As much fun as DM is right now, it'd be nice to get some games with less than 300 ping. It does sometimes become a problem. Also, I have classes I want to try out without full-on transferring. Can we please get preseason popping on at least one of the NA servers? I don't care which one as I play both.

For all the new players saying they'd like to try out ranked, this is exactly the time to do it. No one's elo is at stake so the level of toxicity should be significantly reduced. I have yet to see anyone kicked or chewed out during preseason.

As much fun as DM is right now, it'd be nice to get some games with less than 300 ping. It does sometimes become a problem. Also, I have classes I want to try out without full-on transferring. Can we please get preseason popping on at least one of the NA servers? I don't care which one as I play both.

 

For all the new players saying they'd like to try out ranked, this is exactly the time to do it. No one's elo is at stake so the level of toxicity should be significantly reduced. I have yet to see anyone kicked or chewed out during preseason.

The new players trying out ranked now(plenty of them on dm) will not que anymore once the new season starts... Of if they do que, they do it for one or two days and then they stop.

Last pre season I had the impression that we will have new players in season 12, but I was wrong. The names totally changed once s12 went live.

The new players trying out ranked now(plenty of them on dm) will not que anymore once the new season starts... Of if they do que, they do it for one or two days and then they stop.

 

Last pre season I had the impression that we will have new players in season 12, but I was wrong. The names totally changed once s12 went live.

This is also another reason why I like the pre-season again, it makes ranked pop way more. Sadly, there are servers where the players are just after rewards and wont play when there is no reward for it.

This is also another reason why I like the pre-season again, it makes ranked pop way more. Sadly, there are servers where the players are just after rewards and wont play when there is no reward for it.

Mero talking nonsense as usual. That's not even close to the reason it's not popping on NA right now. The reason it's not popping is simply because of the perception that it's not popping, and no one is willing to sit in queue for hours during preseason. Once the season starts, there will be an expectation that there will be pops, so people will start queueing. In other words, I guarantee there is as much interest in playing preseason on the NA servers, but they just don't bother queueing because they don't think it will pop, and when everyone thinks that, of course it won't pop.

On the one hand, I wish people were more patient and willing to sit in queue more, like I do during the season. But on the other hand, I can understand. People value their time and don't want to waste it. Luckily for DM, they don't have this problem, because there is always an expectation that ranked will pop, so people just queue whenever they want to play.

Mero talking nonsense as usual. That's not even close to the reason it's not popping on NA right now. The reason it's not popping is simply because of the perception that it's not popping, and no one is willing to sit in queue for hours during preseason. Once the season starts, there will be an expectation that there will be pops, so people will start queueing. In other words, I guarantee there is as much interest in playing preseason on the NA servers, but they just don't bother queueing because they don't think it will pop, and when everyone thinks that, of course it won't pop.

 

On the one hand, I wish people were more patient and willing to sit in queue more, like I do during the season. But on the other hand, I can understand. People value their time and don't want to waste it. Luckily for DM, they don't have this problem, because there is always an expectation that ranked will pop, so people just queue whenever they want to play.

Ok, well then I guess its a difference of how NA and EU think. We, over here, simply play and dont bother and you guys have philosophies like this and then noone is in que......

Ok, well then I guess its a difference of how NA and EU think. We, over here, simply play and dont bother and you guys have philosophies like this and then noone is in que......

You still don't understand apparently...it's not a philosophical difference, it's simply a population difference. DM has built up a much bigger playerbase than SF when it comes to ranked. It's about triple the size. So at any one time, there are many more people queueing, and people can count on it popping. It's a sort of snowball effect.

On SF, most people only queue when they know for sure it's already popping. And that's a problem because when too many people have that attitude, it will never start popping in the first place. In preseason, this problem is exacerbated for obvious reasons.

DM doesn't have that problem at all, because people take for granted that it will pop, so they queue whenever they want, and of course it frequently pops.

This really isn't rocket science. The underlying reasons for the difference in population size would be a totally different discussion, but I suspect the consistency of popular streamers is quite important.

You still don't understand apparently...it's not a philosophical difference, it's simply a population difference. DM has built up a much bigger playerbase than SF when it comes to ranked. It's about triple the size. So at any one time, there are many more people queueing, and people can count on it popping. It's a sort of snowball effect.

 

On SF, most people only queue when they know for sure it's already popping. And that's a problem because when too many people have that attitude, it will never start popping in the first place. In preseason, this problem is exacerbated for obvious reasons.

