PAX Prime 2014: The mystery behind WildStar's Nexus
Nexus is a giant ball of mysteries at its core, but WildStar doesn't want to drag out solving them. In the upcoming Defile drop, the team is prepared to address some of the biggest questions of Drusara and the Elden as players delve into the mystery of Genesis Prime. I sat down with Carbine's Stephen Frost at PAX Prime to pry out a few secrets in advance of the patch's release.
Defile is a massive patch compared to the game's first two releases, piling on a ton of solo, small-group, and large-group PvE content for players to face and conquer. A new zone will open up, one that's a key battleground between the Strain and Drusara, and things have gotten all sorts of weird there as a result of the clash. There are sentient spiders who have kidnapped faction leaders, a black focus that is malfunctioning, and a five-stage public event that includes bombing runs and a 20-man boss fight.
Past this area, players will arrive at Journey to Omnicore-1. It's here that the so-called "Nexus Saga," a new type of repeatable gameplay, will begin. It's a choose-your-own-adventure solo dungeon that, story-wise, runs parallel to the Datascape raid. In fact, the devs are using portions of the instance to connect the two so that players can peek into the raid and get a chunk of the story that they might have missed out on otherwise. The team is using more cutscenes and voice acting here due to the positive feedback from players. When you beat Avatus, the final boss of the instance, you'll be treated to a two-minute explanation of the secret of the Nexus Project, so stay tuned!
I talked with Frost about the decision to slow down the pace of content releases and the mixed feelings from the players over it. He said that it was a "rough decision" but also the right one to ensure the highest quality that players deserve.
Frost also told that the team is pushing hard to figure out a possible soundtrack release, that plans are in the works to create repeatable content for paths, and that it's definitely weird to be playing the game only to hear his own voice come out of certain NPCs. He closed our session by promising that there's a lot of content waiting in the wings for WildStar -- Defile is only the beginning.
Massively's on the ground in Seattle during the weekend of August 29th to September 1st, bringing you all the best news from PAX Prime 2014. Whether you're dying to know more about Warlords of Draenor, The Elder Scrolls Online, Landmark, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!
