Talk about WildStar!

wildstar-engineer

A few of you have been asking me why I don’t write a lot about WildStar.

Honestly, their marketing team does an amazing job ensuring all of the latest information is presented in an exciting and unique way.  Videos are constantly coming out about new classes, new abilities, features, etc.  Their website is one of the best in terms of functionality and information in the industry.  If you don’t know about WildStar at this point it has to be by choice.  It’s hard for me to write about class announcements.

Let’s talk, though, about some of what we’re seeing publicly shown on the website, streams, etc.  They just ‘announced’ (although it was leaked ages ago) the Medic and Engineer thus rounding out the Team Fortress 2 classes.  Reading through some of the abilities on the website and watching the streams, there appears to be a good variety of abilities.  One of my biggest gripes with the combat gameplay from day one has been the conal/aoe nature of all abilities.  Some people call this stuff “skill shot” — those people play League of Legends — and some people call it spaztactics.

While I’m on the subject of things I dislike, anyone else get really worked up when they see every class being DPS?  Be a Medic and heal or DPS! Be a Tank and tank or DPS!  Be a DPS and.. DPS!  No I’m just kidding, that would be silly. There is no straight DPS class.   All classes are Tanks or Heals, with the option to blow stuff up.  I call it big number syndrome.  A friend of mine has it (hey Eternity, how’s it going?)  He has to be DPS and see big numbers or he’s not happy.  That’s okay when it’s a personal.  When big number syndrome becomes a feature, however, I get grumpy.

WildStar’s presentation rocks.  I think the colorful, zany world they’ve built naturally beckons people to play.  I think what they’re planning for housing sounds great.  Although I hate raiding, I respect they are at least making a freaking decision about raiding instead of hedging — they are going big-time raiding if you didn’t know. PvP also sounds like a lot of fun to jump in and out of defending bases (I hope that’s still a planned feature?).   I also love their business model: Subscription or C.R.E.D.D.  Again, if you need more information their website is fantastic.

Is Keen going to play WildStar?

I don’t know yet.  I think it will largely depend on whether or not I think the game will be yet another 3-monther, and how much the game offers before it turns into a raid-grinder.  I’m really done with games that pretend to be one thing, then transform into what the developers meant the game to be all along when players reach max level.  I would rather the game END when I reach max level and be able to look back and say, “That was an amazing journey.”

Is WildStar going to be the next best thing that revolutionizes the industry?!

Their marketing team will probably shed a tear when I say this, but no it won’t.  SPOILERS!  WildStar is a themepark.  I bet it’s going to be a darn good one, but it’s simply going to maintain the status quo.

Tags: , ,

  • Lol, there we go I updated it. The editor didn’t save my last sentence — actually, the editor kept the rough draft. Sheesh! I should have left it that way. I think more people would have read it!

  • It is probably a good sign that you have a large enough reader base that catches your editor mistakes before you get a chance to correct them! 😉

  • Big number syndrome, I like it. Whenever I feel the need to see big numbers I play the latest Disgaea game. There’s just something relaxing about dealing half a billion dmg to groups of enemies.

  • Unfortunately every single time wildstar comes up i just cannot forget the combat mechanic. No matter how much i like some features if the combat stays “Action” kinda like Tera, then it just won’t do for me. It is just unbearable after 10 minutes max. Some have much longer patience but i prefer to keep my eyes in place along with my brain.

  • WildStar is all but off my interest list now. If there’s an open beta I suppose I will take a look and who knows, maybe it will get its hooks in then, but other than the setting and humor, which I do like, just about everything else is actively off-putting. It feels quite odd, having so little interest in either of next year’s two major releases (TESO does nothing for me either).

