3pm Sydney time..

school just finished..so kids arent home..

dayshift workrs who start at 6am probably are, but are most likely having a drink

office workers still at work.

 

Numbers Imp side

Fleet 53

Korribaan 35

Hutta 11

Dromund Kaas 45

Taris 11

Hoth 14

Corelia 4

Ilum 5

Quesh 2

Tatooine 11

Balmora 24

Alderaan 18

Nar Shaddaa 16

Voss 13

Belsavis 18

 

so a total of 286 ppl online during non-peak hours excluding people doing ship missions, Warzones and flashpoints.

 

Seems like a lot more than you reckon than are on during peak times.

 

Awesome can't wait for those numbers to further boost the already healthy harbinger server

Awesome can't wait for those numbers to further boost the already healthy harbinger server

Remember professional help is only a phone call away. If you want, you can live an emotionally healthy life, free from the desperate feeling of being totally unloved.

 

Just reach out. There are people who care.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Aurojiin

Awesome can't wait for those numbers to further boost the already healthy harbinger server

 

wel quite obviously your a troll..but you can keep waiting because the consesus in gen chat on fleet is you'll be lucky to even get 10% of those numbers..oh you'll get the characters which will take up disk space on the server, but you wont get the players.

Awesome can't wait for those numbers to further boost the already healthy harbinger server

 

do u have a common sense?

u do realize players live in different time zone , right?

so u wont get much boost at ur peak time.

Ok, I think this whole rant thread could be solved with one simple and HONEST answer.

If continuing support for a single merged APAC server is not financially plausible, just tell us that is why this is happening. Don't beat around the bush and tell us something you think we want to hear.

 

If the reason really is because it will provide the best playing experience for us all, then listen carefully to us when we tell you this is not true.

 

The logical thing to do in the event that it is financially plausible to run a single APAC server would be to merge the 3 servers together and then if that still didn't solve all the issues to then transfer everyone to whichever server they wish after giving it a decent amount of time to work.

 

Also, a little bit of advertising in Australia at all wouldn't hurt in the slightest. I have yet to see an ad for it over here apart from online due to google ads recognising my cookies.

Remember professional help is only a phone call away. If you want, you can live an emotionally healthy life, free from the desperate feeling of being totally unloved.

 

Just reach out. There are people who care.

 

Really?

Edited March 27, 2013 by jackdaley

That is just a strong reaction from an angry community. EA should take some heat for this. The APAC community has been treated us like second class citizens since beta.

To be appropriately blunt APAC by its very nature was never going to be on par with NA or Europe when it came to SW:TOR.

 

There are real geographic and financial restraints which make APAC a less than ideal marketplace to expand into.

 

EA mishandled the attempt.

 

EA ignored the population issues for months and compounded the problem so more and more people left.

Actually this is fundamentally wrong.

 

EA was plentifully aware of the title-wide population issues over the last few months.

 

The entire point of the F2P transition was to see if a new and viable growth model could address those concerns. In NA and Europe they clearly did, as anyone on the servers can attest.

 

There is a very good chance that the number of new NA players brought in F2P alone dwarfs the entire population of the APAC server.

 

Now they are shutting APAC servers down

 

When EA has this track record with our community you wonder why they get this strong reaction and why the population ran for the hills in the first place. I appreciate them giving us local servers but they are taking that away.

The localized servers were part of the "Pie-In-The-Sky-WOWKiller" moment that nearly crashed this game through the 500,000 total subscriber threshold. It was a massive mistake, likely cost the CEO his job (I mean seriously, what other major near-disaster happened under his leadership of EA that comes even close? There is none...), and is being withdrawn because frankly, and this is the unfortunate part...

 

...APAC likely never had the population for EA to rationalize localized servers to its investors in the first place.

I get that you don't have a vested interest or don't really care but all I'm saying is to get some perspective, you're not on EA's payroll so don't act like it.

Actually, my vested interest is in maintaining SW:TOR as a financially sound product for as long as possible so I can continue to enjoy the game. And while I may not necessarily agree with how EA has handled the APAC situation I understand it and recognize it for what it is:

 

The last piece of a year-long financial restructuring of the long-term viability of this game.

