As promised, though, I stuck through Wildstar until beta closed. Â Figured I'd share my thoughts on it. Â A quick summary is that I've pre-ordered and damn well become a Facebook publicity campaign, and I hate being on Facebook. Â It's that good as I see it. Â But I'll give some evidence on why I think that. Â I'm going to be speaking from the point that everyone's seen the videos on Wildstar's website or have basic knowledge of how the game purportedly works. Â If you haven't, don't feel like watching, and want to ask a question, go ahead and ask me. Â I totally get not wanting to wade through Carbine's promotional material for information or to try to sort through a forum full of trolls and fanbois.
Wildstar's all-star number 1 reason why I've cancelled my other subs is the combat, which is incredibly quick and fluid. Â Most of all, it's very easily tailored, giving you no set way to do anything to maximize damage in any instance. Â This was most easily demonstrated when I was playing my Spellslinger (sort of a gun-toting spell class). Â I was playing a stun-and-gun strategy from range which worked for me. Â During one fight, I noticed that another Spellslinger was literally right on top of the boss and was ducking around him. Â He'd set up his abilities to have a bit more defense and was using a faster skillset than mine, but one that ultimately wouldn't work at range. Â You can also heal from both ranges as a Spellslinger. Â The guy I was talking about even told me he'd once had to tank an instance after the MT died (tanking is a much more fluid and a softer division than in other games). Â That's a lot of variety out of one class that uses pistols.
Another thing I like is the extreme customization. Â I'll not go over all of the stuff Carbine went over in their video except to say you can customize your armor color and visuals, completely customize your (basically free) house, put customized pieces on your mounts, and a few game types, like the mass PVP Warplot gametype, you customize your own environment. Â More than that though, the game feels custom-fit straight through to your statistics and style. Â It isn't just choosing and gearing as a tank/healer/DPS. Â The medic class is actually a short-to-medium ranged healer AND/OR DPS. Â Just about every class in the game has some utility between healing, tanking, and damage. Â The engineer class seems perfectly capable of doing all three, for instance, and it's a pet class with heavy armor.
Aside from those things, mechanically, it's a flurry of speed and reaction. Â It plays a LOT more like an old N64 or PS1 game than a tab-targetted MMORPG. Â The red telegraph bubbles aren't just spheres and lines, they're flying all over the place in crazy geometric patterns as well as having quite a few other abilities. Â More interestingly, you get used to looking for reactions to being stunned, disarmed, and otherwise CCed. Â There's usually a way out if you're fast enough, so really good players never have to cry about being stunlocked for an entire fight. Â That's good because PVP is fast and unforgiving. Â I like the game's difficulty, which ramps up significantly once you hit levels about 10-15, but it might not be for everyone. Â Suffice it to say, the difficulty of the game isn't tied up in the grind (at least not that I saw). Â It's all about being quick on the draw. Â Honestly, it's the first time in a long time that I was killing the same thing for, as I soon discovered, a half hour and wondered how long the quest had been done. Â It's just addictively fun.
Negative items include me needing to buy a new video card. Â While, for example, FFXIV is a bit ponderous but doesn't necessarily punish you for moving slow, Wildstar demands precision. Â Which would be nicer if the game wasn't chewing your resources. Â You can drop the graphics to a point where pretty much anyone can play, but don't let the game's setting and art style fool you, this game drinks your system resources. Â I'm now packing a 3.0 GPU and an FX9590 processor on a Formula V Crosshair Z motherboard with 32 gigs of high speed RAM. Â I can run flawlessly on ultra graphics, but before I put in the new card, the game chopped to 30FPS on my 1.0 card. Â There are a lot of crazy particle effects, PSO style holograms and neons, and a possible draw distance that can make your eyes bleed. Â It's not for a 10 year old computer or a netbook; you'll blow it up.
Another thing that bothered me was the UI. Â Apparently, they redesigned the UI from an even worse one, and in the broad strokes it does what it needs to do. Â Text, however, can be sometimes very hard to read in the default font. Â Buttons on screen you use to access certain information are very small. Â Quest tracking text on the right can sometimes be difficult to read. Â This is a minor gripe, as many issues I had were fixed (probably all the people that complained) and because not only is the UI fixable through menus, but it has a WoW style addon engine. Â Still, I don't like UI addons, so you'll need to play around with the UI so that it works for you.
