Jul 01 Views (1105)

WildStar's Dungeons and Adventures are Must See Content

If you like running 5-person dungeons, you are going to love WildStar's dungeon content. I've PUG'd the first Exile dungeon, Stormtalon's Lair, several times and run it with my guild, as well as the first adventure, Hycrest Insurrection. The length of time it takes to complete this instanced content is ideal for my schedule, easily run in under an hour barring a wipe fest. They are also PUG'able with patience and communication. Running with a guild obviously optimizes the potential for success, but I've had some good experiences in PUG's (and bad) which confirms that the content is difficult but doable, and that's the combination I'm looking for.

I appreciate that WildStar's devs once again innovated on the MMO experience by adding 5-person Adventures into the game. This instanced content is different each run because the players quickly vote on several possible adventure paths, leading to different loot possibilities and experiences. Adventure runs contrast nicely from standard dungeons, adding spice and variety to WildStar's instanced content experience.

UI Recommendations
The base UI is pretty dang good, and many of the addons created by the community are helpful. There are a few annoying little things I would like to see improved:

1. The Abilities icon in the bottom left of the base UI remains lit up for some reason after leveling up and spending new abilities and AMP points, causing the player to have to click it again to reopen the Abilities Screen and clear the icon's light.
2. When selling items out of inventory bags, the UI confirms the sale but then creates a highlight above the bottom inventory item for a few seconds, blocking it from view.
3. To click Confirm when opening a Boombox or performing other action or entering a BG, the UI highlights the button when the cursor hovers over it, but then you have to wait for a bar to fill up before actually being able to click the button.
4. The quest list on the right side of the screen is difficult to use.


Thayd, Exiles Capital City


Let's Talk about Thayd
I am not a fan of the Exile capital city. It is a sprawling city that does not feel like home and is inefficient to get around. I've made my peace with Thayd, however, because its layout and feel appropriately fits the Exiles theme of being the upstart faction just getting up and going, trying to make a home on Nexus. So while I don't care for the city, I do think it fits within the lore of the Exiles faction, and perhaps in a future expansion it will blossom into a different place that is more efficient, better looking and more fun to spend time. For now, being in the city is a stark reminder that the Exiles have a long way to go, and I look forward to seeing what lies ahead for them.