Every since WildStar was announced in 2011 I found myself intrigued by the game. Perhaps you could attribute this to the art style but, I was genuinely interested in their design approach. Over and over, Carbine Studios stated that they just wanted to make a fun game and cater to as many people as they could. To create an environment that not matter what the played did, they could enjoy themselves. This lead to development of content rich areas, unique play experiences and, sandbox-like features that enables players and guilds to create their own footprint.

When I played the game at Pax East this year I was able to experience some of that philosophy first hand. Getting a taste of the Dominion faction in the Dredune starter are, a Draken tribal area, I started out playing as a Cassian Spellslinger who specialized in the Solider Path. Right out of the gate, I seen the wealth of content and how it all melding together. The first quest I received tasked me with proving myself by hunting nearby creatures, a basic quest to introduce combat. However, since I chose the Soldier’s Path during character creation, I also had the opportunity to test stick grenades on the same wildlife I had to hunt. Essentially I was completing two quests at once but I was receiving a tailored experience from my path.

The combat varies with each class but the fundamental rules apply, don’t stand in the fire and be aware of your situation and surroundings. The game has dodge mechanics as well as, free form moves that allow you to DPS as you manuever. Do note however, that there are skills that will root you in place. Monsters will telegraph any big moves they are about to unleash, they vary from conal attacks, charges, and some skills randomly target the surrounding area. There is a mix of strategy and on your toes reactions. Utilizing your skill set, you slowly learn what a monster is capable of and adjusting the way you do combat to take it down efficiently.

For example, fighting a ram-like creatures in Dredune, I noticed they used a charging attack. So as a Spellslinger, I had the option of interrupting the charge or creating distance and calculating a way to counter the attack after it was performed. Since it was telegraphed I knew the end location of attack allowing me to dodge, create distance and use one of the Spellslinger’s ability to snare the target after the attack to create an easy kill before it was able to get into melee range of me.

The way combat works in WildStar I found myself strategizing a bit more and really thinking about how to deal with multiple monsters. A lot of attacks in the game can hit more than one enemy, so positioning is key and learning what options are available to you and when to use them are key to high level play. Overall I enjoyed combat quite a bit, it’s not as free form as action oriented game but not as restrictive as combat is in classic MMOs.

What impressed me the most about the game was the small touches made throughout the area. When I killed the neutral mobs in the area, vulchers would come down and pick over the corpse. When they did I had the option of eliminating them as well. The Soldier’s Path mission I mentioned before, when I used the stick grenades on the hostile wildlife, they would take it and bang it against the ground until it exploded resulting in comical explosion of fictional bones and meat. Throughout the zone monsters were being dropped off in cages not native to the area for the Draken and players to hunt.

I also had the opportunity to see what the Explorer’s Path was about. It gave me the opportunity to climb intrigue tree formations to get a good look around my surrounding area as well as, discover a hidden area only accessible by explorers that not only give me a neat underground area to explore but, I could also use it to traverse across the zone.

There are other features of the game I wanted to see in action but was unable to experience first hand. Housing is one of the staple features in WildStar. It allows players to not only create a footprint by designing a home to their tastes but to also use the surrounding land to plant crafting nodes, raid teleports, jumping puzzles, etc., and share it with the public, friends, or keep access solely for themselves. Akin to housing, they are also implementing Warplots, which are custom made PvP areas that guilds can use as a fort that can be pitied against and group or guild in custom PvP matches outside the structured PvP or open world PvP combat.

WildStar like Guild Wars 2 has managed to grab my attention well before launch because they showcase elements that I want in a MMO. In Guild Wars 2, I adore the level scaling system because it gives me the ability to play with friends who are lower level then my characters. I love to create a certain look for my character and the system they have in place allows me to do that. I’ve asked a developer on the show floor about creating a custom look for my character and I was told they are working on something to allow that.

WildStar provides a smorgasbord of content that mingles together quite nicely. The starter area gave me a lot of options to how I wanted to level and with the Path system I can tailor that further depending on the playstyle I want for a certain character or my personal preference. I believe if a game, MMOs in particular can have features that allow it to create a more intimate experience with players, they will tend to stick around for the long haul because a piece of them exists in the game. So aside from character creation creation,  Housing, and Warplots I feel are important features that I’m glad they are developing for launch.

Overall, I enjoyed the sessions I was able to get with WildStar, I liked the art style, the combat was enjoyable, and the path content was unique and provided a unique taste of what the game had to offer during my various play sessions. I want to see what else the game has to offer in the coming months.

