The classic reaction of a player that faces Wildstar for the first time could be reduced to the simple phrase "Ah, another game that looks like World of Warcraft!". Indeed, visually speaking, the two titles take the route of an exacerbated cartoon style, and actually share a common ambition: to retain the player by offering a rich and efficient content at any time. Mission accomplished?
The Call of Nexus
All eyes are turned to Nexus, a wild planet teeming with ancient relics to discover. The Eldans, these old geniuses, found nothing better to do than to disappear mysteriously, leaving behind them fragments of a hyper advanced technology. It was enough to attract settlers from all over the galaxy. On one side, the Exiles who see in Nexus the promise of a new home, and on the other the Dominion who see it as just another planet to conquer. The player can choose to play as one of 8 races available through these two factions. Already, the cartoon character design sets the tone. Some seem straight out from Disney productions, and others seem to have been born out of Pixar’s animations. Between the "Nature Power" feel that the Aurins give off with daisies in their hair, or cute scientific/sociopath look of the Chuas, Wildstar bets a huge part of its success on self-deprecating humor.
If the choice of classes remains rather basic (Warrior, Medic, Stalker, Esper, Engineer and Spellslinger), a new data still emerges in the process of character creation: vocations. If you like rummaging through every corner of a map, and leaping frantically in "Jumping Puzzles", then choose the path of the Explorer. If you are on the other hand intrigued by the secrets of the Eldans, and crave to unravel it all, the way the Scientist is for you. Want to help your neighbors by building lots of buffs stations? Become one of Colons. Far from being relegated to mere ancillary activities, vocations will have a huge impact on your progression. They further add content to the sheer amount already proposed by the game. Some may complain about the fact that the game limits them to one per character, but the bright side is that it offers the game a higher replay value, each vocation having exclusive content and quests.
You will often laugh at the wacky situations or dialogues NPCs encounter. Between the hilarious temperament of Chuas or sarcastic comments of the Mecharis, the game has a pleasant writing that is often funny and tinged with cynicism. This even manages to make you forget that the quest objectives do not always shine for their originality. However, Carbine had the great idea to stick to the essentials when it comes to quest dialogues. NPCs will never bore you with paragraphs of text to send you kill three poor wolves in the woods. The game cuts to the chase, and it rarely exceeds 4 or 5 lines of quest dialogue. However, this brevity does not harm the development of the background since the world is full of secrets to find. Between Infocubes, collectible books and codices accessible at any time via the interface, Nexus will offer all its secrets to anyone who takes the time to get involved.
A Successful Gameplay That Takes No Risk
Wildstar wants to provide players with as many tools as possible to change the way they play the classes. The goal is to avoid frustrating the player by confining them to a single role. It is of course quite far from the swiss knife aspect of the Guild Wars 2 characters, or the freedom offered in the creation of your avatar in The Elder Scrolls Online. However, the game does not fall so far in the usual stereotypes. An engineer will be able to serve as a DPS or a Tank, while a Medic will have a wide range of skills available to deal heavy damages to the opponent. This volition of not enclosing the character in an unchanging archetype is reflected in the choice given to the player about the development of their skills and abilities. These are divided into tabs according to their usefulness in combat between pure damage and support.
The cornerstone of any MMORPG is its combat system. Wildstar opts for a limited action tab in which players can place a selection of their abilities. It is however good to note that players will slowly unlock new skill slots as they level up. Their distribution into several categories (assault, support, hybrid, etc.) says it all: the game system is based on the classic holy trinity Tank/Heal/DPS, blending in well with the hardcore PVE orientation of the game. I will say this again, Carbine is not trying to revolutionize the genre with their game. They tried, and managed, to make the most out of gameplay mechanics that have proven themselves for years. It's convenient because the Tank/Heal/DPS Trinity is one of the key features of the MMORPGs that have been the most challenging in the recent years. No questionable experiments or innovations here, the pattern is classic and feels good. From the first hours of gameplay, the combats shine through their exemplary fluidity. Wildstar offers a pleasant feeling of total control over characters that seem perfectly suited to the for their different tasks.
