We’re celebrating the release of the Power of the Primal Matrix update with a new Free 50 Frenzy event!

Just log in after the Power of the Primal Matrix update is released and you’ll have a free character boost available for you to make a new level 50 character with. This is a one-time use offer, so be extra sure you’re creating the character you want to before finalizing it. Once your free level 50 boost is used, it’s used up forever—no takesy-backsies!

The free character boost offered with the Free 50 Frenzy differs slightly from the paid-for version, but still includes all of the following:

• Full set of Assault (DPS) gear already equipped
  
• Bag of Support Gear: Full set based on class Support role (tanking/healing)
  
• Bag of Path Rewards: Stuff you’d normally get for your Path while leveling
  
• Mount: Something to ride around on!
  
• Protostar Housing Teleportation Unit: Use this item to transport to your housing plot, and it’ll also give you a Recall ability to get back to your house if you leave it
  
• Capital City Transmat Coordinates: Use this to add another Recall button, but this one transports you to your capital city

We’ve created some helpful information for new level 50s, and Gamepedia has an awesome character boost guide, too! Just keep in mind that when this goes live you’ll also have the Primal Matrix system to begin progressing through.

Everyone that logs in during the Free 50 Frenzy event can claim their free character boost, but it must be used to create a level 50 character during the promotion period. Be sure to claim it quick as the Free 50 Frenzy event ends at 11:59pm PDT, March 12!

The Power of the Primal Matrix update arrives March 8!

In just one more week the next update for WildStar will be live, bringing with it some absolutely gargantuan and expansive new features. Chief among them is the new end-game progression system—the Primal Matrix—which allows you to continue progressing your max-level character, gaining more power and even new abilities. You’ll need Essences to unlock the Primal Matrix upgrade nodes, and while they can be obtained from just about any activity in the game, what better way to earn them than in the two new instances, Evil from the Ether and Coldblood Citadel? These two instances, along with several other dungeons and Expeditions, are also compatible with Prime difficulty—a new system that allows you to ratchet up the difficulty and receive mo]re powerful rewards. And while we’re talking about scaling rewards, we’re also allowing players to scale down to old instances while still receiving rewards that are applicable to their regular character level—helping friends and guildmates has never been easier or more beneficial! Last but not least our Signature members will get a bonus to their Essence gains, allowing them to progress more efficiently through the Primal Matrix system.



These are just a few of the changes coming in Power of the Primal Matrix next week, so get ready to jump in and continue your adventures on Nexus!

The Power of the Primal Matrix will soon embolden heroes on and beyond Nexus, and before it arrives we want to equip you with all the knowledge you need. We recently covered the Prime Matrix itself in more depth. For this go around we want to delve into the content and reward scaling that complements your progression through the matrix—the Prime difficulty system allows you to steadily increase the challenge of select content for greater rewards.


When queueing for a supported Expedition or dungeon at level 50 you’ll have the option to set a Prime difficulty level for the instance. Prime difficulties are featured on an initial selection of PvE content, which we plan to expand over time. Each time you increase the Prime difficulty of an instance you’ll face enemies with increased health and more lethal attacks, but you’ll also be boosting the effectiveness of the loot you receive. As you push to progress through greater Prime challenges, you’ll continue to become more powerful!

To begin your advancement you’ll need to complete Prime level 1 of a given Expedition or dungeon. A Silver Medal will unlock Prime level 2 for that instance, and a Gold Medal unlocks the next 2 levels—giving you access to Prime levels 2 and 3—in case you want to pick up the pace. Supported Prime instances initially include dungeons Coldblood Citadel (new!), Ruins of Kel Voreth, and Stormtalon’s Lair, and Expeditions Evil from the Ether (new!), They Came from Fragment Zero, and The Gauntlet. This list will be expanded to incorporate additional PvE content in future updates.


Aside from receiving a deep-seeded, personal sense of glory and accomplishment, the primary motivator for running Prime content is to score better loot and continue your advancement through the Primal Matrix. Coming with the Power of the Primal Matrix update is a new scaling items feature, which gives us the ability to keep rewards relevant for you by increasing the power of an item drop in a dungeon or Expedition based on the relative difficulty of the content. Each instance available in the Prime difficulty system awards loot at a base item level, and each step up in difficulty incrementally increases that base level—meaning the item’s stats are proportionally increased.

