Born to be Wild(star)

So Over the past couple of months I've been playing the new MMO (coming out in June) titled 'WildStar' and they've just (about 20 days ago) dropped their NDA... wait... no, they've lifted it. So We can talk about it now!

It's Great.

Tubage
- Ja- Okay! Okay! I'll talk more about it, get more on the subject and explain why it's different from other MMOs.

Aiming Dev Speak

So Wildstar doesn't work the same way that most MMOs work. It doesn't use the traditional style of select an enemy and press a number to attack that enemy (with the occasional area of effect attack). There are a couple of abilities that do use this - though I think just heals - but for the most part they do not.
What they use instead is the telegraph system. telegraphs are images that appear on the floor to show the user where the damage (or heals) will be. Players can't just sit back and auto aim, throwing attacks no matter what they're looking at and hitting. They have to aim. They have to target and they have to hit.
The whole game requires a lot more skill than any other mmo I've seen. TSW came close, but this really works. Even the enemies use telegraphs, making it so that the player- if they are good enough -can avoid every enemy attack sent their way.

Customisation Dev Speak



Customisation is a huge part of the game and they throw the costume selection screen in right from the start. One of the big things for Wildstar will be player housing. Now hold on, it's not just something pretty, it's actually really useful, even from a gameplay perspective.

First and foremost, logging off in your house gives you rest XP - a multiplier to your XP gain as you play - but even more than that it gives you more rest XP the more customisations you have made to your house. Got 2 items in your house, you'll get a bonus. Got 1,000,000 items in your house you'll basically one hit level (Disclaimer: I don't know if theres a limit on number of items you can have in your house, probably less than 1million, players probably can't rest XP their way to lvl 50 in 1 go) You can also put in plots around your house that allow the player to mine, farm, craft, go directly to PVP or dungeons with extra added Buffs.

Plus it looks seriously cool. Yeah other games have got customisation, and some other games have got player housing, but no other game makes use of it so well.

Adventures Dev Speak

Replayable choose your own adventures where the outcomes really do matter. From the characters who survive the mission to the rewards you get at the end. at the moment there are only abotu five of them, but I would guess that more are coming - they'd be stupid not to add more. The most interesting sounding of which is the gangster murder mystery. I mean seriously, how awesome would that be? in an mmo to solve a murder mystery.
Sure it's PVE, but lets take it one step further. PVP where you dont have to kill everyone, but instead you have to figure out who the person who is trying to kill everyone is! Sure it's not actually in the game nor have they made any plans to and so I probably shouldnt put it here... but the Adventures show a hell of a lot of potential.

All Dev Speak playlist

Just... the style of the whole thing. sure there have been space mmos, there have been anime mmos, but this one... it just makes me feel epic without ever telling me I'm important. I am just one of a million players, but still, every tiem I level up they make it the most exciting thing in the universe with fireworks and huge Death Metal writing.
They could work on making the quests feel as good, but otherwise it just screams exciting.

Anyway, that's what I've seen so far. I'm really looking forward to release. it comes out on June 3rd, click HERE to preorder!

Tubage
- James