WildStar Online

[Morreion]

Anyone else get an animated Firefly vibe off of that video?

WildStar Online official site

WildStar Online YouTube Page

MMORPG.com WildStar Page

NCsoft announces new MMO: WildStar [Updated] (Massively)

Developed by Carbine studios, WildStar is a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid MMO of "high adventure" in which players "lay claim to a mysterious planet on the edge of known space" by playing as Explorers, Soldiers, Scientists, or Settlers. Through a feature known as Momentum Mechanics, players can immerse themselves in a world that actually responds to choices made throughout the game. "Depending on a combination of faction, race, class and path," a press release states, "WildStar will present gamers with unending surprises, mini-quests and challenges, ensuring that their experiences are fun and fresh."

Gamescom: NCsoft Reveals WildStar (IGN)

Though there's no release date yet, the content shown off so far already looks remarkably polished. Characters and enemies have strong, distinct designs and are impressively animated. Questing is fast, and it's clear Carbine wanted to focus on letting you get into the action with minimal fuss. In WildStar, it feels like quest goals pop up almost as often as experience points. If you kill an enemy quickly, the game will challenge you to see if you can wipe out five more in five minutes. Combined with your regular quest goals and the constantly shifting momentum meter, it's proof that skill and efficient killing can reap a lot of rewards as new goals continue to crop up.

WildStar: Gamescom Demo Impressions (MMORPG.com)
Boots on the ground reporter, John Milburn, got a first hand look at the just-revealed WildStar Online during a presentation by Carbine Studios and NC Soft during this year's Gamescom. He's got a few impressions to share with you so keep reading! Are you looking forward to WildStar Online? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Combat in WildStar was shown quite a bit and it's a system they call momentum. The idea is that you can gain better rewards the faster you kill things. You can also interact with the surroundings in a very pleasant way; we were shown how the player dodged a cascading avalanche, so there's quite a bit of flexibility in your character’s movements and actions. Another interesting and returning phrase is that we were told WildStar really is an MMORPG which you play at your own pace. They don’t want there to be the usual “rush to end-game”. So casual players: you can rejoice!

Gamescom 2011: WildStar reveals first three races and classes (Massively)

As for classes, players who prefer to get up close and personal with their enemies would do well to choose the Warrior, who boasts a number of strong tech and melee attacks, which are powered by fuel cells and adrenaline, respectively. Spellslingers use a pair of special pistols to stay on top of ranged damage, relying on a balanced rotation of magic and gunplay to keep up with DPS. And finally there's the Esper, your standard Mage class, who uses psychic spells like Telekenetic Strike to do massive damage to helpless enemies.

Gamescom wrapups for WildStar tease a few more nuggets of information (Massively)

Torchlight meets Firefly, or late 90s Disney meets Firefly? You decide...

The fact that the game will include PvP is almost a no-brainer, but the endgame has been stated to be diverse for all players. If you don't enjoy raiding, the game will still have a world story for players to explore and get engaged by. The world will feature both open areas and instances, as well, with a definite spread of different ways to ensure that players can experience the game with their friends. Last but not least, classes will be versatile and armor will be heavily customizable -- the game is being shaped to be something where each player can make his or her mark and have a unique look.

WildStar - Preview (Eurogamer)

If you're the kind of player who finds beast-bothering plays second fiddle to seeing more of the world and seeking out its hidden places, Carbine have you pegged as an Explorer. Using your Locator, you'll make your way to bits of Nexus that other play styles don't know about and in many cases can't even see. Rewards stem from reaching strange places, such as finding a spatial anomaly which grants you temporary power-jumping or activating a node on an un-climbable rock spire which shows you a secret path up its side.

[Morreion]

WildStar Wednesday: The Story Of An Epic World (Wildstar)

Once we'd established this basic premise, the really hard work of narrative design began. Who were the races and factions coming to planet Nexus, and what's their interest in this new and exciting world? What conflicts exist before the game begins, and how do those conflicts shape the stories taking place on Nexus right now? What kind of exotic environments and interesting characters will players experience as they adventure through our game, and what will they teach the player about the fate of the Eldan and the growing dangers that threaten everyone on the planet?

