Given the upcoming F2P drop, and all the low level changes that are coming with that.. I’m going to temporarily stop the “Mis-Adventures of Cassidy SteelPeaks” video series… I’ll reboot (look, it’s like Hollywood!) the series post – F2P launch, to help showcase all the changes Carbine has made for that.
Plus.. I’m having fun messing around with the different classes on the Beta server..so it’s possible Ms. SteelPeaks may have another class change coming up..
You probably noticed the PTR going down for a bit this afternoon..If not.. well.. it did, see what happens when you’re at work?
CRB_Sunshine threw up a brief list of the changes that came with today’s patch:
Combat
Classes
Warrior
- Jolt – Expose now reduces all Mitigation by 4% (flat), changed from 6% (flat).
- Smackdown – Expose now reduces Physical Mitigation by 8% (flat), changed from 10% of all Mitigation (multiplicative).
- AMP – Armor Shred – Landing a direct Multi-Hit grants 4% Armor Pierce for 8s. Stacks 3 times.
Engineer
- Bio Shell
- Expose now reduces Technology Mitigation by 8% (flat) for 7s + 0.5s per tier, changed from 7-15% (multiplicative) for 11s.
- Tier 8: Expose now reduces all Mitigation by 8% (flat), changed from reducing Armor by 15% (multiplicative).
- Particle Ejector – Expose now reduces all Mitigation by 4% (flat) for 6s, changed from reducing Armor by 20% (multiplicative) and 3s.
- AMP – Exploit Weakness – Redesigned:
- Dealing physical or technology grants an Empower based on the damage type.
- Empower: Increases Damage Dealt by 6%.
Stalker
- Frenzy – Expose no longer stacks and now reduces all Mitigation by 4% (flat) for 6s, changed from 6 stacks of reducing 3% Physical Mitigation (multiplicative) for 5s.
- Punish – Expose now Increases Physical Damage Taken by 12%, changed from 4.5%.
Esper
- Haunt – Expose now reduces Magic Mitigation by 8% (flat) for 6s + 0.5s per tier, changed from 8-24% (multiplicative) for 10s.
- Crush – Tier 8: Expose now reduces Magic Mitigation by 15% (flat), changed from 35% (multiplicative).
- Incapacitate – Tier 4: Expose now Increases Magic Damage Taken by 10% (flat), changed from reducing Magic Mitigation by 6% (multiplicative).
- Fixation – Tier 8: Should no longer sometimes be granting players 32822 psi points every 3 seconds (should be 1 every 3 seconds once again).
Spellslinger
- Arcane Missiles – Expose no longer stacks and now Increases Magic Damage Taken by 12% (flat) for 8s + 0.5s per tier, changed from 3 stacks of reducing 3-7% Magic Mitigation (multiplicative) for 8s.
- AMP – Withering Magic – Redesigned as Piercing Shots: Using a Spell Surged ability grants 4% Armor Pierce for 4s. Stacks 3 times.
- Class Rune Set – Vindication changes:
- (4 piece bonus) Using a surged ability now reduces utility cooldowns by 1s.
- (8 piece bonus) Landing a hit with Charged Shot, True Shot, or Assassinate now increases PvP power for 4s. Stacks twice.
Medic
- Fissure – Expose now Increases Technology Damage Taken by 12% (flat) across all tiers for 8s + 0.5s per tier, changed from reducing 12-20% Technology Mitigation (multiplicative) for 10s.
- Class Runeset – Atomic Instability changes:
- (4 piece bonus) Whenever you gain an actuator that puts you at 3+, gain a stack; When you use Atomize, stacks discharge one at a time to deal damage in an AoE.
- (8 piece bonus) For each stack discharged, Assault and Utility cooldowns are reduced by 0.5s. No longer affects Atomize.
Player pets should now correctly inherit Crit, Multihit, Strikethrough, and Vigor from their owners.
Not a ton of changes, but it’s nice to see the class balance stuff starting to make a decent appearance..
This afternoon CRB_Bardic braved the hive of scum and villainy.. Errr… wrong game… She went to Reddit to answer a whole mess of questions regarding the Cosmic Rewards program announced yesterday.
Here’s the reddit thread if you’d like to read them all yourself (and, see the Qs that went A less).
Now on to the Qs, and As…
Q: If I had a Standard Edition, then bought another for the Mystery Box, would I get 12k for each box code I used?
A: Yes! Each standard edition box is worth 12,000 Cosmic Points when redeemed, regardless of when or where ya bought it. Thanks for buying one for the promo!
Q: So, we can apply multiple game codes to one account aka buying more than one standard edition of the game?
