[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[Deleted]

First of all, how was that personal? is it an illness or something?

Second, how the hell should people understand what a "..." mean? to many people it could mean many things, if you want to express a concern, or a quirk, then you should expand on it, instead of assuming other people to understand those three dots, because those three dots can be replaced with "Cause that's just awesome, man!" to somebody else, like me!

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

[Deleted]

To answer some of the questions/concerns that have popped up in the last pages:

• The 3 healers all work quite differently when it comes to their telegraphs.
Esper: will be using aoe healing(both free groundtargeting and originating around you/in front of you) and single target heals. I believe you can go pretty much ONLY single target healing if you prefer that(or multi-target but still a target heal). Esper will be the one closest to your "standard" MMORPG healer.
Spellslinger: will use longer, thinner telegraphs originating from him along with a few targeted heals. He will have strong heals but if the tank move too much you may want to switch to more aoe/target heals.
Medic: will be in the middle of combat, almost all of their healing skills(if not all) are telegraphs. They are extremely strong but you WILL need to put yourself in danger and really talk with your team. If everyone is standing in their own spot the medic will have a hard time keeping them all alive, gathering up for a huge aoe heal is very good for the Medic.

• If you dislike using telegraphs for single targets (for whatever weird reason) I would recommend the stalker as they have many skills which are single target. I also believe there to be other "single" target abilities that hit's the first target the projectile hit and only that target. Also, if this makes you upset, just pull more than 1 mob at a time and everything should be well.

• Anonymous sources tell me that the 1-15 experience is rather hard at some points. There are several telegraphs that easily one-shot you if you are not careful and if you pull more than one group of mobs the telegraphs will be everywhere. If someone is playing just using 2 abilities they are not playing optimally. In WoW you can lvl to lvl 90 with a mage only using fireball if you want. Will it be optimal and fast? Not really but it works. Using all your abilities correct lets you pull more mobs at once, kill mobs faster and survive harder fights.

• There was an article talking about raids earlier, and how they would go with them. If you think telegraphs will hinder the amount of mechanics and difficulty I don't think you quite know the possibilities. Even wow has begun using telegraphs in raids, it is something that is good. They will be difficult, I am quite sure of that.

• I am not sure if all bosses will have it this way, but they talked about 40-man raids in the way that "10 people might need to split off from the main group and go to a generator room and try to destroy that while the other 30 will try to down the main boss". I am fairly sure the majority of bosses won't be "40 people hitting it until it dies".

• It is already answered but there is a lot of control and movement abilities such as leap and blink. There are 3 categories of spells. Assault which is damage, Support which is Tanking or Healing depending on your class and Utility which pretty much is movement, buffs and control. If you prefer to play that way you can go all Utility. While this WILL lower your damage output you will gain access to tons of CC and similiar.

• As far as I'm aware, low level content, normal questing-mobs are a lot harder than most other MMO's(can't really compare it to WoW as you can pretty much roll your head on the keyboard and still manage to kill mobs, at least up to pandaland). Some take longer to kill than others, and if you really want a challenge you can go to a higher-level area in that zone as I've heard the XP increase from killing mobs higher than your level is pretty sweet.

• The first 2 zones pretty much work as Tutorial zones. The third one is where things begin to happen. Mob health increases, telegraphs become a lot bigger and stronger and you really need to be on your toes if you want to stay alive versus more than one or two mobs.

• Leveling do take rather long. You can of course power-level but I still believe it takes around 15-20 hours of raw leveling(and you gotta be good at it and know where to go and do) to get to lvl 20. And it's probably a exponential leveling curve. There will most likely be those that reach max lvl in 1 week as in any other game, it's almost impossible because they kind of play 24 hours a day for a week if that's what it takes but I believe the leveling to be rather lengthy. And there are several max-level zones for you once you get there(or so they've said...).

Hope that cleared some things up for those wondering, if not... well... I just wasted 13 minutes of my life.

[Deleted]

I was watching an Engineer using 1-2 all the way to level 14, only getting four skills if I'm not misstaken, and from the looks of it, you only have eight skills? .

By Level 14 each class has access to 14/15 different skills to choose from. You eventually learn 30 different main ability skills, and the idea of LAS is to choose the right skills for the content, role and your own preferred playstyle, and you can change them at any time out of combat and save up to 5 different builds.

All Characters have on their bars : 1 Innate ability, 8 Main Ability's, 1 Gadget, 1 Path.

There is also the AMP system, which is sort of like a Talent system, that allows you further character progression to specialise each of your builds between DPS, Tank/Healer, Hybrid, utility and PVP.

[Valeron]

Good summary Kessos but I will have to disagree with this statement.

• As far as I'm aware, low level content, normal questing-mobs are a lot harder than most other MMO's

It's not but the different (or somewhat different combat) combat just can make it appear so. If you are used to any sort of action combat before it will be no issue.

[Deleted]

Good summary Kessos but I will have to disagree with this statement.



It's not but the different (or somewhat different combat) combat just can make it appear so. If you are used to any sort of action combat before it will be no issue.