WildStar Interviews: Troy Hewitt Interview (MMORPG.com)
Carbine Studios' WildStar is a game that many are watching with a keen eye as 2012 unfolds. We had the opportunity to chat with Producer Troy Hewitt about WildStar and about Carbine's plans for the year. See what makes WildStar one of our most anticipated titles for 2012 in our exclusive interview.

Our game is set on the planet Nexus. The fabled lost world, rediscovered after thousands of years. Once the home world of the powerful Eldan, a technologically advanced race that mysteriously disappeared, leaving a world populated with deadly experimental creatures, powerful relics, ancient ruins, advanced technologies and untold riches for those bold and strong enough to conquer, claim and master for themselves. Nexus is a world full of lore, with memorable characters and fantasy landscapes that serves as the stage for the greater conflict: the battle between the Dominion and the Exiles to claim Nexus as their own.

WildStar unveils questing with a Twitter budget (Massively)

The latest entry in the WildStar Wednesday series of developer blogs is all about how the team has tried to do away with mind-numbing and ponderous quest text. And the narrative design team does so by paring down quest text to a quick snippet no longer than a Twitter post.

WildStar Wednesday examines redundancies in quest text (Massively)

Senior narrative designer Cory Herndon explains by example that a lot of quest text winds up repeating unnecessary facts or stating something that should be immediately clear. Herndon starts with a longer example of quest text and steadily pares it down to the most important bits of information, keeping all of the flavor while posting each bit of communication in quick and comprehensible bursts.

WildStar Wednesday: Shiny hover bikes (Massively)

A couple of the shots show off the game's lovely scenery while the Aurin performs what would be a wheelie if the bike ever had two wheels on the ground to begin with.

WildStar Wednesday highlights the deadly denizens of planet Nexus (Massively)

The spotlight today is on three species of things-you-don't-want-to-meet-in-a-dark-alley. First off, we have masses of sentient fungus known as rootbrutes, and if their name doesn't tell you everything you need to know about 'em, then we're not sure how to help you...

WildStar records score, dishes out free music (Massively)

This week's WildStar spotlight takes the focus off the look of the game and puts it on the melodious strains of its soundtrack. In it, Carbine Studios Lead Composer Jeff Kurtenacker steps in front of the camera to talk about creating and recording the score for this upcoming MMO.

WildStar Wednesday showcases a rogue's gallery full of rogues (Massively)

Marauders are intergalactic pirates, the Darkspur Cartel is essentially an interstellar mafia, and the Crowe Gang is a group of smugglers and moonshine brewers.

WildStar Wednesday discusses quality of life (Massively)

All players traveling on roads in WildStar will benefit from a speed boost, whether they're on a noble steed or going afoot. Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney mentions that, more than just cutting down on travel time, this allows developers to plan on players running into each other as they travel through the world as well as aiding in the design of exploration-driven content and proper timing of encounters. If players are really gung-ho about speed and being (profitable) good Samaritans, they'll have opportunities to add new taxi points to remote areas, pitch a vendor stall to sell mounts to lowbies, and set up speed-boosting machines at outposts, among other player-driven additions.

Environmental Impact - A WildStar Preview from gamescom 2012 (Ten Ton Hammer)

Jeremy described the game's four "paths" for players, which is how the game actively tailors progression to your playstyle. Paths have been followed in detail throughout WildStar's development, but Jeremy shared a few updates on each path as follows;

Soldiers - The soldier path will come naturally to most WildStar players, but the game offers a lot more than rote combat. Jeremy explains: "About 20-25% of your missions switch over to be solely about combat. Monsters attacking, giant bosses coming up out of the ground, that kind of thing. Even if you aren't a soldier, your friends can help you with those."

