Tag Archives: WildStar

Casual Friday Livestream Recap

Yesterday was Friday… so that means we got our 2nd episode of “WildStar Casual Fridays” (Note.. everyone at Carbine had pants on..clearly, they don’t take casual Friday seriously).

In this week’s LiveStream, CRB_Sunshine (Community Jabbit Wrangler Manager) was joined by Caydiem (Senior Game Designer), and we got our Shade’s Eve overview (and Caydiem did way better on her run through of the event, than I did).  They showcased the vendor goodies, the instance, and answered a bunch of questions.  You can replay the stream here (at some point, it’ll be on the WildStar YouTube channel too).

We found out that the cites, essentially get turned into Giant FabKits with tons of plugs, to allow them to be decorated for holidays.  During the stream, they also gave away 2 CBT keys, 30 days of game time, and a Fancy Pants Jacket…  Now, on to the Qs that they A’d:

Q:  How Long will event last?
A:  On PTR till Tuesday.  Live should be a few weeks.

Q:  Hard to get into a career in game design?
A:  These days the best way to do it, is to make games.

Q:  Ingame store only way to get cool mounts/pets seen in store?
A:  Yes, but some may drop in dungeons, etc..

Q:  Factions, race, or path changes for F2P?
A:  No solid answer, being looked into.

Q:  What level/item level is the instance?
A:  Levels 10-50, scaled to 50 if you’re below.  Roughly Expedition level gear.

Q:  Will Shade’s Silver be deleted at the end of the event?
A:  Not decided yet, might be able to save between years.

Q:  Will we still see event even if transition isn’t completed yet?
A:  Yup.  Shade’s Eve is coming.

Q:  Shade’s Eve event rewards permanent, and usable all year?
A:  Yes.

Q:  Pumpkin hat?
A:  No, Jack Shade, and Angel’s awesome outfits are available though.

Q:  Any account wide mounts/pets coming soon?
A:  No update

Q:  When will we get Shade’s Eve?
A:  Not giving exact dates, but obviously, some time in October.

Q:  Is WildStar coming to STeam?
A:  No Answer

Q:  Safe to assume candy buckets will be non functional after event?
A:  Think they’ll have floaty icons all the time.

Q:  Will the game remain as funny as it was?
A:  That’s the goal, because that’s WildStar!

Q:  Shade’s Eve have yearly items that are exclusive to that year?
A:  Not decided if anything will be taken out, looking to add more.

Q:  How can Shade’s Eve mount flair be obtained?
A:  Drops from the instance.

Q:  Will Shade’s Eve related decor on the housing vendor remain year round?
A:  Only accessible during Shade’s Eve?

Q:  Will we get better notification that new things have arrived on the housing vendor?
A:  Excellent suggestion, go post it on the housing sub forum.

Q:  Why are boost NPCs not visible to everyone on CBT?
A:  Had to be subscribed by August 3rd to have Signature status, to see the boost NPCs.

Q:  Upcoming years, will Holidays be out in the world too?
A:  Depends on what they can do with the time they have.  There are Shade’s Eve discoveries out there.

Q:  Are you hiring?
A:  Yup, visit the site.

Q:  Is instance solo?
A:  No, 1-5 people.

Q:  Queue via content finder?
A:  Want to, no guarauntees it’ll make it.

Q:  Shade’s Eve Plushies?
A:  No, there are not.  Hay mouse that you can get.

Q:  Is the mount with the horns only for Dominion?
A:  Nope, Dreg racer from the store.

Q:  Is there a comprehensive list of rewards that we can view?
A:  Not yet, but people (fan sites) are putting together a list.

Q:  Are you going to show us Thayd
A:  Sure

Q:  Pumpkin lantern in capital cities glows nicely, one for housing does not bug?
A:  Maybe..might not be in the light category, submit bug.

Q:  Game looks good, is it alpha/beta, when is full release?
A:  Live game, but F2P transition is in Closed Beta.

Q:  Can we get falling leaf sky for housing?
A:  Will ask, this one may not be avaialble.

Q:  Mac version?
A:  Not at this time.

Q:  Syringe weapon costume piece for warriors?
A:  We’ll see.

Q:  Will there be open beta?
A:  Giving a lot of keys out, sign up for beta.

Overall, I like the format of these Casual Fridays.. they’re a nice, fairly informal way for us to get some time with a Developer (and, Sunshine doesn’t have to freak that they’re telling us way too much on twitter, since she’s sitting right there to Nerf gun ’em if they say too much).  Because it’s a two person stream, the chemistry between the hosts is much better, and when they banter back and forth it doesn’t feel scripted.

Make sure you jump into beta and test the Shade’s Eve content lots this weekend, it’s going away on Tuesday.

Beta Patch 2: AKA “OMG SHADE’S EVE!!!”

All the hinting teasing Caydiem has been doing on Twitter (like this):

Have finally come to a head… with today’s CBT maintenance.. we get our first real glimpse at the first “holiday” content for WildStar.. Shade’s Eve!