Related Posts:

• Gamescom 2011: The Four Forked Road [Wildstar]
• Videos of the Week: WildStar Gamescom 2012 Footage
• The Beginning of a Long Journey [GW2]

Update: A winner has been picked. Thank you all for participating. There was a lot of interest in Krieg. I’d like to think it was the dynamite downed state.

While I was at Pax, I was able to gather a few goodies to give away to my readers and those of you I interact with through social media. I’ll keep it simple, if you are interested in any of these goodies, just shoot me an e-mail me Tramella1 -at- gmail dot com letting me know which giveaway you want to be a part of and the best way to reach you in case you are one of the lucky winners. This can be a twitter handle, dummy e-mail, anything you feel comfortable with. If you are coming here from Google+ or Facebook, you can leave a comment on the post and that will also act as an entry to the two giveaways.

On Saturday, March 30, 2013 around noon time, I will draw names from a hat for each prize.

Borderlands 2: Krieg Givewaway

Krieg is Borderlands 2 latest Vault hunter. A sort of an anti-hero, Krieg is an enhanced pyscho who specializes in a bruiser style combat.  Unlike Brick, he won’t regenerate health over time but, he will gain health if he kills an enemy. He is describe as a high risk, high reward character, an excellent character for those of you who want to teeter between life and death as you wade through enemies.

Krieg’s trademark skill is utilizing the iconic psycho’s axe, which he can use as a range weapon as well and like every vault hunter available he has three skill trees, Bloodlust, Mania, and Hellborn. Bloodlust caters to the gun side of combat whereas, Mania caters to those who seek the ultimate risky/reward gameplay. The tree turns on friendly fire that can be used to recharge Krieg’s main skill. I should also mention he also is able to use dynamite when put in a downed state in this tree. The last tree, Hellborn allows those of you who always wished they called play as one of those burning pyschos, Well, here is your chance. This tree allows Krieg to ignite himself and enemies with melee attacks; fire equals power.

If you are an avid Borderlands 2 fan and want in on this character for free when it releases sometime in May, send an e-mail.

Related Posts:

• A Tailored Buffet [WildStar]
• Pax East 2013: The Giveaways – Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Key
• Pax East 2013: Photo Dump

Update: A winner has been picked. Thank you all for participating. The turn out was great!

Another giveaway, same deal, send an e-mail me Tramella1 -at- gmail dot com letting me know which giveaway you want to be a part of  and the best way to reach you in case you are one of the lucky winners. This can be a twitter handle, dummy e-mail, anything you feel comfortable with. If you are coming here from a social media site, you can leave a comment with the same details on the post and that will also act as an entry to one of the two giveaways.

On Saturday, March 30, 2013 around noon time, I will draw names from a hat for each prize.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Code Giveaway

Final Fantasy XIV has been in a state of repair since its bungled launch in late 2011. After a staff mix up leaving Naoki Yoshida as the man in charge of turning the game into something that would be up to par with today’s standards and beyond, it has been a non-stop grindfest to get the game up to scratch. It has been almost a year and a half since then, and the game has a come along way. It’s been built practically from the ground up with a new engine better suited for MMO gameplay, new server technology, all new content, user interface, new and retooled environments – no more copy pasta – and so on. There is too much to cover that would fit here but I will put a video below so you can create an impression.

Anyhow before it gets buried, I have a beta code for phase 2 of testing slated for early April. Also I was told that this code will work for the PlayStation 3 beta version of this game, so if you have a PS3, feel free to enter as well. As usual send an e-mail to Tramella1 -at- gmail dot com if you are interested.

Related Posts:

• The Year Long Journey Towards Version 2.0 [FFXIV]
• One Year Anniversary Q&A [FFXIV]
• Final Fantasy XIV: Grand Companies, Adjustments, Settlements and Miracle Poop

For starters, I thought I would show some of the photographs I took during my trip. Forgive the quality, working with a seven-year old point & shoot. I will be doing more in-depth posts as the week goes on. I have to say, I think I went to more panels this time then I previously did, which isn’t a bad thing. I learned a lot this year and since I wasn’t with the media this time around I had time to explore some of the stuff I ordinarily wouldn’t have such as tabletop and the arcade areas.

Look forward to posts on the various panels I attended and some of the games I had a chance to check out, especially WildStar and The Elder Scrolls Online. Still recovering from my trip and settling back in. Enjoy!

