Wildstar: Catch All

ranalin wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

Hit 50 on my medic last night. Leveling became way easier when I dropped some of my utility spells (looking at you stuns/snares) and just maximized DPS to just burn stuff down as quickly as possible. Also... amusingly... circle-strafing does wonders for staying out of telegraphs solo.

I talked about this some before in regards to tanking, but the same rules apply for medics. They give you multiple build sets for a reason. As you learned you cant survive on just your utility abilities. Even if you get the wrong mix of assault abilities you can still have troubles depending on the mob type.

Grats on 50! I had intended to reach it this weekend but wasn't home long enough.

A big jump to my survivability for my medic while solo questing was switching out my main actuator spender for the one that does damage and heals your shield. Costs focus, but when it's the only ability I use for DPS that does, its not that big a deal. 3000 shield every time I spend 2 actuators is a good deal. Top that off with a fully upgraded base attack so that each cast of that gets me 2 actuators instead of one... and bam, I became pretty survivable. Two buttons for heals, all the rest for damage. After I get my Genesis Key (seriously, I need elder gems for this? This should really just be a quest line!), getting set 3 for group instance DPS (1 is healing, 2 is solo spec) will help with that... then it's just working with my guild to get stuff done.

Also, expert research for crafting is not explained... like at all. It's not that they give that info to you once then expect you to run with it... there's nothing. It's a little bizarre.

Anyone have a good stalker build/gude? I'm 24 at the moment and even though I know it's "DPS! KILL EVERYTHINNNGGGGggggg-gah" I'd like to make sure I'm using the right set of DPS abilities. I've found a lot of guides out there but none for stalkers that were pre-50.

I'm thinking of rolling one so I can craft gear for him/her as I level with my medic already being an outfitter anyway, but from my time in beta, I seem to remember it being pretty much burn as fast as you can, though I only got to like the mid teens.

DeThroned wrote:

Anyone have a good stalker build/gude? I'm 24 at the moment and even though I know it's "DPS! KILL EVERYTHINNNGGGGggggg-gah" I'd like to make sure I'm using the right set of DPS abilities. I've found a lot of guides out there but none for stalkers that were pre-50.

I cant remember if you have 5 or 6 slots open at that level.

Here's what i used when i had 6.

Shred
Impale
Stagger
Analyze Weakness
Punish
Neutralize

Single targets i'd lead with AW/Impale. Multiple targets i would lead with AW/Neutralize. Empty suit power then recharge with Punish. Then if things were still alive i'd just wing it. More than 3 mobs i'd use stagger as soon as i saw a telegraph.

My amps i would stack Crit, AP, Strikethrough first then select the rest depending on role.

If you just have 5 slots remove Punish.

WizardM0de wrote:
Farscry wrote:

It's just unfortunate that PuG's seem less inclined to communicate and work as a team than in Ye Oulden Dayes of MMO's Gone By (warning, rose-colored glasses may be in effect)

Uh, do you mean the one where in every PuG instance and most PuG raids the tank pulled blindly with no regard to strategy, CC, or healer status, wipes the group, then piles blame on everyone else and rage quits causing the group to look/wait around for a tank for another 20 minutes? :)

I'm thinking back to my original Everquest days in 1999-2001, when most of the groups I found/built managed to communicate and work decently well. There were plenty awful ones too, but my memories of that game mostly involved fun, decent groups (and to be fair, also a solid bit of solo time too, as I am strongly introverted).

But anyway, yes, Wildstar's dungeon and encounter design has been very satisfying in what little I've seen so far. Heck, I enjoy the challenge of regular questing with the various abilities and strengths of standard enemies.

Farscry wrote:
WizardM0de wrote:
Farscry wrote:

It's just unfortunate that PuG's seem less inclined to communicate and work as a team than in Ye Oulden Dayes of MMO's Gone By (warning, rose-colored glasses may be in effect)

Uh, do you mean the one where in every PuG instance and most PuG raids the tank pulled blindly with no regard to strategy, CC, or healer status, wipes the group, then piles blame on everyone else and rage quits causing the group to look/wait around for a tank for another 20 minutes? :)

I'm thinking back to my original Everquest days in 1999-2001, when most of the groups I found/built managed to communicate and work decently well. There were plenty awful ones too, but my memories of that game mostly involved fun, decent groups (and to be fair, also a solid bit of solo time too, as I am strongly introverted).

