[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[SirRobin]

Hehe... They changed the pics to these.







Guess someone, quick, blame the intern, forgot to turn off the UI before taking pics.

---------- Post added 2013-04-03 at 04:16 PM ----------

Links to the full size images, old and new.

http://www.wildstar-online.com/media...es/arena01.jpg
http://www.wildstar-online.com/media...es/arena02.jpg
http://www.wildstar-online.com/media...es/arena03.jpg

http://www.wildstar-online.com/media.../arena_001.jpg
http://www.wildstar-online.com/media.../arena_002.jpg
http://www.wildstar-online.com/media.../arena_003.jpg

[Deleted]

Seems like the arena system will be mostly like WoW's. It's a good thing, I'd say, WoW really got it right. I'm not convinced about respawn system, when I think about the times of unkillable-forever full mana healers from end-TBC or the split second 100-0% kills from early WotLK. Just gotta pray they actually will have a clue about balancing PvP.

or youre actually able to kill someone without having to CC everyone and blow cd's..

most teams just fold when one player dies and this could actually make it a bit more interesting and one mistake might not cost you the whole match. Aslong as 30 minute stalemates dont occur very often or at all ill be happy. Maybe even have a time limit on arena matches

i also love the one pillar in the middle arena and the stalker got his ass handed to him by the gunslinger

So this is the first time I've actually seen the UI and...holy mother of god I hope we can change it. It's absolutely horrid. Please, let me downscale and remove most of the elements, because I don't want it taking up half my damn screen. Do not like.

i actually really like the ui. customization is needed and i can see myself only moving a few things around and shrinking the size..

any word on level cap? 9-10k hp for level 22 at least :P

[Loaf Lord]

Hmm, so according to the class speculation thread at wildstar-central.com, the last two classes will be another stealth class and another ranged class that uses a rifle. It's anyone's guess as to what the new stealth class will be, but the rifleman class is probably some sort of artillery master class.

[SirRobin]

Hmm, so according to the speculation class speculation thread at wildstar-central.com, the last two classes will be another stealth class and another ranged class that uses a rifle. It's anyone's guess as to what the new stealth class will be, but the rifleman class is probably some sort of artillery master class.

Yeah, but I can't get over the feeling that it will be a pet and turret class instead. Meh... We'll see soon enough.

[Loaf Lord]

Yeah, but I can't get over the feeling that it will be a pet and turret class instead. Meh... We'll see soon enough.

I'm expecting something similar to the stormtrooper/bounty hunter classes from SWTOR. A badass with high tech armor, lots of explosive gadgets and a very big gun.

[Mmoplayer111]

The UI uses LUA if memory serves, so you can mod on top of it being scaleable and moveable. I don't find it overly ugly, just large.

As for the arena, think team fortress 2 only with a limited number of respawns.

The telegraphs are an integral part of the gameplay, not to mention they will help YOU stand in the spot where the heal will land, so it's not just up to your healer to line up the shot but you have to not move out of it. I think turning them off would cause more issues.

I know that in PVE later on some of the patterns get pretty ridiculous so again, turning them off would be crippling.

[EFX]

Cannot wait for this game, been following since the start, next big mmo!

[RoninaThorstone]

Cannot wait for this game, been following since the start, next big mmo!

Hype!
Quick! BURN THE WITCH!

[Deleted]

Hmm, so according to the class speculation thread at wildstar-central.com, the last two classes will be another stealth class and another ranged class that uses a rifle. It's anyone's guess as to what the new stealth class will be, but the rifleman class is probably some sort of artillery master class.

id rather not have another stealth class.. i need mah pet class. war witch hunter wouldnt be terrible though..

[SirRobin]

Clearing up Misconceptions on Open World PvP

Hey everyone! One of our awesome devs noticed a bit of confusion about how we plan on implementing open world PvP in WildStar and brought it to our (our = your WildStar community team and the PvP dev team) attention this morning. Since we want to clear up any misconceptions quickly, Aether thought it would be best if I got my WildStar Central forum name registered so I can give you all some info today.

Rulesets
We intend to have two rulesets at WildStar’s launch, a PvE and PvP ruleset.

World PvP Opportunities on PvE Ruleset
On a PvE Ruleset server, you may voluntarily flag yourself for PvP. In WildStar, there are some zones which are shared by both factions, in terms of PvE content. If you’re flagged, you may run into opposing faction individuals who have also voluntarily flagged themselves for PvP. If you do, I hope you both have some fun
If you try to go into an opposing faction’s city, you will be automatically flagged for PvP.

World PvP Opportunities on PvP Ruleset
On a PvP Ruleset server, PvP flagging is determined based on the zone your character is in. If you are in a zone that is affiliated with your faction, you’re not flagged…but you may voluntarily flag yourself. If you are in a zone that is affiliated with the opposing faction, you are flagged for PvP.
If you’re in a zone that is shared by both factions, you will be flagged for PvP. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to run into your enemy in a shared zone and slay the day away
If you try to go into an opposing faction’s city, you are flagged for PvP (though, this is redundant on a PvP server, because you’re likely in that faction’s zone anyway).

