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If SWTOR is losing players, how can Bioware turn things around?


LordArtemis

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This is naturally hypothetical....not trying to spread gloom and doom here. The reality, however, is the game likely has less players than it had a year ago...or two years ago.

 

If that is actually the case, we could go on and on about what reasons we think those players left, but I think if any question should be asked it should be "can we get the players back?" and How?

 

That is what I would like to discuss here. Assuming the hypothetical is true, what could Bioware do, with the minimum possible effort and investment (time and resource) to return the game to higher player numbers?

 

I have some suggestions naturally. I would like to hear others opinions as well.

 

1) Set up a schedule for a live stream, one hour, Q and A every two weeks from now until December of this year.

 

2) Offer former players 30 days of free play time and a bonus of 500 coins...and an additional bonus of 500 coins if you sub at the end.

 

Not much to explain here....send out an email, put out a public statement to all of the online video game sites. Get the word out...30 days and 500 coins.

 

3) Make the Amazon special.....2400 coins, 90 days, 40 bucks something you can use every 90 days.

 

IMO this is a huge draw item, as it offers a really good deal, one of the best IMO that is offered for sub options. This pack is the very reason I am subbed at the moment, and would likely remain so if they allowed it to be used every 90 days (currently it is 180 days).

 

4) Make a pass on ALL of the expansion content from SoR up through KotFE/ET/FA and make sure all of it can be done as a group, and remove the removal of companions at the beginning of KotFE.

 

Instead, players would be given the option of removal, or they could choose to keep their companions (but would still lose them story wise). I think this is one of the barriers (the lack of group play is another) that keeps folks from participating in the new content.

 

5) Make all prior class story content replayable, set up the same way that KotFE/ET is set up chapter wise.

 

6) Add a Subscriber reward system set up something like this...

 

I suggest a subscriber rewards program that rewarded players for total sub time, non-contiguous. Here is the general gist.

 

SWG had a great program for subscriber rewards IMO, and I think a similar system would do well here.

 

The idea is to reward subs for total amount of time they played, but I would change it up a bit....I would set it for total amount of time SUBSCRIBED.

 

First, you would need to be subscribed to receive the rewards, and you could only collect the reward on one server, one character.

 

Second, it would be set up in tiers....every 90 days of subscription, the days/months would have no need to be contiguous. All items would be bound to legacy (with noted exceptions), so they can not be sold or traded.

 

90 - 100cc

180 - low demand armor set (bronze)

270 - low demand speeder (bronze)

360 - transfer token

 

450 - 250cc

540 - medium demand armor set (silver)

630 - medium demand speeder (silver)

720 - 5 character slots

 

810 - 500cc

900 - high demand armor set (gold)

990 - high demand speeder (gold)

1080 - rename token

 

1170 - 1000cc

1260 - rare armor set (platinum)

1350 - rare demand speeder (platinum)

1440 - level up token

 

1530 - 2000cc

1620 - Legacy XP bonus armor set

1710 - rare animal and droid companion

1800 - white/white and black/black dye

 

1890 - 3000cc

1980 - 5 ultra rare weapons

2070 - code for 30 days sub time (can be given to friend)

2160 - 100 percent XP boost legacy implant

 

2250 - code for 90 days sub and 2400 coins (can be given to friend), exclusive mount and title

 

This is just a general example of what you could offer, you could go more conservative, but IMO those that have been subbed this entire time deserve special rewards.

 

7) Rerelease some of the recent subscriber reward content that proved popular, like the HK series subscriber rewards as either CM items or under the same requirement criteria.

 

And, the most important change IMO.....

 

8) All high end progression content, like ranked PVP and Operations (hard mode) will now have a guaranteed gear drop...either some kind of token to redeem for a gear piece, or an unassembled item that grants a single piece.

 

In fact, I will expand on number 8 with my compilation from another thread about the command system...here is the gist of that suggestion...

 

Here is a short list of suggestions compiled from the thread. I will scour the thread for more later.

