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[Column] WildStar: Choose Your Weapon
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Weaponry in any MMO is one of the most crucial features in the game, something that can quite literally make or break a game. In today's WildStar column, we take a look at weapons. See what we have to say before heading to the comments.
Each Class in WildStar has a signature weapon type that only they can use. Warriors use power swords to do the carving and cleaving. Stalkers have claw-like fist weapons to slice and dice. Spellslingers carry a pair of magical pistols for a mix of ranged attacks, and Espers wield psyblades to augment their potent psionic powers. As for those two unknown Classes? Judging from Carbine’s teasers, one will grip a pair of CPR-style pads, while the other seems to favor a rifle or possibly shoulder-cannon.
Read more of Garth Harmer's WildStar: Choose Your Weapon.
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Comments
That's not a shoulder cannon in the pick, the spellslinger has both arms outstretched and the angle of the camera gives the illusion that it's shoulder mounted, more so since that one is charging up.
But no, no shoulder mounter cannon.
Perhaps my description was a little clumsy. It's a bit tricky to tell, but one of the undisclosed classes uses a long-barrreled weapon. In some shots it looks like a rifle, but the large calibre in others make it look like a two-handed cannon that's braced at the shoulder, possibly getting as large as a rocket launcher. But, since I haven't seen it in action, it's difficult to say what ammunition it uses.
So no, not Predator-style. Although that would be an awesome concept
Currently playing: WildStar, Guild Wars 2, EVE Online, Vain Glory.
Can't say I'm happy about having 3 different sets of gear for different aspects of the game. I'm the kinda guy who likes to design his character one way and play that way throughout all aspects of the game. And having to collect 3 different sets of gear to be able to enjoy it all get anoying, and painful to manage.
I mean so what if raiders get to find the best gear in the game? they're certaintly putting in the effort for it, and part of that reward is getting to go around and pub-stomp npcs and other players in pvp. No I'm not a raider, I raid very casually and usually never get gear from raiding. But seeing a raider decked out in cool gear and stomping through PvP is awe-inspiring, and makes raiding look more rewarding. And it makes you want to have raider friends to watch your back.
I agree With you on the part of Raiders in full RAID are allowed to rofl stomp NPCs.
I STRONGLY dissagree these players being overpowerful in PVP!
That's why PVP in MMOs suck so badly and hugely imbalanced!
PVP should be about fun and balanced skill and NEVER about gear!
Thats why I think raiders should be able to stomp people in pvp.
PVP has absolutely nothing to do With PVE! Raiding is PVE! So RAID gear should be restricted to PVE. Period!
We don't know yet how much of a difference those non raid PVE stats are going to make. It might very well end up being that the difference in power between raid and non raid gear more than makes up for any bonuses special stats would give in which case all they are doing is trying to close the gap a bit between raiders and non raiders without having to make the gear equivalent.
The alternative is what EQ2 has had. A game where raid gear is so much more powerful than non raid gear that you either have trivial small group and solo content that raiders don't even bother with, you make that content so hard that you need raid gear to finish making the gear you get out of it meaningless or you make the rewards from solo and small group content equivalent to raiding gear making raiding meaningless other than as a social experience or for bragging rights. EQ2 has done all three of those and I don't think any of them has resulted in a system that is fair to both raiders and non raiders.
The fact that Carbine has identified the issue is promising and hopefully they can come up with a system that works for raiders and non raiders alike.
I could really care less about PVP in a theme park game as If I want to PVP I'll play a PVP focused game.
Sounds good to me, no more silly stuff like with games like WoW, where you have several different classes rolling on gear that someone can use for an alt spec, taking it away from someone who can use it for their main spec.
Keep it simple, and class specific for weapons and armor drops I say.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
my biggest issue with Wildstar, 6 classes, 40 man raids, 6 weapon types, no choice to make, warrior 2h sword, priest mace etc its so lame
TERA did it first and it sucked there too
PVP has absolutely nothing to do With PVE! Raiding is PVE! So RAID gear should be restricted to PVE. Period!
Its commets like that which make me wonder why developers even bother putting pvp and pve in the same game, if you can't mix the two together.Hey, I'm glad they are making the animations really good per class and race combo. Thumbs up!
But only one weapon type is just sad. Sorry, not fun at all. Not creative. I know it's more work to balance weapon types and drops, but that is just flat out boring as all get out. What if I dont want to have a warrior using a 2H oversized dumb looking weapon? That just totally screwed the entire class for me.
Bad game design choice, right there.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
So PVP gear shouldn't be allowed in PvE, is that it?
I will not play another gear grinding game that requires more than one set to do both pve and pvp. That is just crazy burn out. There is not reason that you shouldn't be able to use the same gear and be competitive. Just maintain uniqueness to some flavor perks to gear from Raids to set it apart a bit to keep the raiders happy.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
If soloers and small groupers aren't allowed to have gear that lets them stomp through their preferred content, then raiders or pvpers shouldn't be able to stomp through solo / small group content either. Said content needs to either neuter raid gear that is worn or automatically remove it and force the player to keep a normal gear set.
