109589-is-wildstar-a-niche-game-for-the-hardcore-i-argue-no

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I've been hearing a lot of talk lately about how Wildstar is a game developed for the niche "hardcore" market, and because of that, it is not attracting the casual player base that is necessary to create a healthy player population.
 
Today, I want to discuss/debate this idea a little bit.
 
As a preface, this is my first dedicated MMO. I have been a casual MMO-hopper, and none of the games out there have kept me for long, even through the leveling process. And because of this, I think I can bring in an "outsider's" perspective.
 
Even as I casually played my different MMOs, created my characters and proceeded through the storyline, I never really understood core MMO concepts. You will probably laugh, but I've never heard of the concept of "tanking" until fairly recently. My first thought when I came upon this concept was, "Why would I want to play a class that exists for the sole purpose of getting beat on?" I started to pick up on the whole "trinity" system of tank, healer, damage dealer, while playing FFXIV, shortly before learning of Wildstar.
 
Another term I've heard mentioned, but never knew what it meant, was "raiding". So as I became more familiar with the whole MMO genre as I listened to podcasts and read various articles, I began to realize something.
 
Raiding = Hardcore.
Raiding = Grinding end-game for hours across days to beat content with a coordinated group.
Hardcore = Grinding end-game for hours across days to beat content with a coordinated group.
 
And here is the issue. A lot of people who think of Wildstar, I imagine, think along lines like this: Grind until level 50. Story? Cool story, but that's incidental to what my real purpose here is...to get to level 50. Why? Well...to raid. What else is there to do at endgame?
 
This is how past MMOs have trained people to think, especially when they haven't had story content for long, long, periods of time. A new MMO? Cool. Let's get to level cap quickly and start raiding. And from playing these past few months since launch, this is largely the kind of attitude I have witnessed from fellow players. What about all the hype of open world PvP between guilds? The fun, social aspects this game has provided the space to create? There is hardly any, because what are people obsessed about right now? Let's get into raids! Raids! Raids!
 
Now I understand that there are "elite" guilds out there who compete on a very high level to become the first to take down all of the content, and I consider these the "hardcore" players. But, was Wildstar designed FOR these players specifically? I argue, no!
 
Wildstar is a game which -feature- hardcore content. It is not a game made -for- hardcore gamers. It seems like it, because most people are playing to try to get into raids. Adventures and dungeons are "farms", not fun casual content for friends to experience together. When a new adventure comes out, will people feel, "Hey, I want to explore that with my friends!", or will people say, "Hey, can you run me through that new adventure once so I can get my attunement done?"
 
Wildstar is a difficult game. Does difficult = hardcore? Not at all. Are FPS games difficult? Is League of Legends difficult? Is Super Meatboy difficult?! Is Ninja Gaiden for NES difficult?!! Is Tetris difficult??? Yes! I've played all of those, and they are hard, and the challenges are what make them rewarding. That doesn't mean that it is hardcore in the sense of "Raiding = Hardcore". It means that I need to practice to be able to win. And that is how I see Wildstar's combat system and endgame content.
 
I took my time leveling, and I had fun. I hit up some mid-game PvP once in a while. It was fun. I began crafting and playing the Commodities Exchange. Sweet, I'm making some money! This is fun. I stopped to read some of the lore I gathered. It's like this stuff happened for real! Now I'm at my attunement step, and have entered the "daily zones". Do I feel obligated to grind all day every day? No.
 
I may raid some day, and I will slowly get through attunement, because, well... I can. But, I will not grind. I will take my time and enjoy my time here. I will chat with friends. I will visit some cool houses and do their jump puzzles and participate in inter-zone races. I will explore adventures and dungeons, learn them, and beat them. I might roleplay a little bit. I will PvP more once it is stabilized. And eventually, I may raid.
 
For me, Wildstar is a game for the long-haul. It is not a game to be rushed. Maybe we need to rethink the recycled mindset of how we "need" to play MMOs, just like Wildstar is rethinking the genre in its own way.
 