Advancement in the Prime difficulty system, however, isn’t entirely and predictably linear. As you continue progressing through the Primal Matrix and increasing the difficulty level at which you’re running Prime instances, you’ll have opportunities for extra gear boons. Items that drop have a chance of upgrading beyond the base item level of the difficulty level you’re running, and in some cases will upgrade all the way up to the maximum level of that item. For example, you could be running Coldblood Citadel on Prime level 5 and score an item at a level that ordinarily wouldn’t drop until Prime level 9. These chance drops should give you a little extra edge as you continue to climb into higher Prime difficulty levels, particularly if you barely meet the recommended Heroism Rating, or are prone to take advantage of Gold Medal completions and skip over some difficulty levels entirely.

Gearing up through Prime instances is also the way to start stacking any of the three new character stats coming in this content update. The following new stats are only found on items that drop from Prime instances:

• Toughness: Decreases your damage taken as your health pool decreases.
  
• Tenacity: Increases your damage output on a target as their health pool decreases.
  
• Hope: Increases your healing effectiveness on a friendly target as their health pool decreases.

Not only do more powerful items come at higher Prime levels, the reward multipliers on Primal Essence gains increase as well—10% added bonus per Prime level. As a refresher course, Essences are what allow you to enhance your character through the Primal Matrix and progression through the matrix increases your Heroism Rating—each Prime difficulty is assigned a recommended Heroism Rating to give you a sense of suggested character power relative to the difficulty of the content.


Item drops and Essence gains aren’t the only rewards meaningfully impacted by your rise through the Prime difficulty system. Our goal with lockboxes has always been to give you an extra crack at obtaining decent upgrades for your character if the loot drops on an instance run just don’t go your way. To that end, it wouldn’t be very helpful if dungeon and Expedition lockboxes didn’t also scale based on difficulty. In Prime instances, lockboxes will now default to item level 100 rewards, unless the base item level of the instance drops are higher than item level 100. In other words, if you’re running a Prime level 9 dungeon that drops gear at a base item level of 125, any lockbox obtained in that dungeon will contain gear at a base item level of 125 as well.


Scaling items aren’t just beneficial to max-level characters progressing through Prime difficulties. The loot you find in any regular dungeon or Expedition is scaled to your character level. It’s especially helpful for characters that aren’t well into the level 50 endgame and Primal Matrix progression, and for friends and guildmates who want to play characters that aren’t the same level. If you’re level 40 and you group with players in the 20s to run Ruins of Kel Voreth, not only will every character in the group be scaled in health and power relative to the challenge of the dungeon, the loot each of you receive is scaled based on character level—you’re still eligible for gear upgrades! In addition, you benefit from running random dungeons and Expeditions in the Content Finder (default ‘N’ hotkey) to receive the Primal Essence bonus reward with a mixed-level group.


As a reminder the Power of the Primal Matrix update is available for PTR testing, and we welcome your feedback about Prime difficulties, scaling items, and everything else coming to WildStar in this update! We’re working hard to put the finishing touches on it, and hope you’ll enjoy working your way through the highest difficulties. This system will be expanded in future updates, so you’ll want to seize all the power you can get!

For a limited-time Protostar will match your experience point for point, which means you earn twice the XP every time you earn XP during this special event. The XP X-Plosion runs from February 24 at 2am PST until 11:59pm PST on February 27.

Keep in mind that the double XP from this Double XP X-Plosion! event stacks with the bonuses from Signature, and Signature offers a ton of other great benefits too!

We recommend maximizing Protostar’s very generous Double XP X-Plosion! by tackling adventures, expeditions, and dungeons, which you can queue for by using the Content Finder (N). Already level 50? During the event you can earn Elder Gems twice as fast to purchase items like Ability or AMP points. When you hit the weekly cap of 350 Elder Gems, your XP is converted to gold. It’s a good time to make good use of your time!


Don’t have any WildStar characters yet? The Double XP X-Plosion! event is the perfect time to start, and it’s completely free!

With the upcoming Power of the Primal Matrix update we’re expanding Signature benefits, continuing our monthly in-game rewards, and rewarding players who are continuing subscribers. Check out all the key details below, and if you’re not Signature already, you’re sure going to want to be! Start getting everything you can from your time on Nexus with a Signature membership.





