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WildStar bans thousands of botters
Carbine Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney informed the WildStar community last night that the team is waging a serious fight against botters, having suspended 7,300 accounts in the last few days. "Obviously 7,300 is a tiny fraction of the overall player base, but it's a noticeable chunk of the current bots," Gaffney wrote. He pointed out that over half of those accounts were regular players who had their accounts hijacked and urged players to use two-factor authentication as a preventative measure. To aid in the war against bots, the team will be improving the reporting process and tuning its automated bot detection. Gaffney said that the studio will be unrelenting in its prosecution of such accounts: "We're attacking this with a full-spectrum approach as a placeholder until we get to the better tools that should help in the short-medium term. We acknowledge it sucks when you see obvious cheaters, and we're working to eliminate it."
Postcards from WildStar: There's a reason I failed stats class
Welcome to Postcards from WildStar, a look at Carbine's new MMO. Catch up on our previous postcards, and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks. Hello my spacefaring comrades, and greetings once more from the planet Nexus. Welcome to the second installment of Postcards from WildStar, a short series that explores several aspects and impressions of Carbine's new MMO. Last week, we talked about character creation, classes and Paths. This week, we descend to the planet's surface to get a feel for gameplay and dissect what makes WildStar different. Shall we?
WildStar's Strain patch is live today
There's been plenty of chatter about WildStar's first major patch, but the team at Carbine Studios has been largely silent on when all of this content would be available for players. Turns out it's right now. Yes, the servers should be up now (barring extended maintenance) for max-level players to enjoy all the lore, infections, and so forth that they could possibly want. For those of you who have missed the prior updates, this patch is adding new costume pieces, new housing decor, two new zones, a new mount, new dyes... a lot of things. You can find out a little more on the official patch page, complete with videos and the like. If you've been looking forward to spending a little more time with the game's big creepy disease carpet, today's your day. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Last Week on Massively: Draenor drops
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. Blizzard has frustrated players with its penchant for wide content gaps between World of Warcraft expansions, but this week, the Warlords of Draenor closed beta finally got underway, suggesting it might make its December deadline after all. The studio also slashed prices on the current version of WoW, revealed new character models, previewed a new zone, and was helped along by a friendly Pandaren player. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's first dose of Strain
The funny thing about launches is that they're like every other aspect of the game industry: They're based on momentum. Create the feel that you're coming out with new content on a quick basis and you get points from players, even if it's inevitable that some of this content is stuff that was almost-but-not-quite ready for launch and just had to be trimmed back a little before we first got to dip our toes in the official swimming pool. You can see the zones on your map in WildStar right now, even. Does it matter to me? Nope. I have to admit it doesn't. I'm satisfied. The bulk of the news this month has been about the game's first major patch, which is due for "early July" without a harder date. I have not yet gotten to go hands-on in this content; I've been too busy focusing on the live game and advancing there (up to 50 on one character, at least!), but let's talk a little bit about what's being added in the patch. Fair warning: Spoilers may ensue.
WildStar's Strain update promises something for everyone
There's something for everyone in the Strain ultra drop, promises the latest WildStar Devspeak video, "no matter how you love to play." Except if you love to play PvP; for that, you'll have to wait until the next drop. The just-released video follows the exploits of an obsessive lorehound, a spazzy explorer, a creepy homebody, and a hardcore lootmonger as the narrator wisecracks about how each of their playstyles will benefit from the upcoming patch. Even if you don't fall neatly into one of those categories, you'll no doubt pick up some clues about the new content or at least be impressed by the visuals. Enjoy the new vid below. Skinny-dipping sold separately.
The Daily Grind: Is PLEX/APEX/C.R.E.D.D. risky for developers?
