I had been following WS since its announcement over 3 or 4 years ago now. I remember how excited I was for this game, I thought how awesome this game could be, from the art style, and the sci fi settings.
I even had the first WS podcast I did with two others and was invited to the only fan fest they had, but as the game got closer and closer I knew this game wouldn't be success, it was just too much of the same, but even more hardcore than previous theme park mmo's.
If only they went more sand box then themepark, I believe they could have had a real big hit on their hands, but nope and look what's been happening.
Anyways, it's sad to see WS end up like this.
Wait... no where in your post do you say or even IMPLY you actually PLAYED WILDSTAR
Stop being a troll. Next.
chill up man . dont go hard on other people or yourself. i dont see any trolling in his posts.
Originally posted by LazzaroI had been following WS since its announcement over 3 or 4 years ago now. I remember how excited I was for this game, I thought how awesome this game could be, from the art style, and the sci fi settings.I even had the first WS podcast I did with two others and was invited to the only fan fest they had, but as the game got closer and closer I knew this game wouldn't be success, it was just too much of the same, but even more hardcore than previous theme park mmo's.If only they went more sand box then themepark, I believe they could have had a real big hit on their hands, but nope and look what's been happening.Anyways, it's sad to see WS end up like this.
Going sandbox might of helped them but I'm not convinced it would of helped seeing as the game is too similar to WoW. Themepark's aren't bad, but WoW clones are. What we need is a non-quest hub, non-linear, non-endgame centric MMO.
That's my point, it was a themepark and pretty much a WoW in space.
Meeeeh, you're basically suggesting that there is no room for more than one stylized MMORPG, because that's really what you're saying a WoW Clone is, a stylized MMORPG.
The reality is that there is room for games like Wildstar in the genre, and it could probably do quite well. The question is whether or not someone is willing to actually pay for it on a monthly basis. The answer seems to be no. I played through on beta and thought it was fun and I think that the telegraphs actually add to the ability for them to create more difficult encounters, as I said from the beginning. However, I will only pay for one subscription at a time. I played ESO when it came out. I've since moved on from that and I'm re-subbed to WoW right now. So if Wildstar was F2P or a hybrid game (option subscription) then I'd probably play it, because then I can put in an hour or two a week and leave it at that. Feel like I'm still getting value. Then when I unsub from WoW when they go into a content rut, maybe I give Wildstar a few months of sub.
Unfortunately subscription immediately implies commitment, you're basically marrying the game (or at least that's how sub games feel at times), whereas if it's free, you feel less obligated to continue. Shoot, make it B2P with an optional sub. Bump up those box sales for the holiday season. Even that would be smart. I just shake my head in disbelief about this game. Seems like they are in denial or something. IDK.
FFXIV and (arguably) ESO (depending on who you ask, I guess) are doing okay on a sub payment system (well, ESO is doing better than Wildstar, at least). Yes, maybe Wildstar's payment model is one of it's flaws, but that won't change that there are apparently many many other flaws, too, so I'm not sure even F2P or B2P would save it.
"Sandbox" isn't some kind of magical panacea that makes a game instantly better.
Heck, most people can't even agree on exactly what makes something a Sandbox.
WS is struggling (or is it? I don't even know, I don't own it, but I see it on these forums) because of several issues. Games have turned it around from a less-than-stellar launch to become successful before (rare, but possible).
The thing that worries me the most about it (ok, not really worried, maybe more like mildly piqued my interest) is the flood of talent and executives leaving the company as of late. That probably says more than anything about where the game will end up.
It's an NCSoft-published game, they aren't afraid to invest into a promising platform, and they haven't hesitated to pull the plug on past titles if it's not performing up to expectations.
My prediction is we are looking at Tabula Rasa 2.0
Originally posted by LazzaroI had been following WS since its announcement over 3 or 4 years ago now. I remember how excited I was for this game, I thought how awesome this game could be, from the art style, and the sci fi settings.I even had the first WS podcast I did with two others and was invited to the only fan fest they had, but as the game got closer and closer I knew this game wouldn't be success, it was just too much of the same, but even more hardcore than previous theme park mmo's.If only they went more sand box then themepark, I believe they could have had a real big hit on their hands, but nope and look what's been happening.Anyways, it's sad to see WS end up like this.
Wait... no where in your post do you say or even IMPLY you actually PLAYED WILDSTARStop being a troll. Next.
