EDIT: This thread is NOT solely about PVP. It's about how faction imbalance kills the republic faction, leading to diminished ability to engage in pve, the economy, and pvp. The moderators moved this thread to the PVP forum, but this is definitely intended for everyone to discuss in the general forum.

I'm worried that, on pvp servers, Republic will become a smaller ghosttown in the coming months. Especially with the coming pvp changes (more same-faction warzones, rewarding zerg faction on illum).

Currently on the republic side, there are less players from the 1-49 range, and much less at 50 than on the empire side.

This results in:

-a poorer economy

-difficulty finding pve groups (fleet chat on many pvp servers speaks for itself)

-and less opportunities to gear up for pvp

- constant zergs against the republic in ilum

Empire gears themselves up quickly with same-faction warzones, resulting in well-geared imperials fighting less-geared republicans in world pvp. They don't need the republic to gear up. This has, and will continue to, create problems for world pvp, which will cause the faction ratio to get worse and worse as it has with every game that let faction balance go unchecked.

Adding more same-faction warzones makes faction imbalance a non-issue for the empire, while making it an even more crippling issue for the republic.

The vast majority of pvp servers are like this. Rp-pvp servers are still imbalanced, but moreso on a 2:1 ratio. This is considered 'good balance' in swtor, which is strange to me.

All of this translates into the republic side dwindling even further down the line, making PVE more difficult to do.

Is there something I'm missing? I simply don't want to be forced to roll empire if I want to find PVE groups, participate in a decent economy, or have balanced PVP experiences.

Hopefully Bioware can ease this worry by implementing some changes that actually help BOTH sides for once, rather than just the empire side. I'll be keeping my eyes on the bioware tracker.

Economy is not in exactly wonderful state no matter the side, but it has been discussed before (btw nar shaddaa GTM is cross-faction, unlike fleet ones, so better look there I would guess - and see for yourself if just republic one sux)

No one needs an economy because you can farm commendations for 30 minutes and have best in slot gear for your level.

Dont be scared to roll republic. WORST CASE scenario, Republic disadvantage breeds skill and we roll them in every non huttball warzone they get until they beg for huttball.

I'm worried that, on pvp servers, Republic will become a smaller ghosttown in the coming months. Especially with the coming pvp changes and further allowing empire to gear themselves up without needing the republic side to fight against.

 

Currently on the republic side, there are less players from the 1-49 range, and much less at 50 than on the empire side. This results in a poorer economy, difficulty finding pve groups, and less opportunities to gear up for pvp (empire gears themselves up in huttball, resulting in more geared imperials versus less geared republicans). The vast majority of pvp servers are like this. Rp-pvp servers are still imbalanced, but moreso on a 2:1 level which is considered 'good' in swtor.

 

Is there something I'm missing? I simply don't want to be forced to roll empire if I want to find PVE groups, participate in a decent economy, or have balanced PVP experiences.

 

Hopefully Bioware can ease this worry, as it's keeping me from fully committing to my republic-side characters. I'll be keeping my eyes on the bioware tracker.

If you want PvP, it seems Republic is the way to go, because Empire ends up doing a lot of intramural Huttball on many servers. I hate Huttball.

Republic disadvantage breeds skill and we roll them in every non huttball warzone they get until they beg for huttball.

Lol... Amusing.

No one needs an economy because you can farm commendations for 30 minutes and have best in slot gear for your level.

 

Dont be scared to roll republic. WORST CASE scenario, Republic disadvantage breeds skill and we roll them in every non huttball warzone they get until they beg for huttball.

Plus we (Reps) begin to learn that in huttball you can even pass the ball, i.e. win more and more huttballs

Roll a Republic Character if you're an avid PvPer who enjoys being outnumbered 3:1.

Roll an Empire Character if you enjoy MMOs, you'll have an easier time creating groups for PvP/PvE, a better AH, Control of Ilum, and everything else that requires other people.

With the coming of same faction Warzones, there's no reason not to roll Empire, you get all of the benefits and none of the problems of low population.

Empire players are the bad pvp'ers who want to be on the more popular side

I suspect you'll see a lot of Empire PvPers rolling on the Republic side as well, just so they can get some decent PvP action.

And we don't have to beg for Huttball, it's all we ever fecking get. There aren't enough Republic players queuing, so we always end up in the one warzone where Imps can be sent up against each other.

I've heard stories of some Imperial players actually getting four non-Huttball WZs in a row, I'm not sure I believe them.

Lol... Amusing.

Join The Deadweight. We have a guild called Hazmat here that is going to fill this forum with the QQs of our servers empire population.

I soloed a 50 Sorc and a 50 bounty hunter who were obviously using vent for 2 minutes at the weak side door on Voidstar, until healers showed up and we killed both of them.

They proceeded to cry in /say chat about how the Warzone was 8 versus 7 and not fair to Imperials.

This is how pvp works when one side is given hand outs.

