WildStar
may be lighthearted and humorous at its core,
but it’s clear that Carbine has every intention of making
this a full-fledged
MMO with all the trimmings. We still may not have a release date,
but as the development team at Carbine Studios plugs away at the game,
the
community team continues to feed us bits and pieces of information.
The
Devspeak videos they’ve provided to the public are
certainly entertaining, but they’re also informative for
those that look beyond
the quick laughs. Despite what the hype of the marketing team would
have you
believe, WildStar isn't reinventing the wheel or even adding any
revolutionary
systems… or is it?
WildStar
is full of subtle changes and differences from
what players have become accustomed to and I think most gamers are
ready for something
different. Taken individually, the game mechanics so far appear to be nothing
new.
Mobile spell casting? Seen it. Dodge mechanics? Seen ‘em.
What about crowd
control? Yep, seen that too. While I don’t think any of this
is truly new, that
doesn’t mean we’re not seeing some new spins put on
each of these.
alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253566">
Let’s
take a look at some of the new mechanics the
development team has talked about. First up? Crowd control. I am,
without any
doubt or exaggeration, a huge proponent of the need for proper crowd
control in
MMOs. For groups to succeed in EverQuest, it was a mandatory skill.
Whether you
depended on your Enchanter for mezzing, your Druid for animal charms,
or a
character that filled the role of off-tank, you *had* to be able to
control the
movements and actions of multiple adversaries.
Over
the years, this skill (and even its inclusions in
games) has been going the way of the dodo. Crowd control these days
means
making sure the tank is able to agro everything in an area and keep
them all
beating on his (or her) armor. I won’t lie – it
drives me crazy. I miss the
days of the teamwork that used to be required to handle large pulls.
WildStar
isn’t going back to a system that old, but they are doing
something very new in
terms of controlling those around you.
Along
with players having multiple methods of CCing a mob
(stun, sleep, knockdown, etc.), they’re also making sure you
have a chance to
not lose control of your own character. There’s nothing as
frustrating as
getting hit with a stun and having to stand there as your character
gets beat
to a bloody pulp. With their new system, your character will always
have an
opportunity to get of the proverbial jail, depending on the situation
at hand.
Dazed characters will be able to fast-tap a key to break the stun.
Disarmed
characters can run to where their weapon flew off to. Blinded
characters can
still cast, but they may miss. These ideas, along with some others
detailed in
an earlier Devspeak video will give combat and crowd control a very
welcome
facelift.
alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253565">
Next
up? Ability mechanics. Even though it’s not
something completely new, I’m a fan of how their aiming
system is currently
looking. One of the big changes from what players are used to is the
ability to
cast while moving. This isn’t a new concept, but when
combined with the rest of
the combat system, it is something that’s going to be very
refreshing to MMO
veterans as well as newbies. Unlike other implementations
we’ve seen of this
from past games (such as Vanguard: Saga of Heroes), players will be
able to
cast most of their abilities while moving at full speed. This even
includes
most charging spells.
That’s
something new that I can’t think of any game
trying it before – charging spells no longer have to get to
full charge to be
used. We’ve seen that the battlefield is clearly going to be
changing rapidly,
making a standard charge spell mechanic frustrating at best, and
desk-flipping
at worst. With this new system, players will be able to use their
charge-up
abilities without the fear of them being completely wasted if they
suddenly
have to dodge out of the way of an incoming attack.
The
game is still in a closed beta state, but I think it
may be something new and exciting not because of each individual
mechanic, but
because of the way each system interlinks and depends on the others.
Four
months ago, I talked about
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/everquest-next/opinions/legendary-foes-and-infamous-zones">the
importance of interlinking game mechanics.
EverQuest did a brilliant job of
it and while I think it’s too soon to tell, the WildStar team
may well be on
the verge of something special as well.
Can
the team at Carbine pull off a minor miracle
by attempting to bring a subscription-based game to the market after
everyone
else has adopted a free-to-play model? That’s a topic for
another day, but I do
think WildStar is definitely a title to keep an eye on. What do you
think
though? Are these mechanic changes something to get excited about? Let
us know
in the comments below or
href="https://twitter.com/Dalmarus">hit me up on
Twitter!
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our WildStar Game Page.