WildStar introducing faster and looser gameplay mechanics

WildStar opens by throwing caution to the wind and breaks generic MMORPG tropes through introducing faster and looser gameplay mechanics. Jumping into WildStar for the first time, even as a seasoned veteran of the genre will feel like a new experience due to the lack of single target damage and exchanging it for a fixed cone of attack that changes depending on what ability the player chooses to use. Effectively every single attack in this game is an AoE, with no such thing as an auto-attack. In concept it’s a maddening idea that would only lead to mayhem, but in practice it finds a way to work superbly.

Due to the timing and separate functions of each ability at one’s disposal, it ensures that most abilities don’t work the same way. This leaves the feeling of each action the player takes being fresh and the feeling never really goes away as you’re left tinkering with the placement of a shot and how to lead towards efficient combos. There’s an emphasis placed on aiming skill rather than repetition, and it helps keeping things from feeling mechanical by nature. There’s still a need for rotations, but to perform well in WildStar it takes more than knowing the correct buttons to press and on what, and it all flows surprisingly well.

The nice thing about WildStar’s class system is that a single class can cover a couple of different roles. If you’re a Warrior but want to do melee DPS then you can, and you’re not going to be constantly forced into the role of a tank. If you have a competent Stalker in your group, then there’s no reason they can’t perform that role. Granted, a lot of long-standing MMO players might find it difficult to get out of the mindset of automatically assuming that “Warrior equals Tank”, but at least WildStar gives you a decent argument to put forward against anything that you don’t want to do. In fact “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do” could be WildStar’s mantra.

Here are the most useful, must have addons to download for WildStar

Heal Buddy
Making life easier for the men and women keeping us on our feet, Heal Buddy points healers toward our torn and bleeding hides. Any nearby friend with a chip in their health bar will enjoy a nice, obvious indicator calling attention to them.

TapThat
Had enough Simon or would rather not mash s’more of that F key? TapThat will take care of those for you. It will not, however, break you out of crowd control effects. Be careful messing with combat advantages if you want to avoid developer wrath.