Agreed, i could have worded it differently. It does of course depend on the player but if you come from a rather static, standing-still casting spell game such as WoW where you really don't need to move at all I believe it can be rather challenging, at least to a start.

[Deadhank]

Great summary Kessos, helped me a lot! Don't worry, your minutes were not wasted. lol

Medics seem fun to play (as a healer). I'm digging healers in this game. It's way less point and clicking on the UI and getting out in the world to find your friends and heal them. It's harder, but it's way better imo.

[ThePlanckEnergy]

Well, the mobs in Wildstar used to be a lot harder than they are right now. They recently massively nerfed all the questing content. Like the Public Quest mob in the Human/Granok starter zone has 800-900hp now. When I got into a Beta Weekend a few months ago before the changes he had ~7000 (he was still soloable by a Stalker, at least).

None of these games are anything like the first generation or two of MMOs before WoW. Now those were some SERIOUSLY insane grinds and tough, basically impossible to solo mobs.

[Haywire5714]

Well, the mobs in Wildstar used to be a lot harder than they are right now. They recently massively nerfed all the questing content. Like the Public Quest mob in the Human/Granok starter zone has 800-900hp now. When I got into a Beta Weekend a few months ago before the changes he had ~7000 (he was still soloable by a Stalker, at least).

None of these games are anything like the first generation or two of MMOs before WoW. Now those were some SERIOUSLY insane grinds and tough, basically impossible to solo mobs.

Grindy and Impossible ... there is nothing "tough" (or fun) about that, which is probably why MMO's nowadays avoid that concept. I don't necessarily mind a grindy leveling system (unless it's Aion korean grindfest grindy), but it has to be fun enough to keep me from falling asleep. Giving the regular mobs a lot of health and/or autoattack damage doesn't make the leveling experience very fun, it just makes it take longer.

In my opinion the leveling experience should be like this:
- Regular mobs take around 10 - 15 seconds to kill
- They are given 1 ability that is obvious, avoidable and does a significant amount of damage
- Very small amount of unavoidable damage (aka, auto attack damage)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Quest bosses should take around 30 - 40 seconds to kill
- They are given 2 or 3 abilities that conflict with eachother (simple in design, but in order to avoid one you must be aware of the other: ex, Lich King fight ... you have to spread for defile but stack for Val'kyrs); obvious animation, avoidable, and fairly unforgiving.
- Small amount of unavoidable damage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 1 or more world bosses in each zone
- Takes a group of 10 to kill (5 if very capable)
- Takes around 3 - 5 minutes to kill
- 2 or 3 avoidable and unforgiving mechanics with obvious animations; very large range
- World bosses must have an enormous model (because that's epic as hell)
- Decent amount of unavoidable damage (Not enough to crush groups that don't have capable healers or else you'll have WoW's world bosses)


I could cover dungeons but I'll just leave it like this for now.

[Pyromelter]

I am not going to directly address wildstar about this as it would break the NDA but I will say that a lot of MMOs have this weird problem where they want to create a period of introduction and also feel the need to strech out the pace of leveling as much as possible when they first launch.

The result, primarily due to the latter part, is that the introduction (read: leveling) period is long, tedious, and 99% of it isn't needed. When you compare the learning curve to other games it's almost comical.

This is compounded by the LAS. Do you really months of leveling to understand how to use 8 abilities? Perhaps to master but certainly not to grasp... which is all you can really do with leveling content as it doesn't demand mastery.

Some players will look at it with an Everquest perspective and say, "Doing menial tasks and the same attack rotations over and over for a nearly endless amount of time is how it's suppose to be!" but many players are beginning to ask if their time spent playing a game should be spent having fun rather than grinding in order TO have fun. This puts developers in an awkward position because they want as many players as they can get but also want you to spend as many hours logged in as possible and adding repetative grinds is the easiest and cheapest way for them to do that.

I just wanted to say the above statement is definitely the most on-point thing I've ever heard regarding MMO's. I believe that the next game that comes that puts a focus on fun > grind will be the one to take down WoW as the #1 MMO.

I also wanted to ask a question, I know I'm super late to the party here, but I didn't want to dig into 600+ pages (read back 3), has there been any general consensus on the cost structure of the game?

[Valeron]

I also wanted to ask a question, I know I'm super late to the party here, but I didn't want to dig into 600+ pages (read back 3), has there been any general consensus on the cost structure of the game?

it is a buy the box + subscription model. they will also have a tradeable monthly card (forgot the name of it) that you can purchase from them and sell them in game. So if you make enough gold in game you could conceivably not have to pay the monthly fee with cash. Similar to EVE's plex system.

[Deleted]

YouTube version of Engineer livestream.

[Pyromelter]

it is a buy the box + subscription model. they will also have a tradeable monthly card (forgot the name of it) that you can purchase from them and sell them in game. So if you make enough gold in game you could conceivably not have to pay the monthly fee with cash. Similar to EVE's plex system.