Trion announced ArcheAge's APEX system recently, and while I'm sure it has its own wrinkles, my first instinct was to compare it to EVE Online's PLEX. It's a fascinating idea, allowing players with knowledge of an in-game economy to leverage said knowledge into enough currency to buy tradeable items that can be redeemed for subscription time. It's always struck me as a bit risky, though. We can only guess at the number of EVE fans who play the game for free thanks to PLEX, but I imagine it's a pretty significant slice of the game's old money crowd. And while newer games like ArcheAge and even WildStar are aping the system in some fashion, it's too early to tell what sort of effect APEX and C.R.E.D.D. will have on developers' bottom lines. What do you think, Massively readers? Do these sorts of systems seem risky to you if you put yourself in a dev's shoes, or do you think the number of players taking advantage of these systems is relatively small? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
WildStar unveils Strain-themed customization options
It is the doom that slumbers beneath Nexus. It is dread and loathing. It is a vile plague that both the Dominion and Exiles are desperately striving to purge. It's your new housing decor! Yes, the WildStar fashion police have spoken, and with the game's first major update, covering your home in the tentacles, eyeballs, and various protrusions of the Strain is all the rage this year. Also covering your clothing and mounts, because at that point why not, right? Players will be able to pick up new plugs and decor for houses, new costume items and dyes for their personal equipment, a new hoverboard, and new mount customizations, all of which should make your character look completely Strain-infested. If that's what you want, at least. No word on what functions the new plugs will perform, but we're betting it'll be gross. Take a look at the official drop page for a few more pictures of these customizations in action. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Choose My Adventure: Final thoughts on WildStar
This week marks my last stint with WildStar for Choose My Adventure, and I'll be giving not only my overall impressions of the game for this final installment but a run-down of my thoughts on the first few levels of each class and path. When the fantasy/sci-fi MMO launched earlier this month, I had no idea what to expect. I had watched the preview trailers and knew the general premise of the game's feel, but didn't dive too deeply into game mechanics or lore because I like to discover these things myself as I go. WildStar is the perfect game for this, in my opinion, because it's full of surprises... in a good way.
WildStar previews the zones of the Strain drop
The first major update for WildStar is due out in early July, and it's bringing plenty of content along with it including two zones for players to explore. Blighthaven and the Northern Wastes are being unveiled in more detail today, both of which contain plenty of opportunities for adventurers to take on all sorts of new challenges. Blighthaven is a landscape dominated by the Strain's mutated minions along with uncontrolled Eldan machinery, featuring such comfortable-sounding regions as the Cankertube Swamps, the Globellum, the Sanctuary of the Keepers, and the Genesis Chamber. It's prime territory for new content to explore what happened to the Eldan as well as understand the virulent opponent that is the Strain. The Northern Wastes, meanwhile, brings players back to the Northern Wilds after the events in the early game, with both Dominion and Exiles struggling to claim the territory... until a new threat emerges from the Eldan bio-labs in the area. New events, challenges, missions, and path content awaits players in the zone. It's all adding up to plenty of content for a first update; you can check out the official reveal page for a few extra details. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Postcards from WildStar: character creation checklist
Welcome to Postcards from WildStar, a look at Carbine's new MMO. Stay tuned for more entries in the coming weeks. Like my fellow postcard-sender and Joystiq contributor Sinan Kubba, I've been an MMO player for many moons. I lost myself to Star Wars Galaxies in high school, and to this day, I consider it – well, the state it existed in before the Combat Upgrade and New Game Enhancement patches drastically altered it – my favorite game of all time. It did things differently, and I'm a fan of different. Thus, it was with keen interest that I watched the development of WildStar, an MMO from Carbine Studios and NCsoft that professed it wouldn't be the same old, same old. The game has been out since June 3, and I've been tinkering around inside this colorful blend of sci-fi and fantasy since. Now that E3 is over and I've had more time to play, it's time I share some impressions.
Last Week on Massively: Keeping sand in the sandbox
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. This week, Trion Worlds declared that the long-awaited western version of MMORPG ArcheAge will launch later this year with some sand in its sandbox. The original 1.0 patch, criticized for dumbing down the game, was previously deployed to Korean players but will be passed over in favor of the 1.2 update, sure to make sandbox fans on this side of the ocean happy. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
Choose My Adventure: Crafting in WildStar
This week's Choose My Adventure is all about crafting in WildStar as I'll give my impressions on the creative system that seems to be pleasing finicky MMO fans already. You voted last week for me to focus on Relic Hunting and Technologist as my tradeskills, and I've been having a blast. Get it, blast? Because that's how you collect... the... ahem. Anyway! First of all, I want to thank you for voting on two compatible tradeskills. That makes things much easier. Both Relic Hunting and the Farming hobby contribute the proper materials for the Technologist trade. Since the additional hobbies are free and don't count toward the two-trade-at-a-time limit, I also played around with the Cooking hobby a bit, too.
