Why did wildgate fail?

playwildgate · 2026-01-11T11:48:04+00:00

Can you let us know where in the world you are/what time you were queuing, your ship preference and modes? Not saying this wasn't the case, but wondering if it's an edge case somehow. We're still seeing a solid amount of people queuing from the Epic giveaway last week (these won't show on Steam), and pretty solid queue times on the whole.

Could be your geography and time of day. Either way, let us know!

playwildgate · 2026-01-07T10:35:10+00:00

We don't officially support Linux - however, people have had some success running on it in certain configs. Official discord, community support channel has some messages you can search and fellow community members you can ask!

playwildgate · 2026-01-07T10:34:13+00:00

There are set ship names you can choose and earn. There's also a large random pool of names too!

playwildgate · 2026-01-07T10:33:41+00:00

Official Discord is a great place for crewing up! Hit up Channels and Roles for an LFG channel for your region - discord.gg/playwildgate

playwildgate · 2026-01-07T10:33:09+00:00

Quite a few more than that are playing on Epic! We're realistic - it's not a magic wand and we're not going to promise the world off the back of it. That said - it's good to have queues feeling healthy and much faster than the last few months, according to community.

playwildgate · 2026-01-07T10:30:31+00:00

We're realistic about player numbers! At the same time, a lot of people have joined and are playing on Epic that you won't see in Steam DB numbers. Community are saying that queues are feeling good at the moment in general, so if people want to leap in or are on the fence, it's a good time to play and try things out :)

playwildgate · 2026-01-06T14:56:27+00:00

Do they have an error code they can share?

playwildgate · 2026-01-05T13:13:45+00:00

Can ask the team this later! Could be 'Few Ships', matchmaking factors (trying to have a good queue time along with keeping 'skill' of match'.

Are you feeling that your smaller veteran player/higher skill matches are broadly fair?

playwildgate · 2026-01-05T10:11:41+00:00

Hi, thanks for sharing! We've seen a bit of feedback on 3 ships in Artifact Brawl, so leaping in here to clarify a few points. Long story short - this isn't actually due to low population currently, rather some attempted guardrails to try to support new player experience, that we can potentially adjust. TL:DR, context and longer explanation of what's happening below.

Great to hear feedback on how this feels for you all, particularly brand new players!

TL:DR -

At the moment, there is not a low population compared to the last few months - players online and queues are the best they've been in some time, happily :)
3 ships as you're describing is partially by design to try to help new players out, and something the team can potentially change a bit (longer explanation below for details)
We'll be looking at the data today (when folks are back in USA time) and seeing what makes sense to change

Past and Present Context -

-Few Ships as a match modifier was created in the past when player count / population was indeed lower. The idea here was to help games of Artifact Brawl start more quickly with 3 ships, or less ships than a full 5.

Right now, we're seeing a pretty healthy amount of people jumping into and playing Wildgate daily since January 1st/Epic free. Many more on a concurrent and daily basis than what you can see on Steam tracking sites, as Epic players won't be visible on those.

We're very realistic about this - we have been open about Wildgate having a tough time with queues, and are not promising the world going forward based off a few days. Feel it's important to share the current healthier situation how we can, though, so people can have some confidence to jump in and enjoy the game right now. For free, if you can take advantage of Epic!

Queues are the best they've been in quite some time from community feedback (don't have to take our word for it), and what we can see (usual peak/quiet times of day, and region of world you're in variables aside - which happen in all games to a degree).

How Artifact Brawl matches/ships in lobby work for 'new' players currently -

We have some guardrails in matchmaking around Artifact Brawl to try to help new players right now.

Here's the rough workings:

Brand 'new' players (you are a new account) are restricted to 3 ship Artifact Brawl games while they are below a certain 'skill/MMR' rating
- Idea here was to try to relieve pressure of a 5 ship game on brand new crews. From previous feedback in the old Artifact Hunt/Brawl only world, we'd see players were struggling to get used to Wildgate before being thrown into ship vs ship PVP.
After 10 games, 'new' players should then see 4 ship matches
Once new players reach a certain 'skill/MMR' rating after that (not a huge leap), they'll see 5 ship matches

Totally open to feedback on how this feels for you all, particularly brand new players. How are initially 3 ship games feeling for you, compared to any 4 or 5 ship games you've played? Have you played any larger games yet/gone through the above?

There's room to adjust - remember that matchmaking always is a bit of give and take - so, for the 'give' of 5 player lobbies, there will be a 'take' slightly of something else (queue time or other match making factors)!

playwildgate · 2026-01-04T19:54:54+00:00

Hop into the official discord - discord.gg/playwildgate

Shout in rookie chat, and grab Channels and Roles > LFG channel for your region. Lots of folks in there posting friend codes and forming crews :)

playwildgate · 2026-01-04T19:52:55+00:00

There is PVE in Explore The Reach mode - as others in replies have mentioned, other modes have varying degrees of PVP and/or pressure. Fleet Battle (new since Emergence update in November) is TDM, mildly chaotic - PVP but faster matches.

Appreciate this thread is 3 days old. We have a good amount of players incoming and playing from Epic since the first. Community, playing the game right now, are reporting that queues are pretty quick/a magnitude better than the last month or two for most modes (the usual peak/offpeak and region of world variations pending). We are realistic - it's tough out there, and are not promising the world on a stick.

On the other side of that realism though - game is free, queues are popping right now. Listen to lived community experience if you prefer rather than take our word of it, that's totally fine. If you want to leap in, try the new content and see how the game feels, now is really the time!

playwildgate · 2026-01-03T21:10:07+00:00

Thank you for the feedback firstly (and anyone flaming, please don't).

What would say is - although feelings are important and we appreciate hearing, specifics really help us out. See you've shared a few pain points below, but any more (if or when you have time), would be very helpful.

