115507-mmorpgcom-interview-donatelli-moore-respond-to-concerns

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http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/632/feature/9004/WildStar-Donatelli-Moore-Respond-to-Concerns.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/WildStar/comments/2iocy0/mike_donatelli_and_chad_moore_respond_to_concerns/
 
Some very interesting things in the interview.
 
If you read between the lines, there are some very big deal "soft" confirmations of upcoming changes and additions	
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Donatelli: We merged drop 3 and 4 together. So drop “3 and 4” or The Defile and Journey to Omnicore-1 still have weeks of testing to go but our target is early to mid-November.
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I agree with the post above. I appreciate their honesty in responding, although in my opinion as an ex studio exec in online gaming I also know some of those answers are high in pr over *real talk*. Hey its business, I get it.The one thing I found most alarming was this: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.
 
If that happens and the game goes free to play. I think you will see a mass exodus of players. I will be one of them and many of my friends and guild mates as well.Its been my experience that most f2p games tend to be a bit toxic in environment. Not to mention the nickel and dime. Seriously people, do the math-its far better to pay the 15 a month over being pinged for every little thing.No its not all sunshine and rainbows for the game right now. Too many players want to see Carbine fail if one is to believe the hype posted on their Nexus Reports and the vitriol spewed on these forums.I *personally* want them to succeed. I know many, many in the community want them to succeed also. As for those who want the fail, I am wondering why they are even around.Ok sure Carbine was a bit arrogant in their launch and the type of game they hyped. It drew a "certain niche" of player who strives to be elitist. But the reality is thats not enough to keep a company afloat as we are all witness to right now. Casuals will keep the game afloat so adding changes to accommodate that is a *huge* step in the right direction imo.Just don't forget the upper percents player--yes its possible to have a game that can appeal to both. Not all raids have to be something the casuals won't see.People love to clown lfr in wow but the reality is its helped the game. You don't like lfr? Fine don't use it. I was a heroic raider in wow since its inception and addition to the game and loved it. It never hurt us when years later, LFR was added. But I digress.As a note, changes to the model systems aren't as easy as some would want to incorporate. Its not a simple thing to just add this or that or make adjustments to one system or another. If you haven't done this for a living, you have no idea how much work goes into this stuff. Give them the time they need. Yeah they may have dropped the ball in your opinion. They picked it back up, were very public in saying oops and are struggling now to fix it. Bravo Carbine. It took guts.Sadly though, in the current state not many in the community are willing to cut them a ton of slack. I just personally think the company needs to be very cautious right now in how much they ride, on the hybrid drop 3/4.Also, Carbine as an aside please stop using the terms "BUG FREE" its not going to happen. Bugs will pop up. Once you stabilize the systems you are adjusting, things will be cool. Expect bugs. Saying bug free just opens the door for problems and people who will look for every little glitch or bug so they can clown you.I wish them all the success in the world and I will be here to support them as they adjust.But if they decide to hit the f2p option, then its time to say adios.My 2 cents	
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Poking ones head into any of the sites where Wildstar is discussed outside of the official forums, you see tons and tons of people asking for F2P; it's even requested twice in the first three comments on the article.
 
I'd say this is super bad news for people who are against F2P.	
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The true issue from a players side is that the game is becoming not fun now.
 
Yes it is a challenge in every way in so far as a raider. Learning the fights and all. but various rng bugs spoil all work devoted to learning said fights.
No much of that rng can probably be attributed to what various players do in a raid.
 
The issue I see is that there is nothing other then raiding.
You level your character, get you various faction reputation to max and now what do you have? Nothing.
If you do not belong to a large guild you will not be raiding much if at all. Forget Datascape and hope for GA.
 
Insert RIFT version of expanded dungeons for those at level 50 that do not have the people for a raid and can do 5 man extended dungeons that have added paths...that a explorer or scientist could discover  and have extra bosses and objectives in them the group can do. Solo dungeons is not the route.
 
Also just because you belong to a average size Wildstar playing guild does not mean you have enough to raid every night, you might get 1 or 2 raid nights and what can you get done those nights...hopefully alot but maybe not and then you lose players because of it.
 
This is not to be a what is wrong, but what might be a cure for those players that do like the game enough to stick around, not those that left and have moved onto the next game at hand.
If a dev can create "new" content in a new area, they can create "continued" content and bridge it off existing dungeon content.	
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			Haha f2p basically confirmed. If he said something along the lines of we are 100% against f2p I would be thinking otherwise	
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@Fauste
 
The plain and simple truth..this game is not worth a buy in of $60 plus $16/m to the general mmo consumer.  How can I prove such a statement?  Just look at launch to now and your proof is there. 
 
I completely agree w/you on your opinion of f2p, & every once in awhile I give a new f2p mmo a try just to remember I suppose why I don't play that garbage model.  Also Wildstar doesn't have an established IP like GW, Final Fantasy, Warcraft, StarWars, ElderScrolls, etc...no nostalgic feelings or outside influences (books, movies, comics, games) to deepen that connection, memorable epic characters, or even a unique plot and story.
 
One major issue I think this company will also run into is it's just another theme park in a genre filled to the rim with themeparks far more well established, optimized, and polished.  The genre is in dire need of well done Western published/developed sandbox.  
 
Yes the combat is fun!  But for many starting out it's just messy, and always attacking in the X plain raises eyebrows not in a good way.  But damn I do enjoy those bg's a bunch when two equally geared and skilled teams go at it.
 
It makes no sense to believe drop 3&4 alone w/o changing the paywall model will actually change anything, and why implement mega servers just for drop 3&4 when the community can easily fit in a few servers now?  The mega server result is the solution to an upcoming change in the payment model.  As long as players continue to support f2p cash shop models we will see companies produce sub model games with no real threat/less if it works out or not, Im sure NCsoft has had a backup plan since the start...boomboxes for example among other things.
 
NCsoft: Game is ready, here's your release date.
Carbine: We're not ready yet!
NCsoft: You have been at this since 2005, we announced 2007, you're going live.
Carbine: We haven't tested enough!  This could be detrimental to a submodel mmo, we have seen this before in this genre!
NCsoft: Thats ok, the data shows we will pad our pockets enough within the first year with the buy in, sub, paid transfers, and credd system.  With plan B setup to change after the first year, look at the rest of the "flops" and all the revenue they bring in w/the cash shop.  It's a go, push it for release!
Carbine: ok....
 
We have to remember this is not some game being published by a company supporting one mmo, this is a publisher w/six mmo's!
 
Can NCsoft even get away w/a b2p model w/Wildstar? and if so would there even be a difference for the player and game from a b2p or f2p?  I don't know? Look at GW2, the amount of crap pumped into that b2p cash shop compared to the content produced outside of that is a joke, now compare to f2p cash shop models and the content & xpacs they're producing.
 
