SOE hasn't taken one game, not a single one, and made it better. Every single game they own consistently loses subscribers. EQ2 has no where near the numbers it did at launch, and is very much a soloing ghost town. They absolutely ruined EQ and SWG. Why in the world do you think they have the ability to make VG better? Whoever is in charge at SOE knows not a single thing about gaming.
Wow... What a load of BS this is. I have played EQ2 since day one and it has gotten continually better. This is a fact that is nearly universally agreed on. I would go so far to say that EQ2 is nearly unprecedented in having come a LONG way from its initial release and actually being a completely different game today. This is all to the credit of the dev teams and the players who stayed loyal and gave feedback rather than ranting like bitches on a message board all day.
I play EQ2 every day and I *always* group. Kunark has been excellent and has brought many folks back who may have burnt out a bit on WoW.
As for EQ1, there is no way SOE "ruined it". First of all, look at the history. Verant was *never* an independent. Brad and company were hired by Smedley to create EQ *for* Sony. So EQ1 is what it is, but Sony *always* owned it. Sorry if that doesnt fit well with your little "SOE destroys the world" fantasy. And besides, EQ1 improved SUBSTANTIALLY from launch. It can be argued that the game didnt really become TRULY good until Kunark. I have also played EQ1 since day one and still do. Some of the later expansions were a mixed bag, but hey, its been 8 years - they cant ALL be winners.
I get it that your main concern is your bias against SOE (thats really clear from your post), but when you allow blinders like that to distort your view of reality, you seriously impeach your own credibility. How the hell do people form such STRONG opinions and biases about VIDEOGAME companies?
I have seen no interest by SOE to fix anything since they took over. I have seen interest to change the game to be more casual, add endgame raiding content, and talk of making a starter island. But so far as chunk line choppiness and falling through the world goodness I have seen nothing.
I could have dealt with the issues had they had given any indication they wanted to address them, but they are more interested in having new accounts created evidently - and changed parts of the game that I liked. I got nothing more than a thanks for playing email when I was done and no info on the free invite back.
I have seen no interest by SOE to fix anything since they took over. I have seen interest to change the game to be more casual, add endgame raiding content, and talk of making a starter island. But so far as chunk line choppiness and falling through the world goodness I have seen nothing. I could have dealt with the issues had they had given any indication they wanted to address them, but they are more interested in having new accounts created evidently - and changed parts of the game that I liked. I got nothing more than a thanks for playing email when I was done and no info on the free invite back. VG will fade like the MxO.
Well I think you should look a bit closer. I think that since SoE took over they have fixed countless bugs and improved performance over 100%. Lag and chopiness in new areas are substantially better. All the group droping and problems adding people and BS is gone. Crashing has become rare. Chunking is much faster and have far fewer issues. Falling through the world doesn't leave you lost in space but drops you back on land above where you fell through and falling through is not as common as it was. They added rifts to help transportation. They removed the confusing EE system. Gave everyone decomp for items and made stuff bind on equip to help the market. All in all I'd say they have made a ton of improvements and they have added the Raid UI and dungeons and they have revamped the ratman area in qalia for lvl 15 or so quests even added a flying mount as part of the questlines.
So are there still bugs? Yeah definitely. Did they fix everyones favorite bugs? Nope. Did they fix a ton of stuff and hit a lot of the issues that caused many people to leave? Yes I think they did. Are they done? Not by a longshot there are still bugs to fix and content to revamp.
I think they showed with Kahl that they really know what they are doing in the graphical revamp area. I'm certainly hoping to see a lot of changes in the coming months addressing more bugs, helmets, more content, revamps of content, revamps of character models and animation, revamp of the rift system. I think that is a short summary of items they have listed as being high on the list to fix....
I think it is easy to forget what they have done esp when there are soo many things that need fixing. And there are no doubt a lot of things being done that are completely invisible to us. Things like processes to better QA and test, things like better tools, things like better management. These all take time and resources to do but once they are in place the benefits will be faster turn around on content, better quality on updates, and a better game.
It sucks that the game isn't as good as it potentially could be or as good as we expect for a released game. But thats the situation and there is nothing anyone can do to fix it. Could they dump a bunch of money into it? Sure but that wouldn't necessarily fix things if processes and management aren't in place and working. Dumping more people into it would just be chaos and we know how that went. So unfortunately we have to give them time.
If the game is too buggy or not to your liking I think it is time to stop paying and move on. If you can enjoy the game with some bugs and like to be in it while it evolves it can be a fun time. If you are like me and want to kinda do both their is always a station pass account and you can kinda dabble in VG and keep track of the changes while playing other SOE games like EQ2 and soon Pirate of the Burning Sea. Or heaven forbid create a new SWG character or even try Matrix. I tried SWG a bit and it wasn't too bad if you start it like it is a new game starting from scratch
Anyway SoE is gonna need time to fix all the issues with VG and I don't think there is anything that can be done short term to really speed things along...
