WildStar Raid Attunement Guide: Part 1 - The Genesis Key (Video)

Our good friend Richie Procopio (aka Bogotter) had begun a series of videos to highlight the process of getting attuned for raiding in WildStar. In his first video in the series, he explains how to obtain the Genesis Key, which unlocks a series of quests that will eventually unlock both the Genetic Archives (20 player raid) and Datascape (40 player raid). Enjoy!

Source: YouTube
More Richie:
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In-Game Equipment Management API is Coming Soon

Players in WildStar enjoy the ability to quick swap between different action bars/AMP sets in order to participate in different content or perform different roles. If a Medic wants to switch from heals to DPS, it's quite simple - just an easy click of a button on the UI. Unfortunately switching between gear sets has not been as easy ... but that's all about to change.

In a recent post on the WildStar subreddit, Carbine confirmed that the idea of an in-game equipment manager API has been a hot topic at the studio and that it is currently in development. Since it's a significant addition players shouldn't expect to see it added in a hotfix but rather a full patch drop in the future.

The creation of the API doesn't necessarily guarantee that Carbine will build an equipment manager by default, but it does mean that the community should see a host of addons that will accomplish this. Either way, this is a great quality of life addition for players.

Source: Reddit

Joe Piepora's update on Dungeon/Adventure Loot: "The devs are listening!"

Carbine recently informed the community of some changes that were going to be implemented to help reduce the toxic "gold medal or bust" mentality that had formed for those attempting veteran dungeons and adventures. These changes spawned a lengthy (and at times heated) debate among those who had differing opinions on the long term effects of these changes. While overall loot was increased throughout the instances, the guarantee of a purple drop upon completion was removed. Some had expressed concern that these changes favored the less skilled and removed guaranteed rewards for the skilled while others agreed that this change would achieve the purpose of minimizing the "gold medal or bust" mentality.

In the spirit of transparency, lead systems designer Joe Piepora, stopped by the official forums to pull back the curtain on the recent loot changes, offer a deeper explanation behind them and hint at further upcoming changes based on community feedback.  

Here's Joe's full post:

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Originally posted by 7ofswords

Hey all,

Thanks for the feedback on yesterday’s changes. I thought I’d pull back the curtain a bit and post about the reasoning behind some of these changes alongside some data to push things along.

Firstly, I would like to clarify some of the details concerning the drop rates for superb items in dungeons and adventures. It was not clear that superb quality rewards were not going to be a 100% drop for completing a gold medal run, and that’s on us. In the spirit of transparency, then, here’s the information regarding drop rates and the effects of medal runs:

• The superb item loot table has a 20% chance to be selected to drop from the final boss or event of a dungeon or adventure.
• The superb item loot table has a 10% chance to be selected to drop from each bonus medal loot roll. 
• Combined, there’s the opportunity for up to 4 possible purple drops from the final boss.

Bluntly: when you kill the final boss of a dungeon, that boss has a 20% chance to drop one of the previous gold medal purple rewards instead of a blue item. Every extra roll provided by a medal reward has a 10% chance to drop an epic reward. You can and will occasionally get 4 blue items for completing a Gold medal for War of the Wilds. It is also possible, but statistically less likely, to receive multiple purples.

A more fundamental question, though, surrounds why this change was necessary. A bit more detail on that:

• Superb (purple) items were originally intended to be exceedingly rare. So rare in fact that they were designed to be completely unnecessary for starting progress in Genetic Archives. We thought of them as interesting bits to chase for the fully engaged 5 player group audience.
• The primary source of purple items through PvE content was intended to be 20-player raid content, with other sources providing some additional loot opportunities. It was not our intention for them to be commonplace through dungeons and adventures.

Frankly, we were surprised with how quickly gold medal runs became the standard and the resulting impact of that on the group play experience. A “Gold Medal or Bust” mentality developed where players placed more value on purple rewards than on the groups in which they played, and this is something that needed to be addressed. The goals in this change were as follows:

1. Reduce toxic behavior in Group Finder-initiated groups.
2. Ensure that purple items remain rare chase items in the dungeons/adventures, as intended, rather than as a reason to farm gold medals in the easiest veteran spaces.
3. Return the emphasis toward instance completion away from medals, while keeping medals valuable in their own right.

You have been forthright with your concerns about the way we’ve gone, and offered up some interesting suggestions. I’ve been reading many of them while thinking about this, and I assure you that we are not deaf to your concerns over this or other items regarding elder game item balance. Reward structures, in particular, are important and can be divisive, particularly in the elder game.

After we’ve had some time to discuss the feedback internally, I’ll write up another post discussing our plans for this and other issues. As we evaluate the impact of these changes in game on our diverse player base, we’ll continue to adapt and revise the plans when and where we feel it is suitable. We’re always discussing these issues and we encourage you to as well, both with us and amongst yourselves. The devs are listening!

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PTR focus test Today (July 18th), earn Boom Boxes for helping!

Team WildStar is hosting a focus test on the Daggerstone Pass battleground on the PTR on Friday July 18th from 2PM to 6PM PDT.

Players who participate will earn two Boom Boxes for the first Daggerstone Pass match played and one per match thereafter up to a total of four total Boom Boxes earned.

Keep in mind that in order to be granted an instant boost to level 50, you must have achieved level 50 on live servers as of July 14th.