Time will tell, but it wouldn't surprise me if we see something winter or spring in the model Carbines using.	
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If they go to a F2P model, I really hope it's something closer to what TSW did than SWTOR.  Basically the idea is that vanity items are cash - costumes, mounts, titles, etc - and it's a pretty constant and exhaustive list of items, with new things cropping up all the time.  Patches are very major, launched 2-4 times a year, and there's a minimal cost for those as well - $10-$15 per I think.  Subscribers get all the patches for free, and a fair bit of coin from the cash shop to buy cool costumes and titles and pets, plus some xp or rep boost potions, and F2P players get the basic game to explore without cost.
 
I consider it win-win.  No welfare epics, no raiding tax, nothing close to a B2P or P2W model.  Cash shop is pure vanity stuff, cosmetic, or things to help alts - not game breaking - subscribers have incentive to keep subscribing, and game remains viable.
 
To me, the biggest opportunities for WildStar to make some extra funds are on vanity costume pieces (since we have costume slots and sets), maybe some cool mounts, in game pets, and housing decor.  It's not required, but an awesome part of the game, and I know a lot of folks who will spend a fair bit to have cool looking toons, dyes, and houses.  Yet - nothing to stop anyone from getting the full game experience for minimal cost, either.	
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			If anything, they should make it free to buy, give you a month free trial subscription and then to continue, you can get a real subscription.  I think that would be so much better than F2P.	
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.....If you read between the lines,
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Haha f2p basically confirmed. If he said something along the lines of we are 100% against f2p I would be thinking otherwise
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If anything, they should make it free to buy, give you a month free trial subscription and then to continue, you can get a real subscription.  I think that would be so much better than F2P.
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I think Im missing something, but how does mega servers make one bit of difference in Wildstar?  Carbine has already given open free transfers, most have already gone to Pergo & ST and we're nowhere near a population to even come close to a queue even during peak hours?
 
or does everyone have their bets placed on drop 3 & 4 alone bringing back the exodus of players that have left plus new ones?  I need to find these patch notes.	
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WildStar is in a very precarious position, and has been for a few months. At this point, the devs probably have no idea whether or not the game will be able to continue under the current payment model, and, in spite of some people's claims, we have no idea how much patience NCSoft has with Carbine. If WildStar brings in enough revenue after the megaservers and changes, they won't need to switch to F2P. If it doesn't, they will. There's no point in saying "we are 100% against F2P" when they don't know the effect that megaservers and the next drop will have on subscriber numbers.
 
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Precarious position for a few months you say?  It hasn't even been out 4 months.  It's still in diapers as far as MMOs are concerned, and there hasn't been enough time to make any kind of determination about its profitability.
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They announced megaservers and started offering free transfers off low population servers over a month ago. That decision didn't come out of nowhere.
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I liked what I saw in the interview.  It certainly shows that they have something in the pipeline that is very similar to what I was hoping for when he was talking about that "short term play-sessions" (whatever the verbiage was).  Here's to hoping for more love towards the Shiphands system and maybe that re-working of the Bronze, Silver, Gold system :)
 
As far as the F2P comment, that can be taken either way.  I can see where someone might think that was a surreptitious "confirmation of F2P", but I can also see how it could be interpreted as a very polite way of saying, "Yeah, we've heard you, but, not a snow-ball's chance in hell is that gonna happen".  It's hard to know without actually being present for their internal discussions.  Although, If I was there, I would hope they would serve lunch.  The last meeting I was in, the company that was hosting us bought us all Dion's Subs.  Good stuff...good, good stuff...	
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I think Im missing something, but how does mega servers make one bit of difference in Wildstar?  Carbine has already given open free transfers, most have already gone to Pergo & ST and we're nowhere near a population to even come close to a queue even during peak hours?
 
or does everyone have their bets placed on drop 3 & 4 alone bringing back the exodus of players that have left plus new ones?  I need to find these patch notes.
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I also keep trying to explain this - essentially we have megaservers right now. Apart from losing our guild perks when we transferred, Stormtalon = Entity.
 
Everyone has their hopes pinned on Drop 3. Everything rests on this patch. It is a re-launch of the game.
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honestly, I dont get people.... So many of us has been waiting for WOW Vanilla to come back, finally when we got it in Wildstar...we complain that is too hard.....
I missed time when good players run around in epic gear and bad players run around in greenies....good players could be recognized , they raid...they succeded.... players without "skill" could just walk around , do easier dungeons and try to improove... this is the way of REAL mmorpg...
 
and f2p... will destroy it all... because right when f2p would launch devs would be forced to tune content to mass of casual players.......give them free epics, free access to raids, etc....	
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MMORPG.com: Drop 4 was due to contain a number of class, itemization and balance fixes, particularly for support roles. With a 3-month cadence, that would put delivery in Feb 2015. Is this still the case?
 
Donatelli: We merged drop 3 and 4 together. So drop “3 and 4” or The Defile and Journey to Omnicore-1 still have weeks of testing to go but our target is early to mid-November.
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http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10/09/the-nexus-telegraph-extra-wildstars-deafening-silence/
 
ouch..	
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http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10/09/the-nexus-telegraph-extra-wildstars-deafening-silence/
 
ouch..
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Please show Chua one article on Joystiq, which is not biased or just plain bad.
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http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10/09/the-nexus-telegraph-extra-wildstars-deafening-silence/
 
ouch..
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So designing a game for a niche is unthinkable blasphemy, is it?  News flash, most games in existence have specific targeted audiences.
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Niche huh, thats the word players use to call this a success.
 
and did you even bother reading, he also quoted w/a link, but don't worry I will save you the trouble.
 
"I will be speaking to this very issue in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for a more detailed answer. But a short-term answer is that we never set out to design our entire game to be “hardcore”. From the very beginning, our core philosophy was “play the way you want to play”, and we designed WildStar for all of the different kinds of players that play MMOs – whether they be casuals, crafters, or raiders. That being said, some of our core systems need to be adjusted to make them more accessible, and as those adjustments come online, you will see that perception about WildStar being only for the hardcore begin to change. In terms of future content, we are definitely making adjustments to out designs based on what players are asking for – including more options for solo players and groups in the elder game."
 
http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10/09/the-nexus-telegraph-extra-wildstars-deafening-silence/
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/632/feature/9004/WildStar-Donatelli-Moore-Respond.html
 
doesn't sound like Carbine initially wanted, or wants now a "niche" community.
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It may be a lil jaded due to a lack of response from Carbine, but atleast he is doing his job instead of asking carebear redundant questions like,
 
"Do you think WildStar’s launch was a success?"
 
"Do you think that players have lost interest? Was there an aspect or nuance of the MMO market that you hadn’t anticipated?"
 
"With Jeremy Gaffney’s recent departure, who is in charge of WildStar at Carbine?"
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I can see what you mean, but there is a difference between free transfers to stormtalon and a mega server.  Not everyone reads the forums, or has heard that ST is the server to move to.  Not to mention the new people that might be just starting the game and pick a any server available.
 
I'm looking forward to the mega server.  WIll it solve everything? I don't know.  I'll see when I log on in that morning and queue for an instance.  If It's less then a 2-3 hour wait as DPS that will be an improvement.
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Those you think are carebare questions?  I thought they were asking tough but fair questions.
 
