[Megathread] Wildstar - Now F2P

[Perkunas]

Just put a bullet into it really, it's as dead as it gets anyway.

I said FF 14 was screwed. I ate my words. I doubt Carbine is willing to do what they need to do to save the game though. It's a pity though because there was some potential here.

- - - Updated - - -

Carbine doesn't have the money, marketing, nor talented devs to even try something like what Square pulled off.

Or the rampant fanboyism that Final Fantasy inspires.

[A Chozo]

Carbine doesn't have the money, marketing, nor talented devs to even try something like what Square pulled off.

Well... at least, in this day and age, we know that an MMORPG can rise from it's own ashes, so I can't lose faith in Wildstar yet. I hope someday they fix the problems that plague the game (for me, the worst is the quest log. It's buggy!).

[Deleted]

The game is 100% better since yesterdays patch....so that's a good thing

Another good thing....my Lopp toy lets me dance


And my boots....well

[Edge-]

Well, it's out on Steam now.

With apparently no real Steam promotion so far, despite them being open that they were doing no marketing because "Steam would take care of it.".

And a 3 sentence "press release" with zero supporting assets.

Downloading on my work computer now, but this is depressing so far : (

[Sheevah]

I didn't even get so much as an e-mail. :/

[Slaughty8]

Let's see: http://steamcharts.com/app/376570 so far 791 players :P
http://steamspy.com/app/376570 and 761 ± 859 owners

I wonder how it's gonna be during the next 14 days.

[Slaughty8]

Honestly, if fans of Wildstar want to help their game, I think they should organize action like "play with steam" to buff the numbers of active players and installations, so the game can go higher in steamcharts and in the steam's popular games lists. I still wonder if there is enough players to make it top 10 in steamcharts (+40k during required) :P

[Edge-]

Honestly, if fans of Wildstar want to help their game, I think they should organize action like "play with steam" to buff the numbers of active players and installations, so the game can go higher in steamcharts and in the steam's popular games lists. I still wonder if there is enough players to make it top 10 in steamcharts (+40k during required) :P

They've been doing that, in a sense. They're downloading the game to leave positive reviews on the page for it, but not sure what else beyond that.

Doubt they'll come anywhere near top 10 for concurrent users. I think the MMO with the biggest Steam launch (as in moving to Steam) was Tera and I don't think that cracked the top 10, and that peaked around 25k concurrent.

[shoc]

Then Ncsoft will let the game run on a low steady profit forever ?

It will take decades for Carbine to break even on its initial investment. At less than a million per quarter that's certainly net negative revenue every year after salaries and operating costs.

Likely that NCSoft will wait until WildStar is forgotten before they pull the plug. At this point, the most damaging aspect of NCSoft shutting down WildStar will be their stock value. It would be wise for them to wait until WildStar is mostly forgotten before shutting it down, losing cash on operating costs is probably less than what they would lose in shareholder value. The less news WildStar's shutdown makes, the better.

[Deleted]

I said FF 14 was screwed. I ate my words. I doubt Carbine is willing to do what they need to do to save the game though. It's a pity though because there was some potential here.

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Or the rampant fanboyism that Final Fantasy inspires.

Its not rampart fanboyism... if it was the first one would not have been perceived as bad as it did. And the hardcore final fantasy fans tend to be very tough judges to please and won't just swallow everything SE tries to throw at them.
FFXIV's revamp was successful because it is now, objectively speaking and leaving tastes aside, a very solid and polished MMO.

[Perkunas]

Its not rampart fanboyism... if it was the first one would not have been perceived as bad as it did. And the hardcore final fantasy fans tend to be very tough judges to please and won't just swallow everything SE tries to throw at them.
FFXIV's revamp was successful because it is now, objectively speaking and leaving tastes aside, a very solid and polished MMO.

I'm not saying it's doing well because of the fanboys only that they are the foundation for the community. It's a good foundation to build on and they have.

[Deleted]

Lets be honest, for just 1 minute, all the negative doom slayers and fantastic fanboys...please put down your toys for a moment! Why would anybody expect the numbers to different ? Unless you follow Wildstar and steam search, you will only come across the game by chance.

Because apparently you can't buy front page!

Posted*Today, 03:41 PM
Next Developer Post »
We do hope to get there soon, but being listed on the front page is not a something that can purchased. One of the ways that you can help us is by giving us reviews on Steam, which helps immensely with our popularity.

[Edge-]

Why would anybody expect the numbers to different ? Unless you follow Wildstar and steam search, you will only come across the game by chance.

Because apparently you can't buy front page!

They know they can't buy the front page, they should also know the best ways to help get themselves front page promotion through Valve. That means working with them to secure some form of promotion, and running a marketing campaign in tandem to drive attention to the page and press coverage. Valve works in mysterious ways, but there are absolutely ways for developers to give themselves a leg up when releasing on Steam.

Posted*Today, 03:41 PM
Next Developer Post »
We do hope to get there soon, but being listed on the front page is not a something that can purchased. One of the ways that you can help us is by giving us reviews on Steam, which helps immensely with our popularity.

No, this is basically Micah admitting that they threw the game on Steam and just hoped for the best. They had no plan. They had no strategy. They made no effort on the part of marketing.

