How do you make a combat sandwich? For Carbine, you start off with some freshly baked Movement bread, add a couple of slices of Aiming meat and some delicious Crowd Control cheese. But a signature dish isn’t complete without special sauce, and in WildStar that’s Ability Mechanics.
Although it’s still an MMO sandwich, it’s vital that it tastes different to a Warcraft, or Rift one. The simple reason comes down to what makes games fun to play from a purely mechanical point of view.
If you think that dungeons and raids are the only instances you’ll find in WildStar, prepare to be corrected. A few weeks ago, WildStar content designer and zone lead Kristen “Caydiem” DeMeza posted on the WildStar Central forums about a previously unknown form of content. Described as quick experiences for 1 to 5 players, ‘Shiphand Missions’ take you off-planet and somewhere else entirely.
Today’s WildStar Wednesday brings a cargo hold full of info about Shiphand Missions, with DeMeza going into much more detail about how the concept came about. Starting off with how “terrible things happen aboard spaceships,” the post conjures up images from all of those sci-fi movies and TV shows that make an essential part of our pop culture diet.
It’s been a while in coming, but the news is finally out: WildStar is going with a hybrid subscription model. We’ll pay once for the box (with a free month thrown in), then pay every month for continued access to the game.
The hybrid part comes in through Certificates of Research, Exploration, Destruction and Development, or CREDD. There’s a neat little guide to how this works over on the WildStar official site, but essentially it’s very similar to the PLEX system in EVE Online. Players can buy a CREDD from Carbine for cash, and then sell it in-game on the Commodities Exchange for in-game gold.
WildStar already holds my attention as an upcoming MMO. But in among the regular feature updates and videos, there’s a special reason why I’m watching it closely.
It’s the first time in a very long time that I’ve watched a roleplaying community form, share ideas and develop their own character concepts.
The last time was about seven or eight years ago, as some friends and I started planning our characters for World of Warcraft. Of course, back then we didn’t have the benefit of preexisting communities or comprehensive wikis. All we had were some rough ideas sketched out in emails, or discussions over a pint in the local pub.
I mention it now, because WildStar invokes the same feeling. There isn’t a monstrous tome of lore to base characters from. There isn’t a sprawling franchise of games to give us heavy guidance about the world we’re planning on diving into. All we have are a series of edges and outlines on which to put our own imprint.
And that’s incredibly liberating.
In the main, WildStar’s development is going smoothly. Led by a team of veterans who have worked on almost every MMO released, the Orange County developer hasn’t put a foot wrong. Every decision they’ve made has been warmly welcomed by an incredibly positive community.
Except there’s one decision they’re not sure about: Flying Mounts.
As Jeremy Gaffney explained to me earlier this week, the decision seemed like a no-brainer when they built the world four years ago. Now they’ve had a chance to think about it and gather feedback from the community, there doesn’t seem to be a clear way ahead. Some desperately want flying mounts, while others are dead against them.
But why? And is there a solution that can satisfy both camps?
What a year it’s been! There’s been a couple of major launches with both RIFT and Star Wars: The Old Republic attracting a lot of attention and enjoying success. There’s been a whole series of subscription MMOs switching to a free-to-play model and doing really well with it. And regrettably there’s also been a few shutdowns, with both Lego Universe and Star Wars: Galaxies switching off their servers.
I’m told that it’s traditional to spend today reflecting on the year just gone and make resolutions and predictions for the future. I’m not going to bore you with my own version of the Year In Review – there’s some great month-by month roundups over at MMO Melting Pot. I’ve donned my Soothsaying Hat though (it’s very impressive) to bring some forecasts for the future, though I’m not confident they’ll all hit in 2012.
The last year has been a little strange for me. I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for nearly seven years now and I keep on expecting for a game to replace it. So far none have provided more than a few week’s diversion, but now that I find myself playing Warcraft only to raid I think the switch can’t be far off. I’m currently playing both SWTOR and Warcraft, with the former grabbing the most of my gaming hours. I’m not sure how this will evolve in 2012, but I’m expecting one of them to lose out to Guild Wars 2.
One of the parts of MMO content that I often overlook are in-game events. These small pockets of in-game happenings can last anything from a couple of hours to a few weeks, providing players with an alternative to other activities.
Whether they’re the seasonal events that are loosely tied to real-world ones, dynamic events as made popular by Rift, GM-led events in the style made popular by Star Wars Galaxies or just player-led roleplay events, there’s no doubt that they help to break from the encroaching monotony of daily quests and reputation grinding.
They’re also a huge magnet for griefing. The time-bound duration of the events coupled with a specific set of objectives or (especially in the case of player led events) a lack of GM oversight, means that disruptive players have little risk when being a nuisance. This presents a dilemma – how do you run and encourage regular events without giving griefers a free pass to be problematic?
Carbine Studios recently launched a series of discussions as part of their way of encouraging potential players to help shape the game. Known as Wildstar Community Update, these discussions are set to take place on either Facebook or Twitter, and focus around a particular topic.
The first in the series focused on what in-game events players would like to see, with all four main event types came up along with a few interesting variations on GM-led events. You can have a look at most of the messages by searching for the #WSUplink hashtag. As part of the discussion, Troy “Aether” Hewitt from Carbine’s Community Relations team asked me a question:
I have this dream of putting anti-griefing tools into the hands of players. What tools would you like to see?
At the time I said I’d need to think about it, and that I’d get back to him. After some careful thought I don’t think I have all the answers, but I think I at least have a direction to head in with some basic pronciples. Have a read through and see what you think, and feel free to add your own suggestions at the end.
In almost every MMO that I’ve played there have been three classic roles to choose from. A tank is the one who soaks the damage for a party, a healer keeps the party standing and the DPS are there to deal damage.
I like dealing damage. I don’t know if I have a thing for big yellow numbers flashing up on my screen or if it’s just some latent button-mashing left over from my childhood. It even moves into first-person shooters – in Team Fortress I’m playing either the Soldier that only has eyes for the rocket launcher or the Sniper that will camp somewhere for hours to get that perfect headshot. It’s why I’ve also set up DamageBin, a forum dedicated to those who love dealing damage in MMOs
It’s not that I haven’t tried tanking or healing. I’ve tried both. I’ve even tried melee DPS. I just don’t get on with them. I don’t find it particularly hard or difficult, I just don’t enjoy the role. Call me strange but they just don’t click for me.
NCSoft are currently working on two MMOs. We’ve known about Guild Wars 2 for a while but the big reveal was Wildstar, a game that most of us had never heard of until the start of Gamescom. The games couldn’t be more different – take a look at the trailers below.
Both games appeal to me in different ways. The rich detail of the environments in Guild Wars 2 makes me want to explore every nook and cranny of the game world. The attitude and soul shown in Wildstar just makes me think that it’s going to be huge fun to be a part of. Guild Wars 2 is due out sometime in 2012, while Wildstar should be with us in 2013.
I’m also left wondering what NCSoft’s strategy is. Are they saying that there’s a place for both MMOs – with players drawn to either the psuedo-realism of Guild Wars 2 or the cartoony style of Wildstar? Do some people go for high fantasy while others prefer sci-fi?
Or are they trying to start influencing the MMO player’s “flight plan”? Are we seeing the start of a shift from being loyal to a game for years to swapping to a new MMO every 6 months or so? Are developers hoping for us to become MMO nomads where we all periodically shift from one title to another?
At the moment I’m not sure. All I know is that in a post-Warcraft world there doesn’t seem to be much Blizzard. Titan remains a mirage on the horizon.