When a new MMO launches do you ever feel pressed to keep playing to stay at or ahead of the curve? Â Maybe you have friends playing who all seem to have more time than you do — does that bother you? Â I’ve recently found myself in such a place which is quite unusual for me. Â I’ve always been the guy with inordinate amounts of time to simply log in and level like crazy, but now I’m the guy who has struggled to find an opportunity to log in and play much of WildStar.
I was able to log in and play for several hours on launch day, and a couple of hours on day 2. Yesterday I wasn’t able to log in at all. Â It’s an interesting conundrum since I am the leader of our WildStar guild. I’m glad to have officers I can rely on, and a community that won’t judge me for being lower level than they are, at least until I can catch up. If anything, having higher level guildmates means that I can get help via the mentor system. That inner-struggle still exists, though. Â I feel like I want to be pushing ahead with everyone.
One observation I can make about WildStar so far is just to affirm WildStar’s setting as a powerful influence on the rest of their game.  The zany, oft wacky world makes mundane tasks interesting.  I personally think questing sucks in almost every game.  WildStar’s quests really aren’t that great when you look at the actual gameplay elements/mechanics, and the story is sorta crap, but the setting and atmosphere at least make up for it.  I can safely skip the text and just ‘do’ the actions it tells me and, unlike many other MMOs, at least understand in a weird way why it’s fitting.  They did a nice job piecing together their world.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on how you cope with the “I’m falling behind” feeling if it’s something you’ve ever had to deal with in a MMO.
Falling behind is quite possibly my least favorite thing about theme parks. It happens to me constantly when playing with my best friend. He just finds more time to level than I do, which means after the first week we never group again until cap. Which may not happen because I get bored out of my mind solo quest grinding.
I know there have been some changes to make grouping with off level people better, but its definitely not the same. This is another reason I enjoy skill based systems to levels. Usually, in a skill based game both players can get skill doing a similar task.
Has Wildstar found a way to help the falling behind dilemma? When I read about attunements, that seems to make falling behind even a bigger factor.
Well I do feel pressed indeed, but not because I don’t have enough time to stay at a reasonable level competitive. When a new MMO launches I just wanna play all classes until a certain level and then I wanna level crafting along leveling etc. While most of my friends just log on a single character and race to the end and then they start doing “endgame”.
From one hand I feel bad I am not there to play with them and progress my character, but from the other hand I am not that type of player that will rush to endgame, skipping half the content while leveling. The perfect would be if my friends/guildmates was like me but..
Welcome to “Getting Older”.
I have noticed that the older I got, the less time I had for gaming, yet I don’t burn out on games nearly as fast. So there is a positive! hehehe
What you are experiencing is the same issue I am (just add another +10 years). I haven’t had the desire to even start WildStar because I know I won’t have the time to do all that I would want to do. So I’m waiting for the Wow expansion since I already have so much invested in WoW. And since the time I have logged in Wow is minimum compared to most gamers, I’m not burnt out on in it.
I still may try WildStar! Who knows.
WildStar has the mentor system in place so that people who are higher level can de-level themselves temporarily to enjoy content with lower level players. They are even rewarded with some sort of token or something for doing it. That should hopefully incentivize people to help out others, and alleviate some of my concern about the whole ‘being left behind’ feeling.
I had kids, I can’t MMO anymore. My kids are young, so I get ~3 hours of gaming a week. I play Diablo 3 (love the new patch) and all the guys I play with want to power level me. I feel the pull to PL, so I can play with them, but I’d miss the game as it’s intended. It’s like reading the last chapter of the book and spoiling it all. It’s not fun. However, they don’t really understand and keep offering to PL me. I wish D3 had a mentor system like WS.
You’re in a different position than I usually would be because of the guild thing. I stopped joining guilds quite a few years ago, around the time it became the norm for MMOs to allow a single person to start a guild. Now I just make my own guild in each MMO for myself, Mrs Bhagpuss and the two or three people we know who tend to try some of the same new MMOs as us, if they happen to be trying that one.
That means I can go at my own pace and not worry too much about what other people are doing. As far as age goes, I’m through the family responsibility thing and out the other side so most of my time is once again my own.
Yes, unfortunately it does bug me to fall behind, but I mitigate it somewhat by not rushing to join a guild until I’ve got at least one character at or near max level. (Also I’m pretty introverted and enjoy solo questing most of the time.)
I think my guild is actually what HELPS me. If I were all alone on the server and had no true friends to turn to I would feel awfully alone and abandoned as the entire server progresses ahead without a care in the world. When it comes to MMOs I’m very much an ambivert/extrovert. I hate soloing and doing things without a group — hate it.
So what about the story is crap specifically? I haven’t played much, but it just seems to be cliched and average.
I used to but actually, these days, nope. I’m quite happy to flounce along, enjoying things in my own way at my own pace. 😀 Today I haven’t logged in yet. Not sure if I even can as my game hasn’t arrived yet. And I’m okay with that. Mostly. 😉
I’ve always been competitive, and WoW and Diablo 3 conditioned me to push as fast and as hard through quests/mobs because they are pointless and only a way to get the most efficient XP/loot.
Partly I know that the higher and faster level I get the less and less I’ll have to worry about the world PVP. Nothing ruins your night than a roaming band of 5 exiles riding up and stun locking you and smashing your face.
I have noticed last night I slowed considerably and I’ve started to explore more, and I’m taking more time finishing quests that I normally would skip. I’ve enjoyed it a lot more since doing so.
First, I too have seen my gaming time ween as I age, only a few years older than Keen. However, when new games launch I tend to find a few extra hours here and there to get at it.
Second, I can undestand taking it slow and enjoying the game. And, if this is how someone enjoys the game, then heck keep at it. But for me, if I go too slow I get the left behind feeling, combined with the I just did this same damn quest feeling but with different mobs. Combine those two and it usually signals the death knell of a game for me. Particularly when there is no other main goals besides leveling and gear grinds. I find pets and mounts fun, but usually they are bonuses along the way. Crafting is great but only if its viable with the best gear or consumables, which is traditionally not the norm. Guess I hate MMOs now 😉 lol
Being in a perma duo, I really couldn’t care less if I was behind the curve or rolling down it backwards, as long as we are enjoying it, the biggest gripe I have is people not willing to run lower content because they are already past it (and unwilling to be slowed down) but that’s not happened much yet.
When soloing/not on my perma duo, I am still not overly fussed. I can pull together a pug fairly well and people seem to listen to me for the most part (perhaps because i’m the healer or tank) so that makes group content easier. Along with having less competition for quest objects, less people around means the ones you do meet tend to be nicer.
Really, the only issue I have in falling behind is that your gonna have more higher level people ganking you than you would if you were ahead