Carbine Studios' "Wildstar"

[Draegan]

Crafting is stupid. Their older schematic system was better.

[Kitsune]

I see no difference aside from cosmetic between what they showed a year ago and their current crafting system.

[Draegan]

One didn't involve crafting at all and could be done on the fly at any level any place.

[Venkman]

But those are relatively expensive ways to highlight something that isn't really core to the game play people associate with MMOs.

Neither of us can speak authoritatively about this

LOL, who speaks with any real authority about anything here? 

I didn't say customization wasn't important. I was talking about the level of customization that is normally offered versus how it's highlighted in the game (if at all). Nobody's f2p'ing to change the musculature of their biceps, and yet that's something you can control in some games.

CoH costume customization is a completely different kettle of fish. That is closer to the armor choices and dye colors players make in later/end levels of games like GW2 or WoW than it is to the color of your eyeballs in EQ2.

[Ghambit]

Crafting is stupid. Their older schematic system was better.

Circuit board crafting?  It's still there.


Here's coordinate crafting:


Above taken from wildstarfans.net

Here's a cool interactive tradeskill matrix from reddit:
http://wildstar.silvercircle.net/tradeskills.svg

[Kitsune]

Apparently people could swap parts in their gear on the fly?  That seems to be what Draegan is saying, at least.  If that's true, then yes, that is cooler than a system in which you can't swap parts on the fly.

[Draegan]

Right.

[Ghambit]

I'll assume that since they intend on making crafted items non-soulbound that it makes sense parts aren't swappable (just trade or AH if u need a particular stat).  Also, swappable parts would kinda negate the 'gambling' meta they've instilled in the systems.

[zumu]

A bunch of stress test emails went out tonight. All without keys included... However, they promptly sent out new emails with said keys, which unfortunately are ending up in spam folders.

Carbine's emailing prowess never ceases to amaze. But I got a key so whatever.

Anyway, check your spam folders folks.

[luckton]

New FMV flick on Adventures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pgK0I3FqvU

Again, their marketing department is top notch.  Now if the rest of the team can follow up...

Adventures, for the uninitiated, are a variation of the typical 5-man dungeon (of which the game will have as well), in that they've made the thing into a "Choose Your Adventure" storybook in-game.  The video does the job of explaining how Wildstar is handling it.

[Ghambit]

Anyone have any insight on a good/friendly guild supporting Wildstar?  This is a very 'guild-centric' game; imperative to find a good one.  Btw, are the goons gonna take a stab at it?

[Simond]

Every single MMO released will have a Goon Squad (or whatever) formed. The real question is "Will they still be around in a month?"

[Trippy]

Sounds like Bat Country

[Kitsune]

Unquestionably there will be sufficient goon presence in any game ever to form a guild.  The question lies in whether their attention spans will persist past the beta; it takes a fairly compelling game to sustain more than a handful of goons.  Much like Bat Country, yeah.

[Megrim]

A bunch of stress test emails went out tonight. All without keys included... However, they promptly sent out new emails with said keys, which unfortunately are ending up in spam folders.

Carbine's emailing prowess never ceases to amaze. But I got a key so whatever.

Anyway, check your spam folders folks.

Better yet - they sent a wave of beta invites just before the stress test keys. The beta keys also came with +2 friend invites. Only problem is, the main beta keys were the same as the subsequent stress test keys. So people who got into the beta, can't play, while their friends can.

Not that I'm annoyed or anything.

[jth]

At least it's good to know that they're still sending more invites... maybe someday one will appear in my mail/spam box too Almost everyone else seems to have gotten theirs already.

[Ghambit]

Here's a better explanation of Adventures sans Caretaker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iphgBVtf2HA

Also a decent vid. showing the overhaul to Ilium.  I hadnt visited it yet (dont want to spoil it), but nice to see they're listening to the players and giving a more worldy feel to a few zones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OjRm55-ekKU

Here's a more recent pvp vid.  It illustrates what I spoke of earlier about combat speed (it's fast).  Frankly I do believe WS pvp is more of a raw challenge (everything is a skillshot, lots of resource mgmt, dodging, etc.) then ESO pvp; but if slightly slower, chivalry-style gaming is your thing then obviously the latter will give you more.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1y6teFmxag

Meh, how 'bout a crafting vid too (I like Dealspwns vids):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6C-rHmb5rA

[Signe]

I like the adventure thing.  I like the whole trend in giving players all sorts of different things to do.  I do wish these things were scalable, though.  I like knowing I can go it solo if I can't get a group together.  And raids, too.  I like doing raids but it's nice when you can run it with 5 or 25 players.  The game does look a bit WoW-ish but, then, I like that sort of look.  I'm less happy with super realistic characters.  If it were up to me, most of the mmorpgs I play would look like Borderlands.

[Ghambit]

If you're solo, use the LFG tool (which is optionally cross-server if you'd like):
http://wildstar-nerds.com/miscellaneous/lfg-tool/

Note: the tool also works in PvP via crossrealm ELO and gear.  This subtle matchmaking mechanic needs to be congratulated more imo; as rarely do we see ELO and gear in an MMO matchmaking scheme.  Kudos (again) to Carbine for putting that in there.  Sick of doing battlegrounds based on nothing but level.  

The 'adventure thing' could be pure genius depending on implementation.  CYOA is a lost art and typically clownshoes (SWTOR) in an MMO.  If they do it well enough, it'd justify the box sale for that one feature alone.  We'll see.

[Signe]

I hate the word "matchmaking".  I always end up with the mingling Christians.  And, yeah... I hope they do all that stuff you said.  Having loads of clever options are always something I want in an mmorpg. 

