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WildStar Goes F2P in the Fall: Why it Happened

6/11/2015

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Greetings Everyone! Well, it finally happened. What the heads of WildStar said wouldn't happen has happened. In a little under a year's time (June 3rd release – May 28th), the Sci-Fi MMO has announced its plans to go F2P (free-to-play) this fall. If you've read my last article on WildStar, this news comes across more as a prediction come to fruition than a surprise. While the excitement around the game was magnificent building up to its launch (a World of Warcraft successor, taking the best elements of the most popular MMO's, harkening back to an old-school/hardcore mindset of gaming) it didn't take long before the capital cities on many servers were ghost towns.

That's not to say that the game didn't have plenty of elements that I enjoyed. The visual design of the content (player races, monsters, landscapes etc.) was great and unique to the game – as much as anything can be anymore. The combat system took notes from other more action oriented games and added the necessity of movement and skills shots instead of letting the computer run the numbers behind the scenes for you. The main story line was something that was quite enjoyable as well – an ancient race using the planet as a bio-engineering lab. There was also an attitude about the game that seemed to separate it out from its competitors, “lets hoverboard around the moon and then take part in a little genocide!”

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Besides a game's story, much of this can be superficial, though. There are reasons why we can replay 8-bit classics and still enjoy them immensely today, while the most insane looking, pre-order filled game from last year is in the bargain bin for $4.99. This comes down to how everything in a game fits together, creating something greater than the sum of its parts. All signs were pointing to this, but perhaps WildStar's first stumbling block was the fact that they still greatly had a theme park MMO style base (what they said they were moving away from) and couldn't give it enough of a sandbox style paint job. That being said, nowadays any game being released using the theme park style will at least initially be looked at as a WoW clone. World of Warcraft did define the theme park style MMO, so it's impossible not to draw parallels.

Parallels are not always bad, though as new games would hope to have all of the features (crafting, arenas/battlegrounds, high level raids, dungeons, housing, stand alone adventures, PVP and more) that World of Warcraft has just to be able to compete with it. The problem was that while WildStar did have all of these elements, there were way too many, “Oh, this is just beta. That issue should be fixed by release.” moments that turned into, “Oh, it's only the first month or two. They will fix things in the first big patch.” moments. PVP remains(ed) broken, after the first few intro areas leveling starts to put the brakes on, mid and high level content was not fleshed out, the crafting and loot systems were broken (I shouldn't always be able to craft better gear than a quest rewards) and the capital city design was maddening at times, just to name a few problems.

TLDR: even with the game being in development for a long time, they released it too soon.

PictureMy reaction these days when I hear about MMO's that aren't free-to-play.
One of the other things to consider is that people might just be getting burnt out on this style of game. Contrarians would point out how games like Final Fantasy XIV went 110% theme park and are doing pretty well considering their direction. This actually supports my statement, though. It's been almost 11 years since WoW and others like it came out. If a theme park style MMO doesn't have top notch execution, a lot of people are not going to stick around or even be interested. I am really hoping that WildStar (while technically not in the same genre) is just following the same path that Diablo III did. Both releases fell far short on reception (in my opinion) but D3 wound up having a “this is how it should have been at release,” resurrection in the long run. The main issue here, though is that WildStar will not have anywhere near the bank roll that Diablo III had backing it and it is a much larger undertaking as well.

The other thing that people are getting burnt out on is the paid subscription model. These days you can count on one hand the number of successful games still following this business practice. I believe that this is where some bad luck befell WildStar from the beginning. When the game was still in development and nearing its release, the paid subscription model was more or less still valid. It didn't take long for this to change though. As I said in my first WildStar article, after playing Guild Wars2 (which had an initial purchase of the game but was F2P afterwards) it was going to take a lot for me to set up that recurring charge.  

With any luck the WildStar F2P version will repopulate Nexus in the fall. For a game with so much potential, it would be a shame for it to disappear into obscurity.

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Awesome Con 2015 Interviews: Ben Templesmith, Ming Chen & Steve Anderson

6/5/2015

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Greetings Everyone! This past weekend at Awesome Con I was able to secure some awesome interviews! First up is Ben Templesmith. I was first introduced to his work over ten years ago with the 30 Days of Night series and have been following him through his most recent release of The Squidder which came out last year. We talk about his upcoming project Dagon (due to be released this fall) and touch on if an artist and their work should be considered as one or two separate entities. (Slightly NSFW - Language).

The next interview was with Ming Chen of AMC's Comic Book Men. We touched on what his experience has been since the show has aired, who he was looking forward to see at the con, who he would like to see next at the event and artist criticism.
Last but not least is Steve Anderson. Steve is the owner and founder of Third Eye Comics. If you have ever been to Awesome Con its hard to miss the presence that his store has. Aside from being a sponsor we chat about his involvement with the event, the comic boom that's taken place over the last few years, the top three comic series that you should be reading right now and who he keeps on bugging Ben Penrod (the founder of Awesome Con) to invite to the convention.
Macathu
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Awesome Con 2015 - Adult Swim Panel: Dana Snyder & C. Martin Croker

6/3/2015

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PicturePhoto Credit: Cartoon Network
Check out the entire Adult Swim Panel with the hilarious Dana Snyder (Master Shake on Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Granny Cuyler on Squidbillies) & C. Martin Croker (Zorak and Moltar on Space Ghost Coast to Coast)!

Witness projectile water bottles, dissatisfying beef tips, VIP's that live in the convention hall vents, a Rocket Racoon that needs to be put down and much much more!

The audio quality is excellent throughout, but we only had the GoPro for the second half of the panel. I had to do some select editing for the first half as it was impossible to hold back my laughter. Also, you know you've made it when Master Shake calls you Dr. Venture. Enjoy!

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Macathu
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Maryland Deathfest: XIII :Friday in the Edison Lot

6/1/2015

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Happy Metal Monday! We just wrapped up AwesomeCon and I know that I'm going to need some metal to push me through the day. I was able to tape a song from each of the last four bands in the lineup: Aura Noir, Suffocation, Obituary and the elusive Bloodbath! They all played great shows and if Bloodbath wasn't there, the lineup order wouldn't change. With amazing weather, an excellent parking situation and of course the bands, this section of MDF XIII was amazing for me. Now lets get right to it! 

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Macathu
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    Macathu:
    Nerdy metal head extraordinaire. A mead horn around the neck, dice in one hand and a vanquished foe in the other....

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