I am just curious because over the past couple of weeks I have noticed a strong lack of players daily. It might be the time periods I get on but I honestly think the servers are dying. I just want to know what people think, am I crazy?

am I crazy?

 

Probably.

Probably.

 

Well I suppose that the European servers are doing good and stuff but the United States servers are ehh

Which server?

Which server?

 

I personally play on the Colony PvE RP server but I have a character on Ebon and the population isn't what it used to be, barely hitting 40 players on the fleet.

I don't think its "dying" honestly if it was, how would that impact you doing your story. Unless you hold stock in this company. It will still likely always be here as a way recoup their money. This game was most expensive MMO in history. I don't get why people are so...focused on if it fails or not. Unless they work for other company and they're paid to spread misinformation.

I personally play on the Colony PvE RP server but I have a character on Ebon and the population isn't what it used to be, barely hitting 40 players on the fleet.

 

Was on EH this morning at 4am and there were around that many on Ord Mantel when I started a new character.

I don't mean for it to sound like I am a jerk or something, I just love this game and I don't want it to go anywhere!

I am just curious because over the past couple of weeks I have noticed a strong lack of players daily. It might be the time periods I get on but I honestly think the servers are dying. I just want to know what people think, am I crazy?

 

Yes, SWTOR is dying since 2011. It was so dead yesterday that in 4am EU, Red Eclipse - Dromund Kaas had 2 instances (one red).

 

When you gonna stop with this crap, really? This game was made for SW fans, and not everyone sees the game as you see it "RNG crap", and all these minority players on the forums cursing and wishing all the worst for this game. Well guess what special snowflakes, it won't happen, and as long as there's "Star Wars" this game won't die unless EA/Bioware says otherwise. Until then, this game won't die... not even a bit, but then again you have all these... forums clowns "yea, boi, itz dead"

Edited January 14, 2017 by TacticianBG

Yes, SWTOR is dying since 2011. It was so dead yesterday that in 4am EU, Red Eclipse - Dromund Kaas had 2 instances (one red).

 

When you gonna stop with this crap, really? This game was made for SW fans, and not everyone sees the game as you see it "RNG crap", and all these minority players on the forums cursing and wishing all the worst for this game. Well guess what special snowflakes, it won't happen, and as long as there's "Star Wars" this game won't die unless EA/Bioware says otherwise. Until then, this game won't die... not even a bit, but then again you have all these... forums clowns "yea, boi, itz dead"

The OP just expresses their concern about the game's future, and you go crazy, claiming s/he wants the game to die... Indifference to a mere concern has in no way any benefit. Edited January 14, 2017 by fatsi

MMOs are dying. People want to play single player games now with op companions. Only multiplayer games people like now are hunger games style kill all and be winner games (mainly H1Z1) and MOBAs (LoL and Dota 2). Edited January 14, 2017 by Halinalle

Unfortunately the game is dying despite many white knights on the forum that refuse to face reality.

 

According to EA's financial reports they lost approximately 20,000 subs ($1M revenue) in Q3 2016

 

They may have gotten a bump back for the release of 5.0 but considering that the community overwhelmingly detested Galactic Command, and no new replayable group content (except uprisings, which didn't receive favorable reviews - aka people only run them when it's bonus cxp) means that there isn't really much to entice people to stick around. The 5.1 announcement has been pretty disappointing as it barely helps the grind.

 

I know, I know, there will be people that jump in here and say "I LOVE THE UPRISINGS" blah blah blah...the squeaky wheel minority voice.

 

But facts are facts and overall most US servers have already seen a significant decrease in population since January 1st . Even on Harb I've noticed pvp pops are now sometimes exceeding 5 minutes for regs. Yes, the white knights will jump in and mock that someone might have to wait 5-10 minutes...but the issue isn't how long it is, it's the fact that it is growing LONGER...which points to less people playing.

 

BW took a huge gamble with 4.0 and decided to cater to casual, single player story content rather than repeatable, challenging group content and I believe this has cost them. As I mentioned, the Q4 2016 financial statement may show numbers going back up compared to Q3 but I suspect that Q1 2017 will be another significant drop in subs.

Unfortunately the game is dying despite many white knights on the forum that refuse to face reality.

 

According to EA's financial reports they lost approximately 20,000 subs ($1M revenue) in Q3 2016

 

They may have gotten a bump back for the release of 5.0 but considering that the community overwhelmingly detested Galactic Command, and no new replayable group content (except uprisings, which didn't receive favorable reviews - aka people only run them when it's bonus cxp) means that there isn't really much to entice people to stick around. The 5.1 announcement has been pretty disappointing as it barely helps the grind.

