The SF-MMO WildStar is discontinuing the monthly content supply. In a letter to the fans, it is now explained why. The players provided too much feedback.
No, it was probably not really planned at all. In a YouTube interview with a US site, Megan Starks, a Senior Designer, dropped the big bomb: You will no longer see new content monthly in WildStar. They do not want to follow strict deadlines anymore and want to take more time for polishing. It took about four days before the video was found by some larger sites on YouTube, and the fans reacted loudly. That was an announcement that Carbine would certainly have preferred to sell under other circumstances than in such an uncontrolled environment.
Over the weekend, Carbine made an effort for an official post and a statement. The Product Director of WildStar, Mike Donatelli, spoke out and explained why they will no longer provide new content on a monthly basis. Indirectly, the players are responsible for this. They have provided mountains of feedback on the game that they simply were not prepared for. Everything revolves around this feedback: the economy, the classes, PvP, and crafting. There is so much that, in addition to the already planned content in the third drop, they want to bring a truckload of changes based on player feedback into the game. Furthermore, they want to deliver the content as bug-free as possible.
Donatelli’s letter ends with: “How long will this take, you ask? An excellent question.” They want to take their time and come back later with the details.
Mein MMO says: This has, with all due respect, not gone optimally. It is particularly unfortunate that a developer who stated from the very beginning that they would speak plainly and not bullshit, is now, in our opinion, beating around the bush. When there were problems with the website before the release (during the name reservation), they communicated openly and extensively about what the issue was, took responsibility, and promised to fix it. For that, they received much recognition from the community.
That now one of the central promises of the game, to deliver new content monthly, is nullified with “We are receiving so much feedback from you” while previously it was stated in an interview “We can’t meet our satisfaction within the tight schedule, we need more time for this” is already an extremely strange signal.
It was clear from the beginning that it would be a Herculean task to push new content every month. However, the way this story has been handled is still unfortunate. They could have taken a lot of edge off the decision through a live stream or a clear blog post to the fans. Even the current post would likely have had more impact before the interview with Megan Starks.
In fact, the actual decision to move away from monthly content and take more time is quite reasonable and has been received positively by many fans. However, they should have marketed it differently.
