EA just released their earnings and Star Wars subs are down 25% for the quarter. This can't be a good thing. Can we get server mergers ASAP?

 

Added link

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ea-sales-beat-targets-star-wars-takes-hit-2012-05-07?siteid=yhoof2

Hello everyone,

 

This thread has been recreated because the previous version has exceeded our post threshold of 1,000 posts. Please continue to use this thread for any discussion on the updated subscription numbers from the earnings call.

 

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Thank you for understanding.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Noviru

Old Today , 04:38 PM | #1029

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Hey guys,

 

I rarely, if ever, post on the forum here...but I thought I would let you know something important:

 

Torstatus.net shows that almost every single server went into the negative after Diablo 3 release.

 

Also, I know you guys want to argue with people about how much you love SWTOR, yet you aren't playing it...

 

But, I think no one is responding because they are too busy playing Diablo 3 while you are still angry.

 

Hope this helps. May the force be with you and the three players left on your server.

 

First of all - the stats were like that for most of last week (except for the bottom half of the US servers, which were in the green for most of the week).

Second - uhmm, no - from the looks of things pretty much no one is playing D3 much because (OMG!!!!) the servers have been down throughout the day since release.

 

BJ

Edited May 15, 2012 by BJWyler

I think eq1 and uo were actualy nastier, people were alot more invested in their characters because of the time and dificulty it took to make them. and if you screwed with that , watch out!

 

Its the same reason people rage agasint mmo companies today.

 

The EQ1 forums were pretty much lawless. Made Mos Eisley look like a nunnery.

 

I dunno whether it's just the usual rose-tinted glasses that make people think things were better in the old days, or whether they just weren't there, but it's strange to see people saying EQ1 (or even vannilla WoW) wasn't bad, it was.

The EQ1 forums were pretty much lawless. Made Mos Eisley look like a nunnery.

 

I dunno whether it's just the usual rose-tinted glasses that make people think things were better in the old days, or whether they just weren't there, but it's strange to see people saying EQ1 (or even vannilla WoW) wasn't bad, it was.

 

Just proof that haters are going to hate, and they need only the smallest imperfection to do so.

I put the rabid haters and the head in the sand fanboys in the same category. Neither offer any reality based soloutions and both would have a negative impact on the games if the devs ever listened to them.

I put the rabid haters and the head in the sand fanboys in the same category. Neither offer any reality based soloutions and both would have a negative impact on the games if the devs ever listened to them.

 

Agreed 100%.

Just proof that haters are going to hate, and they need only the smallest imperfection to do so.

So... SWTOR's problem is that it has a "small imperfection"?

So... SWTOR's problem is that it has a "small imperfection"?

 

Wow, I figured we'd get to page 2, at LEAST, before someone put words in my mouth.

Wow, I figured we'd get to page 2, at LEAST, before someone put words in my mouth.

I just skipped ahead to the end of the story.

 

I could see where it was going anyway.

I just skipped ahead to the end of the story.

 

I could see where it was going anyway.

 

You ASSumed wrong.

You ASSumed wrong.

No ASSumptions, sir. Just plowing ahead through the daisies to the watering hole.

Honestly, this was pretty much inevitable. No MMO is going to replace WoW. Instead of playing to their own strengths and making KOTOR III, a game that everyone wanted EA/Bioware tried to turn KOTOR III into a soulless "WoW killer" that many KOTOR fans did not even want!

 

Of course it was not going to work!

Edited May 16, 2012 by darth_asinine

I just cancelled my sub as well. I participated in Guild Wars 2 BWE and it reminded me what a good game was. I have no idea why I have continued paying for this game after level 50. The PvP is an unbalanced joke, the endgame content is lacking (and that's being nice), and the game still has game breaking bugs. My server is dead, the game has basically become a single player game, and repeating the dailies is about as fun as watching grass grow. Fanboyism is still going strong though, it's pretty funny... how do you even defend this game anymore?

I just cancelled my sub as well. I participated in Guild Wars 2 BWE and it reminded me what a good game was. I have no idea why I have continued paying for this game after level 50. The PvP is an unbalanced joke, the endgame content is lacking (and that's being nice), and the game still has game breaking bugs. My server is dead, the game has basically become a single player game, and repeating the dailies is about as fun as watching grass grow. Fanboyism is still going strong though, it's pretty funny... how do you even defend this game anymore?

 

Because it's still fun for my friends and I. Honestly, SWTOR has only gotten better and better since launch IMO. You may not agree, but there are hundreds of thousands of players still enjoying it.

Because it's still fun for my friends and I. Honestly, SWTOR has only gotten better and better since launch IMO. You may not agree, but there are hundreds of thousands of players still enjoying it.

 

EA inflates their subscription numbers by automatically adding free play time, effectively reactivating dormant accounts. I honestly don't know how many people are playing, but it may be lower than you think.

 

P.S. Canceled my subscription today

Edited May 16, 2012 by darth_asinine

Just proof that haters are going to hate, and they need only the smallest imperfection to do so.

 

 

To be fair a lot of the stuff on the EQ1 forums was valid, it was just taken to the nth degree, from an initial valid point.

 

Plus nerfs are never going to be nice, even if they are needed, never mind if they aren't.

EA inflates their subscription numbers by automatically adding free play time, effectively reactivating dormant accounts. I honestly don't know how many people are playing, but it may be lower than you think.

