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WildStar will be intermittently playable from now until the headstart
Carbine Studios has just published an FAQ covering WildStar's status from now until the beginning of the headstart period on May 30th. Dubbed "Ops Week," this period will see the team "testing various launch systems, practicing [its] disaster recovery processes, making sure [its] fail overs fail over correctly, and putting some extra testing on [the] final Release Candidate." But you don't care about their problems; you just want to know whether you can log in. Yep! Carbine intends to make the servers available for play. Although uptime windows won't be announced ahead of time and some may be brief, players should anticipate server availability during business hours on the west coast. Open beta characters will be accessible for as long as the team can manage it before the inevitable wipes.
Why WildStar's name reservations were screwed up
So WildStar's name reservation system didn't work quite right. It's working now, but when it went live it wasn't working at all, and for a first-come-first-served thing that's kind of a catastrophic problem. Compensation has been announced, but why did everything go wrong? Carbine's director of operations posted in the forums about how things went from bad to worse and where the breakdowns in communication took place. The short version is that it started when a big information drop introduced a lot of new assets to the site, causing even more load than was expected for the page when the name service went up. After that was handled, however, another problem surfaced with the site's feedback, leading to what is described as the server performing what amounts to a DDoS attack against itself. And once that was fixed, another problem surfaced. If you'd like to see the whole breakdown in detail to understand how everything got messed up, take a look at the full post on the official forums.
Go tent camping now in Wurm Online
In a game that allows you to carve out a swath of wilderness and create a home, it seems strange that Wurm Online previously lacked anything between the "sleep on the hard ground" and "set up shop in a full cabin" territory. Well that's all changed thanks to the addition of tents, including a newbie variant that is handed out at the start. Wurm's also updated the game to include timber frame walls for houses. The team spent some time in this week's news post to talk about upcoming projects, including a pavilion-style tent, progress with collision detection on bridges, a meditation animation, and the Xanadu release. [Thanks to Tom for the tip!]
Carbine spotlights WildStar's PvE raid design
WildStar's raid team has just completed a Reddit ask-me-anything about -- you guessed it -- raids in the upcoming sci-fantasy themepark. Lead Dungeon and Raid Designer Brett Scheinert (aka CRB_Timetravel) was joined by an array of Carbine Studios developers to answer player questions about the large PvE encounters in the elder game. Here are a few highlights: Which encounter will "cause the most tears"? That'd be Avatus, the last boss of Datascape, Scheinert says, but the elemental pairs in Datascape will be rough too. "Because [they] change every week (and there are 9 possibilities, each of which is almost an entirely new encounter), guilds will spend an entire week reaching then learning a pairing... then the instance will reset and they'll be back to ground zero." At least at launch, raid tools will be "in the hands of the addon developers." "Voice chat definitely helps but is not necessary." Additional post-launch raid content is "in development," so raid tiers will be flexible. The team won't "admit defeat that easily" should 40-man raids prove unpopular. Enrage timers "just feel lame," so the devs are using them sparingly. Casual players won't be able to extend lockout timers at launch. Carbine is still sorting out how latency will affect Oceanic players in raids. There's plenty more to consume over on Reddit!
WildStar compensating players with bonus loot
The saga of WildStar's name reservation system appears to have come to a close. According to a forum post today from community manager Tony Rey, the system should be working properly now with no further issues. And while Carbine Studios can't turn back time, the studio is at least trying to offer up an olive branch to players and fans affected by the system's instabilities. Players who have pre-ordered will automatically be granted five Boom Boxes, little bonus packs of items being awarded for logging into beta that contain mounts, mount customizations, costumes, and so forth. (There's a short video past the break showing these off.) These boxes will also be awarded to any players who pre-order before 8 p.m. EDT on Friday. There's also a full technical breakdown of the issues encountered on the way for those curious about what went wrong from a technical standpoint. So you might not have gotten your first name choice reserved, but you do get an apology.