Of course there really are critical issues that are keeping people from re-subbing that hopefully will be addressed. The PvP crowd is on the fence until things are more balanced. There are people waiting for optimization fixes. Endgame bugs are really turning the raiders off.
 
My main concern here, and the main point of me writing this little article, is in how Wildstar is percieved to be a game for the "1%" hardcore raiders. And to me, it is not. And maybe Carbine needs to make more of a marketing push to show how inclusive this game is of "casual" players. Because, the current atmosphere in the community is that, this game is -all- about raiding.
 
I am a casual player. And I love this game. 
I want to see more "casual" players playing alongside me.
 
<This article expresses the personal opinions of the author, and is not in any way endorsed by the Protostar Corporation.>
 
Tadamichi aka
Ellias@Warbringer / Exiles
Guild: <Silence> http://silence.shivtr.com/
Circle: <Dungeon Explorers> http://tinyurl.com/q4beorw
Twitter: @ElliasWS	
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You are in the minority. Glad your enjoying it that way. What you said
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Wildstar is a difficult game. Does difficult = hardcore? Not at all. Are FPS games difficult? Is League of Legends difficult? Is Super Meatboy difficult?! Is Ninja Gaiden for NES difficult?!! Is Tetris difficult??? Yes! I've played all of those, and they are hard, and the challenges are what make them rewarding. That doesn't mean that it is hardcore in the sense of "Raiding = Hardcore". It means that I need to practice to be able to win. And that is how I see Wildstar's combat system and endgame content.
 
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And here is the issue. A lot of people who think of Wildstar, I imagine, think along lines like this: Grind until level 50. Story? Cool story, but that's incidental to what my real purpose here is...to get to level 50. Why? Well...to raid. What else is there to do at endgame?
 
This is how past MMOs have trained people to think, especially when they haven't had story content for long, long, periods of time. A new MMO? Cool. Let's get to level cap quickly and start raiding. And from playing these past few months since launch, this is largely the kind of attitude I have witnessed from fellow players. What about all the hype of open world PvP between guilds? The fun, social aspects this game has provided the space to create? There is hardly any, because what are people obsessed about right now? Let's get into raids! Raids! Raids!
 
Now I understand that there are "elite" guilds out there who compete on a very high level to become the first to take down all of the content, and I consider these the "hardcore" players. But, was Wildstar designed FOR these players specifically? I argue, no!
 
Wildstar is a game which -feature- hardcore content. It is not a game made -for- hardcore gamers. It seems like it, because most people are playing to try to get into raids. Adventures and dungeons are "farms", not fun casual content for friends to experience together. When a new adventure comes out, will people feel, "Hey, I want to explore that with my friends!", or will people say, "Hey, can you run me through that new adventure once so I can get my attunement done?"
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You are in the minority. Glad your enjoying it that way. What you said
 
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The only thing a player to n WildStar has to be hardcore about is having the willpower to repeat the same boring content over and over again in a senseless speed bump mechanic designed spefically with the intent to articially next not the life of otherwise lackluster content. 
 
Even the self-appointed 'hardcore' players generally only run the attunement dungeons once. How often have you heard people say "I'm never coming back here" once they've completed silver, or gotten the BiS item?
 
There is a serious disconnect between what players want and what the designers are delivering. Parts of the game are amazing! But it's unfortunate that the amazing is locked behind, or buried under a virtual mountain of crap that no one wants. If being hardcore means dealing with a bunch of BS in order to reach the parts of the game that are actually fun, then it's no wonder people are leaving and complaining left and right.	
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 having the willpower to repeat the same boring content over and over again in a senseless speed bump mechanic designed spefically with the intent to articially next not the life of otherwise lackluster content.
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The only thing a player to n WildStar has to be hardcore about is having the willpower to repeat the same boring content over and over again in a senseless speed bump mechanic designed spefically with the intent to articially next not the life of otherwise lackluster content.
 
