Although I never played, my heart sunk. The devs seemed like they really tried - the art style, the game mechanics ie housing; not sure if it never took off due to server instability? No idea!
I was just there tonight for nostalgia and get some screenshots. It was pretty empty. There were 5-6 people in the chat and I only saw a handful of other players in the main cities. Maybe things will pick up a bit over the weekend as other players cruize around Nexus one last time, but it was just so EMPTY!
Surprised it took as long as it did. I've tried WS a few times. Every time, I noticed immediately how empty it was, and thought "not a good sign".
The next thing to strike me a little bit after was, it was a great looking game. I really liked the art/animation style, and the humor. Beyond that, though, it offered just the most basic, obvious "run from point A to point B then back to point A" style questing, with nothing to make it interesting or fun. Combat wasn't very enjoyable. And, as I recall, there was too... much... running...
There was just nothing compelling about it gameplay-wise.
They alienated and mocked those who weren't hardcore raiders, said the game wasn't for them. Well, we listened and left it alone. Soon they realized their mistake, but by then it was far too late. Add in the facts that the game was very badly optimized and published by NCSoft, and you've got a recipe for failure.
I'm not happy Carbine will be gone, but I'm not exactly overflowing with sympathy for them either. You reap what you sow.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
The real tragedy is NCSoft not liking any of Carbines upcoming projects to keep the studio going - that's a damn shame.
Wildstar shutdown is 3 years too late - you have to cut your losses and move on. Not putting this into maint mode years ago and refocusing all dev efforts to new projects - /sad
Kill of the game, but save the studio for Pete's sake.
LOL Thats not how NCsoft operates.
Paragon Studios wanted to make a City of Heroes 2 but was turned down.
Paragon also tried to pitch 2 other projects to NCsoft and they were also turned down.
Paragon even tried to buy the City of Heroes IP from NCsoft so they could self publish it and they were turned down on that as well.
When City of Heroes was shut down Paragon was also shut down and all of its employees were fired.
NCsoft made absolute sure that City of Heroes, Paragon Studios and anything they touched was completely destroyed.
The real tragedy is NCSoft not liking any of Carbines upcoming projects to keep the studio going - that's a damn shame.
Wildstar shutdown is 3 years too late - you have to cut your losses and move on. Not putting this into maint mode years ago and refocusing all dev efforts to new projects - /sad
Kill of the game, but save the studio for Pete's sake.
LOL Thats not how NCsoft operates.
Paragon Studios wanted to make a City of Heroes 2 but was turned down.
Paragon also tried to pitch 2 other projects to NCsoft and they were also turned down.
Paragon even tried to buy the City of Heroes IP from NCsoft so they could self publish it and they were turned down on that as well.
When City of Heroes was shut down Paragon was also shut down and all of its employees were fired.
NCsoft made absolute sure that City of Heroes, Paragon Studios and anything they touched was completely destroyed.
Thats how NCsoft operates.
What's the reason for it?
Constantine, The Console Poster
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
The real tragedy is NCSoft not liking any of Carbines upcoming projects to keep the studio going - that's a damn shame.
Wildstar shutdown is 3 years too late - you have to cut your losses and move on. Not putting this into maint mode years ago and refocusing all dev efforts to new projects - /sad
Kill of the game, but save the studio for Pete's sake.
LOL Thats not how NCsoft operates.
Paragon Studios wanted to make a City of Heroes 2 but was turned down.
Paragon also tried to pitch 2 other projects to NCsoft and they were also turned down.
Paragon even tried to buy the City of Heroes IP from NCsoft so they could self publish it and they were turned down on that as well.
When City of Heroes was shut down Paragon was also shut down and all of its employees were fired.
NCsoft made absolute sure that City of Heroes, Paragon Studios and anything they touched was completely destroyed.
Thats how NCsoft operates.
What's the reason for it?
It's their way of holding each studio and their employees accountable for the games they make - if a game is a miss - the whole studio pays.
NCSoft is not the only company that operates like this - many other (non-game companies) due the same thing, even if they have money they won't bail out underperforming division and would rather just see them shut down.
Fair enough but the way it is worded it sounds more like a hyper emotional vengeful decision, which I doubt.
I guess the new pitches weren't just good enough or they couldn't really trust the dev team anymore.
Constantine, The Console Poster
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
The real tragedy is NCSoft not liking any of Carbines upcoming projects to keep the studio going - that's a damn shame.
Wildstar shutdown is 3 years too late - you have to cut your losses and move on. Not putting this into maint mode years ago and refocusing all dev efforts to new projects - /sad
Kill of the game, but save the studio for Pete's sake.
LOL Thats not how NCsoft operates.
Paragon Studios wanted to make a City of Heroes 2 but was turned down.
Paragon also tried to pitch 2 other projects to NCsoft and they were also turned down.