Leaderboard: Are you raiding in WildStar?
Carbine came clean with its plans for WildStar raiding yesterday. We got a good look at what's in store via a new DevSpeak video and a Q&A with dungeon and raid lead Brett Scheinert. This all lends itself to a poll of some sort, so what say we all click past the cut and vote on whether or not we'll be raiding in WildStar? Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
WildStar raid dev: 'Our raids are the best blend of challenging and fun'
Do you wonder what it takes to make the toughest PvE content in an MMO? Then you'll want to virtually meet WildStar Dungeon and Raid Lead Designer Brett Scheinert, who stars in a new "A Moment in the Life" video talking about his job. "The biggest thing to be excited about with our raids is that they're the best blend I've seen between being challenging and fun," Scheinert claims. He goes on in the video to talk about his past experience in the industry and how he thinks it's really cool to see his ideas become reality. The video is a three-minute interview with several glimpses into WildStar's raids, although we suspect that Scheinert was using GM codes to solo them. You can give it a watch after the jump.
Compensation planned for WildStar's name reservation failures
WildStar players attempting to reserve their name yesterday ran into a bit of a problem -- namely, the fact that it didn't work. Maintenance took place, the page went up and down, and a lot of people trying to reserve important names ahead of time found themselves unable to do so. Needless to say, this kind of defeated the entire purpose of allowing people to reserve names ahead of time to ensure that they're available on launch. A recent forum post by Jeremy Gaffney apologizes for the issues and promises that compensation is planned for players affected by the issue: We'll compensate to the best of our ability in a fair fashion for folks who missed out on a name (or really folks affected in general) in as rational a fashion as tech and fairness allows. The details will need to be fleshed out before we communicate so we don't make a misstep on that; there are lots of moving parts. He went on to state that this was not a planned stress test as well as discussed the reasons behind gaps in communication. If you think your name got through but want to double-check, you can do so via the method outlined in this forum post.
WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney praises ESO's marketing
In a recent thread on Reddit's Elder Scrolls Online subreddit, a user by the name of Nuclayer posted that he was curious about the approach ZeniMax and Bethesda are taking for the paid promotion of the newly launched fantasy MMO. "Maybe I just missed all the stuff about it," the user says, "but from my personal perspective [it] feels like they really didn't put that much into letting us know about this game." Because WildStar was mentioned in the post as a game that's doing marketing right, Carbine's Jeremy Gaffney jumped into the thread to offer his own opinion. "Elder Scrolls is redonculously huge as a franchise," the WildStar Exec Producer offers. "Skyrim sold, what, 16 million copies? So everyone knows about it in advance - check out the Facebook, TESO has literally 10x the likes. So Zen can be much more broad in their marketing." Gaffney goes on to explain quite candidly the marketing strategy for WildStar and how his studio is probably spending way less than ZeniMax did on ESO. He makes sure to give plenty of kudos to ZeniMax for what it's done so far with ESO. Check out the whole thread for more from the fans of both games. Spoiler alert: It's actually a friendly Reddit thread.
WildStar's name registration is on again, off again, on again [Updated]
After a lengthy delay earlier this afternoon, Carbine has declared WildStar's pre-order name registration open once again, though readers and Massively staffers still report problems with the service. "There are over 15,000 trying to access 1 single page, slow load times are going to happen. Just gotta refresh and try again," says Carbine via Twitter. "If you see a timer, that means your name is saved and you are good. If you are seeing "[question marks]" wait a couple minutes and try again." Have you been able to register yet? And did you steal Justin's name? Update: CRB_Gaffer has posted a statement about the downtime to Reddit. We've included it below:
WildStar unveils the details of raids
WildStar wants to have its raids be big. Big in size. Big in rewards. Big in engagement. Big in lots of ways, in short. The team has talked about them in passing elsewhere, most notably at PAX East 2014, but there still hasn't been a nice big info drop about raids that potential players could really sink their teeth into. Like the sort of reveal that accompanies a new DevSpeak video. So guess what's past the cut? Go ahead, guess. Very good, it's the raiding video (something you could have concluded from the headline, yes), but there's more besides. We had a chance to sit down and talk with Brett Scheinert, the dungeon & raid lead developer, regarding these high-end encounters and what will set WildStar apart from other titles offering a raiding endgame. And despite what those opening lines might have made you think, it's not just about size. (It's also Spinal Tap references. You can guess which ones.)