Carebear questions would have been something along the lines of, "What kind of new content do you think will excite players in your new drop?" or "What has been the most difficult part of the process behind implementing your megaservers?"
 
 
snip*
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So what?  MMOs are a constantly evolving product.  Doesn't change the fact that the initial design and marketing favored dedicated and patient players, and I'll continue to support them as long as they don't completely stop making new content that requires that kind of investment on my part.
 
The day you can pug a brand new vet dungeon to completion in under an hour on your first try is the day I start looking for a new game.
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I'd be looking for my hiking boots then.
 
The games not going to pull out of free fall until they make the end-game "more accessible," and carbine knows it
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I'd be looking for my hiking boots then.
 
The games not going to pull out of free fall until they make the end-game "more accessible," and carbine knows it
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The only thing the game needs is to fix RNG itemization, gear progression, and risk/reward issues, and then refrain from adding any new attunements in the future that make no sense (silvers really didn't make sense, and neither did forcing you to do the steps in a specific order).  Also bugs.
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Please show Chua one article on Joystiq, which is not biased or just plain bad.
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What does that have to do with anything? Six months ago Massively was all about the Wildstar hype, they gave the game a great review and now they are asking the same question that many of the current and former players are all asking "if this game is so great, why is it in so much trouble right now?"
 
This article didn't make up or deny facts. They didn't say "we hate this game and want it to be shut down." It did not attempt to hide the fact that it was an op-ed piece. It reported that they were invited to ask several questions about the current state of the game, and those questions have not been answered over a week later. It presented the questions that were asked, tough ones to be sure, and then also presented some of the answers given to much softer questions from another site and found them to be quite non-specific when the time for non-specific questions is past; this thread ( https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/115520-say-no-to-f2p/ ) exists largely because of the stilted and waffling answers given in that interview.
 
Is it an opinion piece? Yes, it even says so in the article's search tags. Is it making anything up? No. They're calling out Carbine for inviting them to ask questions about the sate of the game, and then avoiding giving those answers; and biased or unbiased, that's what they're supposed to do.
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What does that have to do with anything? Six months ago Massively was all about the Wildstar hype, they gave the game a great review and now they are asking the same question that many of the current and former players are all asking "if this game is so great, why is it in so much trouble right now?"
 
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snip*
 
Anything targeting raids at this point is trying to make it easier or at least more regular for people to get into them that aren't there yet. 
 
and I think that's a great thing, I personally enjoyed (outside of bugs) the difficulty and accessibility of SWTOR raiding in the first year, and WOTLK too.  Some may scoff at that, but it was accessible for those that wanted to be apart of something w/o dedicating stupid amounts of time.
 
 I'm wondering more about why everyone seems to have this thing against the raiding population and to criticize Carbine for catering to them when they've released no new content for raiders and their largest major change outside bug fixes was making attunement easier.
 
Obviously I can't speak for others, but this whole marketing to hardcore pve and esport crowd to pad launch wallets is damn annoying, mmo's can't cater to every gaming crowd out there and needs to stop trying.  There is plenty of RPG's and esport games that do that well.
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snip*
 
Anything targeting raids at this point is trying to make it easier or at least more regular for people to get into them that aren't there yet. 
 
and I think that's a great thing, I personally enjoyed (outside of bugs) the difficulty and accessibility of SWTOR raiding in the first year, and WOTLK too.  Some may scoff at that, but it was accessible for those that wanted to be apart of something w/o dedicating stupid amounts of time.
 
 I'm wondering more about why everyone seems to have this thing against the raiding population and to criticize Carbine for catering to them when they've released no new content for raiders and their largest major change outside bug fixes was making attunement easier.
 
Obviously I can't speak for others, but this whole marketing to hardcore pve and esport crowd to pad launch wallets is damn annoying, mmo's can't cater to every gaming crowd out there and needs to stop trying.  There is plenty of RPG's and esport games that do that well.
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It does come off as pretty bitter, especially since Carbine's been very up front in the past that NCSoft won't allow them to give those numbers.  We're not told specifically what Carbine said when they invited these questions, but in the case of up front player numbers, they literally can't.  The rest seems to be asking what specifically they're releasing to attract small group players and soloers, which seems pretty obvious (just about everything they've released so far and due to be released in drop 3-4 isn't for raiders).  Then they seem to call Carbine out for answering some pretty tough questions from a better article that went into the chain of command for the company, the game's upcoming direction, it wasn't asking nice questions.  But they were certainly questions Carbine should answer.
 
Maybe the writer will get a response back, maybe not.  Seems like nine days later they're ready to come to their own conclusions, despite it being fairly apparent that Carbine is making a lot of content for soloers and small group players, it just can't be made fast enough, even at a monthly clip, to satisfy them.  It also seems to reject the idea that buggy content was important.
 
I wouldn't necessarily call it very journalistic.  I don't think anyone's saying the game doesn't have a population problem (Donatelli and Rey were pretty clear that they did in the last aired Nexus Report and the game wasn't where they want it to be), but from where I'm sitting, they feel, from both player feedback and media feedback, that there is absolutely no way they can replace the lost players or invite them back before fixing those issues specifically.  If the front page of the forum is full of "where's the content?" then that's something they can live with because it has an answer.  If the front page is nothing but people calling the game buggy, sloppy, and incompetent, there isn't advertisement in the world that's going to change it.
 
I'm not sure what the author wants, other than the team reiterating what's already coming in this drop and what they've revealed in the next.  None of it is aimed at the raiding crowd unless you count the gearing changes that also work in the adventures, dungeons, et al.  Anything targeting raids at this point is trying to make it easier or at least more regular for people to get into them that aren't there yet.  I'm wondering more about why everyone seems to have this thing against the raiding population and to criticize Carbine for catering to them when they've released no new content for raiders and their largest major change outside bug fixes was making attunement easier.
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I can completely understand the bitterness though: as I said six months ago Massively was on the Wildstar hype train, much like a huge number of people who are playing the game and who no longer playing, and now Carbine is giving a bunch of stilted and non-specific answers to questions that need direct answers. They invited Massively to ask their questions, and now are avoiding answering those questions: I'd be a little butthurt too.
 
Yes, the questions are definitely more combative, but it's because they're the same player questions that keep getting asked over and over and not getting answered. The time for keeping your cards close to your chest has ended: WoW and SWTOR have major expansions coming out this winter; I'm sure that Rift, LOTOR and TERA have major stuff on the way as well; and of course we're also about to get our yearly drops of Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty and Borderlands. There's is too much out there available as alternatives to keep spouting the same "there's lots of cool stuff coming in drop 3 with more cool plans for after that too." Everyday players are closing up their wallets, canceling their accounts and saying "no more of my money until you give some real reasons to pay for this."
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Thing is, it's not Carbine's hand to play.  Carbine, I'm assuming, is telling us all they legally can about what's in development and it's almost all aimed directly at the casual crowd.  If you're talking about the stuff they aren't answering, I'm not sure they're Carbine's questions to answer.  I get a very distinct feeling that it's not Mike Donatelli concerned with muting himself and keeping secrets...
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I think that's the thing.  They didn't market to raiders any more than housing enthusiasts, but nobody calls this "the housing game".  I mean, I know what made the news was 40 man raids because everyone wanted that old school vanilla WoW vibe, but Carbine advertised a lot more.  They called it difficult.  It's sort of a strange combination of players fetishizing raiding (especially what we did in 40 man vanilla WoW raids) coupled by most people's inability to do them.  It was built up to be this huge focus of the game by the public, but there are only two raids and our first, what look like, 4 original content drops contained no more raids.
 
