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SWTOR subs dip from 1.7 Million to 1.3

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  • kcypher2000kcypher2000 Member Posts: 116

    Originally posted by Wickedjelly

    Originally posted by kcypher2000

    I did notice that it turned most mmos into queue fests where people wait around capitals and have become scared of interacting with others.  Btw am i making you angry?  Cause you seem to be getting rather upset.   I am really finding it hard to believe you were born when EQ was around considering how upset you are getting over a small debate on a game. 

    Lol...I'm not upset. This is how I always talk. Anyways you started this whole banter :P

    Well then what game do you like more than SWTOR and why?  I am not saying thing to be condescending but trying to direct this debate in a more constructive direction.

    One thing I have always wanted in an mmo is more distractions, mini games etc.  Lots of them that might have nothing to do with the rest of the grind.

    That and a pvp zone, battle ground whatever that is just a huge death match.  Bring back the fun of old World pvp raids where people didn't fight for gear but just to kill the other faction. 

  • WickedjellyWickedjelly Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 4,990

    Originally posted by kcypher2000

    And here comes the doom sayers.  Havent you guys also been preaching that WoW will die for like 7 or 8 years now?  

    Here is the real kicker, people whine about the end game content being like WoW, then they whine that the end game content does not have a dungeon finder so they can play this end game content exactly like WoW and if it lacked any of these features they would whine that the game is missing something WoW has.

    You can't win.  Then again thats only the loud minority of whiners on gaming forums who also hate any Call of Duty or Halo game just because they too are popular. 

    Many of the people that have been asking for better lfg mechanics have not been looking for a copy of WoW's dungeon finder. in fact, many have expressly asked that it not be that.

    ...and frankly I don't see it as whining. Who am I to judge if they aren't able to enjoy the game like myself or you can? Why would haveing better tools in place be such a bad thing to help them form groups or find groups easier? See this is the problem. Some of you are simply incapable of seeing things from other player's perspectives...at all...

    1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.

    2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.

    3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.

  • WickedjellyWickedjelly Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 4,990

    Originally posted by kcypher2000

    Well then what game do you like more than SWTOR and why?  I am not saying thing to be condescending but trying to direct this debate in a more constructive direction.

    One thing I have always wanted in an mmo is more distractions, mini games etc.  Lots of them that might have nothing to do with the rest of the grind.

    That and a pvp zone, battle ground whatever that is just a huge death match.  Bring back the fun of old World pvp raids where people didn't fight for gear but just to kill the other faction. 

    First to of all I don't hate SWTOR. I enjoyed my time in the game. I knew from the way it was designed it probably was not going to be long term for me but I enjoyed my time there. If PvP wasn't a mess I probably would have stayed another month or two. That is it.

    I mainly return to LOTR the most. Been playing that game off and on regulary since it launched. Spend most of my time there anymore. Spent many years playing DDO, EQ, and WoW too. Those are probably the the four I have played the most - WoW being the least out of the four. The thing that probably does me in the most with SWTOR is the lack of community and immersion. Maybe you disagree but I didn't feel it at all. Also, I was not overly impressed with the story lines of SWTOR. The class story lines aren't bad but I found the planets to be awful. To the extent that much as I tried I could not stomach making an alt.

    Main things I enjoy in Rings? The community, the world, and the dungeon gameplay and designs. Although lately the game has been going downhill. No denying that. Ironically, on this very forums I have been called a hater of that game too. Simply because regardless how much I like the game I am well aware of its shortcomings and have no problem discussing them or stating that it needs to be improved upon. Granted been quite some time since I've wandered over there.

    I would love the old world pvp raid days. I don't know if players will support it though. Different mentality these days for better or worse I suppose. GW2 appears to be attempting something along these lines. We'll see how it pans out. I'll admit I'm interested but we'll see if it can hold players' interests or if it fizzles out after a short time. I would think not but I've been wrong before.

