Here we have a new game coming upon the horizon. Wildstar catches my eye almost immediately for t he tongue-in-check characterization and evil villainy. I swear I watched this cartoon some years ago.
Bundled with the bright colors World of Warcraft was known for will be action-combat, secondary class mechanic choice and <gasp> player housing. I’ll touch on a few of these points, what so we’re sure to be on the same page later when I say “OMG, this is AMAZING..”
Action Combat is new variation in the approach in gaming. Where you can dodge the big red ring of “OH CRAP”, you can sing and dance your way through combat as you wish. Where you’re not arbitrarily locked to one place to finish casting your magick spells. It’s there in Guild Wars 2 and some other games where it shakes up the conventions nicely. The downside in some games is that you -have- to move a lot to avoid getting trounced in combat. It remains to be seen how bad Wildstar will be but in exchange for quality character animation I’ll happily endure the never-ending Dodge’em Up.
Class mechanics are an animal I study in every game I play. It’s almost scientific study with the subtle variations in character development having their own nuances and offshoots. Here in Wildstar you’ll pick a basic class what dictates how you trounce monsters and a profession that dictates what kind of quests and content you’ll encounter. If you go soldier, you’ll see a lot of combat missions and very few exploration, or so I’m reading. An interesting system as they’re tying in armor rewards and abilities to people who delve deep into their profession missions.
All in all an interesting sounding experience. The two great questions arise.. How Much and How Soon?