As we were discussing in guild chat last night, here’s the reason for a subscription based game. Incoming! The Strain! The first major content patch for Wildstar. The patch will include 2 new zones full of single player, 5 man and 20 man content and some really cool challenges.
From the MMORPG article
Jeremy reiterated the studio’s stance that they’ll be releasing a brand new content drop every 4-6 weeks, to make sure that players are getting their subscription dollars. He wasn’t so bold to promise new content every 28 days, but he did say that Drop 1 was feature complete before launch, and that Drop 2 was damned close as well, with Drop 3 in final stages. About 33% of the team is currently working on new content for the Drops, and as the launch stuff settles down that’ll become about 50%.
There’s more good articles at Massively and ZAM. No date has been set for the patch, but look for more info over the next 2 weeks and expect the patch near (or on) July 2.
But! But! But! …WoW has been subscription based from the get-go and they’re in the ninth(?) month of ZERO CONTENT and no end in sight! :P
Down with subs! Rah!
/silly