Solarverse

Well, there is a huge difference between pestering and making a one time suggestion. But I hear ya.

Perhaps, but only if the reason they are leaving is due to the way they play. For an example, if I was getting bored of the game and was thinking about leaving, would it be so bad if one of my SG mates tried to influence the way I play and talk me in to Power Leveling to see i that helps me retain my interest in the game? I don't think so, I think that would be a positive thing. They weren't telling me my way was the wrong way, they simply suggested that maybe the reason I am leaving the game is due to how I currently play the game and suggest try playing the game in a different way. The thing that I saw, is that they were PLing to 50, then playing the same end game content every night. The same limited Task Forces over and over and over. That is REALLY limiting your options and yes, for me, the same missions over and over would get old really fast. However, if I can convince people to play the early level content as they level, they may find a whole new reason to stay. Even the old missions that they have done a billion times during live can be nostalgic if you play them now. Just look at Frostfire. I have zero issues building teams for Frostfire...and I know we have ALL played that mission a billion times, lol...yet people still love running it. Kind of the same logic if you get what I'm saying.

Maybe it is the Mandela Effect after all! Or a Nemesis Plot! 😄

Well there seems to be a fine line between making an opinionated observation and telling people how to play. If you take a look at my post, I never once told people how to play. I didn't even say it was the wrong way to play. I simply said by my personal observations that PLing is having a negative impact on the population of the game and why I felt the original Devs fought so hard to prevent it. I guess it's almost impossible to say one without others perceiving it as meaning the other, since the observation in itself automatically implies the other, even if you don't mean for it to. However, let me be clear that I am not here to tell everyone how to play. If anything, I am hoping my thread gets people who power level to at least think about it and ask themselves, "Is the reason I got bored due to power leveling past low level content?" Maybe...just maybe, a few will say yes and decide on their own to play low level content for a while to see if it retains their interest longer. The others will say no and continue to do what they always have done. But in no way am I saying that Power Leveling is the wrong way to play and in no way am I trying to tell people to stop. Also, as said earlier, I believe that even if the Devs decided to stop it all together, it would result in the same end result of players not sticking around. So instead, I am just giving my opinion based observation and hoping people think about it before leaving the game due to it...if that is indeed why they are leaving the game.

I am dependent on other players though. I get 50% of my enjoyment from the game from playing with random players and interacting with them as I play. The most fun I have ever had in this game is from complete strangers that I have never met, pugging some random TF. Chances are I have teamed with 75% of you before and you had no idea it was me, and chances are we had a fricken blast....either that or you rolled your eyes at 90% of my bad jokes and laughed at 10% of them, lol.

About the exit button, I have went through the first 9 issues and their patch notes, I could not find ANYWHERE where the exit button was added. Was it added pre issue 1 as a quick fix or something? I remember specifically not having the exit button, so it would have had to be sometime between launch and issue 1?

And you are most likely correct. There may not be anything that can be done to change population in between new content or powers being released. So there may be no solution. It could very well be Pandora's Box. Opening that box has at least in my opinion played a part in the decline of population, however, closing that box may very well have the same affect. Kind of a catch 22, right?

Exactly. I was never trying to say it was the only reason that I noticed, I am simply saying based on my personal observations that it is a contributing factor. If I were to give all the reasons that I believe are contributing factors, the OP would have been twice as long.

As I said above, this is my observation. I do not dictate the blame, I am simply relaying what I have seen and the commonalities I have seen with it. I won't feel bad for expressing that.

Well, keep in mind I do not believe it to be the only reason. I am just saying it is a large contributing factor. There is a reason that people are getting bored fast while others are not. That is just my observation as to why they are getting bored faster than people like me who prefer to play differently from them.

Here, I'll fix that title...that should make it all better. 😄

Again? I'm pretty sure this is my first time expressing my personal observations to Power Leveling. I mean, I might have said something before in somebody's thread at some point...but it's not like I sit around and just dump on PLing all of the time. But yes, like it or not, this is simply my opinion based on my observations.

