[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[Acidbaron]

AMP changes confirmed in patch before Drop 3.

[Chazzwozzer]

I'm arriving a bit late to this thread, so this will be a bit of a regression to the discussion about the difference in Wildstar and WoW raiding. As a bit of background information regarding my raiding experience, I started raiding in BC, full cleared all content up to Eredar Twins in SWP, raided all hard mode content in WotLK, skipped Cata (only did pvp), and raided all hard mode content in MoP. This was done across multiple classes as either healer or dps (druid/mage/priest/shaman). In Wildstar, I'm currently in a guild that is 5/6 in the first raid instance, playing as a dps medic.

I am not going to make any claims on which game is more difficult or more "hardcore." Difficulty from encounter to encounter varies greatly. Also, difficulty is somewhat subjective (even the most difficult games always have some that claim they are easy). A common response I see in these threads is that Wildstar isn't difficult because dodging telegraphs isn't difficult. Fair enough, though that hardly encompasses the difficulty of Wildstar encounters.

However, I do have to take a stance on the argument regarding the personal accountability required in Wildstar versus WoW. The rate at which individual members of a raid are expected to react to encounter mechanics is certainly higher in Wildstar than in WoW. I'm speaking specifically about mechanics that have the ability to kill the individual or wipe the raid. Sure there may be discreet examples in WoW that constantly test individual raiders (eg constantly dodging orbs on Malkorak, anima font on Dark Animus, etc), but overall it is true that individual raiders are tested more often in Wildstar.

I believe someone previously described Wildstar raids as more "engaging," and I have to emphatically agree. Because you as an individual are constantly required to react to mechanics, it makes the encounters more engaging and therefore more fun. Obviously this is a subjective comment, but it is the crux for why I find Wildstar raiding to be superior to WoW raiding. And again, this says nothing of the overall difficulty. There were numerous encounters in my WoW experience that required over 200 wipes before we completed the encounter. I have yet to experience such an encounter in Wildstar (although I have heard that Ohmna and the first Datascape encounter can be of this caliber). It also says nothing about which game I find to be superior. I am speaking only about raids.

I was recently asked to help a friend with an SoO clear for a mount (my guild quit raiding in May after several months of farming). It was surprising after playing Wildstar how often in WoW that I just stand there and dps/heal. Consider the ultimate fight of the MoP expansion. About 90% of the Garrosh encounter, the raid literally just stands in a stacked group and spams damage/heals. The exception being the Desecrate bait group who have to stray from the group, but otherwise just dps/heal as well (I was part of this group as an ele shaman). Of the 14 encounters in SoO, I would say that only two really required my attention when I'm not raid leading - Malkorak and Paragons.

I would also argue that Wildstar raiding is far more engaging for healers than in WoW. The term "whack a mole" is often used to describe WoW raid healing, and for good reason. If you watch any hard mode level healing in WoW, they essentially are playing their UI - going through raid frames and keying appropriate heals. It is entirely possible to have no idea where the target of your heals is located (especially true with spells like healing stream totem, lightwell, etc). The only requirement is that they are within 40 yards. There are a few exceptions such as Healing Rain and Efflorescence. However the use of these spells usually involve nothing more than placing them on the melee group attacking the boss. Wildstar requires that you know the location of injured party members, and that you maintain proximity to these targets while dealing with the constant raid mechanics.

[Deleted]

Can you imagine how it goes in a pug to try and set that up?

Bob -> You break the first egg.
Ed -> You break Bob out of the first eggwave.
Jon -> You break Bob out of the second eggwave.
Mark -> You break Ed out of the second eggwave.
Bill -> You break Bob out of the third eggwave.
Johan -> You break Ed out of the third eggwave.
Tim -> You break Jon out of the third eggwave.
Xander -> You break Mark out of the third eggwave.
Anton -> You break Bob out of the fourth eggwave.
Alex -> You break Ed out of the fourth eggwave.
Charles -> You break Jon out of the fourth eggwave.
Dennis -> You break Mark out of the fourth eggwave.
Edward -> You break Bill out of the fourth eggwave.
Frank -> You break Johan out of the fourth eggwave.
Hans -> You break Tim out of the fourth eggwave.
Karl -> You break Xander out of the fourth eggwave.
etc.

