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WildStar: PAX The Deepest MMORPG Ever
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
During the recent PAX convention, MMORPG.com Managing Editor sat in a meeting with Carbine Studios' Jeremy Gaffney who boldly proclaimed, that the team wanted WildStar to be "the deepest MMORPG ever made.” Find out how they figure on accomplishing that ideal in Bill Murphy's report. Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
By listening to the players and by remembering to make the game they want to play. As a part of that, WildStar was on the show floor for everyone to gets hands-on with and it’s still only in an alpha state. They want to hear what players think work and what they don’t think will fly. They want that feedback, they have metrics in place tracking everything the folks at PAX did, and they’re ready and willing to change some of their designs based on that feedback. Additionally, there are three key facets to the game they’re focusing on. The first is its art-style. Like something out of a Pixar film, it has to be agile and able to portray drama, danger, and fun when necessary. It has to be whimsical and light-hearted to keep things from being too serious all the time.
Read more of Bill Murphy's WildStar: PAX – The Deepest MMORPG Ever.
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Comments
Oh man. I watched the trailer, Just the trailer made me intersted and thats hard to say, Especially since NCsoft is the publisher. But it made me laugh. I wished it was longer, i expected something kinda lame and boring like most MMOs do for a trailer. But it was like a very short movie.
Why do I have the feeling that it will be another "personal epic" story that is really shared with every other character in the game?
Why do I have the feeling that the class progression will be as linear as everything else post-WoW?
Why am I anticipating instanced PvP (Battlegrounds)?
I want a game that has depth, e.g., player cities, world housing, huge worlds (real exploration), etc. Not a sandbox, but a blend of Theme Park and Sandbox.
Well if they have classes and levels, there will not be any depth, your avatar will be just like every other avatar of that particular skillset
Eldar? Games Workshop is gonna sue.
Anyway...intrigued but skeptical about this game. A MMO where you can level by crafting, exploring, or socializing without having to kill a single thing? Yes it's been done before, but it's rarely ever been successful (don't point out EVE to me; it's a completely different animal and we all know it.)
I'll be happy if it takes off but I just don't know yet.
Don't mean squat if someone bought a copyright on the name. But I can't see any legal documentation from GW saying they did, I just went and looked. Not even in Codex: Eldar.
Still, wouldn't hurt to change the name up a little.
Eldar is a typo - it's supposed to be Eldan. And in any case, they can't sue for that. Check the Wiki link above.
I am always intrigued by a game where progress is made through exploration... this has my interest now!
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
Do we have any information about how you can switch from one path to another?
Like others have said, some things sound interesting, but there are also some issues that make me somewhat skeptical.
Most of the stuff the devs are saying is completely stereotypical hype-generating marketing speak for this type of game. We've heard it all before, and it doesn't matter until the actual machanics are explained and we get to try the game. With so many failures and formulaic game designs in this genre in the last decade, it only makes sense to maintain a healthy skepticism when developers say things like "Deepest world EVAR!!!"
When I hear that you will be going to a quest hub and picking up a quest from an NPC (probably with an icon of his/her head), I start to wonder whether this game is going to be outdated by the time it releases...considering games like GW2.
My problem with the path system right now (from what little we know) is it sounds like the paths are exclusive. They are obviously using Bartle's gamer psychology labels, but it sounds like they are over-simplifying things. Nobody is JUST a killer or JUST an explorer. We're all a combination of the four elements in different percentages. If Wildstar confines you to one path, so an explorer can't fight (or there's no reason for them to fight), or a killer can't join in the town building, or whatever...it's not going to work.
If the paths are exclusive...you end up with a game that might be called a sandbox on rails. For the community as a whole, you might call the world a sandbox, but for individual players, the path system could end up confining and restricting play even more than any other MMO has.
I don't think even GW have the nerve to sue for something they ripped from another IP...
Interesting article tho. It is defintely time that MMOs started converging between themepark and sandbox. Themepark games are just too linear and samey to get that sense of unique identity that I think many people are looking for in a virtual world. Meanwhile sandbox games have far too few tools in order to allow players to create that identity.
I agree with the above poster - freedom of where you settle and real exploration should be in new MMOs, and for me should be the minimum. I also think that mobs need to be dynamic and crafting far more freeform as well.
www.ygworlds.net
I'm wondering something about that sabertooth example, going by paths:
Explorer - when he gets that quest chain, does he get sole ownership of it? I mean, if all Explorers can get that same chain from that same object, it kinda takes the magic out of it.
Soldier - Assuming he exterminates the source of the sabretooth cats, would all related kill quests cease and the cats stop spawning? Again on the issue of magic - not a lot of fun destorying the center of their population only to have another guy do it too a day later.
Scientist - So he would examine the new sabertooth cats, these mutants... and permanently open a new quest hub and be the first and only one to do it? That sounds like a well that will run dry with speed.
Settler - Does he have to kill the cats himself to skin them? Does he have to kill in general to progress in the game? I would love to play a social centric character, but those are rarely done and rarely done well. My basest request is that we will get Ryzom level crafting.
It's not that I'm not somewhat excited by their goal and attempts, but rather that I find it hard to believe they can pull off something unique enough to warrant the depth.