I think, as a reader, it's pretty safe to assume. That's probably why OP didn't mentioned he played WS. Correct me if I'm wrong by all means.
No, it's not. I was invited into WS beta back in May of 2013 and played until May of 2014. So I'm not trolling.
So if you meant the retail product then no, I didn't buy it because I already knew what was in store because of playing it in beta.
What I meant was that it is safe to assume you've already played the game, I don't think your post is a troll post.
I had high hopes for the game. I love the art style, the setting, the lore, etc. But somehow it didn't really click for me. I think it's the combat. It was too intense and took too long for the quantity and quality of baddies I was fighting. I was spamming the same buttons again and again which left me feeling exhausted and drained after half an hour. The combat just wasn't fun for me. I'm not sure how it can be fixed without revamping major parts of the game. I haven't played in weeks, but I may go back in a while to see what changed (and to give my characters last names). The guild I joined folded up long ago so my only hope is to find a good RP guild on the PvE megaserver.
I'd hate to see everything Wildstar is go down the drain. I still think it has potential and had a lot of great ideas. As it stands now, it's what drove me away from MMOs since nearly everything else is another fantasy game or PvP gankfest.
Originally posted by LazzaroI had been following WS since its announcement over 3 or 4 years ago now. I remember how excited I was for this game, I thought how awesome this game could be, from the art style, and the sci fi settings.I even had the first WS podcast I did with two others and was invited to the only fan fest they had, but as the game got closer and closer I knew this game wouldn't be success, it was just too much of the same, but even more hardcore than previous theme park mmo's.If only they went more sand box then themepark, I believe they could have had a real big hit on their hands, but nope and look what's been happening.Anyways, it's sad to see WS end up like this.
Going sandbox might of helped them but I'm not convinced it would of helped seeing as the game is too similar to WoW. Themepark's aren't bad, but WoW clones are. What we need is a non-quest hub, non-linear, non-endgame centric MMO.
That's my point, it was a themepark and pretty much a WoW in space.
Meeeeh, you're basically suggesting that there is no room for more than one stylized MMORPG, because that's really what you're saying a WoW Clone is, a stylized MMORPG.
The reality is that there is room for games like Wildstar in the genre, and it could probably do quite well. The question is whether or not someone is willing to actually pay for it on a monthly basis. The answer seems to be no. I played through on beta and thought it was fun and I think that the telegraphs actually add to the ability for them to create more difficult encounters, as I said from the beginning. However, I will only pay for one subscription at a time. I played ESO when it came out. I've since moved on from that and I'm re-subbed to WoW right now. So if Wildstar was F2P or a hybrid game (option subscription) then I'd probably play it, because then I can put in an hour or two a week and leave it at that. Feel like I'm still getting value. Then when I unsub from WoW when they go into a content rut, maybe I give Wildstar a few months of sub.
Unfortunately subscription immediately implies commitment, you're basically marrying the game (or at least that's how sub games feel at times), whereas if it's free, you feel less obligated to continue. Shoot, make it B2P with an optional sub. Bump up those box sales for the holiday season. Even that would be smart. I just shake my head in disbelief about this game. Seems like they are in denial or something. IDK.
FFXIV and (arguably) ESO (depending on who you ask, I guess) are doing okay on a sub payment system (well, ESO is doing better than Wildstar, at least). Yes, maybe Wildstar's payment model is one of it's flaws, but that won't change that there are apparently many many other flaws, too, so I'm not sure even F2P or B2P would save it.
Oh yeah, for certain there are other issues. For one, their target market is a niche of a niche.
With regards to FFXIV and ESO, though, I'd put like big bold asterisks beside each. First of all, FF has already done the model before, has an established user base, and probably developed their game with a much more realistic expectation of what their game will be able to survive on. For ESO, even though it didn't have any experience with the sub model, the IP was enough to really drive sales. I actually bought into ESO for that exact reason. Introducing a new IP, though, into a a subscription model is a completely different story.
Again, it's not that it won't work for them, but I feel like they need a B2P + Sub model or something along those lines to actually get people in the door. As I mentioned before, I would view Wildstar as a great mistress, but it'll never be an exclusive.
It's an NCSoft-published game, they aren't afraid to invest into a promising platform, and they haven't hesitated to pull the plug on past titles if it's not performing up to expectations.