I think the general idea is sound, and frankly it serves to solve a few issues. Granted, not everyone is going to see it like that, but this is what I think:
- they made it look like solo/small group gear is a sort of base gear setup, with X amount of stats. raid gear would be X + raid stats, and pvp would be X + pvp stats. This implies that not only will raid/pvp gear not be interchangeable, but neither raid nor pvp gear will dominate the small group/open world etc gear.
- the lack of raid gear dominance is important. because unlike most other themeparks, where ad the endgame you go from solo to dungeon to raid, you have more progression paths. So you don't HAVE to run that raid if you want an upgrade. But instead you are able to refine your gear setup doing the content you actually enjoy.
- lack of raid dominance also makes story and solo content more meaningful, because you will get something relevant out of it, namely gear for said content. if WoW did solo story content after their first tier of raids, people would outgear it, and I would bet you a lot people would never even bother with it, because ew solo content, it only drops weaksauce pve gear and is too easy.
- limiting the power creep. this also is a big potential. because you don't have to have a daily/dungeon progression first, only to build into a raid progression. instead, you can get people into raids faster, thus letting them do what they want, and you don't have this linear progression of daily -> dungeon -> tier 1 -> tier2 -> next expansion. instead, you deal with a potentially shallower gearing curve, thus lessening that awkward feel of "I'm in tier xyz raid gear, and this quest green just replaced my legendary.." whilst also avoiding the effect where enemies quadruple in hitpoints from lvl 50 to 51 etc, like many other games do. It won't eliminate it, but I think it can lessen the effect, because now not only raiders progress in gear, but you allow everyone to progress, just in specialized ways.
- some people say this will lead to chaos. But from the current impression I've got, I have to say that Carbine are a bunch of smart cookies. I wouldn't put it past them to give us a gear manager similar to what FF14 does. Which frankly, is hands down the best gear management I've seen in my personal MMO history. the armory chest is wonderful. it could use some quality of life stuff, but that aside, just lovely. So if we get something like that for wildstar, then honestly, managing 3-6 gear sets really won't actually be all that hard.
- stat stick talk. personally, i don't mind. most games really dont give many meaningful choices, and staff versus wand + offhand or something like bow vs crossbow really is only cosmetic. imho thanks to their stylized art style, not only do the races have character, but the classes are gunning for the same. so having one set of weapons just creates a stronger impact on what the class is about. think tf2 here, every class had a signature weapon in the beginning, and a personality. this same effect happens in wildstar, at least in my eyes. I'm finding myself attracted a lot to the characters and classes, simply because compared to other games, they just have more character and personality. they have a distinct feel that they convey.
- lastly before i forget. the whole idea of raid-gear pride. I agree that raids are hard, i dabbled in them a bit. they damn well should be, and wildstar is again aiming to please here and make raids fiendishly difficult. (anyone who says telegraphs = easymode, theres the door. just because you can see the read doesnt mean the red won't hunt you down and make you suffer
). but that said, ultimately you dont get the strongest gear in the game necessarily. but what you do get is two things. strong /raid gear/, meaning stuff that helps you with - surprise - the content you enjoy playing, and on the other hand, gear that looks badass. imho, its not about pure stats. if someone sees your shiny, complete T1 raid set, they will know that you worked hard for it. and imho THAT feeling beats raw power. heck it even puts you a bit more on par with open world players and you actually get to play WITH them arther than just faceroll your way through the open world event stuff and leave the "lesser mortals" in the dust.
- ok one last thing. its 4am and im being creative. content diversity. now that raid gear isnt the OP end all, be all of gear, you actually can design for the soloers/small group people. I really enjoyed raiding in wow, but honestly, thats all i got to do. i farmed my dailies, and then that was literally done with. then i got my pre-raid set complete, and i raided. once a week. i also farmed mats to make raid pots. and thats /it/. the entirety that there as to do. I actually wouldve really liked meaningful content in the open world or on small groups that challenged me, and that gave me cool gear. and guess what, in wildstar I can refine my solo gear. I would imagine a ton of people actually enjoy the idea, soloing or doing small group stuff, and tweaking their gear, while not having to stand in the shadow of someone who got carried through a 20-man and got two purples out of it. it just opens up the late/end game way more, and more importantly, it lets people enjoy the content they want, and carbine design content for enthusiasts. solo content/dungeons for people who really love that experience, and raids for people who love to raid for the experience of it, not just smash their face into it because of lolepics
Then they should have more than a pathetic 6 classes which are racially locked as well. Ultra fail.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Well, this game plays like WoW but is less polished, and the quest NPCs give you two lines of text per quest instead of a paragraph or two.
If that doesn't sound interesting, then don't fret about the one weapon limitation they just announced, cause you likely won't be playing this game.
I wrote a long discussion about the lack of choice in weapons while playing the beta, and was flamed continuously by the fanbois of Wildstar.
1 weapon per class is game breaking to me, I knew after playing about 4 hrs of Betas, I wouldnt be buying much less subbing to this title