But anyway, yes, Wildstar's dungeon and encounter design has been very satisfying in what little I've seen so far. Heck, I enjoy the challenge of regular questing with the various abilities and strengths of standard enemies.

I wonder if some of that is voice chat becoming more prevalent and people doing more poorly when they only have text, and/or using text speak when typing.

Farscry wrote:
WizardM0de wrote:
Farscry wrote:

It's just unfortunate that PuG's seem less inclined to communicate and work as a team than in Ye Oulden Dayes of MMO's Gone By (warning, rose-colored glasses may be in effect)

Uh, do you mean the one where in every PuG instance and most PuG raids the tank pulled blindly with no regard to strategy, CC, or healer status, wipes the group, then piles blame on everyone else and rage quits causing the group to look/wait around for a tank for another 20 minutes? :)

I'm thinking back to my original Everquest days in 1999-2001, when most of the groups I found/built managed to communicate and work decently well. There were plenty awful ones too, but my memories of that game mostly involved fun, decent groups (and to be fair, also a solid bit of solo time too, as I am strongly introverted).

I feel like difficulty also plays a role in how well pugs communicated back in the day. In EQ and the early days of WoW even, dungeons were long and there were severe penalties for dying(at least in EQ) you had to work together well or suffer the consequences. People took the time to communicate. Even in WoW where things were easier, the dungeons were still long play sessions and people didn't give up as easy when you were 2 hours in and working on a boss.

Fast forward to today where you can do a dungeon run in about 20 minutes (at least in WoW) and no one has any patience. Why bother communicating when you can just quit out of the group and be in the next one in a matter of 5-10 minutes?

faide wrote:
Farscry wrote:
WizardM0de wrote:
Farscry wrote:

It's just unfortunate that PuG's seem less inclined to communicate and work as a team than in Ye Oulden Dayes of MMO's Gone By (warning, rose-colored glasses may be in effect)

Uh, do you mean the one where in every PuG instance and most PuG raids the tank pulled blindly with no regard to strategy, CC, or healer status, wipes the group, then piles blame on everyone else and rage quits causing the group to look/wait around for a tank for another 20 minutes? :)

I'm thinking back to my original Everquest days in 1999-2001, when most of the groups I found/built managed to communicate and work decently well. There were plenty awful ones too, but my memories of that game mostly involved fun, decent groups (and to be fair, also a solid bit of solo time too, as I am strongly introverted).

I feel like difficulty also plays a role in how well pugs communicated back in the day. In EQ and the early days of WoW even, dungeons were long and there were severe penalties for dying(at least in EQ) you had to work together well or suffer the consequences. People took the time to communicate. Even in WoW where things were easier, the dungeons were still long play sessions and people didn't give up as easy when you were 2 hours in and working on a boss.

Fast forward to today where you can do a dungeon run in about 20 minutes (at least in WoW) and no one has any patience. Why bother communicating when you can just quit out of the group and be in the next one in a matter of 5-10 minutes?

lol have you run a Wildstar dungeon yet? They're definitely NOT 20 minute affairs.

ranalin wrote:
faide wrote:
Farscry wrote:
WizardM0de wrote:
Farscry wrote:

It's just unfortunate that PuG's seem less inclined to communicate and work as a team than in Ye Oulden Dayes of MMO's Gone By (warning, rose-colored glasses may be in effect)

Uh, do you mean the one where in every PuG instance and most PuG raids the tank pulled blindly with no regard to strategy, CC, or healer status, wipes the group, then piles blame on everyone else and rage quits causing the group to look/wait around for a tank for another 20 minutes? :)

I'm thinking back to my original Everquest days in 1999-2001, when most of the groups I found/built managed to communicate and work decently well. There were plenty awful ones too, but my memories of that game mostly involved fun, decent groups (and to be fair, also a solid bit of solo time too, as I am strongly introverted).

