WildStar Beta Preview

The folks at RPGFan have taken the WildStar beta for a spin and came away with some impressions on Carbine’s upcoming (now dated) sci-fi/fantasy MMO. Here’s a sampling:

The Combat. Combat can kill or save an MMORPG. It’s one of the best tools to make players keep their subscriptions alive. Terrible combat will undoubtedly ruin a traditional RPG, so when it comes to creating a game that’s goal is keep players locked in for 100+ hours (at minimum) it’s an absolute necessity to make it as thrilling and fun-filled as possible. One my biggest gripes and a constant irritation within the MMO genre is that a majority of the games available subject you to combat that can be played almost entirely stationary. You simply point and click while hoping you deal more damage than the other guy. WildStar has already seemingly succeeded in trying to eradicate that concept. By introducing a telegraphed combat system in which most abilities’ areas of effect are marked in red on the ground, WildStar forces players to keep mobile for the entirety of each encounter. It’s simple if you want to live you have to dodge. I found myself not getting bored with combat at all throughout my time spent on Nexus. WildStar doesn’t allow any room for being lackadaisical if you want to win, which is certainly one of the highlights of my experience thus far. All of these features add an excellent dynamic to PvP, in which there has always been a pang of “x class is better than y class.” Combat success boils down to skill, which can be (in most situations) more important than gear and class, something the majority of MMOs lack in this day and age. PvP is always one of my favorite features of an MMO, and it’s obvious that this was a focus during development.