They sent a three fucking sentence media alert with a link to the steam page and no supporting assets to media. That alone speaks volumes for how little effort they put behind the marketing on this. I've put far more effort into literally inconsequential announcements, and this is the games last chance at success, or even survival.

Honestly, I feel the worst for the few remaining folks at Carbine who are busting their ass on the game. You know damn well that they're still doing everything they can to make the game succeed, even with all the negativity around the studio with the layoffs and downsizing and the games grim future. And this is the kind of marketing push the game gets in its last chance?

And because they put no effort into marketing the game, it peaked at 1300 concurrent users on day one with next to no front page promotion. The damned Reddit community is putting more effort into marketing the game than Carbine is.

[Tryuk]

No, this is basically Micah admitting that they threw the game on Steam and just hoped for the best. They had no plan. They had no strategy. They made no effort on the part of marketing.

Ugh, what

Wildstar really needed this ASAP, but ending up as "Steam release, what steam release?" Is not exactly the situation Carbine needs. Hopefully they will do something marketing wise, but I'm guessing if they do, it's going to be some Summer steam sale that will get buried as much as the game is currently.

Edit: Well, actually it is 4th on popular new releases currently if that means anything---so there's that.

[Deleted]

They know they can't buy the front page, they should also know the best ways to help get themselves front page promotion through Valve. That means working with them to secure some form of promotion, and running a marketing campaign in tandem to drive attention to the page and press coverage. Valve works in mysterious ways, but there are absolutely ways for developers to give themselves a leg up when releasing on Steam.



No, this is basically Micah admitting that they threw the game on Steam and just hoped for the best. They had no plan. They had no strategy. They made no effort on the part of marketing.

They sent a three fucking sentence media alert with a link to the steam page and no supporting assets to media. That alone speaks volumes for how little effort they put behind the marketing on this. I've put far more effort into literally inconsequential announcements, and this is the games last chance at success, or even survival.

Honestly, I feel the worst for the few remaining folks at Carbine who are busting their ass on the game. You know damn well that they're still doing everything they can to make the game succeed, even with all the negativity around the studio with the layoffs and downsizing and the games grim future. And this is the kind of marketing push the game gets in its last chance?

And because they put no effort into marketing the game, it peaked at 1300 concurrent users on day one with next to no front page promotion. The damned Reddit community is putting more effort into marketing the game than Carbine is.

Actually there is a new statement:

"Hi Everyone -

Some players were experiencing purchasing issues with the DLC Bundles. As a result, we've had to pull them off of the Steam store.

We are actively looking for a fix, and as soon as we have one, the DLC Bundles will be brought back to the store.

Thanks so much!"


Good start there . Seriously, 1300 concurrent Steam users within the first week is at the higher end of what could reasonably be expected. Looking at their last revenue data - assuming half of their income comes from ingame shop sales, half from subscription - they are a tad above 10k subscribers. Even if the ratio was a bit more in favour of subscribers and even if they have several f2p players for every subscriber, these have to be relatively busy days for the game compared to the last several months.

[ShasVa]

As it's been said, I see that Wildstar is on Steam now.

I'm considering downloading it for funzies (Legion is still not here yet), but would it even be worth consuming the download quota? I'm well aware the game isn't as hyped or popular as it once was. If hardly anyone plays it (I'm from Australia btw), then maybe I shouldn't bother.

[Coldkil]

The game is pretty solid and fun - and again, art style is top notch imho.

What i really don't understand is how Carbine recognizes that they're in deep trouble (as they have been for a long time since release) and every possible solution taken is managed this poorly.

A Steam release, which alone is kind of a big move opening a huge market, announced 2 days before happening and without any actual announcement. Number of players doesn't always mean how good a game is, but it seems they're willingly try to avoid to have too much people playing.

[Deleted]

As it's been said, I see that Wildstar is on Steam now.

I'm considering downloading it for funzies (Legion is still not here yet), but would it even be worth consuming the download quota? I'm well aware the game isn't as hyped or popular as it once was. If hardly anyone plays it (I'm from Australia btw), then maybe I shouldn't bother.

Well, I have around 10 tokens in wow so can play it for free quite long if I want to, but I rather play Wildstar I haven't got Wow installed on computer. So accoding to me diskspace for Wildstar > diskspace for wow

[Deleted]

I moved my game onto steam, also did a review

What is Wildstar ?

Art style : Ageless
Music : Award winning and diverse
F2P : Probably the most F2P game you'll ever find, no content is locked
P2W : Your joking right
Pets and mounts : Loads can be found by playing, or in the store
Lore : By the bucket load
Housing : Without doubt, the best housing system ever
Raids : Yes
Dungeons : Yes
LFR : It runs a form of LFR with 14 world bosses
Challenging or casual : Both, the endgame offers a multitude of options for solo or grouped players
Does the game get updated content : Yes
Costumes : Yes, any gear you find! And no silly you can't costume because it's plate nonsense
Dyes : Zillions
What is missing from Wildstar : Only you.

And lets see what they after say about it all


Summary : After being subbed to wow for 10 years, Wildstar felt familiar yet strange! But by the time I'd reached level 30, I knew I had a new home on Nexus.

[catcommando]

I moved my game onto steam

Is there a way to do this without redownloading? Jesus this is kinda abrupt in terms of timing.