Virika's Quick Start Guide to Wildstar

This is a brief guide to get you started based on my experience in the Wildstar Winter Beta since January 2014.  I have tried all the classes and paths and reached level 50 on one toon.

What are the factions, which should I choose?

Dominion verses Exiles; Dominion are the comically evil empire of the Wildstar universe and the Exiles are the scrappy rebels trying to forge a home on Nexus. Both are really fun and have unique story lines!   I suggest trying both but if you are playing with friends you will want to pick the same faction because even though there is only one language in Wildstar, Dominion and Exiles players are not on speaking terms.

What is the difference between the races?

Only cosmetic and story, pick whichever one you like. 

What is a quick breakdown of the Classes?

Good news, all classes have dual roles! However each class only can wield one type of weapon.

	Weapon	Armor	Roles/Primary Stat:
			Ranged DPS	Melee DPS	Melee Tank	Ranged Tank	Healer
Engineer	Launcher	Heavy	Finesse			Tech
ESPer	Psyblade	Light	Moxie				Insight
Medic	Resonators	Medium	Tech				Insight
Spellslinger	Pistols	Light	Finesse				Insight
Stalker	Claws	Medium		Brutality	Tech
Warrior	Sword	Heavy		Brutality	Tech

That is all you really need to know to get started, the rest you can figure out along the way.

What are Paths?

Paths are an extra role that you choose when you create your toon which is separate from your class, tailored to the type of gameplay you most enjoy in MMOs.  You follow your Path story along with the regular questing and it provides additional objectives and rewards both material and spiritual, including housing items, abilities and titles, which add flavor to your toon.  Path Missions will overlap with questing in each area.  I enjoyed doing my Path activities, however I found that when I completed every objective available I was getting ahead of my character level’s ability to use the Path rewards, so you can consider each objective optional. 

*Virka says… It is noteworthy that when questing in a group the Paths you pick will effect the flow of your game play.  Choosing the same Path will allow you to work together to accomplish the additional objectives.  If you and your questing partners are different Paths, you can either assist one another in the objectives or split up. The plus side of working together on different Paths is that you will have access to more content than you would otherwise. The downside is this can add considerably more time to each zone for your party.

Here is quick breakdown of the Paths:

Settler - collect stuff to build useful stuff for yourself and your community. 

Scientist – research stuff and discover useful stuff for yourself.

Soldier – kill bad guys and try out new weapons.

Explorer – explore the hardest to reach areas of Nexus.

What do I need to know about Tradeskills (crafting)?

Like most MMO games, crafting can be fun or tedious or a mixture of both.  

• You will learn to Salvage at level 6 and the materials you gain from Salvage may be used as ingredients for various Tradeskills.  Items that can be Salvaged will be marked in the tooltip and can be quickly identified using the recycle button in your bag.  

*Virika says… Salvaging items might be more profitable then vendoring items, use the salvaged mats for your Tradeskills or sell salvaged mats on the Auction house Commodities Market to accumulate gold for your first mount.

• You do not need to worry about crafting until you pick your 2 Tradeskills at level 10.  The in-game descriptions of the Tradeskills will guide you to which gathering Tradeskills are more synergistic with your craft.  

• Cooking is also available as a 3rd Tradeskill at level 10 for everyone.

• Tradeskill mats will be automatically sent to your semi-infinite Tradeskills bag, accessed by clicking on the hammer icon in the lower left-hand corner of your bag. 

*Virika says… Make sure you buy the correct harvesting tool appropriate for your gathering skill.  

What do I need to know about travel?

Getting around Nexus is relatively quick and easy!

• You start out on foot but you can boost your speed using the Shift button to sprint and Num LK key for AutoRun.  

• Roads: In addition, you get a slight speed buff when you are walking on a road (look for a shoe buff icon).  

• Mounts: You can buy a mount at level 15 for 10 gold (no cost for training).  You can also sprint on your mount.  

• Transmat: At the first major town you get to, around level 5-ish you can bind to Transmat Terminals, which you can then use to teleport back to every 20 minutes.  