12►

Related Posts:

• A Tailored Buffet [WildStar]
• Pax East 2013: The Giveaways – Krieg the Psycho
• Pax East 2013: The Giveaways – Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Key

Over the past week we received some fresh content for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Version update 1.7, Return of the Gree brought about a reputation system as well as, a fancy new world event that will recur over the year. The reputation system which BioWare calls Galactic Reputation adds organizations that you can earn a reputation with and receive special rewards and titles the farther you progress with them. The Return of the Gree event helps tell the story of the ancient race. The Gree are known for their technological prowess and they have arrived on Ilum to collect data on the two factions. The event consists of a number of daily and event specific missions that help players ease into the reputation system.

The system has 6 tiers of progression and by completing missions, you earn trophies that allot you a certain amount of reputation points. They vary in quality, the higher it is the more points you earn. There is a weekly cap to how much you can advance, so those of us with multiple characters don’t gain a significant advantage outside of earning trophies at a faster rate for the weeks that follow.

One thing to note however, reputation is legacy bound and transfers across faction. As an example, if you are playing your republic character and level up with the Voss, the same rank will apply to your character allied with the Empire. Also some organizations are mirrors of each other, such as the Republic Hyperspace Armada and Imperial First Mobile Fleet and the same example applies to them. I don’t have a strong opinion about the reputation system but, I like there is something else to be accomplished when I’m tired of my usual routine of completing flashpoints and operations or leveling my other lowbie characters – my children.

The addition of the event allows us to see the vision of how the content and reputation interacts. By participating in the event, earning trophies, and increasing your standing there are some good rewards and titles waiting for you. The gear and weapons have a distinct Tron feel with glowing blue and red lights weaved throughout to match the aesthetics of the Gree technology. The weapons that you can purchase from acquiring the special event currency is bound to legacy which means you can use it to transfer high level weapon modifications to other characters. Finally I can purchase a lightsaber to transfer over hilts I’ve been saving.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about the event. I liked the event itself, I really dig the Gree species and their technology aesthetics, and I like what they did with the unused area of Ilum but, with the weekly cap on reputation and the weapon rewards requiring champion status, tier 5, it leaves a slight bitter taste since the reward I wanted I have to wait a couple weeks to purchase and use. For me there isn’t that instant reward from participating.

Even though having to wait for my reward I firmly believe this is a fine addition to SW:TOR. Even though grinding a reputation for various organizations may not be everyone’s thing it still adds that layered content that game needs as it continues to progress. If developers can do it well and support it, I very much favor a smorgasbord design approach as it allows me to branch out and do something a bit outside of what I am use to.

Related Posts:

• Gaming Journal: Winter Thoughts [SWTOR]
• Not Just The Payment Model [SWTOR]
• Game Journal: One Sweet Journey [SWTOR]

Over the course of this late winter where I live, I’ve been jotting down notes to myself whenever an idea pops into my head or when I catch myself forming a strong opinion about something. I felt I should share them on my blog, since most of the time I was just using them to write longer pieces and I thought there might be another use for them. For now I’ll try talking one to three of these topics at hand and discuss them when I don’t have anything specific to talk about. Today’s blog post focuses on Star Wars: The Old Republic, I take a look at the Cartel Market, benefits of raiding, and upcoming content.

A lot of the more interesting gear and fluff come from cartel packs, which when broken down are pretty much packs you can buy that yield random goods. You open them up for a chance at rare loot(rare equipment, crystal colors, pets, etc…) and depending on your luck or how much money you invest you may or may not get the items you were looking for or items that are worth any value to recoup any of your initial investment. Essentially the packs plays on the gambling habit of the player.

At the end of the day, you are reduce to either waiting for the item to be put on the GTN at a fairly high price, good luck to you F2P players out there or, you can keep feeding money to buy cartel coins to purchase more packs. I have nothing against this particular method but it’s a real turn off for me when there is no alternative way to acquiring these items, and no, I personally don’t think paying an absurd price on the GTN as an acceptable alternative method.

The reason I’m particular bummed about this is that I’m a big advocate of having your character look like how you imagine it. So I love it when games have a system in place that allows you to tailor the look of your character beyond character customizations. The Secret World offers a ton of clothing available to your character, keeping stats on amulets, rings, etc… Guild Wars 2 has a skin system in place that allows you to freely get the desired look of your character albeit it has to be of the same armor class that your profession uses.

