These 10 things I like about WildStar (or not)

The SF-MMO WildStar has been out for a while and has been generally well received, and in our review, WildStar performed excellently. Today, it’s not about the big picture, but rather the smaller aspects that may not be as important in a review, which may surface later or apply differently for everyone.

Many gags in the audio track, but eye pain due to FPS issues

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I’m usually an audio grouch; I normally mute the game and have Teamspeak or the TV on. To my surprise: Not with WildStar. The gags hidden in the audio track are a highlight for me. Whether I recognize a “The Sims” melody when I visit the housing vendor or the Protostar money bag greets me with an “Ahoy-hoi” like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, the game excels here. The announcer saying “I don’t know what happened, but I have to change my pants” is great; there are gags hidden that I’m sure I’ll find or overlook even months later.

My favorite is the hyperactive Chua Mondo Zax. I can’t help but grin when he huffs and puffs insults. They’ve done a great job with that, just like the countless winks to pop culture references. Well done.

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The FPS. I don’t suffer from memory leaks or faulty processors like others, but for me, the game could run a bit smoother. I experience very few hiccups, only when facing certain mobs (an AE ability of the snails always kills my game for 2 seconds). But now and then the FPS drops significantly, and I get headaches from it. From 60 FPS, I’m far off with medium settings; 30 has to suffice for me. The game doesn’t look so great that I’d find that acceptable. I’m also not fond of the hardcore fans’ solution (“Just buy a new PC”); other games still run well for me – maybe I just need one of those yellow gamer glasses like the sponsored guys on Twitch.

Start a bit sluggish, inventory problems, but a new favorite zone

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The start is sluggish and doesn’t get better with repeated play. I don’t know why that is, whether the zones are too large or scattered too much, but I had a motivational pit as in beta around level 12 and then again from 17 until the end of 20. You get skills early, but there are still few opportunities to customize your character. The zones drag on, without a mount the travel times are long, and the inventory is always on the verge of bursting. I don’t like it.

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The zone Farside is a revelation from level 20 onwards. A fantastic zone that I loved during beta and is even better at launch. The smaller zones and the straightforward storylines benefit the game. The lower gravity brings variety, and the new Drusera missions at launch are fantastic. They give the game a certain heft, a gravitas. I absolutely want to know how it continues, and I’m looking forward to the next content. From level 20 onwards, the game and thus the world opens up, there is much to do, I am more mobile, housing works, the zones are great: From level 20 with Farside, WildStar begins for me.

Combat system varied, AddOns too strong

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A clear plus for me: the combat system. Entire novels have already been written about it, yes it is clicky, but it’s fun if the class suits you. They play quite differently. The assassin was too clicky for me in beta; I prefer the tech pioneer. The nice thing about the combat system: You get a feeling for your own power and frailty. And I find the two A’s of the combat system refreshing: dodging and noticing. When you then play another MMO, it feels like slow motion. Bonus points for the “Confused” and “Blindness” status effects and, of course, when you frantically look for where the weapon lies after being “disarmed”.

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The overly strong AddOns are a problem I create for myself. There are color puzzles in WildStar that are sometimes frustrating and personally annoy me on my 8th run (especially the Puzzle Master quest, where I sit in front of the monitor like RainMan murmuring green-green-blue-yellow). But that would be neither a weakness nor a strength for me. Everyone has to deal with it. And if a Draken next to me jumps off the ledge due to the wrong color code and I get the next console all to myself, that’s fair. However, there is one AddOn that solves all the color puzzles for me automatically. So the AddOn Draken next to me is eight times faster than me. That’s why I use that AddOn (and I’m not proud of it). If you allow those AddOns, why not give the option in-game to skip these color puzzles?

There’s also an AddOn that allows for quicker clicking, enabling you to roll out of stuns and such. I don’t like overly strong AddOns that entice you to use them if you want to keep up.

Already got two free months out, but hell is somehow other people

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The trading system is fantastic. That’s also my passion in MMOs. Before I was even level 50, I had already bought 2 C.R.E.D.D.s in-game. The crafting is great. Currently, everything is complex and opaque, and there is an unbelievable amount to buy and create; you really have to dive deep into it, and it will still take some time to really say whether Carbine did everything right. At the moment, it looks that way. The C.R.E.D.D. price has already doubled on my server – and for those worried that there are too few gold sinks in the game: expert riding costs 76 platinum or so.

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In WildStar, you sometimes view fellow players as opponents. It’s not always like that, and for group bosses in open zones, you’re glad to meet someone, but especially when it comes to challenges or picking up items, you get annoyed with every player who snatches something from you. I thought with the changes in WoW’s Mists of Pandaria or through Guild Wars 2 the problem would be solved forever, but it’s back – and I don’t like it. Especially since many challenges, if you want to achieve gold, are tight, it leads to frustration. It doesn’t bother me much, but I know people who have quit for that reason: For completionists who want every AV and to complete every challenge for gold before moving on, WildStar is probably a nightmare.

Good community, solo PvE in endgame is still lacking

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At level 50, I’m currently a bit stuck as a solo player. I’ve gone through the solo island, where the dailies are, a few times now, but I still need a few gems for the attunement key. There’s a pretty boring crafter daily that consists of a silly delivery quest. I know I probably need to start going into groups at level 50 to tackle adventures or dungeons (in veteran ranks if I want to progress), but the threshold feels a bit too high for me right now. I’m currently waiting for new zones to come or for me to overcome my fear and finally start some PvP or group PvE; otherwise, it’s just twinking or a dead end.

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A clear plus for me so far: The community. No cursing, no spamming in chat, little dumb chatter, no silly pick-up lines. People are polite to each other, as far as I can tell, generally a nice community. It could also be due to the carebear server I’m on (PvE), but compared to other MMOs, it feels like a vacation.

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A highlight for me so far: In the housing zone, someone invited me to visit him. When I arrived, I was really blown away by what he had done with the housing tool. Overall, housing is a really great thing. When you beam over to friends to check out how they did it. I’m neither talented nor particularly diligent and end up hearing comments about some eye being supposedly crooked or some mysterious “oven” somehow “hanging in the wall,” but whatever. I like the idea of the house as a “hearthstone”; I port there when I need to be afk for 10 minutes and can then jump back in right away. I log in there, I log out there, great thing.

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My biggest problem so far, though I’m sure the problem is in front of the screen: Please, please, Carbine, let me protect items. I don’t know how often I’ve broken a decoration item in a salvage frenzy. I will never know how my house could look without all these clicking casualties. And those quest rewards that you select under stress in the field and then choose the wrong one… okay, it happens less often now, but I still manage once a day to click on something and miss the item selection. Please make the game fool-proof in these areas. Protect my items from me; they’re just objects like you and me!

In conclusion: The game is already, in my opinion, very strong and has a lot of potential. All the systems they have work and are designed to allow for further expansion. I’m curious to see what will happen in the next few weeks, what will be added to the four-layer cake that WildStar already is.  [intense_icon type=”thumbs-up” size=”2″ color=”#7cbc14″ /]

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