Wildstar Launch Thread - Server: Stormtalon | Faction: Dominion

Column_sl said:

It's not just this board. That's everywhere on these specialized MMO sites, and streams. All these MMOs die so fast in the internet community it's crazy.

Just look at FF14, and we will probly see the same thing happen with Teso.

Now dead doesn't mean they don't have any subs, because even the starwars game is still surviving. It just means it will never be that huge success people want etc.

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SWtoR cashed in almost 140 million dollars last year, FF14 I'm sure it's doing well enough, these games are cash cows because most of the costs are paid by the initial purchases and then a relatively small playerbase makes the cash roll in. Teso is a buggy game, yet is probably good enough to retain people. Wildstar grouping and raiding scene seems quite well done and challenging, will keep people busy for a good while, hopefully the team is faster than blizzard at producing content.
Of course if you have a game that costed 200+ millions it'd be quite a gamble and would probably need a good IP to suck in a lot of box purchases right away.
I think WS is a high quality product and Exile side the tutorial is smooth, quick and absolutely doable in less than 15 minutes and for new players (which are not the type of gamer you see here on rerolled) it can certainly be useful.
I was quite meh about the game, based on what I read here, then I got this beta key for the weekend, then the weekend was over and I wanted to buy the game right there. So I did. Sucks that I can't play it yet.
Anyway you should ignore what I say because I was one of those that played GW2 for 1 year and still play it from time to time, I'm that crazy.

I can only speak for myself here but I'm bitter about the the '2-months wonders' because the industry has adjusted to it and usually puts their MMO into low-cost maintenance mode after the first quarter - financially sound decision I guess but it sucks for me because I'm looking for a long-term game. Looking back I'd say only GW2 (kinda at least) and EVE provide support on the level I'd like to see (havent played everything though, notably skipped on Rift that had good support at first I think?). The one thing that could draw me into Wildstar despite being tired of the quest style game is their supposed regular content updates. But there's no way to know if they will actually follow through on those once their sub numbers dwindle down.

It will be interesting to see how this game does. ESO got made fun of across the internet for being buggy, broken and a major mess across the internet pre-launch. People came away 1-2 weeks later to say the game was good and it was fun but it was still too broken. Wildstar, pre-launch people are saying the game is well made, polished for the most part, but it's boring and uninspired. Most people are saying they couldn't get past level X. I wonder how those differences will effect the launch.

Obviously, both games had their champions and fanboys too.

Draegan_sl said:

It will be interesting to see how this game does. ESO got made fun of across the internet for being buggy, broken and a major mess across the internet pre-launch. People came away 1-2 weeks later to say the game was good and it was fun but it was still too broken. Wildstar, pre-launch people are saying the game is well made, polished for the most part, but it's boring and uninspired. Most people are saying they couldn't get past level X. I wonder how those differences will effect the launch.

Obviously, both games had their champions and fanboys too.

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My takeaway is TESO leveraged the Elder Scrolls name to get a lot of sales, and the game is not a WOW clone.

Wildstar is a WOW clone. It also has no IP to leverage. Wildstar is more polished because it's a far more 'safe' game than TESO. That said, who is the target audience and will there be much buzz?

Their target audience is all MMO players and their marketing team is top notch. I just don't think their product matching their marketing. There is absolutely nothing new about the game that makes it interesting imo.

The target audience for MMO's is now MMO players. Has been for a while. It's no longer 1999 and the market has become so mainstream and I would hazard to say that 90%+ of MMO players play every main stream MMO that comes out whether in beta or at launch. Companies are targeting MMO players and attempting to retain them with gimmicks from level 3 or 4ish and meaty content at max level. The difference between the games now is will that carrot at level 3 or 4 be enough to addict you and will the meat hold on to someone in your group so that you stay.

Anyone else think some of the bugs that still exist in this game are redonkulous? I am enjoying the overall experience and my group of RL friends are playing so I will play. I just find it funny that like I click on the bind point and I can see the yes/no box but the rest of the text is obscured. They can't figure out a setting for the datachron to have it displayed only when you click the minimize and maximize buttons, you have to manually go in the options to select it and it only saves it randomly. Name plates and health bars don't always display even when you have them set to always on. Like this should be really simple stuff.

The first I saw wildstar I said, "If they put half as much effort into the game as they do those promo trailers it will be a good game".

And they did put half as much effort into the game as they put into the promo trailers. And it is a good game.

But is it good enough to last more than 3 months? Dunno. We'll see.

I expect normal attrition. f2p within 4 months. I do think they have enough here for 1 month of pretty rabid gameplay, 2 months of more relaxed gameplay, 3 months of casual gameplay. But.. at the rate they add content and the process they use to add content AND the couldn't-be-more-obvious impending budget crunch, I don't see that they have that 4th month.

These games will continue to be a 1-3 month and done type of things as long as these games continue to use the same formula of creating two games: the Leveling Game with a quest treadmill and the End Game with whatever.

