[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[nekobaka]

I feel bad about what's happening to Wildstar. I really thought that by now they would be turning the ship around...

I feel like there are big identity issues that they are having issues dealing with. I also feel like Wildstar has become a victim of the industries increasingly BS definitions of terms like hardcore and casual as core marketing practices. The MMO player base itself is really fragmented and the vocal parts have become very polarized leading to a lot of bad feedback and attention to marketing and PR which gets attention from marketing and PR which just continues to repeat the cycle.

The problem is that "casuals", "hardcore" and challenging are all subjective. LFR is far too easy for me. I enjoy WOW style normal raid difficulty with the odd HC. I am casual because I can't commit lots of time to playing. On the other hand, there are casual players that find LFR a challenge. The moment you pull out the label you have already lost the battle.

Then there are the "casuals" who dont like the activity reguardless of it being too hard or too easy for them. Then there are the no-lifers who think they are casual and like an addict with grind the shit out of thing then get cranky when there is "nothing to do." Casual has become a PR and marketing term to gain appeal from the masses including those who are not casual, but think they are or hide behind the name to cover their egos. A game like WoW caters to a very wide demographic with different wants and needs with the so called majority really being far more fragmented than those who rely on the idea of being apart of a majority would like to admit. Gamers is what we are and it is sad to see after all the progress has been made to bring gaming to a better light that the industry then goes and segments the community all for marketing.

[Yriel]

I feel like there are big identity issues that they are having issues dealing with. I also feel like Wildstar has become a victim of the industries increasingly BS definitions of terms like hardcore and casual as core marketing practices. The MMO player base itself is really fragmented and the vocal parts have become very polarized leading to a lot of bad feedback and attention to marketing and PR which gets attention from marketing and PR which just continues to repeat the cycle.

Victim ? They tried to cash in on those definitions, it just backfired.

[Khorm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory

Casuals at one end and Hardcore at the other.

the two ends share an authoritarian element

Each side wants a game made just for them. Everyone else doesn't mind if multiple groups can enjoy the game.

[Shambala]

casual...hide behind the name to cover their egos

Wait, what? You lost me there.

[ShimmerSwirl]

Wait, what? You lost me there.

I think he is saying that casual players want loot and glory just as much as hardcore players, but since they are generally bad players they use the excuse of 'lol bro you only want hard raids so you can be a special snowflake,' to try and chide hardcore players, while at the same time putting in heroic efforts themselves in the form of forum QQ and endless whining to get the very same gear handed to them for nothing. Both hardcore and casual want the reward, the only difference between the two is the casual does not want to do anything to get it other than some mindless button mashing.

TLDR: casual gamers ruin every genre they step foot into. The best part is their delusional thought process of 'YOU NEED US TO SURVIVE!!' No. We don't. We need you to stop trying to turn every single game that releases into a giant push to win button.

[SodiumChloride]

I think he is saying that casual players want loot and glory just as much as hardcore players, but since they are generally bad players they use the excuse of 'lol bro you only want hard raids so you can be a special snowflake,' to try and chide hardcore players, while at the same time putting in heroic efforts themselves in the form of forum QQ and endless whining to get the very same gear handed to them for nothing. Both hardcore and casual want the reward, the only difference between the two is the casual does not want to do anything to get it other than some mindless button mashing.

TLDR: casual gamers ruin every genre they step foot into. The best part is their delusional thought process of 'YOU NEED US TO SURVIVE!!' No. We don't. We need you to stop trying to turn every single game that releases into a giant push to win button.

Except "casuals" don't want "glory".

Whatever "glory" you get from nerfed content is worthless.

They want to see the story. They want character progression.

i.e. They want a game they can play.

[Deleted]

TLDR: casual gamers ruin every genre they step foot into. The best part is their delusional thought process of 'YOU NEED US TO SURVIVE!!' No. We don't. We need you to stop trying to turn every single game that releases into a giant push to win button.

The best part is when "hardcore" minority tries to force casuals to play the same game, at the same time they are not ready for the game to be appealing for "bad" players.
And when there is no audience to show off, hardcore players are also leaving. You need casuals to be elite, otherwise, if everyone is elite - noone is =)

[Khorm]

The best part is when "hardcore" minority tries to force casuals to play the same game, at the same time they are not ready for the game to be appealing for "bad" players.
And when there is no audience to show off, hardcore players are also leaving. You need casuals to be elite, otherwise, if everyone is elite - noone is =)

Let's move off this 'casual' 'hardcore' crap, it's boring me.

[Tekkommo]

Let's move off this 'casual' 'hardcore' crap, it's boring me.

I wish people would just understand that both casual and hardcore categories can have good and bad players, it's just a tag for how much free time you have.

But yeah I agree, it's boring to have it brought up all the time, especially when wrongly used to describe plain bad players.

[Nightcrwler]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10...ening-silence/

: /

Really disappointing to hear that he's essentially been stonewalled with his questions.

Our own little ministabber made a comment:

"Wildstar and AA helped me break a ten year bad habbit called WoW and see how bad the game truly is, no matter what happens in the future they will always have my thanks for this!

