My long winded point is sometimes you CAN'T please everyone, 7.0 is going to make someone angry, sure they may leave and unsub. but if 7.0 brings back more ops players or pvpers or even story mode players then its worth it.

That’s wishful thinking and sadly it never happens like that (even when that’s BioWares intended plan). If you’d played right through and didn’t leave after each expansion, you’d have seen first hand exactly how this pans out every time.

1. BioWare make radical changes in the expansion that piss off enough people that they leave soon after.

2. Some new players join but soon realise the reason people have left and most don’t stick around either.

3. Months later we end up with less players than we had before the expansion

Now while this happens EVERY expansion, sometimes it’s worse in some than others. And that all depends on how severely BioWare swerves their design to focus particular parts of the player base while alienating the rest OR how many (non broken) systems they decide to reinvent.

Sadly, this expansion is swerving quiet hard away from one part of the player base to another and also changing many (non broken) systems. That is why most of us long term players can already predict the results of this expansion before it happens. It’s like being in an uncontrolled car crash heading for a wall in slow motion and there is nothing you can do to stop it,

This expansion WILL cause more people to leave AND it won’t bring in near enough people from those other communities to make up for the losses. Yes we will probably see a spike upwards of population for a few months, but then we’ll be back to a lower population than now.

These are the same people that told us they were going to have east and west coast servers, and then told us, with a straight face, that the west coast server was located on the east coast and it was our mistake for misunderstanding them.

 

No accountability, no apology. Huge ping increase for rural players on the west side of the country, and massive ping for anyone located west of the United States.

 

They know they're the worst. They simply don't care, and lying again and getting called out on it doesn't effect them at all.

Yeah, that caused one of the biggest mass exodus of players the games experienced. They straight up lied about that through omission of information. Most of the remaining APAC player base quit on mass. I nearly did too until I got WTFast to help with the ping. Im still so mad at BioWare for doing that and it’s something theyve never apologised for doing to us.

And the people who said on a livestream that galactic command would have nothing to do with the CM and then galactic command XP boosters were put on the CM.

 

And then there was that thing recently, the BS about not being able to customize certain companions because something something maintaining the iconic look of the character, when it's obviously a technical struggle with models.

 

It does seem to be a company culture thing with them, not just individuals.

Telling the truth without spin is something they seem incapable of. If BioWare was a person they’d go into politics.

Yeah, that's a fair point. I guess the way I imagine it, is the only thing that would be taken in good faith at this point is knuckling down in regular back and forth with the community until 7.0 is out, and doing responsive changes as part of the back and forth. And then actually keeping that going, not just doing it this once and then going back to radio silence. Pretty sure they've done something like that before, where communication has been decent for a little while and then fallen apart again, so it'd be hard to trust it if it isn't maintained past expansion time.

 

The thing is, other than us all leaving and waving at the game as it goes bye bye, idk how to hold them accountable. The little power we have is in leaving and EA is the type of company that would probably shut the game down before they ever swallow pride and listen to customers. As it is, this game is typically "too little too late" when it comes to finally listening to people after too many leave. It's like they repeat the same failure time after time, never quite taking the complaints seriously until people are already long gone.

 

As honesty goes, I think admitting why they are making these sweeping changes without coding it in some BS about an artistic vision that clearly isn't there would be a good start. So much of it seems senseless and disjointed, unless it's to make it ready for other platforms like others have conjectured. And if that's what it is, the least they can do is say that and save people the trouble of thinking that PC is still priority 1.

This team sure does score a lot of own goals or shoots themselves in the foot every chance they get. A lot of it could be easily avoided with proper two way open communication. But that’s a foreign concept to BioWare.

This team sure does score a lot of own goals or shoots themselves in the foot every chance they get. A lot of it could be easily avoided with proper two way open communication. But that’s a foreign concept to BioWare.

Correct. From my view point as an associate professor of business and experience in the field, I dare say they exhibit the kind of business attitude that they are not answerable to their customers and will do what they damn well please. Even to the point of violating laws when they discriminate under the protection and guise of their EULA and ToS that they can do whatever they want to the game. That's EA's influence. EA has turned BW into a puppet controlled developer filled with corporate yes people. Neither of them actually care to meet the desires, wants, and needs of the player base. That is a fatal mistake for any business, period.

As i read PTS feedback and saw how garbage the pruning was for Operatives, the ripcord being pulled on what i was hoping for infinite loadout/spec swaps now became only two and other pitfalls, i'm mentally checked out with swtor.

I'm here for 7.0 story and getting to rank 100 for Season 2. Then it'll be an unsub until more story or Season 3. I know Warframe's worth my money, devs actually care about their game.