Highlights from WildStar's Friday livestream extravaganza
If you missed WildStar's big livestream on Friday, don't worry; you didn't miss a whole lot aside from information regarding the gameplay, the lore, and the first few patches. Nothing major, right? Fortunately, you can hunt down the full six-hour video... or you can take a quick gander at a recap from WildStar Report hitting all of the highlights of the livestream that didn't involve the Carbine Studios team being goofy. It's entirely up to you. The plans for early updates include a new zone with the first major patch, another in the third major patch, and further improvements and installments in future updates. Players can also look forward to another battleground in the second patch, followed by a second arena map. And you can look into an exploration of the apparently monogendered Chua (who use the pronoun "he" simply to avoid calling them "it" throughout the game). The full recap has plenty of extra details, and while you might miss some nuance of the video, it's probably going to take you less than six hours to read.
One Shots: Dance like nobody's watching
Boy howdy, my screenshot challenge from a couple of weeks ago for you folks to take pictures of your characters dancing was pretty popular! I received a slew of entries, so why not dedicate an entire column to Massively readers shaking what their developers gave them? First up is reader Duncan, who wins the internet (for a minute at least) with this picture: "Hey Massively! Here is a snapshot of my Chua character BuzzCracker in WildStar taking time off from his adventures on Nexus to get down and funky on the dance floor at 'Wild William's Tiki Bar' in the tree tops of Wilderrun. Don't ask me why the Mechari and the two Loppi are dancing with no clothes behind Buzz; it must be something in the drinks being served by old Bill at the bar. Next stop for BuzzCracker is a spring break beach party ongoing in Malgrave!" Really, this should go to show that the world is primed and ready for an all-dancing MMO. Let's shake our groove thang with the rest of this week's entries!
WildStar's open beta is live along with a story trailer and new music
There's been a pretty consistent tone to most of WildStar's promotional materials -- not strictly comedy, but certainly irreverent. The developers obviously enjoy getting a good nudge and a laugh. But with the game's open beta test going live today, a new trailer has been unveiled, and this one isn't funny at all. If you've played the previous betas, you know the game has more story than just witty snark, and this trailer is all about that. You can check the trailer out just past the break, and the game's beta servers are open now through May 18th. The team is also planning on hosting a livestream today on the official WildStar channel at 2:00 p.m. EDT, as well as another longer stream on Friday starting at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Or you can just jump in on the servers now if you want to see how the game plays out. [Source: Carbine Studios press release] [Update: Composer Jeff Kurtenacker just let the Twitterverse know that the open beta music is live now on SoundCloud!]
Leaderboard: What class are you playing in WildStar?
WildStar's open beta starts tomorrow, which makes this an opportune time to inquire about your class preference in Carbine's sci-fantasy MMO. But don't just vote in the poll past the cut! Tell us why you'll be rolling with said class in the comments. Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
WildStar open beta patch adds levels and a dire warning
Are you ready for WildStar's open beta tomorrow? Then you're going to need the latest patch to get the fullest out of your experience. Also, you can't play unless you patch up. It's just a fact of life. The open beta patch raises the level cap to 30, adds the journeyman tradeskill tier, and bumps up the path level cap to 20. The devs are obviously anticipating a low-level crush of players, which is why Build #6670 includes an overflow system for additional zones. Other improvements coming with the patch include German and French language options, a redesign of the video options menu, a fix so that the launcher will run on 64-bit operating systems, and optimization of the guild UI. Also, the patch notes bear a dire warning for a particular item: "Players who hold the Moodie mask for too long... will pay ever-so-dearly for their affronts to the great Moodie Spirits. The player who dared mock the sacred oath of the mask carrier will have fiery vengeance rained down upon them, dealing a blow so powerful it will rip away their precious life force several times over. The Moodie spirits shall not only destroy the mask carrier's body, but will also place a curse on their VERY SOUL FOR ALL ETERNITY... or until the spawn timer runs out, whichever comes first." In other news, WildStar has added an option to upgrade from the standard to the deluxe version of the game for $15 on its store page.
