WildStar is going to be two-factioned. That’s a discussion I want to have with Carbine, and the merits and flaws are better saved for another post. Regardless, the limelight has fallen on the evil empire, and they are turds. World of Warcraft had vanilla versus monsters. Rift had religion versus technology. Star Wars The Old Republic had yin versus yang. WildStar appears to have rag-tag rebel hippies versus a pretentious, self-loathing evil empire. And right now, the Dominion is who I would choose to play.
With the exception of Star Wars The Old Republic, I’ve always felt the pull to choose the side less conventional. In World of Warcraft playing an orc was a dream come true, since I’ve always loved the greenskin culture found in vanilla fantasy lore. Yet, I really didn’t find any emotional tie to the idea of the Horde. In Rift, I barely went Defiant. The lore of the Guardians almost had me, but power of ego and technology really struck a great chord as the factional culture of the Defiant. Personally I felt Rift pulled of a better yin and yang faction divide than even the Star Wars force divide.
Yet WildStar is different. In this case the Exiles feel like the vanilla faction. They embody the freedom and anti-establishment that partially defines the gamer culture. Sticking it to the man and heading for the frontier to make my own way seems like the obvious choice. Becoming the bad guy does not.
With the three Dominion races we know, I feel role-playing that style of bad guy seems more fun than challenge. The Cassians are James Bond villians. They are full of themselves with style. Cassians probably hate themselves more than any other race, and they are fine with that. They’re still better than you. The idea of playing a snobby Cassian gives me a big chuckle. So does playing an overly logical robot. The Mechari seem to be played off as clueless, instead of coldly logical. They are brilliant, strategic, and they just cannot see the forest for the trees. Finally, the Draken. They remind me of Thumper from a Bug’s Life. I just can’t shake that image: uncouth rage with a hint of slapstick.
I snicker at the thought of playing a flawed, “bad†guy. No, really, I am just trying to bring the light of the empire to the unwashed masses (I say as I flick imaginary filth off my arm, frowning at the imposition of the movement). Playing the Exiles could be cool, but playing something wrong… that seems interesting. One more unreleased race for each WildStar faction could make this anybody’s game, but for now, I think I’ll through my hat in with the Dominion.
–Ravious
Do we know if there will be bars to playing both? Only one faction per server, as Rift went with at launch, or even per account as in Realms Online (now confusingly known as Champions of Regnum)?
And how embedded is PvP? Is it compulsory? Optional by server? Optional by zone? I could look this up on their website I guess…
They certainly make good promotional videos, which is how they got my attention in the first place. I’m very, very suspicious of game companies that can do that, though. Wouldn’t you kind of prefer it if they just made full-length movies instead? No MMO is ever going to live up to the potential of these promos.
If they hadn’t already released gameplay videos I would be suspicious too. Their promo vids are good, but I am already interested in their gameplay.
I don’t know anything about PvP.