It is the weirdest thing when our plans go topsy-turvy, when the things we thought we were looking forward to fail us miserably and the ones we never even considered, take us by surprise. What do we even know? Nothing.
Sometimes we think we want one thing only to discover that we really didn’t. Something looks just right and suitable in our mind but in truth it never was or will be. In the end, what we want and what we need are two different things and that’s something I have learned before, at a time when I thought I knew exactly what (and whom) to pursue in my life. And then seemingly out of the blue, someone came along and told me he was all I needed.
Right now, I should be playing Guild Wars 2 or The Elder Scrolls Online because they look like everything I want in MMOs. Instead, I am playing Wildstar – a game with traditional questing, a holy trinity and cartoony graphics. Not just that, I am enjoying myself. A lot.
Anyway. Happy Wildstar weekend everybody! The Nexus awaits and my olde healer muscles are aching for practice. Never say never.
After all my back and forth during beta not liking it… I have zero clue how all the sudden I am having so much fun playing Wildstar.
Because it’s scratches that itch oh-so-good.
Familiar enough to not push you away, different enough to not be a re-tread, polished enough to not bug you to hell, managed enough to avoid bots/goldspam and well-thought out enough to encourage social structures.
Yeah I think it’s the familiarity right now and just the insane polish that make it fun. I would still like it to be a bit more different in certain regards but it’s a joy to have an MMO run this smoothly right after launch.
MAUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
I am glad you’re enjoying yourself 😛
arma 3 is so much better! 😛
Jaja.
You know, I know of at least several WoW players (some of them recently ex-WoW players) who are trying Wildstar out and apparently loving it.
If they have a button to get rid of some of the over the top stuff like the leveling up graphic, I’d be more inclined to check it out again.
Seeing the current reactions to Wildstar reminds me a lot of the things people said about RIFT when it came out. “Like WoW, only better!” “This could be the one new MMO that’s finally different and pulls people away from WoW!” And even though hardly anyone ever said anything bad about the game, a huge chunk of people still stopped playing after a month or two, for the same old reasons. So not to knock Wildstar, but let’s just say I’ve heard this song before…
No kidding.
At the same time, WoW at the time RIFT dropped and WoW right now are two different animals. RIFT/WoW was at the high point of subscriptions and still in the post-Cataclysm release mode, and Wildstar/WoW isn’t even close to a release date.
Unlike RIFT, Wildstar has several months to develop a player base before the next WoW expac drops, and that might be key here.
On the flip side, however, it sounds like quite a few people are at max level already (how is that even possible?), so the cries of “I’m bored!” might start to be heard.
Hah Red, see that leveling graphic is what I love about the game. 🙂 It doesn’t take itself so seriously, in many ways even less serious than WoW does. Wildstar’s humor is a lot more mature in places than WoW’s but yeah, tastes differ.
I’m not sure I would compare this launch to Rift’s btw. The two games are different beasts imo and timing is vastly different, too. In any case, I’m not interested in WoW killer arguments and never have been – but Wildstar is way more down the WoW player’s alley than Rift ever was. That said, I fully expect most WoW players will still buy Draenor when it comes out, Wildstar or not.
Because all of you scoundrels are confirming an old conversation I had with an acquaintance long ago in the MUD I used to play. 🙂
He was bored to death but refused to try new MUDs that were completely different in style and a new challenge to learn. He only tried new MUDs that were built based on the exact same DIKU/SMAUG variant… What he really wanted was more of the same, wrapped up in a new wrapper. This penchant for the familiar is exactly why we have numerous game sequel after sequel.
The story continues, by the way: He tried a number of them, but since only the original had more features and more crowds, he just couldn’t pull away and ended up right back where he started. 😛
Truth is, unless you’re the sort to really enjoy a range and breadth of games, looking for the familiar WoW clones that don’t involve so much relearning of new mechanics or systems will probably stand you in better stead, and you may as well be honest about liking the familiar.
I’ll check back in a month or three though and see if it’s gotten over-familiar yet. 🙂
It certainly plays a part. For me personally, I keep thinking how great a mix of some of Wildstar’s aspects and GW2 would be while playing. Right now, what I enjoy the most about WS is how smooth and effortlessly it plays, it’s a joy to have an MMO with such polish right after launch. Down the line however, it will most likely annoy me for the same reasons as WoW did, heh. Also I don’t trust NCSoft.
Are you reading my mind?
I don’t know, do you feel like coffee ice cream right now?