

 

Finally, MMOs do not work without continuous support from devs. EA business model is hit and run. Major advertising, maybe 1-2 good products/years, then trying to milk the player base while producing minimum quantity at the lowest quality content. This has been EA's legacy over the last 10 years.

 

This game will continue to shed players until the player base becomes too small for the servers to remain open. At the rate things are going I will be surprised if the game makes it to 2020.

 

The only hope is EA sell it to another dev, which is not going to happen.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Ottoattack

 

My view however is if you make this a AAA game then people will pay for it if its not an AAA game and you want people to play and on occasion buy things then free to play needs to be better for ex subscribers.

 

This.

 

I believe The Last Jedi has just made 1 Billion at the Box Office. Suggesting there maybe some demand for entertainment linked to Star Wars and Lightsabers and people are happy to pay to enjoy it. If you treat your subscribers like cash cows and just see how little content you can deliver and how many cosmetic items you can sell them, then even the dumbest will start seeing how this is a bad deal. Paying 100's of bucks to play house and barbie, while the only person that seems to be having any interesting adventures is Theron. And his not even a subscriber.

I just returned back to the game after a long time after I’ve seen latest SW movies which tempted me to see how this game is doing again. I'm experienced MMO player and a fan of Bioware RPG-s to ( played like most of their games from ME series to Dragon Age and Kotor ) .

 

What I can say about this game from the experience I have is that it has classical RPG combat which is working for a long time now in the games ( among them even in WoW which is successful still after all those years ) , graphics in the game is good enough - nothing impressive but decent enough for an MMO. It has fantastic story and immersive leveling experience, much better than most other MMOS and about the same quality which other Bioware RPG-s have.

 

But the problem with this game and the reason why it has trouble to keep people subbing is that it lacks a proper balance between single player content and the endgame which is lacking and which is not getting updates at a decent speed and amount to compete with other big MMOS on the market and when it comes to MMOS you need to have that to keep things going - to keep guilds and groups constantly engaged with challenging content. So I think that it would be a very smart move from a BW to get this game rebooted in a way ( just like SE did that with their FF MMO which was failing hard before that did happen in the past ) now in the time when SW IP is getting very popular again with movie releases to capture that wave of popularity and profit from it, because this is the right time when the game can get old players back to it and gain new ones. So it should get some more funding , increase the dev team to be able - to work on regular updates which should be aimed mostly for group activities, release full raids and not have this joke which is having now with the releases of one boss at the time and with long periods without any new endgame content released. Also it wouldn't hurt the game if it would start getting bigger expansions with everything they should have from flashpoints, new warzones, raids, leveling zones with an improved graphics, etc....

Edited January 2, 2018 by Lunablade

You need good and plentiful story to bring people in and then something to keep them playing whether that be end game, flashpoints, or other repeatable content. Endgame is extremely daunting for a new player so it is not a draw for them. The other thing that needs to happen is to stop trying to be the "WOW killer" and do what you do best. For Bioware that was an immersive and detailed environment with lots of "options". Sure it was heavy on story first but that is what brings people into the game. Story does not have to be all solo play but there needs to be a significant part of the game that can be done without grouping (the days of harcore gamers are gone and now it is all casual players who jump from game to game as it strikes their fancy). Variety of gameplay stylest is what makes MMOs successful. People also need to get used to longer cycle times for new content (the game is 6 years old and operating with limited staff) and be more accepting of "recycled" content. You can reuse lots of what is already here and by rearranging it, make it seem like new. If you took all the elements that currently exist in an operation and reshuffle them you would have something new (although there would always be those that complain that it is not brand new content)

To lend my support to what Eli and Solar said -- at the end of the day, it is about content, content, content.

 

I have never been one to view good story content as mutually exclusive with decent, repeatable gameplay. I don't know how long the development cycle takes, but Keith acknowledged as part of taking over the helm that he had to revamp and hire people with different skill sets. We should soon see whether or not that change comes to fruition. I can tell you, though, that it was difficult to recruit friends during 5.0 when it was essentially a solo game.

