Thread: Swtor Community

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  1. #1

    Swtor Community

    Normally I stay in our cocoon of sanity known as MMOc.
    But every now and then I venture out into the official boards and turn on general chat.
    My god. I almost quit yesterday just from looking into the endless void.

    There are poster demanding that all f2p accounts be shoved onto a new server.
    I assume the next part of their plan is to put them into camps and force them to do dailies until their characters are deleted and accounts thrown into mass Recycling Bins.

    Then there's people demanding that f2p accounts have 0 access to WZs and FPs because "they aren't good" when before f2p people were complaining about other subscribers being "bad" It's like they've now got an agreed upon scape goat for every pvp match they lose or boss they wipe on.

    The level of vitriol spewed at new players in fleet is baffling. "I don't have enough room on my bars. How do I fix?" is met with "Pay a subscription or gtfo of our game you free loader".

    I don't think any payment model is going to fix the community. I really wish I hadn't looked. I feel like its a waste of time helping lift f2p restrictions without paying money/cartel coins if they are just going to be treated like lepers by the community.

    Is anyone else noticing this?

    Its going to kill the game faster than anything EA could ever do. I mean, I tried to explain that you need to be nice and help new players but they just kept going on and on about how "bad" f2p people are.
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  2. #2
    Yeah I am an xSwtor player who was in a guild that cleared content prob on a world first rate. We were leaps ahead on our server, but since there was never a great way to track world firsts then who knows. A few of the old guild are gonna play again, and I am prob gonna resub, at least for a little bit. I did log on a few times as a F2P person and asked a few questions, and was bashed and told I was a baddie F2P person. i sorta laughed as I am sure most of the trolls were not on my level when I played. It is sad to see so much hate in MMOs and it seems the haters are the only ones who speak up and the nice people just stay quiet. I did get my questions answered in time, but if I was a fragile person, this all woulda turned me off from the game ASAP. i am a vet MMO raider, so the thick skin has formed over the decade plus in raiding. the sybs need to know their game is on the decline and EA is not one to fund a dying game.
    They need the F2P users to join and buy things or their game will be gone soon, or the quality of the game will suffer as EA doesn't back it enough.
    The F2P model can be a life saver, but this divide in player base might be a killer. I have not played games where they went F2P and maybe this is normal and will pass. I know games like D&D and LOTR have grown since going F2P and I didn't see such trolling while playing those a little as a F2P person.
    So maybe it is a phase and will pass and hopefully the game that comes out the other end will be one to survive and grow again. And if not grow, at least have a community that flourishes.

  3. #3
    The Patient Boramir's Avatar
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    hk-51, I have seen some of what you've alluded to since I came back to the game. It is definitely a different vibe from the community as a whole since I remember from back at launch. Although, having been in the mmorpg scene for about 6 years now, I have definitely noticed a downward trend in the way that people treat each other in game. Which is a shame because the social aspects of mmorpg's are what really make them appeal to most people. Well, that's my 2 cents anyways.

  4. #4
    High Overlord Nixaler's Avatar
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    I have noticed this as well myself. Especially since I am a huge forum lurker (it makes for great bathroom reading what can I say) I really don't understand all the hate being thrown around and definitely disagree with putting them "on their own server." Not only that, but I started at launch and played til April (work picked up and I didnt have the time to dedicate to playing) and have been following ever since. The official forums are an absolute whinefest mess. Entitlement and blaming all over the place. I enjoy having the ftp people around, its way better than how it was in April when I stopped, there are at least people on the planets and the fleet and doing things are actually more enjoyable to me now than they were then.

    I think it all boils down to some people are just upset it went ftp, have been playing and paying for almost a year now, and they just dont like the fact that people are now enjoying the game, albeit with some pretty big restrictions, and not paying for it. The thing is, it's possible that some of these ftp folks may or might had considered subscribing, how ever the douchebaggery of the nets and in game will probably turn them away.

    I can say at least that on my server Pot5, I don't see a ton of that, and the ones that usually start the bitching get met with opposition. Of course in all honesty, I'm oblivious to the chat log 99.8% of the time. After playing WoW for so many years, ignoring it got pretty easy lol. (The general section of the WoW forums arent much better than SWTOR either tbh, I still lurk those for the fun reading and bashing there. Gotten pretty good at figuring out which ones would be the most filled with trolling, sarcasm and general internet savagery )

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Boramir View Post
    Which is a shame because the social aspects of mmorpg's are what really make them appeal to most people. Well, that's my 2 cents anyways.
    The social part of the MMORPG games had my attention when I was younger. I was new to the internet and online gaming, and it was allot of fun to hangout, chat, and do things together. Now they all seem to be going down hill (community wise). More popularity and easier accessibility bringing in a larger variety of people.