Between tradition and modernity, the game opts for dynamic combats, with or without targeting. Wildstar is not a MMO to be played, with a coffee in one hand while watching the latest episode of your favorite show. The reason to this has a name; the Telegraph. Telegraphs are set areas in which the effects of skills used by your enemies or allies will take place, AoE damages or debuffs for the former, and AoE heals and buffs for the latter. Nothing exactly innovative here save for the fact that it is used here as a basis for the combat system. Simply put, each capacity (allied or enemy) will draw its area of ​​impact on the ground. And believe me, it is not good to stay in the red zones lest you want your life bar to melt at breakneck speed. Between running, sprinting and dodging, there are fortunately a nice set of actions that can be used to escape Telegraphs. During the early levels the Telegraphs of enemies will remain basic, as simple circles or straight lines. However, they become more complex as you progress to get wider and achieve much more pernicious patterns used by the most powerful creatures in dungeons and raids.
Content, Content Everywhere
These mechanisms reveal their full potential during the stages of group play. Few MMOs can boast the fact that offer as much content right from the beginning: dungeons to go through in 5-player parties, unique adventures with different paths depending on your route. Wildstar also has two raid options for the fiercest of top players. Notice to the nostalgic, these raids are available to groups of 20 or 40 players. Yes, 40 players! While most recent productions abandon this model in favor of more intimate formats (20-25 players at most), Carbine landed with a decidedly old-school formula. No false promises of accessibility here, the philosophy of the raids is described in one word: hardcore. Forget groups that have been put together randomly, or strategies that were thought up hastily, this content is exclusively for guilds that are extremely well prepared, lest you have a death wish. The program for these instances: titanic bosses and insane Telegraphs, both in terms of shape and effect. MMO veterans in search of crazy challenges should get their fill.
In terms of graphics, the game looks like a Saturday morning cartoon; the kind of cartoons that are popular with children and the big kids that we are. This graphic choice gives birth to wacky characters, drawn with convincing animations. As for the environments, they did not hesitate to use a palette of bright colors. The whole is a rich and coherent universe with no fear of ridicule even at the most epic moments. The fans of Pixar's humor or series like Ratchet & Clank or Jak and Daxter will be familiar with the inhabitants of Nexus. The game also uses a proprietary graphics engine to display a fluid and convincing rendering on most machines. However, the optimization is still is still a work in progress for lower configurations. They indeed seem to have trouble displaying environments loaded with details (in the Capital, for example) with enough fluidity. And while we are on the topic of areas for improvement, you can also include some elements of the interface. The latter has evolved in the right direction since the first beta but some menus still deserve a little bit of polish such as the crafting or quest tracking interfaces. Regarding the soundtrack, the background music and dubbing are currently faultless.
Among the regular features requested by players but often added on later by the developers, housing figures prominently. Wildstar decidedly does not do things halfway since this feature is available from launch. A piece of land floating in the sky is indeed waiting for you from level 14. Pretty vacant initially, it can be decorated with a variety of useful and/or extravagant structures. The centerpiece of this idyllic setting will be your home, with a design that you can choose from a wide range of models. You can decorate your home from floor to ceiling by rummaging through a well stocked object and furniture library.
Just like its mechanisms meant for continuity, Wildstar is betting on getting involved with a monthly subscription system. The kind of decision that can split a community in half. On one hand, there are the advocates of the P2P model that put forward the regular monitoring and content expansions of paid MMOs. On the other, advocates of the F2P model, asking for an accessibility to the greatest number and claiming the "pay if you feel like it" philosophy. To this, Carbine responds with a hybrid system: C.R.E.D.D. acronym for Certificate of Research, Exploration, Destruction and Development. To sum it up, a player may decide to purchase a C.R.E.D.D. for real money on the official website. He can then sell it within the game for virtual currency. Buying a C.R.E.D.D. in-game is equivalent to paying for a one month subscription with virtual gold. This system works on the principle of supply and demand, so prices are likely to fluctuate significantly. However, with the current rates, it is possible for players that reached the max level to but a C.R.E.D.D. by doing all their daily quests for a week.
Conclusion
Hardcore PvE fans, casual gamers, PvP enthusiasts, Wildstar has a variety of content that should please almost everyone. The cartoon graphics may divide, and the C.R.E.D.D. system still has to find its marks and prove itself, but overall, Carbine has succeeded in creating a game that will retain a rather large fanbase for quite a while. Not too original, but without falling into cliches, this game is worth every penny (or gold) you spend on it.
