Carbine Studios' "Wildstar"

[Hoax]

It could just be a stickied post in MMOG disc, just put each game's list under a spoiler tag.

[Rokal]

Spellslingers peak early and even out by level 30 or so.  Playing an esper (weaker, more stationary version of a spellslinger) has taught me a few things. 

1. My action bar is 3 damage abilities, 2 CC, a heal, and a shield.  CC and interrupts are required after level 25 because you won't have dash up often enough to avoid everything.

This is pretty close to what I settled into on my 22 Spellslinger. Having more than 3 damage abilities solo feels like overkill because you wont have enough time to cast them between spending GCDs on CC and healing spells.

For damage I use Charged Shot, Rapid Fire, and Quick Draw. I've been considering dumping Quick Draw for another CD-based ability, but it's one of the only things you can cast while moving.

For CC I use Gate and Arcane Shock.

For healing I use Astral Infusion and Vitality Burst. Astral Infusion is definitely the best solo heal. Vitality Burst feels less useful, there may be a better option out there for a second heal.

The best places to dump your Spellsurge seem to be Rapid Fire and Astral Infusion.

[Evildrider]

I typically ignore housing, or really don't care about it but in this game... looks like fun! Probably has to do with the recall to house feature and the ability to drop in and out of it. Plus logging out there each time gives you nice rest XP and since you see it twice a day at least (log in and out), you're more likely than not to want to make it look cool.

I just wish I wasn't a poor asshole.

There is also a bounty board at your house that will give you a choice of XP buffs.  I think they last 24 hours or til you log out.

[Nija]

Just link a google document.

[Signe]

We really need a MMO rosters subforum.  There's a fair number of games now that I don't believe have critical mass for a forum, but probably have people wanting to connect.

That is a wonderful idea.  Are you doing it right now?   

[Goreschach]

There's always the graveyard.

[Goldenmean]

Just adding my 2 cents inline.

1. My action bar is 3 damage abilities, 2 CC, a heal, and a shield.  CC and interrupts are required after level 25 because you won't have dash up often enough to avoid everything.

Maybe other people knew this, but it took me a while to catch on, and I don't think the game every explicitly tells you, but not only is CC an excellent survival skill, and downright 100% mandatory for dungeons, it's also effectively a DPS boost. If you stun a mob while it's casting you get a "Moment of Opportunity". The enemy's bar goes purple and you'll deal double damage for a while.

3. Try your best to keep your quests at level.  The game is harder than WoW and you're not going to do well with level 27 quests if you're level 25. 

Very much this. Not only is the game intrinsically harder than WoW, it's also a lot more sensitive to levels. Mobs even 1 level above you are *much* harder

4. Make sure you check the faction vendor in each zone before leaving that zone.  They will sell 4-8 AMPS at ~ 1gold each.  I buy them all. 

The ampfinder plugin I mentioned will tell you exactly where these merchants are, but they all follow the same formula. You'll need 8k of that zone's faction, and the vendor is in the "main" settlement when you first zone into the area (well, the Farside one is past the Biodome section when you actually get to the map proper)

And man. Good luck doing even normal dungeons with PUGs. They are not easy. Even though the game looks exactly like WoW, there's a nontrivial learning curve to figuring out tank and healer positioning with regards to where to stand for telegraphs. Learning what the different telegraphs do is going to be important, because you're frequently in a position where rolling out of the bad telegraph will also roll you out of your incoming heal. And even the easier of the level 20 dungeons had trash that could easily wipe you if you didn't know what was going on/pulled an add/screwed up. Personally, I love this, but boy, there are going to be tears on the forums...

[Goldenmean]

Oh, and for the Avatus dominion side folks, I've got a camping trip this weekend, so won't be around much, but Bann and Pavlov are both in the F13 circle and have invite permissions if you want to join up.

[Venkman]

I've got three passes as well. PM if you need, though with all the guest passes, I imagine everyone on the fence now has one

All gone!

Finally hit 10 last night. Maybe 14 by next month. Glacial pace for me, but don't care so much because I'm not playing with anyone I know (so don't even have the hint of being left behind except for you house dwellers ).

Chose Explorer and glad I did because even all the rocks I'm turning over are resulting in side quests that don't even seem to show up on the map until I'm right on top of them.