I don't think it is a big secret as to the obvious population decline as of late. I have seen people leaving other servers because their population has decreased to join Excelsior and I have seen videos on youtube speak on this and I have even noticed my own SG who was once one of the biggest SG's on Excelsior dwindled down to almost nothing. I know people who say that the population has not declined and that is fine. That's your opinion, but this opinion is mine. I have a theory based on observation as to why this population decrease is happening. First, allow me to explain to you why I am still here before I go in to why so many players are not still here. I am still here because I play alts like crazy, I level them in all kinds of ways playing all kinds of content. I keep my LFG chat window open and I join pretty much anything that is around my level. If nobody is advertising anything my level, then I start my own teams. I level to 50, then I switch to my farmer and I farm enough cash to pimp out my 50 and then I rinse and repeat with a brand new character, different powers, different AT, different experience. Only on occasion will I break out my level 50 and actually play end game content. In fact, to this very date, I have yet to play all the end game content. There is still (even after playing this game since close to the beginning) a lot of end game content I have not even touched yet. So there is a lot still left in this game to keep me interested. Here is what I do not do that I have seen others do who are no longer playing the game. These are people I have grown close to, so this is very hard to say because I am kind of throwing mud on the people I care about by saying this...however, this is what I have seen with my own two eyes. They get a new character, they go straight to the AE building, they power level to 50 in less than a few hours, then they build to max capacity, then they do the same end game content over and over and over and over and over and over.....you get the idea. A select few had a designated badge whore character, and those few lasted a bit longer than the others, but only for a while longer as they are now gone as well, only to periodically return from time to time and most of the time it is because I call them to action because I need help with something that I only trust my SG to help me with. Meanwhile, I have been steadily creating alts, steadily playing the game instead of power leveling and have yet to touch all of the end game content, I have yet to collect all the badges even on my main character, and have yet to burn 1-50 on a character to avoid playing the low level content. In fact, my badge character who is also my main, only has about 700ish badges. He still has a LONG way to go. I think it is clear to me what type of player is here for the long haul as a regular, and which type of player will ONLY be showing up when end game content is released or when a new power comes out. This IMO is very unhealthy for a game. Now, I know that people who prefer to power level are going to rage at me and most likely will even insult me. I know people's reasoning behind it and how they feel about it as I have been reading the arguments in favor of power leveling over the course of this game's history. However, regardless of how they feel about it, I feel it has taken a clear (at least clear to me) toll on this game's population and IMHO is not good for the Homecoming Team or the health of this game. Now, I know this is going to be controversial because I am picking on Power Leveling...that is a big no no with a lot of people...you just don't pick on power leveling. However, I believe this is having a negative impact on the game and I am not here for you, I am not here to pat you on the back and say that it is okay...I am not here for you, but I am here for the game and the survival of the game. I am here for what is best for the game. I for one do not want to play a City of Heroes version where very few people are left playing. Despite your arguments in favor of power leveling, I feel it has had a negative impact on this game...the original devs knew this and I believe this is why they struggled so hard to prevent it...they knew the negative impact it would have and as a company who was trying to make money, they simply could not risk players getting bored of the game because they had skipped low level content...even if they had already played the low level content. And yes, there has been a sudden population explosion since the announcement of the new update, that was to be expected. However, I don't play this game for the updates and I don't play this game for the occasional but temporary population explosions because of them. They are here now and when they leave, it will be no different. And I know all of the reasons that people leave and come back...that does not help the overall health of the game. Games do not survive based on people coming back ONLY when there is something new to do. Games survive by having a healthy population in between those times. Rage at me for my opinion if you like, threads like these usually see their fair amount of rage. I can take it. However, this is my opinion based on observation and it is something I would like to address before it becomes too late to address it. Edit: All I am really trying to do here is to get people who PL and quit the game out of boredom, to please consider rolling new characters and skipping AE. I think you might find the leveling process through team story driven content a bit nostalgic and getting to know new people can go a long way to hold you over between new content. I AM NOT trying to say that Power Leveling in of itself is a bad thing or that you should not do it or even that there is a right way to play or a wrong way to play. I am saying that people who ONLY power level to 50, then get bored of the game because all they do is run end game content, could be contributing to the sudden lack of population and before you quit, I think you should give the lower levels a chance before running off. And yes, there are several reasons why people leave and not everyone who leaves is because of what I describe above. However, I think there might be more people doing this than most admit because I have seen it a LOT since playing the game again with people I personally know. Sadly, those people are no longer here to say if I am right or if I am wrong, so this is strictly opinion based on personal experience. However, if you get bored and you are somebody who typically skips low level content, just give it a try before you leave. Playing low level content just might be fun for you. And after giving it a try you still feel meh about it...then by all means...do what you have to do. And if you do decide to try it out, chances are we will bump in to one another at some point and you will get to listen to all of my bad jokes. 😉

