[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[Ashana Darkmoon]

Blood Legion et al (are they even still a guild?) will move to Wildstar, beat all the raid content in <2 weeks, then go back to WoW. And all the 25+ year olds who claim they "really miss 40 man raids" and whatnot will eventually realize they have actual life responsibilities now and quit within a couple of months.

Just my guess.

[Keren]

Blood Legion et al (are they even still a guild?) will move to Wildstar, beat all the raid content in <2 weeks, then go back to WoW. And all the 25+ year olds who claim they "really miss 40 man raids" and whatnot will eventually realize they have actual life responsibilities now and quit within a couple of months.

Just my guess.

you will guess wrong then. W* stated that they will have random abilities and even random bosses each weekly lock out. That would mean, that you have one week to make progress, because next week will be a re-start and a new progress!

[Kelimbror]

you will guess wrong then. W* stated that they will have random abilities and even random bosses each weekly lock out. That would mean, that you have one week to make progress, because next week will be a re-start and a new progress!

I'd love to keep professing how awesome and lively this will make raiding, but the reality of the situation when compared to how they are doing on other stated goals is quite different. There's only two ways I see it going:

1) Gimmicky - progression raiders will go in, blow through the first content setup, then look forward to next week when it will be different. Next week it will feel exactly the same except it may look different or be even easier for them. This will repeat for about a month before serious raiders go back to Rift and WoW for more difficult raid ontent.

2) Frustrating - The mid range raiders will be stymied by the constant shift in setups, slowing the learning curve and pace of gear acquisition. With no guaranteed returns and difficulty of controlling large raid groups, they will quickly become disenchanted and head back to games where progression is more static while still being challenging.

I really want to be positive about this, but I feel like this design is going to blowback in their face. The act of balancing this 'dynamic' content will be sharper than a knife's edge. I don't see any developer being able to hone it to perfection. Maybe it will come off better than they thought...but...seems almost impossible at this point. I'd love to see it work though I have no desire to raid with 40 people ever again.

[jearle]

you will guess wrong then. W* stated that they will have random abilities and even random bosses each weekly lock out. That would mean, that you have one week to make progress, because next week will be a re-start and a new progress!

I know they are saying this is going to be dynamic raid content and I believe they will implement something that changes on a week to week basis. However, I don't think it will be a drastic change from week to week. As Kitty said from a balancing perspective this becomes a nightmare to balance and more variable to take into account. Not only that but they set themselves up for making one of the random dynamic "modes" easier/harder than others and then there is player outcry.

I see it being minor changes to the fight, different telegraphs, maybe a different 1 shot mechanic, but not anything as major as will cause balancing issues between the dynamic differences.

As a raider I like encounters that have week to week changes as well, as it adds a little flare to that weeks raid.

In WoW the Opera event in Karazhan is one I remember vividly as it was always exciting that you didn't know what boss you were doing until right before the curtain dropped. However, separate loot tables for the different bosses sucked.

WoW has done this throughout and still does in some ways (Stone Guard) and hope that as well as the dynamic content Wildstar incorporates some of these types of things as well.

- - - Updated - - -

Blood Legion et al (are they even still a guild?) will move to Wildstar, beat all the raid content in <2 weeks, then go back to WoW. And all the 25+ year olds who claim they "really miss 40 man raids" and whatnot will eventually realize they have actual life responsibilities now and quit within a couple of months.

This comes back to a testing issue and I seriously hope that they are looking at this as an important aspect of raid development. In house testers cannot solely be trusted to evaluate the difficulty/tweaking of raid encounters. They need to bring in a coordinated team of hard mode raiders to throw at their bosses provide feedback and tweak accordingly. This is one of the main reasons WoW can deliver raid content that is for the most part polished because they have thousands of quality raiders testing it on the PTR and providing feedback.

I am assuming with the implementation of 40 mans there are not going to be different modes of difficulty? I have not seen any comment on this yet if there has been.