     

     

    1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.

    2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.

    3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.

  • AxehiltAxehilt Member RarePosts: 10,504

    Originally posted by kcypher2000

    What mmo you playing where all the dungeon finders are instant?  I played rift and WoW and both of those it takes up to an hour sometimes for a dps to find a group. 

    They're not instant (or well...they kinda are for me because I prefer healers, and occasionally tanks.)

    But they're much faster than manual group finding.

    And even as DPS it was very rare to take an hour to find a group.  Typically it was 15 or less minutes.

    "What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver

  • Blackwater56Blackwater56 Member Posts: 122

    Originally posted by kcypher2000

    And here comes the doom sayers.  Havent you guys also been preaching that WoW will die for like 7 or 8 years now?  

    Here is the real kicker, people whine about the end game content being like WoW, then they whine that the end game content does not have a dungeon finder so they can play this end game content exactly like WoW and if it lacked any of these features they would whine that the game is missing something WoW has.

    You can't win.  Then again thats only the loud minority of whiners on gaming forums who also hate any Call of Duty or Halo game just because they too are popular. 

    "Loud minority"

    There's that term again.

     

    That's pretty funny considering the "loud minority" is almost half of SWTORs population judging from the recent sub count.

  • karmathkarmath Member UncommonPosts: 904

    Keep in mind that 1.3 million number includes those who took the extra free 30 days. Paid sub numbers will be arguably quite below 1 million.

     

     

  • ignore_meignore_me Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 1,987

    I think this level of degradation of active subs will continue, and will spike when GW2 comes out because while people may not unsub to play it, they will take time to play it which will:

    add to emptiness of servers   ---> lead to people quitting due to even smaller population.

     

    Anecdotally, I hear people in game (even in general not just in guild) talking about going to D3, TSW, and GW2 all the time. These releases will eat into SWTOR and it's not a slander to say that.

     

    At some point the subs will more or less level off and it will be the fanbois, casuals, biodrones, etc. who will be left. Question is will those same devs be there? I hope not, because they have made monumentally stupid decisions and aren't showing any real signs of being capable of adapting SWTOR.

    Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011

  • HazelleHazelle Member Posts: 760

    The game has payed for it's development already and is currently turning a nice profit and so long as they don't dip below their target which was 400k they'll continue to make money on their investment.

    Even if the worst case senario plays out for the game they can cut the dev team and bleed out the remaining subs and as long as they shut it down at the right time the game would still be a business success.

    I'm sure they would prefer to have a successful game with all of the subscription profits that go with it but while you haters are giggling in your pants over their number losses don't forget that the game is a $ucce$$.

     

  • SandboxSandbox Member UncommonPosts: 295

    Originally posted by Hazelle

    The game has payed for it's development already and is currently turning a nice profit and so long as they don't dip below their target which was 400k they'll continue to make money on their investment.

    Even if the worst case senario plays out for the game they can cut the dev team and bleed out the remaining subs and as long as they shut it down at the right time the game would still be a business success.

    I'm sure they would prefer to have a successful game with all of the subscription profits that go with it but while you haters are giggling in your pants over their number losses don't forget that the game is a $ucce$$.

     

    Reasoning like yours is why we have mediocre games.

    Calling TOR a success might be a very short sighted conclusion, if you take in consideration the bad PR for EA and the BioWare brand.

  • GreyhooffGreyhooff Member Posts: 654

    Originally posted by kcypher2000

     

    Then team with people, SWTOR encourages teaming more than most mmos ive played, you actually get points for teaming and its funny when people pick different decisions.  My wife is pure evil and im a hero, makes thing interesting and led to some duels. 

    Btw that last paragraph just proves to me how horribly biased and hypocritical you are.  You want to see SWTOR a game many people enjoy, even if you dont, buried because their publisher does some things you don't agree with.  Wow talk about a hypocrite. 