Sanctuaries
We will have areas within zones or entire zones where PvP is forbidden. These areas, called Sanctuaries, will be present on both PvE and PvP rulesets.

Objective-Based Open World PvP
We understand the strong desire for this type of open world PvP and many of us here at Carbine enjoy it. That said, objective-based open world PvP is not currently a focus for WildStar’s launch. Our intent, as I’ve stated in our Reddit AMAA, is to see how our PvP players interact with the world of Nexus so we can focus on areas which may appeal to a Wildstar PvP player for objective play before we make a deeper investment on open world PvP.

Experience
(Also from the Reddit AMAA, but I will also restate it again)
You will be able to level via PvP. You can earn experience off of player kills in the Battlegrounds and through player kills in world PvP. So, there is a little bit of incentive to kill your enemy, outside of the enemy just being an opposing faction player, on either Ruleset, because he’s probably worth some XP.

We'll be monitoring this thread to respond to your feedback, which we welcome with open arms! Thanks for listening, everyone!

[Razael]

Yes for another stealth class. Moar stealth . And yey for rifle using class. One can hope its a SNIPER rifle.

[Loaf Lord]

I really like how well detailed the class explanations are. Like warriors using hyper-kinetic cells to improve their destructive potential or how stalkers are injected with a nanite serum which gives them a cerebral interface that grants them advanced technological abilties. It's always nice when writers go in depth about classes and their "powers".

---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 06:18 AM ----------

One can hope its a SNIPER rifle.

From the picture I saw, it looks more like a heavy duty assault rifle. In fact, it looks just like the gun the granok dude was using in the Meet the Exiles vid.

[mag07]

I keep hearing from people that you can turn off the red telegraphing stuff. I hope it's true. I want some challenge, and the red telegraphing just seemed too damn easy.

You may want to head to their biggest fansite and read up a little (don't know if I'm allowed to link other forums here) The telegraphing is not there to deliver an easy mode. From all the bits of info we got so far, it's quite clear that as you level and progress through endgame, telegraphs become more and more complex/multilayered. It's more of a combat mechanic then a mode. So I'm personally holding off with making assumptions for now. But yes, you can turn it of, that has been confirmed, probably with solo play in mind, cos raid encounters might be relying on that very detail for mechanics. Doubt raid leaders will tolerate no telegraphs in raids seeing how it works both ways, and players can stack theirs, creating more complex attacks/heals covering strategic areas.

[Razael]

I really like how well detailed the class explanations are. Like warriors using hyper-kinetic cells to improve their destructive potential or how stalkers are injected with a nanite serum which gives them a cerebral interface that grants them advanced technological abilties. It's always nice when writers go in depth about classes and their "powers".

---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 06:18 AM ----------

From the picture I saw, it looks more like a heavy duty assault rifle. In fact, it looks just like the gun the granok dude was using in the Meet the Exiles vid.

Well yeah, they've said that both unrevealed classes would be playable as a Granok and i honestly do not see a Granok being a Sniper. But hope remains! xD Maybe the stealth class is a Sniper - ish dude. Dunno.

[SirRobin]

A nice Friday surprise.

ECON DEVBLOG: CIRCUIT BOARD CRAFTING

By Loic "Atreid" Claveau - April 05, 2013

Hi everyone! My name is Primus (Gortok on the forums), and I am a designer on WildStar for the Economy Systems Team. Econ is a broad term we use internally to describe anything related to crafting, items, vendors, rewards, loot drops, and of course balancing the inputs and outputs of the actual in-game economy. We have one awesome programmer and our 5th designer is starting next month, so it’s a lot to take care of for a relatively small team.

WildStar’s items are built on a system we internally call the Circuit Board Crafting System (CBC). This system is used for pretty much any piece of gear that you can equip. It is the basis for one of our two crafting systems, and is also used by non-crafters to modify their items. This post will focus on how we expect Modding to play out. Think of it as a teaser for crafting as well, which I know we are planning to talk more about in the coming months.

CBC consists of single Schematics per item that can be filled out with various Microchips that give stats and special abilities. Depending on the item’s level, it will have a base amount of Power that it can distribute between different stats and special abilities.

Placeholder UI for the Schematic of “Stormrender”, an item from an early WildStar dungeon.

There are three main types of Microchips, all of which you can see in the above picture.

