The combat is WildStar is free-form action and is based on a telegraph system. For example, if a Warrior swings a sword in an arc, it will hit all enemies in that arc. If a Spellslinger shoots a long range piercing bullet, it will hit whatever is in the telegraph's range, including enemies behind or in front of the target. Many abilities are press-and-hold or rapid tap as well, increasing in duration or power by either holding a key down or pressing the key repeatedly.
The telegraph system is complex and makes the game feel like an action game and less like a tab-targeting game. Red is hostile damage, move out of it. Blue is your own damage, keep the enemies in that. Green is friendly healing or buffs, stay in it. Orange is friendly damage, keep the enemies in that. Purple is hostile healing or buffs, get the enemies out of that. All abilities are telegraphed. There is no targeting or auto attacking, except for hostiles. Hostiles will auto-attack, but these attacks have minimal impact.
Another important aspect to the combat is the limited action set (LAS). LAS means that you can only have eight abilities on your bar at one time. These can be switched out at any time (as long as the user is not in combat).
WildStar, like Guild Wars 2 or TERA, has a dodge mechanic. This is a rechargeable resource. It is meant to get you out of danger. There are some AMPs that can give bonuses to dodging, such as increased damage on your next attack or free dodges if you're crowd controlled. Dodging will be key in getting out of the way of an enemy's telegraphs.
There is also a breakout system. Crowd control in this game can be removed by the player. Some examples:
- Stun, which will prompt a button mash
- Knockdown, which can be dodge rolled out of
- Subdue, which will toss your weapon to the ground, but if you walk over to it, you will pick it up
- Disorient, which will cause your movement keys to be jumbled
- Blind, which will black out your screen except for a very small area
Warplots are a unique twist on the massive PVP warfare that you might find in games like Elder Scrolls Online or Guild Wars 2. Warplots are 40 on 40 PVP battles where one team attempts to either resource starve or destroy the generator of the other team. What makes Warplots different from other games is that the battlefield itself is built by the player. Warplots can have custom terrain, walls, deployable items, and traps. Not only that, but the player can even summon monsters that have been slain in raids and dungeons to defend as well. Each Warplot is given a certain amount of points to spend. A particularly powerful trap may decimate the opposing force, but if they can get passed it, your Warplot may be vulnerable.
For example, one Warplot may be a series of narrow passageways with turrets lined up at the end. Another Warplot could line one staircase with invisible mines while having a powerful monster standing at the top of another. The opposing force may see the monster and go up the other case, only to be completely wiped out by mines. While attacking, do you go for the enemy's mech factory so they cannot utilitze their mechs, or do you attack their power supplies so that their force fields go offline?
Warplot battles are only initiated when both sides agree to it. Warplots are not tied to guilds nor warparties (which are essentially PVP guilds). Get your friends together and take out an opposing Warplot!
Almost everything related to your character can be customized cosmetically. You can dye your armor. Each piece can be dyed in three different sections, similar to Guild Wars 2. If you don't like the way a piece of armor looks, you can use the costume system to make that piece look like your favorite. You can attach baubles to your mounts. Each mount has numerous nodes where you can attach silly or serious looking attachments. There are costumes and special slots as well, where you can have things like a yellow aura around your character or a trail of stars following you.
AMPS provide a way to customize the playstyle of your character. Similar to talent trees in other games, but with more flexibility. Each class has six trees, providing thousands and thousands of options on how you want to play your character. In addition to AMPS, every class ability has eight tiers. You receive points to put into your skills as you level up (41 in total), making them stronger or even changing the main function of the ability. For example, the Warrior's Leap ability propels them forward. At level one, it has a single charge. At tier four, it now has two charges. At tier eight, it frees the Warrior from all crowd control. Warriors also get an ability called Unstoppable Force that frees them from all crowd control. You can now free up your bar, using your Leap ability to remove crowd control instead of Unstoppable Force, but it comes at the cost of eight valuable points.
Paths are another way to make your character your own. Each character can pick between soldier, settler, scientist, and explorer. Paths are unique challenges that are unique to each zone and provide rewards and perks that only that path can obtain. Soldiers have kill challenges, hunting down rare mobs or to wipe out a certain number of mobs. Settlers find nodes and build structures to help themselves and other players. Scientists scan special enemies and study special points of interest. Explorers...explore. They find secret and hard-to-reach areas and plant tracking beacons.