 

P.S. Canceled my subscription today

 

How is it any different to WoW counting the subs of the annual passes who are just waiting for their sub to run out?

 

At least SW:TOR gives you free 30 days, and it will only be for this quarterly report. WoW makes you pay 1 year in advance to inflate their numbers, giving a false sense of inflated subs for many quarters.

Edited May 16, 2012 by ConradLionhart

How is it any different to WoW counting the subs of the annual passes who are just waiting for their sub to run out?

 

At least SW:TOR gives you free 30 days, and it will only be for this quarterly report. WoW makes you pay 1 year in advance to inflate their numbers, giving a false sense of inflated subs for many quarters.

 

It's not.

 

However 5m western subs if you have 50% non-active subs is still 2.5m subs. 1.3m subs with 50% non-active starts to get uncomfortably close to the 500,000 barrier for profitabilty for SWTOR.

 

What's worse though is if Bioware believe their own numbers, because the thing that is really hurting SWTOR (just like it did with Warhammer Online) is server population.

 

Loads of people left Warhammer Online, not because they hated the game, but because they were stuck on low pop servers and the game basically stopped working on those servers, so more quit and on it went.

 

If WAR had been on the ball with server mergers they'd have retained many more players for much longer.

 

 

WoW doens't have this problem so much, because it's such an old game and because it has all the X-server options it has.

How is it any different to WoW counting the subs of the annual passes who are just waiting for their sub to run out?

 

At least SW:TOR gives you free 30 days, and it will only be for this quarterly report. WoW makes you pay 1 year in advance to inflate their numbers, giving a false sense of inflated subs for many quarters.

 

It's not to do with the annual passes, those only became available towards the end of last year so if anyone is 'waiting for it to run out' then they still have about half a year to wait.

 

The reason WoW's numbers are so high is because they count all the Asian subs, which account for the majority of their 10million. Make no mistake however, WoW's numbers are still much more than this because, despite all the crying from some people, it is still a very good and popular game.

How is it any different to WoW counting the subs of the annual passes who are just waiting for their sub to run out?.

 

Because those people paid for the annual passes. Durr.

I just cancelled my sub as well. I participated in Guild Wars 2 BWE and it reminded me what a good game was. I have no idea why I have continued paying for this game after level 50. The PvP is an unbalanced joke, the endgame content is lacking (and that's being nice), and the game still has game breaking bugs. My server is dead, the game has basically become a single player game, and repeating the dailies is about as fun as watching grass grow. Fanboyism is still going strong though, it's pretty funny... how do you even defend this game anymore?

 

Because it's a game that many of us still enjoy playing, and (speaking for myself) are more tolerant of the bugs and other issues, because none of it (except for the CTD issue, which appears to have workarounds that solve the issue for many people, including myself), is game breaking and is present in every game at launch and for many years afterward. As a matter of fact, GW1 just had two patches on May 11 to fix a CTD issue - and that game has been around for over 7 years now.

 

BJ

I'm enjoying the game quite a lot; I have 1 level 50 character and am bringing up a few alts. My server isn't incredibly busy (probably Low-Standard population) but there are enough people there to do what I want, and I actually get to know a lot of people because I always see them. My guild has enough people to consistently do Ops and other things. I really haven't run into many bugs (I can't even think of any I've seen) besides maybe some small graphics glitches. I really enjoyed the addition of the Black Hole (I don't do it every day, but I LOVE THE MUSIC THERE) and I haven't had the chance to do Explosive Conflict but I'm very excited for it. Eagerly awaiting the dungeon finder so that more grouping occurs, and looking forward to more content in the future!

 

I'm not a mindless "fanboy", I know that server populations are a real problem now for many, and there are many things that should be changed and added for the future of the game. I still have a lot of fun playing this, and I know that development for a game this size takes more than a week.

Something sure the hell needs to be done - server merge, cross-server LFG tool, character transfers, or some combination, or something new. This is an MMO, people need to play with other people, it's a primary requirement.

 

Frankly, I don't understand why BW are dithering about this. The subscriptions performance isn't as disastrous as it could have been, but on the other hand, it also could have been so much better, the goodwill was there at the beginning, but BW seem to have let it fade away quite a bit. The game isn't "dying" by any means, but it seems that a fair number of servers are dead, and my feeling (based on what people are saying in game, on this forums, other gaming forums, etc., etc.) is that the game is getting a bad rep for this.

 

People are starting to laugh and point.

Edited May 16, 2012 by gurugeorge

Something sure the hell needs to be done - server merge, cross-server LFG tool, character transfers, or some combination, or something new. This is an MMO, people need to play with other people, it's a primary requirement.

 

Frankly, I don't understand why BW are dithering about this. The subscriptions performance isn't as disastrous as it could have been, but on the other hand, it also could have been so much better, the goodwill was there at the beginning, but BW seem to have let it fade away quite a bit. The game isn't "dying" by any means, but it seems that a fair number of servers are dead, and my feeling (based on what people are saying in game, on this forums, other gaming forums, etc., etc.) is that the game is getting a bad rep for this.

 

People are starting to laugh and point.

 

They're not "dithering", actually. They had server transfer ready to go since launch, but something in Legacy unexpectedly broke it, so they've had to scramble to write a new one, and have been at it to get it out ASAP.