SWTOR Server Seems Empty?

Phasing

Hello there,
SWOTR is using a phasing system to keep planets from being too much crowded. You may notice, in the bottom right corner, of you map that you have 2 or more available phases at your disposal.
Hope this gives you some sort of explanation.

Regards,

turbobass said:

I've played WoW up to the free level 20 cap but never got into it

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Sorry for off topic, but this doesn't surprise me at all, as "real" WOW starts at level cap ^_^

Not starting any flame war or stuff, just saying.

I'll take a wild stab in the dark and guess that you're Republic, right?

GG Faction balance!

turbobass said:

Hi All,

This is a question not a flame -- my server on SWTOR usually only has ~30 people on a planet. This has been true for Nar Shadaa, Balmorra, Tatooine (where I am now) and Alderaan. Is this just because every quest seems to break people off into their own instances? Or am I on a more low-traffic server?

I've played WoW up to the free level 20 cap but never got into it, wondering if this is normal and I am just expecting the wrong thing or if you've had other experiences.

I should add that normally I do NOT have any trouble finding people to play with.

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There's likely a few reasons for this:

1) You're republic. Seems nobody wants to be a namby pamby Jedi lol. Bounty Hunters get Jawa's and who wants to use the force to throw unearthed toilet's at mobs as opposed to lightning?

2) You're on a brand new or near new server. I believe more were added recently as the sales are still growing for this game (Over 2 million copies sold as of last week).

3) Folks on your server are all higher level and not on those planets as much. Those planets on my server are getting slim population numbers, but that's largely because the level 50 playerbase is quickly outgrowing the fleet. At 8PM CST on a weeknight it's standing room only there it's crazy. I hope BW does something as I'll regularly see 300+ on the fleet at that time of night.

4) I have also noticed that most people are all taking the group quests and doing the solo ones waiting for someone to say "LFG for <whatever heroic>".


I've been on a few different servers and from the sounds of it, nearly all of them for empire are well populated (and growing). Republic is around 1/2 the size it seems.

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eXan said:

Sorry for off topic, but this doesn't surprise me at all, as "real" WOW starts at level cap ^_^

Not starting any flame war or stuff, just saying.

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And the fact you have to churn through 85 levels just to get there, along with buying 3 expansions tend to turn alot of folks off. Yes it's easy to get to 85 in a couple weeks play when you've played for the last 6 years, not so much when you've played for 6 minutes.

Steelgrave said:

Seems nobody wants to be a namby pamby Jedi lol. Bounty Hunters get Jawa's and who wants to use the force to throw unearthed toilet's at mobs as opposed to lightning?

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And thusly lies the problem. I'd rather be a Jedi, but since every annoying 15 year old kid on the planet would rather shoot lollasers out of their fingers, we're screwed. Look at the class breakdowns. On most servers, there are a disproportionate number of Inquisitors.

I hardly think Jedis are "namby pamby." Besides, who wins? It sure as **** ain't Darth Vader.

Alaerian said:

And thusly lies the problem. I'd rather be a Jedi, but since every annoying 15 year old kid on the planet would rather shoot lollasers out of their fingers, we're screwed. Look at the class breakdowns. On most servers, there are a disproportionate number of Inquisitors.

I hardly think Jedis are "namby pamby." Besides, who wins? It sure as **** ain't Darth Vader.

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An unfair generalisation.

My guild decided to be Imperial last July, I am playing an Operative and many others wanted to be bounty hunters so the only option was Imperial since there was no neutral faction.

All the movies and TV shows are from the republic perspective, as were most of the Star Wars games, this is the first chance you get to actually play a bad guy in Star Wars and that sways it for a lot of people.

The blame does lie with Bioware though, i'd rather be a sith sorceror than a jedi sage, but I'd rather be a Jedi Knight than a Sith Warrior.

As for server population, I am level 35 and on Taris and each planet has had about 60 people on it when I have been playing, at release they all had more than one phase and had about 200-300 on them, but all those guys are at end game so more people are spread over more planets.

If you can never find a group, or a guild, and the general chat in imperial fleet is dead, then you are on a LOW pop server, all you can do now is power through and enjoy the game.

Alaerian said:

And thusly lies the problem. I'd rather be a Jedi, but since every annoying 15 year old kid on the planet would rather shoot lollasers out of their fingers, we're screwed. Look at the class breakdowns. On most servers, there are a disproportionate number of Inquisitors.