The jump puzzles seem slightly looser even than in GW2. A bit annoying, but I'm just getting used to it.

[Draegan]

Some classes can handle quests/mobs +1 and +2 levels very well and you get bonus experience doing it too.

[sam, an eggplant]

I also have 3 2 guest passes for US, if anyone still needs. Send a PM.

I'm still playing Wildstar. The leveling game is scratching the same itch as WoW. I'm only level 15, though, so it remains to be seen how it holds up.

[Nebu]

Some classes can handle quests/mobs +1 and +2 levels very well and you get bonus experience doing it too.

After level 25?  Which ones?  I can kill +2 mobs with my esper, but it takes work and some luck.  They often deflect my big attacks.   

[Flood]

Well I'm playing and enjoying it overall.  The optimization of the game leaves a lot to be desired but that comes into play in large cities and quest hubs.  There is some sort of memory leak, as after a couple of hours I have to exit out completely to stop the stuttering.  But that's not a bad thing overall, I probably shouldn't play that long at a stretch anyway.    And as other people have mentioned - get the FOV adjustment mod.

Overall I'm having fun - it's fulfilling my MMO urge well enough.  I'm currently a level 18 Medic, and I have a level 12 Engineer gathering dust.  The game really ramped up in difficulty level 14+.  But I'm still able to solo most content, minus the group mobs.

My main is: Pavlov, the Dominion Medic.  As Golden mentioned Bann and I have invite powers for his guild if you're interested.  Another F13'er is a "Drunk Tanks" guild member as well, if I recall correctly.  If you're online hit someone up, we can try and expand the F13 chat circle thing.

I have guest passes also if anyone wants one, send me a PM blah blah.
   

[Rokal]

I've *heard* that the memory leak can be cleared by using /reloadui.

Anyone know if the chat-circle feature is cross-server? I'm playing on Orias Dominion.

[Draegan]

Some classes can handle quests/mobs +1 and +2 levels very well and you get bonus experience doing it too.

After level 25?  Which ones?  I can kill +2 mobs with my esper, but it takes work and some luck.  They often deflect my big attacks.   

I'm just repeating what I've heard. I'm level 18 right now.

[Signe]

I think I might start over.  I like warrior but I'm not crazy about the soldier path.  I'll go explorer again.  Are guild invites per char or per account?  Because who the fuck knows what my new name will be?  Not me.  I don't know what an F13 circle is.  Do I have to bring yarn?  I don't know how you people are leveling.  I just turned 12.  Dammit.

[01101010]

I haven't even bought the game yet, so you are way ahead of me Signe. 

[Flood]

I think I might start over.  I like warrior but I'm not crazy about the soldier path.  I'll go explorer again.  Are guild invites per char or per account?  Because who the fuck knows what my new name will be?  Not me.  I don't know what an F13 circle is.  Do I have to bring yarn?  I don't know how you people are leveling.  I just turned 12.  Dammit.

Well at my new job I have weekdays off instead of weekends, so I was playing quite a bit Wedsnesday and Thursday.  Also my first toon was that Engineer, and I didn't really enjoy him that much (plus I went Soldier path which I felt was meh) so I restarted and it was quite a bit easier levelling since I had seen the zones a bit and kinda had an idea what was what.  Stress kinda.

- Guild invites: dunno.
- The F13 chat "circle": I need to read up on it and get back to everyone, but I believe it's just a custom chat channel.  Not sure about the cross server capabilities.     Goldenmean probably knows more he created it.

Signe just PM in game (PAVLOV), I usually play PST evenings if you want to get invites for guild or whatever.  I'm not trying to detract from the Drunk Tanks guild - just offering for social reasons!


EDIT - Chat Circles:

Circles allow players to be a part of diverse social groups. They have 'guild-like' features and structure. David "Scooter" Bass explains:
 
These days, gamers are in so many various circles of friends, but guilds aren't necessarily the right place to support all of those different types of people at once. And while guilds always have been the main type of social group in MMOs, we also think we can better support your various social circles in WildStar, with a feature we call "Circles". Circles are separate from guilds, but include similar features, such as private chat channels, group rosters, name tags, and so on. So you can be a part of your hardcore raiding guild, while still keeping in touch with the Esper Mad Healz Circle, Roleplaying Circle, and "Arrested Development" Circle, all at the same time. Currently, players can be members of one guild and five circles at the same time, though of course this may change as we get feedback during beta.