We’re keeping the monthly rewards rolling with the Dream Fawngrazer pet, and Magic Fun Stuff dye. These exclusive rewards are automagically delivered to those with an active Signature membership during these months—you won’t want to miss out!


Signature membership already provides a ton of great bonuses and benefits, improving upon the already spectacular free experience of WildStar. With the upcoming Primal Matrix system we’re adding even more value to Signature by increasing member Essence drops by 50%! That means with every 2 Essence a non-Signature member would receive, you’ll get 3! Gain Essence faster to progress through your Primal Matrix unlocks faster, and get to those sweet, sweet bonuses.




The Starfall anniversary event this June is going to bring back a month of weekly events and rewards to celebrate another great year on Nexus. In addition, those that have been a Signature member for at least 90 days* between January 1 and June 1 will receive an extra special gift—firework mount flair!

In addition to the great Signature bonuses and benefits you get every day—including the new Essence bonus—and in addition to the new upcoming March and April monthly rewards, and in addition to the other gifts and rewards for the event itself, our dedicated Signature members will be receiving this amazingly explosive set of mount flair.

*Reward will be delivered based on used Signature time only, and not time purchased. Used Signature time does not need to be contiguous (e.g. 30 days could have been used January 1-31, and 60 days from March 1-April 30).

In case you missed our Primal Matrix Deep Dive livestream or have been living under a girrok the past couple weeks, we want to give everyone a more in-depth look at the new character progression system coming in the next major content update. At its core, the Primal Matrix unlocks the latent power in every hero on Nexus, allowing for additional advancement at level 50. Through Drusera you’ll be able to further increase your power by way of Primal Essence—an element that’s collected in and spent through the Primal Matrix interface—allowing you to customize and unlock your newfound potential, including new class abilities.

Keep in mind that this content is currently available for testing on the PTR. Some details below are subject to change before the Power of the Primal Matrix content update is officially released. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to hop on the PTR and help us test!


When viewing the Primal Matrix, it’s helpful to understand how it’s arranged. Six color-coded nodes form each hexagonal node cluster, Violet nodes bridge those clusters, and the clusters themselves are arranged in tiers—the central cluster is tier 1, the three clusters connecting to center are tier 2, and the outer ring is tier 3. The further you work your way from the center of the Primal Matrix, the more costly it becomes to unlock nodes, and the more power you gain for doing so.

All players will begin their Primal Matrix progression in the central node cluster. After the first node is unlocked, it’s up to you to choose the path you take around the matrix, based on which stats and abilities most appeal to you. The color of each node on the matrix corresponds to the type of Essence needed to unlock it. There are three Common Essence types (Crimson, Cobalt, and Viridian) and one Rare Essence type (Violet). Common Essence is spent to unlock the nodes in each cluster, and Violet is used to unlock the nodes that bridge clusters. Spending Common Essences will boost stats—some individual nodes have multiple tiers, allowing you to place additional Essences in them to further boost their benefits—while each Violet node grants you AMP Points, Ability Points, or one of two new abilities for your class, as well as boosts to those new abilities.

Here’s a look at some of the new class abilities you’ll be able to unlock:


Black Hole - Engineer


Nano Spike - Stalker


Fusion Probe - Medic


Locus of Power - Esper


Rive - Warrior


Magnum - Spellslinger




Primal Essence is collected by engaging in a wide variety of content, including instanced PvE, PvP, Daily Quests, Contracts, and throughout the world itself. The most lucrative way to attain Primal Essence is to use the Content Finder (default ‘N’ hotkey) and complete the objectives found in the new Bonus Rewards tab. Here you’ll find content options that offer Primal Essence with reward multipliers, meaning you’ll get extra Essence of a given type for completing that content. These bonuses are on a steady rotation and there’s a refresh timer to let you know when they change. The various Essence rewards also rotate, so you don’t have to worry too much about doing a type of content you don’t want to do in order to collect a particular color.

Signature members will also gain a significant bonus to their Essence gains—in addition to all of the other bonuses Signature Membership offers.