The Call of Nexus
All eyes are turned to Nexus, a wild planet teeming with ancient relics to discover. The Eldans, these old geniuses, found nothing better to do than to disappear mysteriously, leaving behind them fragments of a hyper advanced technology. It was enough to attract settlers from all over the galaxy. On one side, the Exiles who see in Nexus the promise of a new home, and on the other the Dominion who see it as just another planet to conquer. The player can choose to play as one of 8 races available through these two factions. Already, the cartoon character design sets the tone. Some seem straight out from Disney productions, and others seem to have been born out of Pixar’s animations. Between the "Nature Power" feel that the Aurins give off with daisies in their hair, or cute scientific/sociopath look of the Chuas, Wildstar bets a huge part of its success on self-deprecating humor.
If the choice of classes remains rather basic (Warrior, Medic, Stalker, Esper, Engineer and Spellslinger), a new data still emerges in the process of character creation: vocations. If you like rummaging through every corner of a map, and leaping frantically in "Jumping Puzzles", then choose the path of the Explorer. If you are on the other hand intrigued by the secrets of the Eldans, and crave to unravel it all, the way the Scientist is for you. Want to help your neighbors by building lots of buffs stations? Become one of Colons. Far from being relegated to mere ancillary activities, vocations will have a huge impact on your progression. They further add content to the sheer amount already proposed by the game. Some may complain about the fact that the game limits them to one per character, but the bright side is that it offers the game a higher replay value, each vocation having exclusive content and quests.
You will often laugh at the wacky situations or dialogues NPCs encounter. Between the hilarious temperament of Chuas or sarcastic comments of the Mecharis, the game has a pleasant writing that is often funny and tinged with cynicism. This even manages to make you forget that the quest objectives do not always shine for their originality. However, Carbine had the great idea to stick to the essentials when it comes to quest dialogues. NPCs will never bore you with paragraphs of text to send you kill three poor wolves in the woods. The game cuts to the chase, and it rarely exceeds 4 or 5 lines of quest dialogue. However, this brevity does not harm the development of the background since the world is full of secrets to find. Between Infocubes, collectible books and codices accessible at any time via the interface, Nexus will offer all its secrets to anyone who takes the time to get involved.
A Successful Gameplay That Takes No Risk
Wildstar wants to provide players with as many tools as possible to change the way they play the classes. The goal is to avoid frustrating the player by confining them to a single role. It is of course quite far from the swiss knife aspect of the Guild Wars 2 characters, or the freedom offered in the creation of your avatar in The Elder Scrolls Online. However, the game does not fall so far in the usual stereotypes. An engineer will be able to serve as a DPS or a Tank, while a Medic will have a wide range of skills available to deal heavy damages to the opponent. This volition of not enclosing the character in an unchanging archetype is reflected in the choice given to the player about the development of their skills and abilities. These are divided into tabs according to their usefulness in combat between pure damage and support.
The cornerstone of any MMORPG is its combat system. Wildstar opts for a limited action tab in which players can place a selection of their abilities. It is however good to note that players will slowly unlock new skill slots as they level up. Their distribution into several categories (assault, support, hybrid, etc.) says it all: the game system is based on the classic holy trinity Tank/Heal/DPS, blending in well with the hardcore PVE orientation of the game. I will say this again, Carbine is not trying to revolutionize the genre with their game. They tried, and managed, to make the most out of gameplay mechanics that have proven themselves for years. It's convenient because the Tank/Heal/DPS Trinity is one of the key features of the MMORPGs that have been the most challenging in the recent years. No questionable experiments or innovations here, the pattern is classic and feels good. From the first hours of gameplay, the combats shine through their exemplary fluidity. Wildstar offers a pleasant feeling of total control over characters that seem perfectly suited to the for their different tasks.