[Venkman]

Cool. That's the first non-2004 feature I've heard about Wildstar Are circles cross server?

And I should say, I love the game. Feels like a mix of WoW styling with GW2 pacing. I didn't get much into Tera but get the reference. Scratches the itch. And heck I even LIKE the monthly fee, which I'll gladly pay (would have for ESO too if it was any good). I don't like f2p for MMO because I don't want all my decisions linked to financial transactions. I would much rather pay a few months of $15 than every cool thing maybe being $1-3. If i wanted the latter, I'd hit Vegas...

[Signe]

I only allow myself one sub at a time and this is the one for now.  I also really like it and I kind of like the fact that it's a bit more difficult than most other MMORPGs I've played.  Levels are especially dear when it's hard to get one.  I die a lot though!

[Cyrrex]

I have guest passes also if anyone wants one, send me a PM blah blah.
   

Must....resist...   MMOs....terrible....  Resolve....crumbling....  Fucking....WoW clone...

OH HAI CAN I HAVE A KEY PLEASE!!

[Flood]

I have guest passes also if anyone wants one, send me a PM blah blah.
   

Must....resist...   MMOs....terrible....  Resolve....crumbling....  Fucking....WoW clone...

OH HAI CAN I HAVE A KEY PLEASE!!

Check your PM's sir.

[Cyrrex]

For the record, I will blame you fully if I end up putting money into this game.

(thank you, good sir)

[Ozzu]

Fresh out of guest passes.

[Rendakor]

What are the restrictions on a guest pass?

[Flood]

What are the restrictions on a guest pass?

Each WildStar account activation receives (3) Guest Passes, that are emailed to the registered account. These are yours to hand out to your friends and family to share the awesome world of WildStar! Guest passes are valid for 7 days from redemption.

Some restrictions on Guest passes to keep in mind:

Key Restrictions:
Keys can only be redeemed ONCE.
One Guest pass can be applied per account.
Account must have NO game time remaining to redeem.
Ingame Restrictions*:
Max of 3 characters slots per realm
Max character experience up to level 20 and path experience up to level 10.
Limited to Apprentice Crafting (Tier 1)
50 Gold Currency Cap.
5000 Renown Cap.
Joining or creating guilds is disabled
Creating circles is disabled, but you can join them.
Trading with other players is disabled.
Sending and Receiving mail is disabled.
Housing Restrictions:
Cannot become a neighbor or a roommate.
Cannot invite another character to be a neighbor or roommate.
Commodity Exchange Restrictions:
Cannot post, buyout, or bid on any item in the Commodity Exchange.
Chat restricted to Say, Yell, and Party chat.
/Ticket ingame is disabled
Limited forum access (Read-only access)
Cannot receive or purchase C.R.E.D.D.
Also be aware that disciplinary action on a guest account could also result in disciplinary action being taken on the registered account which provided the key. So choose your guests wisely.

*Some features present in the full game won’t be available during the trial program.

[Rokal]

I ran the first Dominion dungeon last night (Ruins of Kel Voreth) as a Spellslinger healer with my friend tanking on his warrior and 3 PuGs. Nobody had ran it before, so we wiped on each boss 2-3 before figuring out what we were supposed to do. It was a lot of fun and people were drama-free about wipes. I think it helps that telegraphs start mattering in solo content around level 15, so everyone understands before ~20 that if they stand in red and die they are to blame.

Healing in Wildstar is a blast, I was frequently on the edge of my seat trying to line up heals to hit in-danger group-mates without slowing down enough to lose the tank.  For the most part this means non-tank group mates get hit by your passive or wide AoE heals, and are on their own to avoid damage outside of that. All the while, you also need to dodge telegraphs and deal with boss mechanics just like everyone else. Bijiplates was a large improvement on the default UI too: I could easily tell when people needed heals, rather than constantly feeling like everyone was low due to missing shields.

