Vanguard: SOH

[Schadenfroh]

Played it a little last summer. If only they had the money to continue development of it for another year before releasing it, they could have had something. The PvP server was rather barren.. IMO, the launch is the most critical phase of an MMO. Fail at launch and it will most likely never recover, even if subsequent updates make it competitive.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Malladine
I liked lotro fine, for a while. Have you played both vanguard and EQ2? I played them, when they were both first released. Wondered if they are worth trying again

I played both at release and later. EQ2 has changed A LOT since release. It's a solid game. Vanguard sounds like it has changed a lot. The faction standings is a primary reason why I disliked Vanguard, the factions were just stupid. I really enjoyed the game otherwise though.

 

[KMFJD]

I liked Vanguard , however the game engine is a horrible pos , still experienced hitching when crossing zones last t ime i went back, it had some interesting concepts.

 

[brandonb]

I'd rather have the annoying "hitch" while crossing zone lines then never be able to cross zone lines. See games like Aion, you have to teleport off all the maps rather than wait the 2 seconds for the next one to load when you run off the end of one.

 

[CountZero]

It had some great gameplay ideas. The crafting was interesting and adding diplomacy was an interesting idea but the game was woefully unfinished and they pushed it out anyways.

I wonder if the publisher that forces a game to be released right now recoup their costs even when the game is a huge flop. It seems like publishers that want to do a MMO need to get in the mindset of releasing only when it is absolutely done and release quality. Assume the game might take as much as 2x the original planned timeframe.

 

[Malak]

Well the publisher for Vanguard was Microsoft and they sold it to SOE, but I don't think it was for what they invested in it. I don't know why SOE bought it though, it'd be direct competition with EQ2.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Originally posted by: Malak
Well the publisher for Vanguard was Microsoft and they sold it to SOE, but I don't think it was for what they invested in it. I don't know why SOE bought it though, it'd be direct competition with EQ2.

Actually, MS owned the initial rights and Sigil (the company who developed it) bought those rights back due to creative differences, IIRC. Sigil was run by an ex-Verant guy and as you probably know, Verant is what became SOE. So Brad McQuaid (Sigil) hit up his old pal John Smedley (SOE) and the rest was history. I think SOE bought it to 1) add another game to their stable and station pass 2) probably thought it was going to be a big hit. Vanguard was extremely hyped leading up to launch.

By all accounts, SOE has done wonders for the game. Surprising, considering how they absolutely trashed my old favorite game, SWG.

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: blanghorst

Originally posted by: Malak
Well the publisher for Vanguard was Microsoft and they sold it to SOE, but I don't think it was for what they invested in it. I don't know why SOE bought it though, it'd be direct competition with EQ2.

Actually, MS owned the initial rights and Sigil (the company who developed it) bought those rights back due to creative differences, IIRC. Sigil was run by an ex-Verant guy and as you probably know, Verant is what became SOE. So Brad McQuaid (Sigil) hit up his old pal John Smedley (SOE) and the rest was history. I think SOE bought it to 1) add another game to their stable and station pass 2) probably thought it was going to be a big hit. Vanguard was extremely hyped leading up to launch.

By all accounts, SOE has done wonders for the game. Surprising, considering how they absolutely trashed my old favorite game, SWG.

No MS pulled funding, sending Sigil to look for a new financier, hence EA.

I am actually not playing Vanguard anymore.

My friend I was playing with got banned, a supposedly temporary suspension, no one ever said why. We suspect possibly because exploiting some AI to get monsters stuck, and then traverse a dungeon more or less safely.

Anyways he was still banned 1 month after even tho repeated calls told him it was 7 day suspension so I decided to just cancel and he gave up getting his account back.

Kinda a bummer too cause we were level 47 and looking into starting raiding.

 

[KMFJD]

Originally posted by: brandonb
I'd rather have the annoying "hitch" while crossing zone lines then never be able to cross zone lines. See games like Aion, you have to teleport off all the maps rather than wait the 2 seconds for the next one to load when you run off the end of one.

I agree with you, seamless world is the best, that was one of the better things in Darkfall.

 

[Nebor]

Seeing this thread on the front page makes me sad. I spent so much time working on crafting in Vanguard, being a merchant and trader. Then the devs let well known money duping run rampant for a month (this was about 4 months after release) and the entire economy collapsed, and I was out of a job and worthless.

Such a great game, so sad it didn't make it.

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

Overall a thumbs-up experience on current code, however I would agree on the old being terrible.

I made a Pally and played until 50 and started raiding APW and found the game very beautiful and had a lot going for it....

HOWEVER there was a ton of give-and-take on my part accepting many bugs and issues.

