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First Impressions: Wildstar Beta
11 years ago
General
So, this weekend I picked up a beta key for the new MMO from NCSoft, Wildstar... and so far I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
For those of you who don't know Wildstar is a Science-Fiction MMO with a very cartoonish feel to it. You can play as an Exile, a spacefairing rebel who's trying to find a world to call their own, or as one of the Dominion, imperialists who want to bring the Exiles to heel (or extinction).
Here's my impression thus far:
Racial Variety
One Thing I've noticed about cartoonish MMOs over the more realistic ones is that they get a LOT more creative freedom when it comes to this. Rift, for example, is a good game... but it's lacking in what you can play as. In this one there's two varieties of humans, one for each side, but the other races are TOTALLY different from each other.
On the Exile side you get:
- Granok, a race of rock-skinned humanoids who specialize as warriors, guns for hire, and are the self proclaimed 'hardest drinkers in the known galaxy'. These guys tower over their allies and are ferocious in battle, the warrior-heroes of the Exiles.
- Aurin, a race of humanoid animals (yes one of these is my main) that are deeply spiritual and known for communing with nature (and using it). They're smaller than their allies (and cuter, seriously, this is my main: http://i.imgur.com/QSxCyeX.png and that's a MALE Aurin!) but they more than make up for this in their speed, skill with magic, and cunning.
- Mordesh. Two words: Space zombies. The Mordesh were at the forefront of scientific advancement in the empire until one of their latest creations, an elixir that was supposed to grant eternal life, went horribly wrong and infected their entire race with a disease simply referred to as 'the contagion'. They managed to find a way to preserve their minds while their bodies withered, and thankfully non-mordesh are immune to the contagion, but now they seek a cure to undo the damage that science has done to them.
The dominion have...
- Mechari, robots created by a long lost race known as the Eldin. Cold, cunning, calculating, and totally remorseless. They act as the empire's enforcers, weeding out dissent and 'dealing with' those who would rebel.
- Drakken, horned aliens with a thirst for blood and combat, they form the frontline fighters of the empire. Full of rage and anger, they charge into combat headlong, looking to prove themselves against their foes or die a warriors death.
- Chua, adorable little rodent-like humanoids... but don't let their looks fool you! These master engineers are one hundred percent batshit insane and love nothing more than testing out their newest toy at point blank range on an exile's face (or groin, they're a bit short y'see...).
So yeah. There is a lot of variety just with those four classes right now. I'm looking forward to any that might come in future expansions.
Class Selection
There are currently six classes in the game, and naturally some races can only be certain classes (except for humans, we're flexible apparently). The classes are as follows:
- Warrior. We all know how this goes. Big bruisers with big weapons. Warriors can take a beating and dish it right back out at an enemy. Slower than some classes but a hell of a lot tougher, they fight using gigantic two-handed weapons and sheer muscle.
- Spellslinger. This one is an interesting twist. Dual wielding pistols mixed with arcane magicks give spellslingers one hell of an edge in combat. They can unload a clip into a foe, teleport through said foe to knock them silly, then finish them off with a quick burst to the back of their head.
- Esper. Think shadow priests in WoW and you won't be too far off. Espers take the phrase 'fight with your head' to the most literal sense, whether using visions of victory to push their allies onwards or tearing their enemy's psyche to shreds with waking nightmares. Enemies will die without a single mark on their bodies as their hearts stop when their innermost terrors are released.
- Engineer. Buildin' a sentry! The engies can call in a swarm of bots for backup and unload into an enemy with a gigantic rifle, launching high tech attacks into enemy lines and blowing entire armies to bits with high powered grenade launchers, then fry what's left with a plasma rifle.
- Stalker. Now you see 'em, now you don't, now you see 'em holding your kidneys. Stalkers are fast, deadly, and silent. Masters of stealth and welding twin-bladed claws, these are the assassins of the Wildstar world.
- Medic. Healers of course, but also surprisingly good at offense. After all with their medical knowledge they know exactly where to hit to make it HURT. German accent optional.
