Tag: wildstar

Discovering Palia

Posted on by Gazimoff

It takes a lot to drag me out of retirement. And yet, with the announcement of their first game, Singularity 6 has managed just that. Palia looks to be a tranquil, laid-back experience that’s heavy on social bonds and community building, and light on the competitive combat that dominates online gaming today. And that potent combo is totally my jam.

There’s hints of Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the lush new announcement trailer, with beautiful scenery and curious characters captured directly in-game. The post-apocalyptic vibe has also grabbed attention with WildStar’s legacy playerbase, which is just as well considering Palia will be a full-fledged MMO. A new home for lost souls to call their own? Possibly.

Peeking behind the curtain a little, Singularity 6 was formed by Aidan Karabaich and Anthony Leung, two former Riot Games devs that quit the LoL-house to start something new. Their premise was to build a cozy world, a “community simulation MMO.” And it’s an idea that’s attracted big money, with investors like a16z, FunPlus Ventures and London Venture Partners backing the studio to nearly $20 million. After attracting talent from Blizzard, Epic, Riot and even Carbine (Karabaich was the former Spellslinger class designer), the studio now feels confident about lifting the lid on this ambitious project

But what exactly is Palia? The premise is steeped in high fantasy, where thousands of years have passed since humanity last walked upon the world. Hallmarks of their grand civilization and monuments to their mastery of magic litter the landscape, but the lost race had vanished into legend. Today, on the cusp of being forgotten, humans have started to re-emerge.

As one of these re-appearing humans, we’ll be discovering a world that has learned to move on and live without humanity’s influence, building a home for ourselves in a familiar and friendly yet utternly different community.

We’re told that gameplay will include gardening, fishing, cooking, and more, with skills levelling up and unlocking new abilities. I’m hoping that these will include social aspects, like being able to work on big gardening projects together and engaging in cooking challenges Overcooked-style. It’s a fair guess to assume that we’ll also have to gather and farm materials for our crafting projects, which gives the potential for expeditions to locate rare and precious resources.

It’s also fair to say that the pandemic has probably helped to shape some of these ideas. Singularity 6 is open that many staffers have never met face-to-face, relying on games to learn about each other and build bonds. MMOs have long been about forging communities across cities and continents, and the year-plus in lockdown may have ended up being a stimulating boon to the studio.

Either way, Palia looks set to be almost unchallenged in the online gaming space. Low competitive gameplay, high social focus, plus a cozy and welcoming atmosphere sound like a shot in the arm for the MMO genre. And I’m totally down with that. 

WildStar: The End

Posted on by Gazimoff

I always knew there would come a day when WildStar closed for good, but I never expected it to be so soon. Bursting onto PCs in 2014, the brand new MMO brought attitude and charm in equal measure, quickly developing a cult following. Alas, the numbers were never great enough to sustain the project, leading to the game’s permanent shutdown some four and a half years later.

This isn’t a post-mortem on what went wrong. Instead, I wanted to reflect on how WildStar affected my life, first as an MMO player and then later as a blogger, critic, columnist and streamer. I wanted to talk about the amazing people I’ve met, the friendships I’ve formed, and the lasting impact they’ve had on my life. Then there’s the communities I’ve been fortunate to be a part of, all as part of this one game.

Continue reading “WildStar: The End”

Broadband Blunders & Mac Machinations

Posted on by Gazimoff

This is a story in two parts, both revolving around a simple desire: to turn my ageing MacBook Air into a simple gaming machine. Bought in late 2013, it was nearing the end of its useful life as a workhorse, and I’d been eyeing up the more modern Pro line to replace it. To eke some final mileage out, I thought about installing some games on it.

Sounds simple, right?

Continue reading “Broadband Blunders & Mac Machinations”

Crowdsourcing MMO Design

Posted on by Gazimoff

tumblr_nvv21jsEKh1rtv2mbo2_500

Today, I’m going to look at two related topics. The first came out of a new initiative from Carbine Studios called DevConnect, where the studio asks players for input on potential changes to WildStar. The first topic is about faction barriers – a subject that had grabbed my attention following Liore’s blogpost on it earlier this week.