Settlers - "If you're a settler, it's all about socializing and building. The same stuff you do with housing, these guys can do in the quest hubs - open shops, add to the taxi network, field hospitals, all sorts of cool stuff." Jeremy explained that the game provides basic services such as a network of transport between major points of interest, but players can extend these networks and get a nice bonus to XP for doing so. Since I ran my own druid taxi service in the original EverQuest, I was pretty excited to hear about this.

Explorers - Explorers are experts at finding bonus content, perhaps through treasure maps, minigame puzzles, jump puzzles, time challenges, and the like. One explorer area holds a corporate spaceship crashed into a mountain lake. By rescuing the crew, explorers can briefly open up a new vendor hub for all players nearby.

Scientists - Scientists are the collectors of WildStar. They get extra links in the galactic archive, extra story stuff, and extra xp revolving around discovering lore.

Wildstar PAX Prime 2012 Preview - Potential Gone Wild (Ten Ton Hammer)

Thanks to an ever expanding system of telegraphs – a fancy name for indicators on the ground for incoming attacks from enemy and environmental sources – combat will remain an engaging experience that factors in positioning and movement to the same high degree as hit points and damage meters.

[Morreion]

5 Things to Know about WildStar (Ten Ton Hammer)

The Explorer Path

The official description for the Explorer path notes that you will be able to “travel to the darkest corners of this mysterious planet while discovering the locations of ancient artifacts of immense power” and that you will “climb higher, dig deeper, and go farther than anyone in order to claim territory in the name of your faction.”

In a nutshell, if you’re the type of MMO gamer who hits a new map and runs directly past the quest NPCs to see what that shiny thing is on a distant hillside, or truly enjoys climbing around the terrain to see where it might lead you, then the explorer path is for you. This Path suits my playstyle perfectly, so it was my first choice for hitting Deradune on my spellslinger.

The official description here is pretty accurate. Of the explorer quests I discovered and completed in Deradune, some were essentially elaborate jumping puzzles that culminated in planting a flag for my faction, while others allowed me to open up a massive underground tunnel system.

The latter I found particularly interesting because it not only opened up a sizable chunk of new content in the zone, but the tunnels also served as a means of fast travel across the map. I would discover a new entrance which would trigger a short quest, ultimately allowing me to exit the tunnels in a different location in another part of the zone. This was somewhat reminiscent of the way sewers worked in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines for those of you familiar with that game.

WildStar Wednesday: Interview with a Tester! (WildStar official site)

Do you think that the classes of WildStar have enough different mechanics to play each class with a completely different feeling?

Absolutely. The way the class mechanics work, and the way the abilities are used are different enough to require a learning curve when you switch classes. Even when you switch between melee and melee or ranged and ranged. It is a completely different play style requiring different moves for different situations.

The nice thing about the mechanics is the fact that you can change out your abilities at any time (outside of combat) as long as you own the ability. This makes how you play a Warrior completely different than the Warrior next to you. So it not just different between classes, you'll also see different mechanics within the class.

The Fun Factor: Hands-On with WildStar (Ten Ton Hammer)

1. In terms of character models and animations, WildStar is one of those games that completely nails it. While the world of Nexus and its inhabitants are highly stylized, the vibrant colors and oftentimes overemphasized gestures add to the overall charm of the game. Not only that, but combat animations and general movement feel very responsive, and lend themselves well to the sense that I’m directly in control of my character’s actions.

A perfect example would be the active dodging system. This will feel very familiar to anyone who has played Guild Wars 2. A quick directional double-tap will allow you to dodge attacks, with a simple meter displaying whether or not you have enough energy to dodge again. Given the wacky shapes that ground-targeted skills often use, dodging is something you’ll be doing quite often. The good news is that it helps combat feel more vital as a result, and that feeds directly into how connected I feel to my character.

Wild About WildStar Combat: Telegraphs (Ten Ton Hammer)

As many of you know, there has been a major trend away from 100-slot-action-bar-whack-a-mole combat in MMOs. Instead, many recent and still-in-development titles are borrowing heavily from action gaming for their combat systems, WildStar being among them.

But what makes WildStar's approach to "action combat" different?

