Deep Dive: Discoveries

This morning, Carbine released a nice little Deep Dive covering the changes to Discoveries as part of Drop 6.

The biggest changes to the Discoveries (besides there being a LOT more of them), are the pets, and costumes you can find.  Here’s the relevant snippets from Caydiem’s article:

 

If gameplay boosts aren’t motivation enough to chase down Discoveries, how about some exclusive companion pets?

Starting at level 6, each zone in the game will feature a unique pet that can only be found through Discoveries. Ever want a Red Garr, a Purple Ravenok, or a Strain-Corrupted Chompacabra? You can find them hiding in a Discovery! Only the most dedicated of pet lovers will collect them all.

Good-looking pets demand good-looking pet owners, so we added nine costumes you can find via Discoveries. Want to dress like a Bloodfire Draken or sport a classy space helmet? How about a full hazmat suit or a pair of sporty goggles? Citizens of Nexus, engage your style engines!

 

I’ve been playing on the PTR almost exclusively for the last week (minus a couple of veteran ship hands run with my son), and it’s easy to tell that the frequency of Discoveries has been cranked up to 11 on the dial.  In Algoroc, I could easily find 2 or 3 Discoveries over a 5 minute span – just while doing my normal questing, I wasn’t specifically going out and looking for them.

I’ve yet to find any of the pets or costumes, but, since I know they’re out there… I’m stopping at each, and every Discovery I find – and fully exploring every Zone’s map.  This is something I don’t currently do on live, where the Discoveries are there, and if it’s convenient (i.e, right next to another quest objective) I’ll grab the Discovery.

So, for me at least, the Discovery changes are having the desired effect.. I’m actively seeking them out.  I haven’t found a ‘bad’ buff yet, and it seems the frequency of ‘non-buff’ Discoveries has been upped as well, since I’ve ran into quite a few of those.  I’m a fan of the Discovery change..and I hope the current PTR version, is what makes it to live.

 

Head over to WildStar’s site, and read the full Deep Dive.  Don’t forget to sign up for the Beta while you’re there…and jump in and help test the new goodies in Drop 6!