121217-three-questions-from-a-returner

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With the recent announcement of Drop 4's arrival I decided to put up the cash to renew my sub. I like a lot of the changes that are coming, and I'll also say kudos on a stable contribution to the Wildstar timeline (this drop being 3 months from the last if you discount a few weeks for the holidays).
 
However... I didn't just leave the game to wait for a new drop. There are a few issues still under my skin which I think could be discussed and maybe addressed here:
 
 
1. Is there a discussion about faction imbalance? Are we going to see transfers at any point, or any kind of intersection? (raids, housing, pvp.) I spent the three months prior to my unsub watching the Dominion's numbers dwindle, and although there were new folks coming in, MMOs don't generally make it easy for lower level and capped players to integrate. The population for WS's underdog faction was not growing fast enough to offset the loss of friends and contacts and the 'last online' bug only made it worse because I didn't always know who had really ditched. I'd love to get to meet and play with some of the players from That Faction, the more stable/healthy one. And if not... why not?
 
2. Social housing— what's the deal? This was brought up a long, long time ago, and someone from Carbine did say that one version (I believe guild neighbourhoods) was going to arrive "Soon". While I realize this term has nuance it's been at least four months, and I haven't heard a word of follow up to describe what's on the menu or what vague time period it'll come in. This has been a big bummer for me since drop 3. Guild/community housing are big features that housing desperately needs right now, especially for the Dominion, because building had become an isolated experience... especially if you're not part of the RP community.
 
3. Some time around September submissions were requested for an official housing video. What happened here? With all the talk of marketing and Carbine's efforts to support the game, I can't help but wonder why this video was never released or even discussed. With the increase of decor limit from 300 to 1000 we now have even larger, more detailed plots, yet the housing forum has almost died. I'm pretty sure there are still hundreds of players building things in this game. It's also arguably Wildstar's most unique and uncontroversial feature. Are you folks able to better integrate housing into the game or is it destined to be a niche within a niche?
 
 
Overall I'm feeling positive about drop 4's gameplay changes, and the new decor pieces look awesome (pray to god the glass building blocks aren't gated behind pvp or dungeon grinds). But any info on the aforementioned topics will go a long way to keeping me around past the first few weeks of February. :ph34r:	
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With the recent announcement of Drop 4's arrival I decided to put up the cash to renew my sub. I like a lot of the changes that are coming, and I'll also say kudos on a stable contribution to the Wildstar timeline (this drop being 3 months from the last if you discount a few weeks for the holidays).
 
However... I didn't just leave the game to wait for a new drop. There are a few issues still under my skin which I think could be discussed and maybe addressed here:
 
 
1. Is there a discussion about faction imbalance? Are we going to see transfers at any point, or any kind of intersection? (raids, housing, pvp.) I spent the three months prior to my unsub watching the Dominion's numbers dwindle, and although there were new folks coming in, MMOs don't generally make it easy for lower level and capped players to integrate. The population for WS's underdog faction was not growing fast enough to offset the loss of friends and contacts and the 'last online' bug only made it worse because I didn't always know who had really ditched. I'd love to get to meet and play with some of the players from That Faction, the more stable/healthy one. And if not... why not?
 
2. Social housing— what's the deal? This was brought up a long, long time ago, and someone from Carbine did say that one version (I believe guild neighbourhoods) was going to arrive "Soon". While I realize this term has nuance it's been at least four months, and I haven't heard a word of follow up to describe what's on the menu or what vague time period it'll come in. This has been a big bummer for me since drop 3. Guild/community housing are big features that housing desperately needs right now, especially for the Dominion, because building had become an isolated experience... especially if you're not part of the RP community.
 
3. Some time around September submissions were requested for an official housing video. What happened here? With all the talk of marketing and Carbine's efforts to support the game, I can't help but wonder why this video was never released or even discussed. With the increase of decor limit from 300 to 1000 we now have even larger, more detailed plots, yet the housing forum has almost died. I'm pretty sure there are still hundreds of players building things in this game. It's also arguably Wildstar's most unique and uncontroversial feature. Are you folks able to better integrate housing into the game or is it destined to be a niche within a niche?
 
 
Overall I'm feeling positive about drop 4's gameplay changes, and the new decor pieces look awesome (pray to god the glass building blocks aren't gated behind pvp or dungeon grinds). But any info on the aforementioned topics will go a long way to keeping me around past the first few weeks of February. :ph34r:
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			If I may added something, you can use the Mentoring feature to play with low level players. I have introduce 2 of my friend to the game. They are both new and currently level 20. Thanks to the mentoring feature, I am able to rally down to their level, and play the game with them. I'm not OP and they get the exp rate they should. ^^	
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Thanks for the responses you two. I was looking for something from Carbine, since the latter two topics were basically begun by the company but saw zero follow-through, but an update from the player point of view is useful too!
 
Back to Carbine, I just logged in for the first time in about a month and, sure enough, app. 70% of my neighbour list of nearly one-hundred hasn't logged in over 1+ weeks (most of them being over a month gone). Doesn't look like the Dominion population got any healthier in my absence. About a half dozen of the regular playersI knew have left since my departure. There are a whopping three people at auction (yes, it is off-time, but still). Unless a lot of new recruits are leveling it looks like faction imbalance is still very real. And even then, as mentioned, lower level players don't help endgamers; I have zero interest in randomly doing low level content with new players. The mentor system is neat but repeating old content for players who can't possibly run anything I want to/need to run, and can't identify with my core interests, is not why I play MMOs. :P
 
Really hope you get vocal about guild neighbourhoods soon, too. Although I respect Lamenth and the team, I don't feel like anywhere near the appropriate resources have been given to the housing/social folks. To talk about something as big as linked plots back in September, issue the word "soon", and then never drop a peep over the next four months... this is a failure in my view, a big one, though I don't blame Lamenth and co. I assume they do what they can when they can; they may have been hit hard by the fall layoffs or any number of things. And yet, no word...
 
As to the housing video I mentioned, I just don't understand why Carbine would collect a huge thread of housing plots for a touted video advertising us, then, again, never speak a word of the project. Is it dead? Alive and on its way? I have no idea. And having no idea is pretty frustrating and a significant part of the reason why I left.
 
Basically I'm looking to reestablish trust and confidence. I'll bump this again later and wait another week or so, but if these three issues are going to remain in the dark I'll be unsubbing again in February for sure.	
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