The zombie sandbox MMO H1Z1 is expected to go into Early Access at 7 PM German time. Meanwhile, a fan trailer once again invokes the Walking Dead influences of the zombie MMO.
Typical question right now: When does it start? When does the Early Access of H1Z1 begin?
There is a countdown on Steam that seems to be confirmed by H1Z1 staff. It should start at 10 AM US local time. SOE is based in sunny California, which follows Pacific Time. That means it’s 7 PM for us in the evening. Nice release time. As everyone knows, it can get delayed with such a thing. But 7 PM is official.
1This is indicated by the game’s Steam page. And also this Vine from Jimmy Whisenhunt, who is responsible for the combat system and weapon design.
That moment when you realize your project (@H1Z1Game) launches in 25 hours #h1z1#gamedevhttps://t.co/ReBlfuVnxC
— Jimmy Whisenhunt (@jimmywhis) January 14, 2015
And even the boss names this time as the start date.
@peiguy1981 @H1Z1game @jimmywhis @Arclegger 10am Pacific.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 14, 2015
There will only be an English version of the game available, accessible from all over the world. Currently, the servers are only gathered in one location in the USA. Plans are in place to set up a second location in the United States and one in good old Europe. Also, the H1Z1 homepage now presents itself in a new light. The price for the starter pack will be $19.99, while the premium package will be $39.99. As for the conversion to Euros, it’s not yet known with certainty. That’s the latest update.
people are asking where our servers are located. They are in the US to start but we’re firing up a ton of EU servers soon here too. — John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 14, 2015
Meanwhile, a new fan trailer has appeared that emphasizes the “Walking Dead” influences of H1Z1. It tells the story of a survivor in the world of H1Z1 as he confronts the titular virus, seeks refuge with the military, escapes to the countryside with a group, and begins to slowly learn the harsh realities of the new world. By the way, no in-game footage was used for the trailer.
These strong influences from the U.S. hit series “The Walking Dead” seem to be something SOE does not want to deny. The genre is not something they want to reinvent.
We will probably accompany the Early Access start tomorrow with a stream at mein-mmo.
Update: A formal greeting is indeed provided by SOE for H1Z1.
Update 15.1. 10:30: This pic of the server list was tweeted. You can see the various symbols here. The picture actually shows a Carebear, the symbol for PvE servers, and one server is called “Smed’s Dead.” Very nice. In hardcore mode, when you die, you will also lose all your learned recipes and the ownership of all containers. They will still exist in the world but will be more assigned to the player.
#H1Z1 Ohhhh sheeeeeee….! pic.twitter.com/8kuCkmVmHn
— Steve George (@SonyShock) January 15, 2015
Update 17:30: The start has been delayed by 2 hours. It is now planned for 9 PM.
Launching at Noon Pacific — John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 15, 2015
Update 18:00: Perhaps a few EU servers will indeed come online throughout the day. SOE has now provided H1Z1 with a new trailer. It was briefly online, then they replaced it with the old one while waiting for the high-res version. The old version can still be found on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/zw7YgGH6RlM
Update 19:40: Yes … not such great news now. Smedley tweeted again when a user asked for confirmation of the 9 PM start. His response was a “So there.”
@wkemp15 @Virtual_FBaller @LTMAGIC23 ish.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 15, 2015
Update 20:40: It looks like it will take another hour. 10 PM seems to be the new estimate.
looking like 1pm at this point.. in final testing on some fixes. — John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 15, 2015
Update 21:25 It looks like they are sticking to the 10 PM schedule. The last patch will now be deployed to the live servers. Any remaining bugs will stay for now and are to be fixed as soon as possible.
ok deploying final patch to live servers now. still 1pm ETA. some bugs we would have liked to kill are still in there but will be fixed asap
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 15, 2015
Update 21:45: A data miner has now released the server list. There are 10 EU servers among them and 26 battle royale servers (including one for EU), one for each letter of the alphabet. Appropriately, the battle royale servers will be named using the NATO alphabet (that Charlie, Lima, Yankee stuff). Here’s the server list, in case someone wants to get in touch already. Update 21:55: And another hour pushed back. Now it’s expected to be 11 PM in Germany before it starts.
deployment taking longer than expected. ETA 2pm. Don’t rage folks.. it’s almost here. — John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 15, 2015
Update 23:00: According to H1Z1, everything is ready and they are still waiting for an “Okay” from Steam. It can start any minute now.
servers are all patched and up.. waiting for Steam to finalize our patch on their CDN and then we will release the kraken
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 15, 2015
Update 23:40: It is starting now.
ok we’re unlocking everything now.. — John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 15, 2015
Update 23:45: Early Access for H1Z1 can now be purchased. The standard version is priced at €19.99, while the premium package is likely priced at €39.99. It is currently not available yet but should follow soon. We explain the difference in the article linked below.
For information on the contents of the starter and premium packages, as well as the system requirements for the Early Access of H1Z1, click here: H1Z1: System requirements and packages for Early Access are known
