[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[Viscoe]

So I missed the stream and came into the thread hoping to see tidbits. Not even any warrior talk!

[Deleted]

So I missed the stream and came into the thread hoping to see tidbits. Not even any warrior talk!

cow tipping - confirmed.

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notes from the stream

Hotbar

• You can slot 8 abilities from your Class
• You can slot 1 ability from your Path
• Path abilities tend to be out-of-combat utilities.
• You can slot 1 ability form an equipped Gadget
• Class abilities have 8 ranks you can tier up.
• Class abilities gain new effects at tier 4 and 8
• Tiers can be raised or lowered for free out of combat
• Will have loadout system to save/load skill sets
• Final slot for Innate Abilitiy which cannot be changed

Open World

• Quests give you a bar that fills up when you complete objectives, more fill for harder objectives like GW2 hearts.
• Shared credit for all players attacking an enemy.
• More quest credit, loot, and exp the more you contribute.
• Kill Streak bonuses for finishing mobs in very short window (about 3 seconds)
• Kill streaks, interrupts, and other in-combat feats give short buffs as reward
• Buttonpress minigames for interacting with world objects (like repairing tech)

Warrior-Specific

• Warrior gets DPS/Tank stance as Innate.
• Warrior's stances change how some abilities work.
• Kinetic Energy bar (essentially rage) fills when you hit, drains quickly.
• Can swap stance in combat, but drains Kinetic Energy

Renown System

• Currency earned by playing in a group
• Can be spent on housing items and other rewards

Character Advancement

• Six-direction passive grid (AMPs)
• Directions are Assault, Hybrid, Support, Utility, PvP Offense, Pvp Defense
• Support is Healing or Tanking, depending on your class
• Get one point every level from 6-max, maybe a few extra
• Some AMPs cost multiple points
• AMPs contain passive stats and abilities, conditional procs, and active skills.
• AMP lines exist that require sequential unlocks towards more significant benefits
• Respeccing AMPs has a coin cost that scales up the more often you respec.

PvP

• Dueling, Arenas, Battlegrounds, Open-World PvP (Alaways on in PvP Servers, Flag on in PvE servers), and Warplots being developed as main PvP Modes

[Viscoe]

Major things I got out of the stream:

- Combat takes 300 years but since I'll be mostly leveling in groups I am okay with this
- Aurin are fucking short, reconsidering race choice
- AMP system looks like FF10 sphere grid
- Mounts have health, and seem to move kind of slow :T

I really want to know if you can repeat challenges if you fuck them up/don't get gold, as well.

[RoninaThorstone]

- Mounts have health, and seem to move kind of slow :T

The HP thing is kind of important for world PvP.

[Deleted]

Mounts have health, and seem to move kind of slow :T

gaffney has already replied about mounts (i think it was him).. he said they will come in different speeds, and some will come with action bars.. similar to pets for abilites like speed boosts and attacks. (id find the reddit post but im off to bed)

[Viscoe]

The HP thing is kind of important for world PvP.

I can dig it. Just a weird thing to me. World PvP used to be my favorite kind until my migraines got too bad when I was PvPing.

gaffney has already replied about mounts (i think it was him).. he said they will come in different speeds, and some will come with action bars.. similar to pets for abilites like speed boosts and attacks. (id find the reddit post but im off to bed)

That's... odd.

WildStar wat r u doin
WildStar stahp (maybe?)

I hope that it's fun at least, all these weird things. If I don't like the mounts it would be a huge blow to my overall game enjoyment. :/

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Oh yeah, also, something else: When he said that heavy armor players just innately do less damage, my alarms started going off 'cause I'm so fucking tired of seeing magesspellslingers on top of every damage meter always. I REALLY hope that only applies to PvP, or it's only a very small amount of variance, because holy shit that's dumb. Hybrid tax was (imo) bad in WoW, I don't want an armor tax in WildStar.

Did they mention anything about it at all, being PvP-only?

[Sy]

[*]Respeccing AMPs has a coin cost that scales up the more often you respec.

any word on whether there will be a dualspecc feature or something along those lines?

also, thanks for the summary! :]

That's... odd.

WildStar wat r u doin
WildStar stahp (maybe?)

