Replayability is the main sell in Carbine Studios’s Wildstar DevSpeak. A new mode, “Adventures”, lets players make new of already-visited places. The three-minute video shows five-player simulations in various games including MOBA-like action, tower defenses, and my favorite, caravan escort.
There’s nothing more important than keeping supply lines open so that rich merchants get richer, and the peasants employed. How else would we get coffee at Starbucks at less than $2? The coffee farmer gets that penny per cup and is able to provide his family with one full meal a day. Imagine if wild creatures or pirates attacked our coffee caravans? What would happen to the price of coffee? What would happen to that farmer and his twelve kids? Starbucks would go out of business! Where the heck am I going to write my blog? If Wildstar’s caravans are delivering coffee, I’ll be the first to preorder so I can proudly defend them lines.
Back to the DevSpeak: different actions result in different outcomes and a mission can be completed in various ways. For example, there are multiple routes to choose from in the caravan escort campaigns. I can’t help but to wonder if there are different types of coffee depending on the route taken. For example, the southern route protects Arabica, and the northern, Robusta. Will the Starbuck’s caravan be attacked by Coffee Bean’s?
“Adventures” looks like it will definitely add to the replayable factor though I’m sure there will be one or two strategies for each game that will dominate others. The game looks cool overall and I’m sure I’ll be chugging a ton of joe playing it late night. So keep them coffee lines open!