WildStar Preview

There’s a rather tepid preview for Carbine’s upcoming MMO WildStar over at Massively, although the previewer specifies that the restrictions imposed on the demo had more than a bit to do with his disappointment. Either way, here’s a snip to give you an idea:

A single lap around the booth and good fortune that people had given up on the previously long line meant I could do a second round of WildStar, but I figured this time I’d embrace combat. I gave up on the idea of trying out something unique about the game. I figured, if they didn’t want us to see the really cool paths, the demo must have been focused on combat, so I went with a Mechari Warrior following the soldier path. I’m normally a melee guy anyway, so I figured this would be a good choice.

I was wrong. While I will admit that I went offroad again since I’d just seen the same quests about an hour earlier, the problem was that the controls got awkward again. Normally I hold my right mouse in games to move while firing off abilities with my buttons. However, in the demo, one of my moves was a whirlwind attack that required me to hold the right mouse and the number 5 key. Since the game is more action-oriented, I can move while performing the whirlwind. In fact, I had to move or else I’d get hit. However, moving with WQE (I don’t usually backpedal, and the game wouldn’t allow me to remap A and D to strafe) while holding the right mouse button and 5 felt awkward and wrong. I tried moving it from 5 to 4 and even to 3, but it just didn’t work as well. I would have preferred to be able to change the controls more and mapped an ability like that to my mouse. I needed to be closer to my targets than the ranged Spellslinger, so during my soldier path quests, which are all about combat, I got hit more, wasn’t as effectively dodgy, and overall had a less satisfying experience. Yes, they were the normal kill quests you get from other games, but I couldn’t even enjoy that at least because of the controls, if not because I’d been doing kill quests all day (when I was allowed to play a game myself).