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Leaderboard: ArcheAge vs. ESO vs. WildStar... Fight!
Now that Trion has confirmed a 2014 launch date for ArcheAge, my excitement level for this year's crop of triple-A MMORPGs is on the rise. I've been warming to The Elder Scrolls Online in recent weeks, and hell, I may even play WildStar. All three of these games are timesinks, though, so I'm glad that they're not releasing one on top of the other. What about you, Massively readers? Are you excited for all three of 2014's triple-A launches? Which one will you play the most? Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
Pre-orders now open for WildStar
Carbine Studios has fired the starting pistol for WildStar's pre-orders, meaning that you can go ahead and secure a copy of the game right now. Players may purchase the game through the official website or through a third-party retailers including GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy. WildStar comes in two editions: standard for $60 and digital deluxe for $75. Carbine is giving players good incentive to snap up a copy of the game now, as the pre-order bonuses include early game access, a rocket house, a mini-ship housing decoration, a 10-slot inventory bag, and character/guild name reservations. Pre-order customers will get to start playing the live game on May 31st.
WildStar gets a new website
Carbine's sci-fantasy WildStar MMO has a new website. It's still the same URL, mind you, but the layout has changed dramatically while preserving the game's zany space western aesthetic. The front page is subdivided into sections covering each of the game's major features, including info on paths, housing, and more! WildStar pre-orders begin tomorrow, March 19th. [Thanks Siphaed!]
Immortalize your WildStar avatars with character creation codes
If you are as addicted to character creation as some of the members of the Massively staff, then this is one WildStar video you won't want to miss. Friend of the site Richie "Bogotter" Procopio has just uploaded a new WildStar video explaining how to make use of the in-game character creation code system to save your beautiful, unique snowflake characters and then re-import them come the June 3rd launch. This way you can use beta the way the MMO gods intended it: to decide what you're going to roll when it really counts and do it quickly enough to get into the game and level faster than the scrubs around you. Enjoy the video!
Curse opens its doors to WildStar addons
Curse would like to become your one-stop shopping hub for all of your future WildStar addon needs. The site announced that it's expanding its focus to include addons for Carbine Studios' upcoming MMO. Curse will be supporting WildStar mods with a new version of the CurseForge platform, which purportedly will streamline tools and better fit players' needs. The site is also open to authors creating and submitting their own projects to fill up the categories. Speaking of WildStar, Bogotter has a first-hand tour of the Dominion adventure, Riot in the Void, which you can watch after the break. Which path will he take? Who knows, but it will almost certainly end in glorious disaster!
Exploring WildStar's endgame raids and dungeons
For those who like endgame PvE content, Carbine's upcoming MMO WildStar is hoping provide not just lots to consume but a variety of ways to consume it. I'm no longer the type of gamer who has to race to max level, and fortunately for me, WildStar plans to give us that "raid feeling" even while we're leveling via adventures and shiphand missions and world bosses and even public quests. But there's much more to PvE than that. At last week's press event, I sat down with Lead Combat Designer Chris Lynch and Lead Dungeons and Raids Designer Brett Scheinert to talk about endgame and PvE in the next big themepark.
Battlegrounds, arenas, and warplots: How PvP works in WildStar
PvE is a staple of MMORPG gameplay, but if you prefer the challenge and adrenaline rush of fighting against another human being while bashing on a keyboard and circle-strafing to dizzying effect, then you, my friend, are a PvPer. And if you've PvPed in other games, you'll be familiar with WildStar's battlegrounds and arenas. But warplots? What's a warplot? That's just one of the PvP-related questions I asked at a press event last week at Carbine Studios with the WildStar team. Battlegrounds Designer Kevin Lee and Lead PvP Designer Jen Gordy explained to me that PvP is one of the key focuses of the game; all PvP content in WildStar will be on a cross-realm queue. Your level and gear stats will be normalized to provide an equal playing field. WildStar's telegraph system ensures that PvP is extremely reactive, which is typical, but what's not typical is being able to see where your enemy is aiming that AoE or conal attack.