While there are plenty of more subtle factors involved (which we'll be expanding on later this week), if you've been paying attention so far, the telegraph system is key here. Combined with an active dodging system similar to the one currently used in Guild Wars 2, telegraphs help turn combat in WildStar into more of a cosmic dance than a boring dice roll. The team at Carbine is also big on iterative game design, so telegraphs also come in plenty of shapes and sizes.

The Nexus Telegraph: Unpacking WildStar's big reveals (Massively)

2013?!

All right. This game wants to release in 2013. I'm going to hold off on my first reaction of wanting to play it yesterday to be a bit more sedate and look at what that date means.

The game is clearly fairly far in development, but does it have enough in place? 2013 means launching in December at the latest, which means that the game's fundamentals have to be in place much earlier. Most of the game needs to be ready before testing begins, even if the early tests are restricted from higher-level areas that are still being finished.

The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar style (Massively)

Letting your graphics adhere to pure style alleviates that. It's the reason pixelated sidescrollers don't look bad to us now: These graphics were always stylized representations, and the fact that we can draw a cleaner line on a computer display now doesn't obviate the style of the original. And it's why World of Warcraft's graphics, while older, hold up remarkably well after nearly a decade. By freely admitting that you're not going to manage perfect simulation, you look better longer.

The Nexus Telegraph: Putting the war in WildStar (Massively)

Games have always had issues with area-of-effect abilities. AoEs can't be strictly better than single-target abilities or you wind up with a game wherein everyone just runs around spamming area abilities and chain-hitting everything, which was fun in Wrath of the Lich King but ultimately got to be just a little silly. The flip side is that any character specializing in AoE abilities should still be useful, but then you run into the problem where the AoE character is just as good against single targets (thus being strictly better than people without an AoE specialization) or is much weaker against single targets (thus being strictly worse on 80% of the combat bits that are actually difficult).

Most games do not dare venture into the wilds of friendly fire, however, because most games don't have a whole system in place to warn you about where effects will take place and what you should get away from. WildStar has precisely that, and it might be exactly the right place to put this mechanic.

WildStar - Themebox vs. Sand Park (Ten Ton Hammer)

If you’re more of a theme park gamer, WildStar absolutely has plenty of more directed, dungeon master style systems in place for you to enjoy. But if you prefer a looser, more sandbox MMO experience, the game offers a fair amount of options here as well.

The net result is that overlapping of theme park and sandbox gameplay is being given proper nourishment from both ends of the spectrum, and helps make WildStar feel highly unique, yet familiar and comfortable at the same time. Call it what you will, but I’m personally chalking that up to a combination of the veteran team, the lessons they’ve learned through years of direct experience, and their willingness to iterate on concepts until they make sense for the game.

The Nexus Telegraph: Who's afraid of the WildStar Dominion? (Massively)

Making one faction unabashedly evil is an approach that's been done a few times, usually with some success. Warhammer Online manages it mostly because in theory the "good" factions of the universe can be discerned only with specialized training, while Star Wars: The Old Republic allows you to be an evil bastard who still cares deeply about the fate of those around you. City of Heroes and DC Universe Online have the supervillain tradition to fall back upon. There has to be an appeal to playing as someone you know you should be cheering against.

Everyone's a potential traitor... even you: WildStar's Dominion faction (Massively)

The Dominion's Humans are known as Cassian Humans because they're from the planet... Cassus. They're ruled by elite Human hybrids created by the Eldan themselves (you know, the mysterious master species who disappeared from the galaxy, leaving intrigue -- and MMO plot points -- in their wake). The Cassians are driven by a Manifest Destiny-like goal to expand their empire at all costs, and I do mean all costs. But the use of extreme force to forge the perfect galaxy-spanning regime and fulfill their destiny is all for the greater good. Right? Guys?

The Nexus Telegraph: Now that the Dominion has your attention... (Massively)

As it turns out, WildStar has hit exactly the notes I was hoping for. The Dominion doesn't come across as being terribly pleasant at first glance, but the sheer amount of character in the factional intro video makes it clear that they could not care less about how they come across to you. They are refined, they are elegant, and at the end of the day, they represent everything the Exiles are fighting against.

