Let me say right from the begiining that I think the ideal solution is an instant server merge to one APAC super server and that this needs to be done ASAP. Please support Chippies excellent thread on the general forums to this effect.

 

Preamble over.

 

In this thread I want to look at what we can do irrespective of what Bioware does or does not do about server pops.

Hence proactive solutions in the title.

 

As back ground let me say that I think Bioware are certainly waiting to see what impact F2P will have on server pops.

I have seen a post saying that typically there is a 2-4x increase in pops in games that go F2P.

I have no idea if that is accurate.

So thats one reason why I think they will wait...no matter how much we scream on the general forums..and no matter how just and correct our cause.

They will wait and see.

 

Further to this and this is quite a dangerous idea...I think it likely that they will wait for some time AFTER F2P comes out to judge whether the servers pick up..Maybe 1-3 months...

Which would be huge for us!

 

As has been posted on our server forums by a number of posters, many doubt our server will survive till F2P.

I must admit to being deeply sceptical about it as well, though with Cartel coins being given out already perhaps its closer than we thought

But 1-3 months after that? I fear that would certainly be the absolute end if there was not an amazing pickup in Pop, but as I think Kei said...who would want to join a dieing server??

Perhaps Im panicing, but it certainly something to consider.

 

 

 

The forums have been quite acrimonious of late, and as one poster put it, its like starving men fighting over the last scraps of food.

 

Its dieing we all know it.

 

Mosus has posted a thread about Master Dar'Nala on the Bastion, which is a worthy idea and I congratualte him on tacking that positive proactive step.

 

A couple of issues I have about this idea.

 

1/ What about our awesome latency?

2/ When I checked, the Bastion seems to have about the same pop as us during Aussie/NZ prime time so it seems little benefit unless you play outside of these times...which puts you in North American prime time...then good for you

3/ What about the Aussie community which despite the recent acrimony I have quite enjoyed?

 

My idea is this, depending on the feedback here I intend to start a thread on the other 2 APAC server forums to get a discussion going about all three servers coming to a general consensus about manually re-rolling to 1 APAC server.

Essentially doing the consolidation for ourselves.

 

Now my thoughts on this idea.

 

I hate it...I dont want to re-roll yet again and I want Bioware to fix the server pop issue ASAP.

But this is about what we can actually do...what we have control over to make our game time more enjoyable.

 

To be clear Im not exactly advocating abandoning this server altogether, Im suggesting that we might encourage leveling of an Alt on the selected server, creating guilds etc on that server for people who are leveling there to keep in touch etc etc.

Pretty much its like Mosus's idea but staying on an APAC server.

 

What do you think of this idea?

Do you have any positive ideas so that we can enjoy this game?

 

Please keep it positive, If I want whinging I can read 4 million other posts..

 

It cant hurt to talk can it?

 

Cheers in Advance

My other thread is meant to be for those who do play outside of our server prime time. I would hope and encourage those that join us to be still playing on our server during it's prime time.

 

But I do to some degree like this idea, if enough people get behind it that play out of prime time I would abandon the bastion and reroll there. (Luckily my toon on the bastion is still low level. ha.)

 

There are many active things we can be doing on our server to improve our prime time as well.

 

I think that people getting behind the ideas of Balanced RWZ games on a sunday afternoon or casual OPS runs on an evening, will give people in small guilds/not in a guild etc etc to be involved in the community.

Balanced games would just require an imperial member/guild to pick up the slack, we've had some pub games and they went well, well attended and some good competition.

For the Casual ops, to run well I think another pub guild and a couple of imp guilds to buy into this idea would be needed as well. They're great fun and a way to gear up alts and now also to get money as credit drops from trash has been increased.

What server would you propose we invade?

 

I don't mind doing it so long as I have some people to level with. I'd hate to level to 50 again by myself. Took forever.

What server would you propose we invade?

 

I don't mind doing it so long as I have some people to level with. I'd hate to level to 50 again by myself. Took forever.

