The Old Republic Population Shrinking

[Amnestic]

TOR? I thought the other person was talking about the pricing of Guild Wars 2.

Edit: Yes, I looked how that line of converstation was about GW2, not TOR, which has a $60 price tag and no subscription fees.

Bah, that's what I get for not paying attention. ;p

Guild Wars has always been slightly more expensive to help offset the lack of subscription fees. I still say that giving it some sort of special title (excepting 'non-subscription based MMO') because it has a higher price tag at release is silly.

 

[Chaos Marine]

A lot of people seem to think 1.3 million means 'dying'. If they continue to decay subs at this rate they'll die, but 1.3 million is still very strong for an MMO.

Hopefully they'll merge servers soon. I suspect the bleed won't stop until they do.

Except that they have to keep drawing in money to make up for the massive costs of the game development. Which it's not. And don't think they just have to make up for the development costs. There's also maintenance, customer service and help, continuous patching of faults by hackers etc.

 

[Vault101]

[snip.

Dragon age 2 was one game...I havtn played it but it seems it was somthing of a rush job..not saying its ok but it was one game

Mass efffect 3....the ending hurt at the time but it doesnt kill the rest of the game, mabye it will be fixed mabye it won't

 

[Comando96]

So I wonder when it'll go F2P.

Few months.

Once it does I'll download it and see what all the fuss was about.

 

[shintakie10]

A lot of people seem to think 1.3 million means 'dying'. If they continue to decay subs at this rate they'll die, but 1.3 million is still very strong for an MMO.

Hopefully they'll merge servers soon. I suspect the bleed won't stop until they do.

Except that they have to keep drawing in money to make up for the massive costs of the game development. Which it's not. And don't think they just have to make up for the development costs. There's also maintenance, customer service and help, continuous patching of faults by hackers etc.

They've stated before they can break even with as little as 500k subscribers over time and they'd make money at 1 mil. The problem they have right now is that they were plannin on upwards of 2 million constant subscribers. They don't need that many, but that is what they told investors and what they expected to see. With only 1.4 they're not in danger of never makin money, but they're definitly in danger of not meetin expectations and EA doin drastic things.

We'll see next report when they add in the overseas numbers. If they gain more than they lose then ToR will keep right on chuggin along. If they don't, expect to see some form of microstransactions shoehorned in WoW style.

 

[Strazdas]

Thisis to be expected. All mmos have a large spike in their begining as people are trying it out and will drop once the testers leave and only those willing to play for a whiel stays. Whether will will rise or fall after that is what really determines the games future. With a franchise like Star Wars its no wonder the initial spike was large.

EVE scratches different itches, and has had a steady subscriber base for a long time. Planetside scratched a different itch, but sadly died. Hopefully Sony will impress with Planetside Next and CCP will impress with Dust 514. From what I've seen of gameplay footage, Tera has a decidedly different gameplay mechanic behind it.

Well from what i coudl gather DUST 514 will not be as good as CCP want because of PS3 limitations in memory rendering (only 1 type of planets, other cuts). Then again, dust and eve gameplay isnt very compatable (Excel with graphics and FPS are going for two different audiences) and therefore likely wont steal players form eachother, much. Still if CCP suceeds it will be the first ever sucesful cross-platform universe. Other tried but backed out, so CCP is the only one racing now.

 

[LongMuckDong]

Ya know what's really upsetting sometimes.

When you really love playing an MMO, and you know it's not perfect, but you love it for what it is, and you have fun.

Yet all of the General boards, of that very game, are people cheering for it's doom.

It's unsettling, and disquieting, to say the least.

Captcha 'foul smelling'...indeed

You, sir, have summed up my feelings 100%.

I am a pretty big Star Wars fan (read some books, love most of the films, Kotor'd it up multiple times - even own X-wing) and a newb to the MMO scene (did 1 week of Guild Wars prior to SWTOR... true newbie status).

In terms of fun, I've had bucket loads - brilliant story, great guild, awesome gear.. loving it. So when I read doomsayer994 saying 'the end is nigh' over and over again, it kind of makes me think bad thoughts.

I'm not sure what type of bad thoughts, just a bit of a downer to be honest. Even with 1,000,000 ongoing subs - if they merge some servers ASAP (for the 'ghost server' peeps - that must suck!) and keep releasing content and new PvP stuff, we'll be just fine.