For new players who aren't sure what Boom Boxes are, check out the video below from Open Beta that shows some of the surprises players may find inside:

For more details and to comment, check out the original post on the WildStar Official Forums.

For more info on how to download and participate on the PTR, follow this link.

Community Conversation: How do YOU prepare for Veteran Dungeons/Adventures?

This morning I was at my housing plot, working on mastering my DPS skills/keybindings and I thought: "Hey, I wonder how others in the WildStar community are preparing for Veteran Dungeons/Adventures?"

So - here I am, asking all of you amazingly super-cool WildStar community folks this question:

How do you prepare for Veteran Dungeons/Adventures?

How do you learn your class, spec, skills, AMPs, etc? 

What tips would you give a new level 50 that is getting ready to dive into Veterans?

Leave your comments below! The most helpful comments will be incorporated into a future article aimed at helping new 50's get ready for Veterans (giving credit to you for the advice, of course!)

Overnight hotfix buffs Dungeon and Adventure loot, brings AMP and Ability Point fixes

Hooray for better Dungeon and Adventure loot! Back in June we reported that WildStar was working toward remedying the "gold run or bust" mentality that players were experiencing, especially in veteran mode dungeons and adventures. Those promised updates were hotfixed overnight along with other substantial dungeon and adventure loot buffs. In addition, AMP and ability points are now more likely to drop in world loot as well.

The full hotfix notes are listed below.

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UPDATE NOTES: 7/16/2014

Items

• When moving a Soulbind-On-Equip item in your inventory, the "Confirm soulbind" dialog will now only appear if the item would become soulbound.
• Items transferred to the Guild bank now properly validate uniqueness.

Classes

Stalker

• Abilities
• Shred should now deal damage as intended.

Esper

• Abilities
• Visual effects should once again show up when casting "Crush"

PvP

General

• Gear in the buyback list now counts towards the gear score when queuing up for PvP matches.

Arenas

General

• The Deserter debuff now properly applies to AFK players who go AFK in an Arena.

Economy

Loot

• Several rewards from Stormtalon's Lair, Kel Voreth, and Skullcano normal mode have been increased in item level.
• Several rewards from Hycrest, Astrovoid, War of the Wilds, Siege of Tempest Refuge, Crimelords of Whitevale and Malgrave Trail have been increased in item level and rarity.
• Bosses in Stormtalon's Lair, Kel Voreth and Skullcano normal mode will now drop at least 2 items, instead of 1, when defeated.
• Reward points in Hycrest, Astrovoid, War of the Wilds, Siege of Tempest Refuge, Crimelords of Whitevale and Malgrave Trail normal mode will now drop at least 2 items, instead of 1, upon completion.
• Dungeons and Adventures no longer have unique rewards on Bronze, Silver and Gold Medal rewards.
• Bronze Medal will no longer sometimes award good-quality loot.
• All excellent-quality and superb-quality items that were previously only available on the Silver and Gold Medals are now available from the final boss.
• Medals now also multiply the amount of money awarded from the final encounter:
• No Medal - 100% money reward
• Bronze Medal - 150% money reward
• Silver Medal - 200% money reward
• Gold Medal - 250% money reward
• Medal rewards now confer additional loot rolls on an instance-wide loot table. Each of these rolls has a flat bonus chance to select from the final boss's superb item list.
• The reward structure is now as follows:
• No Medal: 1 roll on the final boss table
• Bronze Medal: 1 roll on the final boss table, 1 roll on an instance-wide loot table
• Silver Medal: 1 roll on the final boss table, 2 rolls on an instance-wide loot table
• Gold Medal: 1 roll on the final boss table, 3 rolls on an instance-wide loot table

• AMP and Ability Points are now more likely to drop in World Loot.

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Update Notes 7/15/2014: Class Balancing, Bug Fixes and More

A new update patch hit the client overnight bringing more bug fixes, class balancing/adjustments and more. If you want to know what wasn't fixed, just read the first few comments on the official forums - they always let us know!

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UPDATE NOTES: 7/15/2014

General

• The flickering water effects seen by some users using NVIDIA graphics cards has been fixed.

Creatures

• Samu-Samu Blood Shamans no longer heal enemies, or the Giant Skeech Totem with ‘Blood Channel’.

Characters

General

• Many items that some Players reported as missing, should automatically be mailed back to their owners upon login.

Items

• Elemental Life Drain
• Will no longer trigger more than 5 times every 1 second.
• Previously, the value was calculated as if it were a heal, with no damage component. This has been fixed, and the values adjusted, based on it being a life drain. New values shown below:
• Tier 1 - 32 life drain per hit, down from 73.
• Tier 2 - 63 life drain per hit, down from 143.
• Tier 3 - 96 life drain per hit, down from 218.
• Tier 4 - 129 life drain per hit, down from 293.
• Tier 5 - 176 life drain per hit, down from 433.
• Tier 6 - 203 life drain per hit, down from 556."
• Flux Hoverboards purchased from a designated mount vendor can now be sold back to vendors (for a fraction of the price).
• Housing and Renown Flasks no longer generate threat when used.
• Equipping an item that is "Soulbound on Equip" will prompt the player before equipping the item.

Item Specials

• Capacity Tier 5 no longer grants an additional 50% shield capacity on top of the intended 2.3k.
• ‘Slow it Down’ should no longer stack multiple times on a single player.

More patch notes after the jump!