What happened to City of Heroes only proves the second half of your statement and disproves the first. It also shows their expectations are set too high.
Originally posted by CrazKanuk Originally posted by LazzaroOriginally posted by azzamasinOriginally posted by LazzaroI had been following WS since its announcement over 3 or 4 years ago now. I remember how excited I was for this game, I thought how awesome this game could be, from the art style, and the sci fi settings.I even had the first WS podcast I did with two others and was invited to the only fan fest they had, but as the game got closer and closer I knew this game wouldn't be success, it was just too much of the same, but even more hardcore than previous theme park mmo's.If only they went more sand box then themepark, I believe they could have had a real big hit on their hands, but nope and look what's been happening.Anyways, it's sad to see WS end up like this.
Going sandbox might of helped them but I'm not convinced it would of helped seeing as the game is too similar to WoW. Themepark's aren't bad, but WoW clones are. What we need is a non-quest hub, non-linear, non-endgame centric MMO.That's my point, it was a themepark and pretty much a WoW in space.Meeeeh, you're basically suggesting that there is no room for more than one stylized MMORPG, because that's really what you're saying a WoW Clone is, a stylized MMORPG.
The reality is that there is room for games like Wildstar in the genre, and it could probably do quite well. The question is whether or not someone is willing to actually pay for it on a monthly basis. The answer seems to be no. I played through on beta and thought it was fun and I think that the telegraphs actually add to the ability for them to create more difficult encounters, as I said from the beginning. However, I will only pay for one subscription at a time. I played ESO when it came out. I've since moved on from that and I'm re-subbed to WoW right now. So if Wildstar was F2P or a hybrid game (option subscription) then I'd probably play it, because then I can put in an hour or two a week and leave it at that. Feel like I'm still getting value. Then when I unsub from WoW when they go into a content rut, maybe I give Wildstar a few months of sub.
Unfortunately subscription immediately implies commitment, you're basically marrying the game (or at least that's how sub games feel at times), whereas if it's free, you feel less obligated to continue. Shoot, make it B2P with an optional sub. Bump up those box sales for the holiday season. Even that would be smart. I just shake my head in disbelief about this game. Seems like they are in denial or something. IDK.
There has to be a certain level of commitment with mmorpgs otherwise the community dies because players are throw away.
Plus, If you cant really invest Monthly amounts of time into an mmorpg there really is no point to starting them in the first place.
Having said that, I would not play a sub fee for wildstar because i don't believe the quality is there and i don't think it would hold my attention for more than 3 weeks.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
Originally posted by LazzaroI had been following WS since its announcement over 3 or 4 years ago now. I remember how excited I was for this game, I thought how awesome this game could be, from the art style, and the sci fi settings.I even had the first WS podcast I did with two others and was invited to the only fan fest they had, but as the game got closer and closer I knew this game wouldn't be success, it was just too much of the same, but even more hardcore than previous theme park mmo's.If only they went more sand box then themepark, I believe they could have had a real big hit on their hands, but nope and look what's been happening.Anyways, it's sad to see WS end up like this.
Going sandbox might of helped them but I'm not convinced it would of helped seeing as the game is too similar to WoW. Themepark's aren't bad, but WoW clones are. What we need is a non-quest hub, non-linear, non-endgame centric MMO.
That's my point, it was a themepark and pretty much a WoW in space.
....minus all of the things that makes WoW so popular..ie: Very polished and hardest on the market raids, as well as tons of current (level 90) casual endgame activies.
You haven't played the game in 5 months, which was before Beta ended, and you claim credentials such as testing and podcasts for your credibility. But at no point did you actually play the game at launch, and yet you are making claims about the state of the game as it is now. I can't take what you say very seriously to be honest.
So, all you can really do is say that the game wasn't for you, and play off of what other people are telling you. In Carbine's most recent publicity event where their president is going to go from zero to fifty on twitch he mentioned that despite the negativity about population in the game, they are comfortable with their population as it is right now. Obviously, the more the better, but they are happy with the number of subs they have.
Doesn't sound like a struggling game at all.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane. And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes. Hurt - Wars
You haven't played the game in 5 months, which was before Beta ended, and you claim credentials such as testing and podcasts for your credibility. But at no point did you actually play the game at launch, and yet you are making claims about the state of the game as it is now. I can't take what you say very seriously to be honest.