I hope that it's fun at least, all these weird things. If I don't like the mounts it would be a huge blow to my overall game enjoyment. :/

i like that they're trying to spice up the game with some new/different things, even when it's just small stuff like some mounts requireing some active useage, especially when it fits so well for something like hoverboards.

[RoninaThorstone]

Oh yeah, also, something else: When he said that heavy armor players just innately do less damage, my alarms started going off 'cause I'm so fucking tired of seeing magesspellslingers on top of every damage meter always. I REALLY hope that only applies to PvP, or it's only a very small amount of variance, because holy shit that's dumb. Hybrid tax was (imo) bad in WoW, I don't want an armor tax in WildStar.

Even if spell slingers and warriors did about the same DPS, the spell slingers would still top the meters because they can DPS from anywhere. This is going to be a movement heavy game with lots of AoE which means that melee won't have a ton of uptime.

[Viscoe]

Even if spell slingers and warriors did about the same DPS, the spell slingers would still top the meters because they can DPS from anywhere. This is going to be a movement heavy game with lots of AoE which means that melee won't have a ton of uptime.

So why increase the disparity between warriors and spellslingers further?

I mean, I played a hunter for like 7 years in WoW so I get that ranged just get nice uptime. But it just doesn't make sense to me that they'd nerf heavy armor DPS just because they take less damage (for PvE purposes.) Don't they realize that that is absolutely going to disenfranchise people?

[Valeron]

hopefully they aren't trying to pigeon hold warriors into just a tanking role

[Sy]

Even if spell slingers and warriors did about the same DPS, the spell slingers would still top the meters because they can DPS from anywhere. This is going to be a movement heavy game with lots of AoE which means that melee won't have a ton of uptime.

actually i think that is the way they want to balance it, as the heavy armor is supposed to allow higher upkeep by not having to dodge every single telegraph.

from the warrior section on their website:

"How does a melee player hold his own in a game like WildStar that has so much AOE?
While they have to master perhaps the most complex relationships between resource management and split-second timing, and evasive-offensive combos, melee characters not only hold their own against AOE, they're the ANSWER to AOE. Their ability to wear heavy armor and access to powerful defensive abilities makes them virtually invulnerable and the more foes they take on simultaneously, the more powerful they get. They like nothing more than being in the heat of the action and there is nothing quite so satisfying or devastating as leaping into a solid wave of enemies to unleash a Whirlwind and annihilating their ranks like a spinning cyclone of testosterone."

not sure how that's gonna work out in practise, as everyone should try to reduce needed healing as much as possible, but at least that seems to be their goal.

hopefully they aren't trying to pigeon hold warriors into just a tanking role

they already made it clear that they want warriors to be viable dps as well as tanks, or something in between.
whether they manage to balance it properly is of course another question.

[RoninaThorstone]

actually i think that is the way they want to balance it, as the heavy armor is supposed to allow higher upkeep by not having to dodge every single telegraph.

from the warrior section on their website:

"How does a melee player hold his own in a game like WildStar that has so much AOE?
While they have to master perhaps the most complex relationships between resource management and split-second timing, and evasive-offensive combos, melee characters not only hold their own against AOE, they're the ANSWER to AOE. Their ability to wear heavy armor and access to powerful defensive abilities makes them virtually invulnerable and the more foes they take on simultaneously, the more powerful they get. They like nothing more than being in the heat of the action and there is nothing quite so satisfying or devastating as leaping into a solid wave of enemies to unleash a Whirlwind and annihilating their ranks like a spinning cyclone of testosterone."

not sure how that's gonna work out in practise, as everyone should try to reduce needed healing as much as possible, but at least that seems to be their goal.

Yeah. I am not sure how that will hold up in bleeding edge content.

Also, those mitigation abilities come at the cost of DPS abilities due to LAS... Sooooo :X

[Viscoe]

I just can't fathom a warrior standing in bad being excused for standing in bad because he needed to for deeps. Especially because if bosses are as hard as they say they are, I'd assume boss telegraphs will punish the hell out of you.

As an ex-raid leader, I would be VERY ANGRY at my DPS for eating attacks because they would squeeze another 1k out of it and then my healer pooped his pants a little.

