Wildstar MMO

[Zemnari]

I like both sides, but I think Granok is my favorite race so I will likely be Exile. SO far they can only be warrior which is fine but they also have access to the 2 un announced classes which I am very eager to see what they are.

[Gith]

Ah, I was wondering if classes were going to be species restricted. Apparently so. I guess it makes sense. I will be going the more ranged DPS/Healer route than the melee DPS/tank route I think. I wonder when the final species will be announced and why they kept them secret?

[Askari]

The more I hear about Wildstar, the more excited I am for it.

Two factions, seven races, six classes, four paths? Housing, crafting, economy? That oughta keep me busy for a couple months!

The faction videos that came out this month for "Meet the Dominion" and "Meet the Exiles" are amusing.

The "path" system sounds fun! There is a soldier, explorer, settler, and scientist path... with videos for the first two.

I couldn't help but think about Mixxi, while watching the Explorer path video. 

[Gith]

The reason why this game is looking good for me is the fact that the game itself reminds you that you are just playing a game. Too many MMOs pull people in to the point of affecting their "real" lives and making logging into the game seem like work. The fact that this game is sorta Pixar animation (not that cartoony but a little in that direction) reminds me that I am playing a game and that its primary purpose in my life is to be fun. I don't care if there are a few plot holes as long as they are not huge. I do not mind if some of the things that are said in game are silly or even incorrect. Just give me a palpable plot, fun game mechanics, some serious bits sprinkled in with the fun and silliness and I call that a game worth playing.

The housing does REALLY interest me though. I want my own floathing citidel of awesomeness. And if character customization is as good as they say that is another thing I am really interested in. A big thing that turned me off GW2 was seeing the pictures of all the outfits before the game launched. Nothing cool looking in my opinion. So if I can make a cool looking character and have an awesome looking house those two things are huge in my book.

So here is hoping. Some time in 2013? Excellent. Hopefully it will be after May when I will have time to devote to some serious gaming again.

[Vilidius]

Okay, I admit it.  I've been poking around upcoming games lately.  If I play anything new in the near term future, it'll probably be Wildstar.  Looks fun, and up Saga's alley. 

[Gith]

Excellent choice sir. Good to have you aboard for whenever this releases. Hopefully it ends up being decent.

[Askari]

Here's some WildStar info from a reddit Q&A today. It sounds like it will be more "trinity-based" than GW2, which I will like. I sort of like having a specific role in a group and learning to play that role well.


Q1:
For those playing healing capable classes. How direct are the mechanics? Are things rules by AoE heals or are these more aligned with the 'trinity' where players can target friendly players that need attention most? Essentially when looking at classes, the question is are these capable of being dedicated roles in support or are they DPS classes with support capability?
A1:
We allow players to specialize for healing, and healers have a variety of tools at their disposal. As a quick example:
Do you prefer more Free Form (Skill Shot) heals or do you feel more comfortable with targeted heals? Do you want to add to your group's total damage output or would you rather focus on CC?
As a healer you can build your Limited Action Set to fulfill any mixture of those roles.
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Q2:
Are tanks going to have roles to fill in PvP? Taunts reducing damage others around the tank take unless someone targets them? Shielding abilities that transfer a percentage of the damage a targeted ally takes back to the tank? Anything else a tank can do that's unique to that "mindset" in PvP?
A2:
Tanks will have a good arsenal of abilities that will help them fulfill their tank role in PVP. A small sample of these tools include:

Taunt: If a Tank taunts an enemy, the enemy will deal reduced damage to everyone but the Tank that taunted.

Tether: Let's say someone is chasing your healer (or another one of your friends). You can create an anchor in the world that the enemy player will be tethered to. Once tethered, that enemy player can only move a set amount of distance away from that anchor until the anchor is destroyed or wears off.