I feel like difficulty also plays a role in how well pugs communicated back in the day. In EQ and the early days of WoW even, dungeons were long and there were severe penalties for dying(at least in EQ) you had to work together well or suffer the consequences. People took the time to communicate. Even in WoW where things were easier, the dungeons were still long play sessions and people didn't give up as easy when you were 2 hours in and working on a boss.

Fast forward to today where you can do a dungeon run in about 20 minutes (at least in WoW) and no one has any patience. Why bother communicating when you can just quit out of the group and be in the next one in a matter of 5-10 minutes?

lol have you run a Wildstar dungeon yet? They're definitely NOT 20 minute affairs.

I think he's saying that people have gotten so used to the modern WoW style of dungeons that a game going back to early WoW and beyond has people less able to cope with the dungeons and thinking that if they don't burn through immediately, then something is wrong with the group.

Heck, even adventures are tough as nails at times. Hycrest Insurrection, I've done all of the various branches, got the achievement for it... even then, there were some encounters, at that 15-20 range, even with 22-25 gear, that were REALLY tough to heal through. One of those fights was like an 8 wave of 5 guys each slog that, as a healer, had me wishing I had a mana potion or 3.

The three things I'm finding that seem to be challenging people the most, at least in Stormtalon as they adjust to dungeoneering in Wildstar:

1) Threat identification and crowd control - Most of the groups I've been in are vastly underestimating the threat that enemies pose, and how important it is to properly time the usage of stuns (hell, even just to use stuns at all) and identify the most important enemies to focus down first.

2) Positioning and movement - people are struggling to understand that healers can't heal through telegraphed attacks, nor are they supposed to have to. Everyone - even the tank - should be alert and working to mitigate as much damage as they can, particularly telegraphed attacks. They should also be trying to position themselves within healer telegraphs as much as they can.

3) Aggro management - Not so much in terms of "don't steal the tank's aggro through overdoing dps", as that doesn't seem to be the issue in PuG's, so much as "make sure you're coordinating on the right targets to manage aggro, and don't throw HoT's out there until the tank generates some threat at the start of a battle/phase".

I've also found that while I'm playing a dps role as a medic (because after trying to be the healer for the first several times I grouped, I found that it's just too frustrating until I hit the cap and can actually try to build a proper support/healing gear set) it's very helpful and important to assist with backup healing. The last couple groups I joined, I actually got a thank-you from the healer for throwing in backup heals to help out.

I really like the challenge and design so far, and hope that the rest of the game's dungeons hold up too. It may be frustrating finding a decent pick-up-group, but it's worth it.

ranalin wrote:
faide wrote:
Farscry wrote:
WizardM0de wrote:
Farscry wrote:

It's just unfortunate that PuG's seem less inclined to communicate and work as a team than in Ye Oulden Dayes of MMO's Gone By (warning, rose-colored glasses may be in effect)

Uh, do you mean the one where in every PuG instance and most PuG raids the tank pulled blindly with no regard to strategy, CC, or healer status, wipes the group, then piles blame on everyone else and rage quits causing the group to look/wait around for a tank for another 20 minutes? :)

I'm thinking back to my original Everquest days in 1999-2001, when most of the groups I found/built managed to communicate and work decently well. There were plenty awful ones too, but my memories of that game mostly involved fun, decent groups (and to be fair, also a solid bit of solo time too, as I am strongly introverted).

I feel like difficulty also plays a role in how well pugs communicated back in the day. In EQ and the early days of WoW even, dungeons were long and there were severe penalties for dying(at least in EQ) you had to work together well or suffer the consequences. People took the time to communicate. Even in WoW where things were easier, the dungeons were still long play sessions and people didn't give up as easy when you were 2 hours in and working on a boss.

Fast forward to today where you can do a dungeon run in about 20 minutes (at least in WoW) and no one has any patience. Why bother communicating when you can just quit out of the group and be in the next one in a matter of 5-10 minutes?

lol have you run a Wildstar dungeon yet? They're definitely NOT 20 minute affairs.

Ya sorry I was rushing to lunch when I posted and should've clarified. I was speaking more about the general attitude of PUG players these days and what I thought may be contributing to that behavior. In short , I think, the easier things have gotten in MMO's the more impatient players are becoming.