[Edge-]

"How does a melee player hold his own in a game like WildStar that has so much AOE?
While they have to master perhaps the most complex relationships between resource management and split-second timing, and evasive-offensive combos, melee characters not only hold their own against AOE, they're the ANSWER to AOE. Their ability to wear heavy armor and access to powerful defensive abilities makes them virtually invulnerable and the more foes they take on simultaneously, the more powerful they get. They like nothing more than being in the heat of the action and there is nothing quite so satisfying or devastating as leaping into a solid wave of enemies to unleash a Whirlwind and annihilating their ranks like a spinning cyclone of testosterone."

I understand that this is a bunch of nonsense hype PR/marketing speak, but this sounds absolutely ludicrous to me. So they're basically immune to AoE damage? And it's implied that they scale better against larger groups compared ranged classes (which I guess is alright). I'm totally confused here.

[RoninaThorstone]

It is possible that bosses will have combos like 360 cleave followed by fusion punch and they have 3 charges of CC armor so you have to have the tank and 2 melee stand in the cleave to kick the 1 shot mechanic.

[Sy]

As an ex-raid leader, I would be VERY ANGRY at my DPS for eating attacks because they would squeeze another 1k out of it and then my healer pooped his pants a little.

aye, same here^^

I understand that this is a bunch of nonsense hype PR/marketing speak, but this sounds absolutely ludicrous to me. So they're basically immune to AoE damage? And it's implied that they scale better against larger groups compared ranged classes (which I guess is alright). I'm totally confused here.

well, as you said, the wording is just your usual marketing crap, designed to make the class sound "badass" to people who most likely have no clue whatsoever about how game design actually works.
but i think it still at least shows the direction they intend to go with it: allowing for more dps through less necessity to move.

[RoninaThorstone]

I understand that this is a bunch of nonsense hype PR/marketing speak, but this sounds absolutely ludicrous to me. So they're basically immune to AoE damage? And it's implied that they scale better against larger groups compared ranged classes (which I guess is alright). I'm totally confused here.

Heavy armor (passive): Ignore raid mechanics!

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but i think it still at least shows the direction they intend to go with it: allowing for more dps through less necessity to move.

Okay but, you could say that about rouges and warriors in WoW too.

Rogues are able to dance around even the mightiest of blows with evasion that makes them untouchable!!!

[Edge-]

but i think it still at least shows the direction they intend to go with it: allowing for more dps through less necessity to move.

But at that point they're still draining healer resources. Why bring melee that will do roughly the same damage as ranged, but take 10% more damage due to needing to eat some trivial AoE, when you could just bring more ranged and not have to deal with the additional damage taken?

[Viscoe]

It is possible that bosses will have combos like 360 cleave followed by fusion punch and they have 3 charges of CC armor so you have to have the tank and 2 melee stand in the cleave to kick the 1 shot mechanic.

And if every single bossfight isn't like that, why wouldn't you just stack spellslingers and espers for every other encounter?

That is VERY extreme and obviously a huge exaggeration, but do you see what I'm getting at? It's just stupid. "Please sacrifice a spot in your raid so that you can have a slow player who can't move out of telegraphs correctly (or doesn't want to) or interrupt armor kicker for our one gimmick fight in this zone."

Why on earth would you ever go for the guy who does less dps because he isn't as mobile? Or rather, because he doesn't HAVE to be as mobile? Just pick the player who has more dps innately because of his class. Bench that guy and bring the interrupter for the one fight you need him, then continue on without his sorry, less-than-the-spellslinger-forever-no-matter-what DPS.

Honestly, in the end, I'm super casual. I will always raid with my friends even if we fail hardcore because they are my friends. But progress being impeded because of your class? I played a BM hunter in ICC, I know how shitty that feels, to be shitty just because your class is shitty.

A heavy armor player doing less DPS than lighter armor will cause some people to not DPS as that class, period. Which goes against every single thing they were saying in that whole video, about how they don't want racial or path choices to affect the class you want because it's about playing how you want to play.

[Sy]

Heavy armor (passive): Ignore raid mechanics!

haha

Okay but, you could say that about rouges and warriors in WoW too.

Rogues are able to dance around even the mightiest of blows with evasion that makes them untouchable!!!

you know, i always wondered why rogues don't have a tank specc in wow..