[H1Z1] Where the Best Game Mode is Without Zombies

H1Z1 is an apocalyptic survival game in a world where the H1Z1 virus has caused zombies to rise from the dead! We’re excited to launch the game into its Early Access Alpha. As much as we are excited for you to join us on this adventure, we think it’s important to make sure you have a good idea of what we’re actually delivering and what the experience is going to be like in a very clear manner so there is no doubt you have your expectations set before you buy.

First off – H1Z1 is going to be a Free to Play game, but you are paying for entry into the Early Access Alpha. During this phase we are charging money to get in. If this bothers you, you may want to wait until the game launches as a free to play game down the line. Early access isn’t for everyone and it’s fair to say you’re paying for something that isn’t finished, is buggy and rough around the edges. Our desire to be transparent and involve players in this process is just as important as the game we’re making. We’ve evolved this world with core gameplay elements one would expect in a persistent MMO, and are excited to perfect them even more with players during Early Access.

Here are some key things to consider prior to your purchase

1) It’s very early – there are lots of bugs. There are likely to be some bad ones. You should fully expect that there will be bugs that persist for a while. Even potentially game breaking ones.

2) The Artwork should all be considered placeholder – The terrain is an 8k x 8k area that is still being worked on. It’s probably 10% of where we expect the quality level to be at launch. There are tons of placeholder textures in and everything hasn’t been updated to the fidelity it needs to be at and will be at given time.

3) The character model is not done. We’re not satisfied with what we’ve got in there now, but it’s good enough for Early Access so we can focus on gameplay. It’s probably 30% of the quality level we’re shooting for and it’s being worked on right now.

4) We don’t have climbing in yet – we have lots of ways to get to high ground, but no ladders yet.

5) Water is only knee deep right now.

6) We don’t have much in the way of military gear in the game yet. It’s coming, but isn’t in there yet. We can’t promise when it will be in there but it is a priority.

7) We don’t have attachment points in yet, so you can’t see that awesome rifle you or someone else is carrying hanging off their backpack or over their shoulder. This leads to situations where you’re fighting a guy with a knife and all of a sudden he brings a gun into it and you didn’t know he had it. This is something we intend to correct quickly but that’s how it is day 1.

8) We have made the decision to allow paid for airdrops into the game with things like guns and other things being randomly selected as part of the airdrop. We’re making them highly contested and building a whole set of rules around this, but you should be aware that our goal is to make this a way to keep things interesting on the servers but still be contested. If these offend your sensibilities just know that they are going to be there. We have gone out of our way to make sure the airdrops are contested in-game and that you can’t simply expect to easily walk about to the airdrop and grab it. Even if you paid for it.

9) Expect the servers to be offline sometimes… even unexpectedly. We plan on making frequent changes to the game, and this means sometimes the servers need to come down. This will happen more frequently during Early Access.

10) Balance problems – expect that early on the game won’t be balanced properly.

11) We have building in the game, but it’s what we would consider phase 1. We have a lot more to add to it and it’s going to be a focus… but we have the basics only at this point.

12) We don’t have female characters yet. We will, but can’t promise when they will be in.

13) Keybindings via our interface – we don’t have this done yet. It’s high on our priority list though.

14) Crates – one of our primary monetization methods is crates. You are given crates over time simply for playing. The keys will cost 250 Station Cash ($2.50) and can be purchased in bundles for less per key. Inside the crate are skins that can make your character or equipment even cooler. However you have to actually find items in-game to reskin. So if you get a military backpack camo pattern.. you still have to find a military backpack in game (which has the same # of slots btw). The crates have one item each in them and there is a random rarity, so you might get a common item or you might get a rare item (obviously less chance for the rare). Crates are not necessary for gameplay. You never have to buy one if you don’t want to.

15) Event Tickets / Event Servers – We have many different types of servers that you can play on. One type (Event Servers) requires an Event Ticket which can be purchased for roughly 100SC ($1). At the start we have Player Unknown’s Battle Royale servers that you can play on. This is an awesome Last Man Standing kind of game that we think you’ll really enjoy. You don’t need to buy the tickets.. you will earn them simply by playing H1Z1. If you like it and want to play that more, you can buy them. If you get good at it, we give you additional tickets for being near the top of the leaderboard after the end of a match.

These are really just some of the things we want to make sure you’re aware of. Early Access is a wonderful thing in our opinion. It gives us the opportunity to craft the game with real users being a part of the experience and helping us to deliver a game with a lot more player input then we would get by waiting to release it. However, Early Access isn’t for people that are expecting a super polished experience. If that’s your expectation, don’t buy it… just wait till it’s free. We are being very transparent in our development. We would encourage you to visit the /r/h1z1 subreddit and interact with the wonderful community that’s formed there. Our developers will be interacting with players on that subreddit and you can expect that we’ll be taking the pulse of the community very closely.

We’re very excited to let you all in to play H1Z1. See you in the game!