Wildstar 101

So, you may have heard of a little MMO coming out called Wildstar. No? What’s that? You’re too hyped up for The Elder Scrolls Online? Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. It’s just, I recently read this article posted on Forbes predicting that TESO will be the biggest financial disaster of the gaming industry in 2014. Yeesh, that sounds rough. Still feel like playing it? Weeell, that’s up to you, I guess.

But if you don’t enjoy throwing money down the drain, I’m here to give you a little rundown on Wildstar. So, let’s get right to the basics – what is it? Wildstar is a brand new space-fantasy MMO being developed by Carbine Studios and published by NCSoft. Carbine is comprised largely of former Blizzard Entertainment employees, particularly those that were part of the core development team for World of Warcraft, and has since acquired the talents of many others who have worked on games such as Metroid Prime, Half-Life, City of Heroes, Everquest, and Fallout. The talent is most certainly there, but what does Wildstar have to offer that sets it apart from the competition, namely the founders’ own WoW?

Well, for starters, anyone who was around for World of Warcraft’s launch and early game raiding can vouch for the game’s difficulty. Even up through The Burning Crusade, its first expansion, veteran players consider this the golden years of the industry’s largest MMO. Wildstar promises to bring the same level of content, difficulty, and reward that vanilla and TBC-WoW offered. But promises are promises, and nothing more. I wouldn’t hedge a bet on them alone.

 Luckily, Wildstar shows just the right amount of evolution that the genre needs without changing the formula too much: it’s fresh yet familiar. The problems in recent years have generally been either one of two on opposite ends of the spectrum: either they tried so much to emulate World of Warcraft, that most players felt it completely unnecessary to step out of their comfort zone; or, a studio has tried to drastically change up the formula so much that it alienates what players have become accustomed to. Wildstar aims to bridge that gap by combining many of the elements we’ve come to expect from so-called “WoW clones,” like standard dungeons and raids, while adopting many of the more exciting features from the more alternative MMOs, like a flexible class system, more action-oriented combat, and a reliance on telegraphs rather than the typical auto-lock found in far too many games.

That last and final point is what has me most excited for the prospect of this game. Combat has been elevated from the old fashioned target-lock and spam abilities. Now, you actually have to aim your abilities, and must dodge incoming attacks as well. Sure, there are still some direct-target abilities in the game, but by and large most of the actions you’ll be using have an area of effect, whether it’s point blank around your character, a cone in front, a straight line, or anywhere in between. Directional abilities not only makes PVE content more exciting, but heightens the danger in PVP and makes things far more hectic.

Another thing that promises to spice up the dynamic of the standard holy trinity of classes is the ability to specialize into dual-roles. Every one of the six classes (Warrior, Stalker, Spellslinger, Esper, Medic, Engineer) can focus on either one of two roles: either DPS, Tank, or Healing (each one designated only to two). This is taking a page out of RIFT’s book, but on a much smaller scale. Furthermore, one of the biggest problems I’ve found in many recent MMOs is the overabundance of abilities. I’ve often found myself overwhelmed at how many skills I had that it actually became more of a chore than anything else to slot every single one into my hotbar and assign them a keybinding. With Wildstar, you’ll still have your fair share of actions to choose from, but are limited to how many you can use per any given situation – both in ability points used to level up skills, and in the amount of available spots you have on your action bar. This creates a sense of personality to each character and allows for greater levels of individualization, straying away from cookie cutter builds that far too often plague the MMO scene.

These are just a few of the reasons to be excited for Wildstar. Scheduled for a Spring 2014 launch, Wildstar appears poised to do what other MMOs have failed at in the past – not kill WoW, because any sensible person knows that the only thing that will ever kill World of Warcraft is Blizzard; but rather, Wildstar looks to become the new standard for the MMO market going forward: an elegant fusion of old and new, with enough content and depth to please the hardcore, and the accessibility and whimsy to entertain the casual. If you’re interested in Wildstar and just can’t wait to play it, and haven’t received a beta invitation yet, try out the games below to get a general idea of what to expect.

Smite

 Hi-Rez’s Smite is a unique action-MOBA that pits gods and demons against each other. Its unusual over-the-shoulder camera angle gives it a very distinctive personality and its reliance on skill shots for almost every character makes it a natural comparison to Wildstar’s frantic action and telegraphed-abilities.

  

Vanilla WoW

If you played WoW when it launched, then you already have a decent idea of what to expect from these guys. Up through The Burning Crusade, the level of difficulty with each subsequent raid just escalated to the point that victory was rarely a sure thing. You may still be able to find private servers that only have content up to, or even prior to, TBC – but you didn’t hear that from me.

Guild Wars 2

Another natural comparison, Guild Wars 2’s action-based combat will give you a general idea of what to expect from Wildstar. While the holy trinity was done away with here, any one of these classes will put you in the mindset of mobility. That is, you’ll break the habit of standing still and clicking away at your abilities until something is dead. You need to train those WASD skills, boy. Get moving.

For more in-depth coverage, head on over to the main website and check out the developer live streams for each class, as well as information on everything else that wasn’t mentioned here.