Wildstar Devspeak - Aiming

Welcome to Wildstar. This is Dev Speak. This is the disclaimer. Go time! In this episode we're going to talk about what is hands down the most defining aspect of WildStar's combat. Aiming. Now during development we experimented with several different aiming methods. Traditional MMO tab targeting. Crosshair aiming. Crosshair soft targeting. And MOBA-style skill shots. Each of these methods has it's pros and cons. And attracts some us more than others. In the end we decided to put together a new system we call free-form targeting. It takes the core of traditional MMO tab targeting letting you easily locate your allies or enemies. But with almost all of our abilities you can actually take manual control of your aiming to launch projectiles or inflict pure area of affect damage This system ends up giving you moment to moment control and a real sense of risk versus reward. It also works great with our existing creature telegraphs. Telegraphs felt pretty awkward when combined with traditional MMO targeting. All you had to do was use an ability to snap back to the enemy. Mmmmmeh not much skill. Freeform targeting is the missing link. This means that while your enemies can miss, so can you. Suddenly movement, positioning and aiming make all the difference to an expert player. Because getting the most *** for your buck, means nailing all four of these fools. This is also crucial to PvP. The best players know how to deliver their damage while avoiding their enemies. This guy, he needs to get on my level. Now we do give you tools to help you aim. Mousing over an ability on your bar shows a targeting decal. Holding down the button lets you aim. When you're ready, just release. There we go. All classes in WildStar will have to master aiming. Need a little crowd control? Make sure your aim is on point. And you'll unleash some crazy combos. Tanking? Freeform targeting adds an element of skill to all the basics. Pulling, holding threat, taunting, protecting your group. Skilled tanks will stand out. How about healing? In WildStar healers will have to move constantly. Evading attacks and actually lining up their heals. You'll know a good healer when you see one. To keep things fresh, we have a smorgasbord of different attack shapes. And when paired with different cast methods we get a huge range of abilities. Keep in mind, moving and aiming are just the meat and bread of the WildStar combat sandwich. We still got all the fixin's. Later we'll talk about how crowd control in WildStar like Blind...oh $#!@! That's it for now, but don't forget social media and all that jazz. After all, the devs are listening.