The wait is over WildStar fans. The epic drop of the two unnanounced WildStar classes is here!

WildStar fans, the time is finally upon us! Until this point Carbine has been re-revealing its previously announced classes. For many, this was a way to get familiarized or re-acquainted with classes that have previously been talked about. We listened and watched intently as the team dove into class changes and the specifics of what each of these power houses are capable of. However, to the masses that were foaming at the mouth for WildStar information--such as me--these re-reveals also served a second purpose, as a countdown to the two remaining un-revealed classes.

Well folks, the wait is finally over. I was lucky enough to participate in another round-table discussion, this time detailing the two latest WildStar classes to be revealed today. We were joined by Carbine’s Combat Systems Lead, Chris Lynch, Lead Class Designer, Hugh Shelton, Class Designer, Steven Angle, Class Designer, Mark Matzenbacher and its PR Manager, Michael Shelling.  From the deep fringes of space, coming to a Planet Nexus near you, I present you with WildStar’s Engineer and Medic classes.

Yeah, things just got real.

The Engineer: Build it yourself--it shoots better that way.

The Engineer is what I would consider the “Tony Stark” or “Ironman” of the six classes and I’ll explain why a bit further in. While being able to fulfill the roles of a heavy- armored ranged Tank or DPS, the Engineer also has access to a variety of utility and pet abilities. Yes, you read that correctly. Pets.

However, unlike the Esper who also has a few summoned pets, the Engineer is actually a dedicated pet class. So, to all of you Hunters and Rangers out there who love your faithful companions, this may be the class for you. But what kind of pets are we talking about here? Surely you didn’t expect a mechanic as formidable as the Engineer to walk around with cute kitty-cats and pet wolves right? If so, I might have to crush your kitty-caressing dreams for a second. This Engineer uses mechanically engineered robots as his faithful and deadly companions. And while this wasn’t supposed to be my Ironman comparison, the billionaire’s team of repair and cleaning bots does come to mind.

The Engineer’s bots aren’t mere cleaning bots--unless you’re talking about mopping up your enemies that is. Over the course of the Engineer leveling period, they’ll gain access to up to four different bots through abilities and the AMP system; two of which can be active in the world at a time. These bots include the Artillery Bot, for AoE damage/direct damage, the Diminisher Bot, for snares and damage over time effects, the Bruiser Bot, that taunts enemies around it and the Repair Bot, which heals the Engineer and his allies. These loyal companions can also be strengthened through the Ability Tiering and AMP systems to better carry out their individual purposes.

While most players who prefer these pet classes love the idea of having these companions aid them in battle, the question that usually comes up in regard to this class archetype also reared its head during the round-table. That question being “How will these pets do in the more difficult encounters in the game?” No one likes a useless pet in the fights that count the most.
 
Chris chimed in on the question.

“On the raid and dungeon side of it, as we test these things we’re actually able to prioritize what the (enemy) AOEs target first. In some cases we’ll make it so it doesn’t affect pets as much or as often, to make it so they’re actually useful throughout the fight.”

We learned that Engineer pets will have stances (passive, aggressive, defensive) that allow skilled players to control their movement to an extent in order to position them out of harmful telegraphs. Mastery of these different pets will certainly help, as they’ll be used for both the Engineer’s tanking and DPS role.

For example, you’ll be able to call your Bruiser Bot to tank a group of adds for a bit while you tackle the main boss, or command your Artillery bot to rain down rockets on unsuspecting foes for some nice burst damage. You might even choose to combine each of these bots with either of the other two depending on what the situation calls for.

While the Engineer has access to his pets and gadgets, most of his abilities come from his “Launcher” which generally takes the form of various rifle-like weapons. Through the use of his Launcher, the Engineer charges up “Volatility”; the Engineer class resource. Once enough Volatility has been built up, it can be expended, in order to use some of the Engineer’s heavy hitting skills and abilities. Think unstable energy that gets released in order to put massive hurt on enemies. Sounds pretty cool right? Well the fun doesn’t stop there.

By making use of his Launcher, the Engineer has a variety of ranged skillshots and AOE abilities that can be used on the move. While moving, the Engineer suffers from reduced movement speed, so advanced planning or distance is useful when trying to kite enemies or keep them at range. Abilities such as “Zap”, a skillshot line attack that stuns enemies, and “Energy Auger” a line skillshot that does damage and leaves harmful fields on the ground are just a couple of the Engineer’s ranged ability arsenal.

The Engineer’s “innate ability”, for those who may not be familiar with the term, is like a class-specific “signature” move. In this case, when the Engineer’s innate is used in either his tanking stance or DPS stance, he summons a Mark IV armor suit that goes over his existing armor. Yeah I’ll just let that sink in for a bit.

Done imagining your Engineer flying around in the sky? No? Ok, I’ll wait.

Seriously though, while the Mark IV suit sounds cool, it actually serves a unique purpose depending on what “stance” the Engineer is in. While in the tanking stance, the Mark IV suit greatly enhances the Engineer’s damage mitigation by granting him defensive bonuses that diminish over time. If used in the DPS stance, the Mark IV suit grants the Engineer increased Volatility gain, allowing him to fire off his strongest attacks without fear of consuming his class resource.

So there you have it, the “do it yourself Iron man class”; also known as the Engineer. Races that have access to this class are Humans, Cassians, Granok, Mordesh, Chua and Mechari.

 Next up we have the high-tech healer, the Medic.

The Medic >>