What I learned in Wildstar first dungeons

So after a quite a few pugs, I have successfully tanked both Kel Voreth and StormTalon, Wildstar first two dungeons. It wasn’t easy and it took a guild group to overcome StormTalon but it is finally done. I learned quite a bit beating my head against the wall but I’m more amazed than frustrated that Wildstar had me research and try out a lot of things just to beat those two dungeons. It may look like it but Wildstar is not WoW or any other MMO I’ve come across so far.

So with the hope of maybe helping out a few other tanks out there, here’s a quick list of random thoughts and tips.

• StormTalon is by far the worst of the two starting dungeons to Pug. Not because of the encounters but because it’s the first choice of most players and every run there’s at least one or two person who runs in thinking it’s going to be like WoW. Rude awakenings follow.
• Kel Voreth last boss is something special. He even features a bullet hell phase. I was floored by how fun (and chaotic) that fight was.
• Tank stat building. I made the mistake of going in with a heavy focus on Tech in order to get as much Support power as I could. Big mistake. Unlike other MMOs where you focus on a single stat, a balance of support and health was necessary here.
• Both instances are tuned for level 20 players in level 20 gear. Don’t go in with your questing greens expecting to tank and have no issues.
• Damage reduction talents, life stealing amps and shield regen talents are your friends. Take them, use them.
• Having a guild team makes all the difference in the world. It’s like running two different dungeons.

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First forays into Stormtalon

Yesterday I finally got to try Stormtalon, one of the first proper Wildstar dungeons and I did so with a bit of apprehension to be honest. I kept reading how hard it was and how it was turning people away from the game and so on. I did some research on the instance to prepare myself and took the plunge with a good old pug. How did it go? Not so well if you consider that I didn’t get to complete the place in either of my two runs but I still had fun and I believe the problem here lies more with the players than the game.

But first a quick recap.

• Run 1 was a short affair. The dps insisted on running the place WoW style and just face pulled everything, paid no attention to target priority, interrupts or even dodging telegraphs. After it became obvious that they wouldn’t listen, me and the healer left.
• Run 2 was a lot better but in the end the healer just couldn’t keep up with the damage of the second boss. This run was a lot of fun and most of us were learning the fights and the details as we went along. The healer gave up after a few tries on Aethros, saying he didn’t feel like he could heal it. It was getting late so I was fine with things as they stood and figured I’d try again soon enough.

Teaching the players

So is Stormtalon hardcore? Nope, not at all. Is it harder than Ragefire Chasm? Of course it is, way harder, but that’s because Ragefire Chasm is ridiculously easy. The mechanics I’ve encountered in Stormtalon were dodging bad stuff on the ground, giving priority to a mob over another, pulling carefully, using my cooldowns to reduce damange and placing an AoE under a boss.

These are all mechanics we’ve seen before multiple times in WoW and other MMOs. It might surprise people to find them in the very first dungeon but I think it’s great. Realm Reborn did the same thing and by level 20 you had a proper raid fight with Ifrit as part of the storyline. Looking back now it was easy but for the first timers it felt like a real challenge. And the difficulty kept going up from there so that by level cap players were familiar with rather complex fight mechanics that you would see only in the harder raids in WoW.

What I’m saying is that people will learn. What seems super hard now will become easy as people learn to deal with the mechanics. Then as they progress and the mechanics keep getting harder, they will keep learning and it could just be that by the time they get to max level they will be able to handle really complex fights. Don’t underestimate players, they can and will learn if given the chance.

However, if someone idea of a good raid is only facepulling everything without any thought to strategy and tactics then I’m fine with them leaving. I don’t want my MMO to be dumbed down to that level.

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That lack of time-travelling cars

Lately, to my great surprise, I’ve been defending Wildstar decisions a lot and not only on this blog (in fact it’s been mostly out of this blog). The discussion also usually revolves around the same points, the game is too hard, long, hardcore with me replying, of course it is and that’s a good thing.

Then follows a longer convo about how a game doesn’t need to be for everyone, how it’s important not to try to please everyone and end up pleasing no one and how copying WoW endgame setup might not be the best idea. Mind you, this is coming from people not playing WoW because it’s too easy, casual, dumb, boring, etc…

I feel like the arguments have been laid out here and elsewhere and now we’ll have to wait to see if Wildstar gamble will pay off. Nobody, not even Carbine or Blizzard, has a crystal ball or a time travelling DeLorean and while they can make educated guesses, no guarantees as Cataclysm so aptly proved.

At long last we have a MMO made by a good team, who has all the required quality of life improvements, who has raiding, pvp, housing and tons of stuff and who has made a statement about taking it’s endgame in a different direction than WoW. How come people are not cheering for it?

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A short history lesson on casualization

The debate about Wildstar difficulty and raid sizes continues to rage and I have to say I’m baffled by some of the logic and arguments I’ve seen on some blogs and forums. So today, a short history lesson.

Most people now agree that WoW was at its peak in terms of design and player satisfaction during the time of Burning Crusade. Subscriptions number support this as this expansion saw continuous and sharp increase of the player base. In essence, WoW was at its most popular while it was still pretty difficult and still had attunement quests.

As WoW lowered its difficulty and tried to cater to more and more type of players with its endgame, it started to lose players. By now, WoW is at its most accessible and yet most bloggers and critics out there are openly dissatisfied with it and again, the game keeps losing numbers.

Now, Wildstar looks to be similar to WoW Burning crusade and the same people who keep criticizing WoW current state are now demanding of Wildstar to make the same changes that led to WoW current situation. Lowering difficulty, making multiple version of raids, easier access, etc…

WHAT IS THIS MADNESS??? You want to fix a game (Wildstar) by copying another game (WoW) that is by now viewed as an horrible mess by most critics and players…. Again, you want to make a game better by copying decisions that in fact made a game worst…

If you don’t like Wildstar difficulty, there’s a game called WoW that has evolved just for you. If you don’t like WoW and Wildstar I’d suggest you try some other MMO. If you don’t like those either because they are too much like WoW… then you might want to reconsider playing MMOs altogether.

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Wildstar week 2 roundup

I don’t know what it is with Wildstar but I am leveling sloooowwww. After nearly two weeks I am only 17, I made a grand total of three levels in the past week and while I’m not playing tons, this is still way slower than what I’m used to.

The best part though… I don’t care at all. Somehow Wildstar managed that though trick of offering enough to do at the lower levels and thus not pressure the players into leveling. There’s still people rushing to endgame but a lot of players are taking their time and it shows. For once, it feels like the journey to max level matter and it’s not just a hurdle to overcome to get to the real game. Kudos Wildstar, you managed something I have seen few games do.

Right now I’m questing through Galeras and I have to say I do like the zone a lot so far. The conflict with the Domion is well done and it really showcases a lot of the greater story elements that I was mostly oblivious to until now. For the record, I do not trust the caretakers… at all.

On the tanking side, I did some more Hycrest with guildies and it felt like I had good control most of the time so there’s that going right. Sadly though, lag was playing havoc with some group members and turned the last fight into a wall so we eventually had to give up. Not easy healing or staying alive when the screen moves every 4 seconds.

So that’s pretty much it for week 2. I do love what I’m seeing out of the game so far and I hear about more and more players trying it so things are looking good I think.

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