[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[Edge-]

Wait, but it looks like you can earn the stuff through in-game means, no? I remember last time that's what I thought but you still had to buy keys to unlock the boxes you earned, is that the case here as well? If not, then I don't see any issue with this. It's additional free stuff for doing in-game content or spend some money if you want it without playing.

[Gray_Matter]

Just a word of warning. If you try and bind an item to your character from the account inventory page and you don't have any inventory slots left then you lose the item. Happened to me yesterday with a bag of Omnibits.

[Deleted]

Seems those complaining the most are those who have used the free game currency on other store items, they want it all without spending a penny to support the game.
A F2P game that gives you all the content, but asks you to gamble if you want the top cosmetic items ?......what is the world coming to


Gray Matter >> Just a word of warning. If you try and bind an item to your character from the account inventory page and you don't have any inventory slots left then you lose the item. Happened to me yesterday with a bag of Omnibits.

I've done that, just open a ticket...can take a few days but you'll get it back

[Tryuk]

No, you are spot on. Seems like the only people left are ones so enthused by the game that they will pay for these things even when they don't like it. My wife knows how bad it is, but enjoys the things too much so she gives them money. At some level I have to be ok with it, because she enjoys it.

But on a personal level, I think it's deplorable and I've stopped playing the game since Christmas because all content has gone like this. I'll likely check out the new zone when it launches b/c I have a sub for like a year 'for free' and I wouldn't need one anyways.

There isn't any keys or such like that so I'm fine with it. Also they announced the zone, so we know about any content that's coming soon. I really can't find out anything that's "deplorable" about it. If they hadn't announced Arcterra I would've been quite annoyed however


I NEED that Protostar music!

Edit: It looks like Pappy is Game Director now? Cool, wasn't he the story guy?

[Nosdrone]

Seems those complaining the most are those who have used the free game currency on other store items, they want it all without spending a penny to support the game.
A F2P game that gives you all the content, but asks you to gamble if you want the top cosmetic items ?......what is the world coming to

That's not it at all. People don't want to pay for a CHANCE at an item locked away in an RNG box. Put everything for an event up for purchase is one thing. Locking away items behind a $$$ slot machine is ridiculous.

Oh well, Q4 report on Wednesday. Maybe we'll get an idea of why they're doing this.

[Edge-]

People don't want to pay for a CHANCE at an item locked away in an RNG box.

As much as people (including myself to a certain extent) complain about this, the data actually shows quite the contrary. Lockboxes are generally the best selling/most profitable items in cash shops, that's why you see them in almost every single cash shop and why they're usually one of the most frequently updated types of items. They may not be popular with the vocal folks on the interwebs, but they're sure popular with the folks playing the game and spending money.

Oh well, Q4 report on Wednesday. Maybe we'll get an idea of why they're doing this.

Cool, I guess I can stop checking their investor page every few hours now. Knew it would be this week but didn't know the date.

[Deleted]

There isn't any keys or such like that so I'm fine with it. Also they announced the zone, so we know about any content that's coming soon. I really can't find out anything that's "deplorable" about it. If they hadn't announced Arcterra I would've been quite annoyed however


I NEED that Protostar music!

Edit: It looks like Pappy is Game Director now? Cool, wasn't he the story guy?

Posted Today, 08:35 PM
SO ? .....but I guess congratulations are in order http://www.gamewatcher.com/news/2016...future-updates


Looks like things are going well for WildStar! The sci-fi MMO made the transition to free-to-play last year, and looks to be hitting Steam pretty soon. Chad Moore, the newly-appointed director of the game gave an update on where things are headed this year.
The biggest focus is more content. First up is the already-announced Arcterra update that will coincide with the Steam release. The new continent will feature “a brand new max-level zone that features unique design mechanics, great rewards, eye-popping art, and an epic storyline.” It will also include a new story-based instance that can be played multiplayer, a first for the game. A bunch of new in-game events will help to drive players toward the new content.




Past that, the devs will be adding the Halon Ring, an outlaw-and-rogue infested asteroid belt around the planet itself. There will also be new raids, and expansions to the item upgrade system and PVP. You can check out all the details here.
WildStar first released in 2014, and we gave it an 8.0, saying ”it's well-balanced, polished, highly entertaining and brimming with variety.” Hopefully these updates will keep the game moving forward from its solid base.

And >> I'm the games number 1 fan but I think the report will be the worse ever, they spent so much time sorting F2P and getting ready for China, we have had no real updates for ages! Surely this must be part of the NCSOFT grand design ? Or the game would have been closed by now.

[Kelimbror]

Wait, but it looks like you can earn the stuff through in-game means, no?

Not everything. The problems here go beyond surface level:
1) Some items, like the mounts and rare items, are only if you pay money.
1a) This happens in other MMOs too, but they actually create new content to justify this. For example, they create a new zone and dailies/content and then give you gamble boxes. Carbine says eff it and just makes gamble boxes for no reason. It's trying to both artificially extend 1+year old content and get cash money for little effort.

2) The game is lacking in content heavily, so making an 'event system' without providing other content is really weaksauce. I mean...limited events, cool deal. WoW has them and they work great, but they don't add revenue generating caveats to them...they just provide them to give enjoyment to players.

3) Everything points to having really low revenue and doing anything, desperately to get money. If the game is in that bad a shape, they need to just close down or figure out a model that requires less upkeep. Turbine figured out how to do that with LotRO, so maybe they need to learn how to use a skeleton crew to make content that people enjoy.

I get the impression that they have more people than they should, but not enough to effectively manage the game at this level. Aside from the holiday content, which we know was mostly ready last year and put on hold, there hasn't been anything added to the game since the launch window.