All that aside if you have the SYSTEM to play with all the settings cranked up and run the command to remove the fog the game is breathtakingly beautiful.

I loved the crafting system once I figured it out and made it to about 44 Blacksmith. Diplomacy was a lot of fun too once I finally took the time to mess with it.

My wife actually enjoyed VG as well.

One real nice idea was the way you can have your whole group strike a resource node at the same time and get 6x the resources from the one resource.

But I found myself growing addicted to it and quit. They did release a patch to expand the level cap to 55 and the requirements to get there were so ludicrous.

I would not pass up a free trial if you have the opportunity. Also Ranger is a hella lota fun. I two boxed a Ranger&Cleric and could do some group areas.

Lastly the playerbase seems extremely helpful and there is next to no grieving.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: blanghorst

Originally posted by: Malak
Well the publisher for Vanguard was Microsoft and they sold it to SOE, but I don't think it was for what they invested in it. I don't know why SOE bought it though, it'd be direct competition with EQ2.

Actually, MS owned the initial rights and Sigil (the company who developed it) bought those rights back due to creative differences, IIRC. Sigil was run by an ex-Verant guy and as you probably know, Verant is what became SOE. So Brad McQuaid (Sigil) hit up his old pal John Smedley (SOE) and the rest was history. I think SOE bought it to 1) add another game to their stable and station pass 2) probably thought it was going to be a big hit. Vanguard was extremely hyped leading up to launch.

By all accounts, SOE has done wonders for the game. Surprising, considering how they absolutely trashed my old favorite game, SWG.

No MS pulled funding, sending Sigil to look for a new financier, hence EA.

Errrr......Vanguard was never financed by EA.

"On May 5, 2006 Sigil announced that they had negotiated a deal to purchase the rights to "Vanguard" back from Microsoft, and at the same time announced that they had in cooperation with Sony Online Entertainment arranged a co-publishing deal between Sigil and Sony Online Entertainment.[3]"

A Microsoft press release said it was a mutual decision, which I recall as being correct.

 

[Malak]

I will definitely give props to Vanguard for being beautiful, still the best looking MMO I've seen. I really enjoyed playing a paladin in that game.

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: blanghorst

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: blanghorst

Originally posted by: Malak
Well the publisher for Vanguard was Microsoft and they sold it to SOE, but I don't think it was for what they invested in it. I don't know why SOE bought it though, it'd be direct competition with EQ2.

Actually, MS owned the initial rights and Sigil (the company who developed it) bought those rights back due to creative differences, IIRC. Sigil was run by an ex-Verant guy and as you probably know, Verant is what became SOE. So Brad McQuaid (Sigil) hit up his old pal John Smedley (SOE) and the rest was history. I think SOE bought it to 1) add another game to their stable and station pass 2) probably thought it was going to be a big hit. Vanguard was extremely hyped leading up to launch.

By all accounts, SOE has done wonders for the game. Surprising, considering how they absolutely trashed my old favorite game, SWG.

No MS pulled funding, sending Sigil to look for a new financier, hence EA.

Errrr......Vanguard was never financed by EA.

"On May 5, 2006 Sigil announced that they had negotiated a deal to purchase the rights to "Vanguard" back from Microsoft, and at the same time announced that they had in cooperation with Sony Online Entertainment arranged a co-publishing deal between Sigil and Sony Online Entertainment.[3]"

A Microsoft press release said it was a mutual decision, which I recall as being correct.

yes i mixed up soe with ea, it should be obvious what I meant though

MS pulled funding sending Sigil to look for a new financier, hence SOE. - better?

I was thinking of warhammer

 

[ixelion]

After reading this thread I tried the trial but was disappointed by the crappy spell effects, I played EQ2 for a long time and the spell effects of the wizard made you feel uber powerful, it was quite fun. I didn't get that with Vanguard.

Everything else about the game seems to be inline with every other MMO, in otherwords seems to be solid overall - but not my cup of tea.

But now I have the urge to go back to EQ2.

 

[brandonb]

Really? With EQ2 when you kicked a deer with your normal level 1 kick, you'd get a fireball erupting from your feet.

That to me was way overdone and it was part of the reason why I quit playing EQ2. When I was in a group of 6 there was so many spell effects and shit flying around the screen that I couldn't even tell what was going on.

EQ1 had spell effects pretty much "right." Vanguard was ok, but closer to EQ2.

 

[Malak]

Yeah EQ2 definitely has some fancy spell effects, it is one of the first things you notice when you play that game. Those 2 games would be hard to choose from for me if I ever wanted to do MMO's again. I'd probably get Aion instead just to do something new.