A: Due to our Mystery Box Promotion, yes, you indeed apply multiple game codes! Please remember, this only applies to physical box copies, STANDARD edition, of the game. See here for more info: http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/2015-04-15-announcing-the-wildstar-box-mystery-box-promo/
Q: I’ve applied 2 retail boxes codes after the promotion and more than a few months of sub… but only getting 36k loyalty points?
A: Ah! The grandfathering script that was run for past purchases on CBT at the start of CBT does not include subscriptions. We’ll be testing that with the next grandfathering script in Phase II of CBT.
Q: Upon reaching a rank (i.e. “4,000 points: Pet – friendly furrelope”), do your points reset to 0 (meaning to get the next reward at 5,250 you need to earn 5,250 more points), or do they stay at 4,000 (meaning you only need 1,250 more points to get next reward)?
A: Cosmic points never reset! When reach a reward threshold, you get the goodie(s) and keep right on going. We’ll continue to add more Cosmic Reward tiers over time 🙂
Q: What are cosmic rewards?
A: Check this out for the lowdown! http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/2015-08-19-level-up-with-cosmic-rewards/
Q: What will be the “cap” for the max loyalty stage ? (level 6 i guess) ?
A: Our maximum Cosmic reward tier for launch is Tier 6. However, you’ll continue to accrue points from your spending if you exceed it. When we introduce new tiers in the future, you’ll automatically receive the rewards you qualify for!
Q: Does the 30 days included with promo box purchases count as monthly game time for cosmic points or is it a standard box purchase that awards 12k cosmic points each?
A: The game time tied to the Standard or Deluxe edition is included as a part of the Cosmic Point total for that code redemption. That is, the 12k you get from the Standard Edition is the full total, there are no extra points added due to the game time in the edition.
Q: Are there UI improvements in the pipeline to make my level of Cosmicness easier to understand in game.. since currently the UI ‘bar’ shows one thing, while account inventory shows another.
A: All of our Cosmic Reward UI is currently in progress. We’ll have better UI coming soon to CBT.
Q: Is the amount of Cosmic points we have on PTR accurate to what we will get once system goes live? I would gladly welcome some UI overview of all Cosmic Rewards Tiers, where player can see how far are they in progression and what they have unlocked. When I log into ptr I see only bar and number 11 000 points (even though in claim page it says I can claim 35k) and I have no idea what I have unlocked so far and what I can unlock.
A: We’ve got a bigger better UI coming soon to CBT 🙂
Q: Glad to hear that! Will Omnibits purchases award us with Cosmic Points?
A: No. Only NCoin store purchases will award Cosmic Points. If you’re not a big spender, you can also redeem CREDD and earn Cosmic Points!
Q: Let’s say the maximum point number cap (at tier 6) is 50,000 (random number), and there are no rewards after that yet. If i earn more than 50,000 cosmics, will they be lost? Or will i go above the cap?
A: Our maximum Cosmic reward tier for launch is Tier 6. However, you’ll continue to accrue points from your spending if you exceed it. When we introduce new tiers in the future, you’ll automatically receive the rewards you qualify for!
Q: If I buy, say, three standard edition boxes. Can I redeem all those codes on the same account for 36000 points?
A: Si senor!
Q: Even if the boxes were bought prior to the game being Free-to-Play? Also, do they need to be physical boxes or can they be digital codes?
A: Yes, even if the boxes were bought prior to Free-to-Play. You can only stack box codes on an existing account if they are physical boxes. Digital codes cannot be stacked.
Q: Is there or will there be a way to check how many cosmic points you have before the patch, other than just doing mental math and hoping you didn’t miscount something?
A: Good question! Currently for CBT, we are testing our grandfathering script for issuing Cosmic points based on your past purchases. Purchases after the script won’t be caught on CBT environment at this time. We will be doing another script run for Phase II of CBT (but note that purchase past that point won’t be counted for CBT). That will give you a good idea of what to expect for live, however!
Q: Are the correct Loyalty Points (Cosmic Rewards) given out on the PTR at this time? Because I only have an impossibly low 3000 points on both the Ncoin store UI and in my Account Inventory. If I go by the Deep Dive, I should have at minimal 27,000, assuming the Mystery Boxes that I used as time codes only count as so. If the Mystery Boxes count as Standard Editions despite being used as Time Codes, then with the upgrade to Deluxe, I should have 63,000. Or is this an issue to take up with Support? Which is fine, I just need to know.
A: Hi there! We do a have a bug at the moment where the visible totals on the UIs (store vs account inventory) are not matching. We’ll be fixing this soon!