Has there been any MMO this content dry this soon after their release? Even SWTOR had more than this and they had one of the largest sinks right after launch before they started turning everything around.

[Deleted]

that's why I said: And >> I'm the games number 1 fan but I think the report will be the worse ever, they spent so much time sorting F2P and getting ready for China, we have had no real updates for ages! Surely this must be part of the NCSOFT grand design ? Or the game would have been closed by now.

Can only be part of the NCSOFT master plan...they are not sinking money into the game without reason ?

[Deleted]

I really hope Wildstar is going to get a lot more customers when being available at steam. The game deserves a larger audience.

[Deleted]

No, you are spot on. Seems like the only people left are ones so enthused by the game that they will pay for these things even when they don't like it. My wife knows how bad it is, but enjoys the things too much so she gives them money. At some level I have to be ok with it, because she enjoys it.

But on a personal level, I think it's deplorable and I've stopped playing the game since Christmas because all content has gone like this. I'll likely check out the new zone when it launches b/c I have a sub for like a year 'for free' and I wouldn't need one anyways.

To be fair those are just cosmetic items... I see nothing wrong with paying to open boxes that contain cosmetics while the rest of the game remains absolutely 100% free.
The game even has a very VERY perhaps too generous for their own good way of earning cash shop currency in game.
Mind you I don't play the game anymore but that is because it got boring for me. The way you earned omnibits was still incredibly generous in my opinion and by the time I hit 50 I had enough omnibits for quite a few stuff from the cash shop.
even without omnibits though the stuff you mentioned is purely cosmetic. How else are they to make money?

[Kelimbror]

I really hope Wildstar is going to get a lot more customers when being available at steam. The game deserves a larger audience.

I agree, but they are also letting their steadfast supporters down. People like my wife, that love the game so much, are being given nothing but more opportunities to give them money. Actual meaty content to consume and earn rewards from? Non existent. Yeah they have the patch coming, like one year later. But...uggh. This game has been a poster child of how to not support a solid MMO to me.

[iamthedevil]

Let me transfer off the COMPLETELY dead Warhound server for free to the PvE server and I'll play again. It's sad running through Thayd and seeing absolutely no one.

- - - Updated - - -

that's why I said: And >> I'm the games number 1 fan but I think the report will be the worse ever, they spent so much time sorting F2P and getting ready for China, we have had no real updates for ages! Surely this must be part of the NCSOFT grand design ? Or the game would have been closed by now.

Can only be part of the NCSOFT master plan...they are not sinking money into the game without reason ?

Their design style went from "push out buggy crap quickly" to "push out buggy crap slowly."

[Deleted]

Think that's high on the to do list, getting rid of the pvp servers! Seems the majority of western players don't like forced pvp in their games, me included, and one of the reasons I quit Archeage

[Deleted]

To be fair those are just cosmetic items... I see nothing wrong with paying to open boxes that contain cosmetics while the rest of the game remains absolutely 100% free.
The game even has a very VERY perhaps too generous for their own good way of earning cash shop currency in game.
Mind you I don't play the game anymore but that is because it got boring for me. The way you earned omnibits was still incredibly generous in my opinion and by the time I hit 50 I had enough omnibits for quite a few stuff from the cash shop.
even without omnibits though the stuff you mentioned is purely cosmetic. How else are they to make money?

Yea, since Rift abandonned their generous f2p-model, perhaps Wildstar is now the mmo out there with the most generous f2p-model. I personally can't blame them for having these lockbox events, even though I'm personally not a lockbox fan. I'm also getting a bit tired of these events, since we need that new real content and we need it soon since players are leaving the game. I hope the content patch isn't far off.

[Biggles Worth]

I never played Wildstar for very long since I was busy and playing other games at the time. It felt like I was the only one who liked this game and didn't understand why people hated it.

[Deleted]

Let me transfer off the COMPLETELY dead Warhound server for free to the PvE server and I'll play again. It's sad running through Thayd and seeing absolutely no one.

Yea, I'm hanging in on Luminai EU... not that far off from getting enough omnibits for a transfer. However, since Carbine is having as a priority to do something about pvp servers I will save them and wait for information on what will happen. On one hand they could give pvp server a last chance with the steam launch and new zone. Personally I see a lot of potential for world pvp in the new zone, and it's easier to get on a pvp server. On a pve server, incentive must be added for flagging and even if the incentive is there people rolled pve servers for a reason, and feeling forced to flag for pvp because there is better rewards or whatev might not be appreciated. It's harder to expect world pvp on a pve server, that's why there exist these dífferent kind of servers :/
So I don't know what I think they should do atm. Merging servers is overall the better option, since pvp servers have had population issues back and forward during the entire lifetime on the game, but on the other side... if steam launch will bring in as many new players as f2p-launch, perhaps they should consider giving pvp servers a last chance... with new zone having world pvp potential perhaps it will be easier to keep players around on pvp servers this time.

[Deleted]

Is still some life there Tea, world first Pvp server kill of Avatus yesterday

[Deleted]

Is still some life there Tea, world first Pvp server kill of Avatus yesterday

That's awesome =) It seems like a guild that's going pretty strong tbh =) And seems like a friendly guild as well, spoke to one of them that said if I leveled up my alt I could join in and raid with them =) Now I don't raid these days, but it was friendly to offer and a sign of a great community greeting players leveling up like that, reminds me from old days in Rift when I always got invited to friendly guilds, even hardcore raiding ones even if I wasn't max level =)

[Deleted]

Well I for one am amazed, it's not a fantastic set of numbers by anyone's imagination! But just goes to show my eyes are not deceiving me, the lull that followed F2P, turned into a steady increase in the player base.
Fingers crossed the new mega zone and the steam release, keeps pushing those numbers in the right direction