NCsoft's Q1:2015 report came out, and per Massively "WildStar‘s numbers continue to fall, dropping 50% to a bit over $2 million in sales. This continues the downward trend established with the last financial report from the publisher."

Looks like they're bowing to the inevitable as a result: According to "An anonymous Carbine employee verified by Reddit moderators" it seems that "Wildstar is going to be changing its business model in August (tentatively of course, patch stuff etc) to a Hybridized Free to Play model." (It is also coming to Steam.)

Never gave the game much of a look myself, just didn't appeal to me at all, but for those who do enjoy it I hope that it's conversion goes well, SWTOR bounced back remarkably well by going F2P, after all.

I called this 2 months after launch once players had been tackling 20 mans for over a month.

Warplots starting taking longer longer to get a group going apparently (I didn't do much PvP, but my guildies told me Warplots took forever to start by 4 months in).

The Raid issue wasn't that it was HARDCORE, but that there were issues with lag and client-server discrepancies. Add into that the wacky way BiS raid gearing worked and you had WS changing endgame gearing once every 2 months for a year. It's good now, but man, was that system annoying (TOR has much better gearing system currently than WS had at launch).

Mind you, WS has some AMAZING STUFF! PATHS. OMG. PATHS.

Explorer was Macrobinocular missions only better.

Settler was fun, you could create a small fort that had buffs that everyone in the zone could use.

Imagine being able to create a buff pool on say, Coruscant for newbies to use from the scrap parts you looted.

I loved my Paths! And their dungeons are awesome.

But in the end, tuning 40 Mans to be as tough dps/heal checks as pre-nerf-nerf-nerf NiM Dread Guards, and making it so you couldn't afford more than 34ms, was not the best thing (mind you, it wasn't like it was impossible with 114ms, but you needed every advantage you could get).

Well, time for me to reinstall WS I guess:D

What can I say? I like playing more than just 1 mmo.

I gotta say, I never gave the game so much as a cursory look because I just abhor the art style of it. Fat squirrels with guns, is what it looked like to me. I'm surprised it was as successful as it was, honestly. Now some of those ideas do sound good, but I'll hope they make their way to other games before I ever catch myself playing something even more cartoony than WoW, which really pushed the limit for me at times.

For the same reason, I think I'm gonna pass on Everquest Next. Why? It looks like a bad disney cartoon. But that's just my bias.

Any game that innovates is a good thing, so hopefully those good ideas will show up eventually in games like this one.

I gotta say, I never gave the game so much as a cursory look because I just abhor the art style of it. Fat squirrels with guns, is what it looked like to me. I'm surprised it was as successful as it was, honestly.

Yup but they did it to themselves with that art style.

I don't know who convinced them Saturday morning cartoons would make a great MMO design but that person should be fired and blacklisted from ever working in the gaming industry again.

Like you, I never gave it a try because of the art style

I knew it could have the best systems and mechanics of all time

and still fail with the art design.

And sadly that's not that far off because every legitimate feedback I ever seen has praised Wildstar mechanics and game play. I honestly never hear or read a single bad thing about WS, except for its art design.

Probably could have been much more successful if they had gone a more realistic design. Didn't have to be top of line realism, even a dated SW:TOR look would have sold nicely.

Wont be checking out the F2P because once again, no desire to play a Saturday morning Cartoon character.

Shame really but it is what it is.

Considering how hard the game's population plummeted, I think they're going to have a hard time staying afloat even as a F2P MMO unless they do a really good job at the conversion.

Swtor did pretty well after the F2P conversion, but it also wasn't the disaster some people want you to believe it was. It actually rose in numbers for a while before starting that steady decline, while Wildstar lost its players almost as fast it got them.

didn't they say they would specifically not go free to play back before their launch?

and now they are!?!

irony

didn't they say they would specifically not go free to play back before their launch?

 

and now they are!?!

 

 

irony

sure, so did SW:TOR

So did ESO

When you loss a big enough market share

you have to do anything to try and promote revenue streams.

As I said above, the developers thought they knew what was best of everyone else and gambled all in on that very arrogant mindset (same story as the original dev team for SW:TOR).

And they were wrong big time

F2P is just a last grasp mechanic to get some revenue streams open

Well happened because it didn´t appeal to a large enough crow.

