The Nexus Times: Moodie Mask Madness

So up until now, I’ve discussed events that have been going on in Wildstar, my impressions, or just general observations and critiques. This week’s article, however, is going to be a little bit different because I’ve come to realize that there is a large population on Nexus that either doesn’t know how to PvP, doesn’t care, or is just bad at gaming in general. I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this, there’s a chance you still care (at least just a little bit) and would like a few tips on how to get better.

WildStar PvP

Currently on the server Pago, I’m in a pure PvP guild and have done nothing but PvP on my Stalker since level 6. I might not be the best PvPer around, but I damn well know how to grab a Moodie Mask, a capture node and what’s going to spawn when. A majority of Wildstar PvP focuses on battlegrounds right now, considering a relatively low percentage of the population is a high enough level for ranked arena or Warplots, and I’m going to cover some tips and tricks that should bring your game to a whole new level.

WALATIKI TEMPLE

This is essentially capture the flag, but with multiple masks moving around at once. Each team starts with a mask in their base, an “Unearthed” mask spawns on the map at the start of the game, and an additional one spawns 1 minute after an unearthed mask is captured. This means that it’s possible for up to 3 masks to be moving at any given time (1 stolen from each base and 1 spawned mask), which can create for a lot of hectic gameplay.

See that shiny yellow thing? That’s a Moodie Mask, don’t let the enemy grab it!

Position, teamwork and reaction are key components to consistently doing well and winning Walatiki Temple. Right off the bat, Stalkers, Medics, Spellslingers and Warriors can get an easy head start on the first mask spawn. Any of these classes can double jump off the starting platform and use their gap-closing skill, which happens to be Pounce for Stalkers, to clear the fence and drop down before anyone else. This doesn’t sound like a very complicated trick, but 75% of the time I can grab a mask before anyone else even gets close to me.

This leads me into the teamwork section. After one of the aforementioned classes grabs the mask for your team, please provide them with support. Anyone who isn’t attempting to steal the enemy’s mask should be healing, stunning, killing and whatever else they can do to secure the unearthed mask gets captured. The biggest issue I see involve people that run out in the middle of nowhere and try to duel each other. Kill Death Ratio means nothing here, and if you haven’t noticed, it’s really hard to kill someone 1vs1 in Wildstar; most classes can either sustain heal forever or just run away before they die. So instead rally to your teammates or at least try to distract the enemy by stealing their mask.

Now once you get that mask back to your base it’s still not time to run around and aimlessly fight with no purpose. The entire team should regroup and try to hold the middle of the map because position control means easier mask grabs. There’s also a semi-spawn order to the masks. Once a mask is picked up from a location, it won’t appear in that same location again for at least 4 more spawns. So if the first mask spawned top, there’s absolutely no reason to be fighting there because the next mask can only spawn on one of the bottom three locations.

Finally, it’s better to know when to let a mask go then delay the inevitable. More than likely, most matches aren’t going to go 5-0. If the entire enemy team is guarding their mask carrier just outside of their base it’s not going to end well if your team fights there. Just let them have that mask, regroup middle, and wait for the next one to spawn. Fighting in the enemy base means their respawn location is closer, so eventually your team will run out of troops before they do. Remember, it’s all fun and games until someone drops a Moodie Mask.

HALLS OF THE BLOODSWORN

While generally longer matches than Walatiki Temple, Halls of the Bloodsworn is a much simpler battleground with more condensed fighting. Since there’s almost always constant fighting, it’s easier to get swept up in the carnage and lose focus of the objectives. Whether you’re on defense or offense, the objectives are still the same; don’t let the enemy capture the nodes. One of the biggest reasons this happens is because people don’t fight on the points. Players easily get distracted by nearly dead enemies, and they want to secure the kill, when a stalker cloaks in and captures the node. It’s almost impossible to capture a node when the enemy teams is consistently using area attacks in close proximity.

The nodes in the second zone of Halls of the Bloodsworn make jumping back and forth a breeze.

Many players seem to be confused about how significant the secondary capture nodes (sides) really are. Not only do they increase the multiplier for all allies standing on the primary node (center), but they also increase the capture rate by themselves. That means that capturing and holding one, or both, secondary nodes is essential when there’s a stalemate in the middle of the map. Furthermore, this is something that can be done with relative ease in the first two areas.

Since the first area is split into three even sections, any character with a teleport can jump from the center to the East or West secondary nodes in a matter of seconds. Therefore, it’s not a terrible strategy to try and lure the entire enemy team middle and then jump to one of these nodes when no one else is looking. A similar strategy can be used for the second map because both secondary nodes are within leaping distance from each other, but they’re also a level above the primary node. It’s generally best to have about half a team, with teleport/leap skills, constantly switching platforms and either defending or trying to capture secondary nodes. When a team becomes stagnate and fails to adapt to the enemy their chances of winning decrease dramatically.

The third area is a lot more difficult to transition in because the secondary nodes are in opposite corners of the room and the only way to travel is via the orange platforms that send players to the base of the opposite ramp. Most defending teams with only leave one or two defenders at the secondary nodes here, so this is one of the few times that dueling skills actually become important. Just like the other two areas, it’s best to assault the middle with a sizable force and try to stealthily capture the secondary nodes when given an opportunity. Conversely, teams can also send most of their team to a single secondary node, capture it by force, and then leave a small group to defend it while the rest of the team takes the advantage middle.

DON’T BE THAT GUY

There’s always that person who says something like “I don’t care if we lose, it’s just a game.” Well the problem with that mentality is 90 percent of the other players probably do care. Winning means more experience, more rewards, and more money so even the players that don’t care about bragging rights or doing their best at least have a monetized incentive to play better. There’s a place for not caring, there are actually quite a lot of them in Wildstar; it’s called PvE. Now there’s nothing wrong with wanting to shoot mindless AI, but joining battlegrounds just to troll is a really low thing to do.

The big glowing circle is the primary node. Fight on it!

The only thing worse than trolls, or apathetic whiners, are bots. Yes, there are still a ton of bots in Wildstar, but thankfully most of them only show up in Walatiki Temple. Unfortunately, I actually like capturing Moodie Masks, but I’d rather have them be condensed in one battleground than wait 5 minutes for a Halls of the Bloodsworn queue only to have my team be artificially challenged.

Bots in Wildstar are probably the worst I’ve ever seen in any game, and by that I mean their skill level. I’ll admit that I used to bot in Diablo 2, back when you had to farm for months straight just to upgrade a single piece of gear. The bots I used were really good; they hardly ever died and I always woke up the next morning with a pile of gold and semi-usable items. What do the bots in Wildstar do? They run into walls. They swing their swords at nothing. They jump in place. Sometimes they literally do nothing at all. I’ve played some games where the bots were actually better than human players, but this is not one of those games.

So in closing, please fight on the point, stick with your team, and don’t be an ass or a bot. Until next time, see you on the battlefield!