It's been a while since we last heard from WildStar - the sci-fi MMO that aims to provide specific paths for every possible playstyle. But in Carbine Studios' latest State of the Game update, they've provided us with a huge loot drop of videos and new info. Among it all is news that, despite the the done-when-it's-done development plan, the game finally has a release date. Of sorts. More accurately, they have a release year: "2013". That's quite a big launch window.
There's a huge development update full of planned features. WildStar's executive producer Jeremy Gaffney talks at length about the team's plans to solve "things that have dissatisfied us as gamers with many MMOs at release."
That includes levelling, combat and content - including specific plans to ensure the game launches with more than enough end-game action. Gaffney also talks about their plans to support solo play. "Solo players are tragically underserved in most MMOs – something like 65% of players tend to play largely solo (Massively Single-player, as it were). So we can use that same tech to give them frequent updates of new solo story content for the cap frequently – advancing our world story and giving you more to do than daily quests or reputation grinds."
But the real indication of what the game has planned comes from the new videos. First there's an introduction to one of the game's two factions: the Exiles. At a guess, I'd say the character design sheet for the trailer's host read, "Firefly's Kaylee meets Borderlands' Scooter".
Then there's two rundowns of the game's four paths. Here's the soldier (specialist skills: killing, biffing).
And here's the explorer (specialist skills: leaping, putting flags on things).
As someone who mostly uses Guild Wars 2 as a platform for jumping puzzles, I'm intrigued by the dedication to specific styles of MMO play. More details can be found in the full development diary .
