I believe in this game. I just wish everybody else did.

 

I haven't logged into my Ghosttown in 2 weeks. As much as I enjoy what Bioware has created here, I can only stay subbed so long.

 

Please Bioware, make this an MMO again soon.

I would sincerely love to see some videos of devs working on a project. Like,

 

"Hey guys! Today we have John here and look at his screen! He's fine tuning the cross server PVP pop-out! Hey John, how's it coming along??"

 

John: "Well sir, I've been having issues with this random bug that will close out the pop out before the player is done picking the warzone of their choice. It's really frustrating because every time I try to fix the code, the proportions of the box gets altered. I'm working so hard to fix this and I really hope the community will understand when they watch this video that I would rather this be fixed instead of sending it out faulty. "

 

Random host/announcer: "Well that is just darn fantastic John. I'm sure the community will really love seeing projects worked on in real time. To put a face to a feature. Mhmm."

I believe in this game. I just wish everybody else did. )

 

You're asking us to believe in something when its own creators don't.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Samvan

I would sincerely love to see some videos of devs working on a project. Like,

 

"Hey guys! Today we have John here and look at his screen! He's fine tuning the cross server PVP pop-out! Hey John, how's it coming along??"

 

John: "Well sir, I've been having issues with this random bug that will close out the pop out before the player is done picking the warzone of their choice. It's really frustrating because every time I try to fix the code, the proportions of the box gets altered. I'm working so hard to fix this and I really hope the community will understand when they watch this video that I would rather this be fixed instead of sending it out faulty. "

 

Random host/announcer: "Well that is just darn fantastic John. I'm sure the community will really love seeing projects worked on in real time. To put a face to a feature. Mhmm."

 

People have rebutted this in terms of "you're all spoiled brats. You don't deserve to know what's going on behind the scenes. Just sit down and shut up."

 

I agree with you. More information means more involvement, which would make us happy. It's hard enough logging into a server where not much is going on. Getting the same from the devs just makes it feel worse on us.

Hire this man to be your PR REP Bioware plz

 

He is not qualified, he tells the truth.

try comparing the dev tracker for swtor and the blues tracker for wow.

 

you'll notice that the quantity and quality of posts from blizz actually discussing the game design/direction/development with the community is far greater and more frequent than swtor's. they actually read the community's concerns about the game and start discussions around them.

 

not everyone likes or agrees with what the blues' say, but they sure appreciate being told about it and getting the chance to weigh in on them.

Edited May 13, 2012 by noodlehaus

try comparing the dev tracker for swtor and the blues tracker for wow.

 

you'll notice that the quantity and quality of posts from blizz actually discussing the game design/direction/development with the community is far greater and more frequent than swtor's. they actually read the community's concerns about the game and start discussions around them.

 

not everyone likes or agrees with what the blues' say, but they sure appreciate being told about it and getting the chance to weigh in on them.

 

BW needs to take a page out of Blizzards playbook. Blizz has a business plan and a clear idea of how they want to execute it. The community is never in the dark because Blizz is not afraid to piss off some of their subscribers to get to their goal.

 

Blizzard has fully embraced X-server technology on all levels. Read up on their X-server Zones for MoP. I've actually gained more respect for Blizz since I started this TOR ride.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Darkulous

You all realize that BW has no idea what they're going to do with this game, right?

They're just as in the dark as we are.

They're completely lost.

They don't have a trick up their sleeve.

They know this game is done, they're just going to milk it for all its worth now.

The community is never in the dark because Blizz is not afraid to piss off some of their subscribers to get to their goal .

 

Are you kidding? People freak out on the WoW forums if they don't get an immediate answer to their questions, as they do here. The devs over at Blizzard rarely even directly respond to posts anymore because of the community reaction, and every word they post taken as gospel and/or out of context and thrown back in their face when things are changed.

try comparing the dev tracker for swtor and the blues tracker for wow.

 

you'll notice that the quantity and quality of posts from blizz actually discussing the game design/direction/development with the community is far greater and more frequent than swtor's. they actually read the community's concerns about the game and start discussions around them.

 

not everyone likes or agrees with what the blues' say, but they sure appreciate being told about it and getting the chance to weigh in on them.

 

That's great and all, but I'd much rather have the developers... you know... developing... rather than spending their days on the forums. I guess this boils down to personal preference.

That's great and all, but I'd much rather have the developers... you know... developing... rather than spending their days on the forums. I guess this boils down to personal preference.

 

Developing? Is that where the TOR devs are? Could of fooled me.

 

What's the number one problem in TOR? - Server population. WoW doesn't have server population problems, even with light servers, because the developers have been DEVELOPING X-server technology for the past years. They haven't stopped either. Read about their X-server zones they'll be introducing in MoP.