  6. #6
    Hk it is the stuff that you posted that made me a full time player into a bah i cant even bother to log on....

    the communities outside of MMOc are just HORRIBAD and blow your brains out terrible. and in game its only getting worse and it will not improve from what i can see. I still log on to do the occasional daily but my chat is limited to guildies and ppl im grped with gen is just krazy and i cant and wont bring myself to be apart of it.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by WoWGoneBad View Post
    Hk it is the stuff that you posted that made me a full time player into a bah i cant even bother to log on....
    I'm really not that negative and I am usually here defending swtor.

    There are areas that need work is all.
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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by hk-51 View Post
    Is anyone else noticing this?
    Sometimes.

    Dormand Kaas was just awful on my server over the weekend. I'd never been so thankful to be done with that planet; trolling, arguing, ranting, spamming, just ugh! Really wasn't the kind of community you'd want a new player to see at all. Hoth on the other hand was a breath of fresh air. At one point someone asked "who here is returning now that it's F2P?" and like 5 or 6 other players chimed in. Before long they were chatting with some of the subscribers and it felt like you were listening in on a group a old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long while. It was very heart warming, and not at all the kind of atmosphere that was on Dormand Kaas earlier in the day.

    Anyway there may be a few bad eggs on fleet, but don't worry there are good people out there too. Just grab a big mug of hot chocolate and come to Hoth, we'd be happy to have you.

  9. #9
    I venture to the official boards from time to time...probably the worst boards I've ever been to. And I'm being totally serious. It's a volatile, caustic group of individuals who continue to degenerate over time. It's hard to believe that the boards have actually gotten worse since launch, but from what I've seen, that's the case. It's a shame, and I feel bad for the CM's/mods over there who have to sift through that every day. Trying to find good posts with meaningful discussion/feedback is pretty difficult with all the vitriol from both sides (fans and haters) that is devoid of any merit.

    General chat seems to have the odd comments about "F2PERS SUCK BLAH BLAH BLAH!11ELEVEN11!" from time to time too, but in my anecdotal experience, that's not too common, and generally get's met with a lot of negative responses (from subscribers too based on message frequency from some of the responders).

    Much nicer here though. I know it seems negative (and I can't count myself out from that), but at least a lot of the criticisms seem to be either productive, or stem from a desire to see the game thrive and be awesome. That's not to say there aren't any "lol game is bad" types of posts, but I think the forums here have a good group of people who care about the game.

    Thankfully though, the official forums are generally a minority and not necessarily indicative of the playerbase as a whole. And doubly thankfully, developers generally ignore the "out there" comments from the vocal hyperminority like the calls to put F2P players on other servers. EQ2 did that while they tested out F2P and eventually merged everyone together because it made more sense, and I would imagine BW has already debated this and decided to stick with the current model (seeing as it improves the overall health of the game to have more populated servers so subscribers can play with more people).

  10. #10
    High Overlord Nixaler's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hk-51 View Post
    There are areas that need work is all.

    I agree with that. Even after not playing since April, resubbing and getting back into it, it is still a fun game to me. The only 2 issues I have are some small ability delay and memory leakage. While they are aggravating and annoying at times and it sucks to restart every couple of hours, its not worth making a huge issue out of it (to me anyway) and spewing large amounts of hate on the game or ftp people.

  11. #11
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    I think its just the way society and the internet is going, its just reflected in how the games played by those people.

    Maybe its rose eyed nostalgia but i remember back in the days of SWG and EQ and even in the early days of WoW Vanilla, people used to actually help people, now people spend more time berating other people and "noobs" then it would have taken if theyd have actually helped the person, they kick people from groups if they dont know the tactics instead of eductating people, add in stuff like gear score and DPS meters which some players use to beat over the head of others, and the MMO community on the whole is just garbage, especially in the more high profile games, in niche games its better.

  12. #12
    The Patient Boramir's Avatar
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    Leveling up my alts I've come accross a bunch of what sarahfireworks mentioned. Some planets the gen chat was aweful, some were really helpful and some were just outright dead. I guess it all depends on server time, actual server, and even faction maybe. Not sure about that last one, been playing mostly empire side since i've been back, Shadowlands server.

  13. #13
    High Overlord Nixaler's Avatar
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    The only alt I'm playing atm is my Assassin, but he started at 32 (just hit 38 i think) and was already on Alderaan. I havent noticed the bashing yet on that planet or the ones between it and hoth (where he is now). I do see a lot more of it on fleet on my 50 Shadow( havent been on the imperial fleet side since returning to be able to speak there), but not so much I would say it was running rampant. I have yet to start a fresh toon, so I have no idea how the lower planets chats are going, and my brief run throughs of them while doing a class quest on my assassin as stated earlier, I really just dont watch the chat at all.