WildStar's Stephan Frost on using the subscription model
Launching with a subscription fee in the current MMO market isn't a winning proposition; pretty much every newer title that has done so has moved over to free-to-play before long. A recent interview with WildStar's design producer Stephan Frost saw him liken the subscription fee to the extra fee for viewing cable stations such as HBO. People pay the extra money every month because the channel produces good content, and a subscription MMO has to do the same thing to justify that ticket price. Frost goes on to state that players should see new content in the game roughly every 28 days, with a vague mention that the team may do an expansion at some point but is mostly concerned with justifying the subscription price. It also ties into the CREDD system, which he states helps to cut down on gold-selling practices while also creating some parity between players with more real money and those with more real time. Time will see if the game justifies that subscription; you can try it out for yourself when the open beta goes live tomorrow.
Carbine announces WildStar name and guild reservation deets [Updated]
Carbine has sent out emails detailing its character and guild name reservation policy for WildStar. Reservations are available for pre-order customers only, and pre-ordering ends on May 23rd. We're excited to announce that on May 8th, we will be starting Open Beta! Through May 18th, you'll be able to continue to explore Nexus up to level 30, and get familiar with exploring, fighting and questing as we make our way towards head start and launch! As part of pre-ordering WildStar, you'll be able to make an even bigger mark on Nexus by registering one character and one guild name prior to launch! That means your desired name will be safer than a datachron in a Draken's dreadlocks. Try saying that three times fast. The name reservation page will only be available from May 13th through May 23rd, so be sure you check back to the site early so you can get your top choice, as reservations are first come, first serve. We will also have a FAQ section on the name reservation page that'll fill you in on all of your questions, including name restrictions, which servers the name will be saved to, and more. See you on Nexus! Update: As of May 12th, the studio has posted the following clarification and update regarding the naming reservation period: Name and Guild Name Reservation submissions will go LIVE at 11am PDT 5/13. Submissions will be accepted from 5/13 – 5/23. They will close at 11:59am PDT on the 23rd. Your reservation will be valid for 14 days Post Launch. So on June 17th after our scheduled downtime, any unclaimed names will be released for public consumption. Stay Frosty!
WildStar's open beta starts May 8
Carbine has announced that WildStar's open beta will run from May 8th through May 18th. The studio is also raising the level cap to 30. Other additions include Farside, Galeras Adventure tower defense, new abilities and ability slots, and more.
WildStar puts up patch notes for its latest weekend beta
It's about a month until WildStar launches in full, possibly while playing an electric guitar and riding a motorcycle over a bus that's been set on fire. That means that the patches are coming fast and furious with each weekend beta, and this weekend is no exception. The most recent patch trims up some lag and instability issues while also updating and improving several aspects of the game, from character customization to Warplot functionality. For example, players will no longer be subjected to having facial customizations that don't quite work, nor will they be able to hurl themselves to their doom while building Warplots. War parties now require at least 10 members online to queue as a group. Players will now be limited to editing their costumes at Protostar Dye Specialists in Illium and Thayd. Dead players may no longer be the target for starting a duel (not counting Mordesh, obviously). You get the idea. Check out the full patch notes for a clearer picture of this weekend's beta.