[zito]

you will guess wrong then. W* stated that they will have random abilities and even random bosses each weekly lock out. That would mean, that you have one week to make progress, because next week will be a re-start and a new progress!

From caribines recent history of sugar coating and great short videos, I doubt the boss will do a 180 on boss mechanics, maybe small changes but nothing that will impact strategy

[Kelimbror]

I am assuming with the implementation of 40 mans there are not going to be different modes of difficulty? I have not seen any comment on this yet if there has been.

I haven't seen any mention of different difficulty modes, only a definite reluctance to make it 'easy' so I'm guessing they will give one mode, assume it's challenging, and then have to go into panic mode to implement hard mode content. Additionally, I think they said there would be 20 man raids too? I'm really not sure what they're doing with this.

I think they have already encountered so much push back and redirection in the basic game, raiding isn't really something they have had a chance to iterate on or test. I know raids are coming in the next CBT supposedly, but I have a feeling they are going to receive a similar reality check from their testers and have to change things a lot.

I wouldn't be surprised to see smaller scale raids and multiple difficulties present at launch now...simply because players are going to demand it. In their case, I think they could still keep their dynamic design but allow a choice of difficulties. How this would work:

-Raid is formed in 10, 20, or 40 players

-Raiders select: Normal or Hard

-Normal Mode rotates through mechanic tier 1 on 10 man, tier 2 on 20 and 40 man.

-Hard Mode rotates through mechanic tier 2 on 10 man, tier 3 on 20 and 40 man.

-Each tier has a minimum of 4 iterations for each dynamic encounter, so that hopefully each week is a different scenario on a monthly basis. More iterations would obviously improve the dynamic nature of the content.

It's highliy unlikely we will see something this elaborately designed, but the good thing is that most of what happens is behind the scenes which makes it less complex on the player as far as choice. They don't need to know about the tiers, or how many iterations, they just need to know their group size and difficulty mode and then they are off.

As the prestige/challenge of the dynamic content is supposed to be the leaderboard and extra type stuff, gear should be the same across the board with a naturally less amount of loot for smaller raids and v/v.

[RoninaThorstone]

I haven't seen any mention of different difficulty modes, only a definite reluctance to make it 'easy' so I'm guessing they will give one mode, assume it's challenging, and then have to go into panic mode to implement hard mode content. Additionally, I think they said there would be 20 man raids too? I'm really not sure what they're doing with this.

I think they have already encountered so much push back and redirection in the basic game, raiding isn't really something they have had a chance to iterate on or test. I know raids are coming in the next CBT supposedly, but I have a feeling they are going to receive a similar reality check from their testers and have to change things a lot.

I wouldn't be surprised to see smaller scale raids and multiple difficulties present at launch now...simply because players are going to demand it. In their case, I think they could still keep their dynamic design but allow a choice of difficulties. How this would work:

-Raid is formed in 10, 20, or 40 players

-Raiders select: Normal or Hard

-Normal Mode rotates through mechanic tier 1 on 10 man, tier 2 on 20 and 40 man.

-Hard Mode rotates through mechanic tier 2 on 10 man, tier 3 on 20 and 40 man.

-Each tier has a minimum of 4 iterations for each dynamic encounter, so that hopefully each week is a different scenario on a monthly basis. More iterations would obviously improve the dynamic nature of the content.

It's highliy unlikely we will see something this elaborately designed, but the good thing is that most of what happens is behind the scenes which makes it less complex on the player as far as choice. They don't need to know about the tiers, or how many iterations, they just need to know their group size and difficulty mode and then they are off.

As the prestige/challenge of the dynamic content is supposed to be the leaderboard and extra type stuff, gear should be the same across the board with a naturally less amount of loot for smaller raids and v/v.

"Explore the galaxy!" to "ride some rails!"
"Dynamic raid content!" to "Halfus Wyrmbreaker!"

I feel like its necessary to point out that their idea of dynamic raid content isn't a new one. WoW did it in cata with halfus and probably more since (Iquit). I am yet to find anything about this game I haven't seen elsewhere. Which is fine... It's just that since they lack a 'hook' their execution is going to have to be excellent.

