My WildStar Review

jitter77

Some background info.  I have played WoW for a few years (not hard core)  Had a few max level characters but did not raid.  I have played everquest and everquest 2.  I played LOTRO when it first came out and had recently picked it up again.  I have a couple max level chars in neverwinter, but trying to group in that game is ridiculous, plus there are a lot of dungeon cheats which makes the game pointless for me.  I have also Dabbled in Tera, Rift, atlantica online, rappelz, maple story, diablo III, PoE, and who knows what else.....Now on to the review!

Music 9.7 / 10 ---- I would have given it a 10, but I prefer LOTRO music the best so that is the standard I measure everything to.  Wildstar and LOTRO are the only games where I do not turn off the background music.

Sound 5 / 10 ---- As good as the music is I am not impressed with the sound effects at all.  Most of the sounds are generic to me and even somewhat annoying

Graphics 9 / 10 ----  Even if you dont like the cartoony graphics the game is still visually impressive (if you can turn up the graphics)

Story NA ---- Unfortunately I basically skip though the dialog so I really have no idea what my "purpose" is.  Maybe next playthough I will listen to the lore.  On a side note the only MMO I listed to the story was SWTOR

PVP NA ---- I have not PVPed yet so cant say anything about it.  I hate PVP in general but may try it out eventually

PVE 7.8 / 10 ---- My main complaints about PVE are I am running into places where mobs are packed tightly and you basically have to fight your way though everything.  There are also "surprise" elites scattered about that you basically can not solo.  The problem with this is most elites look the same as basic mobs.  Only way to tell them apart is to check HP.  You can spend 20 minutes getting somewhere then engage an elite and die.  If this happens you have to pay a high rez fee to rez in place or rez at a shrine for free.  If you goto the shrine chances are most mobs are respawned so you have to fight everything all over again.

Some basic mobs are also fairly challenging / annoying especially the flying ones.  Overall though I think the combat system is pretty good and its not as twitch related as most seem to say.  To stay out of the telegraphs you dont have to have ninja reflexes.  I am a medic right now and can cast / use most abilities on the move.  I have done world bosses, but not dungeons yet.  The world bosses are a long fight and the boss will reset if not killed in time.  Large scale fights are very chaotic so I am curious to see how raids will be.  I heard dungeons are rough so I am excited to see that.  People complain about games being too easy then when they are hard they either find cheats or whine.  I dont get it? 

Crafting 8 / 10 ---- I like the crafting system.  Its kinda the same as most games, but has some twists.  Especially cooking.  Right now some tradeskills are not balanced, but I expect that to be fixed.  The leather drop rate for survivalist is terrible currently for example.  I am an outfitter and  you have your basic materials then you add a power core and a stat modifier.  The more powerful the core the higher you can "charge" your product without risking failure.  You can also add any stat to your clothes, but some are preferred and you can add + more compared to the others.  You can also choose to overcharge your outfit, but the more you go over you increase your chase of failure. 

Cooking is like playing battleship to unlock some recipes.  For example you can make tough jerky which is default or unlock spicy or sweet jerky.  To unlock the recipe you have to find it on the blue target zone of the wheel.  You have 3 "moves" to lock in your target.  Each move involves adding an ingredient.  There are several to choose from and they fall into sweet, savory, spicy, and sour categories.

There is also farming which I have not attempted yet.  You can have 2 active tradeskills at a time.  cooking and farming are considered hobbies and do not count.  You can learn all trades if you want, but you have to pay to switch back and forth.  You get to keep your exp / progress though.

I have a house, but have not messed with it yet.  The housing system seemed pretty complex and I did not have time to mess with it. 

Overall 8.5 / 10 ----  Based on the whole package this game deserves at least an 8.5 out of 10.  The launch was smooth, have not seen bots, and basically encompasses everything from other MMORPGS.  If the game becomes better optimized or I get a new video card.  I would definitely give this game a higher rating.  If you are looking for a harder core game and can look past the graphics then you should definitely give wild star a try.