Pull: Another case of someone chasing your healer (or another one of your friends!). In this case, you can aim at the enemy and launch a chain at them that will them pull them to your current location, buying your friend precious time to get away.
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Q3:
Telegraphs are an important part of Wildstar's combat and even healers will make use of them from what we've been told. Will the majority of heals be telegraphs and how is that holding up in PVP where positioning is constantly changing?
A3:
Great question! Yes, a large portion of heal abilities will be telegraphed (we call this Freeform) and this is holding up very well in PVP. Landing these types of heal abilities give the caster quite a bit of satisfaction when landing that heal.
I'd also like to take a moment to illustrate a sample of the wide variety of telegraphed (Freeform) heals we already have:
Aimed Telegraph – This is the type you are referring to in which you heal everyone in your telegraphed area shape. These shapes can be lines, cones, squares, circles, half-moons, rectangles, crosses, or any combination of those stacked on top of each other to make a new shape altogether.
Heal Nodes – This is an ability type where you can actually spawn healing nodes in the game space. Some of these may pulse healing/buffs in that telegraphed area for a period of time. Others may be consumed by the first friendly player to run to the node.
Movement-based – These types of abilities will actually cause your player to move across the telegraphed area (usually a line) and heal everyone in your path. This type of heal is great for getting away from enemies chasing you and healing your friends at the same time.
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Q4:
Will the implementation of crowd control be visible to all players clearly?. for example a person who is poisoned would turn his model green. or will we have to be looking at our debuff bars similar to how world of warcraft seems to look like
A4:
We have been spending quite a bit of time on making our crowd control system stand out from what has been done in most MMO's.
In WildStar we will clearly be messaging if a player is under a Crowd Control state. We do this through a variety of ways:
Animation: If someone or something is stunned, they will play a stunned animation. Every creature and player in the game will have this animation and it is very noticeable.
Floaters: Anytime someone gets hit by a Crowd Control spell, there will be a floater in the game that says 'STUNNED' or 'TETHERED'.
Visual FX: We will have standard noticeable visual FX associated with each CC state. For stun, you may see stars circling around the affected targets head. For tether, you will see the anchor in the playspace with a tether to it from the player.
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Q5:
Group PvE combat question (I know... I don't really pvp that often but the combat dudes are here so...)
For a tank, how high on the priority list is keeping aggro in group combat? By this I mean will tanks have to actively create threat on a target or do you believe that keeping threat shouldn't be a particularly hard endeavor which leaves more brain space for other things such as placement/movement, CCs, and interrupts?
A5:
Yes, tanks will actively have to generate threat, but this is not a particularly hard endeavor due to the reasons you listed. Our combat, and boss fights, tend to require the player to react to things that are occurring in real time. Due to this a majority of the tank's time/brainpower will be spent on things such as:
Movement: The tank and their group mates will need to be available to actively move around during a fight to avoid high damage attacks that could seriously hurt, or kill them.
Coordinating CC's: With systems like Interrupt Armor, most boss creatures will require multiple CC's to prevent them from casting potentially devastating abilities. This means that interrupting these abilities will need to be a coordinated group activity.
Timing Defensive/Survivability Abilities: The tank will have a nice arsenal of abilities that help them increase their survivability. When, where, and how you use these abilities will truly determine their true effectiveness.

source: http://www.reddit.com/r/WildStar/comments/1a88i2/we_are_the_combat_and_pvp_teams_working_on/

[Rumze]

Looking really forward to this.
I think the thing that sold me was an open world . I do miss that.

[Vilidius]

I hate trinity.  I hate it not because I disapprove of having a role, but because they have destroyed utility/cc in the trinity equation.  I remember when you would be glad to have a Shaman or an Enchanter in any group.  Now it's all tank+healer+dps+dps+dps+dps etc. ftw.  They destroyed my favorite role.  Probably because it's hard a hell to balance for.  But still.  It bugs me.

Oh well.  It isn't a killer for me either way.

[Askari]

It's unclear how much CC they'll have, and whether or not it will be enough to make buffing/CC a viable 4th pillar of a group. I'd be all for that!

I had to laugh because I was watching the Stalker-class video and it uses the same SFX as a Claw Scrapper from City of Heroes. It seems like some assets and designers on WildStar were previously involved in CoH/CoV. They probably hopped over to Carbine last summer when Paragon Studios shut down, since both are subsidiaries of NCSoft.

So when I was reading about CC, it got me really hoping for some of the Controller-class type effects from CoH/CoV. They had a lot of fun stuns/holds/knocks in CoH.

But yeah... in EQ1, I maxed enchanters on both Mith Marr and Firiona Vie... so you know where I stand on crowd control, lol.

[Gith]

I kinda like the trinity. As someone said before ( I think Askari ) I like building a specific role and being good at it. That being said, I am not sure if I think CC/buffing should be a class all of its own or spread out between the trinity classes.

[PinkRose]

Are there guilds in Wildstar?

[Gith]

Good question. I had not really thought about that. I would assume there is a guild mechanic in there. There seems to be recruitment running on the forums already.

http://wildstar-central.com/index.php?forums/introductions-and-guild-recruitment.8/

[Gith]

http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/what_is_wildstar.php

Looks pretty hilarious yet still with all the elements you want in an MMO. The paths looks great. The housing looks really in depth and hilarious too. The battle fortresses looks like an interesting twist to PvPing.