 

1) Reduce gear costs by 1/3, keep UC rates the same

 

2) Major pass over all content and increase CXP gain in all areas across the board so that it is commensurate with time and difficulty

 

3) Completion of Gods from the Machine with a NiM version

 

4) Keep the bonuses after GC 300 intact

 

And my suggestion

 

1) Create one new tier for hard mode content, highest tier attainable, that drops armor pieces AND a single token that can be turned in for one armor piece. One can choose to roll against the armor piece or choose the token. This would only be for Hard content and would have a vendor for one:one tradein.

 

2) Remove material drops from hard content, or better yet add additional casual methods of acquiring materials, perhaps sold on a vendor for Command points.

 

I have other suggestions, but I think these changes would be the easiest to implement in the short term, and have the most appeal overall.

 

I would like to add more later, but I will start here.

 

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Edited by LordArtemis
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1: Lots more stuff to do

 

2: Make the free-to-play option not a 3-page spreadsheet. Much of the old playerbase currently value the free-to-play experience at less than zero. If they didn't, the server merges would have been totally unnecessary. If you keep them away from the endgame hamster wheels, you pretty much remove the number one driver of people to do MMO things and keep the game active.

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1: Lots more stuff to do

 

2: Make the free-to-play option not a 3-page spreadsheet. Much of the old playerbase currently value the free-to-play experience at less than zero. If they didn't, the server merges would have been totally unnecessary. If you keep them away from the endgame hamster wheels, you pretty much remove the number one driver of people to do MMO things and keep the game active.

 

Its a good point. Can you expand on exactly how you think the free to play option needs to change? Id like to hear more.

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Its a good point. Can you expand on exactly how you think the free to play option needs to change? Id like to hear more.

 

Everything should be accessable for free so I can unsubscribe and no longer having to pay for this game, who wouldn't want that right?

Everything is so much better for free, I'm really excited to cancel the subscription and use my money on other things and have exactly the same things that I have now but without paying!!!

 

 

Now crazyCT doesn't have to.:rak_03:

 

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Everything should be accessable for free so I can unsubscribe and no longer having to pay for this game, who wouldn't want that right?

Everything is so much better for free, I'm really excited to cancel the subscription and use my money on other things and have exactly the same things that I have now but without paying!!!

 

 

Now crazyCT doesn't have to.:rak_03:

 

Shenanigans.

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Most players I know who left, took a break, etc did so for two primary reasons,

1) The interminable CXP grind - note how player participation spikes when there's a +100% CXP boost running.

2) No Passes into PvP for F2P players.

 

There's a couple of simple things Bioware could do to fix those things.

 

With this Xmas Event CXP Boost CXP rewards were just about at the level they should be PERMANENTLY. I felt that my reward/effort ratio was running just about right while doing H2+ Dailies, the occasional bit of very good gear, and the UCs I got from the trash gear made it spot on, I genuinely felt that progress was being made at a meaningful rate.

 

All The Best

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Most players I know who left, took a break, etc did so for two primary reasons,

1) The interminable CXP grind - note how player participation spikes when there's a +100% CXP boost running.

2) No Passes into PvP for F2P players.

 

There's a couple of simple things Bioware could do to fix those things.

 

With this Xmas Event CXP Boost CXP rewards were just about at the level they should be PERMANENTLY. I felt that my reward/effort ratio was running just about right while doing H2+ Dailies, the occasional bit of very good gear, and the UCs I got from the trash gear made it spot on, I genuinely felt that progress was being made at a meaningful rate.

 

All The Best

 

Do you feel that the CXP boosts that currently drop in the reward table for GC would serve that purpose? If not, do you think it would be wise to simply raise up the CXP rate across the board?

 

Also, what other changes do you think they could make to the F2P system to make the game more desirable to former players?

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Everything should be accessable for free so I can unsubscribe and no longer having to pay for this game, who wouldn't want that right?

Everything is so much better for free, I'm really excited to cancel the subscription and use my money on other things and have exactly the same things that I have now but without paying!!!

 

 

Now crazyCT doesn't have to.:rak_03:

Well, the people working at Bioware do want to feed their families and make the company successful as well. Making the game free to play in its entirety would kill this game, so how do you think that they should make money instead off this game?