The housing in WildStar is one of the most customizable and in-depth housing system that's ever been in an MMO. Every user unlocks housing at level 14 and receives a new skill that allows them to teleport to their home at any time. Their home exists in an instance, floating on a small plot of land in the sky. Each Skyplot comes with seven nodes. One for the home, four small nodes, and two large nodes. There are two ways to customize: decor and FABkits. Decor items are simply items that have no gameplay impact, but can make your house look unique. These items can be resized, stretched, rotated, and placed wherever the user wants. People have turned a full sized wooden fence into the center net on a ping pong table, or have turned tables into ramps for a floating skate park! The possibilities are endless.
FABkits are customization options that have in-game ramifications. Each FABkit fits into one of the six plots (four small, two large). A couple examples are:
- Farm to gather fruit and vegetables for cooking.
- Mine to gather ore for crafting.
- Portals to end-game raids for easy access.
- Special dungeons that only you or your friends can complete.
- Low gravity jumping puzzles.
- Crafting stations.
- ...and more!
Decor and FABkits can be bought, found through questing, looted off mobs, obtained through PVP, or almost any other way. Oh, and you can change the sky box and weather of your Skyplot!
The Elder Game is what Carbine refers to as the end game of WildStar, but that does not mean that it can only be done at max level. What makes WildStar unique from most MMOs is that it launches with a full plate of content for those who do hit the max level. This includes adventures, veteran dungeons, a twenty man raid, a forty man raid, rated arena battles, battlegrounds, and warplots.
The raids in WildStar are hard. They're hard. Did I mention they're hard? 'Cause, yeah, they're hard. Carbine has stated on numerous occasions that they are not going to nerf the content to suit a large playerbase. This harkens back to vanilla World of Warcraft. They expect many people to clear veteran dungeons, but with some difficulty. They expect less to clear twenty man raids. They expect even less to clear the forty man. For example, top-end guilds that have had months to attack the twenty man raids are still not on farm status. The telegraph system makes it so they can clearly display what killed you, but enables them to make it hard. Yeah, it's hard.
Adventures are instanced areas where the gameplay completely changes from the rest of the game. Adventures can be done throughout the leveling experience. Adventures can be choose-your-own adventures, tower defense, capture points, Oregon Trail (yes, Oregon Trail), and so on. These adventures have branching paths upon branching paths, so no two runs are the same. Not only that, but they provide loot, titles, and other goodies that can only be obtained from Adventures. These can be repeated indefinitely. Each adventure has a veteran version for max level.
What do I get if I preorder or buy the game? Is there a deluxe edition?
Preordering any version unlocks a rocket house, a trophy for your house, a title, three day headstart, and an in-game storage bag. All versions of the game get thirty days of playtime and three guest passes with seven days of playtime for your friends. The digital deluxe version ($74.99) unlocks a hoverboard, a costume, a title, and a special dye in addition to all previous perks.
Do I have to pay $14.99 a month to play this game?
Yes and no. WildStar has a system called CREDD, which is similar to the system of EVE. Players can buy CREDD from Carbine for $19.99 a pop. They can then sell the CREDD to other players for in-game gold. Each CREDD is one month of subscription time.
Are classes limited to certain races?
Yes, similar to World of Warcraft. However, each class has at least two options per faction.
Is there controller support?
Officially, no. But there is a guide on the official forums.
When will this go F2P?
Hurrrrrrrrrr.
I want more information!
Official Site
Unofficial Wiki
Addon Hub
Do we have a GAF guild? Other member's guilds?
Sure do.
Neo Empire, run by TharpDaddy. US, Dominion, PVE server Orias, jack-of-all-trades focus. This guild is a sister guild of our very own GW2 guild. They're letting us use their Mumble and forums.
Neo Exiles, run by Tunesmith. EU, Exile, PVP server Zhur. No official site, but a fun place to hang out with other EU Gaffers!
Paradoxical, represented by piratepwnsninja. US, Exiles, PVE server Orias, weekend-focused raid guild but accepts people from all walks of life.
Acolytes represented by Somnia. US, Dominion, PVP server Widow, jack-of-all-trades focus. Long standing community spanning many years and games. This is not a GAF guild. Do not ask for an invite in this thread unless you want to be mocked. Follow the links.
Okay, what else?
We didn't even touch runecrafting, crafting professions, gathering, lore, UI customization...there's a lot. Click the links above sprinkled throughout the text for devspeaks (developer overviews) of the various aspects of the game.
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