Get rid of Levels. Get rid of Quests. You'll get a game that you may have a chance to play for longer than a month or two.

I think the only game trying to do this is EQN right now. ArcheAge is probably closest thing to a fuller game experience but it still has a shitty quest treadmill and leveling experience that really dampens the rest of the systems in that game.

Column_sl said:

Just look at FF14, and we will probly see the same thing happen with Teso.

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Just to be clear here FF14 was a piece of shit. It was a beautifully rendered artistic expression of shit but nonetheless when you opened the box what you got was the grade A premium cow manure with $400 million in the best food art design behind it. If I took the box and buried it in my garden I would get the most beautiful, mouth watering, 1080p juicy full bloom tomatoes that you have ever seen in your life but if you bit into one it was have as much sustenance as 1's and 0's it came from and taste like licking the inside of your own asshole.

I bought it and played it at release. I feel it is unfair to compare anything to FFXIV based on my totally subjective experience.

Arcaus_sl said:

The target audience for MMO's is now MMO players. Has been for a while. It's no longer 1999 and the market has become so mainstream and I would hazard to say that 90%+ of MMO players play every main stream MMO that comes out whether in beta or at launch. Companies are targeting MMO players and attempting to retain them with gimmicks from level 3 or 4ish and meaty content at max level. The difference between the games now is will that carrot at level 3 or 4 be enough to addict you and will the meat hold on to someone in your group so that you stay..

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Well, yeah, but the problem is a new game just can't offer everything to everyone. Which types of MMO players will flock to Wildstar? Will it cater to casuals, hardcores, PVPers, PVEers, raiders, crafters, or is it aiming at a new demographic a la TESO which was primarily focused on Elder Scrolls fans.

I think copying a lot of WOWs design and stylized graphics with some edgy angsty teen humor means they obviously are not aiming for the 30+ aged crowd the way TESO or SWTOR did. I don't see PRX heading that way. I do see raiding guilds considering it but really do they offer anything better than what's out there?

They can aim for the moon, but you first have to be best in class at something. They are not going to out Blizzard WOW on release and aiming for all it's audience might not be a great strategy. I think that's what they've done and I think what they'll end up with is a watered down WOW clone a la Rift without even a unique hook.

I think, like SWTOR or Rift, they are throwing it out there to get a million or two million people playing and, after the dust settles, see who is left. Let's look at their end game -

Rated Arena's
40v40 pvp where you have to be part of a group of 40-80 people
20 man raids
40 man raids
elder gem treadmill time sink
Housing

Am I missing anything? You have stuff in there that caters to all the groups. Put that dartboard out there, see in 2-3 months where your population sits and then concentrate there. No one can keep up with the demands on all of those groups. It's just not a feasible business model. You can leave in the half finished shit you have and make one or two of those things really special though and I think that's what they plan. They are currently targeting everything from the 20 year old poopsocker to the hardcore pvper to the 35 year old housewife who can make a great house and craft herself some pictures to hang on her walls and get acheivements for having 250 other people over for cookies.

The part I'm most interested in (the raiding game) should last ~3 months for Genetic Archives alone (for your average raiding guild) because of its difficulty from what I've been hearing. And the 40 man raid zone is supposed to be even more challenging. Depending on if/when the difficulty gets nerfed because of the whining by casuals, the raid game might hold my attention indefinitely.

at least their marketing campaign isn't "YOU'RE NOT IN AZEROTH ANYMORE"

Gecko_sl said:

My takeaway is TESO leveraged the Elder Scrolls name to get a lot of sales, and the game is not a WOW clone.

Wildstar is a WOW clone. It also has no IP to leverage. Wildstar is more polished because it's a far more 'safe' game than TESO. That said, who is the target audience and will there be much buzz?

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How is Wildstar a WoW clone? Is it because of exclamation marks above quest NPCs? Is it because it has tanks and healers?
You can use only 8 skills a time, you build according to your role and in some cases to the specific fight. You can dodge out of telegraphs, ala GW2 and can sprint very often in short bursts. You can tank or heal with all classes and all of them can spec dps.
Points in common: cartoony graphics, large raids and? Oh yes, it's been made by some ex-blizzard devs if I recall correctly.

Not that I'm shilling for WS even if I like it, but why is everything labeled a wow clone when it's really not? Also it's been called wow clone like it's a bad thing... SwtoR was a clone, Rift was almost a ripoff, WoW itself was largely based on EQ but who called it EQ clone?

I played for a weekend and it didn't really feel wowish to me or I wouldn't be enthusiast about it, don't know man...

That post. lol

The two guys in my circle that are WoW nerds were so upset about the skill system that they won't play. They beta'd up to like level 6 or 7 or something and were in such a rage that they didn't have 45 skills on their bar it was pretty hilarious.

They probably make a pill for that.

Probably.

Not enough useless shit on my screen. 1/10. Pixels too sharp.

Interesting article on the art comparisons :Comparisons between Wildstar and World of Warcraft are Flattering?