126544-feedback-on-trial-from-a-wildstar-first-timer

== Content ==
			
I played that 10-day free trial, loved the game, but a couple things are still making me think:
 
1) The first, and worst, is how they completely isolated trial players.
 
I assume many players are in my situation: guild drama/burn-up on other MMOs (in my case, WoW and GW2 troubles) sent our guildies away, as in "I'm tired of this, I'll take a break 'till the expansion hits).I miss raiding with fun people, so I had to look for a game with a good PvE raiding (sorry, GW2 - but I still love you <3) and fun combat mechanics. I found it all on Wildstar.Untill I got a Group quest/needed folks to run or advise for low level dungeons.I can't whisper anyone; I can't talk in Zone chat; I can't join guilds.I had to kill Darkbite 4ish levels the recommended, just because *I have no way to even find someone else to do it with*.I'll see people saying "Joing our Guild! We have a nice chat to make your leveling more fun and help whenever we can!" - or, worst: "Anyone for Darkbite?"Right now I'm thinking, maybe I could have just /invite'd them. *sigh*. But, still: you guys understand the isolation thing.I'm a developer myself, so I keep telling myself "they're just trying to avoid spammers". But, still, I think this is ruining it for me. Specially combined with...2) The meta-rumoursI'll call them "meta", as in "not about gameplay, but about the game situation itself". What I mean is:- ZOMG, THE GAME IS GOING F2P! IF YOU BUY NOW, YOU'LL LOSE YOUR MONEY!!!111!1!;- The Steam thing. IF it's true, a) many games won't let you transition your key to Steam (which I prefer) and B) sometimes there's a sale when they get in there;I've seen the speculations, but haven't seen Carbine saying anything about that.I understand the "We won't be pressured by trolls" thing - if that's the case - but a *tweet*, like "F2P? Nope." would be enough, 'cuz, in my case, the trolling was harmful, as in "do I want to buy a game that will be free tomorrow?".Moving on...3) Trials in general; not just Wildstar'sMore experienced MMO players need some other questions answered that a trial won't answer.Population status, raid situation, community's toxicity levelWe all know leveling will be over soon. We'll spend most of our time doing things that a trial won't help understanding.This one is less focused at the devs and more on community. There might be things the devs could do, but that might not be optimal on cost-benefits tradeoff.I mean, in GW2, from level 1-2 you can already do endgame content (except PvE fractals, which are, mostly, dungeon-like, and you can experience those early on). But that's a different game-model; I can't think of a nice way of allowing low-levelers in a PvE-raid heavy game to experience that content.I found a few youtubers (a nice list on *our* ( :D) subreddit, thanks everyone involved on that!), one streamer on Twitch, and two podcasts receiving updates.This might be a hint that the game is dead, population-wise.Or that the community isn't very active outside the game...(or, that I suck at searching :P)I'm finding these three things very harmful for *my* decision. I'm saying it here mostly 'cuz, maybe, it's the situation of other less vocal people.Honestly, if I have to risk buying a game to find the same guild-situation I had in WoW, re-subbing would be less expensive and more familiar - most people will stick to familiarity.As a dev, I'd love to just pay for this game (I keep telling myself this while driving to work, every day.....) as an incentive for such a cool game, really fun and well done, at least in first levels.But, as a dev, I get a dev's income :PI was hoping I'd find a group of PEOPLE in Wildstar that'd hook me into it - trial is over, I don't know that yet, and I'm staring at $15 WoW sub versus $40 Wildstar key right now.(the $20 box isn't an option for me. it's complicated, just trust me on this :) )Just my 2 cents. Hope it's a good feedback from a trial/first-timer perspective =]	
----
			
I can understand that frustration, I guess the trial limitations are really annoying. One thing I know that you can join are circles, although they aren't very common (or at least I haven't seen very many around) largely because they have quite a small membership limitation.
 