    Lets be honest, that proves my point that some people want SWTOR to fail no matter what they do with the game, they can make it your dream mmo and you will still hate it just because you are biased.

     

    The developers are arrogant, incompetent and dishonest, have no clue about the game or its players, and have produced with an insane amount of money a mediocre, lazy MMO that they wrecked further with bad decisions and foolish priorities in the 1.2 patch.

    When provided with feedback, the corrupt moderators on the swtor.com forum deleted any negative feedback and infractioned/banned those who posted the feedback, while providing a platform for EA viral marketing shills to bait out any naysayers and marginalise them.

    In any case, EAware lead developers dismissed the feedback about 1.2 and continued on, convinced they were right despite all the players who came up with in-depth theorycraft and constructive proposals on how to fix everything from class balance to server issues to Ilum world PVP.

    Everything about SWTOR from its lead developers to its marketeers is rotten to the bone.

    It's great that SWTOR has failed. We can use it as an example of the obnoxious, corrupt and incompetent practices that no other company or MMO should follow.

    image

  • mikahrmikahr Member Posts: 1,066

    Sooo, they didnt give numberz as of 31st march lol.

    "We sold 2,4m units. At some point in time we had 1,7m subs, and as of end of april (when we gave pretty much everyone 30 free days) we have 1,3m "subs" (read: active accounts, because sub means actual payment, not F2P 30 days)"

    It was transparent 30 free days had more uses than to "win hearts everywhere" lol.

    Spicing sub numbers obviously one of those uses :)

    In fact it may also be experiment for "what happens if we go F2P"

    The thing is: they cant give free days forever and eventually they will have to confront investors with PAYING customer numbers.

    That being end of Q2/13 as all of 6 months subs+gimmicks(free days) will run out...unless we get new gimmicks.

    And for those who say they are even on investment: not even close

    And for those that think game can operate on this level with 500k subs: dream on.

    I bet Vanguard with 1000? subs is "profitable".

  • SiugSiug Member UncommonPosts: 1,257

    It's quite funny to read fanboi rage :) I remember when SWTOR fanbois had sigs like "VIP member since (insert pre-order date)." Got even warning for pointing out how funny those clowns were :) Those sIgs disappared like spring snow after launch.

    Quite enjoyed my 2,5 months in SWTOR though. Nice single player RPG with a chat window. Republic stories were all cheesy garbage though compared to Imperial ones.

  • karmathkarmath Member UncommonPosts: 904

    Originally posted by Hazelle

    The game has payed for it's development already and is currently turning a nice profit and so long as they don't dip below their target which was 400k they'll continue to make money on their investment.

    Even if the worst case senario plays out for the game they can cut the dev team and bleed out the remaining subs and as long as they shut it down at the right time the game would still be a business success.

    I'm sure they would prefer to have a successful game with all of the subscription profits that go with it but while you haters are giggling in your pants over their number losses don't forget that the game is a $ucce$$.

     

    It would not have even remotley come close to paying its development costs let alone its on goings.

    People seem to forget interest on investor loans, the IP from Lucas, the hero engine, tax, dev staff, customer service staff, web development staff, community managers, middle management, finance staff servers, bandwidth, real estate, utilities  and on and on the list goes.

    Interest,tax and the IP license alone would of eaten the entire launch box sales.

  • SkymourneSkymourne Member UncommonPosts: 380

    Originally posted by Greyhooff

    Originally posted by kcypher2000


     

    Then team with people, SWTOR encourages teaming more than most mmos ive played, you actually get points for teaming and its funny when people pick different decisions.  My wife is pure evil and im a hero, makes thing interesting and led to some duels. 

    Btw that last paragraph just proves to me how horribly biased and hypocritical you are.  You want to see SWTOR a game many people enjoy, even if you dont, buried because their publisher does some things you don't agree with.  Wow talk about a hypocrite. 

