I'm aware that Bioware added "Server Group Forums" in response to the public outcry that there were no individual server forums. These are not nearly enough. Wading through posts from over 15 other servers just to find ones that pertain to mine is frustrating and makes no sense to me. Like many other people I don't even bother using them for this reason.

Biowares philosophy has been to basically copy all the successful elements from previous MMOs. So I ask the question... why are there no server forums? Do they not understand that this is a staple in every single successful MMO?

Server forums are crucial to building communities. I think most would agree that the community aspect in this game is severely lacking compared to almost every other MMO. I have no idea who the best PvPers on my server are, or who the guild with the furthest PVE progression is. I'm not aware of any rivalries or alliances. I have no idea who is who or recognize any name outside of my own guild.

I hate to say it but this kills the game for me. This game feels like a single player game from start to end-game. MMO game mechanics cannot compare to those of a real single player game. People play MMOs for the social experience. Since this game is severely lacking in that aspect there is no reason to play it over another MMO with a better society or a single player game with better gameplay. This is one of the primary reasons I have cancelled. If this is ever fixed I might give it a try again.

Am I crazy or do you feel the same?

We created a successful social guild prior to launch, we only stopped recruiting when we hit our goal of approx 40 members - there are now approx 5 of us still playing.

As a social guild, the odds were against us from the beginning as SWTOR offers next to no social options and the lack of server forums prevents the community at large socialising as well.

Other than spamming the Imperial Fleet (which I won't do) the only other alternative is to bump our post on the existing forums and in recent weeks that has received next to no views. They (community forums) are awkward at best and useless at worst.

It was much easier to recruit guys pre-launch and thats saying something - and of all the faults SWTOR has, surely opening up individual server forums would be one of the easiest fixes?

As our numbers dropped ingame we have been unable to fill the gaps and those of that remain are mostly only still here because we took out long subscriptions at launch. We have already discussed 1.2 and decided that until a substantial endgame content patch is released and/or a patch that promotes interaction we won't be back.

Sadly, the majority of us have now moved onto Eve and are enjoying a game that encourages cooperation and not the single player alt-fest that SWTOR turned out to be

I agree with the OP's post.

In addition, I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but in the last entire week I am completely unable to view the server group thread for the RP servers. I keep clearing cookies and trying again, but no matter when or how often I try I am redirected to a post that says those forums have too high traffic.

I sent in a ticket about it. They told me to play on a different server. Because, well gee, all the RP servers are on the same forum thread group... they just told me in essence to stop supporting RP.

This is just one example of how I feel really poor customer service, PR, and attitudes have made any effort to foster community a ridiculously obstacle-ridden course.

I give them til the end of this year to fix two things. If they don't start fostering community growth through server forums and by allowing cross faction communications outside a single /say channel, I will be leaving this game. The only reason I am still in this game at all is because I see how hard the community is trying to work around and over all the pointless blocks that BioWare is putting in their way. My loyalty is to the community itself, but I can't keep financially supporting a game that won't support its community.

My job as a radio DJ is to build community spirit and be a part of it. If the game company itself seems so determined to block me from doing my job then I can support a different game.

We created a successful social guild prior to launch, we only stopped recruiting when we hit our goal of approx 40 members - there are now approx 5 of us still playing.

 

As a social guild, the odds were against us from the beginning as SWTOR offers next to no social options and the lack of server forums prevents the community at large socialising as well.

Sadly my guild has a similar story we surged up to 100 players at one point and have bled down to about 7.

Sadly my guild has a similar story we surged up to 100 players at one point and have bled down to about 7.

Same here