On a side note, resource nodes can be annoying. Â Generally, Carbine avoids the trap of making you resent other players by rewarding you for helping them. Â Crafting is actually really fun, if a bit less intense than in FFXIV. Â You get quest credit if you and someone else kill something, so you aren't fighting over mobs. Â Given that, it's weird that mining nodes aren't instanced to the character as in FFXIV. Â More than that, you can get a lot of ore from a node using a mining laser, but you can also melee it and break it up, then collect less resources without one. Â That means you've got people who accidentally blow up your resource nodes while fighting (not their intention) even if they aren't collecting the stuff.
Things that I don't mind or don't care about that might bother/excite other people include the art style. Â It's not quite as cartoony in tone as I thought it would be, considering what art presentations you see. Â It's very often bouncing between being amazingly awesome, hysterically funny, and deadly serious. Â I won't get too far into the story in case some people don't want spoilers, but there are genuinely heartfelt moments, one of which made my wife cry. Â Luckily, from there, you're given immediate chance for revenge and your crazy narrator comes in to reassure you that someone is gonna pay. Â It's a frenetic style that I absolutely LOVED TO DEATH! Â I can see that it might seem annoying, but seriously give it a shot and play the free month before you condemn it.
Another thing people might like or not like, the FFXIV weapon-by-class system. Â Armor falls into medium-heavy-light catagories (two classes per armor type) and is actually highly customizeable. Â Bosses drop everyone individual boxes that may or may not contain loot and have low chance of epics, but there's no fighting or ninjaing. Â You can make weapons look like other weapons of their class and play with their stats. Â However, what you can't do is make your heavy-armored engineer look like he's wearing light armor through the costume system, and more importantly your weapon will always be of a certain type. Â Warriors always use great-swords, Spellslingers always use a pair of pistols, etc. Â Hopefully that will be changed eventually, that warriors might get axes and maces as well. Â It's not a thing for me, I don't mind. Â But it's been talked about negatively in beta, so be forewarned that FFXIV's weapon-by-class system is in Wildstar.
Character customization seems to be an ongoing issue. Â I thought Wildstar hit a pretty good balance by making sure all the customization that was important was in the face, but having the body and other features easier to handle. Â Some people thought it was too little, they wanted more sliders on the body, hair, et al. Â I get that. Â It didn't bother me and I got some great looks from what I had available to me. Â Races are incredibly idiosyncratic and fun. Â I was pleasantly surprised and felt satisfied, and I really got into the looks of my characters. Â Some people might not be, though.
Another thing is the focus away from grinding by not giving you a lot of class experience for killing things, but for completing quests, dungeons, PVP, et cetera. Â That shift in focus might annoy some people. Â I like it and see where it was going. Â Some people would rather get most of their EXP from the monster kill grind or individual kills
As a disclaimer, we didn't all have a chance to do everything. Â There are things I didn't have time to do as I took most of the classes up a few levels and experimented with gameplay styles. Â I only ran one dungeon to get a feel for it and only dueled. Â I got no chance to try their top-end PVE or PVP endgame. Â Reception on both of those has been positive from what I've heard, but not universally positive. Â If someone ran to the endgame and can elaborate, please do. Â While I tried all of the classes and paths (all of which I loved to play; they're all extremely entertaining), I did not have a chance to try all professions. Â I only got to play with mount and house customization to a very minimal degree since I didn't make it to a capital city until later in the process when I thought I had a good grasp of the basics of all factions, races, classes, and paths.
So that's what I think. Â As I said, I'm cancelling my other subs now and not planning on buying any other MMOs or expansions until I hear otherwise. Â I'll probably be playing Diablo 3 until then. Â I'll still be around here to talk about the games for a while and I may come back to FFXIV (who knows? Â It's not like FFXIV is a bad game, I just don't like it as much as Wildstar). Â If you want to stay in touch after that, send me a PM and I'll either give you my battle.net ID for Blizzard or a way to stay in touch until early start of Wildstar on the 31st of May (yes, if you preorder, you get to start the game on the 31st instead of the 3rd).
