Wednesday Weigh In - Crimson Isle

A couple of weeks ago, when the M30 patch notes were posted on the Wildstar page, Troy Hewitt explained how they try and measure excitement for their game. In my case you can literally measure it in the weight I have gained back.

Follow the read more to hear the details, and see what new feature Carbine revealed today!


My weight this week has returned back over 220 at 221.2. Looking to the right it's pretty clear where I am going wrong. The strength based exercises are just not happening for me, I'm not making the time for them -- sad because I am supposed to be doing these exercises in the apartment. Focusing on the positive, the snow has once again receded and I was able to get back to taking a walk during my 15 minute break. I have stuck to the stairs. I have continued to avoid the cafeteria at lunch allowing for better portion control, and we have managed to get off the non-stop fast food kick for dinner we'd been on since getting back from Boston. Though it does seem that my girlfriend is trying to sabotage me. On my desk is a collection of Sour Patch Kids boxes and Nestle chocolate bars, and I found out she has another box of Sour Patch Kids waiting for me in her purse. If I can defeat this Candy Siren and get my flabby butt back down to the Gym this week I think I can still come out ahead this month.

Let's talk some Wildstar! This week's update is a day late - Ok I tend to post after midnight so your perception of "a day" may differ from mine. Carbine had some internet problems at their studio which prevented a timely upload of this week's feature. Today they added a new section to their webpage -- Regions, you'll find it under the menu option The Game.

Since that won't be too exciting to active followers of the game they also gave us some information on a new zone, Crimson Isle. This is described as being an early zone for the Dominion. I think it follows Deradune in level progression, but a level range is not given. I base my assumption on the level limit given in the M30 patch notes and the list of zones.

What else can we learn from this update. Well, for one, stalkers can get some pretty awesome claws! I don't care if it doesn't make any sense, this dude has F'ing chainsaws on his hands! How awesome is that! They better spin when he's in combat, bonus points if they also whir.

F'ing chainsaws!

We can also see from the core Regions page that the game will be divided into 3 near even chunks of Exiles territory, Dominion territory, and contested territory, with a small numbers advantage going to contested zones. This doesn't provide a clear picture of the world by any stretch but it does give us a bit of an idea of how much cross faction interaction will be going on. From a World PVP angle I am looking forward to seeing how these contested zones are constructed, will quest hubs be shared as is done in World of Warcraft's design, or will they be separate objective areas but some crossing of travel paths will be designed into the flow, such as in SWTOR. I am strongly hoping for the former, it creates a far more nature enmity for the opposing player when you are both trying to accomplish a goal in the same area and constantly have to worry who is going to make the first move.

I am interested in these things from a game design perspective, but from a character perspective, man, I'd like to know the most minimal of details about these places, the outline of Crimson Isle is a great taste of what our characters would know going into their adventure on Nexus, leaving tons of room for exploration and discovery.

 Wilson, what happened to you?

Not everything is linked in to the new page yet. As I understand it Aether was in the background doing work while Late Night Dominion was interviewing another staffer. The Exile zones that we've had revealed in previous Wildstar Wednesdays are not linked in yet. Additionally the Screen Shot links are not fully connected for the zones that aren't Crimson Isle. There also appears to be some concept art for Crimson Isle based on a thumbnail, but the art does not appear to be uploaded as of yet.

I will be back in what is likely less than 24 hours to make my Friday post, mostly focused on details from Arkship EU.