 

Bottom line is that they need to make money somehow and I'd rather pay a sub than have a cartel market expansion and more aggressive sales tactics. I've played fully free games and they advertise for their cash shop in chat and in the middel of the screen. Is that what you want?

 

Sorry to come out so strong right away but I feel that when people say they want the game to be free then they don't actually have thought through what that would do to the game. So think about and see if you really would want a much more aggessive cash shop that advertises itself in game constantly. Because that's what would happen.

 

And as such it won't turn things around because a lot of people would leave because of that.

 

What they need to do is get to a point where more people feel this game is worth paying a sub for. For that they need to look at the larger player groups (I call them solo/casuals, raiders and pvp'ers) and treat them as individual groups rather than all size fits one (which it doesn't in the end).

 

I think there should be a BiS gear set for each separate group that functions great in their area(s) but only works in the base part of the others and there should be the possibility to equip these gear sets at the same type and switch between them. Why? Because right now losing in warzones is the most rewarding, doing sm ops last boss only in the gf is the most rewarding raid activity and casual/solo players don't actually get rewarded fast enough in most of their activities.

 

Bioware is trying to balance the unbalanceable by putting everything in one system. That's what needs to change. PvP uses different stat optimizations than PvE (no accuracy for dps, skank tanks, different augments, etc.) So there is still a need for a separate PvP and PvE tab. The divisions are clear and simple. Raid gear should come with additional set bonuses that you need and only work for HM/NiM Operations. PvP gear should come with different stat optimizations that work better in PvP and casuals should get stat optimizations and maybe some set bonuses that are more beneficial in solo/casual content. Set bonuses themselves could be adapted for PvP as well but not in the sense of a PvP stat but having differen sets that for example give a chance on resisting a stun or slow effects, or a chance to break through charge immunity which all work in warzones only of course. Stuff that will really shake things up a bit...but the BiS versions of each area should have the same rating. So it's all BiS but for different activity types and with set bonuses that actually work for that part of the game more than others.

 

I think that could really liven and freshen things up because everybody has something to work towards that rewards their efforts and gives them something that helps them. And if they want to do something else then they will be bolstered in the base version of that type like SM ops but will need to gain the right gear there before progressing to harder content if they want to.

 

I believe it's time this game and people stop focusing on what they're not getting but on creating things to work towards that make sense. Let Galactic Command crates give cosmetics and mats like it does now and give us UCs instead of command tokens that we can use to upgrade our gear in the area we chose, but as an addition not the main source.

 

For me that would make the game more interesting to play.

 

Making this game free won't work, making it more interesting to play what's there can. There is actually a shed load of stuff to do in this game but people are doing it. That's the biggest problem to me. They need to look at things and see what they can do to make it more interesting and enjoyable to do.

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If your going to look trying to bring back players a few things to look at are also are maybe a quick servery asking why you left the game and what changes would help entice you back to try/play/subscribe to the game again. Along with the items mentioned about getting some sub time, cartel coins access to expansions free Master Datacron.

 

In hindsight when the Last Jedi was coming up to being released a bit more advertising and specials for subscribing, Along with some expansion content would of been good. I know that in hindsight we would all do a lot of things differently.

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More free stuff doesn't get people to stick around.

 

You need content to keep players, and unless they give us more tools to create content for ourselves then they'd have to stay the course with releasing Story, PvP, and Raid content on a regular basis.

 

That said, content is being released that caters to more than just the story crowd, which is a big improvement and is important for keeping subscribers. But what I would like is more sandbox options, so the community gets to keep the game alive should the devs be unable to deliver traditional MMO content on a regular basis.

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The list of things Bioware should do to turn things around is far longer than what they're actually capable of doing. This game lost its capability of ever living up to its potential when the corporate suits realized they failed to produce the fabled "WoW killer" they arrogantly expected it to be. Since then, the game has been in a prolonged downward spiral where they've been trying to milk as much money from us as they can while investing as little back into the game as possible. I do believe that the team working on this game at least cares but their hands seem tied by EA's Dark Council. I've recently returned to the game for one last run with it because it very much feels like the end is nigh. I would love to be wrong but the writing currently occupying the wall isn't giving me much hope.
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I have to ask - When you picture EA do you think it's some guys sitting round a table in a lair inside an active volcano, twirling their moustaches and laughing maniacally, doing everything in their power to destroy this game? Or is it that just because they don't cater specifically to what you want, you imagine they are bad people who go home and kick cats in their spare time?