• Taxis: the first major town also has the first Taxi that you must first discover to use. You then pay for each ride, which is a flight that takes a little time to travel another connected Taxi point. Don’t worry the cabbies are good bots and like to make conversation.   

• Housing: When you get to the first major city, you will be around level 14, at which point you will gain access to your own Protostar Housing Plot.  After this point you gain the option to teleport to your house.  When you leave your housing plot, you will return to your previous location.  

• From the major city there are also spaceships which work as a teleport to take you instantly to other regions.  Speak to the City Guards for directions.  

What do I need to know about Housing?

When you get to the major city and are level 14, you will get a quest, which is completed in the city, then you will have access to your Housing Plot in the sky!  You can access your housing from anywhere, every 20 minutes, using the up arrow above your Transmat button in the UI or from the hologram in the faction major city at any time.  Housing plots are instanced in Wildstar so they don’t show up on the game world map.  However, you can allow your friends and neighbors to have access to your plot in the Social menu (O key).  You will need money to improve your house and add Décor.  Improving your house and adding FABkits to your plot of land will grant you several bonuses including crafting mats, food and rest bonus, etc.  Teleporting to your house is good idea when logging out for two reasons; the first is that you get back to the action quickly when you log back in, second you gain more rest bonus when logged from your house.  Rest bonus will let you level faster in Wildstar.  For example, rest bonus XP in a major faction city is about 2x the rate of the open world, but Housing Plots earn at a rate about 3x and Housing Interiors are 4x.  So log out from the comfort of your house!

What about the game economy and bag space?

You can add bag space by equipping additional bags up to 4 bags, which can be bought from vendors, Auction House, looted, crafted or rewards for challenges.  Use V key to vacuum loot, including coins and you should vendor grey items.  In parties, there are customizable loot options, the default is need before greed rules.  You have a bank accessible near the Auction Houses in major cities and sometimes in Settler outposts.  There are 2 auction houses; the Commodities Market and open Auction House side by side in the major city.  Bind on Equip items, such as armor, weapons, bags, housing items and schematics for crafting can be sold on the Auction House for whatever price you set and the Commodities Market is used to Sell Now to a player who has previously requested the item at a set price or Sell Order where you can set your own price.   Commodities include all the items for Tradeskills and AMPs.  In Beta, searching was limited to buyers, sellers need to scroll through the list.

*Virika says… use the chart for Classes to identify valuable armor and weapons.

Are there Addons for Wildstar?

Wildstar allows Addons and Curse and Curse client already have downloadable Addons for Wildstar.  In addition, the UI is fairly customizable.  Look for future reviews of available addons on Nexus Nightly!

What do I need to know about questing?

You can have limited (40) quests in your log, obtained from speaking to quest givers with a yellow explanation mark plus you often will receive quests via a Call, which can be answered with the C key.  There is a full record of all your quests in the menu opened by the L key.  Finishing a quest line awards the best rewards.  Clicking on the arrow next to the quest in the quest list will generate an arrow and distance for the quest objective.

*Virika says… Telecommunications are great! Most quests can be turned in via a Call, click the C key after finishing each quest to check and if so you might receive quest rewards and follow up quests via the Call instead of traveling back to the quest giver.

How will I know what area to be in for my level?

Leveling in Wildstar seems fairly linear; you will receive a quest via a Call for available areas when you reach the level, leading you to the area and the quests in the quest list also provide a suggested level in brackets.

What do I need to know about Challenges?

Challenges offer fun timed objectives that usually coincide with your quest objectives.  Completing the Challenge will reward useful armor or weapons, AMPS, crafting mats or unique Décor for your housing as a lottery with a bonus for completing additional tiers of the Challenge (bronze, silver or gold).  You can retry failed Challenges (L key brings up the Challenges list under a tab) or repeat them after a cooldown (time varies). 

*Virika says… to avoid repeating the same objectives, hold off on Challenges until you have a quest for the same objective.

What the themes in Wildstar?

The themes in Wildstar should be familiar to MMO veterans; bad guys verses good guys, freedom verses empire, environment verses technology, discovery of ancient civilizations, politics, media, hunting, paranormal and spiritual with a comical touch.