Basically, this game has a reputation for being raider-centric completely at odds with anything Carbine actually did.  And even with the game out, the first two patches dropped, the third and fourth combined for the next, and all the ways they've made it easier for casual players so far, people still seem to *cupcake* at Carbine for being so adoring to the raids.
 
I mean, yeah, I knew the game would be harder than other MMORPGs, that's why I'm here.  But I came because it was harder across the board.  I still can't figure out where Wildstar gets this reputation for being nothing but hardcore raids for hardcore raiders.  Personally, if a game releases with two raids and drops nothing for them except attunement easements, and I didn't know it was Wildstar, I'd have called that a pretty small-ball kind of game.
 
I mean, where's the hardcore?  I see the game's hard, but having played some really time-consuming games, Wildstar wouldn't even make my top five truly hardcore MMORPGs.  It just ranks up there as one of, if not the, most difficult.
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For things they aren't allowed to talk about, it's easy enough for them to copy/paste some PR speak redirecting those questions to NCSoft
 
Bailing out on an interview they initiated is much worse than simply admitting there are things they can't talk about
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I don't have a straight answer for that, hardcore (pve & pvp) maybe are less about "hard" and more about accessibility.  If you were not carried, or have excess amount of time at launch to now to dive deep into this ratings esport bs mmo PvP you're just fodder for the hardcore.  If you can't devote 3-4h multiple times a week to raiding, or even the attunement process falling behind what's left for the new or casual player?
 
Want good PvP?  Allow skill to shine over stats, rating rewards can be plentiful through other means like mounts, skins, flair, costumes, titles, etc..make it easy for new players to jump in and start having fun.
 
Limit the fun or accessibility to what I mentioned above what's left?  RP (I suppose if you're into that, but we know many aren't), crafting (meh), paths (fun once through), shiphand (fun a few times I suppose), adventures (ok), housing (cute and all, but not really endgame), alts (many already there), and dailies. 
 
Casuals need to have something to strive for within their limits, and that's why many play mmo's instead of a esport or hardcore rpg.  If we were short on raid night in WoW, SWTOR, or GW2 all we had to do was post up a pug or guildy and off we went.
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I don't have a straight answer for that, hardcore (pve & pvp) maybe are less about "hard" and more about accessibility.  If you were not carried, or have excess amount of time at launch to now to dive deep into this ratings esport bs mmo PvP you're just fodder for the hardcore.  If you can't devote 3-4h multiple times a week to raiding, or even the attunement process falling behind what's left for the new or casual player?
 
Want good PvP?  Allow skill to shine over stats, rating rewards can be plentiful through other means like mounts, skins, flair, costumes, titles, etc..make it easy for new players to jump in and start having fun.
 
Limit the fun or accessibility to what I mentioned above what's left?  RP (I suppose if you're into that, but we know many aren't), crafting (meh), paths (fun once through), shiphand (fun a few times I suppose), adventures (ok), housing (cute and all, but not really endgame), alts (many already there), and dailies. 
 
Casuals need to have something to strive for within their limits, and that's why many play mmo's instead of a esport or hardcore rpg.  If we were short on raid night in WoW, SWTOR, or GW2 all we had to do was post up a pug or guildy and off we went.
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Although I think the Massively article is a bit of hubris, especially for gaming journalism, this isn't quite correct:
 
 
 
{| class="blockquote"
The writer clearly says some questions WERE answered, with "damage control spin".  So it sounds like they answered Eliot to some extent, they're sure as hell not being "silent".
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			VicVanMeter needs to have my babies with that post^.	
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{| class="blockquote"
Although I think the Massively article is a bit of hubris, especially for gaming journalism, this isn't quite correct:
 
 
 
 
This part was referring to answers given to other sites, not Massively. So the contention that there's been silence after being invited to present questions still stands. It's not exactly the end of the world but I do think that writer (who obviously has a chip on the shoulder concerning Wildstar atm) has some legit points to make about Carbine.
 
That aside, I thought most of the author's questions were meh. Not particularly useful unless you're out to prove that people in big businesses lie/change their minds, and that's nothing new to me. :P  But some of his criticisms do hold weight; why would they create communities if they started with the intention to destroy them?
 
Not a question that's very relevant from a gamer/gameplay point of view, again it's more about principles and stuff that's kind of whatever in context. But it seems legit to me to call out inconsistencies now and then!
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{| class="blockquote"
Because it was the only thing they could do at the time?  For roleplayers specifically, all it took was typing "Roleplaying" into a server comment section.
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{| class="blockquote"
Although I think the Massively article is a bit of hubris, especially for gaming journalism, this isn't quite correct:
 
 
 
 
This part was referring to answers given to other sites, not Massively. So the contention that there's been silence after being invited to present questions still stands.
 
 
 
 
Speaking from personal opinion though, the last part about truly addressing core problems seems like a bogus assertion. From what I've seen Carbine HAS addressed pretty much every single core concern, even if the answers aren't to everyone's liking. And I thought most of the author's questions were meh, not particularly useful unless you're out to prove that people in big businesses lie/change their minds, and that's nothing new to me. :P  But some of his criticisms do hold weight; why would they create communities if they started with the intention to destroy them?
 
Not a question that's very relevant from a gamer/gameplay point of view, again it's more about principles and stuff that's kind of whatever in context. But it seems legit to me to call out inconsistencies now and then!
 
 
edited for clarity
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{| class="blockquote"
If we were short on raid night in WoW, SWTOR, or GW2 all we had to do was post up a pug or guildy and off we went.
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{| class="blockquote"
Well we don't know it was the only thing they could do, which I think is the point of asking. :P  The author of the article provides a link that purportedly undermines that assertion anyway; I didn't go digging for the Gaffney quote though, so I won't defend him much.
 
I'm just saying, it's a legit question that hasn't been clearly addressed to my knowledge. Some folks are claiming the Massively article is total poop, but I feel it has some redeeming value, even if I don't care for it much as a whole.
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{| class="blockquote"
So certainly not "silence".  They're obviously in contact and not rebuffing the journalist.
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{| class="blockquote"
In my mind, launching in 2014 with anything but a megaserver is like living in the 90s.  There is no reason or excuse to ever divide your player base by arbitrary server lines in 2014 so I hardly question this transition, and it's actually reassuring to me to hear that they wanted to do this from the start.
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{| class="blockquote"
Well we don't know it was the only thing they could do, which I think is the point of asking. :P  The author of the article provides a link that purportedly undermines that assertion anyway; I didn't go digging for the Gaffney quote though, so I won't defend him much.
 
