In the SF-MMO WildStar there has been little news in recent weeks. They are preparing for the next content drop in 2015, diligently working on new content and digesting the heavy first year. They look resolutely towards the future.
WildStar relegated to a footnote in the success story of WoW
This is surely not what Carbine envisioned. At the moment, their MMO “WildStar” is actually only represented in the gaming press when it comes to rivals of World of Warcraft that have been cleared out over the years: It now stands out in articles. Together with Rift, Age of Conan, Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, and a few other titles, most of which probably did not even intend to compete seriously against WoW, but fit well into such a list.
Otherwise, one only hears from WildStar when they have significantly lowered prices – as during Black Friday. Currently, WildStar is available for just under 15 Euro.
While Blizzard triumphs with Warlords of Draenor, Carbine has rather retreated in recent days and is working on the game. They granted a reporter from mmorpg.com access to their premises, allowed him to speak with key employees, presented plans for the future that all sound as if they make sense, possibly lacking a bit in innovation. The reporter felt, he writes, that the studio is intact, working hard on upcoming game content.
The worst is over, now it’s on the rise.
Meeting with NCSoft went well, but there were still reprimands
The mood in the management of Carbine seems resolute as well. Mike Donatelli, who has taken on a sort of chief role after prominent departures, reports in the mmorpg.com interview that he went to report to publisher NCSoft, to present the new plans for the game, to justify the shift from monthly to quarterly drops. Convincing the Koreans that WildStar needs to become more accessible.
He had prepared for a tough fight, gathering and presenting many good arguments. But after the presentation, the fight did not occur, even at NCSoft they believe in the future of WildStar, as it is said. Only that he had spoken to massively aboutseveral hundred thousand players seemed to displease the Koreans at NCSoft. For that, he received a reprimand.
Not much joy under the Christmas tree, just a lot of work
Nevertheless, this is certainly not a super pleasant time for WildStar. The game has been on the market for several months now, had come in with rather bold words, intending to deliver fresh content every month. Yes, they know how hard that is. But they can do it. They know what they are doing, they are eager to prove it and earn back the players’ trust. Just the fact that this promise was soon withdrawn and the transition from a monthly schedule to a quarterly one has likely left some scratches on its image. The idea of 40-man raids also proved unviable in implementation and has since been retracted.
In recent months, a detailed analysis of the problems has been conducted: They wanted to do too much at once, had too many pans on the stove, and could not pay the necessary attention to quality. WildStar was not accessible enough. In addition, some design flaws have been discovered. They have been working on all of this and plan to continue addressing it in the coming months. Carbine aims to regain some lost trust through hard work and a new approach.
