Why are all the SWTOR databases dying?

Swing!.... and a miss.

Mr Google actually pulls it's metadata for search results from THE ENTIRE WEB.. not just a few hack profit centric database sites. More often then not.. a google search will bring actual results that have noting to do with the database sites. The database sites don't much even make the top ten in the hit lists anymore... that should immediately tell you something about them.

There is definitely some degree of responsibility on the community team and developers to interact with fans, though.

There is a podcaster that I am a big fan of that runs a WoW podcast, and for a period of time, he ran a SWTOR podcast as well. Early on, there was a lot of community interaction and offers to do things like interviews. About the time that he canceled the podcast, he said the community rep interaction had dwindled to nothing. He wasn't seeing any community support at all. A lot of his frustration was kind of similar to that other guy's, just less angry and sulky.

I think Eric Musco, being from a fansite originally, has been trying to beef up community interaction. I kind of feel like it's the developers who are dragging their feet more with communicating than it is the community team. There was a time when I was seeing more personal interviews on fansites and podcasts, even when there wasn't an eminent release. We do get stuff from the cantina events, but the most interesting stuff comes from personal conversations that aren't recorded, and therefore they aren't regarded as legit.

A few of the guys are also happy to talk to you on Twitter. But the level of discussions always seems to focus on just a few things that are happening in the game right now.

I agree with you.

But ask Dulfy is she feels she has access to the dev team in supporting her fans. I bet she says yes.

Ask the fans about the Cantina Tours all over the country. Most true fans will tell you they both enjoy them and feel it gives them real access to the Bioware staff.

Ask any sensible regular member of the forum if they feel there are live, interactive, and caring staff members working directly with this forum audience. I bet most will admit, even the harsh skeptics, YES.

These are just three relevant examples. [ None of which in any way means the game is perfect, or the devs or perfect, or for that matter that the players are perfect. ]

My point is DarthMaulUK insists that they do nothing for fans, do not support fan sites, and probably that they harm kittens in their offices. He hates the game and he hates the devs...He has made his views chear in this regard. So his rhetoric deserves contrasting points of view IMO. He is entitled to express his views.. and others are entitled to disagree and explain why.

Let's be practical about it though... we are NEVER going to have the access and touch points into the game and it's development staff that many players feel they deserve. Simply because the expectations of what is deserved are neither needed nor warranted. It's a business, not a nursery school.

I've gone to the cantina events. They're nice. I may go to another this week if I can pull another day off. The problem with them is they only reach as far out as the people who attend them are willing to broadcast. The Q&As tend to get bullied down with a lot of the same questions over and over that usually are answered with "soon" or "we can't talk about that now". Then you talk the devs personally and get all kinds of interesting stories that will never be believed because they're not recorded for posterity.

I'm really not dissing the community team at all. Like I said, I tend to feel that they're hands are mostly tied to what EA is allowing them to do. I think in some cases the lack of effort and motivation is in the fan sites, but I know what I know from talking with folks who have been frustrated and there is definitely something missing. I'm not sure what can be done at this point. It doesn't help that almost everyone I know who has some kind of swtor blog or site seems to do nothing but gripe and complain.

Yeah. Personally, I think this is the nature of the beast on the internet these days. It's true for MMOs in general, not just this one, from my observation.

In fact.. it's generally pervasive on the internet...not just in the context of MMO focused sites.

OK, lets give you an idea of what SOE did with Star Wars Galaxies.

My site - swgalaxies.net would have regular developer Q&As, time card giveaways, LIVE developer chats, Exclusive screenshots for upcoming new items. We were the first site to reveal the Jedi Knight and the first to reveal new mounts, new ability animations. There was SO much more but this gives you an idea.

I did the same for Empire at War and lots of other Star Wars games and it was a thrill to do. I paid out so much money in web hosting but because LucasArts enjoyed what I did, they gave back in added value. I would be in regular contact with their PR departments, some of the studios.

This is the kind of thing I am talking about. Fan sites are the life and blood of a good MMO and the Community Team need to focus on that. Hence why games like League of Legends is so strong - it's community management is spot on. Fan spot lights, videos, pvp videos and they actually a) interact more b) PLAY with the community in game.

So if you think Bioware are doing enough, think again.

Maybe this is true. EA have NEVER understood Community and will at every given opportunity, just piss it off. Until my run in with Mr Bass. It just seemed so odd that when EA took over the running of the game, everything switched and the dark side of the force shrouded everything

And if fansites are complaining, there clearly is a communication break down. Fan sites need content to help drive them forward and not just copy and paste whats on the front page of this site.

The thing is, EA doesnt understand they need to reinvent in a game after goes back to the profit needed instead of just milking it until it dies.

The dev team need to grow if they want to stay competitive on this market.
Happy subscribers = profit and more recruiting.

This. 2.0 sucked, 2.1 was the nail. People claimed they were unsubbing, this is what happens when they go. This is a direct result of Bioware not giving a flip. Enjoy your 500 CC.

Yes, it makes up for these forums lack of a "disable avatar display" option (that I can find) as well as blocking at least the stupid graphics from sigs (since I have also been unable to find a "disable sig display" option).