I'm just saying, it's a legit question that hasn't been clearly addressed to my knowledge. Some folks are claiming the Massively article is total poop, but I feel it has some redeeming value, even if I don't care for it much as a whole.
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{| class="blockquote"
Well I'm kinda confused now. Your first post seemed to be criticizing Massively, while this one is criticizing Carbine while patting them on the back?
 
I think Elliot's point was this: You should have had the megaserver at launch, you didn't, so instead you created communities with the intention to destroy them within 6 months.
 
I don't know what Carbine's situation was at launch and won't speculate, but it does seem a little short-sighted to go the route they went. Particularly when you've spent most of your time on a server like Evindra, where this destruction of communities is actually a very big deal to lots of players. :(
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Vic, is your underlying assertion that games journalism is real journalism?
 
Is it your assertion that journalism is real journalism? :P
 
Most of these people live on the same carrion meat that the rest of modern society feeds on. that's my rosy opinion, anyway! I don't think there's a lot of integrity going on in the world right now in general, regardless of profession, so I don't typically hold games journalism to a high standard.  /personal opinion
 
 
That said, I do think there are more questions unanswered than you're sharing. Mine would be one that Elliot was focusing on: Why would you create community identities with the intention to destroy them (which is the the unfolding of Carbine's recent statements), and didn't you think this would be a big problem? Other questions come from this, if a direct answer was given; like were there other possibilities you considered aside from megaservers, how much of this decision to implement megaservers is a direct consequence of shrinking servers rather than the foresight you seem to be projecting as the main reason, etc. etc.
 
Not that I expect real answers to these. We're all just pawns in the game of thrones, after all... :ph34r:
 
 
edit: Oh and the easy answer to why would you create them with the intention of destroying them is "we couldn't do it then, but we can now", however, that overlooks the main ingredient of the question... which is not "why, technically could this happen or not happen",  but  "why, from the point of view of a person who cares about communities, did you decide on this specific course of action".
 
Just trying to preempt what I think is the obvious reply haha.	
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{| class="blockquote"
Vic, is your underlying assertion that games journalism is real journalism?
 
Is it your assertion that journalism is real journalism? :P
 
Most of these people live on the same carrion meat that the rest of modern society feeds on. that's my rosy opinion, anyway! I don't think there's a log of integrity going on in the world right now in general, regardless of profession, so I don't typically hold games journalism to a high standard.  /personal opinion
 
 
That said, I do think there are more questions unanswered than you're sharing. Mine would be one that Elliot was focusing on: Why would you create community identities with the intention to destroy them (which is the the unfolding of Carbine's recent statements), and didn't you think this would be a big problem? Other questions come from this, if a direct answer was given; like were there other possibilities you considered aside from megaservers, how much of this decision to implement megaservers is a direct consequence of shrinking servers rather than the foresight you seem to be projecting as the main reason, etc. etc.
 
Not that I expect real answers to these. We're all just pawns in the game of thrones, after all... :ph34r:
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{| class="blockquote"
The red highlight is mine.  The answer's pretty simple: anything but the two raids and the PVP if you don't want to PVP.  Which aren't much of the game, honestly.  Raids are two instances that require attunement and a 20 or 40 people.  You named a ton of stuff to do in your post (and mentioned why you wouldn't want to do them, which begs the question what exactly a casual is looking for if content that doesn't take long isn't taking long enough to be interesting), and didn't mention things like dungeons, challenges, world content, and others.
 
Again, raids are a very small part of this game that, for some reason, are a very big part of everyone's chatter.  Almost all of this game is casual and accessible.  Once you hit 50, raids are the only things you can't queue directly into.  Yeah, you'll get your ass bit off because you didn't gear up, but I'm constantly wondering where the Hell this criticism comes from.
 
Wildstar has TWO RAIDS.  It launched with them!  How is this game raid-centric?  They'll get one more by January, and we'll have gotten a TON of content for everyone else before then.  Drop 3-4 is entirely focused around casual players unless you count bug fixes in the raids or that the gearing affects raids as well.  The previous two didn't have anything for the raiders.
 
That's the issue I have.  "Casual" players don't ever really come off as casual players, they come off as people disappointed they don't think they have the time or skill to raid.  What else could they possibly announce they're doing that would actually stop people from whining about how "hardcore" it is?  Make sure all pieces of content can be cleared solo in ten minutes?  Maybe that's hyperbole, but casual players have a LOT in front of them.  For all intents and purposes, this game is almost completely built out of difficult, but easily accessible bite-size parts.  There are four things I know of that take more than practice and an hour, raids, attunement, building a good warplot, and raising your RPVP rating.  Of those, attunement is easily done in bite size chunks, warplots and RPVP simply take time to raise ratings, and that leaves nothing but raids as the sole thing in this game that doesn't get handled in bites in a few nights.  That's if you are talking about doing the entire raid in one night.
 
I'm not sure, maybe people are subconsciously not pleased that you have to be in a raiding guild anymore.  One thing about getting older, getting married, and having kids is that you tend to draw into your own little castle and you don't want to get together with 20 or 40 people on some set night.  I'm not sure why raiding, of all things, is catching so much vitriol or becoming so damn important to the discussion.  It feels like people don't like it because they don't want raiding to exist, just things they can do in 15-30 minutes whenever they feel like it to reach the end of the game in a month.  Considering it'll have been well over half a month since launch when a third 20 man raid is introduced, I just don't buy that there's any evidence Carbine's done anything BUT answer the concerns of non-raiding gamers so far.
 
So the only thing that people seem to want is the end of raiding, because they can't do it and they don't want something to exist that they don't want to do.  That's just unacceptable.  If you can't raid, you should be okay with that.  I don't raid, I don't think it's in any way fair to yell at Carbine that someone on my schedule hasn't beaten Datascape yet.
 
EDIT:  I should add though, trying to turn all games into esports is absolutely annoying.  Totally with you on that.  Hopefully, Drop 3-4 will change the marketing a bit.  What this game needs is a good free trial period after the game is "fixed" and to get those old players to try again and see what's changed.
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I think the fact that there's so much disagreement within this thread about the value of the Massively editorial speaks volumes to how damaging the lack of specific answers to player questions has been.
 
There are a huge number of concerns that know won't be solved in Drop 3 (things like balancing support roles and non-raiding progression), so people are asking the very reasonable questions "if my issues aren't being addressed with Drop 3, then what is being done; and when can I expect to see that?" When you're asking players, who've already put out $60 or more on a game that they're finding to be unsatisfactory, to continue to give them $15 a month, you have to start coming up with better answers than "we've got some really cool stuff coming sometime after Drop 3."
 
My patience is shot, and so is the patience of a whole ton of players. I don't have it in me to defend the lack of specific answers anymore.
 