WildStar announces June 3rd launch date, preorder bonuses
It's official: WildStar is launching worldwide on June 3rd, and as of right this very moment, the NDA has lifted. Preorders for Carbine's sub-based sci-fantasy MMORPG will be available next Wednesday, March 19th. The $59.99 preorder provides beta events, early access on May 31st, housing deco that grants a rest XP bonus, character and guild name reservations, a 10-slot storage bag, and the exclusive rocket house shown above, in addition to the Standard Edition's 30 days of play time, buddy passes, and more deco. Another $15 gets you a Digital Deluxe version with a hoverboard, costume, title, and dye set. Stay tuned today for Massively's coverage from the recent press event, and enjoy the newly released images and launch announcement trailer. [Source: Carbine press release]
WildStar not sending out more mass beta invitations... for this phase
Are you a hopeful citizen of Nexus who still has not been invited to the WildStar beta? Kind of bad news, then, as the community team has confirmed that no more large-scale beta invitations are in the works for the rest of this phase of beta testing. While there are still plans to help people get into weekend beta events, it looks as if the majority of testers currently in the game are pretty much it. Wait a second -- this phase of beta? No, the tweets don't say that there's another beta phase incoming, but that's certainly the implication, which would mean that the game is creeping that much closer to an open beta and a possible release date. So that's good news, although it still doesn't make up for the fact that anyone not already in will be stuck on the outside for the rest of this phase. [Thanks to Siphaed for the tip!]
WildStar's interface: Then and now
You can argue that in a game that allows for free modification of the user interface, it's less important that you get the whole thing right out of the gate. But with a game as action-oriented as WildStar, a comfortable default interface is going to play a big role in how the game feels to new players. The game's latest development blog shows off the game's old UI from earlier beta tests as well as the newest iteration, with the latter incorporating a great deal of tester feedback to make the whole thing better. The revised UI takes up less crucial space in the center of the screen, also known as "the space where players are watching for telegraphs." Core actions are more central and easily accessible, while additional bars are positioned along the sides. The new UI also does a better job of displaying the health and resources of the player at a glance. If you've played the game but aren't terribly fond of its default interface, you may want to glance at the development diary and see if the redone setup is more to your liking.
Here's 25 minutes of WildStar Exile Adventure gameplay
Want an early look at WildStar's Hycrest Insurrection Exile Adventure? Massively's Richie Procopio has you covered with a 25-minute video designed to show off some special content that's still under NDA for most users. Hycrest requires a level-15 character, and it's basically a five-person choose-your-own-adventure instance. Head past the cut to watch Richie play through it!
WildStar's Adventures skew toward the unusual
Did you read Eliot's first-hand tour of WildStar's Adventure content and find yourself wanting to know more? Carbine Studios posted an excellent follow-up today giving players the full scoop on this unique group content. Adventures aren't to be confused with WildStar's dungeons and Shiphand missions, a point the studio wants to make clear. Instead of being a linear challenge, Adventures are simulated scenarios that offer a "choose your own adventure" tour through an open zone, throwing in options for specific paths and even a MOBA-like battle. These also have demphasized traditional combat (although it's still present) and created "unusual" encounters instead. There will be six Adventures at launch that will come in both normal and veteran modes, with the first one opening up at level 15. Carbine said that there will be a wide variety of loot for Adventure seekers, including housing items, recipes, and gear. Veteran-mode Adventures are also presented as a good method of gearing up for raids.
The Soapbox: My hypersexualization conundrum
Every now and then here at Massively, we receive an email that isn't super nice. I know this may come as a shock to many of you -- the internet is, after all, a place of tolerance and constructive debate -- but sometimes the Massively inbox is no place any sane person would want to be. One reader recently took the opportunity to offer some choice thoughts on Massively staffers. And amidst the jumble of insults and generalizations, the reader levied the ever-powerful "hypocrisy" charge at us for claiming to care about hypersexualized designs of female characters in MMOs while simultaneously playing as those very hypersexualized characters. How could we possibly purport to care about the presentation of women in games if we're all running around in chainmail bikinis? Generally speaking, I prefer to not have my habits and behavior challenged via ad hominem attacks and false comparisons. But I have to admit that this one particular charge piqued my curiosity. Why is it that the majority of my characters are female? Am I, as a person who looks down on hypersexualized designs in games, committing an act of hypocrisy every time I create a female character? Let's sort it out. And before we begin, remember that the Soapbox, like most of our editorials, is just one person's opinion and doesn't represent the thoughts of Massively as a whole.
A firsthand tour of a WildStar adventure
WildStar's beta test is ramping up further and further. It's ramping up enough that pretty much everyone who isn't in the beta already is looking for a way to get in on it. Now's your chance! Hit this link for a giveaway that will grant you a chance to win a beta key for Wildstar. And one of the things you'd be able to see within the beta, if you were in, are the Adventures that have been all the talk of press releases lately. So what is an Adventure? Well, the DevSpeak video past the break will give you a nice top-level overview of that, so you could just go with that. Or you could ask me, because I got to make my way through one with the development team at Carbine Studios, getting a firsthand look at how the content is supposed to work and what's cool about it. That's also past the break.
