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[Interview] WildStar: Donatelli & Moore Respond to Concerns
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
WildStar has come under a lot of fire, but it’s criticism that developer Carbine is eager to address. In a deep interview, Product Director Mike Donatelli and Creative Director Chad Moore reveal their plans to turn the MMO around.
Read more of Gareth Harmer's WildStar: Donatelli & Moore Respond.
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MMORPG.com: What is your response to a number of people out there, perhaps players, perhaps not, who are demanding or maybe even simply expecting a shift to free-to-play like SWTOR did in its first year?
Donatelli: To be honest, we track all that chatter. You can’t say “The devs are listening” and then discount what people are saying. We’re not currently set up for F2P but we’re definitely paying attention to what the players are asking for.
I hope you act on time Mr. Donatelli because right now population of WS is at its all time low.
"WildStar IP – with a greater focus on storytelling and the continued development of game universe."
glad to see focus back to the main story- ive felt as a current player all these issues from pvp, runes, and attunement and dungeons' have really highjacked the game as a whole and lost its way for game story development... i hope in jan things get back on track to story telling in WS.
becouse as of now its the only mmo that has capture my interest.
“Short Session Gameplay”
A lot of the boss fights from dungeons and raids (Slavemaster Krugg, Kuralak, Stormtalon) are fun and challenging. Maybe move these boss fights, or new fights like them into much shorter instances. Just 2, 3 trash mobs, then the boss fight, or 2 boss fights.
Wow, I'd like to have some of what Mister Moore is smoking. As bad as the game is doing with its massive loss in players and he can still say the folllowing:
“I personally feel like we had an extremely successful and smooth launch”
“even the players that are the most frustrated are still very happy with the core game experience”
“I don’t think that we have a problem with player interest”
They made a WoW clone that was almost universally viewed as too hard core and resulted in a massive loss in players and yet he feels it was a smooth launch and they have not lost player interest? All we ever get from developers/publishers is marketing/PR speak. Well Mr. Moore you can keep saying what a great success your game is all you want while myself and many others are off playing other games.
The answer on the "hardcore" question and the "short session gameplay" question make it pretty clear that a major change in direction for raiding is coming. Considering that only five guilds have killed a boss in the 40 man, it's a required change.
The market just doesn't support these kind of huge timesinks the same way it used to. If I can't do anything in the end game without 3 hours per session and a hardcore raid group, I'll wind u playing another game that realizes I have a kid can't devote that kind of time in one sitting anymore.
It sounds like they get where the problem areas are now, so that's good. The game has a lot of fun stuff going for it, but they missed the mark in a huge way on the endgame.
Given how relentlessly and absurdly positive developer's responses normally are I was quite pleased to see them acknowledge many of the issues with the game. It also appears that they are concentrating on rolling out some fixes (whether by choice or edict from NCSoft).
There will always be at least a little spin and nonsense.
Pre-launch: "We have the best freakin MMO ever"
Post Massive player exodus: "I don't think we have a player interest issue"
Seriously, when will these people admit they don't know a thing about how to make a game and that wildstar is not going to maintain its p2p model. This is no longer pre-launch forum speculation the population is evidence.
Played-Everything
Playing-LoL
They have already neatly shifted the F2P issue from a matter of necessity to 'something the players are asking for' (to paraphrase). This for me is a pretty sure sign that it will be happening, you only shift your motives in such an absurdly transparent fashion if the decision has been made.
Nowhere in the statement did a mention that they WILL go F2P happen. "The Devs Are Listening" has always been true at Carbine, and it has shown. But it does not mean "The Devs Will Do What You Want". Because that is purely subjective and not all players want the same thing.
I don't see how F2P will help the game long term.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
First mmo? Seriously?
If Carbine had remained independent then OK but for the last 7 years they have been owned by NCSoft.
Help get Camelot Unchained made, a old-school MMORPG, with no hand holding!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13861848/camelot-unchained
I genuinely HATE F2P, should be banned by law. However I can accept this option for really mediocre games. Which I would never bother to touch. But cheap people are attracted to F2P like flies to .... :-)
WS has problems, but it is not mediocre. Lag was unbearable, but main reason I personally left is in its "genes" - 1 single toolbar. I just can not swallow that down. As I do not play games where I can not move with mouse buttons, that does not have 3rd person view, ... etc.
If not for that game is more then worth sub.
If they dont do something soon, its keep going with low pop or shutdown the game, as right now there not pulling more people in then the amount people they are losing people, right now how the game is... but your right I dont see the game going f2p will help the game for long term, untill they fix core problem why is people leaving and not staying.
I'm not even sure what this means given the lack of context. Are you saying they deserved to have problems? And, if so, why?
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
Moore: I personally feel like we had an extremely successful and smooth launch, especially as you compare to other similar games in the market."
Is this guy taking something?? This was one of worst launches ever, even looking back 10 years ago. There was NO headstart, lag just impossible, .... except for very few players.
Still loved game. Only reason I left after 2 months (even if they would fix terrible optimisation for many graphics cards) was however single toolbar for active abilities. I do not play button mashers.
For the rest game is worth sub.
Well I agree to an extend. Going F2P isn't a fix-all solution for any financial issues that Carbine and NCSoft may be facing at the moment, because the game is in a shoddy state at the moment. If people aren't enjoying the game when it has sub-fee, then what will make people think that it's going to SOMEHOW become enjoyable because it's "free" and has no price for admission?
Wildstar can still do just fine as a P2P game. People shouldn't be asking for the game to go F2P. They should be asking Carbine to make a better game.
November Drop will contain: New Zone, New Dungeon(s), New Solo Content, The start of their main elder game story (which judging by what it has been so far - this simply HAS to be epic), and the long awaited, and much needed, Class Balancing.
The Interview addressed their undersized QA team and how it has been remedied. If people just don't like the game, that's one thing, but they're addressing and fixing almost every serious problem the game has had.
They even said they wanted the megaserver before launch, but couldn't get it tested enough before launch. So that decision wasn't even population driven.
If all of that goes off as planned, people issues should be laid to rest. Unless they just wanted to mask their dislike for the game by citing the aforementioned problems.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I believe that F2P or a hybrid model like TOR's is WildStar's only option.
Here is my thought. 40 man raids was one of the games main selling points. By now it is more than apparent that these did not work out, at all. I find it highly doubtfull that Carbine will continue to allocate NCsoft's funds in supporting and developing 40 man content. The logical option is the transition to 20 or 25 man raids. Which in term raises an important dilemma: why should someone pick WS over WoW ? Blizzard's game is a much more polished, established and overall fleshed out product. WildStar can appeal to the players by removing the monthly fee.
Anyhow, i do not see WildStar going a long way with it's current business model.
OPTIMIZE THE FU**ER!
Nvidia is telling me that it can't do anything with Wildstar and that the game is completely unoptimizable. No settings will generate acceptable gameplay. The game's other "issues" (and I'm being generous, of course) can be fixed after the game is actually playable. Live content changes aren't needed until your playerbase can render a decently acceptable framerate out of the graphics engine.
What part of my post do you not understand when i say 'i hope'.
Of all the MMOS that have gone F2P till this date there were always players who didn't want it and yet it happened. Listening to players who are against such change is often bad news and will end up getting the game shut down for good.