[Regolyth]

This game seems to be taking a while.

[Morreion]

New video explains exactly what WildStar is (Massively)

It's all here in the trailer: Both factions, all four paths, player-built houses and PvP fortresses, active combat, and an evolving in-game story.

The Nexus Telegraph: Bringing class into WildStar (Massively)

What we know about the makeup in WildStar right now supports the big four, more or less. Stalker is the stealthy and underhanded sort, Warriors are close cousins to Fighters since forever, Espers are obviously Mages with more spectral weaponry, and Spellslingers are Cleric-like in game terms if not lore terms. When you consider the fact that the game also offers you four different paths to explore, you can look at the field and start thinking that maybe these four are all the classes we're getting at launch.

We know that you can build a given class in many different ways. You could easily have two Stalkers that play completely differently from one another. Between paths and known classes, there are 16 combinations right out of the gate, more if you consider a wide range of potential character customizations.

PAX East 2013: A first look at WildStar's housing and new zones (Massively)

There are two sides to designing your home area: the indoors and the outdoors. Outdoor decoration has two components. You've got decorations, which can be turned around and placed on pre-defined "hooks" all around the building surfaces and the landscape. Then you have "plugs," functional modules that add something special to your house once they're placed into one of the plot's "sockets."

WildStar PAX East 2013 Preview (Ten Ton Hammer)

Solo Dungeons – These will be one of the ways the main storyline will progress even after you’ve reached the level cap. Expect new solo dungeons to be deployed on a regular basis post-launch.

WildStar Player Housing Preview from PAX East 2013 (Ten Ton Hammer)

Objects can be scaled, rotated, and stacked to your heart’s content, so you’ll be able to do some of the creative things you’ve seen in other housing systems like EverQuest II where you could create spiral staircases leading up to loft or attic spaces with a little creative object placement. There aren’t really a ton of restrictions in WildStar as far as that stuff goes, but there will be bonuses and buffs you can gain based on the types of things you place. Your home will also be where you’ll want to log out each day to gain a rested XP bonus.

PAX East 2013: Hands-on with WildStar's Spellslinger and Warrior (Massively)

I also had the innate ability of all Spellslingers. As I shot things, I built up charges. Activating my innate ability gave me a short self-buff that affected all of my abilities. My snare turned into a root, my stun became more powerful, my basic and movable ranged attack both gained extra range... all useful stuff.

The Nexus Telegraph: Walking the WildStar path (Massively)

Explorer content is all about getting a handful of beacons directing you off to certain places and just going off to find one. If you come across a location where you can do a quest you didn't know about, you will just get a radio call directing you to do that quest. And you can do or not do that quest as you feel. There's a sense of freedom in pursuing the sort of content you want at any given moment. The point is asking how you want a given character to play.

[Morreion]

WildStar chronicles closed beta metrics and milestones (Massively)

Last night, WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney posted up a dev blog recapping the first days of the game's closed beta, which you are likely not in. We feel for you; we're not in either. Who is in? An Aurin by the name of Poptart, who became the first closed beta tester to make her way through character creation and set foot on Nexus. The first player-created UI mod, a friend-finding tool, was also whipped up within 24 hours. (Massively broke the news on how WildStar's modding system will work back in February.) And apparently, the Algoroc zone is a nasty place; it boasts four of the nine mobs most responsible for player death.

WildStar sneaks a peak at Stormtalon's Lair (Massively)

Making a new discovery on Nexus is always sort of a double-edged sword. The good news is that the Exile Academy of Science has discovered all sorts of fascinating details about the Thundercall Pell race living in the south of Galeras. The bad news is that some of this has come about as a result of discovering strange energy readings emanating from the caverns known as Stormtalon's Lair and the loss of a science team investigating the region, meaning that WildStar players will have to go in and deal with whatever ate the team that went in the first time.