Even the self-appointed 'hardcore' players generally only run the attunement dungeons once. How often have you heard people say "I'm never coming back here" once they've completed silver, or gotten the BiS item?
 
There is a serious disconnect between what players want and what the designers are delivering. Parts of the game are amazing! But it's unfortunate that the amazing is locked behind, or buried under a virtual mountain of crap that no one wants. If being hardcore means dealing with a bunch of BS in order to reach the parts of the game that are actually fun, then it's no wonder people are leaving and complaining left and right.
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			I respectfully disagree. Everything that's happening says the game will be a small pop game for a Niche Market. Why are so many players that actually Raid at a high level here going back to other games? Some don't like the edge of your seat raiding. Others don't like the Attrition Others don't like the population issues. I think the game is going to be small whether people want to accept it or not. In today's MMORPG market WildStar's Philosophy is not mainstream enough. Therefore it is Niche. It's a difficult long road in comparison to most games in the Genre. Just like Lineage, FFXI, DarkFall ect. That doesn't make it bad. It does however make it Niche.	
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I respectfully disagree. Everything that's happening says the game will be a small pop game for a Niche Market. Why are so many players that actually Raid at a high level here going back to other games? Some don't like the edge of your seat raiding. Others don't like the Attrition Others don't like the population issues. I think the game is going to be small whether people want to accept it or not. In today's MMORPG market WildStar's Philosophy is not mainstream enough. Therefore it is Niche. It's a difficult long road in comparison to most games in the Genre. Just like Lineage, FFXI, DarkFall ect. That doesn't make it bad. It does however make it Niche.
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I agree that it is a niche game, because it is a new type of "themepark" MMO. I don't agree that it is a game specifically made for the niche of "hardcore" players. The question is whether Carbine and the community can bring the game to a level of sustainability where there is a healthy (not necessarily huge) population and group content is readily playable. Because most of the fun content is group content.
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I agree that it is a niche game, because it is a new type of "themepark" MMO. I don't agree that it is a game specifically made for the niche of "hardcore" players. The question is whether Carbine and the community can bring the game to a level of sustainability where there is a healthy (not necessarily huge) population and group content is readily playable. Because most of the fun content is group content.
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The game is currently burning from the top(raiders) and the bottom(casuals/semi). The fact that something as basic as Normal Mode Raids don't exist here is also very telling. They had a Niche audience in mind. The problem is that audience is small. This is not directed at you but people wanna blame WoW and casuals for the state of the game but they don't point fingers at the "hardcore" people who did more damage to the game by anyone by leaving. Carbine was making this game for them. Casuals weren't factored into the equation imo. Yet they seem the most loyal to the product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnec6SmjHP0
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typically middle of the road people stay longer than raiders or pvpers because they are not after instant gratification. usually they are in their for the long haul.
 
the consistent problem in mmo gaming is that they do not complain as loud or ragequit, so the game companies ALWAYS over look them in an effort to keep the transient money. which always fails.
 
be nice to one day, find a game that caters to the people that stay, not the casuals, not the pvpers and not the raiders
 
but the people that stick around for years, because those are the people that make sure their salaries are always paid
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A close mouth does not get fed. What you want is the Nichiest of the Niche haha. You want something like Vanguard before it died. People played it to the very end because they enjoyed it that much.
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the only serious disconnect is between what ADD and "entertain me" players want and the genre. seriously, show me any modern mmo where you dont have to do the same thing every...single...day. yes, people want different, and people these days couldnt find happiness or entertainment in anything they need to do more than once.
 
being "hardcore" doesnt mean that you get to do something new every day. sometimes, being "hardcore" means you do tedious crap. thats life and reality, even in the mmo genre.
 