I hope Wildstar never reaches the stage of having mindless spin off sites riding on the back of the game, churning out endless propaganda so they can make a fast buck, then you get sites like MMO who seem more intent in running a thread degrading women than anything else......."

Think she's mad for getting banned

Infracted. -Marthenil

[Tekkommo]

Our own little ministabber made a comment:

"Wildstar and AA helped me break a ten year bad habbit called WoW and see how bad the game truly is, no matter what happens in the future they will always have my thanks for this!

I hope Wildstar never reaches the stage of having mindless spin off sites riding on the back of the game, churning out endless propaganda so they can make a fast buck, then you get sites like MMO who seem more intent in running a thread degrading women than anything else......."

Think she's mad for getting banned

Haha +10 for you sir.

Who's degrading women though? I always thought Mini was a 10 year old boy.

[LazarusLong]

Most PC games had at least 3 difficulty options for last 35+ years. It's lost on me, why MMO developers think different.

[Osmeric]

Most PC games had at least 3 difficulty options for last 35+ years. It's lost on me, why MMO developers think different.

Single player game != MMO.

Of course, my choice of which difficulty mode an MMO should have is probably not the same as that of some other posters.

[Punisher069]

Our own little ministabber made a comment:

"Wildstar and AA helped me break a ten year bad habbit called WoW and see how bad the game truly is, no matter what happens in the future they will always have my thanks for this!

I hope Wildstar never reaches the stage of having mindless spin off sites riding on the back of the game, churning out endless propaganda so they can make a fast buck, then you get sites like MMO who seem more intent in running a thread degrading women than anything else......."

Think she's mad for getting banned

lol I knew they were a troll but it's still funny to see comments from them. I guess when people have criticism about a game you like you must defend it to the death all the while making the same inflammatory remarks about another similar game? I mean outside of the drive by posters most people just want to see the game do better, but I'm guessing having any criticism means you want it to fail.

Please post productively. Infracted. -Edge

[Geckoo]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10...ening-silence/

: /

Really disappointing to hear that he's essentially been stonewalled with his questions.

From my point of view... right now all they have is a commercial beta trying to fix the game from the feedback they got over the past months while a few players still support the game, but any step they take in the direction of admiting how bad they did is a very dangerous step and those questions go exactly in that direction. They know they failed, anyone not blinded by his own shiny white armor knows it, but is really dangerous to be so honest about it, so i can understand that they try to focus all the PR in positive stuff instead of negative questions.

[Osmeric]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10...ening-silence/

: /

Really disappointing to hear that he's essentially been stonewalled with his questions.

Gaming press lives on handouts from the game industry, so when the journalists start getting nasty you know they think that particular source of graft is doomed. They'll bite a hand if they know it won't be feeding them.

[Deleted]

"Wildstar and AA helped me break a ten year bad habbit called WoW and see how bad the game truly is, no matter what happens in the future they will always have my thanks for this!

LOL, may be that is why some people are so forgiving for Wildstar, it is the first game, they try, to fail them.
Should i mention that praised for some unknown reason AA will also be soon forgotten ?
I started this cycle of "wait for new game -> buy it -> play a short amount of time -> quit -> see that most people quit" with Warhammer Online ( or was it Age of Conan ? ). And each and every time the promises are high, there are a lot of funboys, and the end is miserable.
The only game, that i keep being subscribed to is WoW, there are periods, when i stop playing for 1-6 months, but i always return back.

Long story short - bad games are bad and grand PR and advertisement can't fix it.

[Hye Jin]

I stopped playing Wildstar in Southern Grimvault at lvl 50 (completed all zones before that).
It was fun to play the story, the zones are nice, questing was fun.
I am a casual gamer (mostly pugger) and the reasons for me to stop were:
- in random battlegrounds, when you solo-queue you get matched against premades mostly, so unless you like the be outnumbered with anything you are doing and you like to be on an almost constant losing spree, you don't want to pug random battlegrounds
- There are only 3 battlegrounds. 1 of those battlegrounds (the newest) I never got. So basically there were only 2 battlegrounds + warplots
- In guildchat+tradechat I only witnessed 1 warplot happening and it took like an entire afternoon the make 1 match happen. Imagine that you could only play 1 Alterac Valley match in 2 months time (probly more warplots happened) and you have to wait an entire afternoon before the match starts.
- I played a couple of very nice dungeons. Too bad the queue times were just incredibly long.

Some things I really liked were:
- housing (your own house), decor (as worlddrops/reputation rewards) etc.
- Dying (color your gear), Gear display (Hide shoulders, for example since wow has a lot of ugly big bad shoulders for females)

[LazarusLong]

Single player game != MMO.

Of course, my choice of which difficulty mode an MMO should have is probably not the same as that of some other posters.

Sorry, how is it different for MMO? You make several difficulty levels so broad range of players can enjoy your game.

[Nosdrone]

State of the Game #2:
http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/ne...e-of-the-game/

The "New Content" they're taking about takes two days (tops) to visit/do it all... this is going to bite them. They're making it sound much larger than it actually is.