Many MMORPG enthusiasts have marked June 3rd in red on their calendars, as the new designated game for hardcore raiders, WildStar, will be released.
Slowly, the game is entering the final phase, and more details are emerging about how exactly WildStar wants to captivate MMO veterans, who once felt at home in World of Warcraft but no longer find themselves there: The team at Carbine is relying on clever and amusing viral marketing, hard facts and surprising design ideas.
Viral Marketing with Cute Comic Characters and at the Risk of Their Own Lives
The videos of WildStar are characterized by quirky humor. In comic graphics, sinister power holders ramble on or a somewhat scattered guerrilla fighter with attention deficit explains the role of the Exiled. In the background, the dangerously cute Chuas lurk for their chance to seize world domination.
Chief developer Stephen Frost is ready to go to great lengths for WildStar. At a video event, he recently downed two super spicy chillies while presenting WildStar – with significantly more swearing than usual.
Refined Mechanics for Sets and Improvements
[pull_quote_right]WildStar: World of Warcraft 2.0[/pull_quote_right]It would be unfair to dismiss WildStar and Carbine as mere joke providers or punks trying to grab attention. Behind the game are damn good ideas.
Some of these were recently presented at a gaming convention in Boston. WildStar has closely examined the problems the main competitor World of Warcraft regularly faces with raids and plans to creatively circumvent them.
The Set Properties Lye on the Runes
In WoW, there are class sets that grant specific bonuses. Players are constantly faced with the choice of keeping a weaker set item to avoid losing the set bonus, even if they would love to trade it for a better non-set item. And what if someone really likes the set bonus, but it’s hopelessly outdated?
In WildStar, the sets won’t be directly on the items, but will be integrated into the armor in the form of runes. Whether an item has a rune slot or not is partly a matter of chance. This increases the variety in gear – there is no longer just “ONE” item at a certain raid progress. Even items crafted by artisans can function as part of a “set”.
Item Progress Through Achievements
Another story that was introduced late in WoW was the so-called achievements. In raids, it often was about defeating a boss in a very specific, actually nonsensical way. Only then would one gain a particular achievement that was otherwise of little value: This led to a wedge between players, debating whether to pursue an achievement or simply secure the boss. Some players became outright achievement-haters, as they saw no progress for their character in the pursuit of achievements.
In WildStar, the best items in the game are further upgraded through so-called “Imbuements”. This means there can be weapons that become even stronger when the player achieves a special accomplishment, such as defeating a boss in a particular way.
It can be massively beneficial for a raid group to jump through hoops and defeat an enemy in unusual ways. Or will the achievements be of an individual nature?
Have you read the special? Raid Bosses: Only Real with 252 Teeth!
Mein-mmo says: The sets as runes? Clever and logical idea, but not exactly sexy.
With the introduction of the “Imbuement” weapons, the team at Carbine has created the opportunity to remain creative and develop exciting accomplishments and events over time.
From a raider’s perspective, these are highly exciting innovations that WildStar is introducing into the MMORPG genre. Let’s hope that the finished game takes all these innovative concepts into account.
Anyone who wants to check out WildStar themselves: The next beta weekend starts over Easter. Pre-order customers have guaranteed access.