Path
Something new with this one. Chosen at character creation, your path will give you access to unique missions, parts of the map, hidden items, and even abilities for your character! There's four to choose from, as follows:
- Explorer: Brave the wildnerness and the unknown! The explorers are those who find the hidden treasure, climb the highest peaks, and explore the long lost ruins. Explorers can uncover hidden paths for their allies to use, set up distress beacons for their faction to get help, and discover rare and powerful alien artifacts.
- Solider. Fall in men, its time to wage war! The soldiers take on assassination contracts for high profile targets, go in to rescue hostages, and more. Solders get access to Holdout missions, where you have to guard treasures from thieves, lay siege to enemy strongholds, and more.
- Settler. This city won't build itself after all, thats where you come in. Salvaging useful items, setting up market stalls, and hiring NPCs that friendly players can use to get buffs, the settler is a valuable player for their entire faction!
- Scientist. Its a glorious day for science! Scan artifacts to discover their purpose, research flora and fauna of alien worlds, hack computers to access hidden areas, and more! The scientist's goal is discovery and the pursuit of knowledge, and lucky you... the universe is very big and quite full of new knowledge.
Combat
A mix of standard MMO combat and action based gameplay. Press hotkeys to use attacks while aiming and running around enemies as needed. Simple enough, but exciting enough to keep me going for a long while indeed.
Graphics and visuals
Damned stunning... though be warned, I've got a good gaming PC and I had to dial down the settings to get it to play. Even on the lower settings though this is comparable to stuff from the PS3 and Xbox 360 so don't worry about eye-hurt here.
The art style is very colorful and cartoonish... and rather reminiscent of games like Jak & Daxter, Rachet & Clank, and so on... wouldn't be surprised if someone from those had a hand in the art design. Either way, I like it. Realistic graphics are overrated.
Beta Issues
Looks like, for the most part, this game is gonna be good to go come launch. I've only run into a few minor issues like having tooltips not go away when you tell them to and they're irritating more than anything. A quick log-out-log-in fixes them anyways.
So yeah, overall I'm interested and I'm definitely going to grab this one once I get the money to do so.
For those of you who don't know Wildstar is a Science-Fiction MMO with a very cartoonish feel to it. You can play as an Exile, a spacefairing rebel who's trying to find a world to call their own, or as one of the Dominion, imperialists who want to bring the Exiles to heel (or extinction).
Here's my impression thus far:
Racial Variety
One Thing I've noticed about cartoonish MMOs over the more realistic ones is that they get a LOT more creative freedom when it comes to this. Rift, for example, is a good game... but it's lacking in what you can play as. In this one there's two varieties of humans, one for each side, but the other races are TOTALLY different from each other.
On the Exile side you get:
- Granok, a race of rock-skinned humanoids who specialize as warriors, guns for hire, and are the self proclaimed 'hardest drinkers in the known galaxy'. These guys tower over their allies and are ferocious in battle, the warrior-heroes of the Exiles.
- Aurin, a race of humanoid animals (yes one of these is my main) that are deeply spiritual and known for communing with nature (and using it). They're smaller than their allies (and cuter, seriously, this is my main: http://i.imgur.com/QSxCyeX.png and that's a MALE Aurin!) but they more than make up for this in their speed, skill with magic, and cunning.
- Mordesh. Two words: Space zombies. The Mordesh were at the forefront of scientific advancement in the empire until one of their latest creations, an elixir that was supposed to grant eternal life, went horribly wrong and infected their entire race with a disease simply referred to as 'the contagion'. They managed to find a way to preserve their minds while their bodies withered, and thankfully non-mordesh are immune to the contagion, but now they seek a cure to undo the damage that science has done to them.
The dominion have...
- Mechari, robots created by a long lost race known as the Eldin. Cold, cunning, calculating, and totally remorseless. They act as the empire's enforcers, weeding out dissent and 'dealing with' those who would rebel.
- Drakken, horned aliens with a thirst for blood and combat, they form the frontline fighters of the empire. Full of rage and anger, they charge into combat headlong, looking to prove themselves against their foes or die a warriors death.