I’m glad to see this hit the PTR for a couple reasons… Carbine has held off on Holiday content since launch, to instead (rightly) focus on fixing things.. so the fact that we’re getting this, means that they think the game is in a good place.  Plus!  If we’re really, really, really, lucky (and, remember..this is just me guessing, nothing official has been said by Carbine)… it means we’ll get Drop 6 before Halloween!

Caydiem would like your Shade’s Eve feedback here.

Here’s the rest of the patch notes, in the even you’re interested in something besides Shade’s Eve  😛

 

General

  • Shade’s Eve is online and ready for players to test away! Please leave all feedback in this thread.

Character and Combat

  • On Glance abilities should now proc correctly.
  • Engineer
    • AMP – Rejuvenating Rain has changed to:  When you Glance an attack, restore 21.04*lvl + 32% SP health to self and 2 allies within 5m. Can only occur every 5s.
    • AMP – Defense Protocol now increases Glance Chance and Glance Mitigation by 4% for 8s, changed from 4% Deflect Chance.
    • AMP – Survival Instincts now triggers off of Glance, rather than Deflect.
    • AMP – Quick Restart has changed to:  When you Glance an attack, gain a 37.45*lvl + 57% SP absorb shield for 5s. Can only occur every 10s.
    • AMP – Repeat Business:  Increased Glance Mitigation to 6%, up from 5%.
    • AMP – Razor’s Edge has changed to:  While between 30 and 70 Volatility, increase Glance Mitigation and Multi-Hit Severity by 6%.
    • Feedback
      • Is now usable after Glance, instead of Deflect.
      • T4: Now reduces cooldown on Glance, instead of on Deflect.
    • Bruiserbot:  T4 defense increases Glance Mitigation by 5%, changed from 3.5% Deflect Chance.

Addons

  • PathTracker – Fixed an issue where missions would not load in time to be displayed.
  • QuestTracker
    • Fixed an issue where quest objective spells would sometimes throw a lua error.
    • Quest states should now correctly update when players achieve a quest.

Beta Patch 1

Holy Patch Notes Carbine!

The Beta server went down for maintenance this morning, and when it came up.. we all got kicked in the face with a ton of changes/bug fixes (mostly bug fixes).

I’m still patching up, so I haven’t had a chance to test the changes yet.. but, I know what I’m doing later…

Some highlights:

  • Improved the performance of the Quest Tracker
  • The dye costs for Eldan Gold and Green have been dramatically reduced.
  • Adjusted the costume system to allow unlocked but deprecated items to still be used in costumes.
  • The challenge tutorial has been updated to reflect the new reward track system.
  • Removed the instance discovery requirements for all adventures. Players can now queue for all adventure instances through the group finder as long as they meet the minimum level requirements.

The abundant patch notes, also come with a list of known issues (read that here).  There are a lot of changes, so make sure you jump in and help test them (and, to try and make sure nothing else got broke!).

Full patch notes after the break (because it is LOOOOOOOONG!).

Continue reading →

Character Creation Deep Dive

Today we got a deep dive into the updated character creation coming with WildStar’s drop 6.

One of the interesting tidbits from this deep dive, is Carbine has listed what their ‘core improvement’ goals for the revised Character Creation Experience:

  • Make character creation easier and more intuitive with a new look and flow.
  • Offer three starting options based on your level of experience with WildStar so you only play as much of the tutorial as you need.
  • Make changes to arkship layout and content to reduce the risk of getting lost and keep you moving in the right direction.
  • Revisit the rollout of tutorials in the first ten levels so you’re getting the most important lessons at the right times.
  • Add new effects and animation to draw attention to tutorials players were easily missing.

I’d say they hit those goals, though, in my opinion, they went to far in the ‘make changes to arkship layout and content’ one.  I talked about this briefly when the PTR first went up here.  Essentially, I feel they cut too much of the lore, and ‘backstory’ out of the new experience.

I do think that the revised experience is much more straightforward, quicker to go through, and very well done though.  The three starting “levels” of the character creation are a brilliant idea, and they’ve got them divided up pretty well.

One “bonus” benefit of the redesign, is that if you skip the Arkship completely, you’re no longer missing out on TALES keys, data cubes, and some journals.

The Deep Dive does touch on some of the content that was moved from the Arkships to the starting zones:

Focusing the arkships on a few aspects of the game meant we had to look beyond just the tutorial zones. There wasn’t space for some of the topics we used to cover in arkships, so we moved some tutorials to the next tier of zones (levels 3-6). You’ll encounter Path content, equipment, and loot for the first time on the surface of Nexus. You’ll see revised, level-appropriate tutorials throughout Wildstar, many sporting new text and images. We’ve also added new quests in level-6 hubs to encourage you to give your class’s support role (tank or healer) and abilities a try.

Make sure you read the whole Deep Dive, and if you haven’t already, sign up for the WildStar F2P Beta here.  Get in there, test, and give your feedback to Carbine.. let them know what you don’t like..but make sure you also tell them what you do like!

 

PTR Maintenance

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..

Cosmic AMA Recap

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..