WildStar Unique Raids makes disillusioned MMO fans believe in WildStar

WildStar makes no apologies for the difficulty of its raids. While there's a commitment to providing content everyone can enjoy, Frost acknowledges the importance of roping off certain sections that only the best of the best can tackle. When WoW ditched its 40-man raids, it faced accusations of oversimplified content and pandering to the lowest common denominator. While the decision to do this and introduce a Raid Finder meant more people than ever got to see the game's coolest content, it had the unintentional effect of driving away some of the more hardcore players... which wasn't good.

The hardcore MMO players are your game's evangelists. While they're there, putting in the time to be the best, they offer a benchmark the rest of your community can aspire to reach. The knowledge some players are willing to work this hard in the title offers reassurance it must be worth doing. If those guys go however and, in some cases, even start lamenting that gameplay and design isn't what it once was, there's trouble a-brewing.

This is why WildStar will once again feature 20 and 40-man raids. It's a controversial move, but one Frost feels is integral to the game's success. "Lots of people were saying 'well I don't have the time to do those,' or 'I don't have the ability to talk with all these people.' We don't have Looking For Raid, we only have Looking For Group, which is for the 5-person content. The reason that we did this was because we wanted to encourage community and players talking to each other. When you have a bunch of raiders that come together in a WildStar raid that don't communicate, you just have a bunch of people that are going to die really quickly. So we prefer that these groups are groups that work well together and really care about accessing the most brutal and difficult content to get the best rewards throughout the game."