Q: After the initial surge, what do you think the best way to earn cosmic points will be? Also, can you give us a hint at further rewards after the initial cap?
A: We assume the standard methods will be: Buying NCoin Bundles, Buying CREDD, buying items in store with NCoin, redeeming CREDD. We’re still brainstorming assets for rewards after Tier 6, so nothing to show at this time!
Q: I noticed that some of the Cosmic Tiers have various themes. (Tier 5, for instance, has a Technophage theme). Should we expect that for theoretical future tiers? Will we see an Ikthian Tier? An Eldan Tier? Also, what’s your favorite cosmic reward?
A: There may be themes with later tiers, please let us know what you’re interested in 🙂 My favorite cosmic reward is an early one: the fuzzy Furrelope. It’s adorable. However, the Li’l Beast pet and the mounts in the reward system are pretty awesome too!
Q: I am a huge fan of Ikthians! And Datascape stuff! Think you can put a word in? 🙂
A: Consider it put. Or in. Or something.
Q: I originally bought the limited edition copy of the game. After 3-day head and first free month I began to pay with CREDD from then until today. During that time I also bought a mystery box copy of the game. What kind of points are those things worth? (Limited edition copy, CREDD monthly, Mystery box promo copies).
A: YAY Math! Limited edition I assume is the Deluxe edition: 15k Cosmic points Standard edition/mystery box: 12k Cosmic points CREDD (assuming you bought them through the Exchange and have redeemed 13 to date): 13k Cosmic points (1k per redemption). Total: 40k Cosmic Points!
Q: I was wondering if there would be any cool housing items but the new house is amazing looking! I think a bigger ship would be fantastic too. I live my ship but its just a little on the small side.
A: Will totally steal this as an idea for later rewards 🙂
Q: Will i ever be able to change my gender?
A: It’s a good idea, and something I’d personally like to offer. It’s not in the schedule right now, though glad to pass on the feedback/request.
Q: Are all Cosmic Rewards accountbound? For example, if I get the House teased in the deep dive.. can all my alts use that? or just the first character to claim it from Account Inventory?
A: All of the Cosmic rewards are account bound. Anything that is not a direct account entitlement (aka the item rewards) should be multi-redeem, so you can claim them down for all characters on your account.
Q: Any plans to include things like Boomboxes in some of the tiers?
A: We’d like to leave Boomboxes as it’s own sort of thing. Cosmic rewards will generally be exclusive account entitlements or items.
Q: Do you get any Cosmic Points for spending Omnibits? Or is it purely Ncoins, subscriptions, and CREDD?
A: No. Only NCoin store purchases will award Cosmic Points. If you’re not a big spender, you can also redeem CREDD and earn Cosmic Points!
Q: I suppose this is more of a suggestion than a question, but have you considered adding the fact that cosmic points will be awarded with every month of Signature as one of the benefits of subscribing? The PTR shop doesn’t list that among the benefits of Signature, and it’d likely make the service look even more appealing.
A: Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll ask that we add that in somewhere 🙂
Q: Will any previous Boombox/Gamescom/Other Limited Items (i.e. Fancy Pants Set, Rest in Peacemaker, etc.) be made available through Cosmic Rewards?
A: Boomboxes, Gamescom items, and the other things you listed remain exclusive. We will have our own unique rewards sets for the Cosmic Rewards program.
Q: Any plans to tie in yearly gifts or random acts of kindness to cosmic rewards? Say on the anniversary of your subscription date, get a Protostar cake-day box depending on tier?
A: This is also a very cool suggestion, and something we’d like to figure out how to tie into either the Daily Login Calendar or some other mechanism. Future plans!
Q: My account inventory says I have somewhere are 49000 points, while the shop says I only have 25000, Also in the shop it says the next tier after warpiglet is dreg white, While the deep dive says it’s a mount?
A: Dreg white is a dye reward. Warpig of the Devoted is a mount. We have a bug where totals are not matched up on CBT. It will be fixed soon.
Q: I recall reading somewhere that there might be more restrictions on the number of objects placed in player housing for f2p players, but this is not addressed in the Cosmic Rewards tiers you published. Do you have any information regarding the differences in player housing experiences between f2p players, returning players, and new signature players?
A: For the decor limitations between Free and Signature, check out this: http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/2015-05-28-wildstar-is-going-free-to-play-heres-all-you-need-to-know/ Please note that for the Free Player, the 1k limit is our current limit on live today.
Q: Are there cosmic cupcakes?
A: Yummy
Q: Why don’t Dominion get an Exile mount?