    Lets be honest, that proves my point that some people want SWTOR to fail no matter what they do with the game, they can make it your dream mmo and you will still hate it just because you are biased.

     

    The developers are arrogant, incompetent and dishonest, have no clue about the game or its players, and have produced with an insane amount of money a mediocre, lazy MMO that they wrecked further with bad decisions and foolish priorities in the 1.2 patch.

    When provided with feedback, the corrupt moderators on the swtor.com forum deleted any negative feedback and infractioned/banned those who posted the feedback, while providing a platform for EA viral marketing shills to bait out any naysayers and marginalise them.

    In any case, EAware lead developers dismissed the feedback about 1.2 and continued on, convinced they were right despite all the players who came up with in-depth theorycraft and constructive proposals on how to fix everything from class balance to server issues to Ilum world PVP.

    Everything about SWTOR from its lead developers to its marketeers is rotten to the bone.

    It's great that SWTOR has failed. We can use it as an example of the obnoxious, corrupt and incompetent practices that no other company or MMO should follow.

    Nailed it right on the money.  Watching this thing go down in flames is more than enough entertainment for me.  Too bad we'll have to watch TESO do the same :(

  • ignore_meignore_me Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 1,987

    Threads on official forums heavy with suggestions on how to keep subs. Even over there in wonderland there is some panic. sheesh. Wouldn't want to be working at BW right now.

    Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011

  • SkymourneSkymourne Member UncommonPosts: 380

    Originally posted by ignore_me

    Threads on official forums heavy with suggestions on how to keep subs. Even over there in wonderland there is some panic. sheesh. Wouldn't want to be working at BW right now.

    yeah it's looking pretty brutal right now.  There are a ton of the posters on that board that were white-knighting this even last night, but when that call dropped today, there's this:

    http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=447688

  • JakardJakard Member Posts: 415

    Tough position.

    I think we all k new that the subscription numbers have diwndled. You can see this by just logging on and seeing an excess of low population servers. There's no easy fix there...not really. It's going to be difficult to get subscribers back because you are going to need a lot of sweeping changes to the game. I'm subscribed through June but my future after that is pretty hazy at the moment. The end-game content is pretty non-existent and it's becoming harder and harder for someone like me to justify subscribing to the game. You have Tera that was just released and Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3 are just around the corner along with the new WoW expansion, so I think there are going to be a lot of people who have compelling reasons to play something else.

    I'm not sure if we're there yet but I suspect by the end of the year, there has to be a Free to Play announcement beecause I think this is the only real way to get people back into the game in signficant numbers and perhaps even more paying customers than the peak of the game. Merging servers will also have to happen along with continued improvements to the game. But yeah, at this moment, the future isn't dire but it's not real great either.

  • mgilbrtsnmgilbrtsn Member EpicPosts: 3,430

    Have to wait and see before passing judgement IMO.  Still not very old, and it is hard to predict until the initial server merge happens.  A server merge is inevitible for a new game, but if there is a second merge too quickly after the first one, then I'll sit up and take notice.

    I self identify as a monkey.

  • QuenchsterQuenchster Member Posts: 450

    Hey guys, why do they keep using the term "active subscribers" instead of "paying subscribers." I don't get it.

  • fivorothfivoroth Member UncommonPosts: 3,916
    What the guy above me said. Nobody cares if you're playig the game as long as you are paying.

    Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.

  • PhryPhry Member LegendaryPosts: 11,004

    Originally posted by Quenchster

    Hey guys, why do they keep using the term "active subscribers" instead of "paying subscribers." I don't get it.

    Active subscribers just means their account is active, either through paid subscription, or free gametime (they gave a lot of this away recently.. hint hint)

    paid subscribers are ones that you know, are actually paying to play.. image

  • NaralNaral Member UncommonPosts: 748

    Originally posted by Aerowyn

    as of march 31st according to that... I'm sure currently its much lower especially with TERA now out and TSW coming soon and of course I feel GW2 will be the nail... although many argue GW2's B2P model won't effect swtor I feel if a MMO is far superior to another and is B2P why would you continue playing one they have to pay for monthly.. 