Edited to say Im a Vanguard. I was jumping behind the Bounty hunter and Interrupting the sorc.

When you interrupt force lightning in this game Sorcerors just seem to stand still in disbelief.

The evil Empire

The underdog Republic

Cowards join the Empire because it assures an easy time.

Republic joins the Republic because they detest everything the Empire stands for.

With the coming of same faction Warzones, there's no reason not to roll Empire, you get all of the benefits and none of the problems of low population.

Does Bioware not see this as a problem? Bioware is making an overt decision to encourage the zerg side grows even larger than the underdog side. How are we republic players not supposed to feel threatened by this design direction?

Does Bioware not see this as a problem? Bioware is making an overt decision to encourage the zerg side grows even larger than the underdog side. How are we republic players not supposed to feel threatened by this design direction?

They did not do one single thing to deal with faction imbalance before. They even opened up new servers during the launch period, based on Empire numbers alone, leaving most Republic PvP servers severely underpopulated, pretty much guaranteeing every server that did not release during the first and second wave to be a Republic ghost town in the future.

Don't get your hopes up, chances are they either don't see it (unlikely) or they don't care / don't know what to do (likely).

They did not do one single thing to deal with faction imbalance before. They even opened up new servers during the launch period, based on Empire numbers alone, leaving most Republic PvP servers severely underpopulated, pretty much guaranteeing every server that did not release during the first and second wave to be a Republic ghost town in the future.

 

Don't get your hopes up, chances are they either don't see it (unlikely) or they don't care / don't know what to do (likely).

Is this true? I can't imagine why they'd do this to their own game, especially since they keep stating they're in it for "the long haul."

Faction balance is a crucial element for keeping the game playable for a big chunk of the playerbase. Balance is key, I don't know why Bioware is doing this. Hopefully they speak on this issue soon as they're letting it get worse and worse the longer they don't take action.

I am also terrified by Biowares decisions to reward empire players for choosing the zerg faction... More same faction BGs and changing ilum to a system that heavily favors the faction that can field more players is distressing.

ATM republic is getting some rerolls by those tired of huttball... more same faction WZ's eliminates this issue.

THere really isnt a reason to roll republic after next patch as there will be no pvp disadvantages for playing imperials while there are huge pve bonuses (easier grouping)

What incentive is there to play republic?

On my server there was anywhere from 150-200 on the Imperial Station, was 30-50 on the Republic one. If that is indicative of the population imbalance then it is a significant one.

The market on republic side is barren, can hardly find any superior crafted level 49 items while on imperial you have massive choice and the competition keeps prices reasonable.

Empire players are the bad pvp'ers who want to be on the more popular side

No, I wrongly assumed all the kiddies would roll a Jedi. Need to get my BH to 50 then I will roll a Trooper. I don't mind being the underdog, means more targets for those rare world PvP opportunities. I'm level 38 and have had only 5 fights on a PvP server.

They did not do one single thing to deal with faction imbalance before. They even opened up new servers during the launch period, based on Empire numbers alone, leaving most Republic PvP servers severely underpopulated, pretty much guaranteeing every server that did not release during the first and second wave to be a Republic ghost town in the future.

 

Don't get your hopes up, chances are they either don't see it (unlikely) or they don't care / don't know what to do (likely).

And how would you fix it?

I vote they delete your Imp character and make you roll Republic.

There, sorted.

I just dont see why Bioware doesent give servers with imbalances a 10% bonus to XP, valor and commendations.

surely that would get many a person to reroll republic

The only way to address it is to make the Republic side more attractive. But that isn't a short-term fix -- it involves changing everything from armor to storylines, really, on the Republic side. And that's a lot of work.

Restricting character creation will bring down unbelievably massive, I mean truly massive, amounts of hate and for that reason is pretty much not feasible.

I just dont see why Bioware doesent give servers with imbalances a 10% bonus to XP, valor and commendations.

 

surely that would get many a person to reroll republic

no, please keep the baddies on empire side

We on the Republic side only want bad asses that solo a 100 man zerg Bare chested with a broken lightsaber whilst capping all the objectives at once and at the same time fighting a raid boss...

 

Crybabys like you should just reroll Empire and be done with it...

I actually used to pvp barechested on my vanguard at level 10 because the chest-piece didn't change my stats signficantly with bolster haha.

The funny thing is, at level 10 with no AC, and barechested I could top the damage for many warzones (apparently people don't know how to hit damage buttons in warzones).

That's some real Rambo **** right there.

The only way to address it is to make the Republic side more attractive. But that isn't a short-term fix -- it involves changing everything from armor to storylines, really, on the Republic side. And that's a lot of work.

 

Restricting character creation will bring down unbelievably massive, I mean truly massive, amounts of hate and for that reason is pretty much not feasible.

Maybe we could start by making the abilities of nearly every class not imbalanced in favor of empire also haha.