    Pity. WildStar looked so promising back when the first trailer came out…

  • I am not interested about Wildstart for 4 reasons:

    1) What Qyte said. I don’t like action combat, I prefer a traditional type (FFXIV,wow, Aion,e.t.c)
    2) Very cartoony graphics…much more than wow
    3) A comedy theme.
    4) “Subscription or C.R.E.D.D.” = Legally buy in-game currency with your real money bob

    Those 4 are all personal opinion and very subjective. I don’t know if Plex work well for EVE and how people accept that, but I don’t, sorry. I ll stick with FFxiv and will try wow expansion cause these 2 games seems to be the only true sub games atm and in foreseeable future.

  • From what I’ve experienced it seems like the game play is “Hit all the buttons and stay out of red zones”. Feels similar to GW2. Spaztastic is a good description.

  • This game really doesn’t do much for me. I have to agree with others and say the combat is one of the big reasons. Action combat gets tiresome after awhile and making everything some kind of cone or aoe attack is off putting to me. But that’s just me, the game seems to have plenty of interest in my swtor guild. I’m worried the guild will be a ghost town when this game drops. I don’t like to root against games but I have to admit I’m kind of hoping this one is a 3 monther so my guild mates return to swtor after the new shiny wears off.

  • The only action combat I’ve ever enjoyed is Vindictus, because while all attacks are cones, they have specific speeds, ranges, delays (you cant run around midswing) and impact.

  • Game looks awesome to me. I love action combat. everything being a skill shot is the best way to do it! I will be buying at launch for sure.

  • I’m really excited for the game because it’s going to be so un-traditional. Everything I’ve seen looks like it could be a lot of fun. The dungeons in particular that they showed off in the livestreams really excited me because they were so involved.

    I don’t mind that every class can DPS or Tank/Heal either because the limited action set of 8 or 10 abilities will end up giving a lot variety and minor tweaks for personal playstyle. In other MMOs I normally like having some pure classes, but I feel like WildStar is all about freedom. The setting and premise of the game’s story is all about coming to this planet and colonizing the crap out of it – all about freedom to make the world your own. I find that WildStar’s rather hectic playstyle, over-the-top art and humor, and the general class structure really help reflect that. While it’s not a sandbox game really, I still feel like there’s a lot of freedom to make the game your own. And the devs do seem really committed to making a fun, enjoyable and are rather involved with their own community.

    And yeah, I’ll admit there are some issues with the game from what I’ve seen, but I’m really confident the devs can address some of these to make a really enjoyable, not-so-traditional game. I’m kind of bummed to see the rest of KGC isn’t quite as excited as I am, but I understand the concerns issues. And it may just end up being another 3-monther, but I really hope it isn’t. I’d love for it to be a big surprise to everyone.

    I’ve become so bitter though with the state of MMOs these days, that sometimes I feel like there will never be another MMO that isn’t just a 3-monther. But for now, WildStar looks really exciting, new, and fresh. I’ll be playing it at launch really hope it takes off. Because we really need an MMO that’ll actually last more than 3-months for people, and there really aren’t many options on the horizon.

  • Oh yeah, I’m sure there’ll be a presence for a bit. I just kind of hope it really surprises everyone and becomes a game we stick to for awhile. I’m starting to become really jaded about when it comes to upcoming MMOs, I feel like most people – not just KGC – just bounce from game to game these days. I keep hoping something will come along and just really stick. I had hoped FF14 would be around for awhile, but even that seems to have not much going on these days. Which sucks since I was just thinking of coming back now that I’m financially more stable, but everyone’s left! D=

    But we’ll see how WildStar turns out. With any luck maybe it’ll hold people over til EQN – and hopefully EQN will be as great as people are hoping it will be.

  • Ah, I thought most had left already! I was worried I’d be alone when I resume my sub in January/February.

  • Funny, I’m actually looking forward to Wildstar a lot, primarily because it ‘does’ look a lot like WoW. I’m hoping it fills the WoW shaped hole in my gaming habits. All I’m really hoping for is a different setting, and shaking off some of the cruft that’s inevitably accumulated on WoW over the years.

    (Conversely unlike everyone else here, I couldn’t be less excited by ESO or EQN, which seem tailor made to advertize all the stuff I hate in MMOs)