the real point of life, even in mmo's, is finding fun where there sometimes isnt. its a life lesson, thats a free tip, I wont charge you for it.
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			I agree that mmos are best when taken slowly. That said, WS is just too fast of a level up and gives you no reason to re-visit old zones (minus recycled daily zones but that is a whole 'nother can of worms). For me the real problem is, once the luster of the uber cool combat wears off and it becomes second nature (this happens in any game and this game has my favorite combat) and you've ran all the dungeons/adventures there really isn't anything to do on non-raid nights (until PvP is fixed anyways). Well, except run new recruits through said dungeons. I think the problem may be bigger than WS. I think many of us are just sick of themeparks and we don't even realize it.	
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 I think many of us are just sick of themeparks and we don't even realize it.
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I agree it's not really hardcore, it's a bit more difficult than players are used to given the different style of combat.  However it's extremely tedious at end game, as in major time sinks with little to no reward.  I look at this from a business perspective as well as a gamers perspective, obviously something is wrong everyone is fleeing and the ship seems to be sinking (imo). There's just too many MMOs out there now days that give you more of a reward for your hour of game time where you feel like you actually accomplished something.
 
Tedious hours upon hours of end game grinding just to do a raid is no fun (at least not to me).  When I log in I want instant fun action, I don't want to be doing the same tedious crap daily with little to no rewards.
 
I'm a casual player myself, but there's other games out there where I can be more satisfied in my hour-3 hours of game time a day.  It sucks to me because I enjoyed this game until hitting 50, pvp is still broke and almost unbearable, so if I'm playing this game on occasion it will be on an alt doing lowbie bgs. 
 
I really do want to see this game succeed, but the current state it's in I don't see it happening.	
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I agree it's not really hardcore, it's a bit more difficult than players are used to given the different style of combat.  However it's extremely tedious at end game, as in major time sinks with little to no reward. 
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			Hardcore to me = Skill > Wasting time......	
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Hardcore to me = Skill > Wasting time......
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It's not that we're sick of theme parks. It's that we're sick of being given the same theme park with only a new coat of paint slapped on. This is why I keep repeating myself about MMOs developers and publishers needing to take what already exists and take it up a notch. Simy recycle ng the same stuff like WildStar did isn't enough.
 
 DeaHamlet said it pretty well. The repetition of content isn't a problem as long as the content is enjoyable. Wildstar's content is pretty dry and dull after the initial shine of being a new game wears off. There's so little innovation and inspiration compared to the overwhelming tedium of end game. And then toss in the major bugs on top of that.....
 
 
Even if they lock down the bugs and start addressing the glaring flaws in their design, I think it will be a day late and a dollar short. The diehards will stick around no matter what, with blinders on, but that won't make it a good game.	
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Even if they lock down the bugs and start addressing the glaring flaws in their design, I think it will be a day late and a dollar short. The diehards will stick around no matter what, with blinders on, but that won't make it a good game.
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The issue with Wildstar and the most complaints I hear is its very very pug unfriendly.  Dungeons are just over tuned for a group of random players to beat.  This in its self leads to frustration endgame.  The UI isn't very friendly to players on what to interrupt and timing is very fast.  If  you miss those interrupts normally someone is going to take a dirt nap given that healers normally do not have the ability to recover from a mistake.  This has made it so you wipe someone leaves right away..  The game doesn't do a good job at leading players down the have 3 interrupts on your bar what to and what not to interrupt.  This makes new players trying end game dungeons such a liability. 
 
I think they need to balance the end game dungeons a bit.  Balance with pugs in mind.  I'm not saying wow easy but just not is fine tuned that they are now.  The skill gape between adventures and dungeons are just to great.  People are being cut off from 2/3rds of the end game pve being dungeons and raiding.  This leads to people feeling left out and disenfranchised so they log on less and less.	
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The only thing a player to n WildStar has to be hardcore about is having the willpower to repeat the same boring content over and over again in a senseless speed bump mechanic designed spefically with the intent to articially next not the life of otherwise lackluster content.
 
Even the self-appointed 'hardcore' players generally only run the attunement dungeons once. How often have you heard people say "I'm never coming back here" once they've completed silver, or gotten the BiS item?
 