Close to two months ago an officer in my guild went off on an hysterical rant in TeamSpeak about Carbine's silence over the falling server populations. I tried to calmly explain to him that I was also frustrated at the low populations but you simply can't expect them to acknowledge the issue until they have a solution that they know they can execute, because, whether he cared or not, they have to be able to answer the next logical questions "ok, so what are you going to do about it; and when can we expect to see it?". He flipped out on me: practically screaming at me some sort of non-sense about had they even expressed a vision for the game; TV networks know what they're doing three years from now, does Carbine; I don't want to know how the sausages are made, but what are they going to do about the populations; do they actually even want people to raid; and on, and on, and on he went for a good thirty minutes, interrupting me any time I attempted to get an intelligent word in, until I snapped at him to shut up for a second to let me finish a damn sentence. Finally another officer stepped in and asked us to end the conversation. I logged out for a few hours and cooled off. The next day I apologized for my outburst, expecting the same and instead got some more attitude about how right he was about only one chance to make an impression, most players leave without a word and never come back. So I said "screw this," quit the guild and transfered to Stormtalon (I'd been considering that for several days already, but that incident made the decision a no-brainer). While I'm much classier individual, I know when to apologize for my bad behavior, I'm finally finding myself at that same point he was at: for me, there is simply no longer any reason that I find acceptable for the failure to give us specific answers to the myriad of issues that will still exist after Drop 3.
 
You may or may not agree with the tone of the Massively editorial, but it is very reflective of the mood of huge portion of the players: if they want us to keep paying them $15 a month, which many of us will quite happily do, then start giving us reasons to.	
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{| class="blockquote"
Well I'm kinda confused now. Your first post seemed to be criticizing Massively, while this one is criticizing Carbine while patting them on the back?
 
I think Elliot's point was this: You should have had the megaserver at launch, you didn't, so instead you created communities with the intention to destroy them within 6 months.
 
I don't know what Carbine's situation was at launch and won't speculate, but it does seem a little short-sighted to go the route they went. Particularly when you've spent most of your time on a server like Evindra, where this destruction of communities is actually a very big deal to lots of players. :(
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Good reply, Vic. I agree with everything you wrote about how megaservers likely came to be.
 
This is a bit simplistic, but sometimes people deal with people and sometimes they're dealing with the machine, the uncontrollable and ever-frustrating 'script'. This is life. But it gets bad when you don't know what you're dealing with, because people can turn into the machine at the drop of a hat when you're involved in business/consumer relationships, and you might never know it. The folks most likely to make mathematical decisions will act quietly to take control because that's the smart way to go in most cases.
 
So it seems to me that the Massively article is about this problem of distrust and business. When the author felt neglected, that they had encountered the machine, they went into an offensive mode. I'm sure the stretch of limited communication and several recent big changes to how the game operates contributed to this. The result is pretty close to an attack, and it isn't so much focused on getting something productive for the community, but on trying to find out if we're dealing with the machine or with people.
 
Is that reasonable for a games journalist? I think it is, but then I'm critical of the article for making the tone and approach primarily about that, rather than maintaining a more neutral gameplay focus, which imo is what best helps the community in the end. You mentioned Teen Magazine; well I guess this Massively article is more like punditry to me. Not all pundits all stupid, whatever side of the fence they're on, you just have to realize the bias in an opinion piece and determine if it speaks to you or not.
 
 
 
 	
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{| class="blockquote"
Good read.
 
Their should be some sort of middle ground, I raided in WoW, SWTOR, and GW2 because they were all fairly accessible with different variations of difficulty.  Why is that so important (not the me part, because it's not, but variations of difficulty w/o accessibility issues)?  Community, being a part of something, and training through various difficulty.  
 
You're not raiding in Wildstar, I wont pretend I know why (red part?), but for the sake of discussion lets say it's due to time and accessibility.  Wouldnt it be great to take your crew to a raid w/o walls and the devotion of a part time job for the sense of accomplishment, teamwork, and community?   It's the glue that holds communities together from circles, guilds, and servers...that @#$% YA! vent high five.
 
To explain better, during hardmode SWTOR raids we would choose off raid nights to train and bring in players into the normal mode raids, one of our guildies was 67 years old and never got into raiding at all in this genre, not only was it a nice break to bring together the "hardcore" and "casuals" of the guild, pass down loot, and socialize but these players found a reason to stay playing outside of the dailies, crafting, and being fodder for pvp elites within their restricted schedules.
 
"For all intents and purposes, this game is almost completely built out of difficult, but easily accessible bite-size parts.  There are four things I know of that take more than practice and an hour, raids, attunement, building a good warplot, and raising your RPVP rating.  Of those, attunement is easily done in bite size chunks, warplots and RPVP simply take time to raise ratings, and that leaves nothing but raids as the sole thing in this game that doesn't get handled in bites in a few nights."
 
I will have to disagree with you here, if this wasn't the case we wouldn't see the issues and changes we have today & coming.  Everything mentioned above is what most players strive for including casual players, w/o participation in that content (minus the Warplots, we know where that stands) there is not much to do in a themepark mmo to retain the masses.
 
I won't say all casuals need something to work towards, because they don't, but plenty as the population has shown need endgame and sense of accomplishment.
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{| class="blockquote"
Good reply, Vic. I agree with everything you wrote about how megaservers likely came to be.
 
This is a bit simplistic, but sometimes people deal with people and sometimes they're dealing with the machine, the uncontrollable and ever-frustrating 'script'. This is life. But it gets bad when you don't know what you're dealing with, because people can turn into the machine at the drop of a hat when you're involved in business/consumer relationships, and you might never know it. The folks most likely to make mathematical decisions will act quietly to take control because that's the smart way to go in most cases.
 
So it seems to me that the Massively article is about this problem of distrust and business. When the author felt neglected, that they had encountered the machine, they went into an offensive mode. I'm sure the stretch of limited communication and several recent big changes to how the game operates contributed to this. The result is pretty close to an attack, and it isn't so much focused on getting something productive for the community, but on trying to find out if we're dealing with the machine or with people.
 
Is that reasonable for a games journalist? I think it is, but then I'm critical of the article for making the tone and approach primarily about that, rather than maintaining a more neutral gameplay focus, which imo is what best helps the community in the end. You mentioned Teen Magazine; well I guess this Massively article is more like punditry to me. Not all pundits all stupid, whatever side of the fence they're on, you just have to realize the bias in an opinion piece and determine if it speaks to you or not.
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You say there is tons to do outside of raids. I say the prospect of doing Crimson Badlands for the 21st time and Northern Wastes for the 18th is not exactly inspiring. I used to entertain myself with carefully prowling the AH for bargains, now I don't bother because I've bought everything that could possibly help me including the BoE raid drops for both my specs. It's pretty much down to I'm going zone to zone hunting rare monsters for the "I like it rare" achievements (finished Western Grimvault yesterday. Just picked off the Shadow Queen like 5 minutes ago). I like the world they've made. I'd like to see more of it. I am the classic Lore-a-licious sort... but 4 months later and you don't have to be a content locust to have been there, done that. Repeatedly.
 
