WildStar Interview
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A lot of statements from developers indicate that WildStar is meant to be very distinct from other games. Does this extend to the "holy trinity" model of tank/DPS/healer? Is the game embracing that model or using a different setup for player roles?
I think the "holy trinity" is a bit tough to get away from, personally. We try to let you play the way you want to play. Classes generally have multiple roles they can spec for, and everyone has the option of being a primary damage dealer if he wants, which allows for a bit more group flexibility.
As we've been working on our battlefield-control style combat system, it's made the roles a bit more interesting. Healers can put down beacons that allow players to self-heal for instance so they can, if they're spec'ed correctly, focus more on other aspects of the fights. So there are original takes on some of the roles, or changes to the gameplay of the roles, moreso than an attempt to do away with the holy trinity entirely.
How important are the environmental effects seen in the alpha footage to combat?
In many areas, environmental effects are a way to min-max your XP or time per combat. In areas with particularly tough creatures, rare spawns, etc., our goal is to tune so that they may well be the difference between life and death if you use them well, and certainly part of maximizing the return on a given fight.
But they're often part of the complete package. In one zone, huntresses wander around, cheering you on and giving you reputation rewards based on the toughness of the creature you fight, with exploding mushrooms nearby and cages of creatures being dropped from the sky. This area is seeded for hunting: Flying ships are dropping cages with mobs hostile to both the player and the native creatures. If you don't get squished by a falling cage, you might get eaten by the contents...
As an advanced player, you'll find it's quite engaging to optimally use all of that at the same time. And that's just level 6... but not every area is quite as chock-full of that. The goal is variety, not monotony.