There is a serious disconnect between what players want and what the designers are delivering. Parts of the game are amazing! But it's unfortunate that the amazing is locked behind, or buried under a virtual mountain of crap that no one wants. If being hardcore means dealing with a bunch of BS in order to reach the parts of the game that are actually fun, then it's no wonder people are leaving and complaining left and right.
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Or the players who enjoy the game will keep playing. It's OK that you don't enjoy the game; but It's not OK to assume because you don't ERGO no one else does. While no one likes bugs and exploiters, a lot of us genuinely enjoy the content. Your mileage may vary; but just because we enjoy the game doesn't mean we wear 'blinders'. Pick any game you enjoy and I can point out the BS components and terrible aspects of it... that doesn't mean you aren't perfectly entitled to enjoy it; it just means we all dance to the beat of our own drum..
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I would say not a niche game for the hardcore, but definitely a niche game for a specific type of player. One that wants an advantage in pvp and perhaps one that favors end game content being very restricted to accentuate the fame of the few who devote enough time to complete it.
 
This kind of player wants available time investment to = advantage or prestige among the masses.
 
You've got to get that gear grind carrot out of the pvp realm and make it more like a competitive match. Like some wierd version of chess only with more players. You should be on par, potency-wise, the moment you step into the field and let skill and teamwork rule the day, focusing rewards on non-competition breaking incentives/objectives/etc.
 
I can not speak toward end game pve, but it all started to feel like a wierd version of WoW with either treadmill dailies or lifers-only admittance.
The actual game is awesome. Artwork, animation, music, sound, storylines/humor. All very very well done. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few disappointed artists in that bunch seeing how such a wonderful product was mishandled.	
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I'm sure Wildstar is a game for the "long haul", but that's because its systems were designed, at least at first, to waste the player's time. Just like certain old-school MMOs. As some have pointed out, Wildstar is not rethinking MMOs at all. It's just repeating the mistakes and design choices of the past because of "Nostalgia". We moved on from those design choices for a good reason. The reason is that we found things that were more fun and, therefore, better for a game.
  
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Or the players who enjoy the game will keep playing. It's OK that you don't enjoy the game; but It's not OK to assume because you don't ERGO no one else does.
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The diehards will stick around no matter what, with blinders on, but that won't make it a good game.
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One of the games I enjoyed the most this year has been Dark Souls 2. If you ask me my opinion on it I'm going to tear it apart horribly, because it does a lot of things wrong. From gameplay to story to scenery design. But I still basically enjoy it. How is that possible? For me to like it but also criticize it so heavily? That's easy: because I like the game, I want it to improve. To be better. that's why I complain and, in essence, that's the reason everyone complains about games not meeting their expectations. The people who leave without comment are the ones who don't care about the game. They might like it, sure, but they don't like it enough to take the time (and the attacks of the white knights) to point it out.
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The fact that I'm still enjoying playing DDO, GW2, and occasionally EVE online, as well as looking forward to EQ Next and Camelot Unchained says differently.  It's not that the genre isn't for me. It's that I'm not interested in the games that carbon copy outdated designs, and that don't innovate, don't progress, and don't take the genre forward.  That is a distinct difference.    
I'm glad people are enjoying Wildstar.  But the fact that people disagree with my opinion doesn't mean that I don't like MMOs. 
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Well with hate laced responses towards the game, it's pretty clear how others can come to the conclusion that you don't like MMOs. I stand corrected though, you do like them. You're just emo.
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Ah...personal attacks.  
 
I'm sorry you don't share my opinion, but there's no call for that.  How about instead you tell me what you feel Wildstar is doing right. Or how it's taking the genre forward. Or even just the things you like about the game? 
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Ah...personal attacks.  
 
I'm sorry you don't share my opinion, but there's no call for that.  How about instead you tell me what you feel Wildstar is doing right. Or how it's taking the genre forward. Or even just the things you like about the game? 
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Raiding = Hardcore.
Raiding = Grinding end-game for hours across days to beat content with a coordinated group.
Hardcore = Grinding end-game for hours across days to beat content with a coordinated group.
 
