I really wanted this game to succeed. I really, REALLY did. I knew about it back in 2012 and was extremely hyped at what I saw. Of course, despite all the craze, what does NCSoft decide to bring to us instead? Wildstar... Well, skip forward to 2016, and we finally get this game. What can one expect from it?! Truth be told, not much.
Story
Of all the MMOs I've played, this game easily takes the cake for having one of the dumbest story known to man. It is just a series of random shenanigans held together extremely loosely by having the involvement of your character and a few key names. The voice acting ranges from decent to atrocious, most being atrocious. And remember that time you heard your teacher butchered the foreign kid's name in high school? Yeah, expect to hear that almost every second of dialogue.
Graphics
The graphics despite being a few years old, actually held together pretty well even today. Of course, every now and then you notice certain aspects can be more detailed and whatnot, but for the most of it, it is a really pretty game. The character customization is over the top if you are good with anatomy and playing with sliders. There is no "equipment" aside from your soul shields, weapon, and accessories which then allows you to wear practically anything you want in the game.
Combat
The BEST part about this game is definitely the combat. If there is anything this game managed to get right, was the combat. Assuming you don't face crappy connections, the combat is extremely fun, responsive, and feels super polished. After your first few skills unlock, you start doing combos, aerial attacks, and all of it leaving you feel like a hero straight out of a kungfu movie. Your unlocked skill points are always available, so you can change you build on the fly. And with that we must talk about the PvP. The PvP is by far one of the best in any game I've played, and trust me, I've played a lot. Damage is normalized in PvP, so you do not feel at a disadvantage even with crappy gear. The only true advantage one may have is the skill points. While the damage is normalized, the level aren't. Thus, a lvl45+hongmoon level have access to higher tier of a skill than someone whom is level 30. This does not mean, it is impossible for a lower level to beat someone higher; it'll just be harder. This game does boil down to who is more skilled with their class.
So then, what have been said, the game would easily get something like a 8/10. However, you look at what the rest of the game offers. It is grindy which is expected of a Korean MMO; however, it is beyond the level of logic even for me who spent days farming rare mats to make an armor in games like Monster Hunter. The crafting is non-existent. At first glance, you would think the design of the crafting to be good; however, the execution is horrid. You would make an order for a craft or gathering and go do something else. However, you end up spending upwards of 12+ hours just to craft something of value to sell and most of the professions in the game range from poorly balanced to outright useless. Then this gets restricted further by the game only allowing you putting up a total of 10 auctions (15 if you are premium) in the auction house account-wise, not characters-wise. Then most of your endgame life is grinding dailies over and over and over which then the game limits each character being able to do only 40 (if you are even sane enough to do all 40 per character a day).
The game does poorly adjust you to the dungeons. For the majority of the dungeons, your team can zerg a boss until it dies and get away with it. There is very little requirement in the teamwork department. Then when you suddenly do a high end dungeon, and there'll be an array of people who don't even know how to utilize their abilities properly because up to that point they were not required by the game to progress or beat a dungeon.
And then of course, the worst of them all... bots. Of course bots exist in almost all MMOs, but this is beyond ridiculous. We are not speaking of bots that spam gold selling advertisement. There are bots which farm materials and sending the economy in disarray. They'll send all your characters' friend requests, and of course NCSoft restricts the number of people you can add to your ignore list. They'll even send you mail and whisper you on a daily basis. They even PvP. Yes. There are bots in PvP.
In conclusion, I just can't give this game anymore than a 4/10. There is so much potential; however, the game was released way too late than it should have. The amazing combat is hindered by poor contents which doesn't scale properly with the player experience. For a game that offers so much cool classes to play with, it just restricts you too much on how you play. With the inventory spaces requiring special bags to unlock, and not shared between characters, it takes a lot of currency (real or ingame) to unlock. On top of the ridiculous amount of materials needed to progress your items endgame makes having multiple characters more a burden than an asset. The story feels like it was written by a drunkard who thinks he's telling some amazing story to his friends, but in reality all it ends up being is some incoherent slurring which just makes you laugh at the sheer stupidity. NCSoft, especially, has dropped the ball with this game. Failing to address the botting issues that plague it. Forcing players to purchase overpriced subscriptions just for basic amenities such as the wardrobe function to store your costumes.
So should you play the game? Sure, it is free to play. However, I highly recommend you don't waste your money on it. While it is possible to not spend a dime on the game to unlock basic needs like inventory spaces. You will be tearing your hair out on how absurd the grind is just to get there. READ THE DAMN LETTER CRICKET!!!