I've heard nothing but good stuff about Wildstar's dungeons and look forward to trying them

Farscry wrote:

The three things I'm finding that seem to be challenging people the most, at least in Stormtalon as they adjust to dungeoneering in Wildstar:

1) Threat identification and crowd control - Most of the groups I've been in are vastly underestimating the threat that enemies pose, and how important it is to properly time the usage of stuns (hell, even just to use stuns at all) and identify the most important enemies to focus down first.

This one right here will make or break a run. If you cant get on the same page during an encounter with these you're hosed. No way around it. Most tanks have 2 interrupts and have to rely on others to get the final one in.

#2 is simply the WoW rule. Dont stand in red sh*t. Simple as that.

#3 to be honest if the tank is paying attention this shouldn't be a problem. One of my biggest problems when i first tried tanking was keeping some dps abilities or abilities to generate power. That was a mistake. Now except for my interrupts all my abilities generate threat and i stack ability points into some to generate extra power.

Stunning is so important that I made sure once I unlocked the ability to invest points up to the first tier in abilities, the first ability I upgraded was the stun (so it takes off two points of interrupt armor rather than just one).

Farscry wrote:

2) Positioning and movement - people are struggling to understand that healers can't heal through telegraphed attacks, nor are they supposed to have to. Everyone - even the tank - should be alert and working to mitigate as much damage as they can, particularly telegraphed attacks. They should also be trying to position themselves within healer telegraphs as much as they can.

Medics seriously need a CC ability for their teammate's. I've basically stopped trying to heal instanced group content due to every single tank dodging out of my telegraphs at the last possible moment while the dps insists on staying as far away from me as possible. I loved healing in ESO and WoW but so far it's just been a huge pain in the chua here.

ranalin wrote:
Farscry wrote:

The three things I'm finding that seem to be challenging people the most, at least in Stormtalon as they adjust to dungeoneering in Wildstar:

1) Threat identification and crowd control - Most of the groups I've been in are vastly underestimating the threat that enemies pose, and how important it is to properly time the usage of stuns (hell, even just to use stuns at all) and identify the most important enemies to focus down first.

This one right here will make or break a run. If you cant get on the same page during an encounter with these you're hosed. No way around it. Most tanks have 2 interrupts and have to rely on others to get the final one in.

#2 is simply the WoW rule. Dont stand in red sh*t. Simple as that.

#3 to be honest if the tank is paying attention this shouldn't be a problem. One of my biggest problems when i first tried tanking was keeping some dps abilities or abilities to generate power. That was a mistake. Now except for my interrupts all my abilities generate threat and i stack ability points into some to generate extra power.

While I like (ish) this game these issues make the group activities I did seem like much more of chore than they ought to be.

I do think (for PUGs) there is a mentality (I am looking at you WoW for this) that everything can just be facerolled and that if there is a wipe it is just that the players are subpar DPS or somesuch.

As an aside this is why I think WoW ultimately is going to kill WoW, but technically that should be for another thread.

Farscry wrote:

Stunning is so important that I made sure once I unlocked the ability to invest points up to the first tier in abilities, the first ability I upgraded was the stun (so it takes off two points of interrupt armor rather than just one).

Good call. Esper has a couple stuns/interrupt armor hammers, and I made it a habit to equip both for dungeons as backup for good groups and as a safety net/hail mary for bad ones.

Public Test Realm notes:

https://forums.wildstar-online.com/f...

Starting tomorrow, players who use 2-factor verification will receive a free mount.

In case you missed it, they also gave all active players a free costume mask yesterday.

The kid is away for the week so I purchased this today. Picked up my level 2 Engi and have been having fun. Unlike TESO, I enjoy playing this game.

ruhk wrote:

Starting tomorrow, players who use 2-factor verification will receive a free mount.

In case you missed it, they also gave all active players a free costume mask yesterday.

Oh god, I already have trouble figuring out which mount to use on a daily basis.

Anybody got a guest pass (or two)? I heard about this listening to the podcast and want to try it out with my wife and see if it strikes our fancy before we drop two accounts on it. We've done some iPad gaming here and there but never tried an mmo together before. The idea of being able to swap specs between fights sounds awesome.

