Catch Up Mechanic

Been a busy Saturday for me. Not as busy as the folks involved in the Arkship event that Carbine is hosting this weekend, but still pretty busy. Since I missed 5 days of working out I am making it up this weekend by doing 4 sessions a day. I have a vine link for the first three. But I'll do the 4th session right before bed. I was going to do a gag with my forth Vine being me eating White Castle, but my roomate never came home, so I didn't have a cameraman. But while I was waiting for one I did spot something in a screen shot that raised an eyebrow.

I was quickly shot down by our friends at Carbine.

I am in pretty good spirits. All that extra blood flow to my brain I guess. So let's talk about Wildstar. Today's mash up is going to look at the creatures who inhabit the Northern Wilds. This will include 3 posts. If you want the full deal check out the entries from March 21st, March 28th, and May 23rd. (The backgrounds look like Northern Wilds so I included it. I think I can get 5 posts in tomorrow. And you thought Catch Up Mechanic referred to my workouts.)

The Northern Wilds appears to be your typical MMO zone, rolling hills leading to snowy mountains, underground network of caves with glowing mushrooms, but it hosts a cadre of creatures that is very unique in style.

The Root Brute:

At first glance what I thought was an enormous dong turned out to be one of this fungal monster's three tentacle legs. Thank god, I was getting flashbacks from the zoo when I was 10. (Most awkward conversation with my Grandma ever.)

The Girrock:

These things remind me of a grown up Stitch. More importantly...let's talk about that thing they look ready to eat. According to some concept art that is a Rowsdower. I suppose someone on the Carbine team is a MST3K fan, here is a You Tube link if you don't know what I mean.

The Skeech:

This is what I imagine would have happened to Gollum had the One Ring been more Fabulous. This feels like your standard Kobold. 1d4 - 1 hit points, not smart, semi-dangerous in numbers, good for starting adventures to up their kill count.

There are also mini bosses out in the open world, or mid-bosses if you prefer. The first is the terrifying Xenobite Queen. A heavily armored, poisonous, and telepathic insectoid which wears a loincloth. Face hugging not recommended.



If you plan to spend more of your time above ground you may encounter a Frost Giant. I love the hair on these guys. The Bio says the giants are rarely seen above ground but I think that's more of an explanation of where they are when they are not spawned. Love the hair. "Do You Wanna Rock!?" ... "Because if you do, I'll throw one at you!"


The final example is the Ultra Bot, which appears to be a Dominion NPC. Perhaps a sort of Town Guard. Maybe it's just a faction specific mob, This is a low level zone, maybe the factions are separated at this point in the content. Otherwise I have a suggestion for a great ganking opportunity.



But wait folks, There's more. The Eldan may be gone, but their machines are still out there. Three examples of their machines are given. The Probe, a scout and research do-dad. Does things you expect a probe to do, ball shaped, flies, has a camera, shoots lasers that can target you on a molecular level. Then we have the Protectors. Long dormant security robots that guard important data sites left behind by the Eldan. They link up with Probes for tactical data and then use their chest full of plasma cannons to evaporate you. Finally the Augmentors, the only Eldan construct that spell-check doesn't recognize, this alone should give you pause. They appear to be scientist androids, used for manipulating the DNA of the inhabitants of Nexus -- such as Metalmaw. This is described in the bio as "mysterious technology" several times, which leads me to believe it may be part of the deeper plot of Wildstar, or hints of a technology that the players may eventually harness as a means of alternate progression at max level. (AA in Everquest, Incarnate in City of Heroes.) That's just a guess, and as we saw before the cut, my guesses don't always pan out.