Yeah, that caused one of the biggest mass exodus of players the games experienced. They straight up lied about that through omission of information. Most of the remaining APAC player base quit on mass. I nearly did too until I got WTFast to help with the ping. Im still so mad at BioWare for doing that and it’s something theyve never apologised for doing to us.

I went from 20-30ms to 90ms + random spikes when they switched locations to East Coast, which by my standards is almost unplayable for pvp, I'm sure your standards are a bit different being across the ocean. I ended up getting WTFast as well, took it down to 70ms and smoothed out the spikes. I don't need to use it for any other game, so I consider my WTFast sub as part of my SWTOR sub fee.

Can't recommend WTFast enough, especially for people like me in a rural area without fiber, who aren't tech savy about rerouting connections. Also in the Starlink Beta program, but it's still not great for online gaming yet as they still have thousands of satilities left to launch. (But it's still great, currently 300 mbps downloads, 200 up.

Still mad at Bioware though, playing SWTOR is basically double the price of any other mmo because of this.

I went from 20-30ms to 90ms + random spikes when they switched locations to East Coast, which by my standards is almost unplayable for pvp, I'm sure your standards are a bit different being across the ocean. I ended up getting WTFast as well, took it down to 70ms and smoothed out the spikes. I don't need to use it for any other game, so I consider my WTFast sub as part of my SWTOR sub fee.

 

Can't recommend WTFast enough, especially for people like me in a rural area without fiber, who aren't tech savy about rerouting connections. Also in the Starlink Beta program, but it's still not great for online gaming yet as they still have thousands of satilities left to launch. (But it's still great, currently 300 mbps downloads, 200 up.

 

Still mad at Bioware though, playing SWTOR is basically double the price of any other mmo because of this.

I hear you and completely understand as it’s double the price for me too. Try going from a standard 200-220ms connection ping playing from Australia to a massive 310-350ms connection after they moved the servers. Thats before you even add the ping spikes that were going over 1000ms.

I will admit that Keith did spend some time discussing the problem with me via private messages. I provided them with as much data as they asked for from my extensive testing and after a month or two they got the standard connect ping down to 270-280ms (which still wasn’t great). But by then it was too late for most APAC players who just left the game.

I’ve since upgraded my own connection to the fastest fibre to the home and I use WTFast VPN to reduce the ping more and smooth out the spikes. Sadly, I have to pay that extra $20+ a month now just so I can play this game at close to the ping I used to play before they moved the servers (talk about game loyalty). But BioWare are also the losers here because they are missing out on the second sub I used to pay for. Now that money goes to WTFast instead of them and I also stopped buying CC coins from them. I’m sure they lost a hell of a lot of players from moving the servers.

I hear you and completely understand as it’s double the price for me too. Try going from a standard 200-220ms connection ping playing from Australia to a massive 310-350ms connection after they moved the servers. Thats before you even add the ping spikes that were going over 1000ms.

 

I will admit that Keith did spend some time discussing the problem with me via private messages. I provided them with as much data as they asked for from my extensive testing and after a month or two they got the standard connect ping down to 270-280ms (which still wasn’t great). But by then it was too late for most APAC players who just left the game.

 

I’ve since upgraded my own connection to the fastest fibre to the home and I use WTFast VPN to reduce the ping more and smooth out the spikes. Sadly, I have to pay that extra $20+ a month now just so I can play this game at close to the ping I used to play before they moved the servers (talk about game loyalty). But BioWare are also the losers here because they are missing out on the second sub I used to pay for. Now that money goes to WTFast instead of them and I also stopped buying CC coins from them. I’m sure they lost a hell of a lot of players from moving the servers.

Hey, here's a bit of a suggestion to you using WTFast. Instead of using 2 connections, choose 1. Then, connect using the Los Angeles servers and WTFast will do the rest. Since I started doing that a while ago, I get an average 210ms ping to the servers from my home in the southern Philippines. Give it a go to see if it improves for you too.

Hey, here's a bit of a suggestion to you using WTFast. Instead of using 2 connections, choose 1. Then, connect using the Los Angeles servers and WTFast will do the rest. Since I started doing that a while ago, I get an average 210ms ping to the servers from my home in the southern Philippines. Give it a go to see if it improves for you too.

Thanks for the advice.

I’ve tried many different configurations and that unfortunately doesn’t work as well as using the 2 connections.

The trick is finding the most stable second connection closest to the server farm in Virginia (if connecting to US servers) or connecting to London. It’s trial and error but the second US one is usually one of the Atlanta Georgia ones.

