It has been nine years since Blizzard struck gold with World of Warcraft and despite many attempts, no rival MMORPG has come close to inheriting its throne. Until now.
That’s unsurprising because Wildstar shares a lot of DNA with WoW, as developer Carbine Studios was founded by a group of former Blizzard staff. A quick glance at Wildstar and the chunky cartoon style and bright colors look more than a little similar to its spiritual predecessors. But like I mentioned in my preview; Wildstar is not a cheap copy of WoW, it’s an evolution, taking what works and building on it.
Options instead of repetition
That’s not to say that Wildstar completely breaks new territory. Quests are often standard MMORPG fare: go here, collect these, or kill those, but the game adds a certain humor to take the edge off. While not every mission is going to thrill and enthrall you, most of them won’t bore you to tears either. And if the mission grind is getting you down, there are loads of other options to keep you occupied.
(See: Wildstar video preview: you guys are gonna love this)
These options are one of Wildstar’s main strengths, because options keep the boredom fairy at bay. When creating your character you have the choice of eight different races, and they are much more interesting than your usual collection of Orcs and Elves. My personal favorites are the Mordesh, a race cursed with an affliction that has them slowly decomposing; most of them are kept alive by artificial means, making them interstellar zombies. And most importantly, they are the good guys.
On the side of the Dominion are the Chua, an insanely cute rodent people who are totally sociopathic and delight in destroying the lives of others. I think it’s this inversion of expectations that I enjoyed the most. Cute little demon mice and good-guy zombies? Sold!
And those are only two of the races; there’s also the stone-skinned, beer-swilling Granok, pixie-like Aurin, and robotic Mechari, all with their unique traits and lore. I’m still fighting over whether to make my Chua or my Mordesh my main!
As well as races, there are also six classes to choose from. Want to take action head on? Be a warrior. Want to attack from behind? Try a stalker. Prefer to help and heal? Then the medic is for you. There are also spellslingers, engineers, and espers for those who prefer to deal with things from a distance. There’s nothing here that really breaks the MMORPG mold; after all a spellslinger is just a mage by another name, but they are highly customisable so you really can fit your character to your taste. More on that later.
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