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Hardcore has no definition. It means a lot of things to a lot of players, largely depending on the MMOs they've played. Raiding is hardcore to a subsection of MMO players, but that's not the original definition, or even very close to it at all. For oldschool MMOers, Hardcore could easily mean permanently losing gear, experience and even levels when you die.
 
I'm not going to critique the rest of your post, I just wanted to point out that this assumption that Hardcore = anything in particular is one of the biggest problems pervading discussions about Wildstar's current state and its future.
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I would agree if people weren't heading back to a very familiar Theme Park..
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This one?
 
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They are making a new one, I think that concludes this thread.
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God please no
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OP, I'm in a same boat as you, I'm a casual enjoying Wildstar. The problem is, players are incredibly impatient nowadays. I mean if you log in one day, do 2 dungeon runs and nothing drops, that's a reason to quit a game today. Most people play for shiny pixels.
 
But I don't say WS is perfect, CRB made some huge mistakes. The leveling process is ANCIENT, for example. How in the world could they pull this off after a GW2? Daily quests... even if you only have to do them like for 3 days for attunement if you did other quests - daily quest...? Please... It's ANCIENT again. 40man raids as well. People told them it will not work... They just made so many incredible mistakes and they thought the game will work on the hardcore raids alone? As much as I love the game, and it would be a huge waste, sometimes I think they just deserve to sink with the ship... I felt the same way regarding SWTOR, it's atmosphere was great, but you could see that it was a game made solely to make cash by copying WoW. And this game is better than SWTOR, but the playerbase is more impatient now with every next failing MMO. The stakes are higher and higher every time - and we will never see a really good MMO after this anymore. I lost my faith at least. Developers cannot keep up with the expectations, because those are just growing. Maybe that's the reason many people see the genre as dying. And when devs go BACK to archaic systems besides their main feature, what the hell am I supposed to hope for? It's like hoping for humanity to stop polluting the planet just because you can read in the news that we are at the point of no return. It won't happen. Devs will keep making the same (and new) mistakes. And this was supposed top be a whiteknight post, now I'm totally "pumped" before logging in...
 
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Pugging when people just bail out all the time? Not fun.
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T-Rex > Anime
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Thanks for all the replies, folks. I think you guys have really good points, and I'm glad they were brought up.
 
In particular, the points about what hardcore actually means to people gives me some more perspective. 
 
The leveling process and quests are actually something I enjoyed a lot. When I played the free trial for WoW, the quests felt like a pure grindfest. It doesn't here. The dialogue is short, relevant to the story, and interesting. I can read more into it if I want, and there is variety. The NPCs are actually interesting, and there is continuity with their stories throughout the game.
 
Is it a new system? No. They are still kill and fetch quests. Is it innovative enough to make it actually fun again? For me, it is. However, I'm not a big fan of the dailies, and I'm sure not many people are. I felt the same when they started it in FFXIV: ARR, and it felt much more tedious there. 	
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Wildstar combat system is the only good thing it gave us. But:
 
What Wildstar did wrong:
-Focus solely (and a lot of resource) on 20/40 man raid while have no 10man content at all
-Too tedious attument process that kills many of the casuals/guilds caused many drama/elitists
-Too much RNG, too many loot table, and total unrewarding content ever
-Very bad rune slot system (Very RNG, and gold sink)
-A lot of gold sink mechanism (e.g. dye,repair cost,housing,etc)
-Very bad itemization all around, and wrong stat influencing (All items came with too much secondary stats while main stat and AP is too OP)
-Broken PvP (1500/1800 geared people need to get complete isolated matchup not screw newbies,rated, and practice run.
-Graphic Optimization. Some had to play with 5fps because stupid wind/water effect fps drop.
-Deserted town. Bc u added too many servers with so low cap each, now when the population dissipated, people got deserted town.
-No center AH. It sucks ball to find too many fluctuation of price as people can play the market much easier. It suck even more when you have no ppl no goods.
-Too bad class balance which took too long to fix (e.g. dps esper premobility buff, tank warrior threat prebuff, dps medic prebuff)
And the list goes on.
 