If someone breaks out of turn or break more people than they should they'll die and cause a wipe.

Ok so playing devils advocate, it sounds exactly like blood queen in ICC (if someone fucked up who they where biting it was a wipe).

It is all subjective we get it you think W* is the "most hardcore game ever in the existence of anything" but what does that matter?

What matters is that you maintain enough subs and they make enough money so that you get the raid content you want, I hope you get that and I hope WoW has competition as I have said many times before competition is actually a good thing.

So so so much fanboy vs hater in this thread I really guess I should expect nothing less.

Why would I want a forum that was proactive and constructive that might be actually good for the games in question....

[Post]

I thought we weren't supposed to do the Wildstar vs WoW difficulty debate? Can I ignore mod warnings from now on too?

[-aiko-]

Please use the report post feature. It really helps us keep track of large threads.

With that said, let's try to get this thread back on track pretty please.
It's impossible not to make comparisons to similar MMOs but game vs game debates do not belong here.

[Acidbaron]

Pretty much Chazzwozzer, anyway this is a WoW forum so expecting anything else here is basically just silly on my end, so going to round that up with "haters going to hate" so not going to lower myself to that type of behavior.


Subtle hints have been gone on the official forums about the veteran shiphands from two developers now, so would expect that to be something that's "soon".

On top of veteran shiphands seems they are releasing more then another daily zone for solo content in the next drop, veteran shiphands being in is not confirmed.

here's the preview





For those few that actually raid the developer in question is looking at ways for us to allow to perhaps trade in old class items for new so we do'nt have to farm GA again. No promises have been made.

[Kelimbror]

So Frost's attitude is super less douchey and much more informative. It's like Gaffney was a bane on the whole company from top to bottom. I really like the way they are talking about this content. It's still not enough, but it's a great start. Can't wait to hear more about Veteran shiphands. If this new content is repeatable, has real rewards, and more than just dailies....call me sold. I'll return quickly.

[Punisher069]

Pretty much Chazzwozzer, anyway this is a WoW forum so expecting anything else here is basically just silly on my end, so going to round that up with "haters going to hate" so not going to lower myself to that type of behavior.

That is pretty unfair to say considering the people in here that have been intelligently posting. That like if they judged your posts because of Anarch or ministabber's posts.

[Ausr]

That is pretty unfair to say considering the people in here that have been intelligently posting. That like if they judged your posts because of Anarch or ministabber's posts.

That's the "I don't have a leg to stand on, better blame fanboyism" excuse.

Post constructively. -Infracted. Lucetia

[Acidbaron]

So Frost's attitude is super less douchey and much more informative. It's like Gaffney was a bane on the whole company from top to bottom. I really like the way they are talking about this content. It's still not enough, but it's a great start. Can't wait to hear more about Veteran shiphands. If this new content is repeatable, has real rewards, and more than just dailies....call me sold. I'll return quickly.

https://forums.wildstar-online.com/f...nd-innovative/

[Doomchicken]

Seems a lot of good changes in coming, last names to keep people their first name, yay...finding a last name for acidbaron..

You need a redundant last name like I had with Swtor. I was Doomchicken OfDoom. So you should be Acidbaron TheBaron

[Punisher069]

You need a redundant last name like I had with Swtor. I was Doomchicken OfDoom. So you should be Acidbaron TheBaron

I spend too long thinking of a first name only so I imagine I would use this method.

