The MMO scene has been awash with games taking up the traditional ‘fantasy’ setting of swords and dragons, so naturally a void formed for the good ol’ Sci-Fi genre. Enter Wildstar, the latest IP from Carbine Studios which hopes to not only fill the void, but plunder it of all its riches.

The game is centred on Nexus, a distant planet that was once home to a mysterious race called the Eldan, who’ve since long disappeared without a trace, leaving behind their mysterious technology for would-be colonists to discover. The world is portrayed in an open, persistent environment with instanced areas dotted around that server acting as dungeons for organised groups.

Players will begin their journey by choosing what race, class and path they wish to follow, each granting a wealth of options to vary the overall gameplay experience. As it currently stands, there are six classes to chose from (2 of which are as yet unannounced) employing the fairly typical archetypes of MMO structure, they are the Warrior, the Esper, the Spellslinger & the Stalker. There are also 8 races to choose from when making your character, and this pool is split in half between the two warring factions in the game. The Humans, Granok, and the Aurin belong to the Exile faction, a group of rebels fighting against the corporate menace in the galaxy. On the other side of the spectrum are the Cassian, Draken and Mechari, which make up the Dominion, a powerful galactic empire that seeks to make profit wherever it goes.

The last phase of character creation comprises of Wildstar’s more unique features, called Paths. There are 4 paths to choose from, each serving a different purpose in the game world. The best way to describe the path scheme is to think of it as a non-combat class, in which you level parallel to your characters progression. The 4 classes each have their own unique feel, ranging from an explorer who can perform scavenger hunts, climb towering structures and mapping the landscape, to the settler who can build a variety of useful structures that can generate buffs, fast travel opportunities and even grant rare quests to other players. During my time on the show floor, I had a chance to play around with the explorer class, and despite my own failings when it comes to jumping up a giant tree, the path system felt like a welcome change to the usual “go here and kill things” that you often see inside an MMO environment.

My time inside Wildstar was spent using the Spellslinger class, a ranged DPS specialist with moderate CC and single target burst skills. The games Combat is presented as a fluid and fast-paced affair, with most skills requiring some form of aiming on the player’s part in order to connect with your skills. This is all managed by the ‘Telegraph’ system, Carbines answer to a dynamic method of targeting and aiming your actions. The best way I can describe this is by getting you to imagine each skill has its own AoE field, and by holding down the skill button, you bring up the area it will affect. This allows for you to plan when and who you will hit with the skill, be it a healing AoE or rain of bullets. This is all tied together with a dodging mechanic, allowing you to react to hostile telegraphs and avoid incoming damage, which helps to keep the idea of a fast paced combat system.

One of my favourite, and probably one of the more underappreciated features that I witnessed during my play session was the UI, and more specifically how well it presented the information I needed. Quests were easily tracked by ways of a holographic arrow that would appear, showing my which direction I needed to be heading. I wish more games would adopt this feature, after all I’m not a walking wiki that knows every location known to man! The combat UI does an excellent job at presenting all the necessary information as well, with the ‘Telegraph’ system making dangerous AoE attacks distinctly visible, meaning you can clearly see what steps are needed to avoid a wayward blast to the face.

Wildstar has some unique features going for it, but I find myself pondering how it will fare in the current bloated MMO scene, which is currently filled to the brim with F2P alternatives. It’s definitely a nice touch having some out-of-combat character progression that doesn’t revolve around crafting 20 iron bars, and the idea of a synergized team that’s able to not only offer a diverse range of benefits to their team, but to be able to generate playable content for their party is a nice twist to the grouping mechanic. Only time will tell if Wildstar can truly place its mark out there in the great beyond.