Welcome to the first piece of our ongoing WildStar coverage. Before reaching a final verdict, we'll be writing impressions of our journey through the world of Nexus from two perspectives of differing massively multiplayer online role-playing game backgrounds.
Ian’s Take
First things first: some introductions. I’ve played MMORPGs since the days of Asheron’s Call, preferring traditional MMOs over the weird hybrids that came out between the late ‘90s to the present day. I played World of Warcraft off and on for a long period of time, with other titles like Warhammer Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic in-between.
Needless to say, I’ve grown tired of the typical “point-and-hit a million buttons on your hotbar” gameplay offered by traditional MMOs, so I’m going into WildStar with this in mind.
Right off the bat, I can say that WildStar offers a fresh take on the typical MMO with its gloriously animated artwork and design. Some might try to disparage the game’s art direction as World of Warcraft in space, but it looks more akin to a cartoon from the 1980s—more so than anything else.
In addition to the game’s original artwork, there’s the telegraphed combat system, which makes every move an AOE action, affecting every target within a certain radius. Essentially, you’ll see the radius of your attacks on the ground as you perform them, and the radius of your opponents’ attacks as they do theirs. You’ll want to keep them in the zone of your attacks while staying out of any red zones that appear on the ground.
Beyond combat, the game uses a jumping and platforming system that’s similar to that of console action games like the Jak & Daxter series. You can even sprint and double jump—two features that make the game more action oriented than anything else (besides the combat).
In any case, levels 1 to 15 play out very much like your standard MMORPG, but with some differences. First, let’s talk about what’s the same. If you’re unfamiliar with MMORPGs, most of them offer basic quests for you to accomplish, earning you experience points, loot, and levels as you play through the game. Like World of Warcraft, you’ll have the option to choose from various rewards each time you complete a quest, giving you ample reason to perform them and follow the game’s storyline instead of hacking away at mobs in a field.
WildStar is definitely one of the better games out there in regards to its questing and level, as I never found myself grinding away on monsters just to earn levels. Lineage 2 this game is most certainly not.
In addition to regular quests to kill monsters and deliver items, there’s also a wide variety of things for you to do during your missions. I personally encountered missions that required me to complete puzzles that came in a variety of forms, ranging from simple button-mashers to more sophisticated ones—there is one that is reminiscent of the hacking minigame in Fallout 3. Stuff like this really changes up the way the game presents itself and gives players a plethora of things to do by mixing it up.
Besides earning levels for my character class, the game also gave me the option to level up an additional set of skills, called Paths. I chose the Scientist path, which allows me to undertake missions that provide in-game written lore as a reward. The Scientist is also capable of accessing areas otherwise inaccessible to other paths, and interacting with the various parts of the environment.