If I’m connecting to US servers, my first connection is to LA. If I’m connecting to the Irish servers I make my fist connection auto and my second is usually London 15.

Having hit the acceptance stage on this whole debacle, I do have to point out one thing.

For those of you who have been talking about it: Y'all do realize that SWTOR 2 isn't going to happen, right?

First, the MMO genre has come and gone. Much like flight/space sims, it had it's heyday and is now in it's twilight. "But FFXIV?" You'll say. FFXIV, even if you count the number of alts and inactives, has 1/8 the current active population of Fortnite. Ariana Grande isn't going to be doing an FFXIV concert any time soon.

Second, EVEN if someone did, it's going to be in line with what Disney says is canon now. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it's one of the big things working against SWTOR's existence as it is. After briefly allowing a few Legacy books and Dark Horse to continue for an extra year to mollify fans (and to avoid the mistakes made with the way they initially killed Clone Wars), Disney has shut down hard on Legacy projects. Even with the KOTOR remake, the developers have flat out said that it will be a remake that will bring it in line both with modern sensibilities (Their quote, not mine) and the Disney timeline. Everything Star Wars is Disney canon now......with the sole remaining exception of SWTOR. So, even if Disney decided to chase the audience for yesterday's genre with an SWTOR 2, story/timeline content would be much different than what you're probably expecting.

So, yeah, if you're hoping for an SWTOR 2, that has only slightly more chance of happening than an Auto Assault 2.

Everything Star Wars is Disney canon now....

Yes. That's why SWTOR is the last Star Wars thing I'm giving money to.

Having hit the acceptance stage on this whole debacle, I do have to point out one thing.

 

For those of you who have been talking about it: Y'all do realize that SWTOR 2 isn't going to happen, right?

 

First, the MMO genre has come and gone. Much like flight/space sims, it had it's heyday and is now in it's twilight. "But FFXIV?" You'll say. FFXIV, even if you count the number of alts and inactives, has 1/8 the current active population of Fortnite. Ariana Grande isn't going to be doing an FFXIV concert any time soon.

 

Second, EVEN if someone did, it's going to be in line with what Disney says is canon now. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it's one of the big things working against SWTOR's existence as it is. After briefly allowing a few Legacy books and Dark Horse to continue for an extra year to mollify fans (and to avoid the mistakes made with the way they initially killed Clone Wars), Disney has shut down hard on Legacy projects. Even with the KOTOR remake, the developers have flat out said that it will be a remake that will bring it in line both with modern sensibilities (Their quote, not mine) and the Disney timeline. Everything Star Wars is Disney canon now......with the sole remaining exception of SWTOR. So, even if Disney decided to chase the audience for yesterday's genre with an SWTOR 2, story/timeline content would be much different than what you're probably expecting.

 

So, yeah, if you're hoping for an SWTOR 2, that has only slightly more chance of happening than an Auto Assault 2.

Oof, sounds like I will be giving the KOTOR remake a pass. If they screw around with the story just to do some Disney lore modernization BS, that'll just ruin what made it so good.

But yeah, I was never expecting a SWTOR 2, personally, and I agree with your overall assessment of the situation. I mean, all we have to do is look at how much sheer cash was invested into this game originally to make the degree of class and faction story variation it has in base game; and how easily they threw half the team in the garbage when it didn't perform how they wanted it to.

A different country's market might invest that kind of money for art's sake and just try to make it back. Not EA, not after the first failure. They hunkered down this game into a much smaller team and produced much less to make back what was spent. Foolish and ridiculous, when they could have built on it and made it sustainable with some polishing, but that's the mindset of the western video game industry. Big investments like this game only happen when doing a gold rush chase of what's astoundingly popular and profitable and WoW is no longer the behemoth to chase that it was. In general, there doesn't seem to be much of anything left to chase; video games just do predatory monetization and design around it from the start now, and that makes them far more than any grand artistic vision does, so they mostly don't bother. It's a sad state of affairs for video game enthusiasts.

*Previously random musings about 7.0 and my future if I have one, with the game. Edited down for being too wordy since I can't delete the post.*

After a day of dwelling on the issues raised before I deleted it, I think I have come to a conclusion.

After Tuesday, (because weekly Conquest comes due that day, etc), I'm going to go on a few month hiatus. Spend the time doing other things, other games, etc.

If, during a period of say 2-3 months or something along those lines, I feel the urge to go back in. I'll reactivate subscription and all will be good.

If not, I'll dump everything I have into my two guild banks (Galactic Heartbreakers, Outer Reaches Company) and then scorch earth with the characters before uninstalling for good.