So I love the fact that you can purchase entire sets of gear on the market along with a handful of body pieces. The “but” here is that most of the skins are reused models of existing gear in the game. At best you can use iconic armor that you associate with a different classes on another class. It feels like all the good stuff is reserved for the packs and they put crap up for individual purchase, leaving me feeling down on the market because I feel nickel and dimed.

One of the main benefits I’ve seen on raiding in SW:TOR is accelerating the time it takes to gear up alts, companion characters, as well teach you the more subtle points of playing your class.  With a little bit of help from the past world events and spending credits on legacy gear you can easily take time to have a set of tier 2, 3, and 4 set of raid gear for a freshly leveled alternate character. Just purchase legacy gear that you can share between toons, throw the mods and enhancements in them and send them away to another character. Boom! She/He is all set when they hit 50. There will be a lot more work to be done of that character but you can give them a nice headstart.

If you routinely complete the weekly operation and flashpoint quests you can quickly acquire a bunch of commendations that can be used to gear up any characters you see fit. If you are really on the ball you can also complete the weekly missions in the daily areas to earn some extra scratch as well as more commendations. Having a high level character allows you to decrease the hardships of leveling an alt.

You’d be surprised when you play with a lot of other people you don’t normally play with, and you see a lot of people don’t understand the finer points of their class. For example, most classes get an interrupt skill that cancels a channeling attack and prevents it from being used for a brief period. Using it at the right time can mitigate a lot of damage the tank or yourself would take. At higher levels of play these simple mechanics become a vital part of boss encounters or regular trash pulls.

Recently, BioWare has started the PR engine for their next patch 1.7 named, “The Return of the Gree.” In the upcoming patch we will be getting a new recurring event that will take place in the PvP zone on the planet, Ilum, which has been underused since they decided to shut down the original PvP event that people mostly exploited instead of playing it as it was intended. Since then, Ilum has been a black eye for the game since it didn’t meet the expectations of anyone as it was intended to be a major player that contributed to the elder game.

From reading the description of the new event it seems to be a mix of PvP and PvE elements. In the contested area of Ilum players will have to discover the purpose of an ancient Gree starship suggesting that there will be a world boss there. If that is the case I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. I never liked combining PvE and PvP encounters together thanks to my days with Aion and people insatiable appetite to grief someone. Another element that caught my mind was that they labeled it as a “recurring” event and that leaves me wondering if there will be specifics times this event plays out or is it just an ongoing struggle between the two factions. There will also be special armor and weapons to be had to those who participate in the event.

Another addition coming to the game is the Galactic Reputation system, which is essentially their version of faction grinding found in other MMOs. It’s a nice touch and something to keep people busy. I assume the missions will take place of the higher tier planets such as Corellia, Voss, Ilum, and perhaps they will use the daily areas as well. I’m interested to see where the missions will take us and it would be a nice touch if we have to revisit areas we long moved on from. The last note here is that from the screenshot reputation is purchasable which leads to think that the rewards may not be super awesome but some nice additions such as unique armors, pets, mounts.

All and all, I like the steady flow of content but I ultimately wish that they take care of some of the bugs in the game. The bugs aren’t game breaking but, they are in your face constantly and it starts giving off a bad quality vibe for the game. Examples are companion saber light persistence, random crashes to desktop while performing some conversations, UI bugs such as companion previews and inspecting other players don’t work properly. I’m happy that they are piece-mealing content but it feels that the QA department isn’t getting enough time to fix things or refix something that was broken in a previous patch.

Related Posts:

• Return of the Gree and Galactic Reputation Impressions [SWTOR]
• Not Just The Payment Model [SWTOR]
• Game Journal: One Sweet Journey [SWTOR]

A new year begins and it ushers in a fresh start, a beginning of another of those many journeys you take in life. Before the New Year hit I’ve spent time reflecting and what exactly it was I wanted to achieve this year and use whatever goals I strived for as a foundation as I move forward. For a while now I feel like I’ve been stuck in a rut. I’m not in a bad place but I feel I owe to myself to achieve something higher no matter how long it takes or how hard it may become. Been prepping for this since the later months of 2012, hence the lack of posts which will pick back up significantly this year and I look forward to seeing what I can do in a year. I’ll try to post my progress along with the usual content you’ll find on my blog.