[Edge-]

https://forums.wildstar-online.com/f...nd-innovative/

Wait, Caydiem? Like, the old WoW CM? >.>

[Calfredd]

Wait, Caydiem? Like, the old WoW CM? >.>

I keep forgetting you are in this thread because I just left the Gamegate one with you as the last post. But yes probably the old WoW CM because remember, a lot of old devs and stuff from WoW are in Carbine.

http://wowpedia.org/Caydiem

Kristen "Caydiem" DeMeza now works for Carbine as Content Designer and a Zone Lead on WildStar

I can't remember if it was Wowwiki or Wowpedia that are out-of-date so take this for what you will.

[hrugner]

Wait, Caydiem? Like, the old WoW CM? >.>

Yeah, she moved on to doing event design in WoW then left to work at Carbine whenever that schism happened. I think she's also the one who posted the humorously prescient april fools day notes before leaving. She seems like good people.

[Pejo]

Wait, Caydiem? Like, the old WoW CM? >.>

Yar, HMm, I thought she was doing PVP but guess I'm wrong.

[Nosdrone]

http://wildstarreport.com/2014/09/03...tar-omni-core/

"Statistics are showing the majority of Wildstar players enjoy solo play instead of larger raids which really caught Carbine developers off guard. Another trend was limitations in playtime, many players are simply logging in for 15 – 30 minute intervals. Frost confirmed that these analytics are being taken seriously and are impacting what content is being produced and released."

Caught them off guard? But Gaffney said...

"In particular, Gaffney believes that WildStar's single player content in the elder game will distinguish it from the other MMORPGs on the market. "Solo end game content is both very important and almost completely underserved in the genre," he said, arguing that around 60 percent or so of MMO players play alone. Despite this tendency, he said, "on average, solo content sucks. It's daily quests or crafting grinds or reputation grinds, and it's pretty tough to make a fun grind.""

[Kelimbror]

https://forums.wildstar-online.com/f...nd-innovative/

Color me intrigued. That definitely seems to indicate they have some info, but can't talk about it. Even if that means something we don't see for 2 months, that's still positive vibes that these things are being RnDd.

[Punisher069]

http://wildstarreport.com/2014/09/03...tar-omni-core/

"Statistics are showing the majority of Wildstar players enjoy solo play instead of larger raids which really caught Carbine developers off guard. Another trend was limitations in playtime, many players are simply logging in for 15 – 30 minute intervals. Frost confirmed that these analytics are being taken seriously and are impacting what content is being produced and released."

Caught them off guard? But Gaffney said...

"In particular, Gaffney believes that WildStar's single player content in the elder game will distinguish it from the other MMORPGs on the market. "Solo end game content is both very important and almost completely underserved in the genre," he said, arguing that around 60 percent or so of MMO players play alone. Despite this tendency, he said, "on average, solo content sucks. It's daily quests or crafting grinds or reputation grinds, and it's pretty tough to make a fun grind.""

Stuff like this is hilarious. It's not unique to wildstar though, I just enjoy seeing devs completely contradict themselves. Like how could it surprise them when prior to launch they understood that lots of people play solo?

[Edge-]

http://wildstarreport.com/2014/09/03...tar-omni-core/

"Statistics are showing the majority of Wildstar players enjoy solo play instead of larger raids which really caught Carbine developers off guard. Another trend was limitations in playtime, many players are simply logging in for 15 – 30 minute intervals. Frost confirmed that these analytics are being taken seriously and are impacting what content is being produced and released."

Jesus...that sounds like SWTOR levels of "head up their asses" syndrome. The fact that folks like to play solo (which they already said they know) somehow caught them off guard? That's as bad as BioWare expecting most folks to take 3-5 months to hit 50 in SWTOR.

Damn right. Majority of people just enjoy sucky games nowadays, nothing new there.

Subjectivity ahoy : 3

But serious, if they wanted to make a super hardcore game, it's going to be directly aimed at a super minority. The thing is, they clearly didn't want to only have that super minority playing the game, they absolutely want to appeal to a far larger crowd. That's where the issues arise, since they billed themselves as a super hardcore game that folks who didn't have the kind of time devote to raiding and the like could have fun with, and they seem to be faltering on the second half of that.