 

Outside of content, I think getting the gearing system right is also important, though good content will always take precedence. If it's inherently fun to play, people will play. Fortunately, I think the gearing system right now is about right (note: not saying Solar endorses this latter point! ).

 

Absent a faster release of content, however, even altoholics like myself will rotate in and out, but that is probably true for any and everyone -- which is why you see people often leave and then come back as I myself did.

 

Couple of minor points / disagreements:

 

Lord Art, I think it would be a tremendous waste of resources to go back and revamp old content. It's done. I say focus on future new development.

 

As for the debate on Flashpoints vs. Chapters -- I come down squarely on the side of Flashpoints are better because it gives you options for grouping. I get that some will spacebar through it, but that is their choice. To come full circle then, this brings me back to my first point...

 

Good story and good content are not mutually exclusive -- and they need to do both harder and faster.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Dasty

 

Thanks, Dasty Seriously, happy New Year to you.

BTW, maybe we don't see eye to eye about gearing, but judging from our posts in the last few months, I think we agree on more things than we disagree about. TC.

They need to 100% tie into the new movies. Using the planets from the new movies is the most obvious way, but also explore some of the themes from them as well. Jedha and Guardians of the Whills lore would be amazing for instance.

 

This invented content doesn't work. The only reason many people are here is for Star Wars lore. We had direct tie ins to the movie universe at launch but since 2.0 it's been largely Bioware inventions.

 

A major expansion with tie-in to the new movies, new classes (tied to the new movies,) new planets (from the new movies,) new races (guess where from?,) even similar story arc and theme could be used.

 

No AAA mmo with declining numbers has ever bounced back without a major new expansion and common sense tells us that (re-) associating with (the current films of) the most powerful IP in history wouldn't hurt either.

A major expansion with tie-in to the new movies, new classes (tied to the new movies,) new planets (from the new movies,) new races (guess where from?,) even similar story arc and theme could be used.

 

Just add a ton of Porg everywhere.

Make the next lifeday with Porg and Wookies, give subscriber rewards with porg.

Easy way to make money.

 

Just kidding, I hate those cute little space penguins.

But some ties or at least some reference could bring peoples back here, for sure. I remember when SW 7 got released, even on our dead french server we saw hundreds of Jedi all called "Kylo Ren" or something like that.

 

The IP definitely has some power, we just need some devs to put the fire back. Quality content > Cartel Market release.

This could fix a lot of issues with this game.

If SWTOR is losing players, how can Bioware turn things around?

 

They can't.

 

They clearly have very limited resources and their talent pool is now non-existing. They will never win back players such as myself. I quit about a month ago, due to the inability of BW to address the hackers, trolls, throwers, queue syncs etc. in ranked. A game with a paid subscription, but without active in-game moderators is a joke and a failure.

 

And that is just my perspective.

Its a good point. Can you expand on exactly how you think the free to play option needs to change? Id like to hear more.

 

Throwing the whole unlock system out and selling only cosmetic things is a workable system, and there have been successful hardcore games which have done exactly this. The could also be a mechanic where you could say "I'd pay $XXXXX to see an item which looked like X show up in the loot tables," which is something I've seen done. Except cynicism from looking at just about every modern AAA title these days says they'd charge you to have the item designed, give a free copy to the commissioner, and throw it in the next month's hypercrate as a platinum for everyone to gamble their life savings on finding. Sigh.

 

Anyway, designing from the philosophy that free-to-players are content and the solo-mode things in this game are services:

 

Older multiplayer content is available without limits. It's stale and nobody's going to pay to see Hammer Station again. The newer stuff is... less stale.

No XP gain from anything solo or any mob that isn't a group content boss after level 20ish (so everyone gets chapter 1). Full ©XP gain from multiplayer quests done with multiple players. Maybe even through a small amount of CC in for the completion of the FP, op, and warzone dailies and weeklies. Heroics don't count.

 

If there are too many of your role in group finder queue, you go to the front of the line as a sub. Or: if you're not a sub and want to get ahead, learn to tank/heal and git gud. Which means everyone needs all the quickbars.

