From MMO to Co-op: Wayfinder's MASSIVE Change Explained

Wayfinder is abandoning it's live service model in favor of a single player with co-op approach, today we examine why this happening and our thoughts on the future of Wayfinder.
Game Provided by Airship Syndicate:
/ @playwayfinder
#wayfinder #actionrpg #rurikhan

[@sir_snarf]

As always.. thank you for following and covering our game. Its always refreshing finding quality content which is well researched and shares the whole story rather than an abridged narrative. I really hope the majority of our other supporters have the same impression you have had with the Echoes update.

[@Xel0321]

Hey man really supportive of the game with every decision you guys make but will exalted founders pack on ps5 get compensated.

[@mdgeist70]

I have had a very similar experience. I was upset when I first heard about the change but now I'm enjoying it much more. I really hope this model can be successful for you guys.

[@SumptuaryFive5]

Wayfinder had always been on my radar but enever got to it because of the mixed reviews... Then i learned about the switch you guys made. I was pleasently surprised, as soon as i learned you guys switched from an mmo to a single player game with no microtransaction, i bought it instantly. It takes guts to revert a game like that but it also shows how much you care about what you created and it shows how much work was put into the game. The art style and the world is fantastic, it reminds me of playable version of the Arcane series haha. Anyways, huge respect for you guys to go a that route. You'll definitely get a ton of people playing your game with this change. Congrats and can't wait for future updates! haha

[@ArctiqZero]

I have 300+ hours in Wayfinder and I don't regret my time with the game as an exalted founder. These changes make the game feel so much better. I'm gonna miss the open lobbies, but it's a necessary sacrifice.

[@twilightgaming5023]

Agreed. I just hope it gets the attention it deserves and people can let go of their grudges from the past. If it gets enough support, they may do post launch content which I really hope so. If they go a DRG/NMS update route, I'm gonna be having a blast. I recently picked up a bunch of other singleplayer coop looters but they just don't last compared to other games.

[@wudly9195]

It looks like a cool game I don’t know why it’s not more popular . I’ll eventually give it a try

[@MKPwrz]

Darksiders and Amalur reckonging fan, so I guess I'm destined to be a Wayfinder fan

[@TheTruePacmanMG]

Yeah. Welcome to the party. I'd be surprised if you didn't like the game lol.

[@demetriussharp2975]

I wish Marvel Heroes would have done this offline change before shutting down 😭

[@VibezAndGamez]

I would still be playing

[@PogoZilla]

Got me in the feels with this I miss that damn game

[@Acrobuster]

Soo many mobile games would benefit from this approach at the end of their service periods. Had a great time with Megaman x Dive Offline. Been with Wayfinder since launch and I hope it does well enough to grow into something great!

[@jefvcrafts]

I think it is amazing how quickly they adapted. I can't wait to try the new gameplay

[@eliasacevedo5711]

I'm honestly pretty excited! I would buy it right away if i could, i'm 100% getting it now. The change from MMO to Single-Player Co-op is the best thing to happen to this game in my opinion.

[@dregnoff9361]

Agree 100% Unfortunate what they went thru, but this makes the game even more attractive to me

[@starscream6629]

Well you have some time before 1.0 release that looks like later this year.

[@its_Jeppu]

32 seconds in and im already here, i have surprised myself

[@brotherelf]

Sounds better to me but I was pretty much done with live services already, they started off fun and quickly got ruined by greed.

[@MySplatterhouse]

Seems like this game will give me what Warframe didnt, a singleplayer offline campaign. 👍🏿👍🏿Real talk, i wouldve LOVED if Wild Star did this, i loved the art design AND it had character customization, such a missed opportunity.

[@niblothecactus1735]

Honesty without us founders there would be no future, and now game actually has bones + we got all that was promised, grendel and season 2 are in game free as peomised + extra conspensations at founder shop vendor + i think game is getting more audience now then before, im glad cause the game now has potential to develop for years, is all up to sales they said, if they can keep the game up and if they have enough requests for new content they will keep on updating, also game allready has a map and another character in the works, so one dlc is 100% comming

[@johnny2shoes738]

Im happy and positive for this change. Played it today, can see a difference, not to mention performance was significantly better than it was while being on a server. I do hope they continue to remove and change out of the live service. Traces like the menu UX/design and certain options from dialog can be seen thats reminiscent of live service. I think a redesign could benefit from this making it feel more single player friendly and or story driven/immersive. I believe I heard mention of more open world areas, which makes me very happy as the change to single player/co-op will have players feel the want to explore and not have a dungeon grind mentality. Overall I’m excited to play this again freshly.

