NCSoft has released a brand new Welcome to Wildstar video. The video doesn’t reveal anything new, but it does introduce the basics of the game to prospective gamers. The narrator seems to have had a fun time recording it.
Tag: Carbine Studios
Only A Couple of Months Left Before Wildstar Sunsets, According To Insider
The wounds haven’t even begun healing from the announcement earlier today that Carbine Studios would be cutting as much as 40% of its work force, and according to insider reports the layoffs are not complete. In fact, if this source is to be believed, NCSoft has already made the decision to pull the plug. According to an article on Polygon, employees were notified following today’s layoffs that more are to be expected in the run up to the game’s closure later this year.
NCSoft later responded to the article, confirming not only the layoffs but that the plans to launch Wildstar in China have been scrapped. Despite this, the publisher is still standing by its claim that it remains committed to continued operations in North America and Europe.
Earlier this morning, Carbine Studios completed a reorganization of its operating structure. Moving forward, the studio will focus on operating and updatingWildStar as a live game in the US and Europe. As part of this change, the studio has canceled its plans to bring WildStar to China.
It’s interesting to note that it was just a few days ago in 2008 that producer Starr Long posted a statement to assure players that NCSoft was still committed to Tabula Rasa before announcing it shuttering later that year. See if you can find the similarities between Long’s statements regarding layoffs in 2008:
“Once all is said and done, we will still have a substantial live team for industry standards… NCsoft has committed a lot of money and resources into continuing post-launch development of Tabula Rasa.”
And NCSoft’s statement to Polygon today.
“As for WildStar, we remain committed to the game. Over the next few weeks and months we will deliver a significant update to the game, kick off a variety of community events, and continue our work on new content that we will talk more about in the near future.”
In my previous coverage of Wildstar, I noted that the game’s future rests heavily on a successful Chinese launch. With those dreams shattered, perhaps the Wildstar community should begin shopping around for a new home.
At this point in the timeline, it looks like the upcoming China launch may be Wildstars best, and only, bet at salvation. Assuming NCSoft is willing to shoulder the title to that milestone, we’ll likely be hearing in 2017 about whether or not this title goes on the chopping block.
(Source: Polygon)
Chad “Pappy” Moore Takes Lead Of Wildstar
Carbine Studios’ own Chad “Pappy” Moore has announced that he is taking the reigns as the new game director, filling in the spot previously held by Mike Donatelli. Moore has been with Carbine Studios for quite a while, previously holding the position of lore expert. In the most recent blog post, Moore gives a summary of the past year of updates to Wildstar, including its transition to free to play, and gives an idea on what’s on the road ahead.
The next update, Destination Arcterra, introduces a new zone, new game mechanics, and a bunch of new quests and rewards. But that’s not all Wildstar has to offer this year:
Later this year players will find themselves in the Halon Ring, an asteroid belt around planet Nexus that is home to outlaws, marauders, and other unsavory individuals. Anything can happen in the Halon Ring, and it probably will. And speaking of marauders, we just announced that the next major raid in WildStar will be the Redmoon Terror. This is an incredible new raid, and although it won’t be going live with Destination Arcterra, we want to get some early testing of it done during the Arcterra PTR so we can get lots of feedback from our dedicated raiding community before its release.
Carbine Studios continues to work with Giant Interactive on the Chinese launch of Wildstar, which may be just the market that the game needs in order to truly thrive. MMO Fallout is expecting that the latest quarterly report, covering both Wildstar’s business transition and Heart of Thorns, to drop within the next few days.
(Source: Wildstar)
Wildstar Teases New Content
Wildstar’s next content release has been confirmed as Destination Arcterra. In this release, players will be tasked with heading off to one of planet Nexus’ more mysterious locations. The zone offers dynamic content, such as powerful bosses that only appear once their lesser counterparts are defeated. Both factions will also fight it out for exclusive access to a secret dungeon. For the story mode adventurers, Vault of the Archon continues the Nexus Saga, playable solo or as a group.
Keep your eyes open for further updates on even more exciting things happening during Destination Arcterra and beyond—including information about everyone’s favorite Lopp fortune teller, tidbits about undead zombie pirates, and protips about how to make your most awesome gear even awesomer. Stay tuned!
You can check out the full release announcement, as well as check out more screenshots, at the link below.
(Source: Wildstar)
Nab Wildstar For $1 On The Humble Bundle
Wildstar won’t be going free to play until later this year, but you have the opportunity to get your hands on a digital copy of the game for just $1. As part of the Humble Bundle, all you need to do is meet the $1 minimum to receive the Wildstar standard edition plus a ton of other games. Pay more than the minimum and get more.