But really, swtors developers were so incredibly naive at launch so they really aren`t better.

At least Wildstars devs had an idea in mind and thought there was a large hardcore MMO fanbase out there which sadly isn`t the truth. They had an idea while the swtor devs thought they could clone WOW and get away with it because its Star Wars.

Well happened because it didn´t appeal to a large enough crow.

But really, swtors developers were so incredibly naive at launch so they really aren`t better.

At least Wildstars devs had an idea in mind and thought there was a large hardcore MMO fanbase out there which sadly isn`t the truth. They had an idea while the swtor devs thought they could clone WOW and get away with it because its Star Wars.

Swtor's devs thought they could surpass WoW by adding their "4th Pillar", some solid story content. Unfortunately the average MMO player doesn't give a crap about story content, so they lost them very quickly again. They thought everyone would be interested in finishing all eight class stories, mixed in with some bits of endgame content here and there.

They weren't entirely wrong with their story content idea, as there is indeed a market for it as proven by their core audience (AKA those of us who stuck around), and by all the players enjoying The Secret World and similar MMOs with a heavy focus on story. The group that likes that kind of content just isn't as big as they'd hoped, and certainly not big enough to topple WoW.

I called this 2 months after launch once players had been tackling 20 mans for over a month.

 

Warplots starting taking longer longer to get a group going apparently (I didn't do much PvP, but my guildies told me Warplots took forever to start by 4 months in).

 

The Raid issue wasn't that it was HARDCORE, but that there were issues with lag and client-server discrepancies. Add into that the wacky way BiS raid gearing worked and you had WS changing endgame gearing once every 2 months for a year. It's good now, but man, was that system annoying (TOR has much better gearing system currently than WS had at launch).

 

Mind you, WS has some AMAZING STUFF! PATHS. OMG. PATHS.

Explorer was Macrobinocular missions only better.

Settler was fun, you could create a small fort that had buffs that everyone in the zone could use.

 

Imagine being able to create a buff pool on say, Coruscant for newbies to use from the scrap parts you looted.

 

I loved my Paths! And their dungeons are awesome.

 

But in the end, tuning 40 Mans to be as tough dps/heal checks as pre-nerf-nerf-nerf NiM Dread Guards, and making it so you couldn't afford more than 34ms, was not the best thing (mind you, it wasn't like it was impossible with 114ms, but you needed every advantage you could get).

 

Well, time for me to reinstall WS I guess:D

 

What can I say? I like playing more than just 1 mmo.

The only "hardcore" thing about Wildstar raiding was the attunement necessary.... the rest well... eve pre nerf OPs in SWTOR here never seemed very challenging to me and that includes HM and NiM.

Swtor's devs thought they could surpass WoW by adding their "4th Pillar", some solid story content. Unfortunately the average MMO player doesn't give a crap about story content, so they lost them very quickly again. They thought everyone would be interested in finishing all eight class stories, mixed in with some bits of endgame content here and there.

 

They weren't entirely wrong with their story content idea, as there is indeed a market for it as proven by their core audience (AKA those of us who stuck around), and by all the players enjoying The Secret World and similar MMOs with a heavy focus on story. The group that likes that kind of content just isn't as big as they'd hoped, and certainly not big enough to topple WoW.

This isn't what happened actually. From their own presentation at GDC 2013 they said..

they opened with too little end game content because they thought it would take 3-5 months for players, on average, to reach end game. They were legitimately surprised at how fast players gobble up content in an MMO. Basically they used the average it took players to finish their SP RPGs... which attract a, largely, different crowd. Their metrics showed the average amount of play time per week at launch was 40 hours. This was, in their words, "crazy".

Then we have the following group "psychological issues." They admitted to being overwhelmed by the size of the crew they had working on the game. During the development phase they had a 300 person crew and they had never worked with a crew this big. Add onto this stress was a loss of morale when the co-founders of the company resigned and the simple stress that comes from working on a game genre they never had before (an MMO) and, according to their own presentation they retreated even further into their "comfort zone" which is the story portion of the game.

Basically, in their own words, while they always wanted to include the story due to all of the above factors they went to far in that particular direction, the intentional (underestimation of play time) and the unintentional (psychological issues) compounding each other.