I hope I'm posting this in the right place! On the podcast they mentioned that people were giving out codes on Twitter to gwg fans but I think I missed that boat!

Demosthenes wrote:
ruhk wrote:

Starting tomorrow, players who use 2-factor verification will receive a free mount.

In case you missed it, they also gave all active players a free costume mask yesterday.

Oh god, I already have trouble figuring out which mount to use on a daily basis.

I bet we could get an addon created for you to summon a random mount each time you hit the button. Then there's no deciding!

Senn_diagram wrote:

Anybody got a guest pass (or two)? I heard about this listening to the podcast and want to try it out with my wife and see if it strikes our fancy before we drop two accounts on it. We've done some iPad gaming here and there but never tried an mmo together before. The idea of being able to swap specs between fights sounds awesome.

I hope I'm posting this in the right place! On the podcast they mentioned that people were giving out codes on Twitter to gwg fans but I think I missed that boat!

Check you inbox.
(and play with the Exiles on Stormtalon! Not those overbearing Dominon jerks on . . . whatever their server is. )

Man, the transition from Whitevale to Farside sucks. I just seemed to run out of quests in Whitevale and then I had to search online to figure out what to do.

I hit 32 this morning just 4 more levels to a nice spacious pad!

wolfstar76 wrote:

(and play with the Exiles on Stormtalon! Not those overbearing Dominon jerks on . . . whatever their server is. )

Unrelated, but it's interesting how the factions aren't as clear-cut as they initially seem. Playing as Dominion, sure we're fascist jerks who go around torturing people at the drop of a hat, but the exiles we're fighting are gassing civilians and unleashing biological plagues and stuff. There's no good guys.

ruhk wrote:
wolfstar76 wrote:

(and play with the Exiles on Stormtalon! Not those overbearing Dominon jerks on . . . whatever their server is. )

Unrelated, but it's interesting how the factions aren't as clear-cut as they initially seem. Playing as Dominion, sure we're fascist jerks who go around torturing people at the drop of a hat, but the exiles we're fighting are gassing civilians and unleashing biological plagues and stuff. There's no good guys.

To be fair, the Mordesh were really trying to achieve immortality... the plague that resulted was pretty accidental.

That and given that the Dominion seems to have a bad habit of destroying planets and/or taking them for themselves and kicking people off of them... I'd say just about any tactic becomes fair game at that point.

wolfstar76 wrote:
Senn_diagram wrote:

Anybody got a guest pass (or two)? I heard about this listening to the podcast and want to try it out with my wife and see if it strikes our fancy before we drop two accounts on it. We've done some iPad gaming here and there but never tried an mmo together before. The idea of being able to swap specs between fights sounds awesome.

I hope I'm posting this in the right place! On the podcast they mentioned that people were giving out codes on Twitter to gwg fans but I think I missed that boat!

Check you inbox.
(and play with the Exiles on Stormtalon! Not those overbearing Dominon jerks on . . . whatever their server is. )

I know that's tongue in cheek but even more funny considering the personalities we have playing.

*AVATUS*

NathanialG wrote:

Man, the transition from Whitevale to Farside sucks. I just seemed to run out of quests in Whitevale and then I had to search online to figure out what to do.

I hit 32 this morning just 4 more levels to a nice spacious pad!

Since i PVP a lot my level tends to be higher than my quest progression and get invitations to the next zone way before i'm done with the current zone.

In Whitevale i had the same issue you did until i went back to finish my path quests and realized the place is GINORMOUS and quests are all over the place. If you get lost like that again i recommend checking out the blank spots on your map or just finish the zones path quests. By the time you do all of them you've unlocked 80-90% of the zones quest hubs.

Double post

I'll echo Ran; Whitevale is just an absurdly huge region. I'm actually getting a little impatient to finally progress to another zone just for some variety! The zombie/mutant crater area in the west isn't really that much of a break from the rest of the zone.

However, in spite of wanting a change of scenery, I do like how internally varied Whitevale is, especially going from the far east of the region to the far west.