There's just not that much here to do for anyone, so naturally what little is gated behind attunement is appealing because at least its something. Its a problem, they know its a problem, and they're working on it. Good for them. Lets hope they deliver on some of those solutions before the game fully implodes because most people are even less forgiving of raw tedium than I am.	
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{| class="blockquote"
They really need to hammer in the PR offensive.  We need to have a lot of good news in a very public way to get us excited.  And there seems to be a lot of good news in that packet of paper Donatelli had.  We really, really, REALLY need that packet of paper.
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I'm holding out for pure gameplay victory at this point. My bottom line is always gameplay, whether it's action, strategy, housing, trade, if there is a polished shiney game... they will come. :P 
The housing is amazing. Drop 3 will make it double amazing + longevity. The combat is fun. There is an insane amount of reward assets via gear, decor, FABs, costumes, dyes, mounts, flairs...  no game I've played has as many avenues of material reward as Wildstar. This doesn't mean that everyone likes that stuff, but for a player like me, omg it's heaven. If they put these rewards in the right places (EVERYWHERE), and continue on the polish course, I give Wildstar a very solid chance to bounce back.
 
If Anthony Weiner and Rob Ford can weather the storm, so can Wildstar. :lol:	
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{| class="blockquote"
You say there is tons to do outside of raids. I say the prospect of doing Crimson Badlands for the 21st time and Northern Wastes for the 18th is not exactly inspiring. I used to entertain myself with carefully prowling the AH for bargains, now I don't bother because I've bought everything that could possibly help me including the BoE raid drops for both my specs. It's pretty much down to I'm going zone to zone hunting rare monsters for the "I like it rare" achievements. I like the world they've made. I'd like to see more of it. I am the classic Lore-a-licious sort... but 4 months later and you don't have to be a content locust to have been there, done that. Repeatedly.
 
There's just not that much here to do for anyone, so naturally what little is gated behind attunement is appealing because at least its something. Its a problem, they know its a problem, and they're working on it. Good for them. Lets hope they deliver on some of those solutions before the game fully implodes because most people are even less forgiving of raw tedium than I am.
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{| class="blockquote"
If Anthony Weiner and Rob Ford can weather the storm, so can Wildstar. :lol:
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{| class="blockquote"
New PTR notes up earlier today: 
https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/115585-mystery-of-the-genesis-prime-update-notes
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{| class="blockquote"
It may be a lil jaded due to a lack of response from Carbine, but atleast he is doing his job instead of asking carebear redundant questions like,
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{| class="blockquote"
Bad examples, Weiner resigned, then lost when he ran for public office again. Ford is declining to run in the next election.
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{| class="blockquote"
Well they both seemed to call in their own second storms, the point was that after major scandals (especially Ford) they both survived and tried again! Now... yea, they're screwed. I think Ford has cancer, best of luck to him. :(
 
Btw thanks SO much for linking those PTR notes. I just made a gen post about it because people gotta know.
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{| class="blockquote"
Is there anything actually new in all of that?  It felt like a consolidation of a few different threads, with a ton of repetition.
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{| class="blockquote"
New PTR notes up earlier today: 
https://forums.wilds...me-update-notes
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{| class="blockquote"
I mostly just skimmed it, but it seem to be a really messy mashup of stuff from all over the place
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I was kinda thinking this was the case. Though I kinda wish their target was late October :(
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{| class="blockquote"
Haha f2p basically confirmed. If he said something along the lines of we are 100% against f2p I would be thinking otherwise
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{| class="blockquote"
Seriously, I don't know what the *cupcake* those are supposed to be. A recap of "what we've done since launch" maybe? Tons of that are on Live. Of the rest, none of that is actually on the PTR since its just megaserver script testing going on right now. It certatinly doesnt' include the matching notes for the dozens of times in the last few weeks the Devs have answered "oh, that's coming in Drop 3".
 
Puzzling, really.
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{| class="blockquote"
Alot of the notes are still missing. For example all the housing music and items limitation changes are not in the notes. Those a big content changes, so its not all doom and gloom. I think they are planning to put together a proper patch notes post in the coming week. Those patch notes where for the PTR to help testing, not the official ones.
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{| class="blockquote"
I think alot of people dont understand that they are merging drops into large quaterly drops. I think alot of people are getting 3 times less content which isnt true. That said i think that we are also not getting the same amount, i think we will be getting slightly less. But not a 1/3 the content. I hope Carbine makes that clear.
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{| class="blockquote"
Ok, enough with this fantasizing that all is well. Reality check: Carbine has made it almost perfectly clear that is NOT what is happening. If that's what were happening that would have been the definitive answer to the question during the last Nexus report <paraphrased> "You've gone from monthly content releases to quarterly releases. Why should players still feel they are getting their money's worth from their monthly subscription fee?" and watching the studio head freeze like a deer in the headlights before blurting out an almost totally unrelated answer.
 
I agree: THIS drop is two packed together. The January/February drop we'll just have to see if it manages to be a triple-beefy burrito. But if they expected to be able to deliver the same amount of content as the original schedule, they'd be crowing that from the top of every Osun Tower on Nexus.
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{| class="blockquote"
It may be a lil jaded due to a lack of response from Carbine, but atleast he is doing his job instead of asking carebear redundant questions like,
 
"Do you think WildStar’s launch was a success?"
 
"Do you think that players have lost interest? Was there an aspect or nuance of the MMO market that you hadn’t anticipated?"
 
"With Jeremy Gaffney’s recent departure, who is in charge of WildStar at Carbine?"
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			Thank you for the insights into your process :).	
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Carbine is at a stage that they need criticism, not praises. Praises in beta is what got them to this stage in first place. I feel the management at Carbine is just not capable of actually managing and leading, they are riding on their haze of past glory.
 
For the love of god, PLEASE STOP saying QA doesn't have time for this and that because its 2014 and many software development include QA in their development procedure. NOT AFTER. This just reaffirms my belief that management is poor.
 
So let me spell out the current situation:
 
-- Content delayed to give QA more time.
-- Drops/Patches look like they are light on content
-- Departure of lead devs
 
We have been on that train before and we know where this train is headed.
 
 
I have to call out Donatelli (sp?) on something:
 
So you say you had megaservers planned from the beginning. Then why did you create RP ruleset, name reservations if you knew you weren't planning to keep them in first place. You really meant to say that pre order bonuses don't mean jack now because all of the names and everything got thrown out of window because of megaserver. You mean to tell me that you had this planned? Did you really admit to bait and switch and false advertising? Really?
 
If you are gonna spin things, at least attempt to spin it properly. 	
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			There is no reading between the lines....All that does it start unneeded rumors and more BS drama.	
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{| class="blockquote"
Carbine is at a stage that they need criticism, not praises. Praises in beta is what got them to this stage in first place. I feel the management at Carbine is just not capable of actually managing and leading, they are riding on their haze of past glory.
 
For the love of god, PLEASE STOP saying QA doesn't have time for this and that because its 2014 and many software development include QA in their development procedure. NOT AFTER. This just reaffirms my belief that management is poor.
 
So let me spell out the current situation:
 
-- Content delayed to give QA more time.
-- Drops/Patches look like they are light on content
-- Departure of lead devs
 
We have been on that train before and we know where this train is headed.
 
 
I have to call out Donatelli (sp?) on something:
 
So you say you had megaservers planned from the beginning. Then why did you create RP ruleset, name reservations if you knew you weren't planning to keep them in first place. You really meant to say that pre order bonuses don't mean jack now because all of the names and everything got thrown out of window because of megaserver. You mean to tell me that you had this planned? Did you really admit to bait and switch and false advertising? Really?
 
