Chris: Now Gareth, there’s quite a void between Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2. Star Wars might not be able to pull it off but ArenaNet sure is. Every two weeks in fact! And here’s the thing, if ArenaNet can pull it off on such a tight schedule, why shouldn’t Zenimax? Four to six week seems about right when you compare what each game is trying to do.
And between you and I, I would much rather wait a little longer for updates than embrace the tweet-length quests Wildstar seems to be endorsing. How much added development time will it take to produce all of the extra cutscenes and non-verbal communication cues it will take to make up for the bite-sized quests and lack of voicing?
Voicing really goes hand in hand with your other argument. Elder Scrolls is aiming for immersion while Wildstar is after… saturation? Many of us want those realistic environments. We want to feel like we’re running through a world rather than a Saturday morning cartoon. I can see the beauty and artistry in both styles but let’s not call doom and gloom yet. LotRO is still one of the most beautiful realistic games on the market, years after release. Elder Scrolls is likely to do the same.
Gareth: I also think that WildStar’s social systems will help Carbine’s MMO come out on top. Everything seems to have been designed to encourage players to work together and build strong communities, whether it’s open tagging on mobs to make questing less frustrating, Circles to act as mini Guilds, housing plots that you can invite friends to, Warparties for those grand competitive PvP moments. It even extends to the server economy: besides buying and selling commodities and items on the trading systems, it’s also possible to sell monthly subscriptions in the form of CRED.
With ESO, you’re forced to do everything in-guild. Sure, you can join many guilds, but that means hunting around to find the best deals. And as far as paying that subscription is concerned, there’s no approved way to trade a month of game time for in-game gold.
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Chris: Wildstar is certainly an up-and-comer with its social systems but I would hesitate to get over excited. Circles? Mini-guilds? Did somebody say glorified chat channels? Oh right, FFXIV. Sorry for being doubtful but I’ll believe in these systems when I see them a few months after release. Housing plots, warparties, trading… these are all tangential. Sure, you might visit someone’s house to oogle their socketed-in hedge maze, or become a mini-trader in the post-SWG-NGE version of trading, but none of this offers the allure to cooperate on a regular basis.
With ESO, Zenimax is pushing players to cooperate meaningfully. Being able to join multiple guilds is no small thing, and shopping around for them isn’t a chore, it’s a necessity. These are the people you will run dungeons with, PVP with, explore, fight, and die alongside. You should be selective. But if you don’t want to join a guild, you don’t have to. It’s easy to group up with random players and the game even encourages it with open world bosses and dynamic content. Elder Scrolls is a game you can play your own way, with a group or not.
Gareth: Ultimately, I think that ESO’s failings come from it’s founding premise - about taking the Elder Scrolls franchise and building an MMO around it. It’s why there are some stellar parts - Cyrodiil is huge fun when you’re in a group (and yes, better than GW2 WvW), and the questing is top-notch. But making an MMO is all about having a game that’s greater than the sum of its moving parts, and ESO is lacking in that regard.
Carbine didn’t set out to make a particular game. Instead, the folks that left various studios decided they wanted to make an MMO differently, learning from their previous games to build something new from the ground up while still feeling familiar. It’s why everything fits well and feels integrated, regardless of PvP or PvE leanings. The focus hasn’t needed to be on big-name voice talent or masses of scripted questing, because the underlying fabric is fun to play.
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Chris: I have to disagree. In the ways that count, Elder Scrolls Online is greater than the sum of its parts. It is a living, breathing Tamriel, the very thing players have been clamoring for years on. It brings in the best parts of the franchise and adds an online twist to them. When I played in the beta, I was immersed in the experience, drinking in that world, whether I was with other players or adventuring on my own. That world, thanks to ESO, now has a greater life than any of the single player games have been able to provide. If that’s not more than the sum of mechanics and systems, I don’t know what is.
My worry for Wildstar is that all of those great ideas will result in a game that feels fragmented. You said it yourself, the focus hasn’t been on questing or voice work, but it also hasn’t dwelled on much of anything for too long. One week we have paths, the next we have warplots, and the next we have combat and exploration and housing. Where is the real heart of the game? Will all of the systems they’ve shown us be developed into as much fun as even the developers would like? There are real concerns around that. The Elder Scrolls Online has focus that I’m afraid Wildstar lacks.
That’s all from us, dear MMO fans, but we want to hear what YOU think. Which will be your game of 2014? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Christopher Coke / Chris has been an MMO fan since the days of MUDs. He currently writes two columns for MMORPG, including Player Versus Player and Tripping the RIFT. Follow him on Twitter: @GameByNight
Gareth Harmer / Gareth has been blasting and fireballing his way through MMOs for over ten years. When he's not exploring an online world, he can usually be found enthusiastically dissecting and debating them. Follow him on Twitter at @Gazimoff.
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