 

I know, I know, there will be people that jump in here and say "I LOVE THE UPRISINGS" blah blah blah...the squeaky wheel minority voice.

 

But facts are facts and overall most US servers have already seen a significant decrease in population since January 1st . Even on Harb I've noticed pvp pops are now sometimes exceeding 5 minutes for regs. Yes, the white knights will jump in and mock that someone might have to wait 5-10 minutes...but the issue isn't how long it is, it's the fact that it is growing LONGER...which points to less people playing.

 

BW took a huge gamble with 4.0 and decided to cater to casual, single player story content rather than repeatable, challenging group content and I believe this has cost them. As I mentioned, the Q4 2016 financial statement may show numbers going back up compared to Q3 but I suspect that Q1 2017 will be another significant drop in subs.

 

And it couldn't be that more people are doing GSF now instead of PVP because it is more rewarding for CXP. Nope, game must be dying. I have around the same wait time on EH with a much smaller population so fewer people playing overall does not really affect pvp queue times. Fewer people playing PVP and doing GSF or other activities will.

I am just curious because over the past couple of weeks I have noticed a strong lack of players daily. It might be the time periods I get on but I honestly think the servers are dying. I just want to know what people think, am I crazy?

 

It is dying. 3rd quarter of EA proves that clearly. And not only that, but I have been conducting an independent study on all the servers as far as queue times and instance population and there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the servers are on a severe decline.

 

So no, your not crazy. You are just seeing clearly what is going on. Having server to server queue system in this game would have slowed or even stopped the bleeding of subs a long time ago. But since we don't have that mechanic in this game, the lack of a mega server or server mergers is the culprit in this most recent hemorrhage of players.

Op,

 

Not sure if you were playing in early to mid 2016, but a couple of things happened that caused major population shifts:

 

#1 - server designations were removed: ALL servers became PvE, PvP, and RP servers. So RP and PvP servers that were already low in population saw an exodus because there was less reason to play on those low population servers.

 

#2 - for ten months prior to that time there was a server transfer sale - instead of 1800CC to transfer characters between servers, the cost was 90CC - and players were taking advantage of easy and cheap transfers. But in late May 2016, BW announced (on VERY short notice) that the "sale" was ending. Long, drawn out, anger inducing, story short, a LOT of players transferred to the highest population servers and stayed. So old RP and PvP servers took even more of a hit.

 

So your server formerly being a RP PvE server got a double dose of players leaving for other servers.

 

the general advice of those on these forums is to transfer to a higher population server. It now costs 1000CC to do so, but there is an alternative: referral links. I am not sure of the specifics, but apparently if a subscriber uses another's referral link the user gets a free one character transfer. Take one character, load that character up with everything you can and then transfer that character.

 

In the US this means, The Harbinger, Shadowlands, or Jedi Covenant. One advantage The Harbinger has is that because it serves the West Coast US, it also serves APAC, so there are theoretically two prime times.

 

All that being said, 5.0 and the new Galactic Command (GC) system did not go over as well as EA/BW thought it would. RNG gearing at end game has been universally panned (although some of us have found workarounds, it still SUCKS), so there was an exodus from the game across the board.

 

Is the game dying? Dying is a harsh word. VERY OLD MMOs like UO and EQ1 continue to exist and release content long after their heyday has come and gone. From that we can infer that the only way a MMO truly dies is when the company decides to shut it down. And I do not think EA/BW will shut down SWTOR anytime soon.

Edited January 14, 2017 by psandak

Begeren Colony tends to be low population. You can check server populations here though.

http://mirror.torstatus.net/shards/us/stats

I personally play on the Colony PvE RP server but I have a character on Ebon and the population isn't what it used to be, barely hitting 40 players on the fleet.

 

As a regular player of Ebon Hawk I know for a fact this claim is specious. My guess is you are playing way off of prime time for that server, or are not realizing there are multiple fleet instances open at the time you are checking. Plus, keep in mind a lot of players camp their strongholds now days when not out on a planet.. so Fleet is not the best measure of server activity any more.

 

Now.. Begeren Colony IS the smallest of the NA servers... and has been for at least a couple years... so yeah.. that one is pretty light, but it's certainly NOT dead by any means. If you need to PuG or queue.. it's probably a disappointment. If you are in a good guild though... PuGing and queuing should be way less important.

 

That said... all server populations (except for the old PvP servers) is measurably up since end of November. Torstatus clearly shows this. It will start to die down again in another month or two, as per usual.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Andryah

Was on EH this morning at 4am and there were around that many on Ord Mantel when I started a new character.

 

I play on Ebon Hawk as well and have never seen Fleet population dip below a hundred at peak. There was that many on Tython Sunday night.