 

I'd say the highest pop server would be best. But I'm not sure which one that is. It seems to be the RP server, but when you log into both there is more 50's on the PVE server than the RP server. (I think the RP pop thing for server selection is bugged.)

 

Edit: I would assume PVE would be safest in terms of their server type being the in between of both.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Antiskeptic

Is it called Gav Daragon, or something?

Yeah Im not sure which server would be best, so I propose to start a thread on each of the others and get their input.

i suspect though it would be the PVE one..

Aussie servers on 17/10/12 1735hrs EST (level 50 players only)

 

 

(RP) Republic:15 Imperial: 35

(PVE) Republic:78 Imperial: 86

(PVP) Republic: 38 Imperial: 65

 

 

US West Coast Servers on 17/10/12 1745hrs EST

 

(Harbinger) Republic: 100+ Imperial: 100+ (can't get to fleet sorry but looks to be at least 2 fleet instances- a pm says it's 223 people in instance 1) ((there are 104 imperials in warzones))

 

I know the Bastion is a PVP server, but if I were looking for population and longevity of SWTOR experience I'd be rolling on The Harbinger. Midian came from a PVE server and there was some damn tough competition on there.

Edited October 17, 2012 by ausmisc

Dalborra is the PVE server

Gav Daragon is the RP server.

 

 

The Bastion PVP Imp: 159 @ 17:54pm

Pubs: 84

I would like to get some firm data on each of the APAC servers and the Harbinger and The Bastion at

7pm-10pm ie APAC prime time.

from the data posted above (thanks Ward) it seems the APAC RP peeps are really hurting, even worse than us

 

If we can get this data for each hour during that period we have some firm numbers to base any decision around.

 

I'll get the details on The Bastion tonight and post them here.

 

Thanks for the prompt responses and positive input

 

ps. from your numbers Ward I'm going to presume the RP peeps might be interested. I will post on their forums and direct them to this thread. We will use this as a central point for further discussion across the 3 APAC servers.

 

Cheers mate.

i agree with this thread i would gladly reroll on another APAC server if alot of others do. I would love being in a group of 4 to level. doing this altogether is the only way this will work.

Indeed, for me the plan is IF we can get some sort of general consensus, we can structure the re-rolling in such a way that our leveling experience is a good one.

A couple of ways that can happen is with sufficient numbers re-rolling to the same server and even selected nights for the playing of these alts. If we can manage that it could well be a great experience. Though admitedly not ideal as stated in original post.

 

Keep the info coming, get the word out about this idea and lets see where it leads.

As a mostly PvE guild with around 25-35 people on in prime time, we're (Nightmare Council) not as affected by the low population although it can get frustrating for those who do pvp. Some of us have rerolled alts on the bastion for pvp, and some (like me) would prefer to stay and wait for a merge.

 

We often run impromptue raids for the hell of it, so depending on what other guildies want to do we could help run casual raids on the imp side.

 

Personally, I think we're giving up on the server too quickly, there are multiple (slightly crazy) ideas we could try to keep the server going

 

• Each midian core player recruits 7 pugs and makes a ranked team out of them
  
• Midian players solo que
  
• Duel nights! (The mercs will win)
  
• 4v4s, 3v3s, 2v2s etc
  
• Bounty hunting (a bit RP but might be fun)
  
• New ranked teams (NC and Big Boys hopefully)
  

 

These are just some random ideas I came up with, so feel free to support/add/criticise them. That said, if you guys do choose to reroll we'll keep you posted if some of us decide to as well.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Vacarius

I am not very good at organizing or leading events. One fantastic idea though, like the poster mentioned above, is bounty hunting. Maybe we could run this over the weekends, nominate a bounty, who will then be available to hunt in the tattooine pvp zone. The bounty can hire protection from his guildies/friends by forming an operation/group, leaving the rest of the server to field their own ops/group to oppose. A bounty can have no more then 7 other bodyguards and any guildies that are not in the group can hunt this person as well.