WildStar's first update is Strain
"Something is waiting," teases a new page on WildStar's site. The "something" might be nebulous, but it will be packaged in the game's first big update, called the Strain ultradrop. WildStar will be revealing more details about the ultradrop over the next week and has posted a schedule for those reveals. A video will be coming tomorrow, followed by a spotlight on the new locations of Blighthaven and Northern Wastes on June 24th. Two days later on the 26th will be a focus on housing and customization, and finally a dev speak concerning the patch will come on the 30th. Massively will have your first look at Strain from E3 coming tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Last Week on Massively: Massively's E3 roundup
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. This week, the Massively staff on the ground in LA and manning the fort back home were preoccupied with E3 2014, which surprised us with some great MMO offerings. Here's a roundup of our best coverage from this year's con! E3 2014: Underground and underwater with Landmark's Terry Michaels E3 2014: Massively's hands-on with H1Z1 E3 2014: The Elder Scrolls Online offers small-scale PvP at cons E3 2014: FFXIV's Yoshida on 2.4, 3.0, new classes, and more E3 2014: Shroud of the Avatar's Garriott and Long emphasize immersion E3 2014: Hands-on with Star Citizen and a chat with Chris Roberts E3 2014: Hands-on with Elite: Dangerous and the Oculus Rift E3 2014: Hands-on with Skyforge, World of Speed, and Armored Warfare E3 2014: Hands-on with EVE Valkyrie and a chat about Legion E3 2014: Fighting car bosses in Ubisoft's The Crew E3 2014: Hands-on with Swordsman and Dawn of the Immortals E3 2014: Hands-on with Black Gold's PvP E3 2014: PlanetSide 2 PS4 demo showcases visuals, performance E3 2014: Hands-on with World of Warships and World of Tanks Blitz
One Shots: Fare game
We're starting to get a lot of WildStar submissions these days following the launch, which is something I certainly encourage (and where are you people with awesome Elder Scrolls Online pics, by the way?). Today we've got two for our player screenshot column, starting off with reader Darla and a very sour Chua. "The cabbies in this game don't shut up and my Chua is having a tough time coping," Darla moans. Secretly, I think she loves the weird chatter coming from the driver, but Chua have a reputation to maintain, you know? It's not just cabbies and expensive space fares after the break, but also pictures to vibrant that they will make your ocular cavities weep saline fluid!
The Think Tank: Catching up on WildStar's launch
WildStar's launch has come and gone, and I missed it while I was away on a raid IRL (my loot? A legendary baby drop!). This might just be one of the few major MMORPGs whose launch metas I've missed out on in my entire span of playing MMOs since Ultima Online, so I asked the Massively staffers who've been playing either a lot or a little to catch me up on the state of the launch. How did it go from the perspective of the people on the ground (as opposed to the people in the peanut gallery)? I'd love to hear from our readers, too!
WildStar announces paid realm transfers, path gear vendors
WildStar has now started offering the ability to purchase a transfer from one server to another. The paid realm transfers cost $19.99 a pop. The only caveats, apart from the price, are that players cannot transfer to select realms with full populations and that they may have to change their character's name if someone already has it on the destination realm. The team is also working on patching in path gear vendors. These new vendors will sell path rewards that players may have accidentally deleted.
Choose My Adventure: Now we're playing some WildStar
As promised, this week I've entered the realm of double digits with the character you've helped me create. While my experience has admittedly improved since last week's write-up, I'm still finding WildStar to be a little too similar to the biggest MMOs of the last 10 years or so. But is that a bad thing if it's done right? Last week I asked you to give me some suggestions on how to play through this week's adventure, and I wanted to not only explain what I've done as I reached level 11 but also touch on some of the suggestions I've followed from the comments.
WildStar begins to sell C.R.E.D.D. subscription items
When WildStar went live earlier this month, there was one vital piece missing from its business model: the ability to buy and sell C.R.E.D.D. in the game. Today Carbine announced that it has activated the C.R.E.D.D. store, allowing players to buy, sell, and trade this item from here on out. C.R.E.D.D. is an in-game item that adds 30 days of play time to an account. Players can purchase one for $19.99 to sell on the exchange or purchase one from another player for in-game gold. Basically, it allows you to buy more game time with in-game currency or to gain more in-game currency with your real-world dollars.