I am looking forward to this.

[Gith]

http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/pax_east_day_1_wildstar_takes_on_boston.php

Watch the second video down. Housing looks amazing!

Housing in built into the plot of the game and not just a stand alone thing. You get constant rewards to upgrade your house, which upgrades your perks in the game, which improves your xp gain and lots of other stuff and gives you buffs. I love player housing and Wildstar makes it look stupidly customization and you can also let select people in or simply open it up to the public. And you can farm/mine/etc on your own property for cooking and all those skills.

This alone peeks my interest in the game. I really hope character customization is similarly extensive. I want to go back to the Fallout or APB (never played it but saw the character creation) style character creation with tons of sliders so you can really make unique looking characters + lots of cosmetic options.

Now I just need a release date.

[Zemnari]

player housing does indeed look good. While player housing in other games has always been a nice add on it has always been rather useless. Good to see that the housing system offers a lot to do, like the bandits attacking your home and such. I also like the fact that you can leave it open to the public so that anyone can just stop by and visit.

[Gith]

Don't mind me. I know I am planning way too far in advance but right now I do not have a lot of time at my gaming rig to be playing video games so in my down time I have been cruising forums and stuff and devouring every piece of media about this game. So just ignore and move along if this is too much conjecture at this point.

Someone earlier (Pinkrose I think) asked about guilds in this game. I was wondering if Saga is going to try to have a presence in Wildstar or simply play individually and just have a group chat channel to keep in touch + mumble? So far people interested in this game are: myself, Vilidius, Rumze, and maybe Askari and Zemnari? Anyone else thinking of giving this game a try? Look at some of the links I posted or just go to their website and watch the videos about housing (huge selling point for me personally), combat, PvP fortresses (that you get to build and take into combat with you!), and the path system.

From the game play footage I think group content will be leaning toward smaller groups so if we get anywhere from 5-10 people interested we could have Saga as a guild and fill in people as needed or fill in for other guilds when people are not around.

I will save any sort of discussion about what class/species you think you might play until they actually release the last two species and classes. Release is 2013 sometime and beta is starting soon apparently. I hope I get in! Iunno how much time I will have to be playing but a bit of a glimpse will be enough to see if stuff is as good as it looks or not.

[Rumze]

There will be guilds in wildstar as far as i know.

Also looking forward to the beta!

[Zemnari]

To be completely honest here, I have a new rule: If there is a subscription I am not interested. There are far too many games out there right now that are subscription free and aren't any less of a game. I hope that the age of 15$/mo is over and I believe games like GW2 proved that micro transactions is a viable business model.

Wildstar looks good, but if Im shelling out 15$/mo im out. Unless they do something really impressive soon.

[Rumze]

Ive been following this on and off and the housing reveal at pax east was impressive for me.

Ill definitely be picking this up to try it, and ill be making a saga guild in game for those interested. Most likely we will become part of an alliance for content that requires a lot of people or end up joining another guild, but there will always be a saga chapter existing in the game where folks who wish to try out the game can play happily to get their feet wet.

Edit more infor on guilds :
It's pretty clear that players see guilds as the central social hub for what you care most about, whether that's raiding, PvP, roleplaying, or anything else you can think of! We agree that guilds are a great way to form a group of like-minded people to engage with the content you most prefer in an MMO. But we all know that no player is entirely single-minded in terms of the content they want to engage in, or the types of people they want to socialize with. In addition to guilds, we're designing additional features that allow people to form guild-like social connections within a game.

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.

It is this kind of feedback that will help us evolve our guild tools throughout the feedback process as well. In fact, we're so committed to the importance of guilds, we're going to have a dedicated phase of our beta testing devoted to bringing guilds in to help us evaluate and improve our guild tools. Our approach to focusing on a feature, bringing you in to put it through its paces, and then iterating on that feature based on your feedback is the cornerstone of our beta and development efforts.

We're really excited about being able to provide meaningful ways for our community to build deep social connections in our game world, and features like Guilds and Circles are crucial to that effort. It's really important to us that we remove all those barriers to being able to find and join the social groups you want to interact with (and protection from those you want to avoid), allowing you to engage more easily. We're looking forward to hearing feedback on these systems as we add more of you to beta over the coming months, but feel free to share your thoughts via Twitter/Facebook/Fansites as well.


So I will be making a saga circle.