123892-the-game-is-totally-unpopulated

Page 1, Page 2

Content
{| style="width: 100%;"

On which server did you play? If you're on the PvP server, then yes there are population issues. You can either wait till drop 5 which is slated to revive PvP and bring back PvP-minded players to the game, or you can switch to the PvE servers were most of the people are actually playing. Also, when did you actually queue up? From my experience the game is mostly active in the evenings when most people are done with work and finished their tasks at home.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

I do endgame stuff all the time. I do it with the guild. I don't queue because my experiences with queues have not been good. I don't PVP either. According to you, I don't exist. You've completely discounted that I don't want to play with the people in the queue and that, with the exception of SlyJeff, nobody has given me any reason to WANT to queue. I never hear anyone else that sounds like someone I want to play a dungeon through with. Why would I?


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

i am on Jabbit, but Dominion, and the BG queues are not that long at 50. I wait usually 2-4 minutes on average, but thats at peak time I suppose. Working all the other time...except for now (yay for an hour at lunch \o/)


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

As is true with any MMORPG the available content and ability to do them when you want are increased when you interact with other people. Wildstar is notoriously NOT a single player game. That's not to say that it doesn't have single player content, but if you want to do group content, in Wildstar, it has been best to find your own group, rather than rely on a program to find one for you. Whether this is good or bad, is up to the individual, but I would contend that interacting with others in an otherwise loner activity, is a positive thing. If you find other players on your own, I would guarantee you will have alleviated many of the issues you talk about.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

Nothing happens for the casuals because we aren't making it happen. Can't get a group from Group Finder? Well, advertise you want to do *insert group activity here*. TALK to the people that are part of the "tight knit communities", it may be shocking but they do talk back to us "dirty casuals" and people outside their community(the trick is, be respectful, shocking I know, but that's all there is to it). And no, a business model change isn't necessary. Think the people are bad now? Just wait for the people that don't have anything invested in the game coming in.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

These posts aren't made here everyday, but they are kept to the top a lot because of people throwing in their 2c instead of ignoring them(I know, I know, I'm guilty too :P)  These types of posts actually crop up more when the "Come back for a few days!" trials that get sent out. Don't need to pay to post if you use those, IIRC.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

thats the thing about "mmos". everybody is soooo different! the game needs to be as inclusive as possible. from the business model to the playstyles. were talking about a focus group designed commercial type of game here... not some obscure niche game. at the moment. wildstar is exclusive. because of its sub, because of its linearity and because of its treadmill gear progression. the players are being bottlenecked. lets see how they can make it breath a bit... i'd be surprise if they ever could revitalize these lame vet adventures that nobody plays (dailies help i suppose but clearly not enough).


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

Entity exile at around 1030 pm pst. And yea level 50 dungeons


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

I know how you feel :) I'm still doing my best to break the ice little by little. I have found nice ppl to team with here and there. It is a work in progress :)


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

Wrong, the only positives come from the same people. Over and over again. There are some new players that are impressed at first but they soon fade away into the background, some come here, rant and the same people tell them its their fault not the game.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

When WoW began, we had /LookingForGroup. *sits in his rocking chair and lights his pipe*  Folk used to talk in it, like human beings! And we'd say things like, "LFG BFD i'm DPS." And folk in those parts knew what you were talking about! And they'd whisper you things like, "We have a BFD group, can you tank?" And you might say, "I have no gear for it, I'm just DPS." And they might say back, "Our healer is in healing gear, if you get a shield, can you tank?" And you might say, "Sure can!" And off you'd go! Dungeon Finder was actually a way to sort of merge servers without merging servers, because the primary reason it increased dungeon runs was because it essentially meant that the 1-2 people running ZF on one server could actually make a group with people from the other servers (ded gaym isn't just something they say in Wildstar). To keep from merging servers, they just created Dungeon Finder instead (and later made sure people from sparse areas on other servers would partially merge...) Anyway, the upshot was the automated group finder boom. Even in games that didn't benefit from it, it was the new standard and people demanded it be in every single game. I'm assuming that's why it ended up in Wildstar. It's only been lately that the gaming population has sort of stepped away from it as a whole and new games have been moving towards a posterboard system because, hey, that LFG channel thing actually worked really well come to think of it! So current automated systems are attempting to more closely mimic it. Someone posted a mock up of an updated Group Finder like two months back. It's there somewhere, and the Carbine devs were really excited about it at the time.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

that is another subject. and one that i strongly talked about also. having a very strict linear gear treadmill game is not healthy in the long run. especially since gear is the (almost) only reward. so unless it is the easiest way to farm gold.. it will probably be avoided. and if people come back to it, they usually outwear it so badly that it screw up the experience of newcomers. EACH instances needs its rallying mechanic (downlevelling to the instance difficulty level) and put in specific long term reward track (tokens that you can accumulate) and/or making the loot table readily available in game so people know what they can "hope" for the dungeons to drop in term of special cosmetic or housing stuff.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

People with time can't code. People who can code don't have time. :P The number of "round tuit" projects I have bouncing around is staggering. And that ignores the stack of unwatched DVD's I've accumulated over the years.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

Simple can look great. I think it's forgotten in design sometimes, but there is such a thing as too much design.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

oh definitely. but you don't want something with the wrong font, wrong layout, looking too much like an excel document either. small details goes a long way, and it is much harder than it seems to put it all together nicely.


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

Convenient. It's either the server is truly unpopulated, or it's the players fault for using the LFG tool. *Claps*. Is this better Buster?


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

Because it will be the end of the game. The game will evolve into nothing but a nickle and dime scheme run by NCSoft, and no longer by Carbine. Especially with the recent changes being pushed by their investors, even if NCSoft is fighting against it. Once Free 2 Play hits, it becomes solely about landing whales, keeping whales happy and making sure they keep purhasing all the useless crap that is being happened. Because that's how F2P games make money. They hook whales, they please their whales to ensure their money keeps rolling. Normal players who have a invest rate of maybe 2-20€ a month on the game are second rank citizens. They get put on the waiting queue with support, they are left in the dark, and usually problems are not being resolved. Which also means the focus of development shifts. The only content being focused on, is that what keeps the whales happy, and not nescecarrely that which pushes the game further into growth or content. Your main focus is going to be keeping the Cash shop filled, and making sure the game itself pushes people towards the cash shop hard enough to have them spend money, but not so hard that it's becomming a scam. In the end your people are going to be paying more money for the game, whereas you as developer just need to keep adding more crap to the shop. There's little to no focus being done actual content such as raids, instances and what not. What will the end result be? A constant shifting user base that sticks around long enough until they get tired of the cashshop and move on. Whales that keep spending because they enjoy it until they have everything and move on. Your tight-nit community that has been around for almost a year now, helping Carbine improve the game and actually provide decent feedback does not exist anymore. Because we all know how well feedback is beign handled from the playerbase in F2P unless it brings in more money. And before you even try to counter me on this discussion, you better come prepared with damned good evidence. I've worked in this industry for years from Customer Support up to development and team management. I know how the F2P market works, and what investors expect. And I can tell you why many indy devs are NOT lookign for investors anymore but rather kickstart projects. Because F2P is the bane of good game development.

Awesome community example here. This is exactly why we're against F2P


 * }
 * }

{| style="width: 100%;"

Open mouth, insert words. I love the game too much to entertain the idea of F2P ruining it. I don't want Carbine's focus to shift from making a great game to making things they think we'll want to buy. And can for the love of *cupcake*ing god, can we stop making every single damned thread into an F2P debate? Just stop. Stop it. Right now. Stop. No more. It's old.


 * }
 * }