The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's puppetmasters (Massively)

Take a look at that original lore post again. There are animals with patterns engraved on them, which may be just natural... or those patterns might look as clear to Eldan scientists as radio collars look to humans. There are clearly several research facilities and attempts to control natural phenomena throughout the planet. There's a moon in orbit that people speculate is artificial. We've got attempts to replicate organic creatures in ornate mechanical devices -- witness what appears to be a robotic Xenobite Queen toward the bottom.

WildStar's lead PvP designer on differentiation and dynamics (Massively)

There will be two PvP-centric stats on the game, one to improve damage to other players and one to decrease it. The development team is also including features like the ability to minimize the duration of a stun once you've been hit to avoid having PvP matches boil down to a race to incapacitate the other side. But both PvP and PvE are meant to still work toward the same whole -- things that you get on one side will be useful on the other, freeing you to explore the game aspects you find the most rewarding.

The Nexus Telegraph: What the Luminai mean for WildStar (Massively)

The first Luminai emperor does make sense. He was sent as both envoy and symbol, bearing the technology of the Eldan and the obvious unity with the Cassian humans. And he was the one who started off on the process of forming the Dominion, of getting Cassus on board with the idea of going out and spreading "galactic diplomacy" to every species of at least mild sentience. He had a purpose.

Massively Exclusive: How WildStar has the power to move you

Every class will have access to some movement abilities, but the details will vary based on class: Melee classes have a greater need for abilities to close distance quickly, for example. Some classes will also be able to improve their dashing or sprinting ability if players want to make more use of those tricks.

The Nexus Telegraph: Getting from place to place in WildStar (Massively)

When I first arrived in Deradune, it wasn't because my character walked over from the last region but because my character landed there in a ship. Similarly, there was nothing to indicate that this was out of the ordinary. In fact, the big transport addition that's been shown off for housing is a shuttlecraft that can take you somewhere.

In other words, you're not going to be running through contiguous zones. You'll be shuttling from place to place. The zones will be functionally little islands, with each one accessible only via flight.

Hands-on with WildStar's Scientist path and Esper class (Massively)

In fact, playing the Esper felt like playing a magical rogue. I built up charges using Telekinetic Strike, an ability that summons ethereal blades that pierce all enemies in a line. Mind Burst consumes the charges while manifesting a large hawk creature that swoops at the target, heavily damaging enemies in a cone before you. Building points was much more interesting than just spamming one skill.

WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney on the Settler path (Massively)

How does a Settler contribute socially/mechanically to the community and the game world?

When you go into a town, you see a couple of different things. You'll see some things that need maintenance, like a farmer's fence that has been destroyed; now his cows are escaping and you need to repair it. These types of interactions are separate from questing. You just find them and use the object or one of your path abilities. The internal name for that, which probably won't be used in the game, is a "minfrastructure" (mini-infrastructure). There is also true infrastructure like building a new shop, building a new vendor, or building a bus station. These are the major things you do in town. Usually, you'll do the smaller projects to gather resources for these bigger projects.

Entirely separate from that is unlocking Settler powers that allow you to free-farm anywhere. It isn't all "go and see the only five things I can do." You have a goal. You're either trying to raise a town's values or you're working to utilize your abilities. The more people use them, the more benefit you get from them.

WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney on progression, tradeskills, and endgame (Massively)

Is the crafting advancement something we're used to? Make 10 pairs of cotton space pants?

We're trying to avoid things like make 17 bronze hammers and 12 golden swords. We have questing, but we want it to be more like achievement-type advancement. I can't go into it too deep, but we think it's a fun system.

Let me put it like this: You're growing a garden of plants on the grounds of your housing plot. Maybe sometimes you wake up and you get some rare blooms, or maybe you've managed to grow a creature that tries to kill you. We want tradeskills to involve you more than just sitting in an auction house doing the same thing over and over again.

[Oatik]

This is one game that is on my radar, that doesn't mean much, but it puts it ahead of 90% of the other stuff out there.

[Morreion]

I like some of the game mechanics- their housing system, and their paths (settler, scientist, etc.) sound cool. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of cartoony characters though, preferring more realism. Wildstar is definitely different though, and that's a good thing!