If you need a reason to pick the game up now, consider this: Those who “own” the game before it goes free to play will have preferred status, giving a number of bonuses over other non-subscribed players.
(Source: Humble Bundle)
Wildstar Confirms Free To Play This Autumn
Carbine Studios has officially announced that Wildstar will be heading free to play this Autumn. Details are sparse at the moment, however players will be able to play through “everything the game has to offer without spending any money, so yes, we do mean free.”There are social and other limitations to free accounts however, mostly related to guilds, the auction house, etc. You can find the FAQ here, however Carbine promises that players will not be content locked behind a paywall.
Every zone, every dungeon, every raid, every battleground… they’re all available. All players will be able to create characters of every race, class, and path while choosing any tradeskills they like. Characters can achieve level 50 and path level 30, just as they can under the current system. There are some restrictions on services and social functions, however, as noted in the table below.
Wildstar transitioning to free to play has been a long time coming, with the game reporting a major loss in players and revenue over the past few quarters. With release in the fall, Carbine Studios will have to weather a few more quarters of poor performance before the game sees its influx of free players.
(Source: Massively)
Wildstar Bundles “Mystery Box” With New Copies
Carbine Studios is running a promotion with Wildstar: Buy a copy of the game and receive a “mystery box” code, which will grant one of three items: A mount (pictured above), a hoverboard, and a costume set, plus a title for collecting all three.
For a limited time, when you buy a standard-edition copy of WildStar in the physical box, you also get one of these three awesome items. Got duplicate items? No problem! You can trade them with your friends, sell them on the auction house, or just keep them to yourself.
Unfortunately for current players, the codes are only given if you redeem the game after April 15th, and only the standard edition boxed copy (digital codes and steel box deluxe is not included). The pets can then be traded on the auction house, gifted to others, or applied as a character-bound item.
(Source: Wildstar)
Carbine Studios Details Contracts
Wildstar’s next update, Invasion: Nexus, is on its way to clients everywhere soon. As part of the update, Carbine Studios is working on introducing contracts, daily quests that players can partake in at level 50 that are designed to be completed in a short amount of time. The goal of contracts, according to Carbine, is to “enable players to make steady progress toward powerful gear and give them even more reasons to stay and play on Nexus.”
Contracts are divided into three difficulty levels and two categories (PvE and PvP) with players able to complete as many of the easiest contracts as they’d like. Contracts reward points, prestige, gear, and glory, with extra bonuses as the player accumulates more points.
(Source: NCSoft Press Release)
Wildstar Cheaters Given 24 Hours To Confess
A recently discovered gold exploit is in the process of being patched out of Wildstar, and in the meantime players are being put on notice. Carbine Studios knows who you are and what you’ve done, but you may not be completely out of luck.
We are aware of the gold exploit feedback that has been circulating social media and the forums. At this point, we are working to get a hotfix put together as soon as possible. A rollback will not be necessary at this time; the current scope of abuse is not outside our ability to manually correct where necessary. Please understand, if you have abused this exploit, we will be taking action against your account. As you all know, we take exploits seriously and will not hesitate to lifetime ban accounts that have been caught abusing any exploits.
Players willing to atone should contact customer service within 24 hours, in exchange for the loss of your ill-gotten gains and a reduction in your punishment.
(Source: Wildstar)
NCWest Layoffs Inbound Across All Departments
NCSoft has confirmed a round of layoffs at its western operations, affecting all of its studios outside of ArenaNet. The layoffs come as a result of “restructuring of key operations within NC West,” as the developer pushes towards mobile and tablet gaming, as well as emerging technologies. Polygon has cited an unnamed source stating that over sixty members of the Carbine Studios team were laid off.
The statement by NCSoft:
Today we announced a restructuring of key operations within NC West. As a result of this restructuring, we are implementing staff reductions across our Western operations with the exclusion of ArenaNet. While decisions like this are always hard, they are necessary as we begin the implementation of a new strategy designed to strengthen our footing as a leader in global entertainment.
Moving forward, we will continue to focus on our core development capabilities and the intellectual properties (WildStar, Aion, Lineage, and Guild Wars franchises) that have made NCSOFT what it is today. However, we are looking to move into new business segments like mobile and tablet games as well as explore emerging technologies.
Again, the decision to reduce staff was not an easy one, and we sincerely wish everyone well in their next endeavors.
(Source: Polygon)
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