Again, if you have any questions, comments, or want my feedback or input, go ahead and ask. Â I'm excited and really high on the game, but I'm somewhat cynical by nature. Â I'll try to give you as straight an answer as someone with an opinion on the game possibly can.
Wildstar's all-star number 1 reason why I've cancelled my other subs is the combat, which is incredibly quick and fluid. Â Most of all, it's very easily tailored, giving you no set way to do anything to maximize damage in any instance. Â This was most easily demonstrated when I was playing my Spellslinger (sort of a gun-toting spell class). Â I was playing a stun-and-gun strategy from range which worked for me. Â During one fight, I noticed that another Spellslinger was literally right on top of the boss and was ducking around him. Â He'd set up his abilities to have a bit more defense and was using a faster skillset than mine, but one that ultimately wouldn't work at range. Â You can also heal from both ranges as a Spellslinger. Â The guy I was talking about even told me he'd once had to tank an instance after the MT died (tanking is a much more fluid and a softer division than in other games). Â That's a lot of variety out of one class that uses pistols.
Another thing I like is the extreme customization. Â I'll not go over all of the stuff Carbine went over in their video except to say you can customize your armor color and visuals, completely customize your (basically free) house, put customized pieces on your mounts, and a few game types, like the mass PVP Warplot gametype, you customize your own environment. Â More than that though, the game feels custom-fit straight through to your statistics and style. Â It isn't just choosing and gearing as a tank/healer/DPS. Â The medic class is actually a short-to-medium ranged healer AND/OR DPS. Â Just about every class in the game has some utility between healing, tanking, and damage. Â The engineer class seems perfectly capable of doing all three, for instance, and it's a pet class with heavy armor.
Aside from those things, mechanically, it's a flurry of speed and reaction. Â It plays a LOT more like an old N64 or PS1 game than a tab-targetted MMORPG. Â The red telegraph bubbles aren't just spheres and lines, they're flying all over the place in crazy geometric patterns as well as having quite a few other abilities. Â More interestingly, you get used to looking for reactions to being stunned, disarmed, and otherwise CCed. Â There's usually a way out if you're fast enough, so really good players never have to cry about being stunlocked for an entire fight. Â That's good because PVP is fast and unforgiving. Â I like the game's difficulty, which ramps up significantly once you hit levels about 10-15, but it might not be for everyone. Â Suffice it to say, the difficulty of the game isn't tied up in the grind (at least not that I saw). Â It's all about being quick on the draw. Â Honestly, it's the first time in a long time that I was killing the same thing for, as I soon discovered, a half hour and wondered how long the quest had been done. Â It's just addictively fun.
Negative items include me needing to buy a new video card. Â While, for example, FFXIV is a bit ponderous but doesn't necessarily punish you for moving slow, Wildstar demands precision. Â Which would be nicer if the game wasn't chewing your resources. Â You can drop the graphics to a point where pretty much anyone can play, but don't let the game's setting and art style fool you, this game drinks your system resources. Â I'm now packing a 3.0 GPU and an FX9590 processor on a Formula V Crosshair Z motherboard with 32 gigs of high speed RAM. Â I can run flawlessly on ultra graphics, but before I put in the new card, the game chopped to 30FPS on my 1.0 card. Â There are a lot of crazy particle effects, PSO style holograms and neons, and a possible draw distance that can make your eyes bleed. Â It's not for a 10 year old computer or a netbook; you'll blow it up.
Another thing that bothered me was the UI. Â Apparently, they redesigned the UI from an even worse one, and in the broad strokes it does what it needs to do. Â Text, however, can be sometimes very hard to read in the default font. Â Buttons on screen you use to access certain information are very small. Â Quest tracking text on the right can sometimes be difficult to read. Â This is a minor gripe, as many issues I had were fixed (probably all the people that complained) and because not only is the UI fixable through menus, but it has a WoW style addon engine. Â Still, I don't like UI addons, so you'll need to play around with the UI so that it works for you.