[Regolyth]

May 31, 2013 15:22:20 GMT -5 Oatik said:

This is one game that is on my radar, that doesn't mean much, but it puts it ahead of 90% of the other stuff out there.

Heh, same.

Jun 1, 2013 8:35:39 GMT -5 Morreion said:

I like some of the game mechanics- their housing system, and their paths (settler, scientist, etc.) sound cool. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of cartoony characters though, preferring more realism. Wildstar is definitely different though, and that's a good thing!

I'm liking the humor that seems to be in the game.

[Morreion]

The Nexus Telegraph: Getting the message across in WildStar (before it kills you) (Massively)

Telegraphs in WildStar lay out a pretty direct set of information. You know that something is going to happen in that red area, and you don't want to be standing there any longer. Simple as heck, right? Almost insultingly so. You can figure it out without the game holding your hand, thank you!

Except the game isn't holding your hand; it's just telling you that something will happen here. At low levels, it's easy to see one spot pop up and avoid it. At higher levels, when there are several different overlapping telegraphs and you're zipping about trying to get in some damage -- with abilities that sometimes require you to stay put and sometimes allow you to move -- having the game tell you "something happens here" is going to require an entirely different set of rules.

WildStar reveals its final two races, the Chua and the Mordesh (Massively)

Revealed today at SDCC are the last two races in the game: the Chua that round out the Dominion and the Mordesh that round out the Exiles. Even at a glance you can see why the last two races are a bit less likely to be discussed by the other races. The Chua don't have that certain sense of decorum the Dominion likes to account itself with, and the Mordesh don't have... well, a pulse.

WildStar announces business model and new 2014 release window (Massively)

C.R.E.D.D. is an acronym for "Certificate of Research, Exploration, Destruction, and Development," which nicely summarizes the game's four paths. It will also be available for purchase for $19.99 when the game launches and can be redeemed for a month's worth of subscription time. That might seem like a bit of a ripoff when you consider that a monthly subscription is $14.99 (with discounts available for longer purchases, as with most games), until you realize that you don't have to use C.R.E.D.D. yourself.

At launch, WildStar will feature an exchange similar to the Gem Exchange in Guild Wars 2, allowing players to sell C.R.E.D.D. for in-game money. While the game does require a monthly subscription, it's entirely valid for players to earn a lot of money in the game, buy CREDD, and then continue playing without a single further expense. This makes it more like a buy-to-play game than a normal subscription model, even though you do need a subscription.

The Nexus Telegraph: The price of doing business in WildStar (Massively)

I've said before that one of the big problems MMOs have is a barrier to entry; no one wants to pay full price for a game and then pay more money for a game that might not be fun later. But as Jeremy Gaffney pointed out, that $60 early barrier to entry really isn't a problem for many people. Warhammer Online launched with over a million players, Star Wars: The Old Republic launched with two, and so forth. What caused problems was retention.

And that's valid, too. If you're really enjoying a game, paying some in-game money to keep playing might not be that much of a deal, but paying real money makes your continued play a bit more tenuous. No one balks at a $60 for a new game, but when you realize that the subscription keeps going and the total investment keeps piling up, suddenly the idea of just playing forever with that $60 investment gets a lot more appealing.

But will it work? Will the people who don't want to pay money every month have enough in-game money to make up the difference? Will people who do have the funds be able and willing to buy CREDD? Can the game really support more retention by holding itself hostage for those who'd prefer not to play?

I don't know. We haven't seen it in action. But it'll be neat to watch it play out.

WildStar locks you down for a look at crowd control (Massively)

So what's the WildStar solution? Simple: Make sure that even crowd-controlled players have something to do. If you're stunned, you can mash on a key to try and break out early as in many fighting games. Knocked down? Use a roll to get back on your feet quickly. Disarmed? Run over and grab your weapon! You can see several forms of crowd control in the video below, and while the changes might not prevent you from being stunlocked by seven people, you can at least react with something other than patience.