The dungeon was definitely raid-level mechanics though. The last boss has a lot of stuff going on, but here are the most note-worthy mechanics for example:

-Roughly every 20% the boss will start spamming fire telegraph circles that the group needs to avoid. Fire orbs with a green telegraph will also spawn and start moving towards the boss. The group needs to spilt up and intercept all of these orbs. If any hit the boss, he will gain a damage buff and a charge of an AoE attack that will likely wipe your group if he collects more than 2-3.
-At 50% he will become untargetable and start throwing out a constant stream of buzzsaw telegraphs that your group needs to dance through like a bullet-hell shooter.
-After the 50% phase ends, he will go back to doing his "fire buff" phase every 20% that I mentioned above, but now he will also throw out buzz saws to avoid while you are trying to avoid fire telegraphs and intercept flame orbs.

Those mechanics wouldn't be out-of-place a fight towards the end of a WoW raid tier, but in Wildstar they are just a part of the first dungeon. I don't know how someone who didn't have much raid experience would handle this stuff, but it seems like Wildstar is pretty confident in making a game for MMO players rather than trying to attract new players to the genre.

I had a great time and I'm looking forward to the rest of the dungeons. YMMV.

[ezrast]

My beta impression of this game was beyond awful but that fight sounds sort of cool.* Aaaaaalmost enough to make me want a couple guest passes.

*Before you call me crazy, understand that my sense of schadenfreude from watching randoms embarrass themselves overpowers my desire to actually complete content. 25-man WotLK Heigan is still my favorite raid encounter ever.

[Rasix]

I still have two! 

[Sjofn]

*Before you call me crazy, understand that my sense of schadenfreude from watching randoms embarrass themselves overpowers my desire to actually complete content. 25-man WotLK Heigan is still my favorite raid encounter ever.

The 10-man version of that was pretty delicious too. Sometimes three of us would make people sit and watch us keep doing it right for like 10 minutes.

[Ozzu]

So, having played this since the last string of beta weekends, through headstart, and since the official launch, I can say that I really enjoy this game.

I'm currently level 23 with my stalker. She really feels like a badass. The dungeons and the boss fights are awesome. I can't get enough of it. At this point, there's no question I'll keep my sub up for a bit.

[Riggswolfe]

I can confidently say WildStar may be the first MMO release in a long time where I'll say "eh...fuck dungeons" and only try them once or twice if they are as difficult as they sound. I'm too damned old now to play MMOs for challenge. I play them for socializing and exploring and sometimes for experimenting with builds.

[Simond]

I think it's going to be like the (pre-nerf) Cata heroics all over again - even the people who genuinely enjoy them now are going to hit a wall down the line where they're just fed up with having to work at running them and PUGs turning into multi-hour sequential fuck-ups.

[Rendakor]

I got the same feeling Simond; anything that's raid-level is always going to require some degree of focus, and you might not all have that focus when you're running Zone_X for the 50th time for that one piece that refuses to drop. With that said, leveling dungeons are probably fine if they're challenging; assuming the XP curve is decent you shouldn't run any given dungeon enough to get tired of them, and if you do you can just do other things. It's the endgame content that you'll be running 10s-100s of times, and those need to be at least quick if not easy.

[Azuredream]

The level 50 Swordmaiden dungeon is rough in a PuG. The path to the final boss, you have to jump on these blue orbs that propel you to the next ledge. If you miss, you die and have to run back. Medics with extricate help people not die, but there's also the caveat that if anybody gets in combat, the orbs disappear, and you can't release to nearest holo-crypt unless nobody is in combat. And sometimes there's a mob literally right on the other side of the jump so you all have to jump at once, or have your ranged people fight from the other ledge and have your tank jump over first.

The bosses aren't too bad if your group is decent. The hardest part always seems to be interrupting what needs to be interrupted. One track pack has an AoE cone thing that, if not interrupted, will wreck everybody. The final boss has these shades that pop in and out really quick and if you don't stun them, you'll never kill them in a decent amount of time.

I feel like it's hard to make money in this game. I had about 2.5 platinum when I hit 50 from questing, but there's really no way to get money after that. The dailies in the level 50 zone give maybe ten gold per day. I've only been making money by selling things on commodities/AH. I'm hoping I can build up a nest egg before people realize not to spend so frivolously because it seems like you're so rich at first.