Personally, I’m very pleased and encouraged to see Carbine open up in this way. It harks back to early days of WildStar’s development, where topics were shared and discussed amongst a curious and growing fanbase. WildStar Uplink, as it was known back then, led to one of my first blogposts about the upcoming MMO.

As for the second subject, that’s more about the current trend for studios to solicit feedback from players to help shape and mould the future of a game, and some of the interesting new mechanisms for doing so. While forums and social media might be a community’s bread-and butter, it feels as though studios would benefit hugely from an additional tool to call upon.

Continue reading “Crowdsourcing MMO Design”

WildStar: Seeking an Artist

Posted on by Gazimoff

Joven_Nebulous.150531.205314Over countless years spent playing MMOs, I’ve explored scores of fantastical virtual worlds, seen incredible creativity manifested in breathtaking beauty, and taken part in some legendary stories. Fortunately though, I’ve not been a solo adventurer, left to wander the wilderness alone; at each step in the journey, I’ve shared these experiences with an amazing person, who became so much more than a girlfriend, fiancée, and wife. In time, we’ve created and collected a fond assortment of memories from our time gaming together.

There’s the moment we entered the great city of Tazoon in Istaria, walking for an age along deserted roads to reach a vast metropolis so full of life that our computers ground to a halt. Or the occasion when, after weeks of preparation, we descended into the cavernous Molten Core on Azeroth for the first time, and faced the toughest challenges we’d ever encountered. Or the calm we felt on the ice planet of Ilum, looking up at the dark sky and watching the galaxy slowly turn around us. More recently, on the island of ARK, we went hunting for dinosaurs to tame, watching over their sleeping bodies night and day in case something rushed us from the jungle.

Joven_Nebulous.150531.172813

Each one of these is a bubbled moment, a precious keepsake. But, beyond our shared memories and screenshots, there’s little to remind us of the time we’ve spent together. Sure, we’ve accumulated trinkets and toys from the games we’ve loved, but these don’t really describe the time we’ve spent together.

That’s why, with WildStar, we’d like to try something different. We’d like to commission an artist, and work with them to produce a piece of artwork that captures both the spirit of the game, and what we’ve gained from our time playing it. It would be of two characters (Joven Nebulous and Aurelia Valesran), and their pet Dagun, but further details such as clothing and location haven’t yet been decided.

Joven_Nebulous.150614.144943

And the eventual goal? To have it printed professionally, framed, and hung on the wall in our home. The world of Nexus is a cherished place to us, and we’d like to create something a little more permanent to remember our time together. It might take a bit of time, but we feel the result will be worth the effort, and we’re keen to collaborate with whoever we end up choosing to get there.

Importantly, we’re interested in paying the going rate for this type of commission. We both understand that it will take a significant chunk of time to produce what we’re asking for, and we’re happy to invest in a piece that works for us. But likewise, we’d prefer artists with a track record of creating this kind of work, as we’ve been burned a few times and would like a degree of confidence before parting with real cash.

Joven.140803.155647

Interested? Throw me an email at ‘me [at] gazimoff.com’, including details of your rates, timescales, and a link to previous completed commissions that you feel are relevant. Also include any questions you might have, and any other information you feel is relevant. We’ll review them, and promise to get back to everyone who contacts us. And, if you know someone who might be interested, please forward this to them.

Thank you, and best of luck. With your help, we’ll be able to make a lasting legacy of our time in WildStar. And who knows – maybe it’ll be your artwork that we choose for our home.

Joven_Nebulous.150620.184117

WildStar Free-to-Play Competition – The Winners!

Posted on by Gazimoff

Wow, that was hard. My recent WildStar competition earned a flurry of responses, both in the comments and by email. And so many of them were very, very good – it made choosing winners very difficult. But winners had to be chosen, and so here they are.

