Home › Game Forums › WildStar
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Will there be another big beta test?
Blazer6992
Member UncommonPosts: 642
in WildStar
I missed the big weekend beta test just a little while back, I had to work all that weekend (figures). I really want to check this out and give it a try before it releases. Does anyone know if there will be another big beta test for it?
Comments
There is likely another 5+ months of closed beta left so I would guess the marketing beta weekends are just starting not ending.
Plenty coming.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
@Blazer6992 ; As Bill said, plenty coming. Wildstar's Twitter just linked to their UK site that's got some 10k keys being given away by many community sites. The US site is going to be doing the same tomorrow, I think. MMORPG.com is for sure giving away tomorrow because they said as much on the home page.
@Zapzap, I doubt there's 5+ months of closed beta left. They're still on track/aim for spring 2014 release and the game is showing much more content and polish [in the streams] than TESO currently does with it only being just over a month away from it's release.
@BillMurphy ; With Wildstar and TESO both doing weekend key giveaways and both having events at the same time, which would be most occupying your (and MMORPG editors) time? Which of the two do you guys find a more enjoyable use of your time and more fun?
NC Soft recently posted they expect Wildstar to release Mid 2014. The earliest I would label Mid 2014 is likely June(which is still Spring). 4-5 months is about the normal time a game will release after releasing pre-order information. Given no pre-order information it is likely 5+ months away. That being said their marketing weekends likely indicates a closer release but it could also could being done to keep up the hype so WS hype does not get drowned out by ESO's release. Keeping people still expecting WS soon may help keep dissipate the ESO noise and keep WS hype a little higher and more steady up to launch. Plus it keeps Wildsatr fans/guilds from on the sidelines not jumping into a ESO release and possibly liking ESO enough to ignore Wildstar's eventual release. It is very important to Carbine to keep their fanbase expecting a soon release. Notice every single time ESO announces a beta weekend it is quickly followed by Carbine having a stress test or marketing weekend. I don't think this is coincidence.
These are the same core devs that released WoW in 2004 and used their open beta, starting it a few days before EQ2's release, to destroy EQ2's release. I am sure they recall that well. It was brilliant and essentially killed EQ2's release. In this case they have a game likely releasing in 5+ months but want to keep many people who may buy ESO on the sidelines waiting for Wildstar's release. Which means keeping up the hype and letting people think a release or open beta may be imminent. Of course its also very important to Carbine not to let their hype train and eventual box sales get interrupted to much by ESO's release. While the release date is a dev decisionand very much dependent on how ready the game is for release letting people know the release date is very much in the hands of the marketing department which controls the hype and distribution of information.
Not to mention a release date too close to ESO's does not make a lot of sense. The magic date when people usually leave a MMO is 3 months from release. This would mean July+ if Carbine wants to convert unsatisfied customers to their side of the ledger. Often times a poor game can result in a huge boon for another game. For example ToR's terrible release resulted in a huge boon for Rift as it was the best alternative to in a huge number of disatisfied Tor customers. They did not stay long only 4 months or so of growth for Rift before it bottomed out around the time of Tera and TSW's release. But unhappy customers will go somewhere. In Tor's case they went to Rift for a few months boosting that game then to new games on their release. Wildstar will be in perfect position here to scoop up many disatisfied customers. I doubt ESO will be as bad or have as many customers as Tor gave out to other MMOs but it still should be a good number looking for a new home. A Wildstar release/open beta 3-4 months after ESO should set them up in a great spot to relieve ESO of many of their former players.
Anything earlier than July does not make a lot of sense.
This is an excelent analysis, and i agree that it is what is most likely planed by the Carbine/NCSoft marketing/strategy department.
Steel and Iron guard me well,
or else i'm doomed and damned
to Hell!
It doesnt have to be 3+ months after ESO. It wont take people who are unhappy that long to bail. Most people within the first 30 days decide whether they are happy and want to keep playing or if theyve seen enough and move on. What youre probably thinking of are those who do play after the first month but then on months 2 and 3 is when they run out of content or get bored etc. Now given how different WS is to TESO I would imagine that many of those players looking to leave ESO will want to first see how WS is shaping up before getting into it. When TOR started to fail, RIFT had been around already for quite a while so it was established. If WS is just launching when those ESO players start dropping then I dont think many would come over right away having just been burned out by their current game. The wait and see approach I think will apply to many.
I'm not expecting much from either game, so I wonder how many people will start with one and then switch to the other, out of desperation for a good, new MMO to play. I had big hopes for both games, but I have seen nothing to make me think either will come even close to hopes and expectations.
Now, if I'm wrong and one of these games, either one, actually is a really good game with enough content to build long term success, then people who started with the other title may make the switch with fair frequency. I don't think either of these games releasing in the same time frame will hurt their long term prospects, because even if they both don't sink, I see the odds of them both being surprisingly good and thus canabilizing potential customers for the other title, slim to none.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