 

You can express dissatisfaction without degenerating into trollish or outright offensive remarks in the same manner in which you can express an understanding of said decision without being a company-shill.

wel quite obviously your a troll..but you can keep waiting because the consesus in gen chat on fleet is you'll be lucky to even get 10% of those numbers..oh you'll get the characters which will take up disk space on the server, but you wont get the players.

 

Meh the harbinger will be running fine without them..a pity you can't say the same for the APAC servers

Ping rate on Harbinger right now for me is under 100, but then again, there are only 12 people on at the moment on this world. When there were 147 people here, the ping was between 500-700. I remember many tales of Har having issues to want to voluntarily move there. Chat being inoperative, lag issues. I understand that the choices made for us are out of our hands. I don't believe the petition is wasted time. Rather than sit around complaining, some folks are letting their voices be heard, which is better than doing nothing, no matter the outcome. It's the effort to be involved that is important. The name-calling and rock throwing disgusts me. We're supposed to be adults; some of us anyway. Instead of being snots to each other, can we not have civil dialog on this matter? I prefer to combine the servers of Asia. That is my preference; not my choice. I'm an old dog and not welcoming of change! We were made to move here; now we're to move back. What did this accomplish? If the PvP'rs want more opponents, let them have free character transfers to a server of their choice, let the rest of us group on Dal. RP'rs can RP all that they want. We can PvE and PvP casually. Sigh.... Don't flame or tell me I spell badly, or that I'm ignorant. You'd not be the original name-caller stating these things, nor would it make you appear clever. JMO Next...............

IceHawk, there was a sufficient population at APAC launch, well and truly. They failed to give them anything of note in terms of new content from April through to September though. Killed the game globally, killed it here.

 

Nothing about the SWTOR server set up here would have seen a substantial change in the infrastructure of EA Australia. A couple of new racks in the server farm and a software install.

 

They didn't have to lease a new building or install a fibre-optic run.

Edited March 27, 2013 by DaftVaduhhh

To be appropriately blunt APAC by its very nature was never going to be on par with NA or Europe when it came to SW:TOR.

 

There are real geographic and financial restraints which make APAC a less than ideal marketplace to expand into.

 

EA mishandled the attempt.

 

 

Actually this is fundamentally wrong.

 

EA was plentifully aware of the title-wide population issues over the last few months.

 

The entire point of the F2P transition was to see if a new and viable growth model could address those concerns. In NA and Europe they clearly did, as anyone on the servers can attest.

 

There is a very good chance that the number of new NA players brought in F2P alone dwarfs the entire population of the APAC server.

 

 

The localized servers were part of the "Pie-In-The-Sky-WOWKiller" moment that nearly crashed this game through the 500,000 total subscriber threshold. It was a massive mistake, likely cost the CEO his job (I mean seriously, what other major near-disaster happened under his leadership of EA that comes even close? There is none...), and is being withdrawn because frankly, and this is the unfortunate part...

 

...APAC likely never had the population for EA to rationalize localized servers to its investors in the first place.

 

Actually, my vested interest is in maintaining SW:TOR as a financially sound product for as long as possible so I can continue to enjoy the game. And while I may not necessarily agree with how EA has handled the APAC situation I understand it and recognize it for what it is:

 

The last piece of a year-long financial restructuring of the long-term viability of this game.

 

You can express dissatisfaction without degenerating into trollish or outright offensive remarks in the same manner in which you can express an understanding of said decision without being a company-shill.

 

All of this is irrelevant to what the APAC community wants, and Bioware asked us what we thought would be the best solution.

There is no point in trying to give our perspective to IceHawk he will just label it as irrational. He is nothing more than a troll masquerading as a "man of logic and reason". All his points are wild assumptions at best and I don't have the energy trying to educate him.

 

This issue is bigger than a couple of troll guys, lets focus back on the community and what we want in light of the circumstances.

Edited March 27, 2013 by PseudoScience

This would tend to be my argument; EA seriously mishandled the expansion into this marketplace, likely failed to achieve sustainable and significant enough ROI to rationalize continued investment in personnel, benefits, utilities, maintenance, et al, and are now retreating from the marketplace in an effort to cut their losses.