 

There is a simple reason other MMO's continue to fail - they ignore X-server technology. WoW has embraced it.

OP nailed it right between the eyes. My original account goes back to NWN but was lost when the servers got hacked. I was Arcanumar for those of you who go back that far. So I too have been following and supporting this game for a very long time. Anyone who opts to check my post history will find that I am (and will continue to be) a "fanboy" in these forums (or whatever they are calling it this week.)

 

I too share both OP's concerns and sentiments. I too could care less about the narcissists, as I find it entertaining to watch them drown in their own BS. But the power of the press is formidable (Lucas should understand that) and most of what I'm reading outside of this forum is negative because there is no one on the inside stepping up and straightening their stories out for them. If this game does whither it won't be because of the game. It will be because of EA's/BW's/LA's strict adherence to some archaic corporate dictum requiring staid political correctness in matters of publicity.

 

There are many people on the fence and their decision can't rely on the core community communicating positive vibes any longer. The griefers are seeing to that. I wish the mods could be turned loose to grow stones, forget about hurt feelings and step on some faces in this matter.

 

Bioware really does need to open up and communicate some semblence of tangible schedule or plan for a variety of feature & fix concerns. Maybe set up a separate discussion forum or weekly "insider" dev email newsletter exclusive to extended subscribers, frequent PTS testers, or subscribers subjectively deemed to be "members in good standing."

 

Something. Anything!

 

I will continue to subscribe because the game is way fun for me as well as my friends and guild I play with. The people who read that sentence and don't believe it need a reason to believe it. That has to come from Bioware.

Edited May 13, 2012 by GalacticKegger

Are there even any hints of when server transfers will become available? I have a 50 on a dead server (Krath), a second 50 on rapidly diminishing server (Iron Citadel) that I've benched because recent nerfs have made him "un-fun", and a 40-something character on Iron Citadel that is fun to pvp with, but population declines are making for some annoying queues. I'm at the point of wondering whether it's worth putting any more time into my characters or if I should be looking elsewhere. Some confident words about server transfers in the next month or maybe even two would do a lot to appease me.

Developing? Is that where the TOR devs are? Could of fooled me.

 

What's the number one problem in TOR? - Server population. WoW doesn't have server population problems, even with light servers, because the developers have been DEVELOPING X-server technology for the past years. They haven't stopped either. Read about their X-server zones they'll be introducing in MoP.

 

There is a simple reason other MMO's continue to fail - they ignore X-server technology. WoW has embraced it.

 

And they've been DEVELOPING the server transfer technology for the past few months.

 

Yeah, you got fooled. And I could care less what WOW is doing. If you're so impressed with it, have fun!

Edited May 13, 2012 by Kubernetic

And they've been DEVELOPING the server transfer technology for the past few months.

 

Yeah, you got fooled. And I could care less what WOW is doing. If you're so impressed with it, have fun!

 

They had ~5 years to develop server transfers. The fact is, they're bad for not having it already.

They had ~5 years to develop server transfers. The fact is, they're bad for not having it already.

They had server transfers in beta and it worked great. But the upgrade to Legacy (something they didn't have in beta) changed the rules ... a lot. Actually, there are a lot of aspects to this game are changing the rules. New has a tendancy to frustrate people who aren't really good with change. As an R&D engineer I'm good with new. In fact new is what I do, so this doesn't phase me in the least. Edited May 13, 2012 by GalacticKegger

OP's coddling, submissive, apologetic attitude is what enabled these devs to be so lazy and arrogant to their paying customers. Bioware is not the government, they are not academics in charge of a bunch of kids that are forced to be there. They are competing for people's entertainment dollars, and as such they have to answer to those people.

 

If you've never had clients or held a serious job with responsibility I guess you would have no idea how the actual business world works for most companies. When people pay you for a service they generally expect you to deliver at a certain level. The better your communication and results are, the happier they are and the more people they refer to you, and the more money you make.

 

You, as the business owner and service provider, are NEVER simply entitled to their money. That's a ridiculous, childish attitude to take. And it's an attitude that generally leads to failed business as customers get fed up and avoid you.

 

The dolts at Bioware better figure this out soon, or they will simple cease to exist. Bioware's worth to EA was their reputation, pissing away your reputation is quick and easy to do, and virtually impossible to recover from. Once that happens, EA will just close the Bioware studio and move on. If they don't get bought out by that Korean company at any rate. No amount of apologists will change that.

 

Bioware is LAZY. They want you to think that they're working hard and that's why you should just turn over your money to them without looking at the results. Some people want to do that and I will not argue with them. But most people, especially savvy people, are not so quickly parted from their money.

The answer is obvious.

