Some Suggestions On what To Do Now That WildStar’s Future Is Uncertain
If you haven’t read the news:
Earlier this morning, Carbine Studios completed a reorganization of its operating structure. Moving forward, the studio will focus on operating and updating WildStar as a live game in the US and Europe. As part of this change, the studio has canceled its plans to bring WildStar to China.
Unfortunately, as a result of these changes, we’ve had to reduce staff. These cuts are directly tied to WildStar’s evolution from a product in development to a live title, to the cancellation of work to bring WildStar to China, and to the overall performance of WildStar since launch in 2014.
These kinds of decisions are exceptionally difficult. The talented and passionate professionals who are impacted by these cuts have been valuable team members and respected colleagues. We wish everyone well for the future and will be providing severance and employment search assistance.
As for WildStar, we remain committed to the game. Over the next few weeks and months we will deliver a significant update to the game, kick off a variety of community events, and continue our work on new content that we will talk more about in the near future.
Source, because links are broken for some reason: https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/150252-a-note-from-carbine/
I won’t lie. This is very bad news, and it’s hard, if not impossible to put a positive spin to it. Many feel angry, hurt, and/or depressed, and do not know what to do, so here are some suggestions.
If you are naturally optimistic like me, a big, tireless ball of sunshine, rainbows, and crack, try doing the following:
Relax, and remind yourself it’s not over until the Shut Down Announcement.
In a few years, this could just be the rocky start of WildStar until it got better and kept on going. “It’s always darkest before the dawn,” as they say, and plenty of people have experienced bleak times when it looked like the end, but they came through it, and stronger for it!
Remind or tell people why they or they would love WildStar. Remind them about the kickass housing, of Carbine’s listening and reaching out to us players, of the good times you’ve had in the game, whether they be clearing that Veteran Dungeon with Gold, hitting 50 for the first or the nth time, or memorable roleplay scenes. I know I’ve got plenty of all of those, and I’m sure there’s plenty of people right now that need reminding, and new players that are curious but need just a little nudge to actually sign up.
If you are naturally pessimistic, the kind of person always prepared for the worst and noticing all the warning signs first, here are some suggestions:
Complain. Complain to the high heavens about what Carbine did wrong and what they should have done. If not for their benefit, then for the players to recognize the warning signs, or for future MMO devs–you never know who they will be!
Make plans and recommendations for migrating to other games, or point out ones on the horizon. Help keep those games alive and maybe point someone to their new favourite thing.
If you truly believe WildStar is going down, spread the word, help others quit before its time to force themselves to when the lights are turned off. Help them accept the reasons that things are going bad and that they’re likely not to get better, that it’s time to move on, and sometimes, give them something a little more forceful than a nudge to get them to quit. I will be the first to admit that us idealists have been horribly wrong, plenty of times, with catastrophic results, and many of my favourite people and things have plenty of saltiness, sourness, and bitterness to them. (You know who you are.)
Now, for both parties, and those that, whatever their outlook in life, think that WildStar is done for and all efforts are just prolonging it’s death:
Say “Thank you,” to the devs, to the community, to your friends. Tell them how your life was changed by WildStar and what would have been different if you never did play it. Remind them of the good times, and remember together. Just because it’s time to go, doesn’t mean it has to be an unhappy ending.
Throw a party or a premature funeral. Celebrate WildStar, mourn its potential death, tell people that it existed, so that it may be looked upon by future generations as something to be inspired by and something to learn from.
Accept that things end. This is the natural cycle of things, it is nothing wrong. If your favourite books never ended, how would you have started on all your other favourites?
Most of all, you will be okay. We will all be okay. Maybe we’ll be great first, maybe we’ll be absolutely terrible, but we’ll ultimately be okay.
And if you feel like crying? Cry. Let it all out. Biologically speaking, you will feel better as you’re letting out all the toxins and the bad feelings from you in the form of tears.
Whether you’re plotting your escape pod’s course, boarding a ship off Nexus, or staying for another day on this crazy, colourful, wonderful world, I wish you sunny skies, smooth sailing, and good fortune and good feelings all around.