    I think people would have played both. Back before I learned SWTOR sucked, I had always planned on playing both. People are just leaving SWTOR because it sucks. I will still be playing two games...TSW and GW2, assuming GW2 comes out while I am still playing TSW that is.

  • CetraCetra Member UncommonPosts: 359

    hate bioware. They are just funcom 2.

    Talk alot make alot of promises but dont deliver and alot of cover up.

    call me an ass but im glad swtor is nearing its rightful end.

  • HachlathHachlath Member UncommonPosts: 55

    Hi

    As a fan of SW and KOTOR1, I'm completely disappointed by SWTor. Another wow clone, heavily instanced, not interesting. I'm not surprised by this new. So sad SWG stopped. 

  • Pratt2112Pratt2112 Member UncommonPosts: 1,636

    Originally posted by Distopia

    Originally posted by Blackwater56


    Originally posted by Distopia


    Originally posted by Blackwater56


    Originally posted by FrodoFragins

     

    Personally, 1.3 million as of March 31 is still pretty good

    Uh, no. Not when you sold 2.3 million copies total

     

    So SWTOR lost 1 million subs AND STILL hasn't merged server.

     

    That's all that can be said about the business mantality of EA. 

    And yes, the free month was included. The report was from the end of April

    What 1.3 million isn't a decent sub base? What?

    THEY LOST

    ONE MILLION

    SUBSCRIBERS

     

    In 5 months.

    WoW, with 13 million subs, lost 1 million IN ONE YEAR

     

    SWTOR has taken a MASSIVE hit.

    Massive hit sure, but that's the norm, people could say that about just about every MMO since 05. But 1.3 mil is something many sub based games wish they had, many never even reach a million in sales.

    All MMOs lose a portion of their playerbase, sure. However, losing almost half your player base in the first 5 months time is not a very good sign of a strong game. It's especially not for one which was being hailed as THE game-changer before it even launched. This included the developers, the media, and the fans. Everyone was spiking the TOR hype-aid, and couldn't drink enough of it.  

    People who expressed doubt were called haters or trolls. They were told they didn't know what they were talking about; that they were in denial. Otherwise somewhat reserved media folks were reduced to slobbering fanboys and girls over it. The staff on this site alone were lining up to heap praise on it in column after column. 

    It was BioWare, and Star Wars, and Voice Acting and focused on story! How could it not be an unstoppable force in the genre! It would be a game changer! People would never be able to play another MMO again! Blizzard were positively shaking in their boots at how they were about to inevitably lose millions of their players! Yes, I saw these such claims, and others, made time and again in the months leading up to the game's launch. It was impossible to avoid for a time, even if you tried to.

    Let's also think back to how many people insisted 1.7 million subs was what they had. People were using that number as proof positive that the game hadn't lost players. Those who looked beyond the PR and expressed doubt were bashed, trashed and called trolls around here and elsewhere.

    Yet, here we are now with new numbers and they have, indeed, lost another large chunk of their playerbase. So now people have suddenly and conveniently forgotten all the "No! Bioware says they have 1.7 players and so that's how many they have!" business, and are focused on making 1.3 sound like that's the number and they can't possibly still be losing more. Are we really going to repeat the same thing all over again?

    Are people that slow to learn? Or are they just that desperate to cling to the idea that the game they knew would be an unstoppable beast is actually a much smaller and less impressive creature, with a footprint that's shrinking considerably only 5 months into its release?

    At the very least, I'd expect this to be a lesson on why it's not a good idea to get caught up in, or contribute to such hype. Why it's a bad idea to make bold declarations with an arrogance such as what was displayed by those in the TOR community, about a game that few even had a chance to play yet. Though, based on the hype around GW2 now, apparently it hasn't.

     

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