 

If the OP is only seeing 40 people on Fleet, he has to be logging in at an odd hour for that server.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Aeneas_Falco

Yes it is. It clearly is.

I am just curious because over the past couple of weeks I have noticed a strong lack of players daily. It might be the time periods I get on but I honestly think the servers are dying. I just want to know what people think, am I crazy?

 

While I cannot diagnose your mental health, I can give you my perspective.

 

As a Founder who disappeared after SWTOR went FTP, I recently became quite nostalgic for all things Star Wars. With the release of Rogue One, rewatching The Force Awakens and the tragic death of Carrie Fisher, I began to long for the days when Star Wars was part of my life on a daily basis. I pulled out the pillow case that has survived since 1977 when the sheets and blankets long ago died, and decided to resub to this game. My wife resubbed the next day.

 

We are both having a blast, with the exception of not being able to complete the final chapter !X story encounter (which almost made me quit again). It hs been an amazing experience. I suspect that others have been, or will be, in a similar place, in which they need Star Wars back in their lives. So whether they try this game for the first time, or are returning players, I think you may actually see at least a minimal uptick. Or maybe players like us will just stop the bleeding, if things are as you perceive.

 

Just my two cents.

It is dying. 3rd quarter of EA proves that clearly. And not only that, but I have been conducting an independent study on all the servers as far as queue times and instance population and there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the servers are on a severe decline.

 

So no, your not crazy. You are just seeing clearly what is going on. Having server to server queue system in this game would have slowed or even stopped the bleeding of subs a long time ago. But since we don't have that mechanic in this game, the lack of a mega server or server mergers is the culprit in this most recent hemorrhage of players.

I think what's actually crazy is that some people still feel that servers (like Shadowlands and JC) don't need to be merged. We need 2 coastal super-mega servers--one of the East and one for the West. If things keep heading down in the direction they're going Harbinger will be the only server that will matter.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Talon_strikes

Begeren Colony tends to be low population. You can check server populations here though.

http://mirror.torstatus.net/shards/us/stats

 

Yes, although it's recent decline is afgood bit less, percentage wise, that Harbinger or SL. BC has always been relatively small, I left a long time ago, for the most part, because I couldn't get queues for the content I wanted. I have a couple characters there now, but that's it, neither are end-game characters.

 

Unfortunately, if you look at Tor Status, you'll see that the population this year is well below where ti was this time last year. Most of that can be blamed on lack of end-game content (multi-player raids, and new PvP maps) and the Galactic Command gearing. Those two things have done a real number on populations. Many have left, some of us are still here waiting for subs to run out. Barring a major improvement in the 5.1 patch, there will be more gone in the next month or so as subs run out and the 90 day codes from 5.0 launch run out.

Edited January 18, 2017 by DanNV

Been dying since launch. Everything dies in time.

Op,

 

Not sure if you were playing in early to mid 2016, but a couple of things happened that caused major population shifts:

 

#1 - server designations were removed: ALL servers became PvE, PvP, and RP servers. So RP and PvP servers that were already low in population saw an exodus because there was less reason to play on those low population servers.

 

#2 - for ten months prior to that time there was a server transfer sale - instead of 1800CC to transfer characters between servers, the cost was 90CC - and players were taking advantage of easy and cheap transfers. But in late May 2016, BW announced (on VERY short notice) that the "sale" was ending. Long, drawn out, anger inducing, story short, a LOT of players transferred to the highest population servers and stayed. So old RP and PvP servers took even more of a hit.

 

So your server formerly being a RP PvE server got a double dose of players leaving for other servers.

 

the general advice of those on these forums is to transfer to a higher population server. It now costs 1000CC to do so, but there is an alternative: referral links. I am not sure of the specifics, but apparently if a subscriber uses another's referral link the user gets a free one character transfer. Take one character, load that character up with everything you can and then transfer that character.

 

In the US this means, The Harbinger, Shadowlands, or Jedi Covenant. One advantage The Harbinger has is that because it serves the West Coast US, it also serves APAC, so there are theoretically two prime times.

 

All that being said, 5.0 and the new Galactic Command (GC) system did not go over as well as EA/BW thought it would. RNG gearing at end game has been universally panned (although some of us have found workarounds, it still SUCKS), so there was an exodus from the game across the board.

 

Is the game dying? Dying is a harsh word. VERY OLD MMOs like UO and EQ1 continue to exist and release content long after their heyday has come and gone. From that we can infer that the only way a MMO truly dies is when the company decides to shut it down. And I do not think EA/BW will shut down SWTOR anytime soon.

 

A few points and additions.

