PTR is back, and Drop 2 is up and waiting for you to jump on and test it.

As hinted in the Strain DevSpeak, this patch is PvP Centric, with the main addition being a new battleground “Daggerstone Pass”.  The overall drop is being called ‘Sabotage’.  Here’s the highlights of the new battleground:

• The goal in Daggerstone Pass is to destroy your enemy! It’s all about base destruction, where Exile and Dominion players must control satellite uplinks to initiate air strikes against their enemy’s base. And, for those who really want to get down and dirty, players can also carry bombs to detonate in the enemy base! Now that’s hardcore!
• Practice Battleground brackets for Daggerstone Pass are level 30-49 and level 50.
• A rated version of this Battleground (at level 50) is also available.
• Enjoy wreaking carnage and mayhem in 15v15 battles.
• Ground mounts are not only allowed, they’re encouraged!
• For the extreme player we offer bombs with timers that could explode while being carried, so set that puppy down and run!

It looks like tons of fun.. I was going to try and login and record some gameplay… but, I don’t have a level 30 character on the PTR, and the ‘boost’ NPCs are only for level 50s.  It would be nice if Carbine opened up character copies to the PTR, and/or added boost NPCs to get to different level ranges for testing specific things.  Maybe with a future PTR build.

Best note in the patch:

• The in-game model for Kit Brinny now more closely resembles the cinematic version.

You see… Poor Kit looks nothing like herself.  Here’s a screen cap from her “Meet the Exiles” video:

And, here’s Miss Brinny as she is currently in game (Had to take a Selfie with her on my SpellSlinger..she’s famous you know! – Kit…not my SpellSlinger):

Quite the difference between the two.  Looking forward to seeing how much more like herself Kit is looking post 2.0!

In addition to the PvP content (and Kit fix!), there are a ton of general fixes being added in this patch.  Check out the full patch notes after the break!

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Normally, I prefer to just play a DPS role, but, occasionally.. I like to branch out and heal or tank.

Since WildStar gives us multiple action sets…I set one up for healing, and jumped into a random battleground.  It’s a chaotic, insane mess… but, it’s also pretty fun.  I just got a new Nvidia card, so I figured I’d give the ShadowPlay/Gameplay recording aspect of their software a go… the below is unedited (so, no voice over, or commentary, in-game audio only) footage from my first recorded PvP match.

As you can see, there is a lot to keep track off.  It would be nice if the default ‘raid bars’ in WildStar showed if the player was out of range.. there’s a couple times I tried to heal someone who was really low (by using a direct heal), only to find out that they were too far away.

Oh, semi-related note.. if you’re trying to use Nvidia’s GeForce Experience/ShadowPlay to record in WildStar… you need to have WildStar set for full screen – exclusive.. otherwise ShadowPlay won’t trigger.

To celebrate the first month of launch.. the WildStar crew is letting us all get Squirged!

If you’ve got a retail key applied to your account by 12:01 AM PDT on Monday July 7th.. you’ll be granted an account level Strained Squirg hat.. that’s right.. you too will be able to have your head enveloped by an infected Squirg! Just what everyone needs:

Talk about a face only a mom could love…

See? The Devs do love us… enough to give us an infection!

Carbine announced some official guidelines for ‘how to be a WildStar fan site’.  These guidelines have triggered some changes in how I’m posting content.

Here’s the guidelines:

• WildStar Only – Websites must be solely created and provide exclusive coverage for WildStar. Sites that are part of a larger gaming network (i.e. portal sites) are acceptable as long as the specific portal is devoted to WildStar and are proactively maintained.
• Domain Name Only – Official Fan Sites must have a proper domain name and web hosting to be considered Official Fan Sites.
• Established Record – A newly submitted site should be up and running at least 60 days before becoming an official site.
• Frequently Updated Content – Official sites must be maintained and updated with quality, original content regularly. Sites that lapse will be removed from the list.
• Administrator Contact Information – There should be one person from the site that is the primary point of contact for the WildStar team. This person needs to have consistently updated contact info. Not providing us with updated contact information for your site’s admin will be considered grounds for removing your site. An active game subscription will also be required to post on the forums.
• Signed NDA – At our request, Official Fan Site operators may be required to sign and submit a non-disclosure agreement. We will provide it to you, should we require one.
• Acceptable Content/Advertising – Official sites must not contain any material that is not compatible with the spirit of our game or the standards by which we run our own site. WildStar is rated “T” by the ESRB and we require fan site content to reflect that. Additionally, an official Fan Site may not have gold selling, power-leveling, botting, or any other form of exploitation advertised on their sites.
• Coherent Design – An Official Fan Site need not be professionally designed, but we do ask that the style and look of the page reflects the thorough work that you have invested.
• General Professionalism – We will not support a site that does not implement best practices in web security, or engages in improper behavior like spamming, selling user information etc. Official WildStar fan sites must adhere to all of these guidelines to remain in good standing with Carbine Studios and the WildStar Community Team.

Because of these changes, I’m moving all WildStar content to a new sub-domain (I need to find out if cross posting the content between the subdomain (wildstar.bigdamnheroes.org) and the ‘regular’ domain is ‘acceptable’ or not.  If it’s not, then content will only be on wildstar.bigdamnheroes.org.  I’ve also got a different (more W* specific) appearance on the new subdomain.. so, hopefully that’ll appease the WildStar Community folks, and I’ll be able to get “recognized” as a fan site!

In addition to all the new content in the Strain Drop… players who voted in the PC Gamer/Carbine ‘design a weapon’ contest.. should have received the winning weapon in their account inventory today.  So, if you’ve got a Warrior.. be sure to add it to your costume!

PC Gamer does have a little ‘making of’ video on the sword too:

Last bit of teased drop content hit today… the DevSpeak:

Highlights:

• Something for everyone
• New PvE content (duh)
• Lore
• Exploring
• Housing
• No new PvP stuff yet.. .though the DevSpeak does tease a new BG coming in the next drop.

Oh… it was also announced today… we’ll have all these new goodies after maintenance tonight/tomorrow morning… how’s that for “sooner than expected”?