The first thing I did was download the client. Or try to.
When I downloaded the patch launcher, anytime I tried to boot it I’d get, “Cannot
connect to patch server.” An auspicious start.
Folks suggested flushing your DNS cache (didn’t work), or
use a VPN to connect. The actual “easy” solution that worked for me was to
modify my HOSTS file (under C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc on Windows 8+) using
notepad and add the following
two lines:
174.35.37.197 wildstar.patcher.ncsoft.com.cdngc.net
174.35.37.197 wildstar.patcher.ncsoft.com
Once I did that, the patcher connected just fine.
Once the thing downloaded, I went to the NCSoft site and
purchased an account. Went back to the launcher and went into the game.
However, when I tried to log in, it said it couldn’t find a North American
account and switched it to the EU. And then it couldn’t connect anymore and was
stuck.
After digging around my account settings, I realized buying
the time/product wasn’t sufficient. I had to apply a code to my account. I realize this is probably to allow for
CREDD, but I wasn’t expecting it, and it was mildly vexing.
Back to the game itself, the game couldn’t connect to the EU
servers, and wouldn’t flip back to NA. I searched around for a way to switch
which region I was attempting to log in to, but nothing existed within the game
itself. After some digging on the internet, I found out the region select is in
the settings of the launcher, not the
game, despite the fact the game was
the one that switched me to EU in the first place.
At this point I was about ready to quit. It was seriously
the most frustrating process I’ve ever had trying to even start a game, let alone play it. This is a released product? But I
had already paid for my time, and damn it all, I was going to get in.
Once in, picking a server with other bloggers (Evindra), I
made myself a character. After digging through some of the races, classes, and
paths I decided on an Aurin Spellslinger Soldier. I’m pretty stoked about the rainbow
punk-rock look that I managed to put together:
 |
| Rainbow punk-rocker mouse-person. |
The game itself, at least the first few levels, isn’t really
different from any other MMO out there. It’s basically what TERA should have
been from a whole picture standpoint. Combat is quite similar, and the
telegraph system is pretty enjoyable. Some “spells” (because I’m a gun-toting
caster) can be cast on the move. Other, more powerful ones need you to be
stationary; it makes timing really important, as well as understanding enemy
movements and abilities.
It mishmashes sci-fi with fantasy relatively well, and I
actually rather like the over-the-top everything. From the voice-overs for the
zone introductions, to the nearly 4th-wall breaking comments of NPCs
you pass by. I do find the fact that character voice-overs not matching the
text quite distracting, though. It’s often close enough that you start reading
with it, and when they quickly diverge my brain just shuts down.
It’s very pretty, as well. However, I quickly ran into
issues where the client video and input would freeze, but the sound would keep
playing. Windows would eventually kill the client for not responding. This
happened pretty much every 10 to 15 minutes for an hour before I finally
figured out lowering the graphics settings would fix it. But again, extremely
poor performance from a released product, and quite frustrating.
 |
| So very pretty. |
Being an MMO, the gold spammers are already out in full
force, and Carbine helpfully provides a way to report spam. Or it would be
helpful if the UI wasn’t outright broken out of the box:
 |
| Seriously? Fantastic. |
I also got stuck in a tiny vertical tent by sitting on a
cushion. Thankfully, Wildstar does provide a “Help, I’m Stuck!” button which
causes your character to suicide and reappear at a graveyard, but default
geometry/terrain where all I did was right-click the cushion.
To put icing on the awful experience cake, on Friday when I logged
in and was at the character select screen, I got this helpful error message:
 |
| Not actually helpful. |
Turns out they have region-locking code that ran amok. Now,
to be fair, if the forums are any indication, the issue only occurred for a
period of about 30 minutes, so I applaud them for fixing it quickly, especially
on a Friday evening. But it’s just one more thing on the pile of frustrations.
Ack, new regional prevention code is breaking on NA. We are looking into it. Cyropod message.
— WildStar Operations (@WildStarOps) June 14, 2014
I played quite a bit on Friday once I was in, and reached
level 12. Some things haven’t been obvious, like how to salvage things from
your inventory (I think I missed the tutorial on it), but the ability UI as
well as their AMP tree have been quite self-explanatory. I’ve just gotten
started in on crafting, and the fact that each profession has a “tech” tree of
things to build/discover is amazing. I still like Final Fantasy XIV’s crafting
better, but I think Wildstar has a pretty good approach to it here.
The Soldier path is just a bunch of extra combat missions,
and I think I’m regretting not picking Scientist or Explorer instead, but at
the same time it gave me a ballcap so I could complete my rainbow redneck
character fantasy, so I’m still pretty pleased with it.
 |
| Hoverbike, military ballcap, mullet-esque hair. Living the dream. |
I just reached housing, but I haven't really explored it yet, nor dungeons, so we’ll see how difficult they are.
I’ve managed to solo a few 2+ group quests at my level, so I
think I’m probably sufficiently skilled to pull them off if they’re as tough as
other folks are saying. The game is a solid entry into the Themepark MMO space,
but so far doesn’t feel like it has truly set itself apart from any other
Themepark MMO aside from the look and feel (which does account for a lot, I
realize). The technical issues are embarrassing at best, and subscription preventing/losing
at worst—I nearly rage quit before even launching the game I was so annoyed.
I’m sticking around for at least a few more levels—I want to
see these reportedly difficult dungeons. But I haven’t seen anything that would
make this game supplant WoW for me long-term. Still, it's made for a pretty fun and satisfactory play time so far.
#Wildstar, #FirstImpression |
| Spaaaaaaaaaace! On an asteroid. |
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