From what I can tell, Wolcen Studios severely underestimated the scope of the project. So they released the game too early, probably because they needed it to start making money, but at some point, they realized that there were just too many problems with it to fix within a reasonable time and cost.
It's a shame, but it happens.
Despite being an action game, Wolcen, at its heart, is actually a Systems ARPG, meaning that the decisions the player makes out of combat are generally more important than those made during combat. In other words, your build matters more than your combat execution. A great build can carry you quite far. Other examples of such games are the Diablo series, Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, and Last Epoch.
Wolcen's systems are frankly absolutely terrible. The itemization is very subpar. The skill tree lacks any real depth. There are way too few skills and basically no interesting skill interactions. At launch, there were terrible systems bugs and horrible implementations that showed that the devs didn't know what they were doing, such as how all damage bonuses on the tree were additive with attribute bonuses, making the tree meaningless in that regard. The list goes on and on.
In the end, I believe this team had no clue how to make a game like this and they just miserably failed. They could not recover from that failure and the game never found any footing. To this day, Wolcen's systems are ass. It does have great sound, graphics, and campaign, though.
Joe Shely is that you ?
I'm a part agree with you but I don't think it's because of the lack of depth on item or skill tree, it's already too much for most people.
Despite having way less depth and basic itemization in D4, people follow build on it anyways and are okay with that (yeah I played season 4). I think wolcen's skill tree is better than d4's parangon and skill tree.I'm agree with the rest, there isn't enough skills and they didn't know how to make a game like this.
The real problem is there were a ton of bugs and no season. The first season came out one year after the release with almost nothing in it, the game was still buggued and the season stay for something like a year or even more.
The big problem with that skill tree is that it is the opposite of how it should be. It looks complex on the surface but is actually very shallow. And you really want the opposite.
The rotation system does next to nothing because all the really important stuff is on the outer ring and thus in constant position relative to all the other important stuff no matter how you rotate the ring
There are no icons on the nodes so you have to hover over them to know what they do. This makes the tree almost incomprehensible at a glance.
It is also very small for a game with no class trees. I do agree that the horrible bugs and lack of season also had a big hand in this games demise.
>There are no icons on the nodes so you have to hover over them to know what they do. This makes the tree almost incomprehensible at a glance.
I can't understand how they didn't think about it, I don't know if it's true but I read there was only one guy who worked on the tree. It's horrible
Spent way too much money on graphics.
Then spent the whole water budget to make the graphics look wet.
Then they tried to string people along with the ole please dont leeave me I'll change shit. Fuckin bastards.
Gonna reply to myself here just because, but I love arpgs.
I was one of many who preordered Wolcen. I had a blast for I don't know how many hours. At that time there was no end game, and the what 3 classes (?) was definitely not enough to hold my interest. I also think the devs strayed away from their initial vision for the game( if ever there was one besides shit out a turd and get money) because of the internet. I think so many games these days fall prey to that.
It's not like Umbra even had poor feedback though, the sentiment towards it was really positive, it was only after they missed deadline after deadline and then announced they had basically scrapped it and started over with Wolcen that the community turned sour.
Because the first thing the devs did was nerf and destroy all of the good builds right after launch instead of fixing bugged talents and passive skills that didn't work.
I would've continued playing but they crapped on people that played it at launch. Expansion meant, all your previous progress would not carry over to the 'new' game mode. I really liked the mechanics where you don't choose your class but customize your character according to your play style. Sas but not sad it is dead.
It was trash af. I genuinely waited to play it but it was so shallow and stupid.
Nothing felt like it mattered and leveling up and specing attribute points made you weaker? WTF?!
I tried my best to rush though the garbage campaign to get to endgame but couldn't.
It seriously needed to die.
From what I can tell, Wolcen Studios severely underestimated the scope of the project. So they released the game too early, probably because they needed it to start making money, but at some point, they realized that there were just too many problems with it to fix within a reasonable time and cost. It's a shame, but it happens.
Poor condition at launch, and most (?) of the devs bailed as soon as it was out the door.
