WildStar Open Beta Begins Thursday, May 8th

June 3rd is just under a month away, but some of us are still jonesing to play WildStar before its release date. Especially with the closed beta currently open to a select few.

Well, citizens of Earth, wait no more… or rather, just wait a bit longer.

On Thursday, May 8th, NCsoft and Carbine Studios will let us travel to Nexus a few weeks early during the WildStar open beta!

That’s right, kids: for 10 days — May 8th through May 18th — WildStar is open to all who would like to travel to Nexus and take on the Dominion or the Exiles for control over the mysterious world.

For those new to Nexus, just head over to the WildStar homepage on May 8th to get yourself a key. If you already happen to be a resident, no worries. The level cap will increase to 30 and Nexus will gain plenty of new additions to keep you from retreating now that the neighborhood is getting a whole lot bigger:

Farside – You ever want to go to the moon and float around while swinging a massive sword into badass, vicious, people eating extra-terrestrials? Me too. Now you that you’ve hit level 30, travel to Farside and get some space between you and the planet Nexus.

Galeras Adventure – Tower defense just became a whole lot more epic. You and four friends are all that stands between an invading force and holding the fort before reinforcements can arrive. The opposing faction is going to throw everything they’ve got against you: Tanks, missile strikes, snipers, stealth assassins, and some hulking military commandos are trying to make your life hell while you are holding for reinforcements… maybe you should return the favor and kick some ass, cupcake!

Two New Abilities – Kicking ass is pretty awesome. Now you can kick MORE ass with two new abilities that are unlocked for your class at level 30.

New Ability Slot – Hot damn, at level 30 you can unlock the final ability slot! Why don’t you buy a new ability and throw that into your brutality rotation!

Tier Points – Power up your abilities to continue to become an even bigger ass kicker. Or don’t. Whatever, that’s cool too.

And, to kick off the open beta, the team behind WildStar will be hosting a 30-minute livestream on their Twitch channel on Thursday, May 8th at 11am PST/2pm EST. You will get to hear from the likes of Mike Donatelli (product director), Chad Moore (creative director), Stephen Frost (producer and voice of DevSpeak), and Matt Mocarski (development director).

Then, on Friday, May 9th beginning at 11am PST/2pm EST, the team will be back for a six-hour livestream packed with more content including executive producer Jeremy Gaffney discussing the challenges faced bringing WildStar to the public and possibly even a first look at some post-launch content. Current and future Nexus residents are encouraged to take to Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitch, Vine, and the WildStar forums to ask questions and engage our new world’s creators.

So, pack your bags and take a vacation to Nexus from May 8th through May 18th for all kinds of fun and action on the WildStar open beta. See you soon!