At WildStar, not only is the transition to Free2Play coming, but also a complete overhaul of character stats to create much more clarity. Read here what players need to prepare for in the coming months.
Abolition of Complicated Names
As previously reported, they want to say goodbye to complicated names. Courage, finesse, and perception helped WildStar have some unique names, but obviously did not achieve the desired success. Many players were confused by the stats, and even veterans of the MMO genre had to extensively inform themselves to understand why courage brings completely different advantages to an esper than to an archhunter. Discussions about loot distribution should now be easier since every player clearly knows which class derives what benefit from the respective stats.
The 6 Primary Stats
Instead of the quirky old names, they have opted for 6 easily understandable stats that should reveal to every player at first glance what is at stake:
- Attack/Support Power directly affects damage dealt and healing and thus determines the strength of player abilities.
- Armor reduces any damage taken.
- Health Points increase the damage value a player can suffer before dying (who would have thought).
- Max Shield Capacity increases the damage value that the player’s shield can absorb.
- PvP Power amplifies all damage dealt and healing in PvP areas.
- PvP Defense reduces all damage taken in PvP areas.
A Total of 24 Secondary Stats
If you now think that WildStar loses depth in character development, you are massively mistaken. Because in addition to the 6 primary attributes, there are a proud 24 secondary stats! Some of them are already in the game and their functionality will not be touched. Others have been slightly modified, and a small group is even completely new.
The Multi-Hit Chance is reminiscent of the same value from World of Warcraft and ensures that attacks and heals are re-cast with a certain chance. The strength of this second attack is determined by the new value Multi-Hit Toughness.
Healers with no focus issues can benefit from Momentum, which increases the effectiveness of heals by a fixed percentage, but this also increases mana costs.
Anyone who wants a detailed look at the new and revised stats should check out the original “More Info” post from Carbine.
No Attack/Support Power from Runes Anymore!
Until now, support and attack power was the optimum; every class has filled up as many rune slots as possible. To present players with new choices, these values are completely removed from the runes. Players will then need to decide on the new values and thus have greater options to shape their character according to their own ideas and adapt to their personal play style. New “Lifesteal” builds could certainly make for interesting PvP matches – or very, very long battles.
A Little Opinion
Overall, the changes seem quite reasonable and are likely to lead to a lot of different characters within the same class – at least in the first weeks. However, it is probably only a matter of time before theorycrafters calculate a mathematical optimum for the new stats, and whether the desired diversity will still be given is another matter.
Another point of criticism is the value “Momentum”, which falls out of line in its function – as it seems to be the only value that also has a negative impact (higher focus costs) on the respective character, and thus appears a bit inconsistent. But here it seems: wait and drink a veggie smoothie.