So, all you can really do is say that the game wasn't for you, and play off of what other people are telling you. In Carbine's most recent publicity event where their president is going to go from zero to fifty on twitch he mentioned that despite the negativity about population in the game, they are comfortable with their population as it is right now. Obviously, the more the better, but they are happy with the number of subs they have.
Doesn't sound like a struggling game at all.
Carbine as a company might be happy with the amount of subs the game has....but me as a player with 3 hour PVP queues at peak hours am not....
Oh yeah, for certain there are other issues. For one, their target market is a niche of a niche.
With regards to FFXIV and ESO, though, I'd put like big bold asterisks beside each. First of all, FF has already done the model before, has an established user base, and probably developed their game with a much more realistic expectation of what their game will be able to survive on. For ESO, even though it didn't have any experience with the sub model, the IP was enough to really drive sales. I actually bought into ESO for that exact reason. Introducing a new IP, though, into a a subscription model is a completely different story.
Again, it's not that it won't work for them, but I feel like they need a B2P + Sub model or something along those lines to actually get people in the door. As I mentioned before, I would view Wildstar as a great mistress, but it'll never be an exclusive.
When I think about it, F2P or B2P right now is a given whether it'll save Wildstar or not, because WS desperately needs some drastic emergency procedures to keep it afloat while greater medical work on its core issues could be done.
So... start with the mega servers (emergency bandaid to stem the blood loss), go F2P or B2P (probably F2P. Emergency blood transfusion), and then start removing all those cancers and adding in all those medicines or something. Me personally, I think those medicines would have to be REALLY drastic though, which is sadly beyond Carbine's resources apparently given that they can't even get one of the easier medicines done (fixing itemization, which has been delayed to Drop 4 despite how it results in a theme park where there's no reason to go on any of the rides because the loot from them sucks). If they can't even get the itemization overhaul done on a timely basis, I doubt they'd be able to do things like overhauling the combat system or adding things to do for people when they aren't raiding (even raiders have raid cooldowns) or making classes more complex (and more importantly, FUN), let alone things that would go further like interactive housing or meaningful faction systems or pet battles or garrisons. At this point I feel even the latter might be needed to pull Wildstar out of its state but Carbine can't even get past the "Make playing the game actually have a point because loot doesn't suck anymore" step in a timely manner.
Agree with the poster who stopped because of the pains caused by the combat. Yes, it is caused by the combat. I played heavily for the first few days WS was released until the pain in my wrists was so bad I had to stop playing any MMO. After a week I started back on a non-action combat MMO and had no issues. Thinking that the pain was just a temporary thing I went back to WS. After an hour in the game I had to give up again. Gaming should be fun not a pain. There are a lot of things that I like about WS but I just cannot deal with the combat. I still feel that action-combat belongs on console games not in PC MMO games.
As for turning it into a sandbox. As several posters have mentioned - sandboxes do not do well in popularity (number of players). I do wish that there were more sandbox elements in themeparks but that is not what is happening.
Originally posted by Kaladin You mean the megaserver they planned in implementing regardless of population?
Heh.
If that was doubt, they almost had it ready before launch, but they couldn't work out all the kinks before hand. And they had much more pressing issues once the game did launch.
There is no way they could have reacted to a population drop fast enough to get a megaserver in place within a few weeks.
But I guess I should recognize which forum I'm on. Facts are generally secondary to baseless hate.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane. And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes. Hurt - Wars
Originally posted by Kaladin You mean the megaserver they planned in implementing regardless of population?
Heh.
If that was doubt, they almost had it ready before launch, but they couldn't work out all the kinks before hand. And they had much more pressing issues once the game did launch.
There is no way they could have reacted to a population drop fast enough to get a megaserver in place within a few weeks.
But I guess I should recognize which forum I'm on. Facts are generally secondary to baseless hate.
If it were an actual megaserver requiring new tech, you might be right. Server merges on the other hand, however, are a simple thing that can be done quite quickly.
Originally posted by Kaladin You haven't played the game in 5 months, which was before Beta ended, and you claim credentials such as testing and podcasts for your credibility. But at no point did you actually play the game at launch, and yet you are making claims about the state of the game as it is now. I can't take what you say very seriously to be honest.