[@otakuboi1173]

I just hope they add modding support so that the game can have a longer life and could also appeal to more players

[@ifranahamed9150]

yeah youre right

[@MightiestBeard]

Cool change tbh, and I'd way rather see them at least try and make it work like this than just let the game die. Maybe they can start doing like PoE-style seasons with new mechanics and stuff to start building the game out. Who knows. I hope it works for them, because I'd like to see the live service bubble pop.

[@eggroll20xd6]

Since learning about your channel, I have come to appreciate your honesty with regard to various games that I have heard of and those that I have not. Thank you for taking the time to share this game's story and while at the moment I don't have plans to purchase it, I may sooner rather than later due to learning of the developer's plight. It will give me a reason to play my PS5 perhaps.

[@itsagabe]

The developers' own opinion on the SP version goes to show that live service games aren't always the best way forward. There are very good and fair live service games out there, my absolute favourite being Deep Rock Galactic, but many don't have to be live services at all (AHEM Temtem). It seems like Relic Hunters Legend is on the same boat and with the inclusion of its offline mode, I hope they end up going in the same direction. Considering the game can't even keep 10 concurrent players any more, it'd be for the best. Not only that, but the offline mode is pretty fun. I've been playing it since it came out and have been enjoying it a lot more than the online mode when I got the game last year.

[@Nahelus]

U have a Wildstar Tshirt??? Ohhh man thats the game i want back.

[@konohake]

im an exalted founder and personally i would be over joyed to see wayfinder succeed and maybe also copy monster hunters business model since the lore is technically able to go just about anywhere and it will also not let the MMO bit go to waste should there be more untold lore/stories that never got told witch my be a staring point for new game (basically similar to the fleets in monster hunter) at any case, i still salute Airship for going the mile despite their size and I'll have my fingers crossed for success! ^^

[@gilot19]

They need to copy MH coop mode asap and the game will be alive for many years. I play world every day so yeah

[@leoncca]

I was interested but saw the business model and I wasn't too big on it. With the change to a regular release, I might just buy it and try it out.

[@xirantics]

I got the Founder’s pack and I love this game, but I actually play more as a single player so I’m waiting for the PS5 release of Wayfinder Echoes! 🎮🤩

[@CamLovesJesus]

If they continue to add good content, characters, weapons, then I don’t see this change being bad at least we can still play with friends

[@joshuawilson6310]

It sounds to me that digital extremes saw Wayfinders potential. That it could be the next big Warframe got jealous and tried to figure out away to shut it down. An opted to close their 3rd party production to protect their game.

[@CziffraTheThird]

Hm!....that is actually a very fascinating insight. There could indeed be truth to what you said possibly, I can absolutely see this. Wow, that's brutal.

[@quipsilvervr]

Because of how good Warframe is (2.6k hours in currently and still learning things from time to time), I'm curious about Wayfinder, plus Digital Extremes with Warframe have created something truly special, but when I saw Wayfinder came out, I wasn't sure about it with the package it provides. If it does improve though I'd be tempted to try it. Also hahah! Waitfinder is amazing. xD It reminds me of "World of Wow-Token" and "Starefield"

[@SebastianSkadisson]

Cool move, i wished Skyforge did something similar.

[@MGC-XIII]

Man an offline version of Wildstar would be nice! I know there's a private server project in the works.

[@carlito3810]

awesome Video. thx for the summery. what was the background music tho? need it!!

[@vinnyjones3424]

I’m an exalted founder can’t wait for wayfinder 2.0

[@typicalgoodguyclub4games]

Hopefully they'll also got ingame event later like Monster Hunter or the crossplay again The offline/online stuff is really good, cater to both player imo, but i know the people that heavy on online games especially MMO will be dissapointed but it is what it is Im really excited for this

[@papervoxels]

Back when Wayfinder first entered Early Access, a buddy of mine purchased the base supporter pack and streamed the game on our discord server. While I watched him play it, all I could think of was how similar to my experience playing Warframe it was. Not in terms of gameplay, but in terms of game progression, whether that be characters, gear, or account progression. I like Warframe, but I can't imagine wanting to play Warframe and any other game with the same model, so while it's unfortunate that DE's publishing arm closed down, as an Airship Syndicate fan, I'm much happier getting a single player game that I can playthrough and put down instead of grinding for hundreds of hours just to play as the different characters. I get why other people want Warframe alternatives, but I'm more than happy just getting more Airship Syndicate games and occasionally playingWarframe when I get the itch. Praise the Sun, y'all!

[@iftijawad6267]

I really enjoyed The Ruined King so I'm looking forward to trying this.

