[Updated] Disclaimer: This preview is for a pre-earlly access launch build of the game, and does not include the Day 1 Early Access patch.
As Wayfinder heads into Early Access today after a few delays, the servers will likely see an influx of players, as new Wayfinders join the fight to push back the Gloom. Last weekend press were invited to take part in testing out the game ahead of the Early Access release. We were given access to every character that will be available at the launch of Early Access, alongside each of the craftable weapons, and a smattering of Echoes and Artifacts to choose from to test out the game at “max level”. What transpired after being given max level characters left me both excited and concerned for the Early Access launch. Let’s get into why.
From the moment I saw the trailer for Wayfinder I was intrigued by the game. The art style was appealing, the mix of open world and dungeon-crawling content was right up my alley, and as a fan of character collector games, it seemed that everything was lining up perfectly. After a fairly positive experience during the Beta tests, I was ready to finally work towards building out my cast of characters properly in Early Access. However, when given the chance to test out every character at max level, it was clear that some cracks started to show.
For starters, it seems as though Airship Syndicate has been working on several quality of life features to assist in understanding how to build your characters through their Echo system. Echoes are now clearly marked as offensive, defensive, and so on, and while you can choose not to follow those aspects at the risk of slotting higher cost Echoes, it’s far easier to understand what the intention of those Echoes are.
I was also very happy to finally try out all of the characters. In previous tests, I was salivating to get my hands on Kyros, and once I swapped to him, I really enjoyed his damage focused playstyle. Kyros has also been blessed with a really cool character model that lends itself to some unique costume variants that will undoubtedly become some of the most popular models available during the Early Access launch. In fact, the team provided some ample visual customization options for all of the characters, and while those options are sure to grow over time, I had a great time toying around with the Persona's and outfit options.
Alternatively, I spent far less time with the newest character Venomess, primarily because her third-person-shooter style of gameplay didn’t mesh as well with my preferred playstyle. While I could (and did) change several weapons around, some characters do just lend themselves to ranged weaponry and team play more than others. Due to the limited nature of journalists in the play test, I actually only saw one other player for the entirety of my time in game, which was arguably far too short to coordinate some exciting end-game testing opportunities. I also didn’t find any group matches when I queued as there I’m sure everyone playing had their own specific testing agenda to adhere to.
Strangely enough, I ended up taking on most of the higher-level content with an old-reliable character that many beta players are abundantly familiar with– Wingrave. I’m not sure if I was just more comfortable with his moveset, or if his mix of damage, defense and healing are just overwhelmingly easy to operate, but he may just be the first character I bring to max level during the Early Access launch.
While I enjoyed my time with the combat, and running around some of the new areas, battling monsters I had yet to encounter in high-level dungeons, I was also left feeling quite empty for a number of reasons. True, when you start as a generally overpowered roster of characters you’d usually have to earn, with limitless funds and resources, it’s hard to actually gauge what end-game is supposed to look like and what you’re supposed to be fighting for. But my emptiness transcended missing out on a core end-game loop.
I’ve been really hoping that the characters would have some better combat-customization in the works. Yes, you can swap any weapon on to any character, opting for a balance change in how you plan to do damage. The skill points are limited for your abilities, so that you can’t max out all the tiers of your abilities, requiring that you make a careful choice of what and how to slot you ability points. Finally, the Echo system has a whole class of ability Echoes that you can slot to enhance how your weapon abilities work. All of these options should meld into a unique combat style for your preferred character.
They should. But unfortunately they feel like they fall flat. Despite many of my choices, I felt like the combat styling between characters was so similar, that the only real differences were the abilities the characters inherently have. Sure, those abilities are unique to that particular character, but with no real alternative abilities, and with most ability upgrades providing nominal incremental boosts, one Kyros, even while using an alternative weapon, would still feel fundamentally similar to every other Kyros. In that way, when I say that Wayfinder still needs to find itself, it's because I feel it really needs to find a way to make character variety and customization hook players so they keep cultivating their favorite toons. Right now the customization feels more superficial than anything else, at least when it comes to weighing the pro's and con's of two players using the same character.
This isn’t necessarily out of the ordinary with character collectors. Yet, I was still hopeful that there would be more variety in how you could build your character. As it stands now, I’m fearing very specific meta builds for each character, and with such few options at this time for ability diversity, most players would happen upon those meta builds without much help. Granted, in the long run, with a larger roster, this won't be such an issue, but I fear that many players may leave due to the combat getting stale, without enough variation of combat between characters to keep things fresh. It’s also not just the lack of diversity in building your character's combat, it’s also the difficulty in understanding and slotting your gear.
The Echo system is a great system in theory. But generally speaking, you obtain so many different types of Echoes, and while gear-slotting choices are a central part of building an RPG character, I felt like, even when I take a massive equipment slot penalty, it was far more beneficial to forego Echoes with ability points in favor of a character with more well-rounded stats. This may change in the future, but the modification of your abilities through Echoes needs to feel impactful if it’s going to be a choice of raw strength or a special attack that may proc once every 20 seconds. I would have felt far more comfortable having these special ability echoes as free slot items, as a way to enhance my character without having to sacrifice stats. When your Echo slots are all maxed out, however, this may be a moot point, but from the perspective of being thrown into a max level character with limited Echo capacity points, it almost always pays more to boost your stats and power rating.
After playing Wayfinder throughout the beta phases and then during a portion of last weekend where I delved into what a max-level character might feel like, I’m left teetering on the brink of excitement and worry. I'm excited to get into the game and finally build a character the way I want. However, I'm worried that there may not be enough there out of the gate to keep the population satisfied. Luckily, Wayfinder is only launching into Early Access, and to that end, I can only hold out hope that the feedback that players provide over the next several months will elevate the game to truly great heights. Airship Syndicate has thus far shown their willingness to listen to their players, and I feel like the evolution of Wayfinder will eventually settle on a system that will resonate with cooperative MOG players. Until then, I’m excited to delve into the Gloom and expedition alongside my friends during this Early Access launch.
