We're not sure what's going on with MMORPG developers at the moment, but it seems as though every studio is falling over themselves declaring that their work, and only their work, will fix this apparently struggling genre. With World of Warcraft still boasting 10 million subscribers, World of Tanks breaking concurrent number of players records and free-to-play games currently being added to Steam every week, we'd say that the MMO genre is in fact pretty healthy, but Carbine Studios disagrees. Wildstar went free to play in late 2015, opening the game up to a much bigger audience.
We recently chatted with the game's Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney and he told us that WildStar will change the way people think about MMORPGs. Do we believe him? Well, he has some pretty radical ideas...
WildStar is the product of a stable of experienced MMORPG-making veterans, having worked on every entry in the genre you can imagine including City of Heroes, World of WarCraft and Tabula Rasa. Simply put, they know their stuff and they're creating WildStar with three very important pillars in mind: an interesting new universe, freeform combat and the ability to progress up the leveling curve in multiple ways.
Wildstar Gameplay 2015
The first one they've got down pat, with the majority of the campaign taking place on the unspoilt paradise planet known as Nexus which was formerly home of the advanced Eldan race, who have mysteriously disappeared from the universe. Two different factions, the Exiles and the Dominion, are poised to fight it out to take over this planet ripe with mysterious weapons and technology, wildlife and fauna and it's up to you which side you join.
So that's faction combat sorted, the next pillar is a bit harder to explain and that's what Carbine likes to call 'Freeform Combat'. Games like TERA have evolved MMORPG combat so that it's no longer about just targeting a creature and firing off every skill in your hot-bar, but WildStar takes that goal further. Now every attack has some range to it, even if you're a axe-swinging Warrior, and hits can register on multiple targets, so it's easy to chain multiple kills at your leisure. Chuck in the ability to dodge, with all monsters boasting their own attack patterns and you have combat which can rival even offline RPGs.
Progression in MMORPGs is usually pretty simple. You have quests to do, be it private or public, and most of the time adventuring actually feels like you're just doing errands for NPCs. WildStar certainly has the traditional 'go here kill X number of Y and return' kind of activities, but to mix this formula up the game regularly dynamically chucks out challenges into your HUD. Say a quest requires you to hunt down some Mammoth-like 'Stonetusk Slayers', after putting a few to rest, a pop-up arrives in your HUD challenging you to kill more before the time limit runs out, and if you achieve it you'll earn more XP and maybe unlock the next challenge. This is a simple mechanic, but one that constantly enables you to deviate from traditional questing. The Path system also helps to mix things up further.
Whenever you create a character you have class and race choices as per usual, but you also have to choose from either Scientist, Settler, Soldier and Explorer paths. This choice not only unlocks more functionality in the world, for instance the Explorer can excavate paths underneath the world whereas the Soldier can access more combat missions, but it also emphasizes social play with two paths working together gaining access to mission and story content which they would otherwise miss. All of these mechanisms are minor on their own, but when put together you have a theme park MMORPG which you can tailor to your own liking, if you don't like an activity don't worry as there are lots of other means to level.
In addition to these pillars, there's also an intriguing PvP mode where competing groups make their own battlegrounds dubbed 'Warplots', with leaderboards associated with every group's construction. Additionally, Carbine has already committed to regular end-game content updates as well, specifically centered around the deceased Eldan race. How will they pull this off? We have absolutely no idea but during a recent hands-on event they did tease us by saying that the end of the campaign is unlike anything seen in sci-fi before.
Yep this Californian developer aren't afraid of blowing their own trumpet, but you know what? We like that. They're excited about the game they're making and they aren't afraid to steep more pressure on themselves by promising all they can. Hell if they deliver on at least half of what they're promising then WildStar will be one hell of a good MMORPG. We look forward to seeing more of WildStar. Like Star Wars: The Old Republic, Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars 2 and countless other games before it, NCSoft embraced the free to play model with Wildstar, making it free to play.
