Well, my first WildStar “Beta” weekend behind me! I don’t do reviews but I love chatting about games so I am going to do a pretty simple format and some random thoughts below. What did I learn? Let’s run some rankings/meters! These meters are not in any specific order or weighting.
- Slick Rick Meter – 9.5/10. The game runs smooth. Animations are good and responsive. Barely any noticeable lag – which will make or kill this game with the telegraphs. Things have to run right.
- Zoolander Meter – “Its hard to be ridiculously good looking” – 15/10. Everyone has the ideal body – the rock lobsters, space zombies, Alvin and the chipmunks – everyone except the psycho chincillas. They took badonkadonk to a whole new level (and there is no way to de-badonkadonk your character – the only thing you can change is facial features and colors. Your lady-characters are going to shake what your momma made you no matter what. Male characters are always pointing towards the beach.
- Magazine Meter (subscription) – 3/10. There is nothing new here that would warrant paying a subscription in a sea of non-subscription games. The Secret World, Guildwars 2, etc. etc. etc. I am a bit puzzled here for all the good in the game what the motivation is. Does a dev team finally think having less people paying more monthly is a good model (which it is – if you don’t want millions of players for marketing fodder). Do the devs believe that the subscription will make the community stronger by keeping out tourists? Do the accountants realize that you still make more money getting 6 months of that sweet, sweet sub nectar before going F2P? We’ll learn all this (and more) – I am really quite interested in seeing how it plays out. Has NcSoft ever shipped a successful subscription title?
- Cheers Meter (where everybody knows your name) 5/10. No community builders here, with cross realm LFGs for PVP and Dungeons in at launch. They do have the option to only group you with your server (for a longer queue time) so will be neat to see if that is ever used. They do have group quests when levelling so you see the familiar (LF1M – Sloppy Jehosa) which is a nice touch. We’ll see how long that lasts before starter areas empty and quests can’t get completed. (For the record, I like quests that require people to talk. Even just for 20 seconds.)
- Dennis Rodman Meter (unique classes)Â 6/10. One weapon for classes. That’s it! If you are an Engineer you get a rifle. Forever. That’s it. Spellslinger? Two pistols. That’s it. And everyone your level will have the exact same ones. I didn’t really notice this (through the first 10 levels of all the classes…) but I am curious if that EVER gets old. They do look different. (different sizes of rifles, colors, etc.) Six different classes feels light, but may be a good play. The good news is (next bullet point). Even worse is I saw the end game raid sets (you tube it) and they all look like Macross Saga. Mechs!
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Meter (depth) – 9/10. There is a LOT going under the hood. At first, I felt that the game was actually perfect for consoles. As you level and grow you see AMPs, abilities, and ability points – there is huge customization options (again, UNDER the hood). Everyone will be looking like they are driving a Tesla (after Accessorize your Tesla perfectly) – but how it drives is entirely up to you (left hand side of the road, hovercraft, 6 wheels, you name it.)
- Bartle Meter 8/10. They actually have you choose a secondary levelling path (Settler, Explorer, Soldier, Scientist) and I really enjoyed each of them (except the scientist. Scanning isn’t my thing). It adds a bit of flavor and side missions, with some perks!
- Ritalin Meter (ADD) 12/10. Wildstar should come with at least one bottle. There is so much going on, so quickly, all around you – challenges popping up, secrets, excitement – danger – its a lot and mentally exhausting. This game is perfect to keep the attention of the Millenials, that is for sure. Screw strategy and tactics, strafe, disco, strafe, rave, circle strafe. Even when you don’t have to. Jumping should just be automatically on all the time. If you get lost, just click on the quest for arrows and distance. Who needs addons? (or quest text, for that matter).
There you go. Total random-not-important IHASPC score? 67.5/80 or 85%. a solid B- in terms of grade school. This is not a recommendation to buy (or not buy). I am not even certain if I am going to buy. I am interested in another beta weekend for sure. Good news is, the weekend with WildStar will spawn a few other posts this week as well.
Did you play? What do you think?