 

As someone else pointed out, marketing in australia from what I've seen has been severely lacking. EB had copies of the game on shelves for a few weeks after it came out and that was it. No posters or any kind of in store promotion. I never saw it advertised anywhere apart from direct emails I got from being a subscriber. With so little effort put in to promoting the game here is it any wonder there hasn't been enough population to sustain local servers in the long term.

 

Ultimately, I wish someone would come out and officially say it's all about cost. I can accept that. Given how long it took us to actually get any announcements about this issue in the first place though, I won't hold my breath. Responses to the apac community have been given sparingly at best.

Right off the bat, you have failed to understand what I am implying as a strategy. This is a low cost, potential PR boon that can fly in the face of consumer opinion on EA. Right now people begrudgingly hand their money over to EA because they control key licenses and the odd successful bit of IP. Fifa, Madden and a host of other sports franchises speak to that.

I understand your argument.

EA apparently disagrees with you...

 

I actually remember a time when they were recognised for fostering creativity and pushing forward as a market leader, rather than a massive cash cow with monopolistic properties.

That was a long time ago and I doubt it is ever coming back unfortunately.

 

There's a reason why investor concerns should always be looked at with a pinch of salt, the least of which is to do with the fundamentally understood semi-strong efficiency theory of markets. A lack of corporate transparency, which EA is renowned for, causes a slump like you describe. What's worse is that some of the people in charge of the purse strings appear to lack an understanding of the industry as a whole, and cling to AAA products exclusively, which defeats the point of even being in a creative space.

 

I'm not advocating throwing caution to the wind, but only churning out carbon copies is quite clearly killing brands and development studios the world over in this space, and EA is naive enough to think that this alone is a winner. Relying on investors who more often than not are advised by people who have a rudimentary understanding of the underpinning of such markets when they are not based around traditional resources is a doomed prospect.

 

Attempting to offer an educated summary to these investors would serve them well, but they fail to offer this here, and they fail to offer this in general. They talk the financial language with little colour in the way of industry speak and knowledge. A total disconnect from the production line to corporate dooms any company, and that is what you are witnessing.

You will not find any disagreement from me on this point, I think we have a fundamental consensus that the business model EA utilizes seemingly offers little to be envious...except of course for their profit margins...

 

I feel like we don't have all the answers required to see this logic, and myself and many others simply wish to hear/see more. I think if the answers were as simple as you claim, they would have outright said it's not financially viable.

Can you point me to the Developer posts from Bioware and the Press-Releases from Electronic Arts that stated the transition to Free-To-Play in this game was based on the inability of the title to retain financial stability using the model it launched with?

 

As I seem to recall all of the press releases danced around the issue, inferred at a number of points SW:TOR was always intended to break into this "modern monetization scheme," and no one ever put forth an official statement declaring one of the largest single-investments the company has ever made financially unsound.

 

You are not going to see a company like EA openly declare something is not financially viable...that has a funny influence on the direction of stock prices, especially around quarterly earning reports.

 

What stuns me is that both you and they think there is something of significantly greater return to be done with the resources.

Again, I have made no such claim. I am merely pointing out that whatever the profit margin EA is earning from the APAC servers is clearly failing to meet planned ROI and is therefore not facilitating future invesement.

 

If APAC was returning ROI at an expected rate do you really think EA would dare shut it down?

 

They have shown an inability to dissuade themselves from maximising the bottom line within a 6 month window, because apparently every last penny counts to investors on a quarterly report, even when you can more than adequately account for budgetary increases.

 

Basically what you're implying repeatedly is that the APAC servers are making a staggering loss, and the metrics point to people pouring into NA servers any way, so let's boot off the last 10,000. How were they making money before? Were they projecting these three servers would be constantly full, even when there had been no new content for 5 months?

Remember we are talking about a title that cost a reported $200 million between development and marketing and then crashed through the floor within months of launch.

 

To say that EA's projections for this title were likely well beyond the realistic marketplace is a no-brainer.

 

How stupid are these people?

They nearly mismanaged this massive title into the ground and are still retreating from regional marketplaces, so I would say pretty stupid.

 

How stupid are you?

Honestly?

My IQ is 150, I am the first graduate to earn an MA from my institution in the last decade with a perfect 4.0, have numerous institutional-level award winning pieces of research, literally earned every single academic honor offered within my department and university, and have earned a fully funded ride to finish out my Doctorate while I work on publishing independent research.