A: Keep an eye out. Some things that were traditionally faction based may be available in other ways in the future (Store, Cosmic Rewards, Daily Login Calendar, etc).
Q: How will various non-cosmetic cosmic rewards (circle access, % crafting rate, etc) compare to the subscription model? Will subscribers feel “pressured” to spend extra cash because some cosmic tier will offer some kind of strong reputation bonus or crafting bonus?
A: The percentage benefits (like the crafting rate mentioned) will all stack with Signature bonuses. The social reward (circle, warparties, guilds) is the exact same thing as the Signature offering. So you have two ways to remove this restriction, either spend for the Cosmic reward or get Signature!
Q: Slightly more difficult question: Will the Cosmic Rewards only be available that way? Will the items ever be available another way, either through gameplay, or through item stores? Bonus question: Will the Cosmic Rewards ever change? Will the Fuzzy Furnellope be changed out for something else, making rewards time-limited?
A: Cosmic rewards will be exclusive to the program. Once we have launched the cosmic reward tiers on Live, it is unlikely that we will be removing, changing, or swapping.
Q: Will the Cosmic rewards stay mostly cosmetic/pets/mounts/titles/housing stuff mostly?
A: Our first tiers of rewards are primarily vanity, but we will not exclude other item types from being a potential reward.
Q: I’ve been subbed since the game started. But I haven’t been playing much recently. Do I have to do anything to get rewards? Or will I get them when I log in automatically?
A: You’ll get them when you log in! Don’t need to do anything special. They’ll show up in your account inventory!
Q: are the costume items in PTR shop place holders?
A: No, everything you see in the in-game store in CBT will be available as a launch purchase. We also have some super sekrit things we’ll put on there launch day.
Q: what will it take to make you guys let me change my path on my main?
A: Or, how about, add a path? (Note: I am not promising anything at this time) 😀
Q: Hi! So in the 2k cosmic point tier, you unlock “full access” to circles, guilds and warparties. Could you explain a bit what full access means? How are players restricted if they have not yet reached this tier? Are these the same rewards mentioned under as “Loyalty perks” in the f2p FAQ?
A: They are the same rewards mentioned as Loyalty Perks in the FAQ 🙂
My favorite little tidbit snuck in… was that there is apparently the possibility of having a second path in the future! Lots of good info in the FAQ, yesterday’s deep dive, and now the AMA..
WildStar’s new Loyalty Program, is officially called ‘Cosmic Rewards’ (just…ignore the labeling in the Beta currently..along with that UI… it’s not pretty).
Today, Carbine has given us a better breakdown on what you can earn, how you can earn it, and how past purchases will contribute to your Cosmic-ness!
There will be 6 Tiers of Rewards in the game at launch, but we’re only getting a sneak peak at 3 of them today.
Let’s look at the first tier, first:
Tier 1 is the ‘remove F2P restrictions’ tier.. for only 2,000 points you remove all the social restrictions for a free account. Which, if you wanted to do it in a single purchase, the 4,000 NCoin package will give you 2,300 points (That’s $50, so..roughly the cost of having purchased the game initially).
The ** on the cooldown, and crafting bonuses, is because those stack with the bonuses for the same items granted by having Signature status. Here’s what the Miner Hat, and Furrelope look like.
At Tier 2, we move from requiring only 1,000 points between levels of the tier, to 1,250 needed (expect this to continue to increase, to make the higher levels of Tier 6 (and beyond) take longer to get to).
This tier unlocks extra AH/CX slots, so you can try and Protostar your way to galactic riches…or, just pay for that latest costume change you want.. Off this tier, to me, the most beneficial is the rested XP bonus gaining..that combined with some of the daily login rewards, helps alleviate a little of the ‘alt-unfriendliness’ of WildStar. Mount Customization image, Badlands Velocirex image. While cool… the Velocirex will never get my off my hover boards… love being able to zip across the water!
And last, but not really last… is Tier 3! This one gives what is possibly one of the coolest new Dyes in Drop 6, Northern Lights. No really, it’s cool.. click that link and look at the picture Carbine has used.. They used one of the new metallic costume sets from the cash store, but those really highlight how cool that dye is.
Here are the images for the Costume, Pet: Li’l Beast, and Mount that you can get at this tier. All of which are well done.. who doesn’t want to have their WildStar character look like Fred Flintstone on his way to a meeting of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo?
Carbine also threw a nice tease in, for a house we’ll be able to earn through Cosmic Points:
Yeah… it’s an Osun House…and it’s pretty cool.