[@SunYakasabi]

and they said if this relaunch sells well they can afford to continue supporting the game in the long run, it wont be live service but they can do post launch updates

[@totalwarlock9498]

Im actually willing to try out this game, ill be wating a bit though, no telling what will happen

[@Nirual86]

I've never really thought of Warframe as a "real" MMO anyway. Even after they added an actual open world area, most of the game is still closer to a 4 player coop system. So it doesn't surprise me to see this game with a similar base concept shift over while maintaining it's core qualities. Not to diminish the actual work that goes into the coding and I really feel for the team being left out to sink or swim.

[@YodaMan.]

its not the game i intended on playing. id have my money back if steam would give it.

[@jimbobborg22]

It's funny, I hear a lot of games with live service getting initially swamped. No one uses real physical servers anymore. It's easier to create a lot of VMs and trim back versus trying to add more later under stress. Wish publishers would realize this.

[@reptiliancow]

LOVING the echos update.

[@dartheastman1599]

Looks decent more excited for co-op then single player looks fun. Couldn’t find it on the ps store to see about prices or anything so I assume it’s just announced right now unless your a founder??

[@dantino1979]

Gosh, I really hope they can turn this to a success story and be able to rub that in Digital Extremes face. To me, Wayfinders has that art and music which ticks all the boxes of my "I could play this forever" check list. It's how I wish Enshrouded would look.

[@CziffraTheThird]

Yes.....I concur 101% with you.....I can actually say after how many bloody years of waiting for such a game as this to say....that the spirit of Fable has, at least for me, finally returned and has been revived with the embodied casing of Darksiders. This game has actually scratched so many itches I have had for many years! The aesthetic of this game is truly unique to me and I so much hope Airship will succeed with this!.....

[@WUGarry163]

yep, that's how the warframe feel, they mostly sell convenient. you can play all of the game spending your time instead of money. they also incentivize you to grind for a bit as well, the price to buy the item out right is high. as well as stuff/upgrade that you can't buy at all only speed thing up.

[@pomps8085]

Big fan of airship studios so I'm actually more excited to try thid out again

[@Timbo1965]

How do you access this game

[@dregnoff9361]

The games an instant buy for me now, only reason it wasn't was cuz of the previous model, Beeg fan of Joe Madueira's art, one of the reasons I'm an artist myself but I wasn't about to commit myself to another grindfest. I done my time in warframe, I aint going back xD Only real gripe with the game is it's got no executions, I get it would be hard to implement at this point but it would been nice, not a deal breaker

[@Frost-xv2my]

What does this co-op means you are talking about? Is it like borderlands where i could play with my friends over the internet or is this co-op only LAN / splitscreen?

[@rurikhan]

Like borderlands.

[@MGC-XIII]

Echoes is great, I like it a lot more.

[@Atypical_Typo]

By coop p2p, does it means the game has some sort of matchmaking for activities? Or is it invite only (kinda like D4 rn)

[@gilot19]

Right now is invite through steam only but they tweeted today that they are looking at matchmaking

[@Atypical_Typo]

@@gilot19 nice, if matchmaking is a thing, I'll 100% get the game. I like solo with optional matchmaking for running with randoms, makes it more fun imo.

[@LunarValkyria]

Question I'm not sure if it was answered, will there still be future updates or is it a once it is done its done and nothing more will be added? I'm curious if there will be future characters/wayfinders added. (sorry if it was discussed, I'm sort of multi-tasking and attention is divided) Wildstar's biggest mistake is they focused too hard on their hardcore players and ended up alienating their casuals. Without casuals playing it was no longer sustainable. Which is a shame I really liked to art style and gameplay of the game. I remember liking the beta a lot.

[@rurikhan]

Depends on how successful it is, the teams wants to do more but it needs to make sense financially.

[@LunarValkyria]

@@rurikhan makes sense. I hope it gets the traction it needs.

[@Xyriks]

After this update, there will be more leading up to the full launch as it is still in EA right now. After that they have said they’d love to make more content for the game but ofc, it’d have to make sense financially for them so there is potential of the game gets some well deserved traction!

[@LunarValkyria]

@@Xyriks Hopefully they add a character that matches what I'm looking for. Only thing holding back is that none of the characters really match what I'm wanting.

[@ash-xb8yq]

there's atleast one more big update coming after echoes that adds another character ,another zone ,more weapons and all that and an end to the story, then the game launces in 1.0, after that it all depends on reception

[@no-sleep]

is this game like third person diablo? is there an endgame where you can do stuff?

[@Xyriks]

Yes, there is an end game. You can farm to ‘awaken’ your characters and they’re adding a special type of hunt I think called “mythic hunts” where you’ll be able to get better gear of all kinds! I hope they’re able to expand on this more in the future if the game gets some traction

[@fabionunes7081]

Thx for the vid

[@n0xxm3rcyxx]

yes the focus on single/coop. i feel that will be a bonus.