I'm off to keep on playing, good times people - with a whisky in my offhand (booze focus) and a razer naga in my right .

Thanks. It's nice to hear from someone else, who enjoys the game.

I guess that makes two of us.

...do you have any extra whiskey on hand? I just finished reading the official boards. >_<

Jesus... that General Discussion should be called Normandy - death, nazis and mines as far as the eye can see.

I have a nice bottle of Laphroaig on hand, you sir, get a glass on the house.

 

[LongMuckDong]

So I wonder when it'll go F2P.

Few months.

Once it does I'll download it and see what all the fuss was about.

Fellow Codexer?

 

[Draconalis]

I'm at least happy Guild Wars 2 is not going to have much competition now. I was worried for a moment when EA shoved TOR out the door and spammed the gaming news with those awesome FMVs.

It might though, in the surprising form of an underdog - Tera.

I tried that game out for the open beta since TOR was boring me. I figured.. "What the hell, I'll give it a try, not like I have anything better to do."

By the end of that weekend, I had canceled my TOR account and per-purchased Tera.

PA said it best

Tera is the one that's fun to play.

 

[Draconalis]

Those other MMOs that would kill to have 1.3 million subs? They have about 10 servers. ToR has upwards of 50.

Funny thing about this... My buddy and I figure that the number of servers is half the reason this game failed in our eyes. Sure they have 1.3 bajillion people playing... but it's all spread out so thin across so many servers that the worlds all feel empty and lifelessly dull for it.

 

[Aerduin]

It is a shame that this game is ebbing a bit, I thoroughly enjoy it, and find the aspect of story based levelling a nice feature. The problem I know many players have with it is it was too easy to get to max level, and then have little to do. Maybe a lesson to be learned by Bioware there, people will push hard to max out.

I dont have the time to rush for the finish line in any game I get, I want to ease back and enjoy the journey, to experience as much of the scenery as possible, and I guess for a MMO you just cant please everyone all of the time.

It does suck however when after a week away with work, you log in to find your guild has imploded and your only true friend is a monstrous shadow assasin that wants to eat you.

Still I will stick with the game, as I really enjoy it . Guild Wars 2 though does look tempting .... hmmmmm

 

[Draconalis]

snip

To be fair... for the american release, the little girls were made to wear more clothing, and now sport short shorts rather than panties.

That being said... there's a reason my guild has Elin players as KoS.

We aren't fans of pedophiles.

Frankly though, I'm not here to convince you. To each their own.

 

[Amnestic]

That being said... there's a reason my guild has Elin players as KoS.

We aren't fans of pedophiles.

Only works if you're operating under the assumption that every single person chooses an avatar because they're sexually attracted to them.

I'm guessing that's not the case though. You got a KOS for popori players 'cos they're all animal fuckers?

 

[Draconalis]

Only works if you're operating under the assumption that every single person chooses an avatar because they're sexually attracted to them.

I'm guessing that's not the case though. You got a KOS for popori players 'cos they're all animal fuckers?

You're right, the furries are KoS as well.

 

[Hosker]

That's to be expected, really. 2 million tried it, and now 1.3 million has evidently enjoyed it and are probable long-term players. Pretty good, overall.

 

[Amnestic]

Only works if you're operating under the assumption that every single person chooses an avatar because they're sexually attracted to them.

I'm guessing that's not the case though. You got a KOS for popori players 'cos they're all animal fuckers?

You're right, the furries are KoS as well.

Wow, really?

That's incredibly pathetic. No, seriously.

To be so short sighted that you think that the only reason to roll a character is that you want to fuck them is just...It says a lot more about you than it does about people rolling Elins or Popori.

I mean, how far does it go for you? Did you pick your Escapist avatar for the same reason?

 

[Draconalis]

I mean, how far does it go for you? Did you pick your Escapist avatar for the same reason?

Man! If only! Optimus Prime is too cool for me though... And he's too busy saving the galaxy from the Decepticons to consider a real relationship anyway...

A girl can dream though. Right?

 

[tehweave]

THIS JUST IN!

[POPULAR GAME FROM LAST YEAR] IS GETTING LESS POPULAR BY THE MINUTE.

THIS IS NEWS.