 

Just throwing it out there. If anyone is keen to organize this, I'm willing to participate. We can actually do guild vs server, or alliance vs server type events if Bioware can give us a merger. Unfortunately, in our current server scenario, even a small scale event is most unlikely.

 

Ciraf previously tried organising such events a couple of times, but the response from our server was extremely poor. So, if in case someone does decide to spice things up in our server, via an event, please spread the word to the others on the server who do not spend time on the forums. I really want to see this server blossom.

 

FU Bioware.

Ciraf previously tried organising such events a couple of times, but the response from our server was extremely poor. So, if in case someone does decide to spice things up in our server, via an event, please spread the word to the others on the server who do not spend time on the forums. I really want to see this server blossom.

 

FU Bioware.

 

The hardest part is when you organise something, even if you do seek out people on both fleets, unless you have one person on each faction to organise the event, people wont turn up.

 

This has happened previously, I've spoken to guilds and they've said they'd show up but haven't.

 

So you really need people from both sides to take up the idea and organise it.

Good post.

 

I have always been against rerolling but the thought has popped in my head recently. I havent played Chippy in nearly a week now due to the poor population.

 

I think the reality is nothing is going to happen to our server for the next few months. F2P model looks totally crap and is designed once you hit 50 to start forking out the money to play end game content and I just cant see people doing this with the current state of the game.

 

I would be willing, well I would give it a crack, to reroll. I am slightly in favour of US servers tho. Ward raised a good point with the Harbringer server. I would most likely want to go to the most populated server out of the Bastion and The Harbringer. I will sacrifice PING for population, especially a HUGE population.

 

I am a little hesitant to invest hours into a new character tho as our fate is still unknown. I would hate to level up to 50 and then all of a sudden they bring out paid transfers or merge the AU servers.

I am a little hesitant to invest hours into a new character tho as our fate is still unknown. I would hate to level up to 50 and then all of a sudden they bring out paid transfers or merge the AU servers.

 

This is why my toon on the bastion is lvl 15, I only play it when I get really bored of our own servers and want some pvp. I don't want to rush to 50 to find out next week we have transfers. (Evidently next week is an extreme.) But I do think that investing time back into the APAC servers is probably the best way if we want to keep them alive.

I just rolled a test toon on the Harbringer... at 8am our time (yes I know ts early but days off FTW!) there was 75 on the starter planet!!!

 

I did a who (Imperial Fleet) and it was showing 2 instances >.< I searched a couple of warzones and all full of 50s!! Puts it in perspective how BAD our server is (population wise of course!)

 

My ping was pretty good, best Ive seen it on the US servers.

 

*edit* I might actually start playing an alt on The Harbringer because it looks like its got a HUGE population and looks like a pretty good community.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Cheezfriend

Dalborra is the best option for everyone looking to re-roll

 

So many from both the PvP and RP server have already joined us a few people that joined our Guild who came from the PvP server about a month and a half ago have already finished 3 level 50's and that's with only playing prime times they do have job's.

 

It can be frustrating for people bringing up another toon but finding motivation through a different class/faction/storyline can help to make it more enjoyable.

I just rolled a test toon on the Harbringer... at 8am our time (yes I know ts early but days off FTW!) there was 75 on the starter planet!!!

 

haha 87 people on Dromund Kaas on the bastion right now at 9am our time.

I know the Bastion is a PVP server, but if I were looking for population and longevity of SWTOR experience I'd be rolling on The Harbinger. Midian came from a PVE server and there was some damn tough competition on there.

 

From my experiments pop on the Harbringer is nearly double if not more than The Bastion

From my experiments pop on the Harbringer is nearly double if not more than The Bastion

 

Mmm the best time to check this kind of thing would be during our prime time though if we really want to know what benefits the people of our server the most.