 

Any mounts or cosmetic items which drop have to be unlocked in collections for CC before they can be used unless you've got an active sub.

 

Make CC tokens tradeable on GTN. This makes gold spammers less interesting. They exist because they have a product people find interesting.

 

... and that's how you get the multiplayer part of the game to be less dead.

 

The solo parts of the game could be made available with unlocks for $5-10 each in CC (class story, expansion story, on-rails space missions). Newer stuff should be more expensive because it's less stale, but not by much. Release day might even be $50 if the release is big enough for everyone who wants to get it first.

 

tl;dr ambitious redesign which won't happen unless things get a whole lot worse and someone gets seriously desperate.

They need to 100% tie into the new movies. Using the planets from the new movies is the most obvious way, but also explore some of the themes from them as well. Jedha and Guardians of the Whills lore would be amazing for instance.

 

This invented content doesn't work. The only reason many people are here is for Star Wars lore. We had direct tie ins to the movie universe at launch but since 2.0 it's been largely Bioware inventions.

 

Yeah I mean the movies are only happening like 1000 years in the future, but sure why not.

'Play your way' should truly be 'Play your way' for cxp:

 

- 75 cxp for class quest and exploration quests should be at least triple it's current rate (225). 7500 cxp,= 75 cxp times 100 quests, not a very positive rate.

- Having to do literally every heroic on a given planet for a 1k cxp bonus isn't good, the rate for heroics needs to simply be upped to 400-500 cxp per heroic, and 225 cxp for the bonus quests.

- The RNG aspect of Command Crates needs improvement.

 

A couple other things:

- Instanced lv sync, for those who don't want to be bothered [(options, this game didn't start out with mandatory lv sync), beating a dead horse, I know lol].

- I'd be willing to wait for however long, but an actual 1.0 to 3.0 style expansion.

 

That's about all I've got, for the moment.

Edited January 1, 2018 by ZeroTypeR

Interesting thread, some suggestions:

 

Keep producing group content.

 

Update rewards and activities of all Events (LOTRO does a good job i this area).

 

Add a new Event! An increase in the number of different events would enable them to be spaced out a little more, so repeats would be rarer, so more valued.

 

Increase F2P and Pref credit cap by 5x - 10x (10x is prob more in line with what inflation has done to cred prices tbh). This would enable sales of cartel stuff (unlocks, passes etc) by subs to pref/f2p to become a viable practice once again, increasing revenue to EA.

 

Sell Op and Wz passes again.

 

Open up Command Sytem to Pref, at a reduced rate of gain, eg 50% or whatever. A Pass would temporarily open it up to say 80%-90% or whatever. 100% gain restricted to Subs, much as normal XP gain (and rested Xp) is better for Subs currently.

 

Either increase the number of Crew able to craft or go on missions for Pref / F2p (currently 3), or sell unlocks which allow an increase. That or enable the current crew number to queue items, or sell an unlock to do it.

 

Basically, return the game to something akin to it's initial F2P / Pref / Sub progressive approach. In my view Bio's complete reversion to a Hard lockout from meaningful end game activity for anyone that is not a Sub is really damaging to the game. It hurts Subs by reducing the pool of players able to fill queues etc. It's noticeable that almost all other MMOs are doing the opposite, Bio/EA are pretty much alone in thier approach, and I think the game suffers as a result.

 

Just my 2 (dozen) cents.

 

Thanks for all of the replies, this is a great discussion. I will peruse it more closely and ask some questions later.

Based on how they merged servers and the minimal development over the last 3 years, there isn't anything they are going to do to grow the game. With the two small NA servers, the expansion room for the player base is very small. The level and type of development they've been doing for over 3 years says they have a very small development team. Nothing there points towards an interest in growing the game or making the investment that would be required.

 

To those who say get free of EA, remember, BioWare isn't a separate entity. It is a department in EA and a brand name and that's it. It is totally interchangeable with any other EA department. EA has gone way down the microtransactions or bust road and this game is no exception. As the money dries up in this game it will continue to fade away.