Whether we mean to or not, anyone with previous experience playing MMOs will come into a new game projecting a number of expectations. If a new game features combat, we expect that system will meet a certain bar based on similar games. We expect that our super heroes can fly or run at super speeds, our melee combatants to be able to cross great distances at the blink of an eye to prevent kiting, and our spell casters to be able to sling magic around as if fired from a semi-automatic rifle with little to no downtime.

There has been a cultural shift in video games towards an attitude of entitlement, with fewer gamers willing to accept and enjoy a new game on its own terms. We have also reached a point where, the more money is involved in a project’s development, the higher our expectations become. The combination of these two points quickly becomes a recipe for disaster.

One could argue that we also live in an era when more video games are being produced than ever before. As the list of options continues to expand, the easier it becomes to write new games off for entirely superficial reasons. Weapon swaps feel too sluggish, a playable class doesn’t produce consistently high DPS, or unlocks are handled as paid DLC versus free updates. These are all minor quibbles at the end of the day, but are commonly cited by gamers as reasons why not to play a given title.

Here is a more direct pop culture point of reference.

I don’t play Angry Birds because it teaches children the wrong lesson when you combine the franchise name with the resulting gameplay. It teaches you that mass destruction and genocide are perfectly acceptable instead of proper anger management.

By extension, you could also assume it has helped whitewash the aftermath of North America falsely accusing Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction for the sake of forcefully imposing our vision of democracy on a foreign country. We were pissed off about 9/11, so the obvious reaction is to fire up the war machine and reign hell down on our enemies, right? This could be perceived as the harsh reality a game like Angry Birds has helped us all make peace with.

The gameplay has obviously proven to be enjoyable to a massive number of people, but here I’ve written the entire thing off based on a surface level assumption not even based on gameplay.

While the above example may be somewhat high level and breach potentially taboo subject matter for a discussion about video games, it still translates to how audiences either accept or reject new games. For MMOs in particular, we often hear very common complaints ranging from the leveling experience being too much of a grind, to not enough grind for gear at the end game, and everything in between. I have personally seen countless threats of legal action for launch day server queues, or the most minor of bugs that are in no way true showstoppers.

We have also all seen plenty of highly polished games get roasted in official reviews from major outlets year after year. Destiny is a solid game that has come to mean a lot to millions of active players, but you wouldn’t think so if you judged the game purely on the harsh criticisms it received on launch day.

I’m going to make a leap here, and shift the focus to a more specific game, WildStar. Before the game even had a proper name, Carbine Studios had spent a lot of time honing in on what type of MMO it wanted to produce. Once the concept was locked in, even more time was spent refining, implementing, and polishing until the game was finally released in 2014.

Was the launch product perhaps a bit too ambitious? Absolutely, but you can’t fault Carbine for acknowledging that for a modern MMO to truly be competitive and appeal to a larger audience, that game needs to be as feature-rich as longer running versions of the top games on the market. Put another way, if you’re going to compete on the scale of World of Warcraft, your game needs to consider what WoW looks like today versus in its original launch state a decade ago.

Along the way, certain missteps occurred such as the emphasis on “elder game” content while the core leveling experience languished and ultimately felt a bit flat. The world building and story were top notch, but when it came time to populate that world with quests, the majority were thinly veiled kill ten rats, Fed Ex, and escort types. Namely, the three main quest types that most MMO gamers would prefer to never experience ever again.

At the same time, the leveling experience in an MMO is always going to be transitory. It is not intended to be where the majority of your time is spent, so should also not be where you focus the majority of your development efforts. A proper MMO, by its very nature, is a virtual world in which your characters have a reason for continued existence long after Farmer Ted gets the 10 wolf tails as proof you’ve helped protect his precious crops.

Where all of this is leading is to the argument that WildStar has all the makings of a great MMO, and by all means should be considered one of the classics. As we all know, that didn’t prove to be the case in terms of public reception, and the sad truth is that the game suffered most due to being written off based on not living up to unattainable expectations.

This week, WildStar kicked off a second major closed beta period. While not entirely unprecedented, it is still very uncommon for a live MMO to announce a closed beta phase post-launch. This beta is intended to help insure that the free-to-play launch for WildStar later this year goes as smoothly as possible, with hopes that this time around gamers will be willing to give the game a closer look.

I’m going to argue that a second look is certainly in order, or even a first look for those of you who may have written the original launch off due to superficial reasons, or based your opinion of the game on some random slanderous comments left by someone on Reddit. No MMO is perfect, but Carbine Studios is actively striving for attaining a version of WildStar that is closer to what perfection might look like for that particular game.

They will only get to that point if we as gamers are willing to set aside baggage picked up from playing previous MMOs, and consider the game with fresh eyes. We need to move beyond the cycle of expectations, and learn to approach games on their own terms. Who cares if crafting is done a certain way in another MMO? That game isn’t WildStar, so you shouldn’t expect that WildStar’s crafting should be exactly the same.

If that were the case, then every major prime time television program should systematically kill off its main characters in gruesome detail. That’s what happens in Game of Thrones, and that show is huge, so every other television program worth watching should be exactly the same, right?

Wrong.

If you want to positively influence the future of WildStar, you can do so right now by signing up for the free-to-play beta. Current subscribers are granted automatic access, but I’m sure that Carbine is also keen on bringing in some fresh eyes prior to the free-to-play launch. Even if you don’t participate one way or the other, I would still encourage you to set aside your expectations for that launch, and enjoy the fact that you’ll be getting to experience one of the most full featured, polished, and enjoyable MMOs on the market today for free.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our WildStar Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Reuben "Sardu" Waters has been writing professionally about the MMOG industry for eight years, and is the current Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development for Ten Ton Hammer.

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