Wildstar: our initial thoughts.

We were very kindly donated a guest pass for Wildstar by @McMonkeyz and have spent the last day or so fumbling around finding our bearings.

Unfortunately, Mr B’s computer is so old it won’t run the programme, so we have both been sharing the one account and so far, I have got the most play time. So, here are my first impressions, in all their glory.

I’m currently level 5. I’m playing on Archon EU server and I picked a female Esper Explorer who is of the Exile faction. I literally have no idea what any of that means, but here she is anyway:

Although it’s me, I’m going to write in black type, as pink is hard to read in paragraphs.

Now, I am only level 5 so whatever I say is VERY ill-informed, but I’m going to give you my first impressions. I’ll interject – might write my own post later on. It’ll be interesting to see if these change as I (we!) progress over the next week.

Pros

• I liked all the information given on the character creation screen – it was good reading a little of the history etc
• The character models are all quite fun – rock giants and bunny ears. I like how my Esper moves – skipping rather than walking. Makes me smile.
• Seeing the creation of your character was pretty cool. The voices of the NPCs were also entertaining.
• Even though I didn’t really like the starting area, the place looked very good and where to pick up starter quests was clearly marked. Although it was confusing as it is quite large, I did like that it was on different levels – the challenge was appreciated.
• The minimap is also used really well. 
• The spell effects are good – very graphic heavy which my computer struggles with though.
• The world that I’ve seen so far is lovely.
• Lots of lore available through exploration which I think is a great for those who are inclined.

Cons

• No customisable features that we could see – did we miss it?
• Explorer, Engineer – what are they all about? You are asked to pick one at creation without knowing anything about them other than the description which doesn’t tell you much
• Although character models are fun, the women are still epitomising “fantasy” with massive boobs, small waist and a sashay when they move. I refused to play ESO because of the stupid passive wiggle of the women models. This is boarderline, especially as all the gear I’ve seen so far is short shorts and boob tubes. Ick. I like the boobs…
• The starting zone: I didn’t understand the two different indications on the minimap at first – an orange arrow, a white arrow and the quest arrow was a bit… crazy. Quests were unimaginative (although necessary I suppose).
• Pressing F to interact is horrible. As is using 1,2,3 and R for abilities. I’m assuming I can change this, will look into it.
• I’m not sure I like how the mobs abilities are shown – as a red moving box on the floor. It’s very clear, but it clutters the screen. A bar underneath their name is fine.
• So much lag. Have turned down the settings to lowest and it now looks awful but doesn’t solve the problem. Don’t have this much with Warcraft, Diablo, RIFT or Minecraft – so it goes down as a bad point.
• Feels like they’ve copied the combat system of Diablo and other elements from WoW. My first and only impression as I only played for half an hour before work.

Overall, I’ve got to say that I’m so far not enamoured. I would probably buy it as a one off, but I certainly wouldn’t subscribe monthly… from what I’ve seen so far anyway. It’s just not unique enough. However, I am going to persevere and I’ll post again at the end of the week trial.