In the event that you do run short on a particular Essence type that you need to advance through the Primal Matrix, there’s an Exchange button toward the top right of the Primal Matrix interface that allows you to exchange Essence types for a Service Token fee. Common Essences (Crimson, Cobalt, and Viridian) can each be exchanged at a 1:1 ratio, while exchanging any Common Essence for Violet Essence is 20:1.




On every node of the Primal Matrix you’ll see an assigned Heroism Rating value. Unlocking the node grants you that value, and your cumulative Heroism Rating is reflected at the top center of the interface. This stat is important, as it’s a reflection of your character’s power derived from the Primal Matrix. As you attempt to tackle Prime Dungeons and Expeditions with scaling difficulty settings, you’ll first probably want to have reached the recommended Heroism Rating reflected in the Content Finder.

1. Run content to gain Primal Essence.
   
2. Spend Essence to gain more power and new abilities in the Primal Matrix.
   
3. Increase the difficulty by bumping up Prime Level difficulty settings to get even better rewards and further increase your power.
   
4. Flex.

We’ll cover more details about content and reward scaling in a future article. Until then, we look forward to hearing more of your PTR feedback!

Madame Fay is fixing to refresh her inventory again with all sorts of new goodies for the fortunate among you, and for this round she’s going medieval on her supplies! There are many items with variable rarities, providing you with the opportunity to count your lucky stars, kiss those shiny coins, and take a spin of the wheel.

If you’re still hoping to get your mitts on any of the Winterfest Fortunes, be sure to do that as soon as possible. The inventory will fully refresh with this most medieval of updates.


They’re fierce! They’re ferocious! They’re fast! They’re quite possibly the most Hell-bound Hellhounds you’ll find on Nexus! The newest premiere mount in Madame Fay’s inventory is a beast of immense claws, mean eyes, and no shortage of luxurious bling. You can saddle yourself up on any three superb Hellhound variations, in addition to the ultra-rare gold version.

It’s worth noting that their dentist really deserves due credit too.



As with previous rounds, the Hellhound mount variations in the Madame Fay Fortunes will be rotating approximately every few weeks; beginning with the red version, followed by blue, green, and then all color variants will be available until the next Fortune inventory refresh. We’ll be providing updates on our @WildStar Twitter for when these rotations occur.

After collecting all three non-gold variants, you can purchase a Hellhound Gilding Catalyst for 1 gold from the Madame Fay Far-Traders (found in Illium and Thayd) to consume the mounts and spit out the gold version. It’s important to note that when turning in the color variants for the gold version, the unclaimed mount items must be in your inventory. If the mounts are claimed by a character to be used, they cannot then also be used to create the gold version. Of course keep in mind there is a rare chance to win the gold version directly from a Fortune, and it isn’t on a rotating schedule like the other variants.


There are mounds of other loot to win besides the Hellhound too, of course. Let’s check a few of ‘em out!






Fortune Coins are purchased directly from the In-Game Store, and can be redeemed for Madame Fay’s Fortunes (accessed through the golden carrot icon), which can include a wide variety of items, décor, mounts, currencies, and consumables. Hit your ‘N’ key inside WildStar to bring up the In-Game Store.

Harizog Coldblood has died, but you can’t keep this bloodthirsty Osun warlord down for long. His primal echo, trapped between the physical world and the Great Dark, is about to be brought back to life by the witches of the Iceblood Coven. Informed of these events by the Tower-Engineer and offered an alliance of convenience with the Pell, it’s up to you to ensure that Harizog’s resurrection is violently interrupted.




The remanifestation ritual is taking place in Coldblood Citadel, Harizog’s holdfast of old before he relocated to the Hall of the Hundred. The Tower-Engineer has already ordered his Pell army to lay siege to the citadel, providing you with the perfect distraction. As the Pell and their hulking enemies clash, you must cut your way through the remaining Osun and their slaves if you intend to save Nexus from the meanest warlord north of the equator.

We’ve seen an Osun dungeon before, of course, but with the addition of Arcterra and some fabulous new frozen visuals we found ourselves with a great opportunity to revisit those themes with a frosty flair. The strong theme also allowed us to put some of our newer spell effects to good use, such as the ability to slide players around.

