It may be going with the traditional subscription payment model, but that is about all that’s old school in Wildstar. Carbine Studios are really pushing their new MMO as a something new and innovative, and this video on how the game handles crowd control is further proof that this game has some seriously good design.
If you’re the victim of crowd control attacks in MMOs, generally you’re stuck in a fit of frustration for a few seconds. Blinds stop you from casting, stuns prevent you from moving, and disarms make to temporarily as dangerous as a particularly fluffy cat. Wildstar is different. If you get afflicted with a status ailment, you can shake it off. For example, a disarm in Wildstar will throw your weapon out of your hand onto the ground. Now rather than stand there and take a beating, just run over and pick it up. You may be blinded by a venom-spitting freak, but that doesn’t stop you from firing off a few spells. Sure you might heal something you didn’t intend to (a tree, perhaps) but at least you tried.
Wildstar’s approach to MMO combat is exactly what the genre has been crying out for. Even the bravest MMOs so far have felt exceedingly similar to World of Warcraft’s template, but it looks like this won’t be the case at all for Wildstar.
Wildstar launches Spring 2014, but if you’re raring to go right now, you could try and bag yourself a slot in the closed beta.
Cheers, Rock, Paper, Shotgun.