I would also question the "WoW killer" mindset. While the player base clearly thought that was the intent...the CEO of EA said that they would call the game a success if they stabilized at 500k subscriptions after launch. TRhat is FAR from a WoW killer. The reason they ended up going Sub/f2p hybrid was because the trend of subscription loss was showing they were going to drop below this threshold and it was pretty much confirmed when after their transition they announced stabilizing subscriptions at just under 500k (what ever "just" = for them) and adding 1 million f2p and preferred accounts.

TBH most MMOs, while they will take pot shots at WoW in their advertising, aren't looking to be WoW beaters. Players put that label on the games.

Well happened because it didn´t appeal to a large enough crow.

But really, swtors developers were so incredibly naive at launch so they really aren`t better.

At least Wildstars devs had an idea in mind and thought there was a large hardcore MMO fanbase out there which sadly isn`t the truth. They had an idea while the swtor devs thought they could clone WOW and get away with it because its Star Wars.

SWTOR is getting away with it because its Star Wars and with that, it has the best stories IMO which makes it great to play. You see it even better when they have 12x XP to help you just do the story.

I'm not into the hardcore MMO stuff but I still don't know that THAT was the reason Wildstar didn't work. Might be that it was poorly done to some extent but I know I never would give that part a chance even, since just a few hours in it made me want to just put down the mouse and go jump off the nearest bridge because I found its animations and attempt at humor being all loud and in my face. Was not safe for my children because it gave me the feeling of being on a long drive with them in the back screaming in my ear the entire way for several hours.

I would not play Wildstar even if it is free to play. The 10-20 hours I spent with that game is enough for me to never go back, ever.

Although its graphics look extraordinarily goofy, I might give it a whirl if/when it gets an F2P option. Although I seriously doubt I would do more than check it out.

You know, I've seen a bunch of people blame Wildstar's lack of success on being too hardcore; or too grindy; or too cartoony; or too many servers at launch; or the subscription model. I don't think that that's any of that. I think that could have launched the bestest, mostest "casual" oriented, free to play, single megaserver, themepark MMORPG of all time and still ended up in the mess that they're in now.

I think that Wildstar is just a bridge too far: people are tired of the being handed the same game over and over. The World of Warcraft blueprint for MMO design has just been drastically overdone, and the market is beyond over-saturated. The audience for MMORPGs is not growing right now, due in no small part to stagnant game design and the subscription based revenue plan which is outside the game industry norm. This is why we keep seeing "Day Z" clones popping up all over Steam Greenlight, and ultra low budget PVP gankboxes making money hand over fist on Kickstarter: at least they're something different from yet another WoW clone. So Wildstar was yet another cookie cutter MMORPG with nothing of significance to set it apart from the crowd in a market that's tired of the same old product: thus was probably destined to flop.

Here's the thing: I like Wildstar, and would have liked to have seen it do well, but I feel that it was the wrong game at the wrong time. By my definition of "save the game", free to play isn't likely to "save" Wildstar: Instead of being shut down before it's second anniversary, F2P means it'll probably hit its four year anniversary before heading off into the sunset (at least in the Western market, tough to say how it will be received in China). As far my I'm concerned, the business model switch is just going to slightly prolong the life of the game, not "save it".

I was there at launch. I didn't unsubb here, but like with other games, I give them a try to see if it has staying power. And after 3 weeks I was out. lol

I won't beat a dead horse. The reasons have been covered well here regarding end game, graphic style etc. etc. In the end, it came down to the fact that the game wasn't engaging enough to keep me going. I did manage to cap a toon, but end game grind wasn't worth it not to mention that I had no desire to work up an alt or two.

After coming back here I realized that the stories told here and cutscenes really have had an impact on my expectation of what an MMO should be. It sounds odd, but now I expect the leveling experience to be ToR like in all games. The stories have to be dynamic, and camera and cutscene movie like and interactive. If it isn't... I wont' stay interested for long.

Well happened because it didn´t appeal to a large enough crow.

But really, swtors developers were so incredibly naive at launch so they really aren`t better.

