Wildstar Reporter Episode 5 – Video or bust!

Wildstar Reporter returns with a look at the press NDA, dungeons, adventures and more!

MMO Reporter

Published: Feb 23, 2014 09:00 am

Wildstar Reporter returns with a look at the press NDA, dungeons, adventures and more! Chris talks about the recent Adventure and Customization videos and information, runs our viewers through the first boss of Stormtalon’s Lair and takes a look at some of the goings on in the Wildstar community.

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Protostar Newsletter

NDA lifts for press up to level 29

Still some restrictions:

Arenas, Battlegrounds and Warplots remain under embargo

Wildstar – Adventures

Video on the Adventures
AMA with Wildstar Adventures team
Boss rewards: Bosses will start having set loot tables as of the next beta patch. Adventures also grant rewards at the end based on a medal tier players achieve as they’re running the instance, and those draw from a pretty broad pool of possible items.w

ADVENTURES VS. DUNGEONS

We asked on Twitter if there was anything specific people want to know about Adventures and a common response was asking us the difference between and an Adventure and a Dungeon.
A Dungeon is a much more linear environment, with a focus on combat mechanics and tough boss fights with rewards to match. Dungeons still have lore, they may even have varying tactics and strategies to choose from, but ultimately their focus is on combat, combat and more combat! Dungeons take place in the “real world” of Nexus.
An Adventure is a simulated environment created by the Caretaker. Adventures are all about open zones, choosing your path through the storyline and exploring unusual gameplay mechanics you don’t find in your normal levelling experience.
There is still plenty of combat but it isn’t the main focus, instead we try to make combat in Adventures a bit more unusual. Adventures reward you with a wide range of loot for your efforts; including gear, housing items, crafting recipes and more.
In the normal Adventures the gear you find will be great for levelling, however in the Veteran versions of Adventures you’ll be getting gear that will help you prepare for Raiding!
We’ve removed the reputation vendor and will have more rewards drop throughout an Adventure instead.

JUST HOW MANY ADVENTURES ARE THERE?

You’ll be able to start Adventuring at level 15, with faction-specific Exile and Dominion Adventures.
The Exiles will ride drop-pods into Dominion-controlled Auroria to rally the common people in revolt in their first Adventure; The Hycrest Insurrection.
The Dominion will be sent to the Astrovoid Prison to infiltrate and suppress a riot which could escalate into something far more dangerous in the Adventure; Riot in the Void.
After these introductory Adventures, both factions will be able to play the War of the Wilds at level 25, the Battle for Tempest Refuge at level 30, the Crimelords of Whitevale after that at level 40 and finally The Malgrave Trail at level 45.
And since they’re Caretaker-made simulations, you’ll be able to play them again whenever you like, uncovering new plot twists and shocking loot revelations.
When you hit level 50, you can then run through all of those Adventures again in Veteran Mode (including the faction specific Adventures, which can now be attempted by either faction). Veteran Mode increases the difficulty and provides even better rewards for those looking for a bigger challenge!
Adventures all take place in a Sim Core, one of many Eldan simulated environments maintained and controlled by the Caretaker. The Caretaker is an advanced AI designed to help the Eldan conduct various experiments and tests on Nexus.

The Wilds Adventure takes players back to those snow-covered mountains to do battle against a team of NPC “champions” in MOBA-style combat, complete with Skeech and Moodie minions! You’ll need to capture and defend control points across the Northern Wilds in order to spawn your minions faster, defeat neutral bosses to gain awesome buffs, and ultimately destroy the enemy base to win. And each time you play War of the Wilds, you’ll face new, randomized enemy champions.

In most Adventures your group will be given a choice of actions to take at various key points throughout the instance. Do you try and find arms and equipment for the oppressed Exile farmers trying to stand against the Dominion? Or do you try and secure transport for them to escape? Each member of your party can vote on the choice they want.
Your Path can also be a factor in your Adventure as well.

