With sci-fi meets fantasy MMORG Wildstar gearing up to move over to its new free to play business model we got a chance to check out what was in store for new players with the private beta test servers. As the game is going free to play the developers have taken a big step in ensuring that players find their transition into the game as easy and simple as possible and have given their new player experience a bit of an overhaul that we took some time to try out.

As we loaded up the game as soon as we selected to create a new character we were asked what our experience was, whether we were “Novice”, “New to Wildstar” or “Veteran”, this alone emphasizes how important it is to the developers to start players where they need to be. Then you get to choose your class and path that you want to take, the game now includes some mini video clips to give players a more visual idea of what each class and path does, to further avoid confusion when starting out. Furthermore they have simplified the stats and removed the primary stats and made things more simple (people no longer need to scratch their head wondering what “Moxie” does).

Once your character is made then depending on which experience level you chose determines where you will start in the game. Selecting “Novice” took us to the very beginning of the three phase tutorial, a virtual reality style simulator where our character is guided by an AI character and using story and humour to teach players the basic controls. This option is for those who are completely new to MMORPGs and might not be so sure on how to do the things that many of us take for granted such as moving around with WASD and how to engage with NPCs and objects; going through a few basic missions once complete we find ourselves at the beginning of the Arkship area. This are is where the game originally started and is where players who select “New to Wildstar” will start their experience; a new player zone with more missions, more interaction, more of the style of combat you would find in the main game and more interactive and story elements. For those who have played MMORPGs but don’t know much about Wildstar’s lore then this is an ideal location to begin that takes around30 minutes to complete, has a rather difficult boss fight towards the end (we died about 10 times trying to kill it as a Spellslinger and had to team up with another guy who also kept dying when soloing it…). After this point we catch a ship down to the planet Nexus and enter the main portion of the game, the place where “Veteran” experienced players will begin their journey, useful for those who know about the game and lore and particularly those who might be making alternate characters and have already done the tutorial before; this lets you skip that and start at level 3 ready to jump into the game which we think is pretty great.

At this point players have the same game experience as everyone else and the differences depend on whether you are a free to play account or a subscribing “Signature” account; previously there was only a pay for the box then subscribe option, but the box purchase has been completely removed. The subscription element is still in place where players can earn C.R.E.D.D., an in game currency that can be used to pay or your game subscription, essentially the same idea as EVE Online’s Plexx system. The only difference now is that C.R.E.D.D. buys you Signature status for your account, and so those who had C.R.E.D.D. stored up prior to the switch to simply subscribe to play will automatically have that crossed over into Signature status time. Similarly, anyone who paid for the box prior to the free to play move will receive extra perks and bonuses to their account so that they don’t feel like they’ve missed out.

So what can players expect from the Signature account, or from an F2P point of view, just what are you missing out on if you DON’T pay for the Signature status? In all honesty not that much, it’s very much geared towards offering convenience and quality of life boosts as opposed to making the free to play game a pain in the ass to play. In comparison to a game model like Star Wars: The Old Republic, which offers a similar status account subscription, their free to play model makes it really difficult to play without paying with things like not having Sprint until level 10, not being able to trade, reducing the number of times you can Revive at the med centre… stuff that kind of forces you to want to pay. Wildstar doesn’t really remove much or add too many imposing restrictions, but instead gives perks and boosts to subscribers such as XP, Currency, Gathering Resources, Crafting boosts, etc. so that the advantage is noticeable without being unbalancing. Similarly the quality of life features means that only Signature players get to create and invite other players to Circles, Warparties and Guilds, priority for Customer Service and server queues, and an increased number of available Auction House bids and Commodities Exchange active buys, which isn’t too bad as if you are at the point where you really need these features then you’re probably an active player who could make enough C.R.E.D.D. in game to pay for your subscription anyway.

Last but not least is that Signature players get an allotment of free Loyalty Points every months that can be spent on various perks and unique items, however Loyalty Points are still something that free to play accounts can earn (though there aren’t any details on how these are acquired yet) to also buy these things as well as buying some of the Signature bonuses in an à la carte fashion where they can pick the things most important to them but remain a free to play account.

CONCLUSION:

• Pros: The new player experience puts players in the right starting point, differences between classes/paths is a lot clearer, Signature status gives benefits without giving f2p accounts major penalties.


• Cons: Trying to solo the tutorial boss is really tough without a melee class!

Rating: TBD

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