WildStar (game)

Just recently, I began to become interested in the new fantasy/science fiction massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) WildStar, announced on August 17th 2011 and officially released on June 3rd 2014. It is the first game developed by Carbine Studios (which is a recent video game developer and subsidiary of NCSOFT, founded in 2005 by 17 former Blizzard Entertainment employees).

It takes place on the mysterious world of Nexus, planet of legends and mystery, which was the original home planet of a mysterious and powerful sentient species known as the Eldan, who were hyper-advanced. The Eldan have mysteriously disappeared long ago, leaving behind a wealth of technology and secrets for players to explore. Nexus was just recently rediscovered and is now being fought over by two major factions of the galaxy, both hoping to control the concealed lost technology of this miraculous alien world.

As the plot continues, and characters continue through the zones of Nexus, they continue to butt heads with the opposing faction, as well as other races and the remains of Eldan technology. Eventually, the characters and factions learn about the nature of Nexus, the purpose of the experiments performed there, and what happened to the Eldan and why they disappeared from the universe.

Here are the two factions and the beings that occupy them:

The Dominion, an intergalactic empire forged by the Eldan long ago with the goal of establishing order and control over the whole galaxy. They have come to Nexus to claim it as their own.
* The Cassians, a race of Humans from the planet Cassus chosen by the Eldan as their "successors." They are the leaders in the Dominion, speaking with distinctly British accents and often look down on other beings.
* The Mechari, an advanced type of robot, created by the Eldan themselves to support the Dominion. They work perfectly as deadly assassins and super agents, but have little to no sense of humor.
* The Draken, a savage, warmongering, Chinese Dragon-like species, originally from the planet Mikros, that serves as the Dominion's main combat force. They are fearless in battle, yet they are not quite that refined.
* The Chua, a species of Rodent-like creatures that oddly torched their own planet, Bezgelor, in pursuit of rapid industrialization. Most Chua have little regard for the safety of others, and they strive on building tons of inventions that are efficient at eliminating enemies, especially explosive bombs. So yeah, they are deranged little psychopaths.

The Exiles, a group of refugees, mercenaries, rebels and outlaws who have all been driven from their respective homeworlds by the Dominion and have joined forces to fight them. They have come to Nexus to make it their new home.
* The Exile Humans, all the Humans that are not Cassians (including former Cassians) that rebelled against the Dominion empire. They often speak in Southern US accents and are pretty stubborn folk, not the kind to back down from a fight.
* The Aurin, a species of humanlike creatures with long, furry ears and long, furry tails. The Aurin were once a tribal species that assisted the Exile Humans out of kindness, giving them food and shelter on their home planet of Arboria. This led the Dominion to seize and raze their planet. Some of the remaining Aurin escaped (including their queen) and have joined with the Exiles. Since joining the Exiles, the Aurin have developed an interest in science, and are often found in the Exile research facility. They are protectors of nature, knowing that every native life form in an ecosystem is precious.
* The Granok, a rough-and-tumble species of stone organisms that love drinking alcohol and brawling. The Granok home planet of Gnox was invaded when they refused to join the Dominion, and after fighting a losing war, some of their young decided to steal Dominion technology and use it against the invaders. They were exiled for breaking tribal customs, and now joined up with the Exiles as their primary military force. Most of them are mainly brawn and no brains.
* The Mordesh, a repulsive-looking, elflike species that were once beautiful creatures, from the planet Grismara, with a penchant for alchemy. Once allied with the Dominion, their research into immortality led to the entire species' permanent sterility and metamorphosis into the partially-decayed, zombielike beings that they are now. Now quarantined by the Dominion, they joined up with the Exiles, offering their knowledge of science and alchemy while frantically searching for a cure for their condition.

There are 6 different classes to choose from your characters:
* Warriors, a melee class, wielding a broadsword as well as a number of other combat tools. Warriors build up kinetic energy using "builder" skills and unleash them with other, more powerful skills.
* Espers, a ranged class akin to mages, utilizing illusions to damage enemies and heal allies. Espers use psyblades (a large shuriken-like weapon) although it is not actually used to attack enemies. So yeah, they use their minds as weapons.
* Spellslingers, they use dual pistols combined with magic. Spellslingers have a "spell power" resource that regenerates with time and can be used to power up or give additional effects to their spells. This resource they have is the void, believe it or not.
* Stalkers, they use dual claws and stealth. Stealth grants a number of benefits in addition to invisibility, and allows the stalker to hit for extra damage.
* Medics, they wield resonators into combat. Despite the name, medics can serve as an excellent DPS class.
* Engineers, they summon robot pets to aid in combat. Engineers use heavy weapons and manage a resource called "volatility".

There are 4 different paths to chose from that will determine your character's fate:
* Soldiers, the primary military force in charge of defending their faction's interests from hostile forces. Their path quests involve assassinating dangerous creatures, defending bases from invaders, and weapon-testing.
* Scientists, the ones responsible for discovering the lore and creatures of Nexus. Their path quests require them to find data entries left from Eldan experiments, as well as scanning/analyzing the flora, fauna, spiritual symbols, artifacts, mechanical beings, Eldan-augmented abominations, and other assorted curios of the planet.
* Explorers, the ones charged with discovering and mapping the strange and unexplored areas of Nexus. Their path quests promote world exploration, such as climbing otherwise unscalable mountains and finding treasure atop giant statues.
* Settlers, the ones charged with making Nexus habitable for their respective factions. Their path quests require them to set up various structures on Nexus, including coveted buffing stations that can be used by anyone.

The game is pretty interesting, fun, and its gameplay is really good. Sure there are a few cartoonish elements in it, but aside from that it's all good.
However, some people believe that with its character setup, factions and stuff, WildStar is a World of Warcraft clone. I guess I can see some similarities, but it is still different from WoW in its own way.

You might want to check it out for yourselves. There are different trailers for it on YouTube right now.