Wildstar - Why You Should Travel To Planet Nexus

Let’s talk Wildstar! Probably the most underrated MMORPG on the market in my opinion. Partly, due to its rollercoaster lifespan so far but also due to the competitive nature of the MMO market and the artstyle they chose to go with.

Let me try to elaborate.

Wildstar has been the new kid on the block, the new WOW-killer, the next big thing, the dead mmo, the resurrected and reloaded hype-train, and is now in a state somewhere in between all the former. Initially the game was super hyped and with good reason, it seemingly had all the components of a great MMO. However, over time players realised how difficult and challenging the game was and in some regards also ridiculously grindy. Therefore, it quickly lost the most important component to any successful game—its players.

Since the F2P launch (Wildstar – Reloaded) the game has changed most of the important issues from the initial launch and turned into a really enjoyable MMO experience that far too few players give a real chance. In my opinion there are a few reasons the game is straight out awesome: the combat system, the cartoony artstyle, voice-acting, and humour in the game.

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The combat system is fun, engaging, and intuitive. You are constantly moving around to avoid and dodge attacks in order to land your own without dying. To make this dance with death interesting there will be telegraphed attacks in literally any shape, and from any angle imaginable coming your way constantly, and you will have to use your dash charges, your sprint, and your double jump to avoid these continually while throwing your own attacks. Furthermore, you have a limited action set with only 8 bar slots that forces you to make clever choices in regard to how many damage, movement, interrupt, healing, tanking, defensive, and utility-spells you want to bring to any given fight. On top of this you have an innate skill (think ultimate attacks from any given MOBA) to empower you, on a cooldown anywhere between almost non-existent to 1 minute; in other words OFTEN!

The combat system creates a very dynamic, fast-paced, and entertaining flow in the game, that makes the endgame content as well as PvP highly intense and thereby fun! While the cartoony animations and vibe from the game create a setting involving outrageous aliens and monsters that literally have teeth on top of teeth on top of teeth! The animations and voice-acting add a level of humour and story to the game that almost give you a feeling of being the [super]hero in a Pixar movie. Imagine being a lead character in your favourite cartoon or movie on a mysterious planet with alien lifeforms, and where even the mining nodes or flowers will sometimes come to life to make your life miserable.

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The overall point I am trying to get through here is that you should never judge a book by its cover, and way too many people do exactly that with Wildstar! They take one look at it and proclaim that it is just another WoW-clone. Nothing could be further from the truth; well, sort of at least. There are certain similarities between the two artstyles, mainly because both are relatively anti-realism and more cartoonish in their approach to animation.

So if you have to take two things away from this article in relation to what I covered let it be that Wildstar in has the best and most entertaining combat system on the market, period. It is fast-paced, engaging, and intuitive! Second, the artstyle, voice-acting and humour add another dimension that a lot of other games lack. Too many games take themselves way too seriously to the point where it almost gets ridiculous or boring. Wildstar has a healthy amount of irony, especially self-irony and that makes it a very well-balanced and interesting acquaintanceship.

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I can also try to express it in very broad relatable MMO terms:

Q: Are you intrigued/hyped about WoW-Legion?

A: Yes? = Play Wildstar! Everything the Demon Hunter has = every class in Wildstar (Except wings… The Draken(race) has horns). The movement and mobility of Wildstar reminds me a lot of what Blizzard is trying with DHs.

A: No? = Play Wildstar! – You are obviously bored with the Old Faithful that is World of Warcraft and you need something new and exciting. As mentioned throughout this article Wildstar has exactly that! We have pretty much all become MMO hoppers at this point and you are robbing yourself of an awesome and challenging experience if not at least giving Wildstar a shot! For those not overly excited about the amazing combat system, Wildstar also has a pretty entertaining housing system that can occupy an hour or two. Furthermore, if you are not super into the artstyle of Wildstar you can use the quite deep costume and dye system to alter at least your own character’s appearance to something more suitable to your liking.

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On an end note I would like to admit that I myself am one of those MMO hoppers that jump from game to game at 1-2 month intervals but I would not have missed out on the adventure and experience that is Wildstar because it is a very strong alternative to every other MMO and it provides a real challenge or two in its endgame! Think TBC heroics pre-nerf.

These are just some of my initial thoughts about both Wildstar and gaming in general—hopefully there will be many more to come, so let me know what you think in the comment section below.
Whether you agree or disagree let me know and let's join forces in our appreciation of games! 😉