So, all you can really do is say that the game wasn't for you, and play off of what other people are telling you. In Carbine's most recent publicity event where their president is going to go from zero to fifty on twitch he mentioned that despite the negativity about population in the game, they are comfortable with their population as it is right now. Obviously, the more the better, but they are happy with the number of subs they have.
Doesn't sound like a struggling game at all.
What are they gonna tell you, oh yea btw it's not performing how we hoped? And the reason for the meaga servers were because all but a couple servers were dead.
Everything that is reported has been bad news, besides the mega servers, but you can take it both ways.
But hey, it's only what I've seen and read. But like you said I have not played since Launch, so what do i know.
There are other theme parks out there doing way better than Wildstar (FFXIV, Rift, Tera, for example)
People say "Wildstar failed because it was Hardcore", but even most Hardcore guilds had problems with it. Really, Wildstar had TONS of other issues besides just being a theme park and just being hard core (horrible itemization, broken PvP, simplistic classes, a combat system where you spend more time looking at the ground than your character, no good loot from anything but raiding after you've gotten crafted gear, buggy raids, nothing to really do in between raids even if you were raiding, horrible optimization, long attunement process, levelling journey was the same for all characters so no fun in making alts, art and humour style that was niche at best, the list goes on and on and on....) which is one of the reasons it's gonna be hard for Carbine to turn it around.
I've been playing since open beta and still log in and play and raid. But the above quote basically sums up all the bad in Wildstar at the moment.
Will it survive and turn things around? Time will tell, but I don't see it making a decent comeback as a solid game ala Rift, TERA, and SWTOR for at least another 6 months to a year and by then if the subs continue to bleed it might be FTP like those games as well.
Art style and staring at feet while getting GTFO flashed excitingly over my screen in grey/green/blue zone killed it for me- guess I'm too old to appreciate this style
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Originally posted by Kaladin You mean the megaserver they planned in implementing regardless of population?
Heh.
If that was doubt, they almost had it ready before launch, but they couldn't work out all the kinks before hand. And they had much more pressing issues once the game did launch.
There is no way they could have reacted to a population drop fast enough to get a megaserver in place within a few weeks.
But I guess I should recognize which forum I'm on. Facts are generally secondary to baseless hate.
If it were an actual megaserver requiring new tech, you might be right. Server merges on the other hand, however, are a simple thing that can be done quite quickly.
To suggest that it was the latter, would mean that they planned to merge the servers because the new ones were dead - before the game launched and before all the additional launch servers went live (Remember they added a bunch so that people could play the game). That would not make sense.
They were criticized by fans too for adding so many at launch, and if they knew that it would all get transferred to a megaserver in the not so distant future, they probably opted for getting as many people in the game as possible at launch.
As further evidence that it was in the works for a while, the transition did not have any issues at all. At least as far as players could tell. After the maintenance, it was just log in, rename your character, and off you go. No crashes or server restarts.
I've seen routine maintenances go worse than that.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane. And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes. Hurt - Wars
Originally posted by Kyleran The story is not over yet, give them some time and they might turn it around....
Its possible. But keep in mind that their publisher is NCsoft... They tend to have an itchy trigger finger, when it comes to western games. Only time will tell how this turns out.
Originally posted by Kaladin You mean the megaserver they planned in implementing regardless of population?
Heh.
If that was doubt, they almost had it ready before launch, but they couldn't work out all the kinks before hand. And they had much more pressing issues once the game did launch.
There is no way they could have reacted to a population drop fast enough to get a megaserver in place within a few weeks.
But I guess I should recognize which forum I'm on. Facts are generally secondary to baseless hate.
If it were an actual megaserver requiring new tech, you might be right. Server merges on the other hand, however, are a simple thing that can be done quite quickly.
To suggest that it was the latter, would mean that they planned to merge the servers because the new ones were dead - before the game launched and before all the additional launch servers went live (Remember they added a bunch so that people could play the game). That would not make sense.
They were criticized by fans too for adding so many at launch, and if they knew that it would all get transferred to a megaserver in the not so distant future, they probably opted for getting as many people in the game as possible at launch.
As further evidence that it was in the works for a while, the transition did not have any issues at all. At least as far as players could tell. After the maintenance, it was just log in, rename your character, and off you go. No crashes or server restarts.
I've seen routine maintenances go worse than that.
