Carbine Studios' "Wildstar"

[Nebu]

Hehe, its been 15 years and MMO as still grappling with the same basic problem: content consumption outstrips content production by several magnitudes.

It also takes longer to write a book than it does to read a book.  What's your point?

[Rasix]

People have just gotten so good/efficient at doing this sort of content.  These professional WoW guilds can be raiding after a day in an expansion.  I'm not sure how you keep them busy without hurting the rest of your game.

Stupid resist grinds worked in WoW. 

[Draegan]

Well if I remember correctly Wildstar plans to have weekly worldwide contests with their endgame material. Weekly goals and races and shit like that in Raids with leaderboards. Duno if that actually made it into the game though.

[Threash]

Yes, every beta i could get in on.

I notice you eliminated the part about level 20.  Did you make it that far?  The game changes a LOT after 20.*

*Note: I'm not saying that this is good game design, just saying that it does get better.

I played several hours without enjoying any of it, i believe the highest i got was 7 or 8.  It was a chore to even make it that far.

[Nebu]

I played several hours without enjoying any of it, i believe the highest i got was 7 or 8.  It was a chore to even make it that far.

You're burned out on MMO's.  I don't blame you.  If you were looking for this to be non-MMO-like, of course you'd be disappointed.

[Draegan]

If you can tolerate quest treadmill based gameplay, this game is amazingly well made. Probably the most well made MMO in the last decade (on the surface anyway).

[Nebu]

If you can tolerate quest treadmill based gameplay, this game is amazingly well made. Probably the most well made MMO in the last decade (on the surface anyway).

Easily the best theme-park style MMO to date.  Good pace, good variety, and some good humor.  I've had several just-one-more-quest moments this weekend and I'm a guy that hates theme-park style.  Then again, I haven't played an mmo seriously for over a year.

[sam, an eggplant]

Apparently the end boss of the instance is going to drop things you can use to attune others. So, if you're in farm mode (or potentially if you want to spend one bazillion dollars on the AH if the item is tradable), none of it. And if you aren't, all of it.

The end boss drops one attunement item per kill, so one per week once the raid is on farm.

I agree, it is the most polished WoW clone so far. Rift was superior mechanically, but Wildstar has that certain je ne sais quoi that makes me want to log back in. So far, anyway.

[Threash]

I played several hours without enjoying any of it, i believe the highest i got was 7 or 8.  It was a chore to even make it that far.

You're burned out on MMO's.  I don't blame you.  If you were looking for this to be non-MMO-like, of course you'd be disappointed.

Maybe on wow clones, i play plenty of GW2.  I guess marvel heroes too, but thats not really an mmo even though they claim it is.

[Nevermore]

I just hope that the dev team is more responsive to fotm issues than Blizzard was.  Not holding my breath though.

Is it not the same devs from back then?

[Sjofn]

Have you played the game?  It's fun.  I'm having more fun than I did when WoW released.  The quests are better, there's more humor, and it doesn't feel nearly as grindy.  I'm finding myself running around the world looking for things to do BECAUSE I WANT TO AND AM HAVING FUN DOING SO.  It's just the right combination of GW2 and WoW for my tastes. 

Man, it's like we played two completely different games. I found the quests dull and I was feeling the grind by level nine.

[Nebu]

Man, it's like we played two completely different games. I found the quests dull and I was feeling the grind by level nine.

Get out of the newbie area and get a mount at 10.  It gets better as you flesh out (and experiment with) your skills.  Crafting at 10 and Housing at 14 help as well.

[Sjofn]

I got to level 20, and by then I could not be arsed to go further, because the previous 20 levels killed my will to live.

I did enjoy my hoverboard, though.

[tmp]

So, why all the hoops I must jump through before the game even "really starts"?

Because you need something to do that doesn't take 40 people.

But all this "stuff that doesn't take 40 people" could be there after the game actually "starts". So again, what's the purpose of all the extra shit that's there before it even does?

[tmp]

Man, it's like we played two completely different games. I found the quests dull and I was feeling the grind by level nine.