 

So, I would infer that I am slightly above the curve of "stupid."

 

Thanks for asking though, but, this is relevant to the discussion how?

Lets consider their solution:

 

They are further fragmenting the community by diluting APAC populations into the North American servers.

 

Why are the mergers not just transfers to any of the three servers mentioned?

 

For the community that wants to stick around, we should be given an opportunity to rally the APAC server to one NA server if this is going ahead. We need players who play at our times and run operations to our schedules, yes you have a lot of people on at all times but the timezones are not exact. This solution will further fragment the community it needs to be reassessed.

All of this is irrelevant to what the APAC community wants, and Bioware asked us what we thought would be the best solution.

 

Unfortunately what the community wants and what the company sees as financially viable are often irrevocably different points of view.

 

Bioware asked for your input, which was nice to see.

 

However, EA is EA, and made the decision it felt fit its need best and would retain as many APAC people as possible while still accomplishing a specific goal...which seems to be market consolidation.

All of this is irrelevant to what the APAC community wants, and Bioware asked us what we thought would be the best solution.

 

Eaware doesnt care what Apac wants.

My IQ is 150, I am the first graduate to earn an MA from my institution in the last decade with a perfect 4.0, have numerous institutional-level award winning pieces of research, literally earned every single academic honor offered within my department and university, and have earned a fully funded ride to finish out my Doctorate while I work on publishing independent research.

This would put you near the bottom of the curve on the internet.

 

Get another couple of doctorates and bump your IQ up by 40 points and maybe you can hit the median.

This would put you near the bottom of the curve on the internet.

 

Get another couple of doctorates and bump your IQ up by 40 points and maybe you can hit the median.

 

Working on it....in the mean time I have Mid-terms to grade and posting on the forums is not getting them done...

*sigh, yesterday fleet at this time 90 people (outside of peak) today 49... (on Dal)

Good Job BW Good Job

 

That's still higher than what you ever see on gav daragon. I know it sucks that things have been ok on dalborra and it's being ruined now. I feel for you guys but spare a thought for players on the other 2 australian servers. It sucks never being able to get a pop with group finder and having to wait an hour or more to get any pvp, even during busier times. Bioware can't leave our 2 servers dwindling and they sure as heck won't pay to just keep one server running, even if it's had 2 other servers merged in to it. They won't keep 3 servers going if one is ok and the other 2 are stuggling and they won't keep things open just for one.

Yeah, there goes our ping. I didnt pay stubs for a game that I have to lag on a server in North America. Played the game cos there were local servers. Great move guys, not. If this happens I'll be ceasing playing altogether.

What a load of complete crap... we have a guild with 100+ members on Dalbora... that isn't including Alt's... I know that there are NO American's in our Guild

Most of the people I PVP with and on the Dalbora server aren't American... so I don't know where you get your information from... my guess is you are American yourself and are looking forward to the move so YOU get a better PING...

 

How many of those 100 are active?

very doubtful...

 

But again this whole thread/arguement is a invalid anyway because we're finally getting moved to servers with a healthy population!

 

^

^

^

Ok, I think this whole rant thread could be solved with one simple and HONEST answer.

If continuing support for a single merged APAC server is not financially plausible, just tell us that is why this is happening. Don't beat around the bush and tell us something you think we want to hear.

 

This.

 

And it really doesn't help the argument when we get all these posts from people on dalbora stating how busy their server is. I don't think anyone's doubted that. It's about low population on the APAC servers in general. If you think things are so rosy then try playing on one of the other apac servers to see the bigger picture. Try playing it as anything other than a single player game when you have to wait in group finder for a few hours in peak time before getting a pop. Playing for hours on a weekend and only managing a few pvp pops. Then tell us that there are no population issues and that the change isn't justified. Maintaining 3 healthy servers might be financially viable for EA but 1 healthy server with 2 dying servers is clearly not. I'm sorry your server's being killed but ours have been dying for a long time - because they took so bloody long to do anything about this.

Quite frankly I bet EA already has an APAC-attrition number built into their projections.

 

unfortunately for us, they can probably afford to lose the whole APAC subscription base ......... it's still good to try and play on their conscious as a good corporate citizen, though.