Gaming activity wise, I’ve been knee deep in my MMO of choice, Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’ve found myself doing a lot of things that I thought I would never do. I’ve leveled up multiple maxed-leveled characters and even went through the process of gearing them up and making sure they are raid ready. I’ve made it a side project to gear my companions as well so I would be able to complete and participate in content that would require four people with just a friend and myself.

I’ve even explored multiple crafting and gathering trades, though most of my characters focus on Biochem since it saves me money when I want to raid with them as well as, make me a tidy sum of money from time to time by selling the higher quality stims and medical packs. That being said I shouldn’t discount the other crafting professions as my Smuggler who is invested in the Cybertech skill allows me to break down mods and armorings for the high quality materials I need to craft most high level modifications such as weapon barrels and hilts as well as armorings she cannot craft yet.

I’ve been with the game a year and then some and a routine has naturally formed for me. Ever week on a Tuesday morning the weekly quests reset and that provides me a checklist of things to do in between raids, flashpoints and the spontaneous fun I have with friends, datacrons are a lot more enjoyable to get with a good friend.

All and all I’m quite happy with the game. I believe finding an awesome friend to play with as well as, guilds on both factions have contributed to my loyalty to the game. Dabbling in other games help too. I played through all the episodes for Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, a really touching game despite the majority of it involves you making decisions rather than actual gameplay. Don’t Starve, a quirky Minecraft like survival game. It’s still in beta but I really like the art style and the world has a unique charm as you stumble across the map and make sense of the tools you have at your disposal.

On the content front, I’ll still be doing long form blogs posts along with shorter bits that can include weekly gaming journals, my opinions on any topic, plugs for friends who produced excellent, meaningful content. As always I will be keeping a screenshot gallery and a video for most of the games I play to provide a bit of alternative content. Cheers to you and to a wonderful new year.

Related Posts:

• Return of the Gree and Galactic Reputation Impressions [SWTOR]
• Gaming Journal: Winter Thoughts [SWTOR]
• Not Just The Payment Model [SWTOR]

I has been a long two months and as you can see I haven’t had the time to write. Thankfully, the unusual busy season for me is slowly dying down and I will soon have the time to sit down and commit pen to paper.

As you know, today is a special day at least in the United States and that is Thanksgiving. A time of reflection and a time of giving thanks for everything that has carried you thus far.

Somehow I’ve come down with a cold but, that won’t deter me today! I’m thankful for a lot in my short life. I’m grateful to my family for always being there for me. We may not always talk on a routine basis but it’s comforting to know that you are only a stone throw away should I need to reach out.
I’m thankful for my special friendship with Rhuan. She has been an inspiration to me and an invaluable friend. She has done so much for me, I don’t think I can ever express how fortunate I am to have known her. Thank you for the lovely painting by the way, still squeeing.

A shout-out to all the people who have read my blog, I’m glad you took the time to read my thoughts on various topics, mostly MMOs. All the people on Twitter, Google +, and Facebook, you’re quips and deep insight allow me to learn and evolve every day.

Even though not everything I’ve done has gone according to plan, I’m blessed to be where I am. There is still a long way to go but I have the support of family, friends, and work to keep me going. There is plenty more to be thankful for but, it’s time to spend time with the family. I hope all of you enjoy your time today, be safe.

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• No Related Posts

This past week has been all about Guild Wars 2, well mostly anyways. Since I pre-purchased the game, I was able to hop on for headstart and I never looked back. Starting off, I was unable to get the names I wanted but I was able to tact on a last name to remedy that situation.   Although, I named my human necromancer Cáde, which in hindsight wasn’t the best idea since if I’m talking to some in PMs, I need to talk to them first or they need to dig in a menu for my name since most people are not familiar with alt key shortcuts for special characters.

Naming conundrums aside, I’ve been having a ball with the game. After reserving a name for a cherished friend I moved on to create a necromancer and norn thief. The human necromancer was a no brainer for me with the story I had setup for myself – street rat, lost sister, attuned to Grenth – but I made a bit of a gamble choosing a Norn to go with the Thief profession. I love the class a lot but, my early adventures with the Norn race during beta let me very disappointed.

During the early betas, all the dialogue felt like it was forced bravado. Everyone was gun-ho 110% of the time to the point where they all felt really one dimensional and it didn’t feel real. However, they a lot of changed that overall made the race feel a lot better while retaining that gun-ho super positive attitude that represents the Norn. So for the moment I’m enjoying my Norn Thief and sometime down the line I will pick up the Asura since I really enjoyed my time with the race during BWE 3.

