WildStar Message Board older than one year ago

The last time I played Wildstar, Carbine’s upcoming MMO, I had a decent time but I was left anxious about how close it stuck to the numbers, numbers, numbers model and why its Explorer path was so much like a late 90s platformer. Now it’s increasingly looking as though they might just have been sitting on the good stuff, like a hen made of veteran MMO developers incubating an egg of semi-sandbox play. Er.

Best forget that analogy. Instead, take a look at this player housing video – while the numbers, numbers, numbers stuff is very much in evidence, so is tantalisingly freeform DIY.(more…)

I like a trailer that’s up-front. What Is Wildstar? it asks, in a self-deprecating fashion. As NCSoft’s latest MMO, from Carbine Studios, prepares to begin its beta, they’re making sure you know. This is a properly good trailer.

(more…)

Recently I played several hours of NCSoft’s next big MMORPG, Wildstar. Developed by an MMO supergroup of sorts, with ex-Blizzard and Mythic folk staffing its highly experienced team, it aims to make this oddly static genre fresh again. WE SHALL SEE.(more…)

NCSoft’s next big MMO, Wildstar, has been quiet for the best part of the year, and this is of course because it’s been on a fantastic voyage to the bottom of the sea, tutoring giant squid, blue whales and starfish in the ways of levelling up and crafting. Either that or they wanted to develop a load more of the game before showing it off again. I went to see and play Carbine Studios’ sci-fi/fantasy mash-up, which aims to be a deconstruction and then new reconstruction of MMORPG tropes, last week, and I’ll have a full report on that for you late next week.

In the meantime, today they’re telling the world about one of their two opposing, tri-race factions, and pledging to get the game out in 2013.(more…)

Carbine’s science fiction Wild West MMO Wildstar certainly has a lot of promise. The colourful, bold art style is lovely for a start, but then when you read up on some of the more esoteric aspects that have been announced for it, there’s some potential for it to be interesting. It’s not stepping out of the quest-based mould, granted, but it seems to have enough character to stand up as something singular in the MMO landscape. The new trailer detailing player-housing – plots of lands that can be turned into floating islands of player-erected buildings and furniture – does nothing to dispel that feeling. Go take a look, below.(more…)

#wildstar Phineas T. Rotostar is one hell of a salesman. It only took him a minute and a half to complete sell me on a floating sky house in the animated sci-fi MMO universe of WildStar. More »

Many moons ago, I got the chance to play WildStar. It was kind of a surreal experience for me. I mean, I wanted to be delighted. There were gorgeous vistas and Han-Solo-esque gunmen and surprisingly dark references to the film Alien and brilliant tweaks to the traditional MMO formula. It was like a diligent student with purple hair and bunny ears for some reason that had trained under WoW – and then surpassed it. But, even with dodge-heavy multi-lane combat, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this cartoony sci-fi-fantasy galaxy far, far away was actually Azeroth’s next door neighbor. Group combat – tank-healer-DPS “holy trinity” and all – does look fairly exciting, though. Let it caress your giant, strangely out-of-character anime eyeballs after the break.

(more…)

Admission: I’d forgotten that Wildstar existed until I watched a new video for the game today. I’m very glad to be reminded though because it looks like that rarest of things, an MMORPG that I might want to play for more than five minutes. The video shows giant monsters, death ray spewing robotfaces acting as an environmental hazard and demonstrates some of the capabilities for each possible ‘path’ players can follow. Read more about that concept in Alec’s interview or go right ahead and watch the video.

(more…)

Back in July, NCSoft and Carbine Studios took the lid off their next big MMO, Wildstar. I know because I was there when they did. The talking point about Wildstar was how it plans to approach the tropes of the genre in a new way – primarily by asking you to pick a Path on top of the usual class and race choices. Are you an Explorer, a Soldier, an Achiever or a Builder? Or a waster who can’t be bothered to make even a simple decision like that? A little while back, I chatted to Carbine Studios bossman (and Turbine co-founder) Jeremy Gaffney about the path they’d chosen for the game, how it is (and isn’t) based around the theories of grandfather-of-MMOs Richard Bartle, what Exploring entails here, why they have a bunny-eared character, the problem of preconceptions about MMOs and secret slides.(more…)

If I were to ask you how you like to play your MMORPGs, you'd probably describe a perplexing predeliction for one of the genre's cookie-cutter classes: "Oh, I'm a Mage-guy, definitely." Though NCSoft and Turbine's recently announced MMO Wildstar will allow you to fill that (or any other) professional archetype, they're taking a broader look at that question, not asking what type of character you prefer to be in-game but what type of player you prefer to be.

The PAX Prime demo of Wildstar showed off some interesting innovations on the MMO formula, like fast-paced combat and an active dodge system that rewards you with bonus XP for your deft avoidance. The most promising aspect of the game, however, is that very core tenet: Wildstar rewards you for playing the game how you choose to play it.

#wildstar One of the quiet hits of Gamescom so far has been Wildstar, a freshly-unveiled MMO from NCsoft. While it won't be of much interest to anyone outside the world of MMOs, it does have a great art style, and its blending of fantasy and sci-fi design (along with BRIGHT COLOURS EVERYWHERE) making it very easy on the eye. More »

Earlier in the week we revealed that NCSoft will be publishing Carbine’s space MMO, Wildstar, and Alec delivered his impressions on that. Now eight minutes of footage has appeared (below), and holy crap there is a lot in that eight minutes: the player-character starting out getting revived by an NPC, exploring a valley and dodging avalanches, setting up and using bits of equipment, fighting some kind of space yeti, and appearance and destruction of some awesome spacecraft thing. The visual references are clear, and it’s certainly an MMO in the classic sense, but with some surprises. It does look like it might be entertaining.(more…)

#wildstar It's not the stunning CGI movie quality trailer for NCsoft and Carbine's WildStar that has my heart beating so hard. Nor is it these forty-four screenshots, covering the races, combat, and environments of this gorgeous space born adventure. It's not even the bunny girls (though they certainly help). So what is it? More »

NCsoft's long in development MMO by Carbine Studios has finally been revealed: WildStar. Being shown for the first time during Gamescom, the cartoony yet stylish MMO features grand vistas and tight spaces with humorous moments. We get a total Firefly vibe, with that type of grand adventure meets Whedon humor.

The game is currently pre-alpha with no release announcement available. If NCsoft keeps with current tradition, it won't announce a date until "it's ready." However, the game is playable on the Gamescom show floor. More details to follow.

At the top of your screen in WildStar sits a momentum meter. It builds when you evade or interrupt enemy attacks, and offers experience bonuses to those capable of stacking these up by nimbly maneuvering around the battlefield. It's a system where a higher degree of skill results in reward. Once you get the hang of it, the battles can be really enjoyable...