I hardly think Jedis are "namby pamby." Besides, who wins? It sure as **** ain't Darth Vader.

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Oh I don't know (granted opinions on all the story lines are subjective). I started a Jedi Consular and by level 10 I was convinced he was going to cry as part of a quest objective at some point.

The only statement BW has made on class breakdown was the week after the launch (865k sith warriors and 800k jedi). There is no accurate numbers on class breakdown anywhere outside of Bioware. I would say though it feels like both BH (Merc's) and Sith Sorc are the most common classes you see though.

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SlickShoes said:

All the movies and TV shows are from the republic perspective, as were most of the Star Wars games, this is the first chance you get to actually play a bad guy in Star Wars and that sways it for a lot of people.

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Didn't look at it that way, but yea thats probably another reason.

(Lightning and jawa companions have to be the top 2 though. Blizz is just cool lol)

Whats the hate on consulars? They rock...

doh123 said:

Whats the hate on consulars? They rock...

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I see what you did there. =D

eXan said:

Sorry for off topic, but this doesn't surprise me at all, as "real" WOW starts at level cap ^_^

Not starting any flame war or stuff, just saying.

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Your not, but "real" WoW ended for me at the level cap, lol.

I really wouldn't say this is the FIRST TIME you've gotten to play Dark Side. It's a common theme in most modern Star Wars games.

Ya , im a little ticked myself.

I started on a high pop server, but then the guild moved to a lower pop because of the queues.

Now queues are fixed and the low pop server is pretty much dead.

So last week i went back to the high pop, leaving behind my lvl 50 and guild, it was just to boring.

But on a bright not there is 8-12x the amount of people in the zones, went from 15-60 people in fleet to 80-300.

Hopefully Bioware offers server xfers in the future so i can rescue my lvl 50 from a dead server.

TurboMoses said:

I really wouldn't say this is the FIRST TIME you've gotten to play Dark Side. It's a common theme in most modern Star Wars games.

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When I was playing, this was the first game I can remember where I chose a dark character. The two primary factors were I highly disliked the early Jedi planets (Corescant and Taris), and they were a little too goody-two-shoes for my taste. As far as I know, on the dark side, you can be just a little dark to use dark items. You don't have to go all the way. I think it changes your appearance and as far as I know, all you get out of your alignment besides the satisfaction of being good or bad, is mostly access to dark or light rated gear. Equivalent gear exists on both sides of the coin.

Jazwire said:

Ya , im a little ticked myself.

I started on a high pop server, but then the guild moved to a lower pop because of the queues.

Now queues are fixed and the low pop server is pretty much dead.

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When the first wave subscriptions ran out (think Tuesday launch) we lost nearly a third of our guild, when Christmas new subs ran out a week later (this Friday I think) we lost another chunk.

So from highs in the mid sixties for players online at once we are in the thirties now and the guild leader is trying to pick up people from dead guilds (there are lots)

I don't know what their retention numbers are but we thought we were doing very good and we got gutted. Worse, two were Ops positions who gave no indication they weren't renewing

Alaerian said:

And thusly lies the problem. I'd rather be a Jedi, but since every annoying 15 year old kid on the planet would rather shoot lollasers out of their fingers, we're screwed. Look at the class breakdowns. On most servers, there are a disproportionate number of Inquisitors.

I hardly think Jedis are "namby pamby." Besides, who wins? It sure as **** ain't Darth Vader.

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But Darth Vader did win in the end

Definitely due to the "must have now" and inability to wait of today's gamers tainting the development of games. Everyone you're looking for already is/is nearing max levels and equipping their toons. It's ridiculous. Blitz to endgame in a week... where's the replay value in that?

Not necessarily advocating for games that take years of sane playing to reach endgame (like my first MMO, launched in 2001, started playing in end 2002/2003 - Anarchy Online), but games shouldn't be 'over' or skipped over and doable in a week either.

/shrug. Just a state of gaming rant.

Shivetya said:

When the first wave subscriptions ran out (think Tuesday launch) we lost nearly a third of our guild, when Christmas new subs ran out a week later (this Friday I think) we lost another chunk.