 

People keep pointing to the last financial report only and that is not just the case. In Q4 2015, EA stated in their financial reports a decline of $154 million in revenue across three titles - SWTOR being one of them.

 

As far as EA pulling the plug, no one familiar with Warhammer Online should say with any certainty they won't pull the plug. There were still 50,000 paying subscribers in WO when EA made the decision to pull the plug. Considering how BW is obviously burying their heads in the sand regarding the outpour of negative feedback regarding the GC System, it can almost be surmised that EA has already decided to pull the plug on this title in 2017 and the marching orders are to extract as much revenue as possible with as minimal effort in development until that time.

 

Since this title launched, people have been talking about what this game "could have" been rather than what it is. A comparison with FFXIV would be a good comparison. Both titles had very rocky launches. FFXIV decided to use that period to learn from the community, listen to them, and blow up the original title and re-launch under a Realm Reborn. Today, they are still very active with the community and pump out content like no other MMO on the market today. The result? FFXIV is in a very solid second place and is very close to overtaking WoW at the moment. SWTOR, on the other hand, has long operated in a vacuum of arrogance from the development perspective - always thinking, since beta, that they knew better than the players what the market wanted. The result has been a game in steady decline since launch.

 

A good example, is that the majority of MMO publishers, Blizzard included, have been trying to cater to the solo, casual player - and all of them are in decline. FFXIV, is closer to the MMO progression of vanilla Wow and Burning Crusade and has been GROWING over the years. What this example proves, is the MMO market is still very much about the vanilla WoW formula. Blizzard abandoned it for the casual solo and has been declining, Square Enix implemented it and has been growing. That is proof positive the majority of the MMO market is still in the formula of vanilla WoW.

 

This probably sums it up best

and is something every MMO developer and designer on the planet should watch to understand better because the proof is there - WoW in decline, FFXIV on the rise.

 

What EA wanted from SWTOR is what Square-Enix has with FFXIV. EA did not get that due to very poor management of the title and now it is too late. This game is in fact on it's last legs and, given EA's past history with MMOs, I really don't think it has a lot longer to go.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Wayshuba

Depends what you call "dying".

SWTOR is something like a milking cow for money now. Which i can understand from a business perspective. According to the annual reports, which can be found here, SWTOR wasn't doing particularly well with dollars in the last few years. In 2016 it showed this in the annual report of may 2016 (and i quote):

 

"For fiscal year 2016 , service and other revenue was $1,899 million , primarily driven by FIFA Ultimate Team and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Service and other revenue for fiscal year 2016 decreased $48 million , or 2 percent , as compared to fiscal year 2015 . This decrease was driven by a $421 million decrease primarily from Titanfall and Battlefield 4 Premium . This decrease was partially offset by a $373 million increase primarily from the Madden NFL franchise, Need for Speed 2015 and SimCity BuildIt ."

 

Which means SWTOR is doing better compared to the previous years. Progressing through 2016 there is a decline in subscriptions (found in the annual reports after that) and for 2017, well we shall see.

 

Now, back to "dying". Is it dying? Well it currently is as a traditional MMORPG. There is more focus on singleplayer content instead of multiplayer content, although the plans for 2017 should be more towards "group content" as Bioware calls it. Will that bring more players to the game? Hard to say, apparently 4.0 did something good financially for SWTOR, so the real question is if they are willing to invest a lot in SWTOR again when the money is made in forms of a bigger positive revenue. Currently the game is being managed to get the most bang for the buck for the business that is called EA/Bioware. Again, quite understandable, a game that just makes losses cannot be maintained. That bang for the buck is not for the player, especially players who have been playing the game for a long time feel that they need to do a lot of stuff over and over and over again.

 

According to servers dying, well yes. A lot of servers are very light on occupancy. The two biggest servers (Harbinger for US and Red Eclipse for EU) are also starting to show some decline now that 5.0 has been around for a little while. I remember Red Eclipse being on a 1.60 occupancy rating right after 5.0 release and now it is back to 1.47, which is the same as slightly before 5.0. What the numbers mean in amount of players, we don't know. But what can be said is that the number rating shows decline. Check it for yourself here.

 

In the long run one could say this is a good financial move. Getting more money into the game resulting in more investment in the game. But that remains a really big question mark. EA has multiple game branches, money can flow through those if they wish. Meaning that money made in SWTOR doesn't necessariliy have to flow back into SWTOR. Also, there currently hasn't been any proof of the development team being expanded, last news we received is that a developer team for operations (or "group content") basically has fallen apart which resulted in operations going into maintenance mode.

 

I hope for a good SWTOR future, but in the end it all depends on the money EA and Bioware are willing to invest.

Edited January 18, 2017 by cashtwomuchos