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Another angle...
Tamalan
Member Posts: 1,117
This isnt an SoE bash, so if you post a reply please dont turn it into one...
Just my thoughts at another angle on the Vangaurd/SOE drama.
Anyone ever considered that SOE are fully aware of their reputation amongst the MMO player base?.
They no longer have the stanglehold on MMO's that they used too in early EQ days, after the public dabacle that was SWG and numerous tirades about Station Exchange, maybe they thought it would do them some good having their name attached to a game that has the potential to please the more 'serious' gamers.
Sure it wont make them a sack load of cash, Sigil themselves dont expect Vanguard to garner WoW size subscriptions due to the style of game they are making, but a success in this field, even by association, wouldnt harm SOE one bit.
Im willing to bet Sigil got a very good deal on distribution and server support, and that SOE are counting on this future partnership to regain a some credibility with the MMORPG community.
Just my 2 coppers worth...
Peace
Comments
Tamalan - Likely the oppossite happened actually. The game looked like ass at E3, and even SOE isn't stupid enough to pay a premium for a sick horse.
I have experience with SOE as an MMORPG gamer. I am cautious of them, due to bad experiences in the past (customer support & root kit scandle). However, I will still try Vanguard. Sigil is developing what appears to be a quality game. SOE doesn't appear to have any influence over any of that development at this time. I may end up leaving the game before the 30 day free trial, but I will try it and see for myself. If I leave the game, it will most likely be a decision based on my disapproval of game mechanics.
My three concerns for this future MMORPG are (1) the camping of static spawns (2) corpse retrieval (3) death penalty. I make comparisons to EverQuest due to the official site comparisons to EverQuest in the FAQ and (Sigil President) Brad McQuaid's relevance as an integral developer of EverQuest and Vanguard.
The camping of static spawns is not fun for me in a game. I have little desire to continue the EverQuest trend of this game mechanic. Dungeon crawling is fun, but the camping of a specific group of mobs in the hope of attaining a specific item is not appealing to me. In an interview with Brad McQuaid, I've heard him state this will be addressed. No details were given, but I will eventually see for myself.
Corpse retrieval is apart of most MMORPG games. There have been many variations of it in past games, and it seems Vanguard will continue the EverQuest trend of leaving a corpse at the scene of death for the player to physically relocate and retrieve, while risking a second death in the game world. It has been said that players are expected to have multiple kits/equipment sets for various purposes. However, it is still up to the players to aquire these multiple kits/equipment sets. My opinion on this completely depends on the death penalty.
Death penalties can vary from game to game. A common practice is the loss of experience points toward the next level. In this case, a player's effort to advance in the game is somewhat negated by death and the player must spend more time and effort only to relocate and retrieve his corpse, then spend more time and effort to regain those lost experience points. In EverQuest, this might result in hours of time being "lost". I think this practice will continue in Vanguard, but I am uncertain to the degree at which it will continue.
Sigil has spoken about minimizing downtime. I am axcited to see how they will go about this, but I am expecting the game mechanics of Vanguard to have a lot of similarities to the initial game mechanics of EverQuest.
"'Camping', to us, is sitting in one spot for a ludicrous amount of time
waiting for a mob to spawn, hoping that it has an item you are looking
for.
To be clear, Sigil very much believes in the concept of
rare items, long quests, and a challenging game. We just believe
players should be 'doing' dungeons/adventure areas... moving about,
having fun, PLAYING the game. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will
employ an advanced encounter system that should address the camping
issue and make dungeon crawling a lot more fun."
With corpse retrieval, there will be a cord to your corpse and your corpse will never "rot", so that, at least, is a bonus. Though I agree, corpse hunting and dieing again is a pain in the ass.
"When you die, an entry is made in your quest journal, which is where
you can decide to pursue your corpse by turning on or off the silvery
cord. So if you died multiple times, there would be multiple 'death'
entries in your quest journal -- you then just choose which one you are
trying to get to and tell it to display the silvery cord (if you want
the cord displayed).
Empty corpses will probably time out. There
may be other criteria that causes a corpse to eventually rot, but at
this point we don't think that will be necessary and they are persistent"
-W.
Well to start with...have you ever heard of Matrix online?(<- theres that sick horse)
And second, the deal was obviously comeplete in advance of E3, so SOE was well aware of what VSOH would look like in E3.
And I further disagree with you on how the game looks, it is coming along very well for a game deep into Beta, with a long time to go before Gold.
~H
Haradek Shadowstalker
EQ,EQII,SWG,AO,DAOC,Planetside,COH,WOW
Anarchy, Stratics doesnt pack the punch it used to, these days they say what IGE tells them to say, same thing with this site.
Anyways, if there was an mmorpg that rocked everyones boat at E3 it was WAR, Age of conan looked amazing, tho the combat was a little "meh". Vanguard didnt show anything new compared to last years E3.
All ur Mountain Dew is belong to me.
Hehe every post here that contains the slightest positive view on Vanguard becomes a bashing arena. A lot of people here on mmorpg.com just can't let a thread like that be
I apriciate your view I think it was interesting