For me it's quite important feedback. I mean, it kind of sucks how trial players are so limited in their playtime, although there is reasons why (you stated one of the reasons itself)
 
I just wish there was a simple solution, but unfortunately there isn't. As for streamers and outside activity, there is a lot, some of us not so much anymore (I stopped streaming when RBGs stopped popping, but arena is now so I might be back soon :P), but i see a lot from the RP and art community in particular. Final fantasy for example, is a huge mmo but it has hardly any streamers in comparison to the massive pop it has. 
 
Anyways, I hope you the best of luck with your decision (frankly, I'm being biased and telling you to bite the bullet and go for the key... you can make up the credds pretty easily to make up for the box price :p the community here are awesomely friendly, even if the forums suggest otherwise. In game it's so nice !)
 
Good luck with whatever you try to do and thanks for the feedback x	
----
			
As to points 1 and 2, I agree completely that those things could harm the new player experience.
 
For end game, there is a ton of stuff to do now. Some guilds have already downed the last raid boss, but others are still progressing at all levels if that is your thing. There's also a lot of solo and quick content to do if you're pressed for time, like shiphands and contracts. And of course there are the vet dungeons, which in my opinion are the most fun you'll have in 5 man content in any game on the market.
 
PvP does pop but only because the pvp community makes a concerted effort to get people into arenas and bgs.
 
I am a somewhat recently returned player and I think the game is worth a sub now.	
----
			
The 5 man dungeons ..both vet and normal mode is top notch. probably the best I've ever seen. And the combat is almost as good as GW2 combat...its much more stressfull and spamfull to be betetr than GW2's combat, but still good.
 
Pvp is probably as crap in WS as I have ever seen in any game....2 BG's pop THATS IT!!! But it also has about the same potential to be as good as the pvp king gw2..but carbine needs to prioritize that...and frankly..before they go f2p they will NEVER have the money to do it....
 
adventures and shiphand are utterly booring imo, but many ppl like them....maybe you too. 
 
The story/lore is generally quite good...but towards the end its just caos and confusion....
 
Attunement is horrid! 
 
And NO..you cant easily farm gold to buy the subscription fee with gold. A normal player would burn out by farming the amounts of gold needed....you dont have a life and play WS all day?..yea..then you can play for free!	
----
			
It's really easy to get the plat needed, do some dailies do a few shiphands once a day for a week or two. You get reputation and plat as well as other things... That's it. :/
It takes about an hour a day and is fun to do.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I miss raiding with fun people, so I had to look for a game with a good PvE raiding (sorry, GW2 - but I still love you <3) and fun combat mechanics.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
It's really easy to get the plat needed, do some dailies do a few shiphands once a day for a week or two. You get reputation and plat as well as other things... That's it. :/
It takes about an hour a day and is fun to do.
----
			I have been 50 for 3 weeks. It IS NOT easy! You basically have to concentrate on the things in game that makes gold..and not necicarely on the fun things you would like to do. It can be done..but you guys give the impression that it is easy/or fast	
----
			
Styrm you can easily make the plat just by running dailies after your elder gem cap for the week is full. We're talking about making the plat for a CREDD once a month.
 
If you run daily events every other day you'll make 30ish plat in a month easily. If you have more free time and run the dailies every day I'd be surprised if you didn't make 45-60 plat in a month.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Styrm you can easily make the plat just by running dailies after your elder gem cap for the week is full. We're talking about making the plat for a CREDD once a month.
 
If you run daily events every other day you'll make 30ish plat in a month easily. If you have more free time and run the dailies every day I'd be surprised if you didn't make 45-60 plat in a month.
----
			
I think one of the issues is that styrm is like one of the three players in the world that doesn't like vet shiphands :)
 
For the rest of us, it's a great deal of fun with a low risk of burnout :D	
----
			
Might be chores to you, but I enjoyed doing all of what was necessary to make the plat. It is super easy to do and anyone can do it even people with limited time.
 
I also play the CX/AH and make lots of plat. 
 