I made it to the second set of zones after the tutorial, spent couple hours there at which point it became too obvious what the game tries to do was hampered by implementation to the point where the whole thing was Not Fun, and didn't bother to come back.

If the game 'gets better' eventually then the smart decision would be to offer that 'much better' experience from the get go, not to gate it behind x hours of tedious shit.

[Sjofn]

Now grant you, they could've patched in some fun right before open beta, but the last time I had logged in to fuck around was just before that, and I lasted about ten minutes before thinking to myself that there were other things I could be doing with my time that would be more fun. Which made me a little sad, because I definitely wanted to like the game. But I didn't.

I don't hate it either, it's just ... inert. A game-like object. A game-like object I'd probably still give another whirl if it was a GW2 model. I'd be totally fine paying for a box and then fucking around when I feel like it, but a sub model? Meeeeeeeeeh.

[Pennilenko]

I was originally fussy about my wife just picking this up for me since I had a poor experience in beta. Now my esper is 15 and I have a mount and my outfit is cool, and my character feels pretty versatile, my brain is saying that I am having fun for now at least.

[Sjofn]

I will admit that a strike against Wildstar is Ingmar barely even made it out of the arkship, which never bodes well for "will we be duoing." I don't ever only duo with him in these things (usually just the first time through, when we're both equally obsessive about leveling someone up), but it definitely helps a game's cause if we both want to play it.

[Rasix]

Insert Quote
Now grant you, they could've patched in some fun right before open beta,

It is better than beta.  I'll admit, in a fit of weakness and boredom, I bought this.  I really didn't like the beta, so, this was a bit of a risk for me.  Less of a risk than going back to Wow..

The UI is cleaner. There are still some issues with the quest tracker and the map is a little busy for my taste, but it is a far sight better than what I experienced in beta.
The game no longer runs like dogshit.  It looks good and runs well.  
The movement and combat is pretty smooth.  I do like GW2 combat as well as DIKU, so I am somewhat predisposed to like this more than others.  
I've have no log in or server issues in this headstart.  I've encountered a few bugs, but they've been somewhat minor and manageable.  

I'm having fun and looking forward to logging in later tonight and playing for a couple hours straight.  I have no real desire to raid or do end game PVE content.  I imagine I'll mostly group with Nebu and his friends for any small group activities.  The PVP could be fun, and I'll definitely give that a shot later.   I have little doubt that I'll get my months worth + 1, but I'm not too worried beyond that.  There's some single player RPGs coming in June/July along with the likely Steam sale, so long term I'm not looking to get married to Wildstar.  

There is a lot of meat here.  I feel like I have a lot to learn yet in this game.  Sure, the raid stuff is done, but I was never going to bother with that in the first place.  It does irk me that they will eventually have to make the same concessions as WoW and they're wasting time (purposefully?) by not making them now, but it will end up having very little effect on the way I will be playing this.  So, I'm just going to play and not sweat that nonsense.

semi fake edit:

The arkship is dumb and I just skip through it as fast as I can.  It's about 10 minutes worth of hassle.  

[Sjofn]

That's good to hear! The UI being less shitty in particular is nice to hear, because man, there were some seriously shitty versions of its UI I experienced. 

[Simond]

Apparently the end boss of the instance is going to drop things you can use to attune others. So, if you're in farm mode (or potentially if you want to spend one bazillion dollars on the AH if the item is tradable), none of it. And if you aren't, all of it.

The end boss drops one attunement item per kill, so one per week once the raid is on farm.

I just hope that the dev team is more responsive to fotm issues than Blizzard was.  Not holding my breath though.

Is it not the same devs from back then?

TBC-era ex-Blizzard devs, as can quite clearly be seen by the attunement picture I posted earlier.  

[Father mike]

Back up-thread, some mods were posted.  Now that we've (almost) released, is there a more complete list of mods that are must-haves, or someone just really likes?

[Goldenmean]

Back up-thread, some mods were posted.  Now that we've (almost) released, is there a more complete list of mods that are must-haves, or someone just really likes?