 

The game is still up and running, with plenty of people still playing despite the game being over 6 years old. How many of your XBOX or PlayStation games do you still play six years later?

 

And sure, they probably could throw a **** ton of money at the game to add all the extra stuff that you want, but that wouldn't bring any extra money in, and would be fiscally irresponsible.

 

This isn't a game, it's a business. If your local coffee shop was forever spending money redecorating, it would never make a profit and would shut down pretty quickly. Same thing applies here.

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I have to ask - When you picture EA do you think it's some guys sitting round a table in a lair inside an active volcano, twirling their moustaches and laughing maniacally...

Yes. That's exactly what I imagine when I think of the Monsanto of the gaming industry.

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Yes. That's exactly what I imagine when I think of the Monsanto of the gaming industry.

 

If they really wanted to destroy the game, they could just shut it down. As businessmen (and women), that would be pretty stupid. As I said, just because they don't cater to every whim you have, you think they are evil, but if the game is still running, they are probably catering to the majority. 100 people on a forum don't truly represent the game's population.

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By freeing themselves from the iron-clad grip of EA's greed and getting all of their original staff back who left after EA bought out their parent company, but this will never happen.

They'd have to rename the game to something else then, and completely rework everything to remove everything Star Wars from it.

 

EA owns the Star Wars game license. Even if BW Austin could buy itself free, they wouldn't get that license. Plus, EA would likely not give them the game, so they'd have to build one from scratch.

 

Also, keep in mind that this isn't Bioware anymore.

 

Yes. That's exactly what I imagine when I think of the Monsanto of the gaming industry.

Bad comparison. Despite of what professional protestors and useful idiots scream Monsanto isn't even half as bad as they all claim in their whine of hyperbole and hysteria.

Edited by Diefenbaker
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Imo focus less on bringing new stuff with the CM.

New items and cosmetics are great, but stop gating everything behind some random box or on direct sales on the cm. Make them available by playing the actual game too. The only reward you get currently for playing high-level content as a sub right now is to grind more cxp to invest into better gear, which we are seeing less and less in pvp for example, because ilvl46 relics will boost you up to 9k Mastery anyway.

 

They did a good thing by giving back decorations on FP. They did a great thing on Copero with those multiples decoration drop and this new cosmetic gear drop too.

Cosmetic shouldn't be CM only, if there is no incentive to play the content (new or old) except gear that can be bypassed...

Then what's the point of staying around ? ^^

 

As an example, by the time S8 finished, ranked players received a basic/ugly weapon set, some dull/static flair and a fire makrin (reskin of another cm mount). At the same time, players received with CM the inferno devourer (flame mount), animated flair and some nice weapons like the unstable peacemaker saber...

 

Doesn't take long to see what is the most rewarding content here, between cartel lootboxes or actual gameplay... :(

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Its a good point. Can you expand on exactly how you think the free to play option needs to change? Id like to hear more.

 

I can. I only come back to the game when there is something new that I haven't done but here is my F2P advice to BW/EA and it is sure to bring players back.

 

Get rid of all the punishments for being F2P. Give the subscribers a lot more Cartel Coins to make their investment in the subscription worthwhile. There should be no restrictions on the F2P players. That is how the other F2P games survive and they do it well. ESO gives good store currency to their subscribers and faster exp and they sell their expansions. If BW, went to one very well done xpac each year that they sold and got rid of the F2P restrictions, there would be a lot more players playing the game. They can obviously still write a good story and if people knew that there would be an expansion say in December that had good content, and that the F2P restrictions were gone, they would come back.

 

Another thing BW needs to do is change all content to be group content including KoTFE and KoTET. People from my guild left the game because they didn't want to play the end stories single player. It is an MMO, make it an MMO again.