Again, the main problem with your argument is it assumes they actually did plan for or anticipate anything, when it's rather clear that Wildstar's fast fall completely blindsided them (the cancellation of the holidays despite the halloween content being mostly done being a good example of them entering "scramble mode"). So "to suggest that it was the latter" does NOT mean "they planned to merge the servers because the new ones were dead", because they probably didn't plan anything. Ditto for "if they knew that it would all get transferred to a megaserver", because they probably DIDN'T know.
And again, server merges are easy to do. Which provides a simple alternate explanation why the transition did not have any issues at all. I've been playing MMOs and watching many others for years (starting to reach "decades" now) and seeing tons of server merges for many of them and I really can't recall any time any server merge ever had major issues. So Wildstar's giant server-merge not having issues serves to be as much evidence of anything as a rock falling down when you drop it off a ledge.
As i stated numerous times i do believe that NCSoft, NOT Carbine, will somehow turn things around and save WildStar. They invested to much money in this project to just let it wither away. They have both the know-how and the funds to make this happen.
You were saying? Which company would like to spend a lot of money on giving a not very successful game another chance?
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!! (repeat ad infinitum)
I had been following WS since its announcement over 3 or 4 years ago now. I remember how excited I was for this game, I thought how awesome this game could be, from the art style, and the sci fi settings.
I even had the first WS podcast I did with two others and was invited to the only fan fest they had, but as the game got closer and closer I knew this game wouldn't be success, it was just too much of the same, but even more hardcore than previous theme park mmo's.
If only they went more sand box then themepark, I believe they could have had a real big hit on their hands, but nope and look what's been happening.
Anyways, it's sad to see WS end up like this.
There were only 2 reasons why I left. First was terrible lag. Many did not have, but many had. If I can play completely fluid with all settings maxed with Wow, Gw2, Swtor, Rift, ... then I find unaceptable to have 5 fps or less in cities or crowded areas. Period. I do not care if problem with game client with some graphic cards. For questing this was not such big problem to force me to leave game. So we come to .....
... second reason which is unfortunately by design. Not sure what was cooking in heads of developers to decide for that abomination of having only SINGLE ACTIVE TOOLBAR! Unacceptable. For same reason I left TSW.
If not for second reason I would not left within 2 months and would for sure return after some time (now playing Wow, then Swtor, Rift also waiting with new expansion; unfortunately also bad timing with all this great games expansions being released in such short period of time).
Comments
chill up man . dont go hard on other people or yourself. i dont see any trolling in his posts.
FFXIV and (arguably) ESO (depending on who you ask, I guess) are doing okay on a sub payment system (well, ESO is doing better than Wildstar, at least). Yes, maybe Wildstar's payment model is one of it's flaws, but that won't change that there are apparently many many other flaws, too, so I'm not sure even F2P or B2P would save it.
"Sandbox" isn't some kind of magical panacea that makes a game instantly better.
Heck, most people can't even agree on exactly what makes something a Sandbox.
WS is struggling (or is it? I don't even know, I don't own it, but I see it on these forums) because of several issues. Games have turned it around from a less-than-stellar launch to become successful before (rare, but possible).
The thing that worries me the most about it (ok, not really worried, maybe more like mildly piqued my interest) is the flood of talent and executives leaving the company as of late. That probably says more than anything about where the game will end up.
It's an NCSoft-published game, they aren't afraid to invest into a promising platform, and they haven't hesitated to pull the plug on past titles if it's not performing up to expectations.
My prediction is we are looking at Tabula Rasa 2.0
What I meant was that it is safe to assume you've already played the game, I don't think your post is a troll post.
I had high hopes for the game. I love the art style, the setting, the lore, etc. But somehow it didn't really click for me. I think it's the combat. It was too intense and took too long for the quantity and quality of baddies I was fighting. I was spamming the same buttons again and again which left me feeling exhausted and drained after half an hour. The combat just wasn't fun for me. I'm not sure how it can be fixed without revamping major parts of the game. I haven't played in weeks, but I may go back in a while to see what changed (and to give my characters last names). The guild I joined folded up long ago so my only hope is to find a good RP guild on the PvE megaserver.
I'd hate to see everything Wildstar is go down the drain. I still think it has potential and had a lot of great ideas. As it stands now, it's what drove me away from MMOs since nearly everything else is another fantasy game or PvP gankfest.
Oh yeah, for certain there are other issues. For one, their target market is a niche of a niche.