Paragon even tried to buy the City of Heroes IP from NCsoft so they could self publish it and they were turned down on that as well.
When City of Heroes was shut down Paragon was also shut down and all of its employees were fired.
NCsoft made absolute sure that City of Heroes, Paragon Studios and anything they touched was completely destroyed.
Thats how NCsoft operates.
What's the reason for it?
It's their way of holding each studio and their employees accountable for the games they make - if a game is a miss - the whole studio pays.
NCSoft is not the only company that operates like this - many other (non-game companies) do the same thing, even if they have money they won't bail out underperforming division and would rather just see them shut down.
I personally think that this approach STINKS but that's just my opinion, I think the people and their ideas are the greatest assets - not products. Sadly many corporations don't feel the same way.
Carbine still had a lot of life left in them (not counting Wildstar obviously) - I am talking about their other internal projects that got canned.
OK now I got the second part of your explanation. Because the first part was about a corporation making harsh yet rational decisions. But now it more sounds like they are making mistakes hence are losing much potential and possible revenue due to their somehow irrational vindictiveness (!). I understand the whole make it or just cease to exists. But there's a level for that approach to make sense and it seems they have gone bananas now.
No wonder they seldom new projects and success in the past several years.
Constantine, The Console Poster
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
I'm certainly going to miss the possibility of Wildstar. I tried to get into it four different times, including subbing on my last try. But like others, it just didn't click for me. I could never get an answer to why I should play it. It just didn't hook me.
It's certainly the game I mostly didn't play that I feel the most nostalgic about.
The real tragedy is NCSoft not liking any of Carbines upcoming projects to keep the studio going - that's a damn shame.
Wildstar shutdown is 3 years too late - you have to cut your losses and move on. Not putting this into maint mode years ago and refocusing all dev efforts to new projects - /sad
Kill of the game, but save the studio for Pete's sake.
LOL Thats not how NCsoft operates.
Paragon Studios wanted to make a City of Heroes 2 but was turned down.
Paragon also tried to pitch 2 other projects to NCsoft and they were also turned down.
Paragon even tried to buy the City of Heroes IP from NCsoft so they could self publish it and they were turned down on that as well.
When City of Heroes was shut down Paragon was also shut down and all of its employees were fired.
NCsoft made absolute sure that City of Heroes, Paragon Studios and anything they touched was completely destroyed.
Thats how NCsoft operates.
Not to defend NCSoft, but most large IP holders, also for TV and film, behave that way. They are afraid that another company can turn it around and make them look bad or they think they can make more money off the IP in the distant future. there have been many properties I've cared about that have been all but abandoned because the suits don't know what to do with them.
I don't know enough about CoH, but it didn't seem necessary to shut it down. NCSoft doesn't seem to understand what maintenance mode is. It's certainly possible that Paragon made some mistakes and burned bridges with NCSoft. And if CoH failed to meet NCSoft's expectations, I'm not surprised that they would turn down future work together.
CoH wasn't exactly a popular IP and all it would take is competent competition from Marvel or DC to kill them.
Even if NCSoft is super sleezy, Carbine has to take the lion's share of the blame for the failure that was Wildstar. It had pretty wide advertising and they simply misread the market.
So why was it so ill regarded? The one thing that occurred to me even before it launched was the humour. Does a lot of humour work in MMOs? Maybe it works fine in those for kids like Wizardry, but for adults as well?
Honestly though. Was more surprising how long it stayed up, seeing NCsoft's track record with low populated games (even if they are making money). Look at City of Heroes, it was doing good and died far faster than Wildstar did.
That was the biggest surprise out of Wildstar
Wasn't CoH in service for much longer though? 8+ years vs 4+ years?
I have been enjoying it more than WoW, but screwed game engine optimization and the constant feeling that Carbine was always unclear about the game's direction, just simply pulled me off from that title.
Comments
~Greatness~
Currently Playing:
Nothing
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
The next thing to strike me a little bit after was, it was a great looking game. I really liked the art/animation style, and the humor. Beyond that, though, it offered just the most basic, obvious "run from point A to point B then back to point A" style questing, with nothing to make it interesting or fun. Combat wasn't very enjoyable. And, as I recall, there was too... much... running... There was just nothing compelling about it gameplay-wise.
All style, no substance, basically.
That said, I also feel a bit of schadenfreud over this. NEVER trust NCsoft with your money.
I'm not happy Carbine will be gone, but I'm not exactly overflowing with sympathy for them either. You reap what you sow.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
I self identify as a monkey.
I guess the new pitches weren't just good enough or they couldn't really trust the dev team anymore.
No wonder they seldom new projects and success in the past several years.
It's certainly the game I mostly didn't play that I feel the most nostalgic about.
Fine, we'll compromise. I'll get my way & you'll find a way to be okay with that.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower
I shall miss the music in it one of my personal favourites
Wasn't CoH in service for much longer though? 8+ years vs 4+ years?