Carbine's Bull Durham reveals his plans for WildStar's economy

For some players, MMOs are all about slaying hordes of monsters and collecting piles of treasure. For others, it’s about gathering rare and exotic materials in order to forge incredible items. Some even set themselves as merchants, bartering and trading to earn a living. 

Although you might just be stocking up on consumables or saving for that fancy mount, chances are you’ll be interacting with a game’s economy on a regular basis. To give us a feel for how that’ll work in WildStar, senior systems designer Bull Durham has put together a detailed overview of how we’ll be earning those precious coins, and how Carbine is planning to take them back off us.

Besides the information on resource fountains and sinkwells, Durham also goes into a little history about why MMO games are typically structured the way they are. He acknowledges that we’re all a little bit Munchkin by kicking down the door, stabbing the dragon and grabbing the loot, but understands that it’s part of RPG tradition and huge amounts of fun.

Overall, Durham’s blogpost is well worth reading for an insight in how MMO designers think, particularly in terms of trying to balance short term needs of new players and long term goals of veterans several months in, while still keeping things fun.

Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer, Senior Contributing Editor