Wildstar's Strain Ultradrop update will add more zones and monsters this month

If I'd just released an MMO I think I'd dissolve into a pool of exhausted mansludge and refuse to do any work for a month. Not so for the Carbine team, who are already teasing their first major update to Wildstar. The incoming Strain Ultradrop will add new zones, enemies, bosses, gear and emotes later this month.

According to the teaser page , The Strain is a "virulent biological anomaly that has begun to spread across planet Nexus." It's infecting fauna and flora alike, so expect to battle lumpy, mutated versions of Nexus' creatures.

On June 24 Blighthaven and the Northern Wastes will be added, followed quickly by an update to player housing on June 26. The update will largely be targeted at players who have already hit the level 50 cap, and will feature new boss encounters and gear drops, as well as an emote that'll make a big slimy purple mouth burst out of your chest why not. You'll spot a few of those things in the trailer, but be warned—a cartoon goat was harmed during the making of this video.

It's a chunky update for a game that's only been out for 15 days. "We've spent the last six months of beta training ourselves to do ginormous monthly updates," Gaffney told Massively . "We've done huge updates [through beta] on purpose because when we're live, we want to be able to sustain a content pace that is ginormous."

If Carbine can keep up that monthly sprint, then it'll help justify that monthly subscription fee—an increasingly rare animal in the MMO world. Wildstar is great, by the way. Allow Phil to explain why in our Wildstar review .

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.

Latest in MMO
Several tight-wearing superheroes surge towards the camera in a heroic fashion in City of Heroes.
One year later, City of Heroes' officially recognized fan server has me praying it's the future of dead MMOs
Several adventurers in World of Warcraft Classic's hardcore server crying over the death of a fallen comrade.
Blizzard plans to revive WoW Classic Hardcore characters 'at our sole discretion', after DDOS attack puts major streamer guild OnlyFangs in the ground
A forester from Old School Runescape, contemplating life next to his pheasant friend on a green field.
You can finally try out Old School RuneScape’s first new skill in nearly two decades right now
Ghoul in sunglasses
After years of playing as stupid, boring humans in Fallout, you can finally channel your inner Walton Goggins and become a ghoul in Fallout 76
WoW Classic: Season of Discovery
World of Warcraft Classic’s Season of Discovery may be teasing a legendary weapon that players have speculated is in the game for two decades
Gallywix wears an uneasy smile as he's confronted by Xal'atath in WoW: The War Within.
After 12 days and 100s of wipes, World of Warcraft's latest world first raid ends in anticlimax: 'That's the boss?!?'
Latest in News
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
A close-up of a scared young girl's face as she stumbles through the woods, a crown of twigs and flowers upon her head.
CD Projekt says it's not using generative AI on The Witcher 4 because it's 'quite tricky when it comes to legal IP ownership'
A plastic duck dressed like a circus weightlifter
The 5th highest-rated game on Steam in 2022 is back with a multiplayer sequel
A still from a video announcement of Game Informer's return, featuring the magazine's Halo 2 issue.
Game Informer is back from the dead: 'The whole team has returned'
An April Fool's Day Palworld game concept about dating Pals
From Palworld movies to Palworld TV shows: 'Everyone under the sun pitched us every idea you can imagine,' says Pocketpair's communications director
Ciri in The Witcher 4
The Witcher 4 won't be out until sometime in 2027 at the soonest, CD Projekt says