[corebit]

you will guess wrong then. W* stated that they will have random abilities and even random bosses each weekly lock out. That would mean, that you have one week to make progress, because next week will be a re-start and a new progress!

Wildstar would have to pretty much outdo WOW in every raiding aspect, which Blizzard has already refined it to an art. It's going to be very very hard to persuade the hardcore WoW population to come over. At best they would "try out" the game for a few weeks out of boredom, and go back to WoW after they beat the content.

Don't forget the hardcore guilds are also like other guilds. They have social connections and friendships already made in WoW, which is the biggest thing preventing WoW players from jumping ship to other games. MMOs are a social experience. Hardcore guilds are no exception.

I remember from Mana Flask a bunch of top Euro guilds moved to SWTOR when the hype was biggest. After beating all the endgame content SWTOR had to offer, they quickly went back to WoW. It was a spectacle to watch.

[Ashana Darkmoon]

I would be absolutely floored if the top WoW guilds couldn't trash whatever content Wildstar puts out within a day or two of hitting the cap. Players at the high end of MMOs are dramatically better than they were 10 or even 5 years ago. And if Carbine does "stick to their guns" and make 40 man raiding truly elite again, they will run into exactly the same problem WoW did and the cycle will repeat itself.

And pretty much exactly what KV said. Random raid dynamics will probably just end up frustrating average guilds, and let's face it: getting 40+ decent raiders is already going to be difficult enough. I did enough of that in vanilla and never again.

[waddlez]

And pretty much exactly what KV said. Random raid dynamics will probably just end up frustrating average guilds, and let's face it: getting 40+ decent raiders is already going to be difficult enough. I did enough of that in vanilla and never again.

Yea but you don't have to do the 40 man, you can do a lesser tier. Saying you have to be able to faceroll 40 man (hey lets make an LFR so we can!) is just more entitlement from the LFR generation.

Frustrated with 40? Do 20!

[Keren]

Random raid dynamics will probably just end up frustrating average guilds, and let's face it: getting 40+ decent raiders is already going to be difficult enough. I did enough of that in vanilla and never again.

Oh, they already stated that "non hardcore" players are not expected to clear each week. Only those who are engaged with the highest effort will have a chance to climb the leaderboard!
Also, their are no modes announced till now. No hard, easy or whatever mode

[Arck908]

Oh, they already stated that "non hardcore" players are not expected to clear each week. Only those who are engaged with the highest effort will have a chance to climb the leaderboard!
Also, their are no modes announced till now. No hard, easy or whatever mode

20 man raids and 40 man raids are also a separate things as well. You can't do a 40 man raid in a 20 man mode and vice versa.

[Gorthezar]

I can't wait for this game. That is all.

[Ickz]

Is W* really the acronym people are using? How dumb. WS or just typing Wildstar is far better.

[Kelimbror]

Is W* really the acronym people are using? How dumb. WS or just typing Wildstar is far better.

If this is all you have to contribute to this thread, please revisit us another time. W* is not only completely logical, but original compared to the traditional acronyms. Besides, people are free to use whatever terms they want as we don't have the Official W* Acronym Handbook yet. I think it scheduled for release in Feb 2014. Check back with us then.

[RoninaThorstone]

Is W* really the acronym people are using? How dumb. WS or just typing Wildstar is far better.

What does winterspring have to do with wildstar? Is there going to be a snow leopard mount?

[bbr]

Looks brilliant, but the monthly fee is going to stop me from playing this I suspect.
Quite a shame.

[Keren]

I will 100% lurk around the official forums to the release and ask for a trial key. I doenst matter if they provide ingame items to those who get in others, as long as I can save the 60 bucks...

[Acidbaron]

Is W* really the acronym people are using? How dumb. WS or just typing Wildstar is far better.

It's dumb and only a few people use it and favor it over WS on other fansites.

And yes it's illogical as correctly used a * is an asterix not a star.

[Razael]

We need new news. Housing isn't news. Hype be slowing bros.