• Power Amplifier (Amp) – These provide additional Power to the item, effectively giving it a bigger budget for stats and specials. The item above has a Blue Power Amp, which in this case gives it 263 Power (roughly 26 stat points).
• Attribute Relay Chips (ARC) – These are casually referred to as Stat Chips. They convert 10 points of Power into 1 point of an attribute. They will convert all of the Power if they are in a terminating socket (the last socket in a branch), or some adjustable percent of the Power if they are not.
• Special Circuits – Specials are broadly defined as anything on the item that grants a special function to the item, instead of attribute points. They are subdivided into three groups:
  
  • Ability Chips – These can provide a wide variety of bonuses from wearing the item, such as a chance to reflect damage, to poison an enemy, increased movement speed, or whatever we like, really. Most Specials fall into this category. The example above has an Ability Special called Power Shift. It comes from the chip with the crown itcon.
  • Set Chips – These provide set bonuses. I will not be going into the details of this system.
  • Item Challenge Chips – I will likewise leave this up to your speculation for now.

As I have previously mentioned, pretty much every piece of gear in the game has a schematic with most or all of the Microchips already socketed. These items are not always optimal, however, and it is expected that you will want to replace some of the Microchips with something else.

Extraction Example: About to extract the Ability Chip: Static Charger.

In this example, we are about to remove an Ability Chip from this item. When we do so, it is going to destroy the item but give us the Microchip. There are multiple ways to get Microchips, but primarily they come from Extraction. Note that the Deflect Chip in the top right has a red X over it. This chip is Locked, meaning it cannot be extracted. I will talk more about Locked Chips later.

Once we have extracted a few Microchips, we can then alter other items we have by Modding them. Through this process, anyone can gather the best materials they have and make their items fit more closely to what they need.

Example of Modding

Let’s say we do not want Technology in this socket, and instead want to replace the Technology ARC with a Stamina ARC. In the Modding Example above, we have clicked on the Microchip we wanted to replace and a list of valid chips are brought up for us to choose from. Any time you Mod a new Microchip into a socket, any existing Microchip in that socket is destroyed.

That is the basics of our CBC System. It is simple and straightforward, and very powerful. In fact it is too powerful. If you can mod anything you want into any item, then there are really no choices. Everyone is going to go over to the Elitist Jerks website and figure out exactly which Microchips to put in each of their items. To combat this, we have two features of this system that do not come into play until a little bit later; Random Microchips and Socket Locking.

Random Microchips are all taken care of before you get the item. You will never be able to extract a random microchip, because when the item is actually created, it chooses the appropriate Chip from a list.

Socket Locking prevents you from modding or extracting a Microchip from a specific socket. This means sometimes if you want that cool Ability Chip, you have to make do with the item and schematic it came with. It also means that you may get an item that is not quite optimal in what stats it has, but you have to make due.

If you combine both of these together, you can see how having an item that has randomly selected stats, some of them locked in, can be a lot more of a headache to figure out.

An additional element of depth we have is Slot-Specific Microchips. These Microchips are restricted to only be useable for certain item types. For example, if you want a Special Chip that makes you run faster, that chip might only be able to go on boots. If you want an ability that has a chance to poison the target, it would only be useable on Weapons.

There is a lot of room for really interesting decisions here. The goal is to make it very rare to have a 100% completely optimal item. We want you to have to make hard decisions about items. Different schematics split the Power in different ways, so it is important where you put your ARCs.

Think about how this is going to play out in the Elder game; you may kill a boss that drops a vest that come with a locked in Critical ARC. You then have to kill another boss that gives an item with Chest-Only Special on it you can salvage. Now you have to track down a Purple Power Amp, and you have still have to figure out what you are going to do with the last two Attribute sockets.

So there you have it. We were going to wait to introduce this when we talk about crafting, but we actually have a really good reason to get this information out now: We are going to be creating a few new Item Slots, and we wanted you guys, the community, to give input on what those slots will be. It will be a lot easier for you guys to come up with some awesome new item types if you understand how our items work in general. Keep your eyes peeled for more information on this exciting, collaborative opportunity! The Community Team will be providing more information on this soon, so bug Aether if you don't see it shortly.

Primus

[Loaf Lord]

Sounds kind of like gems/meta gems+reforging crammed into one thing. Pretty cool.

[Kelimbror]

Whoa....very cool concept. Definitely like that even the gear system is reinforcing the Sci Fi theme. Love it.

[zito]

Interesting, not excited for more math but I'm glad you can replace stats. Still not happy there is no downscaling. Someone email them and tell them to make a downscale system. (both rift and GW2 has it and it's amazing).

I can't imagine another stealth class, and all were going on is a picture of a guy in stealth with no weapons? Couldn't that be apart of the path system, explorer?

Rifle or sniper was pretty much a given though.

[Kelimbror]

Interview with the Content Director. Lots of very cool reads in here:
http://www.muchmoregaming.com/2013/04/05/mike-donatelli-talks-content-in-wildstar-with-mmg/

There are multiple continents, space stations, moons, asteroid belts – we have all kinds of cool zones and areas for players to explore. I think the in-game zones equate to about 400 square kilometers, so Nexus is massive in size and scope!

Wiiiiinnnn.

[SirRobin]

Keeping my fingers crossed. Pretty pretty pretty please Carbine don't screw this up.