Between tradition and modernity, the game opts for dynamic combats, with or without targeting. Wildstar is not a MMO to be played, with a coffee in one hand while watching the latest episode of your favorite show. The reason to this has a name; the Telegraph. Telegraphs are set areas in which the effects of skills used by your enemies or allies will take place, AoE damages or debuffs for the former, and AoE heals and buffs for the latter. Nothing exactly innovative here save for the fact that it is used here as a basis for the combat system. Simply put, each capacity (allied or enemy) will draw its area of ​​impact on the ground. And believe me, it is not good to stay in the red zones lest you want your life bar to melt at breakneck speed. Between running, sprinting and dodging, there are fortunately a nice set of actions that can be used to escape Telegraphs. During the early levels the Telegraphs of enemies will remain basic, as simple circles or straight lines. However, they become more complex as you progress to get wider and achieve much more pernicious patterns used by the most powerful creatures in dungeons and raids.
Content, Content Everywhere
These mechanisms reveal their full potential during the stages of group play. Few MMOs can boast the fact that offer as much content right from the beginning: dungeons to go through in 5-player parties, unique adventures with different paths depending on your route. Wildstar also has two raid options for the fiercest of top players. Notice to the nostalgic, these raids are available to groups of 20 or 40 players. Yes, 40 players! While most recent productions abandon this model in favor of more intimate formats (20-25 players at most), Carbine landed with a decidedly old-school formula. No false promises of accessibility here, the philosophy of the raids is described in one word: hardcore. Forget groups that have been put together randomly, or strategies that were thought up hastily, this content is exclusively for guilds that are extremely well prepared, lest you have a death wish. The program for these instances: titanic bosses and insane Telegraphs, both in terms of shape and effect. MMO veterans in search of crazy challenges should get their fill.
In terms of graphics, the game looks like a Saturday morning cartoon; the kind of cartoons that are popular with children and the big kids that we are. This graphic choice gives birth to wacky characters, drawn with convincing animations. As for the environments, they did not hesitate to use a palette of bright colors. The whole is a rich and coherent universe with no fear of ridicule even at the most epic moments. The fans of Pixar's humor or series like Ratchet & Clank or Jak and Daxter will be familiar with the inhabitants of Nexus. The game also uses a proprietary graphics engine to display a fluid and convincing rendering on most machines. However, the optimization is still is still a work in progress for lower configurations. They indeed seem to have trouble displaying environments loaded with details (in the Capital, for example) with enough fluidity. And while we are on the topic of areas for improvement, you can also include some elements of the interface. The latter has evolved in the right direction since the first beta but some menus still deserve a little bit of polish such as the crafting or quest tracking interfaces. Regarding the soundtrack, the background music and dubbing are currently faultless.
Among the regular features requested by players but often added on later by the developers, housing figures prominently. Wildstar decidedly does not do things halfway since this feature is available from launch. A piece of land floating in the sky is indeed waiting for you from level 14. Pretty vacant initially, it can be decorated with a variety of useful and/or extravagant structures. The centerpiece of this idyllic setting will be your home, with a design that you can choose from a wide range of models. You can decorate your home from floor to ceiling by rummaging through a well stocked object and furniture library.
Just like its mechanisms meant for continuity, Wildstar is betting on getting involved with a monthly subscription system. The kind of decision that can split a community in half. On one hand, there are the advocates of the P2P model that put forward the regular monitoring and content expansions of paid MMOs. On the other, advocates of the F2P model, asking for an accessibility to the greatest number and claiming the "pay if you feel like it" philosophy. To this, Carbine responds with a hybrid system: C.R.E.D.D. acronym for Certificate of Research, Exploration, Destruction and Development. To sum it up, a player may decide to purchase a C.R.E.D.D. for real money on the official website. He can then sell it within the game for virtual currency. Buying a C.R.E.D.D. in-game is equivalent to paying for a one month subscription with virtual gold. This system works on the principle of supply and demand, so prices are likely to fluctuate significantly. However, with the current rates, it is possible for players that reached the max level to but a C.R.E.D.D. by doing all their daily quests for a week.
Conclusion
Hardcore PvE fans, casual gamers, PvP enthusiasts, Wildstar has a variety of content that should please almost everyone. The cartoon graphics may divide, and the C.R.E.D.D. system still has to find its marks and prove itself, but overall, Carbine has succeeded in creating a game that will retain a rather large fanbase for quite a while. Not too original, but without falling into cliches, this game is worth every penny (or gold) you spend on it.
