Wildstar Warfront: Reddit PvP AMA – Battlegrounds

 

Welcome to Wildstar Warfront, bringing you news, opinions, and advice for PvP in Wildstar!

Today’s battle plan: learn what the developers have planned in Wildstar from the Reddit PvP AMA with regards to Battlegrounds. Join us tomorrow for Arenas and PvP Systems! Let’s jump in!

 

Battlegrounds

Q: The HotBS map is fun but I find it far less intuitive to play compared to the Void Star [Author’s note: SWTOR, sic]. Has any thought gone into making it clearer when you need to transition into the next area? IE turn off flashing yellow arrows until it’s time to run? Make the primary/secondary capture voice overs more distinct? Flashing red lights in the room you should move out of when you open the door? What about improving the UI to show which secondary objectives have been capped?

A:

Currently HotBS has several indicators that a room has been captured and that it is time to move forward:

• The primary control point has a large “Lock” icon that spawns in the middle of the point
• The capture progress UI resets
• The defending team will also get a “Fall Back” ability (this shows up above the ability bar) that will port them to the next room/CP.
• And most importantly, a quest arrow will pop up on your character as soon as a point is fully capped directing you to the next point.

This is not to say that there isn’t more to be done to make it more obvious and we pride ourselves on listening to player feedback and taking action on it. Your suggestions of “turn off flashing yellow arrows until it’s time to run”, is one that I will certainly look into.

I actually was very aware that when the guy says “an objective has been lost” that it was time to move forward. It comes down to situational awareness, so I think they should not make it too obvious. I don’t know, any counter thoughts on that?

Q: How does stat normalization work in BGs? For example in the 6-14 bracket, is everyone’s stat basically just brought up to the stats that a level 14 would have (minus all the gear) and any stats added onto that is basically coming from your gear?

A: In Battlegrounds, the rallying system treats the character as it is the max level of the bracket (so for 6-14 Walatiki, you’re considered level 14) for the purposes of scaling base attributes, health, player abilities, and gear. All stats on items are scaled with the player’s level, through adjustments in the item’s available power. This is so we preserve your stat distribution on your gear while keeping power level appropriate.

This is what SWTOR did, and it made for a very enjoyable 10-49 PvP game. I like this method more than the smaller brackets and twinks that WoW has. I know not everyone agrees with me, but I think very poorly of those who twink their characters and stay at a certain level to prey upon weaker characters. It is cowardly and dishonorable behavior in my not-so-humble opinion.

Q: My most pressing concern is the AMP and LAS system and its negative affect on PVP. Do you guys plan on changing the system at all to allow PVPers to get access to the points/skills without forcing them into PVE?

A: We have changed our Battleground loot bags! With the next update, you’ll have a chance to receive non-PvP amps from those bags.

*does a happy dance* This is exactly what I was hoping they would do! I want to level almost entirely in PvP, and this is a crucial change.

Q: The Third Battleground: How long will it take to get this in after launch?

A: That out of the way, our third battleground has been tested internally pretty thoroughly and we’re enjoying the heck out of it. We hope you’ll like it too :)

I was wondering what happened to the “three battlegrounds” thing that they had planned last February at Arkship! Good to know that it is coming shortly after launch! If they stick to what they said at Arkship, it will be for level 50 only, which I think would be a mistake, but we’ll see.

Q: Are there any game modes for battlegrounds that you looked at that didn’t quite make the cut, or are there any game types that are being considered down the road?

A: We actually had 21 designs for battleground gameplay. CRB_KevinLee was very busy early in WildStar development! Some of these had grey map layouts (and several versions of them). Only a few made it to the actual prototyping stage.
The ones we ended up choosing for launch (which evolved into Walatiki and Halls) were ones that we had in a scripted and playtest-able stage with a couple of different map layouts. We’ve set aside a few other gameplay designs from the pool to use post launch. Those designs have been or will be adjusted based on player demand/desire as well.

What a great question, and what an interesting answer! I can’t wait to see if some of these prototypes make it into the game!

Q: So is MOBA battleground a future idea? What other sort of unique ideas, like SWTOR huttball, would you guys like to implement (like not that you will).

A: I can’t go into specifics about future BG’s, but I can tell you that we do draw inspiration from many different games/genres (like MOBA’s). The intent, of course, is to continue to deliver battlegrounds with unique mechanics and “twists” on old favorites.

Huttball was basically my favorite PvP map or my least-favorite PvP map in SWTOR. My enjoyment of said map was inversely proportional with the number of idiots I had on my team. I would love it if Wildstar capitalized upon (read: stole like bandits) some of the more popular game-types from other games, like MOBAs and Huttball.

 

What did you think of their answers? Any questions that I might be able to answer? Let me know in the comments!