Just a thought, but maybe sometime we could try and get as many GM's from Rep and Imp Guilds into a VOIP program and discuss some ideas in which we can get some Events happening. There are a lot of great ideas about different things we can do, such as open world PVP events, that will just take organization.

Master Dar'Nala and some The Bastion pop info for

Wednesday 17/10/12

 

Analysis to follow, hope this is helpful..

 

 

7.45pm

Master D

Rep Fleet: 32 Imp Fleet: 60

Rep 50: 45 Imp 50: 100+

Corellia: 2 Corellia: 5

Hoth: 1 Hoth: 7

 

8pm

Master D

Rep Fleet: 34 Imp Fleet: 73

Rep 50: 53 Imp 50: 100+

Corellia: 1 Corellia: 3

Hoth: 1 Hoth: 5

 

 

9.16pm

Master D

Rep Fleet: 23 Imp Fleet: 65

Rep 50: 85 Imp 50: 100+

Corellia: 1 Corellia: 4

Hoth: 2 Hoth: 8

 

The Bastion

Rep Fleet: 32 imp Fleet: 54

Rep 50: 41 Imp 50: 85

Corellia: 2 Corellia: 4

Hoth: 4 Hoth: 4

 

10pm

Master D

Rep Fleet: 22 Imp Fleet: 40

Rep 50: 88 Imp 50: 100+

Corellia: 2 Corellia: 5

hoth: 2 Hoth: 1

 

The Bastion

Rep Fleet: 24 Imp Fleet: 50

Rep 50: 37 Imp 50: 71

Corellia: 3 Corellia: 4

Hoth: 6 Hoth: 7

 

 

11pm

Master D

Rep Fleet: 27 Imp Fleet: 44

Rep 50: 91 Imp 50: 100+

Corellia: 0 Corellia 2

Hoth: 3 Hoth 4

 

Rep 1-25: 34 imp 1-25: 57

Rep 26-49: 27 Imp 26-49: 35

 

The Bastion

Rep Fleet: 38 Imp Fleet: 39

Rep 50: 52 Imp 50: 59

Corellia: 2 Corellia: 2

Hoth: 6 Hoth: 7

 

Rep 1-25: 68 Imp 1-25: 88

Rep 26-49: 44 Imp 26-49: 74

I just rolled a test toon on the Harbringer... at 8am our time (yes I know ts early but days off FTW!) there was 75 on the starter planet!!!

 

I did a who (Imperial Fleet) and it was showing 2 instances >.< I searched a couple of warzones and all full of 50s!! Puts it in perspective how BAD our server is (population wise of course!)

 

My ping was pretty good, best Ive seen it on the US servers.

 

*edit* I might actually start playing an alt on The Harbringer because it looks like its got a HUGE population and looks like a pretty good community.

Alot of BOSS have rolled alts on Harbinger...i'm pretty close to doing the same. It's the most populated server so the chance of experiencing what's going on now is slight. And the worse that can happen is the mains get transfered later..... such is the state of Master D today that we had to organize all the sub 50s to queue their mains ..then we got a 50 pop..then went back to our subs. So we are reduced to actually organzing NORMAL warzones just to get a game.

 

Harbinger seems the best inspite of it being PvE, f2p will not save Master D...a merge will then only stave off the inevitable...the APAC servers will go...only a matter of time.

Alot of BOSS have rolled alts on Harbinger...i'm pretty close to doing the same. It's the most populated server so the chance of experiencing what's going on now is slight. And the worse that can happen is the mains get transfered later..... such is the state of Master D today that we had to organize all the sub 50s to queue their mains ..then we got a 50 pop..then went back to our subs. So we are reduced to actually organzing NORMAL warzones just to get a game.

 

Harbinger seems the best inspite of it being PvE, f2p will not save Master D...a merge will then only stave off the inevitable...the APAC servers will go...only a matter of time.

 

I think if a merger happened soon that the servers would stay on. But if they wait for a few months after f2p launches then, yes, it will die completely.