 

DM doesn't have that problem at all, because people take for granted that it will pop, so they queue whenever they want, and of course it frequently pops.

 

This really isn't rocket science. The underlying reasons for the difference in population size would be a totally different discussion, but I suspect the consistency of popular streamers is quite important.

Dont tell me there is not enough people. I mean you are the US, you are at home now due to covid19. In case of the French or German servers I do understand it cause those are really small, but you have 2 servers for all of US, there just has to be enough ppl to que for ranked!! Its just silly to imagine that they dont que can they think it wont pop!!

Dont tell me there is not enough people. I mean you are the US, you are at home now due to covid19. In case of the French or German servers I do understand it cause those are really small, but you have 2 servers for all of US, there just has to be enough ppl to que for ranked!! Its just silly to imagine that they dont que can they think it wont pop!!

I don't understand why you even bother posting if you're actually this dense. Go look at the leaderboards, which measure ranked participation during the season, when, you know, rewards are on the line. The gap between DM and SF participation in ranked has only grown wider. What is happening during preseason was totally predictable and due entirely to low population and queueing patterns, not some kind of weird theory that NA people are only in it for rewards. If anything, based on what I've seen in streams and talking to them, a lot of the EU players seem to take rewards, particularly top 3s, much more seriously than NA people, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Another glaring problem is that many NA players have simply moved over to DM precisely because it pops more regularly, which just makes the population problems on SF and SS that much worse.

Mero talking nonsense as usual. That's not even close to the reason it's not popping on NA right now. The reason it's not popping is simply because of the perception that it's not popping, and no one is willing to sit in queue for hours during preseason. Once the season starts, there will be an expectation that there will be pops, so people will start queueing. In other words, I guarantee there is as much interest in playing preseason on the NA servers, but they just don't bother queueing because they don't think it will pop, and when everyone thinks that, of course it won't pop.

 

On the one hand, I wish people were more patient and willing to sit in queue more, like I do during the season. But on the other hand, I can understand. People value their time and don't want to waste it. Luckily for DM, they don't have this problem, because there is always an expectation that ranked will pop, so people just queue whenever they want to play.

Caecus is right, but he's missing another small problem. The total NA ranked population is probably about the same as the total EU ranked population, but everyone from EU plays on DM for ranked, and NA people have been hopping between SS and SF constantly. There are many times when we'll have 6 people queued on SS, and they'll have 7 queued on SF, and nobody will get pops so the players who wait to know it's popping before they queue never show up on either server. Meanwhile on DM they could have the same situation, get 13 players in queue, people notice it's popping, and all of a sudden there's 2 or 3 games going at a time.

Caecus is right, but he's missing another small problem. The total NA ranked population is probably about the same as the total EU ranked population, but everyone from EU plays on DM for ranked, and NA people have been hopping between SS and SF constantly. There are many times when we'll have 6 people queued on SS, and they'll have 7 queued on SF, and nobody will get pops so the players who wait to know it's popping before they queue never show up on either server. Meanwhile on DM they could have the same situation, get 13 players in queue, people notice it's popping, and all of a sudden there's 2 or 3 games going at a time.

Idk, I think the EU ranked population is overall larger than the NA population, especially when you consider that many previously NA only players are now also playing on EU servers.

especially when you consider that many previously NA only players are now also playing on EU servers.

Why is that though? It would seem illogical to me under normal circumstances to give yourself more lag than you would have on a NA server?

Caecus is right, but he's missing another small problem. The total NA ranked population is probably about the same as the total EU ranked population, but everyone from EU plays on DM for ranked, and NA people have been hopping between SS and SF constantly. There are many times when we'll have 6 people queued on SS, and they'll have 7 queued on SF, and nobody will get pops so the players who wait to know it's popping before they queue never show up on either server. Meanwhile on DM they could have the same situation, get 13 players in queue, people notice it's popping, and all of a sudden there's 2 or 3 games going at a time.

It's true that the population is unnecessarily split. For most of the season, SF had much steadier pops, but there was a few week period in the middle of the season where SS had significantly more pops (and about a week where SF was completely dead). It's a bit weird to me why some people swap back and forth like that (though in at least one case, I know exactly why it was done).

Idk, I think the EU ranked population is overall larger than the NA population, especially when you consider that many previously NA only players are now also playing on EU servers.

Let's look at the numbers. I like using 50 wins as a metric, because it shows you the characters with a good amount of activity. You can pick another number and you'll find similar results.