[Paelos]

I hate the word "matchmaking".  I always end up with the mingling Christians.

Somehow I find that funny, because I know exactly what you mean.

[Ginaz]

Angry Joe gives his early impressions of the beta.  Skipp to around 19:30 to see what he thinks of it so far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMfgz-izFIA&list=UUsgv2QHkT2ljEixyulzOnUQ&feature=c4-overview

[Paelos]

He's right on most points. The starting areas are extremely boring and pointless. You don't care what you are doing, you just want to get out of there. Plus, they are mirrored across both factions, so you have no differences really in the starting area at all. Rolling alts will be painful.

It is grindy. It sets in pretty early too. I'm with him that the aesthetic doesn't appeal to me at all, which is another reason I'm not all jazzed about it. The focus by the team seems to be on the endgame, which is a good thing since many players will spend the majority of time there, but you can't neglect the leveling part when you launch. You can neglect it later in expansions and patches. Overall, I'd play it if it weren't for the subscription fee. The fact they are still trying for that is a bad idea.

[Falconeer]

I could have written what Paelos just wrote myself, word for word. I hope this helps people see why I keep saying that Wildstar and TESO are in the same pile of crap, just sporting a different style.
Also of note, for what it's worth, after playing both Angry Joe seems to prefer TESO.

[Draegan]

He's pretty spot on. This game is bland as fuck and has one of the most boring class systems/mechanics I've ever seen.

[sam, an eggplant]

WIldstar is still under full NDA so I can't comment on my personal experiences, but from what I've seen in streamers etc, those comments are spot-on. Newbie experience didn't look like anything special, and graphics were heavily influenced by WoW. Some interesting minor innovations in diku gameplay, interrupt shields, lots of mobility, etc, but clearly it took a lot of cues from WoW. Interestingly, Wildstar housing looks to be essentially identical to the new WoW expansion pack garrison feature. Or vice versa, of course, I don't know who came up with this spin on it first.

[Draegan]

I'll only comment from the experiences I've gotten from the game from various shows (NYCC, PAX etc.) and even if you can't speak to that, it's show in every single stream you've seen of this game.

The combat sucks. The telegraph system sucks. It has as much impact as ESO. There is no feedback at all. The Stalker, for example, has a pretty wide arc for his spammer ability. All you do is run around spamming 1 and making sure your target is in some corner of your attack. You don't aim, swing, or bother doing anything other than making sure this little colored arc is hitting something while your avatar just swings in mid air.

I used to hate it, but I realize it's true, you need animation lock to some degree  for these action based games. Infinite mobility has to be countered by some kind of penalty. You should have to make the decision of committing to an attack or moving in a certain direction.

Ah well.

[Venkman]

I missed that this was also subs-based. I'm still interested, but much less so.

[luckton]

Subs based, yes, but taking the EVE model of being able to acquire more game time with in-game currency.

As for the recent discussion, I unfortunately have to agree.  If anything they've got a good end-game setup going, but the journey at the get-go is rather blah. 

There's still time, of course, to maybe address some of these things, but I doubt muchwill change between now and live.

[Miasma]

I thought the endgame was just 40 man raids, with no raid finder?  That would be horrific.

[Ghambit]

I'm not gonna defend the game much anymore because it's just not possible with an NDA and most people's minds are made up simply looking at the game design, but all Joe proved was WS is a very 'taste-oriented' game.  That is, appreciating or moving past its style is fairly important.  Secondary to that, appreciating the innovation within a pretty ho-him gamestyle (diku mmo) is also important.  There are a LOT of features to like in Wildstar, moreso than most games at release - but realize, it's still within the standard framework.

For me it still boils down to wanting vanilla WoW In Space.  If you want that, then you pretty much have to play it.  As for this ridiculous TESO vs WS debate; you're a broken individual if you think TESO is the better game (especially at $60 + sub). It's just flatly not based on production value alone.

Knowing Carbine, they're fully aware of the starter zones vs. endgame debate.  They're not going to fall into the trap of bleeding tons of resources on the 1st 20 levels.  Gotta say I agree with them there.  I prefer my leveling experiences to 'ramp up' rather then fizzle out.  If there's gonna be 'grind,' I'd rather have it sooner  than at midgame or end.  Let the grind be during the learning curve.

I thought the endgame was just 40 man raids, with no raid finder?  That would be horrific.

Wow, you really dont pay much attn do you.  Game has 40-mans, 5-man dungeons/CYOA, warplots, and resource meta (housing and crafting) at endgame.  As well as cross-server LFG/raid tool.

[luckton]

40-man raids
5 man dungeons (normal and hard)
5 man adventures (various difficulty)
1-2 man shiphands
Various sized Warplots
Housing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acDlakDLCew

[Ingmar]

For me it still boils down to wanting vanilla WoW In Space.

But it isn't. If it had WoW's combat mechanics then I'd like it about a billion times more.

[Venkman]

Subs based, yes, but taking the EVE model of being able to acquire more game time with in-game currency.

Ah. This is worth a box purchase for me. I'll see how that first months go. I do want to get my WoW on again, and kinda burned out on GW2 after a few 80s. Some of what's promised here is intriguing, beta reports notwithstanding.

Just can't believe there's two MMOs launching this year with box + sub. Such an odd thing.

[Rendakor]

For me it still boils down to wanting vanilla WoW In Space.

But it isn't. If it had WoW's combat mechanics then I'd like it about a billion times more.

This. I don't want GW2 dodge the fire combat bullshit.