Wildstar's Customizable PVP Death Fortresses Look Brilliant

"Warplot" may sound a bit funny (especially if you're John and immediately think up the phrase "Warplop"), but Wildstar's ambitious system of customizable 40vs40 PVP battlefields is anything but. The basic idea is that you have a "warparty" that jointly owns a massive hovering deathboat (aka, a warplot), and you can deck it out with everything from traps to murderbots to turrets to something called a Chompacabra to bosses you capture while adventuring. When two warplots click together like puzzle pieces, it's time for all out teaparty war, with countless goodies and "warcoins" going to both the winners and the losers. Wildstar might be a traditional MMO to the core, but goodness is it ever wringing the formula dry. Trailer below.

If the inherent complexity of it all didn't already give it away, warplots are endgame-only:

"Warplots are massive 40v40 battle royales, accessible to all players once they hit level 50. Each team starts with a fortress that they can upgrade and customize with a vast assortment of modifications using special currency called War Coins. Victory is achieved by either destroying the enemies’ generators or through killing players and disabling structures. At the end, both teams are rewarded with Loot Bags, Prestige, and Elder Gems."

On top of everything else, there are multiple roles on the battlewarfieldplot, including leaders who call the shots, jack-of-all-trades recruits, and mercenaries who can seemingly join either side of a skirmish for cash.

So basically, it's a fight to the bittersweet end between two death fortresses, and just about anything goes. Afterward, you spend warcoins on repairs and plug in new traps/bosses/etc because it's like they say: a warmongering sky lord's job is never truly done.

Wildstar is currently still in beta, but it's set to officially launch in June. Graham was enjoying it well enough when he last checked in, though he didn't exactly assuage my fears that this is basically World of Warcraft multiplied by a million and raised to the power of purple haired bunny ladies. I suppose, though, that if you're looking for MMO comfort food, Wildstar will likely have you belching with satisfaction (and probably indigestion) for weeks. Those of you in the beta, what do you think so far?