  14. #14
    The Unstoppable Force Kelimbror's Avatar
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    Well I haven't experienced it personally, but it wouldn't surprise me. Call me a hermit, but I've moved on past the 'Social Butterfly' stage of MMOs. I know a lot of people like to argue that it is integral to the experience, and maybe it is to some people, but there's a large portion of people who just dont' care.

    I sure don't. I'd be satisfied with an MMO where you can play with others (like in Minecraft), but doesn't have all the talky, getting to know people foolishness. My WoW guild used to be teeming with life and now it's basically a wasteland. It actually improves my experience. As long as there are tools to accomplish things that require a group, I don't need anything else. I play to have my experence and do my things. I've long since required a useful community to enjoy games.

    If I want to talk to people and shoot the shit, that's what these boards are for. Even then, if I didn't get bored from time to time, I would probably never come here.

  15. #15
    The Patient Slugfest's Avatar
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    The problem is that behind a keyboard everyone is 6'5" and weights 250lbs. solid muscle. So just take away their keyboards and kick their asses.
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  16. #16
    Coruscant was horrible on the weekend. One person, who was deliberately trolling, managed to trigger an Israel v. Palestine argument that rendered General Chat completely useless for over an hour while I was playing.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by AnthonyUK View Post
    but i remember back in the days of SWG and EQ and even in the early days of WoW Vanilla, people used to actually help people, now people spend more time berating other people and "noobs"
    A lot of that is due to the broadening of the MMO market. Before, you had the core, dedicated base of MMO gamers. The serious fans who all had a shared passion for whatever game they were playing. Now that the market has been broadened to include the "dudebro" segment (debatable whether that's a good thing or not), you get people who don't share those kinds of feelings, and aren't as attached to a game and the community that exists within the game. Couple that with a highly fragmented market spurred on by hype trains and the current "hate all the things" mentality, and you get the current community structure in larger games.

    If you go to smaller games though, you can find that same community. CoH had a wonderful community. I never played too much, but I was always impressed at how positive all my interactions were with longterm players who were super polite and happy to help those who were eager to learn more about the game. I've seen a lot more of that kind of community in the smaller, niche games. It's quite refreshing : )

    Quote Originally Posted by Slugfest View Post
    The problem is that behind a keyboard everyone is 6'5" and weights 250lbs. solid muscle. So just take away their keyboards and kick their asses.
    Bodybuilding engineering post-grad students that make 400k a year, have a wife and 3 kids, and can bench triple their weight. Not to mention that do MMA fighting for fun.

  18. #18
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    Dunno. I play one german and one english server and while there are more morons on general since f2p, it isn't too bad and certainly much better than 1) in all f2p games I've seen before and 2) in all cross-server activities (lfg, lfr, battlegrounds) in WoW. Also it cuts both ways: you see indeed people insulting the f2p folks, you also see former player's log in, complain about the game and current players in chat. Might be worth adding that I haven't run a single non-guild flashpoint since f2p, where the majority of the complaints seem to originate. To reiterate, general chats was overwhelmingly fine, with people asking questions getting help and almost never any "google it" quips.

    The only guy I've seen who was taking lots of abuse was a level 4x on hoth named "fdsfdsfds" or so and trying to communicate in broken english on the german server.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by thevoicefromwithin View Post
    Dunno. I play one german and one english server and while there are more morons on general since f2p, it isn't too bad and certainly much better than 1) in all f2p games I've seen before and 2) in all cross-server activities (lfg, lfr, battlegrounds) in WoW. Also it cuts both ways: you see indeed people insulting the f2p folks, you also see former player's log in, complain about the game and current players in chat. Might be worth adding that I haven't run a single non-guild flashpoint since f2p, where the majority of the complaints seem to originate. To reiterate, general chats was overwhelmingly fine, with people asking questions getting help and almost never any "google it" quips.

    The only guy I've seen who was taking lots of abuse was a level 4x on hoth named "fdsfdsfds" or so and trying to communicate in broken english on the german server.
    There was a thread asking for speaking foreign languages to be a bannable offense yesterday.
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  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Boramir View Post
    hk-51, I have seen some of what you've alluded to since I came back to the game. It is definitely a different vibe from the community as a whole since I remember from back at launch. Although, having been in the mmorpg scene for about 6 years now, I have definitely noticed a downward trend in the way that people treat each other in game. Which is a shame because the social aspects of mmorpg's are what really make them appeal to most people. Well, that's my 2 cents anyways.
    The community as you know it bud is gone. The two million WoW payers who sub'd are now gone. All thats left is the SWG/Everquest/SOE recluses who believe all games must be hard and they are perfectly happy with they're ghost town games.

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