 

Unfortunately what they won't do is any of these things. That ship has sailed when they decided that they were going to punish people who didn't subscribe. It is completely stupid. They need to take a look at all the F2P or B2P games on the market and learn from their success or failures. Alas, they won't.

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If they really wanted to destroy the game, they could just shut it down. As businessmen (and women), that would be pretty stupid. As I said, just because they don't cater to every whim you have, you think they are evil, but if the game is still running, they are probably catering to the majority. 100 people on a forum don't truly represent the game's population.

They're about as "evil" as any corporation whose bottom line is more important than the well being of their consumer base. The draconian business practice of pretending lockboxes aren't gambling is a prime example. You say they're catering to the majority but I would love to meet the so-called majority who prefers gambling away money on lockboxes filled with garbage reskins instead of actual content and stuff to do. EAware has been in the business of milking whales ever since their incompetent management drove away the majority of the game's subscribers, causing the F2P shift to even be necessary in the first place.

 

The game is only still running because there are just enough whales who like playing Star Wars Barbie Doll dress-up to justify EA keeping it in glorified maintenance mode. You are right though that producing content at a respectable cadence now would not necessarily turn things around. This game has already been written off by the majority of people who would ever know of its existence, let alone actually play it. That's why I came back recently to run through some stuff because it's not going to get any better than this before it inevitably shuts down. The only thing saving it is the fact that there's nothing remotely like it in the pipelines to replace it so they're leaving it be for now.

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They'd have to rename the game to something else then, and completely rework everything to remove everything Star Wars from it.

 

EA owns the Star Wars game license. Even if BW Austin could buy itself free, they wouldn't get that license. Plus, EA would likely not give them the game, so they'd have to build one from scratch.

 

Also, keep in mind that this isn't Bioware anymore.

 

WHOOSH

 

Someone didn't get it.

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Key point of keeping players around is content. We do have new content, but the way it was executed left much to be desired. I personally don't mind the way they designed the FPs and new stuff that comes out, but endgame is really suffering here. If they could make the raids worthwhile like the Oricon-era ones (Wings, Crest, etc) more people will work for it.

 

Problem is the amount of people participating.

 

I used to be a F2P raider. Been on a few raid teams myself, and about 2-3 people on the teams are using Ops Passes. When they killed it, so does my time of raiding. Good thing I was just bored grinding NiM stuff at that time.

 

If... F2P is a "trial" period, then yes they should keep advertising the game as a STORY-driven MMO. There's not even a taste of end-game for you, forget it lol. I'm not mad at their decision of killing ops passes because I was end-gaming in another MMO.

 

I think.... I THINK, what they should do is allow F2P to raid in a quota, like maybe twice a month, or maybe one raid per-week. (If they've done TFB at that week, that's all the raiding they can get)

 

Just my 2cents.

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I can. I only come back to the game when there is something new that I haven't done but here is my F2P advice to BW/EA and it is sure to bring players back.

 

Get rid of all the punishments for being F2P. Give the subscribers a lot more Cartel Coins to make their investment in the subscription worthwhile. There should be no restrictions on the F2P players. That is how the other F2P games survive and they do it well. ESO gives good store currency to their subscribers and faster exp and they sell their expansions. If BW, went to one very well done xpac each year that they sold and got rid of the F2P restrictions, there would be a lot more players playing the game. They can obviously still write a good story and if people knew that there would be an expansion say in December that had good content, and that the F2P restrictions were gone, they would come back.

 

Subscribing should still be an attractive option as those types of customers still exist in the market, especially the market of MMO's. You want the game to cater to those players and offer them tangible benefits beyond cartel coins.

 

I think the "pay2endgame" approach is good as you don't end up with people complaining about P2W that way.

 

Should some F2P restrictions be removed? Definitely the arbitrary and complex ones. Artifact Authorization needs to go away, credit caps need to go away, Toolbar restriction needs to go away, and a whole bunch of other stuff that end up being an unpleasant surprise rather than an invitation to sub.

 

But Ops (at least HM/NiM) and CXP should be sub-walled, and a PvP restriction should exist.

Edited by Eli_Porter
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