I’m taking it easy and leveling up two characters at the same time. I’m succumbing to the completionist aspect of myself and finding all the waypoints, points of interests, skill point and puzzle challenges, and vistas. I picked up the Tailor and Jeweler for crafting professions and since gathering and creating items grants a good chunk of experience points, it makes it all worthwhile. Tailoring is coming along smoothly and I was able to create a set of green – Blue gear in other MMOs – for my level 23 necromancer, but I’m stalled a bit on Jeweler until my guild leader Ryan passed some extra Gemstones my way.

Since then I’ve been cooking with gas. I really like crafting, since all stats are important the choice in gear and the way you can create items leads to tons of different combinations for certain playstyles.I’m sure at some point people will have the “best in slot” gear for certain popular builds but nothing feels set in stone with Guild Wars 2.

Overall the leveling experience has been fairly smooth. Even with issues with the overflow servers and grouping I have manage to play with a few friends with a little bit of magic i.e., zoning in and out, logging out and in etc… The dynamic events certainly have a rift vibe to them but I like how some of them branch out if you stick with them such as the world events in an area or for example, in the Shiverpeak Mountains there is a Norn boy building a snowmen army to scare off the Grawl who attacked his father.

The event goes from a lodge getting attacked, to gathering scrap armor pieces scattered, and when enough of the armor scraps harvested the kid runs back in from of the ledge to build his army men. He literally build each one and a script plays out. Grawl start to invade, but notice the snow army men and are tricked into thinking that they called reinforcements to combat them. They then turn tail and run away but, unfortunately a Shaman comes and calls the kid on his bluff and uses the snowmen to his advantage to spawn a bunch of ice elemental and it is up to us to weed through them to kill the shaman, break the spell and resultantly pushback the Grawl invasion.

On a side note, the attention to detail to a lot of the on-the-fly quests and the way they sometimes link to each other allows me to appreciate the living and breathing world of the game and enjoy the content even after I’ve done it once or twice. Anyhow I think I ranted enough about my adventures. I’m enjoying my time with the game and I don’t feel rushed to play it aside from seeing some of friends who are in their 40s and 60s already.

Related Posts:

• Character Diversity: The Many Flavors [GW2]
• News Blitz and Confirmations [GW2]
• The Ties that Bind: The Guild System [GW2]

Ever since Pax Prime 2011, Carbine Studio’s MMO, WildStar has been quietly being developed. Aside from the WildStar Wenesdays and #Wsuplink on Twitter information has been pretty sparse over the year. At Gamescom 2012, they held private demonstrations showcasing combat, world design, philosophy, and teasing future content. What I came away with after watching all the videos and what really impressed was their mentality of “keeping the experience fresh.”

The world design is expressive and varied. As the developer flew around you can see the environment constantly changing along the way. The monsters found within have unique way of attacking and with the way combat being very movement heavy, the environment you fight said monster in can offer a different experience. There are places where you can interact with the world such as, blue crystals embedded into the ground that allows you to jump higher and reach new areas that may have hidden gems. You can set off a box of fireworks to destroy enemies in the vicinity if you’re a stealth class. I really like that type of interaction, it makes me feel more connected to the world  because it break away from the “kill stuff, loot and repeat” mindset you develop as you play creating that dreaded laundry-list playstyle.

One thing that does worry me though is that they added tons and tons of content. I hope it is all meaningful and not just the same thing with a simple word swap. It’s inevitable but mask it a bit. Instead kill 17 this or collect 72 of that, I would like see a “research this node over here” objective and I just happen to kill 20 of tigerbear-magi pigs along the way. Perhaps something in the way of Guild Wars 2 and  provided varied objectives for a given area or simply hide the number count and players fill up a progress bar instead. Hopefully they can mask the grind well with varied objectives, visual elements and gameplay.

Overall, I am really looking forward to WildStar, I love the art style, the animations, and the way combat is shaping up to be very movement based and rewarding smart play. Also, in the videos below, as the developer flys through the air with the Aurin, it has a nifty animation, I like that kind of attention to detail. Recently they unveiled that they are implementing a housing system in the game and they try to work it into the core experience for those who like that particular system, myself included. Down below you’ll find four videos made by Gametrailers. Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• A Tailored Buffet [WildStar]
• Gamescom 2011: The Four Forked Road [Wildstar]
• The Beginning of a Long Journey [GW2]