First Place – OxTube

I said that submissions could be in almost any form, but I wasn’t expecting a good quality video. And the tip – about timing interrupts to get that moment of opportunity – is very, very WildStar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsChyfObBt4

Second Place – Themos

WildStar, unlike many MMOs, embraces the ability for players to socialise. There’s guilds and circles to form more permanent bonds, ship hands and expeditions for flexible groups, and even open-world combat encourages teaming-up. But, beyond that, it’s the close-knit megaserver-focused community that deserves special mention:

This is my ultimate tip for every player of Wildstar: Socialize :D. Yes, simple as that. It may sound a bit dumb but that’s how you will get hooked on Wildstar. Many mmos have great combat, challenging encounters, awesome graphics and many players to play with.. but only Wildstar has such a kind and gracious community. Whatever problems you might have, Nexus citizens will always be there to help. They will guide you, they will help you become stronger, they will give you tips for surviving on this dangerous planet and best of all.. you will have fun playing with them. So as soon as you step your foot on Nexus, don’t hesitate to talk to others or ask for advice. (As for me I made some awesome friends on Nexus.. and thanks to them I am enjoying this great game more than ever). So that’s my tip. Go out there and communicate with others! Nexus is a dangerous place for solitary adventurers after all.

Third Place – Xokako

No other MMO has combat quite like WildStar’s, and it takes some getting used to. Even more vital is understanding how it works, and how ability and AMP choices have an impact. Following a guide can give a quick shortcut, but there’s no substitute for that precious knowledge:

My advice to everyone with or without experience is not to blindly follow a rotation/priority system because you saw it in a guide. Don’t get me wrong it’s good that you read up and search for others opinion, but test it always and be brave to experiment. I’ve been lucky enough to get on a guild with players with such mentality and over all my MMO experience this is by far the most fun I’ve been having, from discussing the build, to test and compare it on dozens of parses.

Fourth Place – Allarius

This doesn’t just apply to runecrafting, but to almost all crafting professions (particularly tailors). If you’re not going to use something, salvage it. Save vendor trash for junk that can’t be broken down into something useful.

Savlage everything. Don’t sell any piece of gear you get just salvage. You will thank me when you start runing your gear.

Thanks again to everyone who took part. Fingers crossed, I’ll be running more competitions again soon!

WildStar Competition: Prepare for Free-to-Play!

Posted on by Gazimoff

WildStar Prizes!

In case you hadn’t heard the news, WildStar (possibly my favourite MMO at the moment) is going Free-to-Play. A date has been set for this cosmotronic change, with servers being switched over later this month on September 29. If you’ve not tried the sci-fi world since launch, my latest column gives a run-down of the changes. In a nutshell though, this is the best version of WildStar I’ve encountered, with the game benefiting hugely from the additional year since its original launch.

But a changed game means a changed approach, for both returning players and complete newcomers. It means new guides, new tips, and new suggestions on how to get the most out of WildStar. And that’s where you come in, with a touch of WildStar swag to sweeten the deal, courtesy of some awesome friends.

Give me your best WildStar tip, advice, or suggestion, for both newcomers and former players.

Great ideas will be rewarded with lucrative prizes. Bad ones will be used by Avatus for target practice. On the unfortunate side, because of shipping costs and because the codes are restricted to EU, I’m having to limit this to EU residents only. On the plus side, here’s what you can win:

  • First Prize:
    • 1 Granok Tee (Large)
    • 1 Blue WildStar Tee (Large)
    • 1 WildStar Baseball Cap
    • 1 Spiral-bound notebook (Blank)
    • 1 Postcard book
    • 1 Rowsdower Plushie
    • 1 Fancy Pants Top-Hat code
    • 1 Fancy Pants Jacket code
  • Second Prize:
    • 1 Granok Tee (Extra Large)
    • 1 Spiral-bound notebook (Blank)
    • 1 Postcard book
    • 1 Fancy Pants Top-Hat code
    • 1 Fancy Pants Jacket code
  • Third Prize:
    • 1 Granok Tee (Extra Large)
    • 1 Spiral-bound notebook (Blank)
    • 1 Postcard book
    • 1 Fancy Pants Jacket code
  • Fourth Prize:
    • 1 Postcard book
    • 1 Fancy Pants Jacket code

You have until 23:59 GMT on Saturday, September 26 to get your entries in, which gives you a little over two weeks! Your entry can be text, video, a picture, a song – whatever you fancy. Creativity is more likely to help you win! To submit, either post your entry as a comment on this article, or email me [at] gazimoff.com to avoid it being eaten by the chompacabra spam filter. Or both!