Characters with 50 or more wins on DM: 516

Characters with 50 or more wins on SF: 185

Characters with 50 or more wins on SS: 70

So, we can clearly see that DM has about double the combined active characters of SF and SS. Season 12 has the biggest difference between the populations queueing on EU and NA in this game's history I believe.

Characters with 50 or more wins on DM: 516

Characters with 50 or more wins on SF: 185

Characters with 50 or more wins on SS: 70

 

So, we can clearly see that DM has about double the combined active characters of SF and SS. Season 12 has the biggest difference between the populations queueing on EU and NA in this game's history I believe.

This won’t be a very popular point (Especially with the pve and RP players), but do you think the time’s come to merge the two US servers into one to bring the total NA pvp community together?

This won’t be a very popular point (Especially with the pve and RP players), but do you think the time’s come to merge the two US servers into one to bring the total NA pvp community together?

Absolutely. From a pvp, and especially a ranked pvp, perspective, it's a no-brainer.

Why is that though? It would seem illogical to me under normal circumstances to give yourself more lag than you would have on a NA server?

Yes, the lag is considerably greater. I myself have gone from 20 ping on NA servers to 150-250 ping on EU servers. It's worth it for the constant solo ranked activity though.

Yes, the lag is considerably greater. I myself have gone from 20 ping on NA servers to 150-250 ping on EU servers. It's worth it for the constant solo ranked activity though.

My normal ping is 220-230ms from Australia to US. But it’s normally completely unstable, especially in pvp and can pop up to 350ms at the worst times.

You may or may not have tried this yourself, but one thing I’ve found that helps is using WTFast gaming VPN. It’s usually a similar speed of 220ms, but it fixes the stability and packet loss issues 98% of the time. It’s also a great way to get around network hop problems that might be causing the instability or increased ping sometimes.

Anyway, my hats off to you if you can play ranked with 250ms ping. I’m usually dead at 250ms before my DCDs activate.

though in at least one case, I know exactly why it was done.

lmfao. subtle.

lmfao. subtle.

Glad you could fill in the blank for anyone that was confused.

It's currently 10:02 PM central standard time. I have been sitting in queue on SF for 20 mins and no pop. Somebody queue please. Is there a place where people can say hey i am going to go sit in queue now please do so also?

You can try asking people to queue in the /pvp channel on fleet. Or you could try getting someone, or just you yourself, to stream on twitch that you're queueing ranked on SF. Other than that, there's not much you can do.

The only other option is to ingratiate yourself with one of the groups of pvpers that hang out in discord together and then try to get them to queue with you, but I would definitely not recommend it. Not only is it a scummy practice to queue sync solo ranked while in discord with your buddies, many of them are simply bad, stupid people.

Caecus is right, but he's missing another small problem. The total NA ranked population is probably about the same as the total EU ranked population, but everyone from EU plays on DM for ranked, and NA people have been hopping between SS and SF constantly. There are many times when we'll have 6 people queued on SS, and they'll have 7 queued on SF, and nobody will get pops so the players who wait to know it's popping before they queue never show up on either server. Meanwhile on DM they could have the same situation, get 13 players in queue, people notice it's popping, and all of a sudden there's 2 or 3 games going at a time.

EU also has this issue. Most of ranked players transferred from french and german servers to DM. However, leviathan and tulak hord still have ranked players and rare ranked arena pops. It is just not a big issue for EU since pops on DM are frequent and constant. I still think though that there is no serious reasons to keep german and french servers on and that for creating better game experience, teaming and making swtor healthier devs must merge all eu servers into one and all na servers into one so we could have one big na server and one big eu server.

They also must return back mats or other incentives to both sr and tr because removing mats from ranked already proved to be bad. Things only became worse after they removed mats - pops decreased, wintrading (especially in team ranked) increased, level of toxicity didn't change, vote kick abuses increased. If devs won't provide proper in incentives to ranked number of pops will continue to fall and wintraders will succeed in team ranked (since Mike already stated that number of minimum wins needed for ranked tiers will be tweaked starting with next season).

After season 12 and after reading Mike's posts summarizing season 12 iam confident that without proper incentives solo ranked will face stagnation and wintraders will have their triumph in dead team ranked.

It would be good if they let you multi queue across content and you can take the first thing that pops, which cancels the other queues you are in,

Ie, queue for reg, ranked and GSF at the same time.