With regards to FFXIV and ESO, though, I'd put like big bold asterisks beside each. First of all, FF has already done the model before, has an established user base, and probably developed their game with a much more realistic expectation of what their game will be able to survive on. For ESO, even though it didn't have any experience with the sub model, the IP was enough to really drive sales. I actually bought into ESO for that exact reason. Introducing a new IP, though, into a a subscription model is a completely different story.
Again, it's not that it won't work for them, but I feel like they need a B2P + Sub model or something along those lines to actually get people in the door. As I mentioned before, I would view Wildstar as a great mistress, but it'll never be an exclusive.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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What happened to City of Heroes only proves the second half of your statement and disproves the first. It also shows their expectations are set too high.
That's my point, it was a themepark and pretty much a WoW in space.
Meeeeh, you're basically suggesting that there is no room for more than one stylized MMORPG, because that's really what you're saying a WoW Clone is, a stylized MMORPG.
The reality is that there is room for games like Wildstar in the genre, and it could probably do quite well. The question is whether or not someone is willing to actually pay for it on a monthly basis. The answer seems to be no. I played through on beta and thought it was fun and I think that the telegraphs actually add to the ability for them to create more difficult encounters, as I said from the beginning. However, I will only pay for one subscription at a time. I played ESO when it came out. I've since moved on from that and I'm re-subbed to WoW right now. So if Wildstar was F2P or a hybrid game (option subscription) then I'd probably play it, because then I can put in an hour or two a week and leave it at that. Feel like I'm still getting value. Then when I unsub from WoW when they go into a content rut, maybe I give Wildstar a few months of sub.
Unfortunately subscription immediately implies commitment, you're basically marrying the game (or at least that's how sub games feel at times), whereas if it's free, you feel less obligated to continue. Shoot, make it B2P with an optional sub. Bump up those box sales for the holiday season. Even that would be smart. I just shake my head in disbelief about this game. Seems like they are in denial or something. IDK.
There has to be a certain level of commitment with mmorpgs otherwise the community dies because players are throw away.
Plus, If you cant really invest Monthly amounts of time into an mmorpg there really is no point to starting them in the first place.
Having said that, I would not play a sub fee for wildstar because i don't believe the quality is there and i don't think it would hold my attention for more than 3 weeks.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
....minus all of the things that makes WoW so popular..ie: Very polished and hardest on the market raids, as well as tons of current (level 90) casual endgame activies.
You haven't played the game in 5 months, which was before Beta ended, and you claim credentials such as testing and podcasts for your credibility. But at no point did you actually play the game at launch, and yet you are making claims about the state of the game as it is now. I can't take what you say very seriously to be honest.
So, all you can really do is say that the game wasn't for you, and play off of what other people are telling you. In Carbine's most recent publicity event where their president is going to go from zero to fifty on twitch he mentioned that despite the negativity about population in the game, they are comfortable with their population as it is right now. Obviously, the more the better, but they are happy with the number of subs they have.
Doesn't sound like a struggling game at all.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
Carbine as a company might be happy with the amount of subs the game has....but me as a player with 3 hour PVP queues at peak hours am not....
When I think about it, F2P or B2P right now is a given whether it'll save Wildstar or not, because WS desperately needs some drastic emergency procedures to keep it afloat while greater medical work on its core issues could be done.
So... start with the mega servers (emergency bandaid to stem the blood loss), go F2P or B2P (probably F2P. Emergency blood transfusion), and then start removing all those cancers and adding in all those medicines or something. Me personally, I think those medicines would have to be REALLY drastic though, which is sadly beyond Carbine's resources apparently given that they can't even get one of the easier medicines done (fixing itemization, which has been delayed to Drop 4 despite how it results in a theme park where there's no reason to go on any of the rides because the loot from them sucks). If they can't even get the itemization overhaul done on a timely basis, I doubt they'd be able to do things like overhauling the combat system or adding things to do for people when they aren't raiding (even raiders have raid cooldowns) or making classes more complex (and more importantly, FUN), let alone things that would go further like interactive housing or meaningful faction systems or pet battles or garrisons. At this point I feel even the latter might be needed to pull Wildstar out of its state but Carbine can't even get past the "Make playing the game actually have a point because loot doesn't suck anymore" step in a timely manner.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
Agree with the poster who stopped because of the pains caused by the combat. Yes, it is caused by the combat. I played heavily for the first few days WS was released until the pain in my wrists was so bad I had to stop playing any MMO. After a week I started back on a non-action combat MMO and had no issues. Thinking that the pain was just a temporary thing I went back to WS. After an hour in the game I had to give up again. Gaming should be fun not a pain. There are a lot of things that I like about WS but I just cannot deal with the combat. I still feel that action-combat belongs on console games not in PC MMO games.