Breakout Game Play i.e. Spamming F

Customization in Wildstar

Dev Speak

Want your Aurin to have blue skin and dice earrings? Done! How about replacing your Chua’s ears with mechanical ones? Just how crazy do you want your Draken’s horns to be anyway? Playing a Granok? I have two words for you: Leaf. Moustache.
Another nice feature is if you want to save the design choices for your character whilst you’re explore some other races, you can generate a code to save that particular configuration and then load it again if you don’t like your new one!
That’s why we have a costume system that allows you to make sure that what people see you wearing, is what you want them to see you wearing. Just because that pair of sequined underpants gives you a +100 in awesomeness, doesn’t mean that you want everybody to see you running around in them.
You gain your first costume slot at level 7 and then you’ll unlock more slots as you level up
Once you reach your Capital city (around level 15), you’ll get to chat to the Protostar Dye Specialist who will (in an unquestionably generous move for Protostar) give you your first free dye and allow you to dye your armor pieces for a fee.
You can buy more dyes from a dye vendor, or through our social currency, known as Renown.
You may even get some for completing challenges and other activities. So if you want to dye your armor something a bit nicer than “Rowsbrowner” you’ll need to get out there and start kicking ass!
Mount Customization.
Booyah! Think that looks cool?
Hoverboard Customization.
Double Booyah!

Guilds

THE BASICS
Guild Vault
- Full permission sets for withdrawal limits and repair limits
- Re-namable tabs! (Woooo!)
Customizable guild ranks with full permission sets
Optional guild taxes (5% of your loot will get contributed to the guild vault if your guild leader decides to turn this on).
BENEFITS: GUILD HOLOMARKS
IN WILDSTAR, GUILDS WILL BE ABLE TO CREATE A HOLOMARK: A HOLOGRAPHIC EMBLEM PROJECTED IN THE AIR AROUND, OR ABOVE THE CHARACTER. AND THEN EACH PLAYER CAN DECIDE WHERE THEY WANT TO DISPLAY IT ON THEIR CHARACTER. SNAZZY!
CURRENCY: GUILD INFLUENCE
WITH WILDSTAR, WE WANT GUILDS TO WANT TO PLAY TOGETHER, AND WE’RE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO INCENTIVIZE THAT THROUGH A GUILD CURRENCY KNOWN AS INFLUENCE.
Your guild earns Influence through one simple method: playing WildStar with guildmates.
“Playing” literally means being in a group with other guild members and doing almost anything you want: Questing, killing creatures, running dungeons, raiding, PvP, and so on.
The more guild members you have in your group, the faster you’ll earn Influence, so it’s definitely to your advantage to play with a full group of guildmates whenever possible. As the saying goes,”The guild that plays together, stays together.
This leads us to (arguably) the most important part of the guild system: where you get to spend all that Influence.

REWARD: GUILD PERKS
Influence is spent in three main categories:
- Guild unlocks (including additional bank vaults and player summoning)
- Guild-wide buffs
- Consumable guild items
There are six guild-wide buffs a guild can unlock and activate. Any member of the guild is affected by this buff while they are logged in during those 7 days. These buffs typically boost the rate at which you earn currencies in the game, including experience, faction reputation, and Influence itself.
The consumable items include things like summoning a guild bank out in the open world just by spending some Influence on the spot. You can also purchase the ability for guild members to buy “flasks” on their own, which give individual boosts that stack with the guild-wide buffs you may already have activated.
AS YOU CAN SEE, A SMALL GUILD THAT PLAYS TOGETHER WILL BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH INFINITELY MORE THAN A LARGE GUILD WHICH SPAMS TRADE CHAT TO INVITE THEIR MEMBERS BUT NEVER GROUPS UP TO PLAY THROUGH THE GAME. WE’RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT GUILDS BEING A DRIVING FORCE FOR BEING SOCIAL IN WILDSTAR, WHILE WE LET CIRCLES TAKE THE REINS WHEN IT COMES TO SMALLER SOCIAL CIRCLES AND HANGING OUT WITH YOUR VARIOUS GROUPS OF FRIENDS.