If you are gonna spin things, at least attempt to spin it properly. 
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{| class="blockquote"
As the person who wrote and submitted these questions (and all the others for the MMORPG.com interview), let me shed some light. Please understand that I'm not criticising anyone else's method here, but just explaining how I do things.
 
I generally go for a blend of gentler and more challenging questions, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I want the interviewee to open up to me, as it generally leads to more detailed, interesting answers. Picture yourself in that seat - if it feels more like an interrogation then you're more likely to clam up, or give the barest possible information. That's not good for me as someone trying to create an interesting article, and it's not good for the community that wants in-depth answers. But secondly, the gentler questions are more open-ended or open to interpretation, and how an interviewee chooses to answer them can be just as interesting. Sometimes, a subject will use them to expand on subjects that they are eager to talk about, either because they have news or information they want to share, but which my more targeted questions have missed. 
 
I also try to target my questions to the person I'm interviewing, and to what else is going on. I wouldn't ask an artist about game mechanics, and I wouldn't ask an engine programmer about music composition. By the same token, I wouldn't ask for detailed itemisation or class updates from the studio heads - I'd target the respective leads directly. On that particular subject, I knew that one of my colleagues had a crafting interview in progress, and Donatelli said on the Nexus Report that he was planning a more detailed post on the stat updates.
 
And as for the last two questions, they're still relevant for two reasons. Firstly, no game is created in a vacuum, and every developer tries to create the very best game they can. After all, happy gamers that are having fun result in a successful company. So it's useful to know, from an insight standpoint, if a studio thinks they read the market wrong. This is because it helps to frame the direction and purpose for any upcoming changes, but also because it helps to indicate where the future of MMOs as a wider genre is heading. That also goes for the people heading up a game - what experience do they have, what previous titles did they work on that might guide their decisions, what direction and opinions do they bring to the role. 
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For the love of god, PLEASE STOP saying QA doesn't have time for this and that because its 2014 and many software development include QA in their development procedure. NOT AFTER. This just reaffirms my belief that management is poor.
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For the love of god, PLEASE STOP saying QA doesn't have time for this and that because its 2014 and many software development include QA in their development procedure. NOT AFTER. This just reaffirms my belief that management is poor.
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I have to call out Donatelli (sp?) on something:
 
So you say you had megaservers planned from the beginning. Then why did you create RP ruleset, name reservations if you knew you weren't planning to keep them in first place. You really meant to say that pre order bonuses don't mean jack now because all of the names and everything got thrown out of window because of megaserver. You mean to tell me that you had this planned? Did you really admit to bait and switch and false advertising? Really?
 
If you are gonna spin things, at least attempt to spin it properly.
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Is it just me or has the quoting function on these forums been garbage lately? Either it doesn't show the quote times or it doesn't let me type outside of the quote box... frequently have to type the quote box myself to get it working. :(
 
Anyway. I brought this up yesterday as well, a reiteration of the Massively author's accusation. After a bit of thought and some conversation with Vic, I do believe it's a misrepresentation of the actual situation. Pretty sure what Carbine said was that they had, yes, planned megaservers from the start, but the technology didn't work out in time and was shelved. This means that they weren't actively going on a "Megaservers inc" course of action; they tried, it wasn't working out, the idea was set aside. Then some months later both the need + reliability of the tech went up, so they put it back in the playbook. If this is how it happened then the current accusations aren't worth squat.
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			Naw I've been using Firefox for years now. This problem just started up (or I just took notice of it) in the last week or so. Half the time I try to quote there's some random problem getting it to format properly. :(	
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			When I read that interview, all I think when I read Donatelli's and Moore's responses is, "too little, too late."	
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They knew these things would eventually change, BUT HONESTLY they cant just not have rp servers, or name reservations becuase of future plans. Thats like not having a sub just becuase you might go F2P one day. They did what they could at the time, they didnt even know when the tech would be done. Id rather they had them at launch than not, we would have cried black and blue if they did, and they knew that.
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Those things are nothing alike.
free to play is a reactionary thing that as far as i can tell most developers don't even want to do if they can avoid it.
 
RP servers are extremely communal. Setting up an RP community with a hidden agenda to destroy it later is a huge dick move
Like saying "we always planned to do this" as a lie to cover up the real reason would be preferred over that
 
as far as the article goes. outside of the obvious bitterness in the "but they don't answer" stuff, It seems everything he wrote is pretty accurate
 
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Moore: I don’t think that we have a problem with player interest. When I read the feedback on our forums, even the players that are the most frustrated are still very happy with the core game experience 
I'm right there. Great core system, fantastic combat, cool crafting, varied and fun classes, fun PvP and PvE mechanics, huge world, interesting -though basic- lore, nice graphics, good humour etc. but I believe everything else needs to be scratched out.
 
Moore: I won’t lie. It’s been a tough time for the studio. The months leading up to launch were an intense time, and now we are in the midst of making some pretty involved changes to our design and to our content based on player feedback.
 
Moore:  some of our core systems need to be adjusted to make them more accessible, and as those adjustments come online, you will see that perception about WildStar being only for the hardcore begin to change. In terms of future content, we are definitely making adjustments to out designs based on what players are asking for – including more options for solo players and groups in the elder game.
 
Those changes are indeed much needed  and they have to be DRASTIC or I believe things will get even worse.
Megaserver will certainly not be enough, not even F2P would be enough to attract new players if they do not address massive issues.
 
I believe the core of any MMO is PROGRESSION. They are progression games. People enjoy levelling their characters and once they reach max level  they continue looking for that next item/ skill/ mount/ reward etc. that will make their character more powerful or better looking or that will make them feel they have achieved something and were accordingly rewarded. Once at max level players are still going to look for a way to improve their toon, and this is where Wildstar is grealty lacking in my opinion.
 
Some players seem to think that putting a new flower pot on a window sill might be nice for casual players, but let's be honest, it's not what most players are looking for. As fun as housing may be, along with a few others limited activities at level 50, it won't suffice to retain a healthy population of players. If you can't raid because you don't have the time to do so or can't be bothered for any other reason, you need other alternatives to have fun and to keep improving your toon.
 
Keep the raids and the difficulty of course, but find alternatives to reward everyone, to give everyone a sense of achievement without it being such a chore that people get burned out or disgusted right after they reach 50.
 
Implement scalable raids/ smaller size raids and various dungeons difficulties, work on  better itemization, dungeon sets and better rewards, get rid of all that enraging gating and RGN, turn warplots into a BG for everyone to enjoy, make PvP gear grindable and not limited to sole rating, make achievements, dyes, bank slots, attuning and crafting mats account wide to foster rerolling and make life easier on the players etc. There are many other things that could be done, those are just a few examples.
 
Let players understand and show them that difficult content doesn't equal with tedious but with fun and rewarding activities. This is what Wildstar needs the most I think.
 
I've just resubed, I like Wildstar and would like it to succeed, but I believe it won't be possible without making some relevant, involved and drastic changes.	
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You're right, it came from not having megaservers ready for launch as planned, and they're almost ready now.  We have yet to have a beefy content drop.
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