On a side note, resource nodes can be annoying. Â Generally, Carbine avoids the trap of making you resent other players by rewarding you for helping them. Â Crafting is actually really fun, if a bit less intense than in FFXIV. Â You get quest credit if you and someone else kill something, so you aren't fighting over mobs. Â Given that, it's weird that mining nodes aren't instanced to the character as in FFXIV. Â More than that, you can get a lot of ore from a node using a mining laser, but you can also melee it and break it up, then collect less resources without one. Â That means you've got people who accidentally blow up your resource nodes while fighting (not their intention) even if they aren't collecting the stuff.
Things that I don't mind or don't care about that might bother/excite other people include the art style. Â It's not quite as cartoony in tone as I thought it would be, considering what art presentations you see. Â It's very often bouncing between being amazingly awesome, hysterically funny, and deadly serious. Â I won't get too far into the story in case some people don't want spoilers, but there are genuinely heartfelt moments, one of which made my wife cry. Â Luckily, from there, you're given immediate chance for revenge and your crazy narrator comes in to reassure you that someone is gonna pay. Â It's a frenetic style that I absolutely LOVED TO DEATH! Â I can see that it might seem annoying, but seriously give it a shot and play the free month before you condemn it.
Another thing people might like or not like, the FFXIV weapon-by-class system. Â Armor falls into medium-heavy-light catagories (two classes per armor type) and is actually highly customizeable. Â Bosses drop everyone individual boxes that may or may not contain loot and have low chance of epics, but there's no fighting or ninjaing. Â You can make weapons look like other weapons of their class and play with their stats. Â However, what you can't do is make your heavy-armored engineer look like he's wearing light armor through the costume system, and more importantly your weapon will always be of a certain type. Â Warriors always use great-swords, Spellslingers always use a pair of pistols, etc. Â Hopefully that will be changed eventually, that warriors might get axes and maces as well. Â It's not a thing for me, I don't mind. Â But it's been talked about negatively in beta, so be forewarned that FFXIV's weapon-by-class system is in Wildstar.
Character customization seems to be an ongoing issue. Â I thought Wildstar hit a pretty good balance by making sure all the customization that was important was in the face, but having the body and other features easier to handle. Â Some people thought it was too little, they wanted more sliders on the body, hair, et al. Â I get that. Â It didn't bother me and I got some great looks from what I had available to me. Â Races are incredibly idiosyncratic and fun. Â I was pleasantly surprised and felt satisfied, and I really got into the looks of my characters. Â Some people might not be, though.
Another thing is the focus away from grinding by not giving you a lot of class experience for killing things, but for completing quests, dungeons, PVP, et cetera. Â That shift in focus might annoy some people. Â I like it and see where it was going. Â Some people would rather get most of their EXP from the monster kill grind or individual kills
As a disclaimer, we didn't all have a chance to do everything. Â There are things I didn't have time to do as I took most of the classes up a few levels and experimented with gameplay styles. Â I only ran one dungeon to get a feel for it and only dueled. Â I got no chance to try their top-end PVE or PVP endgame. Â Reception on both of those has been positive from what I've heard, but not universally positive. Â If someone ran to the endgame and can elaborate, please do. Â While I tried all of the classes and paths (all of which I loved to play; they're all extremely entertaining), I did not have a chance to try all professions. Â I only got to play with mount and house customization to a very minimal degree since I didn't make it to a capital city until later in the process when I thought I had a good grasp of the basics of all factions, races, classes, and paths.
So that's what I think. Â As I said, I'm cancelling my other subs now and not planning on buying any other MMOs or expansions until I hear otherwise. Â I'll probably be playing Diablo 3 until then. Â I'll still be around here to talk about the games for a while and I may come back to FFXIV (who knows? Â It's not like FFXIV is a bad game, I just don't like it as much as Wildstar). Â If you want to stay in touch after that, send me a PM and I'll either give you my battle.net ID for Blizzard or a way to stay in touch until early start of Wildstar on the 31st of May (yes, if you preorder, you get to start the game on the 31st instead of the 3rd).
Again, if you have any questions, comments, or want my feedback or input, go ahead and ask. Â I'm excited and really high on the game, but I'm somewhat cynical by nature. Â I'll try to give you as straight an answer as someone with an opinion on the game possibly can.