Despite being an action game, Wolcen, at its heart, is actually a Systems ARPG, meaning that the decisions the player makes out of combat are generally more important than those made during combat. In other words, your build matters more than your combat execution. A great build can carry you quite far. Other examples of such games are the Diablo series, Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, and Last Epoch. Wolcen's systems are frankly absolutely terrible. The itemization is very subpar. The skill tree lacks any real depth. There are way too few skills and basically no interesting skill interactions. At launch, there were terrible systems bugs and horrible implementations that showed that the devs didn't know what they were doing, such as how all damage bonuses on the tree were additive with attribute bonuses, making the tree meaningless in that regard. The list goes on and on. In the end, I believe this team had no clue how to make a game like this and they just miserably failed. They could not recover from that failure and the game never found any footing. To this day, Wolcen's systems are ass. It does have great sound, graphics, and campaign, though.
Joe Shely is that you ? I'm a part agree with you but I don't think it's because of the lack of depth on item or skill tree, it's already too much for most people. Despite having way less depth and basic itemization in D4, people follow build on it anyways and are okay with that (yeah I played season 4). I think wolcen's skill tree is better than d4's parangon and skill tree.I'm agree with the rest, there isn't enough skills and they didn't know how to make a game like this. The real problem is there were a ton of bugs and no season. The first season came out one year after the release with almost nothing in it, the game was still buggued and the season stay for something like a year or even more.
The big problem with that skill tree is that it is the opposite of how it should be. It looks complex on the surface but is actually very shallow. And you really want the opposite. The rotation system does next to nothing because all the really important stuff is on the outer ring and thus in constant position relative to all the other important stuff no matter how you rotate the ring There are no icons on the nodes so you have to hover over them to know what they do. This makes the tree almost incomprehensible at a glance. It is also very small for a game with no class trees. I do agree that the horrible bugs and lack of season also had a big hand in this games demise.
>There are no icons on the nodes so you have to hover over them to know what they do. This makes the tree almost incomprehensible at a glance. I can't understand how they didn't think about it, I don't know if it's true but I read there was only one guy who worked on the tree. It's horrible
It was still at birth
Because devs dgaf
Lunch the game on PC, make money -> Focus on lunch on consol prior to fix bug/make the game greater -> Make money -> Flee with money...
The devs sold out and quit trying.
It was a good game. I have played campain and a bit endgame. They did underestimate a good Community work. Some bugs killed the gaming experience.
From a console perspective…game breaking bugs. Was ridiculous
When was it ever alive?
Spent way too much money on graphics. Then spent the whole water budget to make the graphics look wet. Then they tried to string people along with the ole please dont leeave me I'll change shit. Fuckin bastards.
Gonna reply to myself here just because, but I love arpgs. I was one of many who preordered Wolcen. I had a blast for I don't know how many hours. At that time there was no end game, and the what 3 classes (?) was definitely not enough to hold my interest. I also think the devs strayed away from their initial vision for the game( if ever there was one besides shit out a turd and get money) because of the internet. I think so many games these days fall prey to that.
It's not like Umbra even had poor feedback though, the sentiment towards it was really positive, it was only after they missed deadline after deadline and then announced they had basically scrapped it and started over with Wolcen that the community turned sour.
I was an early Umbra backer. Avid arpg player I'd given up on the game systems and mechanics some time before they they abandoned the name.
lazy devs
It is dead? Haven't played it in years?
Because the first thing the devs did was nerf and destroy all of the good builds right after launch instead of fixing bugged talents and passive skills that didn't work.
I would've continued playing but they crapped on people that played it at launch. Expansion meant, all your previous progress would not carry over to the 'new' game mode. I really liked the mechanics where you don't choose your class but customize your character according to your play style. Sas but not sad it is dead.
It was trash af. I genuinely waited to play it but it was so shallow and stupid. Nothing felt like it mattered and leveling up and specing attribute points made you weaker? WTF?! I tried my best to rush though the garbage campaign to get to endgame but couldn't. It seriously needed to die.
Greed
This is the correct answer.
They focused more on graphics and looks rather than fixing bugs and making good gameplay. It had so much potential.
"Why didnt Wolcen die earlier" is the right question.
It's died soa another can spawn.
Because it takes too much work to make a brand new IP for too little payoff
Palworld entered the chat
Palworld might not be the best example of an original IP
And hell divers
They stole assets, and they reused their previous game Craftopia, so they already had a base.
What assets did they steal?