Monday 7 July 2014

Wildstar, Veteran Adventure Time!

I have to confess that in the course of leveling my first level 50, I had not set foot in any adventures or dungeons. For those who don't know what adventures, in Wildstar, are they are instanced scenarios which you play through in a team of five, not massively unlike dungeons, really, only easier.  I didn't avoid these through any thought that they wouldn't be very good or not much fun, as I have actually been wanting to give them a try, but because of a few reasons. 

One, questing is a faster way of gaining experience and therefore leveling up. 

Two, repair bills are reputed to be high and the loot gained from the instance is unlikely to cover it.

Three, with prior knowledge of just how difficult PUGs can be in current MMOs, with groups breaking up, people arguing, people not listening to the tactics. I didn't want to go through the hassle of doing any PUGing in a game that, can be, as challenging as Wildstar is. The preciseness needed in boss fights and even sometimes just random in mobs, I could see would make this a challenge for PUGs. I did not want to queue for an hour only for the group to break up in the first ten minutes or to end up in the middle of a shouting match as one member yells "Noob" at another. 

Anyway, I elected to make the decision to save adventures/ dungeons until I hit level 50 and until I could do them as a guild group. That day finally came on Friday, and it was really quite enjoyable. There were a few issues, as I had never done even the non veteran versions and it seems my mentioning this at the start was not noticed by the group, as they didn't bother to explain the tactics, but I managed to keep up by just following along. We did three of the four adventures and gained two golds and one silver. Yes, the silver was my fault. But still not a bad result for someone who had never done adventures before. I died about three or four times in total, which wasn't a bad result across the three adventures. 

I confess that starting with War of the Wilds which feels very battlegroundy even though it is PvE. I wasn't immediately sold on the adventures but the other two were less tedious and more event/ scenario based and I did still enjoy all three. Although, War of the Wilds did feel a little aimless in places. 

The guys in my team were great and I really do thank them, as I have no doubt they, in part, did carry me as I was unaware of the tactics, although the general tactics of stay out of the red stuff, generally does me well. They were on teamspeak, so I followed their directions when given and I think, even if adventures are much easier than dungeons that we wouldn't have got the two golds if I hadn't been contributing at least a little. 

Anyway, it was enjoyable and I loved the experience. I encourage others to give it a try.    

Wednesday 2 July 2014

Wildstar Review 1 to 50

Hi all! I hit level 50 about a week and a half ago, now. I now feel qualified to venture into reviewing the game. Now I have been playing Exile side. I have played a little Dominion but only as far as the first Nexus zone, so my review really comes from an Exile viewpoint.

First, I really am enjoying the game. I had a fair few problems to start with, mainly due to bad internet and poor control system, my side not Wildstar side, I hasten to add. My control issues were mainly to do with my set up as I have my computer hooked up to my TV, this means I sit on my beanbag couch with my keyboard on my lap and my mouse on a box. Wildstar was not forgiving of this setup, so I soon learnt to change to controller input which made things a lot easier.

The storyline is really strong in the game for the first 15 or so levels. However, I found that between 15 and 35 the story arc felt pretty weak and found myself feeling more like a general dog's body running around doing everything npcs ordered for little reason. This made the middle section of the game feel quite slow moving, for me. However, it is by no means a bad game, even at this point. It just didn't feel as absorbing or engaging as I feel it could.

At level 35 the game picks up again and, for me, 35 to 50 was the high life. The questing was engaging and the combat system, while occasionally punishing, was not too hard or too easy but about right for later game. I found the Drusea quest arch particularly enjoyable and actually started looking forward to getting new quests as I leveled. I do think it would be good to introduce a few if these type of quests at the middle levels as it might cure the storyline drought and help keep players engaged.

But, overall, I have had fun and will continue to play. I'm currently leveling an alt. I haven't currently devoted enough time to dungeons or end game, so I will comment on those separately. But I think this is an enjoyable game an if you like MMOs then it's well worth playing. I'm sure this game will grow and blossom and I will be enjoying the journey.