It is as easy as you want it to be, treat it like a chore and it wont be fun.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I think one of the issues is that styrm is like one of the three players in the world that doesn't like vet shiphands :)
 
For the rest of us, it's a great deal of fun with a low risk of burnout :D
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I dont say you cant do it..I say you can easily burn out by doing daily "chores" to make gold...
----
			Good selling point for a game guys....farm gold all day..ohh its soo fun;) You sounds like "chineese gold farmers" farming gold to sell in WOW;)	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I won't deny the potential for burnout. I'd rather work at my job and use that money to pay for wildstar, not work at wildstar. But some people have lots of free time and don't mind running dailies. And I think you're overstating the amount of time and effort it takes to get enough plat for 1 CREDD.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Good selling point for a game guys....farm gold all day..ohh its soo fun;) You sounds like "chineese gold farmers" farming gold to sell in WOW;)
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Playing the game is "farming gold"?
 
I'm trying to help someone decide to play the game, the option to get plat for CREDD to play the game is free, I was just offering a way to do that easily...
 
I'm sorry, I wont encourage new players, just be rude to people on the forums instead.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I see very few ppl running vet shiphands back to back but i do see it for vet dungeons;)...yes i know that many ppl like it...but you need to run ALOT of those shiphands to get 25 plat;)
----
			
Quite recently, the game was on sale for US $20, which included 1 month of game time and in-game swag. Is that really too much to ask for a month's worth of entertainment?
 
Further, you, OP, sound like someone who would be pretty active in game, so you'd be very likely to get a character to 50 and earn enough in game currency to buy a CREDD during the first month, which gets you the second month "free".	
----
			
Thanks everyone for the informative answers =]
 
Sorry for not being more active, I was working all day - fridays are kinda rough, every now and then.
 
But I'm happy to announce that I'm now a subscriber. Hope to see you all in-game!
 
Cheers!	
----
			Thanks for the time to write up your feedback it is very useful to us!	
----
			
You run 1 shiphand a day.  10 minutes.  You can get 30-40g a run.  Not counting daily shiphand.  So 30 days at 30g a run is 9 plat.  Credd is 16-17p atm.  Throw in everything else in the game, and if your not really spending the plat, you can get to 17p.  Really depends on your spending habits.  The reason people are saying it's easy strym is because alot of people believe it is.  20 minutes a day on 2 shiphand runs gets you enough plat for a free month.  OR do a daily zone.  OR do all the quests.  OR just go out and kill things.  OR run vet dungeons, a random vet dungeon I think is 30g completion.  What is an MMO if not to try to farm gold so you can either pay for upkeep of your gear or get new gear.  Heck, doing rbg's gets you gold.  I think 15g a run.  Do a couple an hour and have fun thats 30g easily and that's not counting the loot bags.  Get an Amp point in there, there's 30-40p.  Get runes, those sell too.  There are tons of ways to make money now compared to how it used to be.  
 
To the OP, 
1-Sucks that this can't happen with the whispers but if on the other end and your paying for a subscription and getting spammed, f that.  Curious can you join a chat channel?  If so, maybe a specific channel for trials and leveling can be done there.  
2- Every subscription has those rumors but this game even more so I assume but who knows.  I do know that in the beginning Carbine mentioned that it was not in the cards and the way their game was, it wasn't built for that model.
3-Look up STOS or queue time for a good youtube channel/twitch.  I also know, cant recall names that there are streamers out there that do RP/Housing/Raids/Leveling.  And for the WoW, well, boring	
----
			
I understand your criticism and I'm glad you acknowledged that your feelings are a little unfair, but I have to think that free trials are not for someone as acutely aware of things as you. I don't mean that to be dismissive, simply realistic. It's more likely that the free trial is just supposed to get any random person to try it, see how shiny and fun the game is, then go buy a box because it's only $20.
 
I don't really think it was designed to lure in all of the hardcore raiders from WoW or FFXIV or anything who have the attention to detail that a lot of us do. It's just supposed to be a flashy good time for an impulse buy, then hope it turns into something more serious.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
You run 1 shiphand a day.  10 minutes.  You can get 30-40g a run.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
But I'm happy to announce that I'm now a subscriber. Hope to see you all in-game!
----