Wildstar. This is a game, that I admit, I unfairly cast aside the first
several times I heard it mentioned. I haven't truly played an MMO since
Star Wars The Old Republic, and I burned out on that one pretty quickly.
So when I heard about another MMO to come to the table, I just let it
pass by for the most part.
About two months
after hearing about it, IGN ran an article announcing applications for
closed beta. Out of habit more than anything else, I tossed my
application in. It faded out of my thoughts again until I received an
email for a closed beta weekend. Unfortunately I would be out of town
for it, so I deleted the email and once again let it leave my mind.
Finally
about two weeks ago, all the gaming sites made the huge announcements
about its open beta. Incidentally, my mood had recently turned back
towards the MMO genre, and though I knew it wouldn't last, it coincided
nicely with Wildstar's Open Beta. So I filled out the forms, linked my
NCSoft Account, and got the game downloading. As it did, I actually took
my first look into the game, and started to get excited for the
download to complete.
One of my favorite game
series is the Ratchet and Clank series. I am not one who goes back and
plays old games once the generation is past (Sorry retro gamers, but
with so many new games coming out, I rarely see a reason to look back).
This series, however, inspired me to pick up the previous generations
games and give them a play and I was not disappointed.
I
have found this appeal mirrored beautifully in Wildstar. The art style,
the game-play, the humor, all reminiscent of one of my favorite series.
I was essentially hooked before I even created a character.
Disclaimer
time. I have played up to level 8, on one single character, from one
faction, over the course of three days in game. I am no expert on this
game. I do not have any deep dark insights on the game, just my initial
impressions....
This game is phenomenal.
It is easily one of the best MMO's I have ever played, and I wish that I
had more time to play it before open beta ended last weekend. But alas,
life got in the way and just left me with the tantalizing taste of it.
I've bounced back and forth on pre-ordering the game, knowing in my
heart that my money is already spent, my wallet just doesn't realize it
yet. As such, I expect this to be the first of many posts about this
game.
The game takes itself nice and lightly. Not in
an overly sarcastic manner which makes you feel as though you are
playing a parody, but it makes the universe its own. In this manner, it
really reminds me of Ratchet and Clank. It recognizes the overly insane
weapon designs, the vast array of alien life forms both silly and
fearsome, and the overall ambition of any game - to entertain, and wraps
them all up nicely in some well placed humor. Each character I have met
thus far add to this chosen style, and it really helps bind the
universe they set forth together into a fun place to spend my time.
Upon
logging in the first time, I was presented with the standard fare of
MMO beginnings. Got to choose my faction, race, class, and customize my
appearance.
Factions include the Exiles and the Dominion.
Races include:
Exiles-Human (Outcasts. Renegades. Scruffy), Granok (Rock-skinned. Fearless. Hung over), Aurin (Small. Scrappy. Tree-hugging), Mordesh (Intellectual. Morose. Decomposing)
Dominion
- Cassian (Wealthy. Disciplined. Superior), Mechari (Calculating.
Efficient. Remorseless), Draken (Savage. Bloodthirsty. Brutal), Chua
(Tiny. Brilliant. Psychotic)
Classes
include: Warrior (Melee DPS/Tank), Spellslinger (Arcane DPS/Healer),
Esper (Psionic DPS/Healer), Engineer (Ranged DPS/Tank), Stalker (Melee
DPS/Tank), Medic (Ranged DPS/Healer).
I
went with an Aurin Stalker. The Aurin was honestly just because it
seemed the most interesting visually at that moment in time, and stalker
was a familiar archetype for me. Character created, I logged into the
server.
My first joyful surprise? No lag. Now, I
had just upgraded my computer, but new MMOs, and especially Day One Open
Beta, are usually MASSIVE lag-fests at spawn in. Once my computer
loaded in all the textures, the game ran smoothly, even on maxed out
settings. Another pleasant surprise? This smoothness did not come at the
expense of polygons and graphics. The art is definitely stylized, and
they are able to keep the polygon count low because of this style. In my
opinion however, unlike WoW which attempted similar methods, they have
found a beautiful balance point which doesn't make their characters look
like they are all steroid abusing junkies with a love of massive
shoulder ornamentation.
But I digress. The textures given to the
world and characters is like a beautiful cartoon. Which leads me to the
explanation of the title of this post. The style of animation, paired
with the optimization which leads to smooth movement and game-play,
makes me feel like I am playing in a Pixar movie.
Speaking of
smooth movement and game-play, this is another point at which this game
shines bright. Playing as a stalker, the ability to flow one ability
into another and keep me feeling like I'm actually a stealth fighter
taking on an opponent rather than a card board tank hitting a bit faster
and harder, is no mean feat. The dynamic combat which clearly dictates
what area the attack will land in as well as the fluid dodge mechanics
that let you keep out of their attack areas while keeping them in yours
keeps combat moving quickly and never feels like a grind. As a damager, I
was able to use my stun abilities in conjunction with dodging to keep
behind the target even when soloing them, allowing me to utilize my max
damage abilities. This is something I have found very lacking in most
MMOs. Usually, as a damager, I am not able to use my biggest heavy
hitting abilities unless grouped up. Don't get me wrong, I love grouping
in MMO's (otherwise I'd just play a single player game), but sometimes I
want an equally enjoyable experience in the 10 - 15 minutes I have to
spare in the game.
The talent mechanics are one side that I got
only a very brief glimpse into. It looks like a nice little twist on the
three tier talent trees that we see in all MMO's these days, but it is
set up in a circular pattern, which allows them to guide your eye to
which talents blend well with others, to best balance your class to how
you want to play. I look forward to seeing this more in depth as I level
my main character upon release.
With all the points above adding
up, I am already in love with this game. But it just keeps on giving.
In what has been described as the most feature complete MMO to hit the
market, I was not disappointed to find a fully functioning alternative
class system in place. In what they call Paths, they allow the player to
tailor the non-combat exclusive game-play to fit their play style. They
have broken these up into four Paths: Explorer, Soldier, Settler,
Scientist. The only one of these I played with was Explorer, so I will
leave the others to future write-ups when I can give them a fair
assessment. For your Path, you get a second experience bar to fill, with
Path specific quests in their own quest log to advance your progress.
For
Explorer, I was tasked with lifting the fog of war from the entire map
of the zone I was in, for starters. But it was more than that. There
were viewpoints I could access and plant a beacon, which ticked off
progress on another quest. The coolest aspect of this style quest was
that to get to these viewpoints, you need to be an explorer. There are
click-able rocks (in the ones I have done so far) that when clicked,
expose previously hidden paths up to the summit. The last type of
Explorer quest I experienced is the scavenger hunt. It tasks you with
collecting a certain number of items, each of which has a clue to what
you are looking for and will highlight on your map a general location in
which to look.
As can be surmised from my lengthy post after
only playing the first few levels, I am a convert to Wildstar. I am very
excited for launch and very depressed at the money my excitement has
already spent, but I will none-the-less be ready to play when servers
open for head-start next weekend.
Take a look at
their site, delve into the lore they have provided at depth for new
players, enjoy the artwork and see if it seems to be up your alley.
Thanks for following!
-Mac
