Wednesday, April 16, 2014

MileHighGaymer Reviews

Wildstar - Beta as of 4-6-2014
PC - Out June 3rd - Developed by Carbine Studios - Produced by NCSoft

By Jason Anderson and Greg Dinkelman
Edited by Greg Dinkelman


So have you been needing a good MMORPG?

World of Warcraft getting ya down?

Is Guild Wars 2 just not doin it for you?

...and possibly none of your friends want to play Final Fantasy XIIII.

Well maybe it’s time to try something different.

Hello folks and once again welcome to MileHighGaymer where we brings you games you should and shouldn’t be playing. This week we’re bringing you Wildstar, as well as bring in my editor Greg to help review this Wild West Space MMORPG, cause when ya play an MMO you always need more than one perspective.

*Please be aware this is a beta so screenshots and gameplay may change in the final version

Story

Welcome to planet Nexus, land of untamed riches, ancient technology, and resources just waiting to be utilized.  The home of the enigmatic, but extinct race of the Eldan, Nexus is the scene of a new conflict in the universe.

The Dominion and the Exiles have both landed on the planet in the hopes of either conquering it or finding their own little piece of heaven. The two have a bad history together with the Dominion conquering and kicking the Exiles off their worlds so we’re not really going to get one of those Alliance and Horde, buddies kinda of feel anytime soon.

File:Planet Nexus.jpg

Gameplay

The gameplay of Wildstar, at a glance looks very similar to other MMO’s except that it has a spiffy sci-fi skin, but it is so much more than that. While most MMO’s function with the use of turn based combat (Yes WoW use turn based mechanics as well). The Developers wanted to get away from that, and in a lot ways they have. Movement and quests are very similar to other MMO’s and they’re really nothing to write back to Earth about (See I made a funny… Cause we’re playing a space game….. Stop judging me).

What’s really different are the mechanics involving abilities and combat. The game uses a system called telegraphic combat. That sounded overly scientific didn’t it… Don’t worry it’s pretty simple. When you use an ability, you will lay down a telegraph. The Telegraph will show your range and if you enemies or allies are inside the colored zone, the ability will affect them. So if you’re a healer and you lay down a beneficial telegraph that affects your allies, if all your allies are in the telegraph they’ll get the effect. When you’re on the field with a group a whole lot of telegraphs will be flying out and knowing whose telegraph is whose will be a big learning curve, but it’s not that bad.  


The next thing is character creation. This time around you can change the looks of your characters giving you a unique look. Allowing a player to fully customize the face of their character, is a nice touch and gives the term avatar a more personalized meaning.

RacesFrom left to right- Aurin, Cassian, Chua, Draken, Granok, Human, Mechari, Mordesh


In the world of Wildstar, the races are separated into two factions.

First we got the Exiles! The Exiles are a rough and tumble group barely making it in the universe. Each race has had their home worlds conquered and taken over by the Dominion leaving them homeless and searching for the next world they can call home. The group includes the Aurin, Granok, Humans, and Mordesh, each with their own story to tell.

Second we get the Dominion, a group of intergalactic conquerors who hope to take over planet Nexus as the jewel of their galactic empire. The empire is composed of the Cassian, Chua, Mordesh, and Mechari, all four of them working to develop Nexus as their next stronghold.

Greg and I both played as the Exiles on our playthrough, mainly for personal reasons. Here’s our take on our choices.

Greg:  I chose an Aurin because, well, they’re the tree huggers.  Even trees need love.  Don’t judge me.

Jason: I ended up with choosing the Granok for my first character. I really wanted a large lunk head to play as for a tank and with the Granok, it kinda seemed like a win/win in bromance. Of course having my Granok constantly kissing my husband’s male Aurin character is a whoot.


“Hey how you doin?” *wink*

Classes

Wildstar has 6 different classes, with each able to fulfill two roles. These are the Warrior, Esper, Spellslinger, Stalker, Engineer, and Medic.

Now instead of describing each one, Wildstar has provided us with the excellent DevSpeak videos that will give a better description than little ol’ me. Check them out really quickly… We can wait!  http://wildstar-online.com/en/#classes

Greg: I like playing ranged dps and healing.  The first weekend out, I chose the Esper.  Next weekend, I’ll look at the Spellslinger and Medic just to see how things shake out.  All three can move between dps and healing.


Jason: For tank players, there are three classes to choose from, Stalkers, Warriors, and Engineers. Considering that I’ve seen what Rogues… I mean Stalkers and warriors can do in other games, I went with the Engineer. The Engineer class is fun to play considering all the little robots you get to take with you on a trip. You also form a man of many strenghts since this little robots can heal, tank, and dps for you.

Paths

The last thing to choose when building your character will be your path.

Settler - Tame the Land and expand your influence

Scientist - Study the world and Unlock Secrets

Explorer - Brave the Wilderness and Discover the Unknown

Soldier - Slaughter your enemies and Conquer territories

Each path has it’s own unique benefits and skills and can open up a small part of the world for you and your group.

Art


Jason: It’s so PRETTY AND VIBRANT! I’ve been playing a load of different MMO’s as of late to get my fix since I left WoW and Wildstar has so many brilliant colors and sorta carries a unique atmosphere that I can’t just describe.  It’s a little cartoony, but it really works with the emotions that the game gives and that emotion is FUN!

Greg: I’m not an artist… So nothing to see here...

Multiplayer

Wildstar is an MMO so Multiplayer is there. As per usual, you can group up and play together and players of different paths give benefits to each other. There are a few hiccups though when playing together.

Jason: So Multiplayer for me was kinda a let down since we kinda got lost trying to find each other. For some odd reason we couldn’t see each other at first until I had to logout and relogin. After that we could see each other on the field, but keeping track of each other was pretty damn difficult, so we ended up putting symbols over our heads.

Greg:  Multiplayer was frustrating.  There were visibility and phasing problems (we lost each other early on because I was further along a quest path than Jason and when he caught up, the game couldn’t tell we were both in the same place in the quest line and let us see each other again).  In addition, my Settler path required a slower movement pace as I constantly stopped to pick up stuff.  That made it hard for our group to stay together even after the symbols went up on our heads.

Final Verdict

Jason: Other than the hiccup with multiplayer, the game has been a lot of fun. With the combat and designs being a nice change of pace from most of the other MMO’s you see out on the field. Before playing the beta I was pretty interested in trying the game, but after that I finally put in the preorder. I can’t wait to try it out fully in June.

Beta Weekends


  • Friday, April 18th, 7:00AM PDT through Sunday, April 20th, 11:59PM PDT
  • Friday, May 2nd, 7:00AM PDT through Sunday, May 4th, 11:59PM PDT
Still not sure about joining in on Wildstar? Try out one of the last two beta weekends coming up. Pick a race, try a class, and get out there and colonize nexus. Check out the Wildstar forums for more info on getting a beta key!
If you still can’t get beta key that way go ahead and preorder, That’ll get ya a beta key and three days extra playtime.