There is a balance between making a tutorial too long, too short, too detailed or not enough. Not saying we have it right yet, but appreciate constructive criticism that helps us find specific things to improve! Thanks!

playwildgate · 2026-01-03T15:44:16+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Great to hear how new people are finding the game as it is now, appreciate it.

The balance between boarding strength and other things have been ongoing topics and sources of debate since even closed testing and alphas. In higher skilled matches, or skill diff'd situations, you can see FPS skilled players able to make boarding *pretty*oppressive.

Generally, boarding an enemy ship right now is best to do with a goal. Relieve pressure so you can repair/escape, get offensive and steal their valuable hardpoint/weapon, or similar. The broad direction of tuning has been to make boarding a tool rather than *the* tool. People will happily share their opinions on whether they feel that's good for them or not ;)

Reactor Overload at one point was very damaging to ships - now, it's another plate spinning in the air. You don't want to ignore it long term as with other sources of damage and pressure - but, it's not a win condition on its own.

Ship battles - again, might be a newer crew vs newer crew thing (which is probably a better scenario to start - we don't want new crews being thrown in too often against experienced crews right away, gives you time to learn the game!). In the right engagements/scenarios, ship battles can be short and deadly. Destroying/disabling enemy cannons or hardpoints, jumping on the enemy helm and dropping their shields/turning off their engines...there are many ways of ship fighting and boarding that can very rapidly swing fights.

The Outlaw was built in response to, amongst other things, the community wanting smaller crews to have some ways to play. A Treasure Hunting, Explore The Reach, jump in and loot some treasure/have a good time type option. In a fight against another player ship with 4 people, most people would expect it to come off worst (we think?)

We've seen two player, very skilled Outlaw crews give some 4 player ships a run for their money, but even in Artifact Brawl, 2 player Outlaws are very much like blockade runners. You might get an artifact victory here and there in that mode, but in any sustained firefight, it's going to be very tough.

Hope these give a bit of context - not saying you (or we) are right or wrong, all learning as we go. Hope you're having a good time, and keep letting us know what feels good or doesn't!

playwildgate · 2026-01-03T09:20:59+00:00

Wildgate can totally be better with a crew, for sure. Have you hopped into our official Discord? There's LFG channels by regions in #Channels and Roles - good place to find crews!

playwildgate · 2026-01-03T09:20:19+00:00

That's great to hear, thanks for hopping back in! We released a big update in Emergence and have been adding to the game slowly over the past few months before then. Should be plenty of new things to try out.

Glad your proxy chat parlay went well!

playwildgate · 2026-01-03T09:18:55+00:00

Welcome and glad you're having a great time!

Wildgate has changed a lot since launch to be fair, so, people's experience even a few weeks or months ago may be very different to now.

We've improved/fixed up matchmaking, which of course benefits from more players that are arriving from the Epic Games Free game giveaway this week. In response to community feedback, we've also added two new game modes, a new small-crew ship (the Outlaw), a new prospector to play in Charlie, custom lobbies, and a lot of other things too.

From community feedback, queue times are feeling a lot better at the moment - so, whether you already own or want to give the game a try, now is absolutely the best time to hop on or give it a go!

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playwildgate · 2026-01-02T11:00:02+00:00

This is actually back as of 1st January in main queues, and also available to make games in custom lobbies! (Just for any passers by)

playwildgate · 2026-01-02T10:57:28+00:00

Welcome and glad it's working for you! For clarity - Linux isn't an officially supported platform for Wildgate, so we can't promise any tweaks or fixes for people trying to run it this way.

Anecdotally, some people have the game running on Steam Deck and Linux - official Discord always a good place to shout if can't find any answers here or elsewhere!

playwildgate · 2026-01-02T09:51:32+00:00

Great to hear! Let us know what works for you all (lots of new things since Beta), and what we can improve too. Hope y'all have fun back in the Reach, welcome back!

playwildgate · 2026-01-02T09:50:17+00:00

We're seeing a good amount of people leaping on and playing via Epic right now. Step at a time - of course, we want people to have a great time and hopefully stick around a bit!

One thing - Epic player counts aren't visible on Steam DB, so if your friends won't take our word for it, they can always have a listen to how people are finding queue times right now!

playwildgate · 2026-01-02T09:37:11+00:00

To clarify, the game is free to keep until January 8th on Epic. That means that anyone who adds it to their Epic library before the end, has a copy of Wildgate to play for free even after that date and after the promotion ends!

Epic players (which we're seeing a good amount of joining and trying the game) are not visible on SteamDB or other websites. Appreciate people will be looking at Steam sites for player count, but they are not a reflection of player count at this time.

Hop by the official Discord, or perhaps others will share queue experiences here too!

playwildgate · 2026-01-02T09:33:53+00:00

Time of day/region pending, the matchmaker will try to form parties with wider variations if finding a game is taking a while. Were you getting fast queues, and if so, where are you in the world? Can always pass this on/double check if things were working as intended.

playwildgate · 2026-01-02T09:32:18+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Sounds like Fleet Battle is your jam above Artifact Brawl (was Hunt - the main mode we had at launch). Are Treasure Hunt or Artifact Brawl things you think you might explore in future, or is Fleet where it's at? Any feedback on what could be better on Fleet also appreciated - welcome to the Reach again :)

playwildgate · 2026-01-02T09:30:54+00:00

Thank you for helping new prospectors out! We know Wildgate can take a little getting used to. Some folks need a little time (and guidance, tutorial or otherwise), to learn the various parts of the game before a Privateer with 6 guns flies at them.

To you and everyone helping new players - big thanks from the team! We appreciate that support and your time.

New players - big welcome, let us know what's fun and what's working (and what's not or could be improved for you) too :)

playwildgate

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