 

The developers, if communicating the issues/problems/future of this game would lose more subscribers than remaining silent and ignoring community questions. Hence, the leser of two evils, leave us in the dark, without communication or direction and slightly fewer will leave.

 

This game, unless drastic customer service, representatives and in-game issues are resolved, will not retain a million subs past 2012.

 

I can tell you this right now as well, Project Titan already has my sub. TOR is unfortunately a filler, a very expensive one at that for the shareholders of BW.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Banicks

Hire this man to be your PR REP Bioware plz

 

This!

I dont know how much more they can communicate.

Developer Tracker Thread.

Community Q&A.

Weekly Patch notes updates.

 

To come into this insane asylum and make promises (or even hint about things) before they are 100% sure they can execute them is like walking into a crowd of zombies with a gapeing head wound and an empty shot gun.

The same Zombiefied attacks took place on the DA2 forums.

Their Damned if they do , Damned if they dont.

I do believe there is pride. blood and sweat put into this game, Why would they not care?

Zombies or not they are trying to improve this game for an almost impossable to please (at least in the forum)

mob of brain eating Zombies.

The devs are not giving us any confidence that they have a plan that will actually work. 'Early summer' is the most detailed thing they have said about the server transfers and they haven't even said when they consider summer to start. Summer does technically start on a specific date (that nobody really knows till they see on the news that it is today) Is that what they are referring to? but even then, how early is 'early'?

 

They said 1.3 will be out 'much' faster than 1.2 but 1.2 took 3 months so for 1.3 to be faster it would have to be released by 12th June. But they also said the server transfers will be done before 1.3 releases and since they will probably take a while to actually happen once they are implemented, they would have to be in the game in the next 2 weeks, which they won't be. So if they and 1.3 are later then 1.3 will have only been 1-2 weeks faster than 1.2 so they lied about that.

 

Now i'm finished over-analyzing this arbitrary point, but if 1.3 is not out by the time my free month runs out on 20th June, they are gonna hear from my baker.

Edited May 13, 2012 by DarthZaul

Yeah seriously if you guys think the developers are silent then you just aren't looking. Here's a few links to get y'all started:

 

http://twitter.com/#!/rockjaw - Stephen Reid's Twitter, Senior Community Manager of SWTOR

http://www.swtor.com/blog/star-wars-old-republic-official-podcast-episode-i - Official Podcast which gives information about some of the stuff that the OP was asking about.

http://www.swtor.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=304 - Dev Tracker

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=71470 - How to access the Public Test Server (a lot of new features coming out are often on the PTS server)

http://www.swtor.com/blog/community-qa-may-11th-2012 - Weekly Q & A from the developers.

 

There is information out there if you are willing to look. Obviously they aren't going to share all of their plans as things have a tendency to change, but they've been pretty forthcoming about a lot of their upcoming features. I've played a number of MMOs and developer communication is a common complaint--but I honestly do not think Bioware is lacking.

They had ~5 years to develop server transfers. The fact is, they're bad for not having it already.

 

There's no good reason to have server transfers in the game at launch. It's a lot of hassle for very little payback.

 

The only reason they're having to add them at all is due to them listening to the phenomenal QQ on the forums and in customer service over the queues in the early days, and the absolute refusal and mutiny of players who didn't want to re-roll because they can't be bothered.

 

And the thing with assigning guilds to servers was just a bad mistake on their part. I presume this was an issue because of the guilds that had formed during Beta testing, but honestly they should have just told the guilds to wait and choose their own server when the game launched. The only thing they gained by allowing guilds to pre-register before launch was grief. Hopefully they've learned their lesson on that, and so have the guilds.

They had server transfers in beta and it worked great. But the upgrade to Legacy (something they didn't have in beta) changed the rules ... a lot. Actually, there are a lot of aspects to this game are changing the rules. New has a tendancy to frustrate people who aren't really good with change. As an R&D engineer I'm good with new. In fact new is what I do, so this doesn't phase me in the least.

 

Kudos. Great response. I wasn't aware they had the transfers during Beta but this just once again shows that the issues are not that they didn't want to have them, just with working around the other innovations they've added (like Legacy).

Hire this man to be your PR REP Bioware plz

 

Why would they hire someone that's spent the last 6 months trying to claim every problem SWTOR has had didn't exist?

 

Even more strangely he also utterly refused to believe that Bioware were running Warhammer Online and had been for over 20 months before SWTOR went Live. :D

 

Just because he's now decided it's HIS time to whine...... well it doesn't mean that much.

 

If he'd actively joined in with the constructive criticism he was trying to pretend was wrong months ago, then SWTOR might well be in a much better state now.

 

As things stand, with some thanks to the OP and people like him, SWTOR is in trouble and maybe in a terminal decline to maintance mode.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Goretzu