Within the dungeon you’ll find three boss encounters and one miniboss encounter:

• The Hailstone Gatecrasher (Boss) – a siege-breaker ice elemental summoned by the Pell has turned against them thanks to the vile power of the Iceblood Coven. Dodge the spikes, quell his rage, and above all, keep moving - don’t freeze up!
  
• Kherax the Soulrotten (Miniboss) – The Tower-Engineer’s long-lost colleague has been corrupted by the Osun’s soulrot. Now he fights for the enemy – and will turn that soulrot against you and your companions! Avoid infecting your friends and put him out of his misery.
  
• The Iceblood Coven (Boss) – Bust up the ritual of Darkwitches Golag, Ulfrid, and Katla and deal with their respective powers of Soulfrost, Soulrot, and Blood! You may start off facing just one, but more will join the fray in due course – dodge their insidious curses and take them down!
  
• Harizog Coldblood (Boss) – The Frost King returns to life, imbued with the essence of the fallen Darksisters before him. Now he’s summoning the primal echoes of the many Osun frozen around him to infuse him with unimaginable strength! Keep away from his glaive, free your fellows from his soul anchors, and stop him here and now before he threatens all of Nexus!

Coldblood Citadel is one of our quicker dungeon experiences, more comparable to Stormtalon’s Lair or Kel Voreth in completion time, and like those two classic dungeons, it also comes with the Prime Level scaling options. Challenge your group as you slay bosses, earn exciting rewards, and master this frozen fortress!

For a limited-time Protostar will match your experience point for point, which means you earn twice the XP every time you earn XP during this special event. The XP X-Plosion runs from January 27 at 2am PST until 11:59pm PST on January 30.

Keep in mind that the double XP from this Double XP X-Plosion! event stacks with the bonuses from Signature, and Signature offers a ton of other great benefits too—including new monthly login rewards!

We recommend maximizing Protostar’s very generous Double XP X-Plosion! by tackling adventures, expeditions, and dungeons, which you can queue for by using the Content Finder (N). Already level 50? During the event you can earn Elder Gems twice as fast to purchase items like Ability or AMP points. When you hit the weekly cap of 350 Elder Gems, your XP is converted to gold. It’s a good time to make good use of your time!


Don’t have any WildStar characters yet? The Double XP X-Plosion! event is the perfect time to start, and it’s completely free!

They're the biggest of the baddest, and the baddest of the biggest. They're world bosses, and it's time somebody took 'em down!

From January 20 at 2:00am PST to 11:59pm PST January 23, get extra rewards every time you or your party slays a world boss or legendary champion.

World bosses allow groups of players to take on formidable foes for high-end rewards, but you don’t have to be in a coordinated raid to jump in. Anyone can attack a world boss and reap the rewards, so head out and start hunting. Our world bosses article can help in tracking them down.



During the Boss Hunter Challenge, every time you or your party slays a world boss or legendary champion, they have a guaranteed chance to drop a Shiny Token. You can then turn it in, along with a lockbox key purchasable from the In-Game Store for OmniBits, at a vendor in your capital city. Normal creatures you find in the outdoors of Nexus have a small chance to drop a Shiny Token as well, so it’ll pay to get some other questing done during the event too.

But you don’t have to stop at just one boss; you can continually kill each of the world bosses if you have the Progenitor Access Particles needed to respawn them. And lucky for you the number of Progenitor Access Particles needed is lower during the Boss Hunter Challenge as well. Legendary champions will be spawning much quicker during this event too.
When in doubt, get out there and hunt down a world boss!


Head over to your faction’s capital city to turn in your Shiny Tokens. For Exiles go to Nate Baydock in Academy Corner of Thayd, or in Illium as Dominion go to Titian Nepian in Spaceport Alpha. You can turn in a Shiny Token along with a lockbox key for a Lucky Lopp Lockbox, which has a chance to contain some awesome goodies:

• Veggie Launcher Toy
  
• Garden Green Dye
  
• Lopp Hunter Pet
  
• Lopp Grinder Mount
  
• King Plush Décor
  
• Meta Maw Décor
  
• Mini-maw Pet
  
• 24 ‘Carrots’ Toy
  
• And More!

So, dust off your bandoliers and get ready for some sporting-good fun! But hurry, the hunt is only here for a short time. Get into WildStar now, for free, and let the challenge begin!