I'm aware of how the cost structure works, was just wondering if there had been any thoughts on whether the people looking to play wildstar are in favor of this system (versus the other various subscription models).

[RadasNoir]

In my opinion the leveling experience should be like this:
- Regular mobs take around 10 - 15 seconds to kill
- They are given 1 ability that is obvious, avoidable and does a significant amount of damage
- Very small amount of unavoidable damage (aka, auto attack damage)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Quest bosses should take around 30 - 40 seconds to kill
- They are given 2 or 3 abilities that conflict with eachother (simple in design, but in order to avoid one you must be aware of the other: ex, Lich King fight ... you have to spread for defile but stack for Val'kyrs); obvious animation, avoidable, and fairly unforgiving.
- Small amount of unavoidable damage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 1 or more world bosses in each zone
- Takes a group of 10 to kill (5 if very capable)
- Takes around 3 - 5 minutes to kill
- 2 or 3 avoidable and unforgiving mechanics with obvious animations; very large range
- World bosses must have an enormous model (because that's epic as hell)
- Decent amount of unavoidable damage (Not enough to crush groups that don't have capable healers or else you'll have WoW's world bosses)

I'd be cool with this. Actually, this sounds kind of like how TSW runs things, for the most part. They don't have static world bosses in each zone, but they have had giant event bosses go roaming through zones before.

In regards to Wildstar....

I was glad to hear that having pets out were optional for the Engineer. I...tolerate using pets in an MMO, if I like the other features of a given pet class or if it's specifically designed so that having a pet/companion with you is usually optimal (ala TOR), but if given the choice, I would rather not have to babysit a pet or companion. It's sounds like if I want to play the Engineer as Iron Man with a BFG, there's an LAS for that.

Still, that's just for leveling. I would actually be interested in experimenting with, say, using a tank bot to help off-tank adds and such in dungeons and boss encounters. Coming up with specific uses for the bots like that is where having different types of pet might actually get interesting.

[igniter]

1 or more world bosses in each zone
- Takes a group of 10 to kill (5 if very capable)
- Takes around 3 - 5 minutes to kill
- 2 or 3 avoidable and unforgiving mechanics with obvious animations; very large range
- World bosses must have an enormous model (because that's epic as hell)
- Decent amount of unavoidable damage (Not enough to crush groups that don't have capable healers or else you'll have WoW's world bosses)

I'd be cool with this. Actually, this sounds kind of like how TSW runs things, for the most part. They don't have static world bosses in each zone, but they have had giant event bosses go roaming through zones before.

SWTOR had lots of world bosses... like the big droid on Corusant. Everyone just skipped the dude because he wasn't worth the effort to kill. If all a boss drops is plain old leveling gear, it's unlikely he's worth the time to even kill. On the flip, if he drops some really good stuff you may see higher levels camping it. Really hard to balance, especially since we can't play the beta yet (HINT HINT CARBINE).

[Keren]

In my opinion the leveling experience should be like this:
- Regular mobs take around 10 - 15 seconds to kill
- They are given 1 ability that is obvious, avoidable and does a significant amount of damage
- Very small amount of unavoidable damage (aka, auto attack damage)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Quest bosses should take around 30 - 40 seconds to kill
- They are given 2 or 3 abilities that conflict with eachother (simple in design, but in order to avoid one you must be aware of the other: ex, Lich King fight ... you have to spread for defile but stack for Val'kyrs); obvious animation, avoidable, and fairly unforgiving.
- Small amount of unavoidable damage

I saw the slingers channel ability to almost onshot every mob till level 7. After that real combat does start. And im really happy with that. Asfar as this concernd me, I dont want to fight onyl 10 secends with each mob. Thats like current wow. Its to short... You push finisher, use your builder, and finish him again. Thats with every mob?! BORING! Longer fights will let you use more abilites, dots will become interresting and overall LAS will matter more...

That concept may not be nice for those who just want to rush instead of playing. But it wont have to mean that leveling will be long. Just a question of scaling invested time with distributed experience.

[Kelimbror]

just wondering if there had been any thoughts on whether the people looking to play wildstar are in favor of this system

Oh...there have been many thoughts smashed out here...

[Enjeh]

I also wanted to ask a question, I know I'm super late to the party here, but I didn't want to dig into 600+ pages (read back 3), has there been any general consensus on the cost structure of the game?

I'm aware of how the cost structure works, was just wondering if there had been any thoughts on whether the people looking to play wildstar are in favor of this system (versus the other various subscription models).

Lets just say that atleast 200 pages here are about just that, and that we will never agree to the same payment option. Lets leave it at that before a mod gets angry. :3

[Needonboots]

How can people be posting videos/streaming Wildstar if the NDA is active?

[Sy]

How can people be posting videos/streaming Wildstar if the NDA is active?

press people are allowed to show character creation and leveling 1-15.

the nda is still in full effect for anyone who didn't get a "you specifically are allowed to show this stuff" from carbine^^

[zito]

Hey everyone I'm back from vegas! And the plane didn't crash!

what have I missed?