At least Wildstars devs had an idea in mind and thought there was a large hardcore MMO fanbase out there which sadly isn`t the truth. They had an idea while the swtor devs thought they could clone WOW and get away with it because its Star Wars.

And that explains why you are here paying a sub for this game...right?

On topic, I did play Wildstar till about level 20. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what I was hoping for either. A friend of mine gave me a trial and when he hit max level in that time he started ************ about how much stuff he had to do at max level before he could even start end game. That didn't appeal to me at all. I stuck to SWTOR and he went back to WoW. Such is life.

Yup but they did it to themselves with that art style.

 

I don't know who convinced them Saturday morning cartoons would make a great MMO design but that person should be fired and blacklisted from ever working in the gaming industry again.

 

Like you, I never gave it a try because of the art style

I knew it could have the best systems and mechanics of all time

and still fail with the art design.

 

And sadly that's not that far off because every legitimate feedback I ever seen has praised Wildstar mechanics and game play. I honestly never hear or read a single bad thing about WS, except for its art design.

 

Probably could have been much more successful if they had gone a more realistic design. Didn't have to be top of line realism, even a dated SW:TOR look would have sold nicely.

 

Wont be checking out the F2P because once again, no desire to play a Saturday morning Cartoon character.

 

Shame really but it is what it is.

Not everyone likes hyper realistic looks. Some people like a more lighthearted game.

I for one will be going back to it, the only reason I stopped is because of financial reasons. That game blew SWTOR out of the water when it came to...........pretty much everything.

Not everyone likes hyper realistic looks. Some people like a more lighthearted game.

 

I for one will be going back to it, the only reason I stopped is because of financial reasons. That game blew SWTOR out of the water when it came to...........pretty much everything.

Well considering the thread topic is

Wildstar sales drop 50%, going F2P in August

and you are only willing to go back when its F2P (IE: it wasn't good enough for you to financially support)

I feel pretty assured that MOST people (huge mass majority) prefer realism over Saturday Morning Cartoon looks.

And that your unwillingness to financially support the game as a player

kinda puts your claims of its superiority in question

Well considering the thread topic is

 

Wildstar sales drop 50%, going F2P in August

 

and you are only willing to go back when its F2P (IE: it wasn't good enough for you to financially support)

 

I feel pretty assured that MOST people (huge mass majority) prefer realism over Saturday Morning Cartoon looks.

 

And that your unwillingness to financially support the game as a player

kinda puts your claims of its superiority in question

I stopped becaus - I didnt have the money -, same reason I have to stop my 3 year sub on swtor right now smart ***. And how many players did BW lose within the first year? I will wait. WAS it 75 PERCENT?! Yeah, I thought so. You can stop with the attitude and personal attacks, your immaturity is showing. Wildstar has better exploration, better quests, WAY better housing, better pvp, better / harder raids, more unique quests, better mini games ( any mini games at all really), better RP community, better crafting system, and way way WAY better character creation. The only thing SWTOR does better is the voice actors. And btw, if the mass majority prefer hyper realism over the cartoony look, please enlighten me as to why the two biggest games at the moment, WoW and LoL are cartoony? I will wait.

I wanted to like Wildstar, but I watched my nephew & brother beta-testing it, & .... well, what someone else in this thread said, that the cartoon art style & the developer's sense of "humor" were both highly off-putting.

I predicted at that time that it would go off the rails shortly after launch, so this thread does not surprise me at all.

please enlighten me as to why the two biggest games at the moment, WoW and LoL are cartoony?

Because they will run on anyone's piece-of-crap PC. I can't comment on LoL, but for my money this game & EQ2 are both vastly superior to WoW.

Actually, Steely Dan spoke to this years ago: "Because you wouldn't know a diamond if you held it in your hand, the things you think are precious I can't understand." Sadly, that lyric describes far too many people.

Because they will run on anyone's piece-of-crap PC. I can't comment on LoL, but for my money this game & EQ2 are both vastly superior to WoW.

 

Actually, Steely Dan spoke to this years ago: "Because you wouldn't know a diamond if you held it in your hand, the things you think are precious I can't understand." Sadly, that lyric describes far too many people.

That may be true, but his statement is 100 percent false. Games that are cartoony, right now, are far more popular than games that are hyper realistic.