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If SWG(preCU) had had several char slots - would the NGE have hit earlier?
docminus
Member Posts: 717
I was just wondering - SWG used to have a decent subscription number in the old days. But that doesn't mean there were equally many players.
One thing that SWG did wrong even then was, that you only had one character slot. Only after SOE introduced Jedi could one unlock a second one - which was probably one reason for the Jedi flood...
So with all the diversity in the game, what many people did, was to have several accounts - sure, this gave sub numbers & SOE becomes $OE, but that somehow gives a wrong picture of the popularity; it would imply that only hardcore fans play(ed), willing to pay whatever. I remember when the CU hit, there was an article even in a magazine like Times (?), of a 50+ lady who had 7 accounts and cancelled them all. Not to mention the countless forum posts of "I had 3, I cancelled them" or 5, or whatever.
I wonder how it would have been, if one had had several character slots available even then. There sure as heck wouldn't have been so many subscriptions active at the time. Which also means that the game would not have been developed in the same manner. The fanbase would have been the same most likely, and the criticisms as well, but considering that $OE did all the changes ignoring their fanbase and subscsribers, I doubt it would have been much different with less subscriptions. Maybe even more radical? As in, CU or NGE would have come earlier?
It doesn't reallly matter I know, but I was bored....
One thing that SWG did wrong even then was, that you only had one character slot. Only after SOE introduced Jedi could one unlock a second one - which was probably one reason for the Jedi flood...
So with all the diversity in the game, what many people did, was to have several accounts - sure, this gave sub numbers & SOE becomes $OE, but that somehow gives a wrong picture of the popularity; it would imply that only hardcore fans play(ed), willing to pay whatever. I remember when the CU hit, there was an article even in a magazine like Times (?), of a 50+ lady who had 7 accounts and cancelled them all. Not to mention the countless forum posts of "I had 3, I cancelled them" or 5, or whatever.
I wonder how it would have been, if one had had several character slots available even then. There sure as heck wouldn't have been so many subscriptions active at the time. Which also means that the game would not have been developed in the same manner. The fanbase would have been the same most likely, and the criticisms as well, but considering that $OE did all the changes ignoring their fanbase and subscsribers, I doubt it would have been much different with less subscriptions. Maybe even more radical? As in, CU or NGE would have come earlier?
It doesn't reallly matter I know, but I was bored....
Comments
Interesting point. There is probably some merit. I am sure players with multiple subs proped up the numbers a bit.
However I disagree that the decision to allow only one character per server was a mistake. It was to force interdepence. For example, if you chose to be all combat, you would need to rely on a crafter to build things for you.
The only problem was SOE never made any attempt to keep people from having more than one subscription.
But yes, it did inflate subscriber numbers, and really helped them feel pain with the number of cancellations. Of the 6 I know who still play, none keep multiple accounts.
Shayde - SWG (dead)
Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled
I don't like it when you say things. - A Vanguard fan who does too.
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Thinking back I would have to say approx half of my PA was populated by multiple account holders with the other half usually students with single accounts getting in some fun after classes/spring break. It was the mechanics of the game that not necessarily forced anyone to get a second, third , ETC account but made certain things easier if you did. Just about every serious politition/mayor I knew had multiple accounts just for the added plots.
Then their were the dedicated crafters, entertainers, and ID's which is the catagory I originally fell into who after a while didn't want to throw all their hard work away by deleting some skills so they could try something different so would buy a second account and make a combat character.
I do think they should have given you the second slot not as a Jedi unlock reward but as a vet reward. Give you up to 3, the 2nd at 6 months (or Jedi unlock), and the 3rd after 1 year.
Myself and my girlfriend ran 9 accounts in SWG. I guess looking back at that and other games I play I would be kinda suprised. There is no other game around we would even think of paying for 9 accounts.
Yet we were more than happy pre-cu to pay for 9.
We do have 3 EQ2 accounts but that's just so we can dump all the crafter on one account...
I really don't know how many of my friends played more than one. I do know a lot of them only had one. I can remember I used to run 4 accounts on one machine to pull missions with before they started messing with how that worked.
Then at some point they did changes to the client and it lagged to much to run very many.
Anyway.. to the OP...
I'm not sure that's something that could really be answered. Even if I was running multiple accounts at once they weren't all out in a city or even visible. Usually they were in my PA's city by a misison terminal or I was being creative about gaining medical xp... in my house.
The reason I say that is... Right around when WoW launched Starsider kinda was empty.. not nge empty but down. I went and played WoW for a month or two and quit.
We came back to SWG sometime after that and Starsider (can't speak for the others) was very crowded. All my old friends were back... Was very fun and exciting.
My GF was running a weapon smith for the PA and I was mostly doing BE stuff and gathering resources. The PA we were in was setting a huge mall we already had a cantina with a very dedicated Chef .. etc...
Then one day I said on Vent.. did any of you check out this CU on test center. They were like wtf is a CU...
When it launched around 80% of my PA/friends list vanished.
I came back a while later and actually got so I liked the CU... got a bunch of friends to come back. We were setting up a resource selling business. Then a bunch more friends reactivated...
About 2 days later the NGE was announced and never have heard from any of my PA/SWG friends again... ever in any form.
Now at the end of that ramble...
My point was from my point of view the population was fun when they did CU... it was after CU it started to drop and NGE just magnified that by 1000.
I can't speak for other servers but I never thought Starsider was supposed to be one of the heavier populated servers... So I really don't know what kinda subscriber drop they are talking about.
Becaus just before CU hit I didn't see it at all on Starsider.. if anything it felt more active than ever...
I agree with Obraik on this one. I think the impact would have been minimal. I played 6-8 hours a day and could not keep up with being a top of the line weaponsmith and doctor while still taking time out to do a little fighting. Yet I knew people who played 16 hours a day with 7 toons. Their stuff was not all that good. They did it because they enjoyed crafting and did not care to be part of the community anyhow.
Even if you did have 8 slots and could cover all crafting professions, your quality levels would not have been too high on all professions just due to time required to handle resource gathering, factory operation, and merchant details. So you would not corner all the markets. And so what that you did not have to buy anything from anybody else...there were plenty of other customers to go around.
I realize I said I quit. I never said it was forever
I do agree revenue would have been lower with more slots per server and SOE may have gotten deperate earlier. However, I still think NGE had more to do with WoW than anything else. Had WoW not showed up and stolen a lot of SWG players, SOE may not have ever realized what a poor job they were doing with such a powerful Intellectual Property. They might have remained content with what they had and just figured things were the way they were.
I realize I said I quit. I never said it was forever