The important part of Cosmic Rewards, is… how do you earn them? Because.. it does no good to see all these rewards dangled in front of you…and no way to get them. Feat not.. Carbine has unzipped their lips on how many points everything you’ve ever done (or, will do) is worth..
Cosmic points are earned by spending money on WildStar (Duh!).. Specifically, entering a code, making a purchase through the website, buying/redeeming C.R.E.D.D, or spending NCoin. Fear not.. our subscriptions for the past year, have also been contributing to your upcoming Cosmic balance..
Here’s the full list of store, signature, box, etc.. purchases, and how many Cosmic Points you’re getting:
| Store Purchase with NCoin | 2 Cosmic Points per NCoin spent |
| 400 NCoin Bundle | 200 Cosmic Points |
| 800 NCoin Bundle | 420 Cosmic Points |
| 1600 NCoin Bundle | 880 Cosmic Points |
| 4000 NCoin Bundle | 2300 Cosmic Points |
| 8000 NCoin Bundle | 4800 Cosmic Points |
| WildStar Standard Edition | 12000 Cosmic Points |
| WildStar Deluxe Edition | 15000 Cosmic Points |
| 15 Day Game Time Card | 1800 Cosmic Points |
| 30 Day Game Time Card | 3000 Cosmic Points |
| 60 Day Game Time Card | 6000 Cosmic Points |
| C.R.E.D.D. purchase | 4000 Cosmic Points |
| C.R.E.D.D. redemption | 1000 Cosmic Points |
| Deluxe Upgrade | 3000 Cosmic Points |
| Character Rename (paid) | 4000 Cosmic Points |
| Paid Realm Transfer | 4000 Cosmic Points |
| 1-month Signature Plan | 3000 Cosmic Points |
| 3-month Signature Plan | 9600 Cosmic Points |
| 6-month Signature Plan | 20400 Cosmic Points |
| 12-month Signature Plan | 45600 Cosmic Points |
When it comes to Signature plans.. longer is better.. you get some bonus CP on everything EXCEPT the 1 month plan.. so, I’d suggest taking at least the 3 month plan.
I like the rewards.. I really, really, really hope the UI gets improved immensely from what is currently in Beta.. it’s confusing, and doesn’t look good. Other than the UI.. I don’t really have any complaints about the Cosmic Rewards program, I think the tiers break down nicely, and provide some cool little ‘thank you’ gifts.
As if this wasn’t enough… Carbine is giving us sometime to digest all this Cosmic information…and then holding an AMA over on Reddit this coming Thursday (that’s..tomorrow) at 1:00pm PDT.
One of the new features coming with Drop 6, is Daily Login Rewards. I took a few minutes tonight, to list out the login reward for all 180 days that are currently available on the PTR. So, here’s the current breakdown, by day. Keep in mind, this is Beta.. so it’s possible this list will change by launch:
As part of the ongoing CBT/PTR testing of the F2P/Drop 6 content.. Carbine is going to run Wildstar’s first ever Double XP Weekend!
Level up…..with extra quickness!
Details were posted today, as part of the request for focused testing on the Double XP system.
On the PTR from Friday, August 21 at 2:01AM PDT, until Sunday August 23 at 11:59PM PDT, we’ll be turning on a new double XP bonus feature called “Double XP X-Plosion!”. This is one of a few different recurring events we’re working on that we can turn on and off to provide limited-time bonuses and rewards. The Double XP X-Plosion! event is pretty much what it sounds like: double XP earned from all sources*.
The little * by all sources, is because right now instances don’t count. This is also only for leveling XP, not crafting or path XP.
I’m curious to see how well the UI displays your XP gaining %, especially if Carbine’s double XP stacks with Rested bonus, as well as the ‘boost’ flasks that are now available on the store (if it all stacks.. someone could do some serious leveling during a Double XP weekend.. possibly all the way to 50, if they don’t mind skipping path content).
Make sure you hop on the PTR this weekend, and test out the Double XP goodness..then, make sure you hit the forums up (here), and provide feedback about your weekend doubling times. One of the feedback items Carbine is looking for, is what other type of events you’d like to see..so throw those suggestions at them!
And, as long as you’re providing some focused testing feedback, hit these other feedback solicitation threads up too:
Daily Login Rewards, Service Tokens, and Lockboxes.
If you do leave feedback, please remember to keep it civil.. if you don’t like an item… like, say… lockboxes.. calling the Devs nasty names, and being rude… really isn’t likely to be useful feedback – and won’t result in anything changes (except, possibly, your posting privileges on the forums being removed). Polite, constructive feedback about what you don’t like, is more likely to be taken into account.