Then again, if this gets pulled off right, it will go along well with my playing of Guild Wars 2.
I am pretty sure that if Bethesda can sue Notch for word "Scrolls", GW can sue these guys for Eldan even if its gramatically different
# A GRIM, ODD, ARCANE SKY
# ANY GOD, I MARK SACRED
# A MASKED CRY ADORING
# A DREAMY, SICK DRAGON
i agree with you, however, its probably for replay purposes. if you like 2 particular paths, you'll make an alt and play their game just a little bit longer. sorry for the cynicism. i do hope they pull it off. i hope its a great game and soars.
its just that we keep getting promised the world, for sandboxers thats literally, and end up with a real sandbox, in the backyard of someone else's housing unit.
as for descriptions:
themebox? sandpark? i ll choose my preference for a sandpark game over a themebox game
see we can all start arguing again about which is better!
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
I knew this was going to happen as soon as players started saying "I want a mix" of Sandbox and Themepark.
You can't mix them. As soon as you do, you still have a Themepark game.
Now, as I've been saying all along, you can take elements of Themepark and mix those into a Sandbox game. But you have to lose the Themepark element itself. The quest based zoning/control from point to point (note that quests are fine, it's in this themepark fashion I'm talking about). It has to go.
But I knew that the game developers would go this route. They love to micro-manage our experience, and us along with it. Some adventure, eh?
Once upon a time....
I'm shocked the graphics aren't more of a complaint from people. I can't believe they have received positive reviews for the cartoon graphics. These are even a step more cartoony than WoW. I played WoW but that was about my limit for cartoony.
Who gave them good feedback? Surely no one over 20 with some testosterone.
And yes I think many want a Themepark with some Sandbox elements (player housing, changing the environment and little less hand holding)...there is no reason those things cannot be done.
Ok fine and dandy that some developer try something new
BUT
This cartoony graphic is a HUGE turnoff for me. I certainly don't want this is "deep" game. I don't think I will be able to stomach this. Sorry
Really I don't mind outdated grahic or not so perfect quality grahic , etc but this kiddy style is just awful for me. I am sure many pl will like it , but I have no intention in playing Toy Story in space
As some said allready. A game where there's predefined classes and level-based progression is very bland and not very deep at all. It's the same old story of thousands of heros running around playing through the same story on and on.
If you want to put focus on deep RPG then you start to get rid of classes and levels and start with a freeform character-system, where you built the character you want out of a vast plethora of skills and abilities. From there you go and write your own stories instead of following a premade storyline.
The character-system of TSW is a good example for deep RPG, aswell as the one found in EvE. For the free choice of playstyle EvE is a good example aswell.
That being said, WSO still looks like a fun game and it'll probably be worthwile to play it for some time, but it isn't something I'd wanna play more then a few month, if there's classes and a premade story. Doesn't look like there's something we can do that freely at all as far as I've read. No freeform content ala building up player-empires, guild wars, economical depth and all that.
Now that they've said it, let's see them actually back it up.
You can try to sue anyone for anything, it doesn't mean you'll win. Bethesda never actually successfully sued Mojang for the game entitled Scrolls, they just threatened to. That's usually the first response from companies these days, to get the attention of the other so they can try to work something out.
Besides, that was a trademark issue where they were both titles of game series. The arguement that Bethesda was making was that consumers might become confused due to "Scrolls" and "The Elder Scrolls" series titles.
After a short while everything seems generic. Now even GW2 is looking to be generic to me >< and I thought DE are amazing.
Guild Wars 2's 50 minutes game play video:
http://n4g.com/news/592585/guild-wars-2-50-minutes-of-pure-gameplay
Everything We Know about GW2:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/287180/page/1
the CG trailer turned me off from the setting
the writing and acting made it come off like a kids WB saturday morning cartoon intended for 8 year olds
That's actually a good thing, for me at least, as I really like Pixar. I have yet to see the trailer.
Guild Wars 2's 50 minutes game play video:
http://n4g.com/news/592585/guild-wars-2-50-minutes-of-pure-gameplay
Everything We Know about GW2:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/287180/page/1
I like the comedial feel of the game, I think they should defiantely build on that - on not taking things too seriously
BUT Im very sceptical about the Path system, It soudns awesome on paper but its very hard to pull of (remember how AoC screw very similar idea completely??)
And since there were no Scientist/Settler we dont even know it its in already
Im really liking the game so far (tbh that dualwielding "explorer" guy I guess? looked awesome - I wonder why shooting with pistols doesnt look that epic in TOR - no offense, just saying Wildstar animations are much sweeter and cooler)
Give explorers jumping lvls like in ACII and routes only they can unlock, scientists puzzles to solve - hard and random ones pls, give fighters some epic 1vs many minions/giant-boss-god-of-war style battles and settlers some grindy, tiresome and complex crafting system with functional economy (sthing like dwarf crafters in L2) and Im sold and contended
I know I want much, but THEY said this will be the deepest MMO made (and they have the money to pull it off)
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
The intent of the developers to appeal to the different Bartle classifications is very intriguing. How well they deliver on this remains to be seen, but it's definitely something I'll be following. I'm tired of MMOs where the focus is overbearingly only about combat, and nothing else, so hopefully WildStar will do well at giving players alternative options of gameplay.