Solution:
-Fix all the above list
-Advertise your new DROP that fix all of those above problems
-Allow people to free transfer to populated servers
-Give people "Free to play weeks"
 
I am counting on you Wildstar Devs. Dont let this game fall or goes F2P.	
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-Give people "Free to play weeks"
 
I am counting on you Wildstar Devs. Dont let this game fall or goes F2P.
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This confuses me.
You don't want the game to go F2P but one of your way's to fix the game, is to go F2P?
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When is pugging fun? 
 
 
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 Our Tera tank was so insultingly good that I was bored running my priest and we started bringing newbie tanks for fun (and he swapped to archer dps alt). Contrast that with a pug tank that took all my attention, skill and resource management to get through a boss encounter. That's fun.
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What server were you on in Tera?
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			Bah! Mount Tyranas PvP here. I was a Mystic Healer mainly for PvP, but I ended up farming MCHM for VM	
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Bah! Mount Tyranas PvP here. I was a Mystic Healer mainly for PvP, but I ended up farming MCHM for VM
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Yes, how sexy was that pvp+PvE combo for top armor, blechs.
MT pugs were often douches but I forgave if they played well. Thankfully they usually did. Nobody plugged mchm tho, lol. That would have taken some balls.
 
BGs were hilarious in that game.
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			I wish more people had your attitude OP!	
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This confuses me.
You don't want the game to go F2P but one of your way's to fix the game, is to go F2P?
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			Wildstar is not some Kickstarter/Early Access funded indie game.  It received AAA funding from NCSoft who is going to be expecting AAA returns on it's investment sooner or later.	
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He means for Carbine to give out complimentary gametime.
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The issue with Wildstar and the most complaints I hear is its very very pug unfriendly.  Dungeons are just over tuned for a group of random players to beat.  This in its self leads to frustration endgame.  The UI isn't very friendly to players on what to interrupt and timing is very fast.  If  you miss those interrupts normally someone is going to take a dirt nap given that healers normally do not have the ability to recover from a mistake.  This has made it so you wipe someone leaves right away..  The game doesn't do a good job at leading players down the have 3 interrupts on your bar what to and what not to interrupt.  This makes new players trying end game dungeons such a liability. 
 
I think they need to balance the end game dungeons a bit.  Balance with pugs in mind.  I'm not saying wow easy but just not is fine tuned that they are now.  The skill gape between adventures and dungeons are just to great.  People are being cut off from 2/3rds of the end game pve being dungeons and raiding.  This leads to people feeling left out and disenfranchised so they log on less and less.
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To chime in, I'm very specifically casual. I've never liked 'raiding' despite the fact that I've played MMOs for nearly a decade at end-game level. As some have said, with friends, anything is fun. That is the only reason I have ever 'raided' at all. It doesn't appeal to me directly.
 
Wildstar appealed to me on one simple basis: It's different.
 
That hooked me enough to check it out. Once in, it wasn't as different as I'd hoped, but it did offer some interesting elements.
 
I've fallen in love with the story and the world of Wildstar. I scoured zones for quests just to read the quest text and see it all. I was really enjoying Blighthaven... right up to the sudden flood of 5-man this, 20-man that, your path quest requires a 5-man just to finish...
 
That's really harsh gating to suddenly clamp down after I've enjoyed a really good flow.
 
I wasn't going to bother raiding at all. I have no interest in it, and the end-game boss content is nightmarish to me (I've helped kill Scorchwing, and OMG that was terrible: and yes, I know it's not that hard compared to others, that's my point).
 
But now, to get the content I *do* want, I have to somehow dive into this raiding environment, and the attunment quest is insane. I'm on step two... already done with it mentally.
 
It's too hard of a lock-down. I'm sure that difficulty/challenge appeals to some gamers, but not to me, and I basically feel like something was taken out of my hands and slammed behind a door without being told why.
 
That's disheartening.	
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