I do remember when it did not exist. You had to run back out of the mission the way you came.

Exactly. I have enough macros and binds, I honestly don't want to fill my keyboard up with more binds or my trays with more macros. It gets to be too much to I pick and chose what I *need* rather than what I don't need. However, putting them in as options to pick from in the character customization window would be great. Pick your style and never need a macro unless you wish to divert from that chosen style. Also, whatever happened to the *lean in to your turn* animations? Remember those?

Are you trying to drag @Bill Z Bubba and his known Tank farts in to this? 😄

Ah, I guess some people's nerf is other people's adjustment for balance. I don't consider something a nerf if it is the same or better than what it started at.

The link for "Beta Patch Notes: Issue 27: Second Chances, Page 1 (Build 2)" does not work.

It was about issue 3 or 4 when I noticed something strange. I was flying through the air when another player happened to be flying toward me and something just looked strange about it. From my perspective it looked like he was almost vertical yet flying straight ahead. I thought it was a bug until one day I took a look at my own character in flight from a side angle...then it became pretty easy to see, that the pose for flight is all wrong. My character flies through the air looking the same as theirs did. So I drew a diagram (of sorts) that shows which direction I am flying, which direction I am angled, and then where my body should be positioned and how my head should be tilted to compensate for the body positioning change. He should look more like this... I'm just curious, how difficult would it be and how time consuming would it be for one of the Devs to correct this? I think depending on how much time it would take, would be whether or not it would be worth it to correct. Thoughts?

This is really great. It gives people who hate all of those animations a way to lessen the amount of FX, while allowing people who enjoy them to keep them without them being nerfed for everyone. Thank you very much for this. The more options this game has and the less forced changes the Devs have to implement the better for everyone!

It was a question to the person who said it. I did not say it was getting nerfed...somebody else did. I just asked why.

I have to admit that I had a friend who confused my Tank once, I left RV ran straight for a massive mob of lowbies under Atlas and one shot them all with Foot Stomp. Good times, funny as hell, but not something that I am really proud of.

Just to clear myself up. I don't mind them following me, in fact I prefer it that way. However, teams are very impatient and can't wait to start using powers, and most often lock them down before they even have a chance to move. So these days I just assume that is what will happen and play as such. The days when players waited for the Tanks to get the mobs stacked on him before unleashing hell has been replaced by players who don't really know the bonuses to waiting and since even doing so much as suggesting to wait is usually taken offensively, I don't say anything at all. So i don't even suggest anymore. If it gets too annoying, I just quit and play with SG mates who have been here since the beginning and play more to my style of playing.

Hell, I kind of felt like it was a well rounded and well balanced powerset. And Dark Melee is getting nerfed? Why exactly? It's not exactly the greatest powerset, I personally find it a bit lacking if anything.

Yeah, I don't believe in the Mandela Effect at all. It's a fun idea, but don't believe in it. It was simply a fitting title. I do however believe my brain is just confusing SWTOR for this game though. Pretty sure I have solved the mystery, heh.