So from highs in the mid sixties for players online at once we are in the thirties now and the guild leader is trying to pick up people from dead guilds (there are lots)

I don't know what their retention numbers are but we thought we were doing very good and we got gutted. Worse, two were Ops positions who gave no indication they weren't renewing

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Even with the highest production values, I did not find the game compelling or magical. I felt like I was on a track along with all the others to a forgone conclusion. (I played SWTOR a total of 2.5 months including beta.)

Hastings101 said:

But Darth Vader did win in the end

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Yeah, but not for evil...

malman89 said:

Definitely due to the "must have now" and inability to wait of today's gamers tainting the development of games. Everyone you're looking for already is/is nearing max levels and equipping their toons. It's ridiculous. Blitz to endgame in a week... where's the replay value in that?

Not necessarily advocating for games that take years of sane playing to reach endgame (like my first MMO, launched in 2001, started playing in end 2002/2003 - Anarchy Online), but games shouldn't be 'over' or skipped over and doable in a week either.

/shrug. Just a state of gaming rant.

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I've always said the fun is in the journey, not the end game. When I hit the end game, I roll another character or usually end up quitting. Regardless of the game I see no fun in spending a couple of weeks figuring out the exact triggers required for 20 players to coordinate and defeat a boss (too much like work), and for lack of anything else, have never enjoyed repeating the same instances over and over again (more than 3-5 times) in the never ending quest for better gear which in itself is not fulfilling. Although I've spent a lot of hours playing some games, (20hrs/per week with WoW), I'm still a dedicated casual player.

I agree there is an impatience to get to the end game. Dedicated players can gobble up content much faster than a developer can create it.

Huntn said:

Even with the highest production values, I did not find the game compelling or magical. I felt like I was on a track along with all the others to a forgone conclusion. (I played SWTOR a total of 2.5 months including beta.)



Yeah, but not for evil...



I've always said the fun is in the journey, not the end game. When I hit the end game, I roll another character or usually end up quitting. Regardless of the game I see no fun in spending a couple of weeks figuring out the exact triggers required for 20 players to coordinate and defeat a boss (too much like work), and for lack of anything else, have never enjoyed repeating the same instances over and over again (more than 3-5 times) in the never ending quest for better gear which in itself is not fulfilling. Although I've spent a lot of hours playing some games, (20hrs/per week with WoW), I'm still a dedicated casual player.

I agree there is an impatience to get to the end game. Dedicated players can gobble up content much faster than a developer can create it.

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I have sadly found the game underwhelming on a massive level. I was hyped up for it for months and really enjoyed the beta, possibly because I was just trying out everything and not focussing on one class.

Now I am playing for real, its on rails almost, go here do that, the exploration is minimal, space combat is boring, and is actually on rails. Crafting is OK but you don't have to do anything. The value of gathered items lowers because no one gathers they just send the companions.

Try to find something to do that is not combat and you will be struggling once you have the datacrons. MMO's for me need out of combat time skinks and mini games to help fill the down time and keep people interested.

Even flying around exploring planets is tedious because of the MASSIVE load times and the corridor like nature of most of them, they also feel totally devoid of life, there is nothing going on with the NPCs everywhere is just a shell.

I had all my eggs in this basket and currently the game is just boring, I quit wow because I was taking it to seriously but I'd rather go back there than back to this.

SlickShoes said:

I had all my eggs in this basket and currently the game is just boring, I quit wow because I was taking it to seriously but I'd rather go back there than back to this.

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It IS sad. I waited for this game (SWTOR) for close to 2 years. Nope, can't go back to WoW either. I'm currently having a lot of fun in Skyrim, wondering if Guild Wars2 or Planetside2 will have what it takes. Watched my son playing World of Tanks. It's free if you don't want to pay for upgrades, but I think Planetside2 has more potential for overall variety and fun, although it will have subscription fees.

Shivetya said:

When the first wave subscriptions ran out (think Tuesday launch) we lost nearly a third of our guild, when Christmas new subs ran out a week later (this Friday I think) we lost another chunk.

So from highs in the mid sixties for players online at once we are in the thirties now and the guild leader is trying to pick up people from dead guilds (there are lots)

I don't know what their retention numbers are but we thought we were doing very good and we got gutted. Worse, two were Ops positions who gave no indication they weren't renewing

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2 Million copies sold, and 1.7M active subscribers as of EA's earnings call on Tuesday. So the retention looks pretty good.

I will say I've heard alot of folks have been rerolling on other factions/servers.