And, as always, THE RULES.

  1. The decision of Inventor Gazz in all disputes is final. Don’t like who Gazz picks as winners? Guess what, Gazz doesn’t care. Besides, Gazz always looking for new test subjects, and complainers provide good data!
  2. Gazz reserves the right to republish and share your entries, while giving you full credit, either here or elsewhere. If you compose a ballad of helpful advice, Gazz may train chorus of bloodthirsty Ravenok to screech it at Exiles, before eating them.
  3. Begrudgingly, data indicates Exiles have (SOME) good ideas too. So Gazz welcomes input from both factions.
  4. Only one entry per entity. Got several ideas? Find several inferior friends, get them to enter too!

Competition: Win WildStar Swag!

Posted on by Gazimoff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Thanks to the very generous people at NCSoft and Carbine Studios, I managed to make it back from Gamescom with a sack full of delicious WildStar swag! But, rather than keep it to myself, I wanted to share it with you fine folk. Here’s what’s on offer:

  • First Prize: Plush Rowsdower & Gamescom Loot Code
  • Second Prize: Blank Spiral-bound Book & Gamescom Loot Code
  • Third Prize: Rowsdower-head phone cleaner & Gamescom Loot Code
  • Seven runner-up prizes of a Gamescom Loot Code

The loot code itself contains a number of in-game perks and items, including:

  • Fancy-Pants Top Hat
  • Gamescom Purple Dye
  • Title: Showstopper
  • Fancy Table housing item

For images on how these items look, check out the WildStar Core article covering them in detail!

To be in with a chance, simply send me a screenshot of your character looking their fanciest! Be creative with costumes, diligent with dyes, and don’t forget to use lighting and setting to emphasise your look! Send your emails to me@gazimoff.com and I’ll look them over! And you can always ping me on twitter at @Gazimoff if you want to confirm that I’ve got your entry.

The closing date is Friday, 5th September at Midnight BST (UK time). Any entries received after that will be discarded.

Finally, the small print:

  • Gazz judges all entries. Gazz decision final. Don’t like? Gazz doesn’t care.
  • As I have to pay for shipping myself, and the codes only work on EU accounts, entry is restricted to EU residents only.
  • By entering the competition, you’re granting me the right to use your screenshot in a future post and/or video announcing the winners.

 

WildStar: Rocket-Propelled Narrative

Posted on by Gazimoff

WS_Settler_Scientist03

I’ve started a new writing gig, working over at MMORPG.com as their WildStar columnist. I’ll be there every week about the latest developments in Carbine’s upcoming MMO, and I’ll also be active in the comments to answer questions and dispel myths. One response in particular leapt out at me speculating about how immersive the lore would be following changes to questing systems.

From my own experience, World of Warcraft was superb at providing a sense of story. There was a deep lore that had built up over the previous three games, which the quest designers could then draw on as they filled Azeroth with content. When it first launched, I was sure to read every scrap of quest text and really immerse myself in the tales surrounding each location.

When I moved on to Star Wars: The Old Republic, I was expecting something similar. BioWare had a reputation for being great storytellers with the Mass Effect Series, and I was looking forward to something similar in MMO form. I wasn’t disappointed either – the levelling experience was huge amounts of fun, even though I found the combat a bit too similar to Warcraft.

Continue reading “WildStar: Rocket-Propelled Narrative”

Pin Your Hopes On It

Posted on by Gazimoff

paxpinspair

Competition time! This time though, it’s not me sharing the bountiful loot. Instead, you’ll need to head over to Settler in Exile, where Anhrez is running a crossword competition. The clues for this puzzle have been spread far and wide, so you’ll need to do a scavenger hunt for them.

To get you started on your voyage across the interwebs, here’s a couple to get you started:

  • 23 Across – Infamous Bringer of Justice
  • 35 Across – An Arkship

Don’t forget to head over to Settler in Exile to get the empty crossword sheet and a few pointers on where the other clues might be. Best of luck!