WildStar is officially the new kid on the block, but should you take the journey?

Casual, Hardcore and Everything In Between

 Outside of questing, WildStar offers a whopping six different instanced content types designed for players to tackle in groups or solo in some cases. First there’s the solo-story instanced content known as the “World Story”. The World Story becomes available upon reaching level 35 and really begins to uncover the over-arching story of WildStar and Planet Nexus as players encounter the mysterious character, Drusera, who helps them along their journey. This content is tightly scripted in order to give players a solid story-driven experience. Currently there are five playable instances, with more level 50 solo instances on the way.

Next there’s Expeditions. If you’ve seen the WildStar Housing DevSpeak, you probably know that the game boasts one of the most robust Housing Systems to date. On top of cool decor and plugs to place on your land and in your house, you can also place mini-dungeons on your land known as Expeditions. The great thing about these Housing Dungeons is that they scale based on the amount of players you choose to bring with you, allowing you to solo them, or bring up to a full 5-player party into the instance.

Third, we have Shiphands. If you’ve ever seen an episode of Lost in Space, Firefly, Star Trek or any other Science Fiction show that takes place primarily in outer space, then you’ve already got the groundwork down for Shiphands. These are open-world mini dungeons that take you off-planet and throw you in the wackiest of situations in the deep-dark fringes of space. If you’d like to bring your buddies along for the ride, these also scale in the same way Housing Expeditions do.

Next on the instanced-content list, we have Adventures. These are slightly easier than WildStar’s brutal dungeons, which we’ll get into in a bit. However, unlike dungeons that are focused on taking down deadly bosses, Adventures typically revolve around a more story-driven experience that emphasizes player choice. Additionally, Adventures can range from MOBA-style gameplay types to Tower Defense, or even leading a caravan through an entire zone with a lot of old school Oregon Trail elements thrown in.

Lastly, we have Dungeons and Raids.  Dungeons specifically are by far some of the most challenging PvE content that I’ve played to date not just in WildStar, but in any MMO in general. While I love every bit of the challenge they present, these are definitely not for the faint of heart or those players who fear dying to a boss over and over just to learn the strategies, because rest assured, it will happen. I would be lying if I said I didn’t memorize some of the boss dialogue due to the fact that I died so many times trying to defeat them, but with WildStar’s clearly delivered combat mechanics through the use of the telegraph system, with each death I was able to learn something new about the fight, or at least realize where I went wrong. To me this made all the difference and made it way less frustrating to do over and over again.

Now when I speak about challenge, the challenge presented in these dungeons, and even raids, isn’t just about the numbers the boss is dealing to you and if your numbers are bigger than theirs or not. A lot of it involves actual player skill, which I thoroughly enjoy. While better gear can no doubt make certain aspects of an encounter easier, failing to properly execute mechanics will almost certainly get you and your party members killed every time. This makes group communication, as well as individual player skill and reaction time, equally as important in comparison to staying up to date with your equipment.

The downside to the dungeon difficulty is that repair costs can be a bit staggering at times, which have potential to cause some early group disbands that might have otherwise been successful after a few more attempts. This isn’t necessarily an issue with the dungeons themselves, but is more of an economical one tied into one of the game’s many gold sinks. Currently it’s almost mandatory for players looking to participate in the high-level content to know how to farm, buy and sell items on the Auction House and Commodities Exchange, as well as pay somewhat close attention to market trends. While this isn’t something brand new to all MMO players, the near-requirement of it might take some getting used to for players coming from other games in the genre.

As far as fun factor is concerned though, I’d say WildStar’s Dungeons are a prime example of how dungeon content in MMOs should be. Nothing beats the feeling when you finally take your first Dungeon boss down in WildStar who has been continuously wiping the floor with your party. After all the attempts, you’re actually rewarded with pretty awesome gear. While that feeling truly is glorious in its own right, there’s still room to take the difficulty up a notch. If Dungeons were at the boiling point of WildStar’s instanced content, then its Raids are at the point where hot water is spewing out over the countertop like a newly erupted volcano of chaos. While I’m still working on the raid attunement quest myself, from what I’ve seen so far, WildStar’s raids are for the hardcore.

Now with WildStar offering 20-person and even bringing back 40-person raiding, if you were to tell me that that just isn’t your cup of tea, I wouldn’t blame you at all. Even just getting to the point where you’re able to raid in WildStar takes a lot of work, dedication and time that not everyone can commit to. With Veteran Dungeons and Adventure progression feeling like a type of raid progression in their own right, if that’s as far as you went, I wouldn’t blame you at all. Tackling those higher difficulty Dungeon encounters on Veteran Mode still feel like a major feat of strength, but for the super hardcore, WildStar’s raids should hopefully offer you the exact type of content you and your guild have been looking for.

The team over at Carbine Studios seems to be bringing back the old-school raid mentality while throwing in some updated mechanics and I’m greatly interested to see how it pans out for them in the long run.

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