[@ausoleil8269]

Looks interesting, I'll probably buy this if the reviews are somewhat positive.

[@TheTruePacmanMG]

As a PS4 exalted founder who always intended to play on xbox at full release so I lose all of my original investment and have to buy the game again when it does finally come to xbox...I can't wait to get back in and spend hundreds of hours in Wayfinder...again.

[@rebitedon]

When does Grendel release? I'll come back for him

[@devilbegood]

God I wish live service/mmo games converted to Single player offline options after their run. I'd play the hell out of Firefall and Wildstar. HECK, I wish Destiny would go that route too. Maybe a personal version of WoW, imagine being able to play the entirety of WoW by yourself, occasionally having AI help in dungeons? I'd buy every one of these games again.

[@JimmySquiky]

For me the game that got axed and isn't around anymore that I miss is Battleborn. It released too close to Overwatch and got crushed :(

[@atomickaiser1934]

Nah this is dope. I ditched the game because I'm tired of live service titles. This is way more of my style.

[@arch_imedes7108]

Honestly i think no game ever should intentionally try to copy Warframe's progression, it's a grueling and soul crushing endless grind.

[@moonshinejack]

Honestly? I wasn’t going to play it on the previous model, despite being a big fan of Airship’s games. Just not my bag. Now? I’m definitely gonna pick it up!

[@SlySmuggler]

It's the game cross platform still?

[@rurikhan]

No

[@Qkochan3]

played the betas, was hyped for release, servers yikes, and then almost canned. seems like this iteration is a mega skip for me then. i actually like playing video games with people, so seeing an mmo go to a more single-player centric model is going to be a turn off. hopefully the people who paid a shit ton in founders can get a refund since this definitely isn't what they were backing.

[@TheRyderShotgunn]

ever feel like gamers have the shortest fuse when it comes to double As or indies, but will white knight to hell and back for big name publishers?

[@Khalmoon]

I'd pay for genshin if it had no mtx

[@VastoLorde1234]

Warframe is way too Pay to win and Progress for me to be comfortable with. The changes to Wayfinder are for the better

[@bukanpemudaormas1340]

Wayfind-login.

[@AnghelVick]

Tho I am sceptical about the whole situation, as history may repet it self as it hapenned with many games, this game could be fun. Personally, I will wait a couple of months after the release in 11th of June, the reason is (as some MAY know), I consider this whole thing with giving some avantages for people who already have their game in Steam (by the founder's pack) on giving access to mounts from the moment they are in the game. I consider it pay2win. Yea, some of you would say "but it is single player, bro...why do you care". Well, p2w is p2w, no matter what or against who it is. The devs said (you can check that on the co stream they had 2 days ago) that as a new player you can get a mount after around 3 hours, from doing a certain quest. But if they did this, what else will they add to the list of things can be considered p2w?! Being a single player, eventually, as everything does, the game will die I just hope, or part of me, that it will not be before 1.0

[@miragecrystal3089]

Not gonna lie I hate that wayfinders not gonna be what we were promised it to be especially since I got the highest founder pack with more than 1200 hours on ps5 but…. I’d rather wayfinders survive than shut down. I have been a fan of airship syndicate since battle chasers and I still am here’s hoping for a brighter future for both game and studio

[@CrackerDip]

I got the game cause it was a MMO. I get and understand the changes made, but as someone who feels hella lonely when I don't see any other players I pretty quickly stopped playing the game. There is this community feeling I get with open lobbies, or massive multiplayer games. Seeing someone else walking around just makes me happy. Quite strange, as I only feel lonely in games and never in reality. Even if I were to be alone for a while xD. But with that said. I am happy it's getting a lot more positive feedback now! Definitely deserved.

[@DraytonManor99]

First 🎉

[@davidloya4691]

now im actually exited to try it, duck this bullshit of making it mmo just for the sake of selling bullshit. i gladly pay for the game and play with my friends now that is not gonna be a f2p mmo

[@MajeedBelle]

This game's combat never felt good to me. I think that is mostly due to the fact that I have been a Warframe player for 10 years and all of these games that have come out since Warframe just don't make me feel good when I'm playing them. No matter how I'm playing Warframe whether it is running and gunning or just melee or just using my frame powers or any combination of them all, it just feels really freaking good. I haven't played a game that's been able to nail that visceral feel since. Wayfinder doesn't do that either for me and on top of that I find the characters and their kits to be very boring

[@isaiasrijos7375]

I definitely get what you're saying. If it were not for the art and world of the game, I would've been turned off by it rather quickly. I love the game as a whole because of the artistic approach but yeah, the combat can be so much better.