WildStar kicks off webcomic series Tales from Beyond the Fringe (Massively)

Hey! You like comics, don't you? Of course you do, you're on the internet. Would you like to read a comic about WildStar? That's less of a given, but the team at Carbine Studios certainly hopes you'd like to take a look at the first issue of what promises to be an ongoing comic series. And because the creators know what webcomics are like, the first issue focuses exclusively on somewhat amusing sociopaths.

PAX Prime 2013: A first-timer's impressions of WildStar (Massively)

What struck me about WildStar is that first and foremost it's a game that wants to keep you on the move. Combat is definitely not a "stand in one spot, trigger auto-attack, and trade hit point blows" affair. I really liked the telegraph system for not just the enemy but my character as well. I had a good time strafing around enemies to stay out of their big attack while keeping it within the range of my boom-booms. The Esper's attacks are eye-poppingly cool, with spinning blue blades and swooping magic eagles conjured out of the blue to strike at my foes.

I was a little nonplussed about the fact that beating up the initial enemies took a long time. I noted this to a dev, and he said that the team had received a lot of feedback regarding this and will be making some changes to the time-to-kill.

PAX Prime 2013: WildStar dungeon preview (Massively)

The final boss fight of Stormtalon first appears to be another Pell high priest. However, he soon transfers his life force into a nearby pulsating sack which births... this thing. Yeah, it's a cranky newborn dragon, and it comes out expecting a fight. We noticed that the environment was pretty massive and were told that this was because the telegraphs get nuts in this fight (as if they didn't before). The coolest part was when the dragon laid down a pain field that severely damaged everyone in the room -- everyone except a random player and a certain radius around him or her. Players needed to stack up on that player to survive.

WildStar Ability Mechanics Feedback (Keen & Graev)

In the video I saw a few things that bother me. First, the ground targeting indicators. In every fight I saw the floor lit up with different shapes. Every ability looks like it’s an area of effect attack. Whether it be a cone, a straight shot, an arc, etc., it all looks spammy to me. Ever play Hi-Rez Studios’ MOBA called Smite? The combat looks exactly the same. I’m not saying that’s bad, but something about it gives me a janky vibe… spaztactics, as I call them.

Second, I hate combat devolved into nothing but running around trying to skill-shot. I can’t remember which MMO it was, but everyone just ran around in circles spamming their instant cast abilities. The battlefield looked like a game of bumper cars. Heck, even GW2 was ridiculous with people rolling around dodging attacks (maybe it was GW2 I’m thinking about?). What are you doing to avoid your combat becoming nothing but instant cast circle strafing?

WildStar's Gaffney on why the game isn't free-to-play (Massively)

Gaffney explains that from the developer's standpoint, having a free-to-play model involves having a small number of players paying for most of the population, which makes the experience far more variable and unsteady. He also notes that free players have a very different experience from those who play, one that often removes the incentive to pay money in the first place. The game's stated business model requires a monthly subscription, which can be paid for via in-game money on an open marketplace.

WildStar Wednesday reveals shiphand missions (Massively)

Shiphand missions "play like extended, sequential quests," according to the latest WildStar Wednesday reveal. They scale from one to five players, and they're also repeatable. "Shiphands are ideal for doing something a little more involved than a normal quest with a few friends," the post says. "They're not as challenging as dungeons or adventures; they're just a fun vacation from Nexus for about 15-45 minutes of your time."

WildStar unveils the details on ability mechanics (Massively)

The biggest thing that all of these abilities mechanics do from a design standpoint is allow players to have access to a much wider range of abilities with different mechanics without trying to force everything to work the same way. Charges used for individual abilities allow the designers to create more intricate mechanics for those abilities, rather than relying on other talents or abilities to create synergy. It also means that abilities can be more finely tuned for the class as a whole rather than adhering to overall patterns; some hold abilities can be maintained indefinitely, others only as long as you have certain resources, still others only for a limited time. The mechanics are the same, but the details can be tuned by development to make sure a given ability fits for a class.