BijiPlates - Unit plates that hover on enemies. Can be customized to show casts/debuffs/health/shields/etc.
Junkit - Quality of life mod to autosell junk when you hit up a merchant. Saves you some clicking. No reason not to
Iconloot - The default loot system is the worst part of the built in UI. With this you'll at least notice when you loot an upgrade
TrackMaster - Draws a happy little line on the screen pointing to the nearest harvesting node. It makes the screen a little busy, but if you're a gatherer, I find this invaluable
AmpFinder - Tells you where all of the AMPs you need to buy/find. Saves you some researching.
CustomFov - Doesn't make a huge difference for me, but some people hate the default Field of View. This lets you change it
AuraMastery - Like WoW aura mods. Let's you sit icons that will appear when certain triggers fire off. Helps you keep track of procs and the like without looking down at your bars all the time.

[Rokal]

I will say that YMMV based on the first zones you pick. Levian Bay -> Ellevar for Dominion was much more fun/polished than Crimson Isle -> Deradune. They improved Deradune in the last couple beta patches, but it still feels pretty inferior. The Exile stuff felt a little more equal, but I still vastly preferred what I did of Everstar Grove -> Celestion compared to Northern Wilds -> Algoroc.

[dd0029]

I will say that YMMV based on the first zones you pick. Levian Bay -> Ellevar for Dominion was much more fun/polished than Crimson Isle -> Deradune.

I'll second this for Dominion. The only thing that's good about Crimson Isle is the absolute last bit. The flow is weird and it's brown. I hate brown zones. Dradune reminds me of the classic Elven starter zones in WoW. It's sort of hub and spoke, but the hub is way down at the bottom so there's lots out and back running around.

[Signe]

Back up-thread, some mods were posted.  Now that we've (almost) released, is there a more complete list of mods that are must-haves, or someone just really likes?

BijiPlates - Unit plates that hover on enemies. Can be customized to show casts/debuffs/health/shields/etc.
Junkit - Quality of life mod to autosell junk when you hit up a merchant. Saves you some clicking. No reason not to
Iconloot - The default loot system is the worst part of the built in UI. With this you'll at least notice when you loot an upgrade
TrackMaster - Draws a happy little line on the screen pointing to the nearest harvesting node. It makes the screen a little busy, but if you're a gatherer, I find this invaluable
AmpFinder - Tells you where all of the AMPs you need to buy/find. Saves you some researching.
CustomFov - Doesn't make a huge difference for me, but some people hate the default Field of View. This lets you change it
AuraMastery - Like WoW aura mods. Let's you sit icons that will appear when certain triggers fire off. Helps you keep track of procs and the like without looking down at your bars all the time.

All these and Movable Frames.  I can't live with they put stuff on the UI.  I don't use AuraMastery or AmpFinder.  I'll probably see what AmpFinder is like, though.  Nearly every mod I use has been updated very recently.  I hardly get any addon errors now.

[Ginaz]

So most people here have rolled on Avatus?  Which faction?

[01101010]

So word is there are already lvl 50s running about. I can't say I am surprised that people level fast, but hitting 50 prior to release? That is a little shocking. Granted, the gaming community has moved toward that route for a decade now... still eyebrow-raising. 

[Ginaz]

So word is there are already lvl 50s running about. I can't say I am surprised that people level fast, but hitting 50 prior to release? That is a little shocking. Granted, the gaming community has moved toward that route for a decade now... still eyebrow-raising. 

Poopsockers gonna poopsock.

[Rasix]

So most people here have rolled on Avatus?  Which faction?

I'm on Orias, exiles. I don't encourage people to follow me.    Enjoy your Brazilians.

[rk47]

Hehe, its been 15 years and MMO as still grappling with the same basic problem: content consumption outstrips content production by several magnitudes.

It also takes longer to write a book than it does to read a book.  What's your point?

You don't pay writers $15 a month to keep reading the same book.

[Signe]

I started on Saturday and my highest level is 10.  Have I mentioned how slow I level?  Also, I only play a couple of hours a day and not every day.  My brain gets tired.

[rk47]

Tired of having fun? 

[Lakov_Sanite]

It's hard to compare to Korean grindfests with boobs.

[Goldenmean]

So most people here have rolled on Avatus?  Which faction?

Dominion. Character name is Tirith.