So I wrote several days ago about WildStar being a ghost town. There was quite a reaction to my thoughts and in the interim, Carbine have finally delivered MegaServers. Have they made a difference? Not that I can initially see. Perhaps it’s because I’m on the PvP MegaServer, but logging in this morning at 7am, 10am and 12pm there were no more players online than there were several weeks ago. In fact, it was the same friends I know standing in the same positions looking for players to play with or generally something to do. I suspect there’s a few causes for this:

  1. Large amounts of players are at work, resulting in the server still being quiet.
  2. Large amounts of players have left the now only PvP server to PvE.
  3. Large amounts of players are awaiting Drop 3 that’s now due mid-November.
  4. There’s a larger divide than is thought between Exile and Dominion (I’m Dominion)

Whatever the reason (though I think it likely to be number 3) it’s fair to say that MegaServers have only put a plaster on WildStar for the time being. If you’re on Jabbit, by all accounts there’s swathes of people and that for them is a brilliant thing. As you can see from this set of screenshots here, clearly Exile and the PvE server have it good so far, and that’s definitely excellent news for the game. For the rest of us on Luminai however, it’s going to be at least 4 more weeks until Drop 3 arrives and only then will we have some ability to observe the impact of both the patch and the newly merged servers.

As part of the transition to MegaServers, all players now have to have second names. This caused some minor difficulty for me because the name generator, despite being excellent, kept throwing out the same names for my Medic. I’m not a huge fan of having to have a surname but I can understand the need for the system, what I’d like however is the ability to hide it once I actually get in game. What caught my eye on Reddit this morning and there are likely many players in this boat, were players who have incorrectly spelt their surname or entered the game before finishing. The result isn’t pretty. If you are one of the unlucky ones or if you’ve generally just got fat fingers and hit a few wrong letters, raise a ticket with Carbine and they’ll give you a free name change.

MegaServers aside, there’s still some good topics on the forums and Reddit at the moment and the one that caught my eye was this. Tethers in WildStar are already obnoxiously strong to the point that if a Stalker Tethers you, you’re almost guaranteed to die. If you don’t, you’re on the back foot to such a degree that the next attack from the Stalker will spell your doom. The problem is that Tethers not only keep you fixed in one location but to destroy the Tether takes an age. At this point the Stalker while have Impaled you multiple times. It’s a no win situtation and it’s a bit of a joke skill. To make matters worse, the fact it’ll be usable in PvE environments against opposing players on mounts (who are in PvE gear) will allow Stalkers to 1-shot even more than they do now. Seeing Tony Rey find it amusing I don't suppose has gone down too well, either.

If you’ve already gotten into game and you’re thinking about buying some CREDD, don’t at the moment. Carbine have confirmed that when you place buy orders the game is swallowing money but not listing the buy order. There’s no ETA at the moment for the fix, but it’s best to keep your money in your pocket for the time being.  

I know I talked recently about how I felt WildStar would make a good transition to a Buy to Play model and a thread over on the official forums peaked my interest. The thread in question discusses a rare mount that is only available from Boom Boxes. Considering I’ve opened well over 130 of them and received absolutely nothing of value, it goes to show its rarity. There’s a real spread of opinions in this post from those who support a cash shop to those who, under no circumstances, want to see it in WildStar. I’ve always found this opinion incredibly bizarre because cash shops are an excellent source of revenue for companies. That revenue goes straight back into the game and as long as the items on sale are purely cosmetic, what’s the issue? I can understand if people don’t want to pay a subscription and pay for cash shop items (the costs would soon mount up) but it wouldn’t be so bad if, like Guild Wars 2, there was a way to convert your hard earned gold into the ability to buy from the store. When I read comments like this, “No cash shop, please. Give me mounts I can grind for in-game.” I die a little inside. A fundamental question I always ask myself when it comes to cash shops is: “Does it affect me and my enjoyment of the game?” and funnily enough, the answer is always no.

Lastly this week, there’s a thread discussing queue times for Random Battlegrounds. When I logged in this morning at 7am my queue was “Unknown”. When I logged back in at 12pm the queue time was still “Unknown”. Even now at 2:45pm I still haven’t been able to get a game. Like I’ve previously said, MegaServers will only create an illusion of popularity but when the playerbase isn’t playing specific elements of the game, nothing but an influx of fresh players will and when it comes to PvP, everyone is waiting on Drop 3.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress of MegaServers and just how busy Luminai gets at peak time this evening.


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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