In the upcoming science fiction MMORPG WildStar, six classes and eight races battle against each other. We take a look at the decisions behind the design of the races.
We have all read the questions a thousand times: “Which class is the strongest? Which race is the best? Which race should I choose if I want to do PvP? What is the best DPS race?” Carbine is taking a different path here and aims not to find answers, but to change the questions.
Before the first line of code is written, fundamental decisions have already been made for game designers. One of the important questions (besides the classes) is about the races. This is closely linked to the aesthetic of the game and the background story. For WildStar, these decisions were made a long time ago. They chose innovative paths. We take a look at the background.
Here are what we believe to be the four biggest issues in race design and how Carbine intends to address them.
The Four Problems of Race Design
Problem 1: The Effectiveness Trap
The first major problem: players are forced to choose a race for effectiveness reasons that they don’t actually want to play. The Tauren in World of Warcraft have slightly more bonus HP than the Orc, so for some players, the tank had to be a Tauren at all costs. Even if the player didn’t like the aesthetics of the character, couldn’t get started with the race, or was simply a convinced Orc fan (an Orc fanatic, as we professionals say).
No matter how small the bonus ultimately became (and it shrank over the years and still shrinks today) – it was always there.
This is also related to the philosophy of raid guilds and ambitious players who want to squeeze out the last decimal percent of performance from their characters. As unreasonable as it often may be: During a close wipe, the question remained whether the last 2% of the boss’s health could have been reduced if the tank had only been a cow with 200 more health points and the healer a Blood Elf with an additional mana regeneration.
Problem 2: The Competition Between the Factions
Another typical problem from World of Warcraft and numerous other games. For years, it has been said: The Horde has the better PvE races, the Alliance the better choice in PvP. Here too, the same argument applies as in Problem 1 – as soon as there is a difference between the races, even if it is tiny, it grows in the minds of the players and is repeatedly brought up in discussions until it becomes larger than expected.
It is said: When a lie goes around the world often enough, it becomes the truth. An interesting phenomenon: If a mosquito appears often enough in forums, it eventually becomes an elephant.
Problem 3: An Unequal Distribution of Players Among Human Races
This is a problem that requires a bit more in-depth consideration. Not every race is equally popular: particularly human races have a special role. Looking at the newly released Guild Wars 2 statistics that reflect race distribution in China, this is clearly visible: Normally, one would assume that with 5 races, each would be played 20% of the time. But that is not the case at all. Humans in Guild Wars 2 account for 53%, while the other 4 races hover around 10-12%.
[quote_box_right]”Fun Fact”: Did you know that in Asia, it is quite normal for certain classes to only be played by one gender? And did you know that the Chua are the only race in WildStar that is gender-neutral?
Now, imagine a game where two or three factions are fighting against each other – and one faction has much more attractive races and can therefore overrun the opponent. This happened many years ago in Dark Age of Camelot. The Albion faction had the most attractive, because the best-known background story with the Arthurian legend, attracting many players with human races.
Interestingly, players who prefer “human” races are often thought to be younger players who want to remain in a role-playing comfort zone. Here, too, the argument often arises that certain factions are practically cursed with specific “peoples,” which then attract incompetent players.
Problem 4: An Unequal Distribution of Player Types
The seemingly aesthetic decision of which race one plays at the start of a new MMORPG is not as random as we would all like to believe. Each of us knows someone who always plays a healer in every game and chooses the most graceful and feminine race for it. Each of us knows the grumpy guy who acts like a macho, always plays tank, and chooses the burliest and most rugged race possible. The third one needs it dark; there must be at least two demons of the third degree in the ancestry and a botched blood pact must appear in the history of a people for it to be an option for him.
If now one faction has completely different race types than the other, it creates an unequal distribution of player types. If the mix is not handled correctly, it could have disastrous consequences. On one side, there could be a complete lack of women or, even worse: the tanks!
The Brawlers
As brawlers or enforcers, both races offer bulky representatives. The Exiles send proud rock beasts into the field, the Granok. On the Dominion side, the Mechari take on the role, calculating battle robots. Both races have a preference for shiny, clanging, and pointy things.
The Subtle Killers with Manga Aesthetic
Fans of fantasy worlds and mangas can find themselves on both sides with the graceful Aurin or the cunning Draken. While the Aurin are an elf-like race that appeals to cosplayers and anime fans with their large eyes and bushy tails, the Draken appeal more to tough types who like Sons of Anarchy and snort at the name “Wolverine,” saying they prefer Lobo). Here, the difference between the two races is greatest and also shows that one can never balance both factions equally if one does not want to forgo too much soul and diversity.
The Aurin will likely attract a significantly different audience than the Draken. As will the overall background story of the Exiles and the Dominion likely attract different players. Especially since in WildStar – unlike almost all other games, except SWTOR – there are clearly good and evil. In beta, there were already frequent calls to play the Dominion as well.
The Exotics: Trend and Cult Races
With the space zombies, the Mordesh, a somewhat sinister race enters for the Exiles. Also, with such a decision, one wants to ensure that the players distribute themselves as evenly as possible. For the Dominion, the Chua appear primarily as cute genetically modified hamsters, blessed with a killer instinct. Already, they are – alongside the Aurin – fan favorites for many beta players, and a small cult has formed around these rodents.
What do you think about races in MMOs? Have you ever played a character because of the stats that you ended up not liking? Do you like the exotics or do you generally only play humans? Do you think Carbine got the mix right? Let us know in the comments!