WildStar previews upcoming adventures
It's fortunate for adventurers on Nexus that they won't be alone. And that's not just a matter of their faction; no, they'll have a little help from the Caretaker, a sentient AI left behind by the Eldan. Yes, he may have been waiting just a little while to deal with another sentient life form, but he's certainly not bitter about untold centuries of complete neglect without any word or even so much as a steady stream of information. So when you meet him in WildStar, why not let him take you on an adventure? The latest WildStar teaser is just past the break, and it hints at how adventures will work -- players will be put into a virtual construct wherein they can choose how to proceed, with consequences depending on which choices are made. They're also replayable, allowing groups to go back through and try different choices on the second time around. Click on past the break to let the Caretaker explain it in his own words... but you might want to sit a little further back from your monitor. He's a bit on edge. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
A look at WildStar's crafting mechanics
As WildStar nears its ambiguous-but-soon release date, questions have to be asked, aside from "when is this game releasing, anyway?" Like crafting-related questions. Why haven't we heard more about crafting yet? What are the mechanics? Is this another example of a game wherein crafting is just a matter of assembling a pile of materials and clicking a button? The answer to that last one is a pretty firm no. As it happens, there's a lot going on under the hood of WildStar's crafting mechanics, enough to intrigue dedicated crafters of many styles. We had a chance recently to sit down with system designer Phillip Chan to talk in-depth about the game's crafting mechanics and how the team is working to keep crafting relevant through the whole game, from start to finish. The goals were to create crafting mechanics that rewarded players for taking part, gave room for custom creations and specialized crafters, and to make the whole thing feel fun. The net result? Not just clicking a button and going off to make a sandwich.
Moving day: Settling in to your WildStar house
Player housing is more than fluff, as detractors claim; it is settlement, personal expression, and ownership in a way that we don't always get in an MMO. I've been in MMOs without housing and been distressed to be an eternal nomad. I've been in MMOs that have had sub-standard housing and felt the pain of "what could have been." And I've seen MMOs that have incredibly robust housing that becomes one of the most talked-about features in those titles. I'm sincerely hoping that WildStar will prove itself to be the latter, especially given how much Carbine has been talking up the system. WildStar's focus on customization options for players is readily apparent when you finally arrive at your personal floating island in the sky early on in your adventures. Once you hit level 14, you'll get a quest to go to your capital city and travel by transporter to claim your land. Why we need floating houses instead of a carved-out chunk of the massive untamed wilderness on Nexus was never explained to me, but I didn't mind. I was a homeowner!
A look at WildStar's customization options
How much do you like character customization? If you shrug and click the nearest "random" button when making a new character you probably don't care much. But if you like to carefully examine customization options before creating a character, and then even more carefully examine customization options after creating a character... well, WildStar's developers understand the way you work. They'd like to help, insofar as giving you a whole bunch more customization options could count as "helping." Customizing your character doesn't end at creation -- it extends to how you play your character, how your character's outfit looks, and even how your mount looks. Not to mention, of course, that there's the housing system. The game's latest DevSpeak video about customization is just past the cut, and we got a chance to talk a little more with the fine folks at Carbine Studios about tuning your character just right.
WildStar's Stephan Frost on creating content and keeping within deadlines
Developing an MMO is not an easy process. We know that intellectually, but most of us have not actually built a game ourselves, so we don't know exactly how or why it's not difficult. Design producer Stephan Frost recently penned an article taking a look at the process of design in WildStar, highlighting both common elements to MMO production and some of the ways that Carbine Studios does things a little bit differently. Frost explains that the key to producing an MMO is understanding that it's really more like producing several different games layered on top of one another. He goes on to explain how all content is designed according to a master roadmap, allowing space for individual designers to put their distinct touches on things while still working within an overall vision. If this sort of thing interests you, by all means, take a look at the full article for a deeper look at how these games come to life.
WildStar offers straight talk on its guild mechanics
So it's come to this. Your adventures in WildStar have left your character backed into a cave with a broken weapon and a desperate urge to escape from the monsters prowling outside but no means to do so. What do you do? Well, hopefully you already made some friends and can put a call in to your guild because the monsters outside probably won't decide to let you go. So it's a good thing that guilds in WildStar offer a variety of benefits, as detailed in the latest development blog. Aside from a customizable holo-display for guild insignias that can go wherever you'd like and access to guild vaults, guilds also provide a variety of perks and abilities. These perks are purchased with Influence, which is earned just by grouping up with your guildmates and doing pretty much whatever. The idea is that a small guild that plays together will always be more effective than a big guild formed from people shouting in general chat. Take a look at the full article for more details about guilding up in the game, hopefully when you aren't tucked away in Monster Cave.