- Chua, adorable little rodent-like humanoids... but don't let their looks fool you! These master engineers are one hundred percent batshit insane and love nothing more than testing out their newest toy at point blank range on an exile's face (or groin, they're a bit short y'see...).
So yeah. There is a lot of variety just with those four classes right now. I'm looking forward to any that might come in future expansions.
Class Selection
There are currently six classes in the game, and naturally some races can only be certain classes (except for humans, we're flexible apparently). The classes are as follows:
- Warrior. We all know how this goes. Big bruisers with big weapons. Warriors can take a beating and dish it right back out at an enemy. Slower than some classes but a hell of a lot tougher, they fight using gigantic two-handed weapons and sheer muscle.
- Spellslinger. This one is an interesting twist. Dual wielding pistols mixed with arcane magicks give spellslingers one hell of an edge in combat. They can unload a clip into a foe, teleport through said foe to knock them silly, then finish them off with a quick burst to the back of their head.
- Esper. Think shadow priests in WoW and you won't be too far off. Espers take the phrase 'fight with your head' to the most literal sense, whether using visions of victory to push their allies onwards or tearing their enemy's psyche to shreds with waking nightmares. Enemies will die without a single mark on their bodies as their hearts stop when their innermost terrors are released.
- Engineer. Buildin' a sentry! The engies can call in a swarm of bots for backup and unload into an enemy with a gigantic rifle, launching high tech attacks into enemy lines and blowing entire armies to bits with high powered grenade launchers, then fry what's left with a plasma rifle.
- Stalker. Now you see 'em, now you don't, now you see 'em holding your kidneys. Stalkers are fast, deadly, and silent. Masters of stealth and welding twin-bladed claws, these are the assassins of the Wildstar world.
- Medic. Healers of course, but also surprisingly good at offense. After all with their medical knowledge they know exactly where to hit to make it HURT. German accent optional.
Path
Something new with this one. Chosen at character creation, your path will give you access to unique missions, parts of the map, hidden items, and even abilities for your character! There's four to choose from, as follows:
- Explorer: Brave the wildnerness and the unknown! The explorers are those who find the hidden treasure, climb the highest peaks, and explore the long lost ruins. Explorers can uncover hidden paths for their allies to use, set up distress beacons for their faction to get help, and discover rare and powerful alien artifacts.
- Solider. Fall in men, its time to wage war! The soldiers take on assassination contracts for high profile targets, go in to rescue hostages, and more. Solders get access to Holdout missions, where you have to guard treasures from thieves, lay siege to enemy strongholds, and more.
- Settler. This city won't build itself after all, thats where you come in. Salvaging useful items, setting up market stalls, and hiring NPCs that friendly players can use to get buffs, the settler is a valuable player for their entire faction!
- Scientist. Its a glorious day for science! Scan artifacts to discover their purpose, research flora and fauna of alien worlds, hack computers to access hidden areas, and more! The scientist's goal is discovery and the pursuit of knowledge, and lucky you... the universe is very big and quite full of new knowledge.
Combat
A mix of standard MMO combat and action based gameplay. Press hotkeys to use attacks while aiming and running around enemies as needed. Simple enough, but exciting enough to keep me going for a long while indeed.
Graphics and visuals
Damned stunning... though be warned, I've got a good gaming PC and I had to dial down the settings to get it to play. Even on the lower settings though this is comparable to stuff from the PS3 and Xbox 360 so don't worry about eye-hurt here.
The art style is very colorful and cartoonish... and rather reminiscent of games like Jak & Daxter, Rachet & Clank, and so on... wouldn't be surprised if someone from those had a hand in the art design. Either way, I like it. Realistic graphics are overrated.
Beta Issues
Looks like, for the most part, this game is gonna be good to go come launch. I've only run into a few minor issues like having tooltips not go away when you tell them to and they're irritating more than anything. A quick log-out-log-in fixes them anyways.
So yeah, overall I'm interested and I'm definitely going to grab this one once I get the money to do so.
LunarNio
~lunarnio
I've been in the beta for months. Never played cause its too pretty for my pc.
gamerlen
~gamerlen
OP
If it helps, I have to crank the graphics settings all the way down.