As for turning it into a sandbox. As several posters have mentioned - sandboxes do not do well in popularity (number of players). I do wish that there were more sandbox elements in themeparks but that is not what is happening.
Heh.
If that was doubt, they almost had it ready before launch, but they couldn't work out all the kinks before hand. And they had much more pressing issues once the game did launch.
There is no way they could have reacted to a population drop fast enough to get a megaserver in place within a few weeks.
But I guess I should recognize which forum I'm on. Facts are generally secondary to baseless hate.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
If it were an actual megaserver requiring new tech, you might be right. Server merges on the other hand, however, are a simple thing that can be done quite quickly.
What are they gonna tell you, oh yea btw it's not performing how we hoped? And the reason for the meaga servers were because all but a couple servers were dead.
Everything that is reported has been bad news, besides the mega servers, but you can take it both ways.
But hey, it's only what I've seen and read. But like you said I have not played since Launch, so what do i know.
I've been playing since open beta and still log in and play and raid. But the above quote basically sums up all the bad in Wildstar at the moment.
Will it survive and turn things around? Time will tell, but I don't see it making a decent comeback as a solid game ala Rift, TERA, and SWTOR for at least another 6 months to a year and by then if the subs continue to bleed it might be FTP like those games as well.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
To suggest that it was the latter, would mean that they planned to merge the servers because the new ones were dead - before the game launched and before all the additional launch servers went live (Remember they added a bunch so that people could play the game). That would not make sense.
They were criticized by fans too for adding so many at launch, and if they knew that it would all get transferred to a megaserver in the not so distant future, they probably opted for getting as many people in the game as possible at launch.
As further evidence that it was in the works for a while, the transition did not have any issues at all. At least as far as players could tell. After the maintenance, it was just log in, rename your character, and off you go. No crashes or server restarts.
I've seen routine maintenances go worse than that.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
Its possible. But keep in mind that their publisher is NCsoft... They tend to have an itchy trigger finger, when it comes to western games. Only time will tell how this turns out.
Again, the main problem with your argument is it assumes they actually did plan for or anticipate anything, when it's rather clear that Wildstar's fast fall completely blindsided them (the cancellation of the holidays despite the halloween content being mostly done being a good example of them entering "scramble mode"). So "to suggest that it was the latter" does NOT mean "they planned to merge the servers because the new ones were dead", because they probably didn't plan anything. Ditto for "if they knew that it would all get transferred to a megaserver", because they probably DIDN'T know.
And again, server merges are easy to do. Which provides a simple alternate explanation why the transition did not have any issues at all. I've been playing MMOs and watching many others for years (starting to reach "decades" now) and seeing tons of server merges for many of them and I really can't recall any time any server merge ever had major issues. So Wildstar's giant server-merge not having issues serves to be as much evidence of anything as a rock falling down when you drop it off a ledge.
Sorry. Sounds like static. Auto Assault, Dungeon Runners, Exteel, Tabula Rasa, City of Heroes seems to be making a lot of noise in the background.
You were saying? Which company would like to spend a lot of money on giving a not very successful game another chance?
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!!
(repeat ad infinitum)
There were only 2 reasons why I left. First was terrible lag. Many did not have, but many had. If I can play completely fluid with all settings maxed with Wow, Gw2, Swtor, Rift, ... then I find unaceptable to have 5 fps or less in cities or crowded areas. Period. I do not care if problem with game client with some graphic cards. For questing this was not such big problem to force me to leave game. So we come to .....
... second reason which is unfortunately by design. Not sure what was cooking in heads of developers to decide for that abomination of having only SINGLE ACTIVE TOOLBAR! Unacceptable. For same reason I left TSW.
If not for second reason I would not left within 2 months and would for sure return after some time (now playing Wow, then Swtor, Rift also waiting with new expansion; unfortunately also bad timing with all this great games expansions being released in such short period of time).