[...] Gave everyone decomp for items and made stuff bind on equip to help the market. [...] I think it is easy to forget what they have done esp when there are soo many things that need fixing. And there are no doubt a lot of things being done that are completely invisible to us. Things like processes to better QA and test, things like better tools, things like better management. These all take time and resources to do but once they are in place the benefits will be faster turn around on content, better quality on updates, and a better game. [...] Anyway SoE is gonna need time to fix all the issues with VG and I don't think there is anything that can be done short term to really speed things along...
Well, I agree with most of your posting, but the "Bind on Equip" step really was a disaster to me. Had it been a new game, it would have been the total killer for my interest in the game.
For I absolutely enjoy working on getting the perfect equipment for every level, then handing it over to newbies once I dont need it anymore. This approach is now totally killed by the new system. All you can do is getting decent but cheap equipment and level to 50 as fast as possible.
And: help the market ? What market ? Do you really think a crafter wants to spend all his time online crafting ? I surely dont. And I have big trouble to get other crafters doing the work I would like them to do. For in truth, there is simply no market to be helped ! Its hard enough to reach level 50 without dying by boredom, but even after that point crafting isnt more interesting than before. Whenever I check around, I find lots of stuff which is simply completely missing from the broker, because no crafter wants to make it, and I often dont want that trouble either.
My prefered mechanism for bringing life into the market is overenchanting, like in Lineage 2. Thats IMHO a great mechanism. You give people the chance to get a better item at the risk of breaking it.
Anyway, I think your posting is the most substantial I read about Vanguard, in a long time.
After the recent shocking revelation from a Sigil dev about the MUCH more catastrophic reality of the making of VG, this puts an end once and for all on the question if VG needs an overhaul. Since it was hastily stitched together by amateurs in merely one year work under terrible circumstances, it can no longer be disputed some major parts of the game needs to be remade.
Things like quests, lore implementations, quest guidance, newbie zones, animations asf, the entire host of things many said often enough. The matter is now settled that there is NEED, the question to SOE I have, especially as a paying customer since launch is, WHAT do you plan to rework and add in the coming year 2008? I really ask this is to be revealed now.
Comments
Well you gave me a damn good laugh with this comment! lol
You laugh now :P I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. "Working as intended" then WHAMO! lol
"Do not fret! Your captain is about to enter Valhalla!" - General Beatrix of Alexandria
"The acquisition of knowledge is of use to the intellect, for nothing can be loved or hated without first being known." - Leo da Vinci
I play EQ2 every day and I *always* group. Kunark has been excellent and has brought many folks back who may have burnt out a bit on WoW.
As for EQ1, there is no way SOE "ruined it". First of all, look at the history. Verant was *never* an independent. Brad and company were hired by Smedley to create EQ *for* Sony. So EQ1 is what it is, but Sony *always* owned it. Sorry if that doesnt fit well with your little "SOE destroys the world" fantasy. And besides, EQ1 improved SUBSTANTIALLY from launch. It can be argued that the game didnt really become TRULY good until Kunark. I have also played EQ1 since day one and still do. Some of the later expansions were a mixed bag, but hey, its been 8 years - they cant ALL be winners.
I get it that your main concern is your bias against SOE (thats really clear from your post), but when you allow blinders like that to distort your view of reality, you seriously impeach your own credibility. How the hell do people form such STRONG opinions and biases about VIDEOGAME companies?
I have seen no interest by SOE to fix anything since they took over. I have seen interest to change the game to be more casual, add endgame raiding content, and talk of making a starter island. But so far as chunk line choppiness and falling through the world goodness I have seen nothing.
I could have dealt with the issues had they had given any indication they wanted to address them, but they are more interested in having new accounts created evidently - and changed parts of the game that I liked. I got nothing more than a thanks for playing email when I was done and no info on the free invite back.
VG will fade like the MxO.
Well I think you should look a bit closer. I think that since SoE took over they have fixed countless bugs and improved performance over 100%. Lag and chopiness in new areas are substantially better. All the group droping and problems adding people and BS is gone. Crashing has become rare. Chunking is much faster and have far fewer issues. Falling through the world doesn't leave you lost in space but drops you back on land above where you fell through and falling through is not as common as it was. They added rifts to help transportation. They removed the confusing EE system. Gave everyone decomp for items and made stuff bind on equip to help the market. All in all I'd say they have made a ton of improvements and they have added the Raid UI and dungeons and they have revamped the ratman area in qalia for lvl 15 or so quests even added a flying mount as part of the questlines.
So are there still bugs? Yeah definitely. Did they fix everyones favorite bugs? Nope. Did they fix a ton of stuff and hit a lot of the issues that caused many people to leave? Yes I think they did. Are they done? Not by a longshot there are still bugs to fix and content to revamp.
I think they showed with Kahl that they really know what they are doing in the graphical revamp area. I'm certainly hoping to see a lot of changes in the coming months addressing more bugs, helmets, more content, revamps of content, revamps of character models and animation, revamp of the rift system. I think that is a short summary of items they have listed as being high on the list to fix....
I think it is easy to forget what they have done esp when there are soo many things that need fixing. And there are no doubt a lot of things being done that are completely invisible to us. Things like processes to better QA and test, things like better tools, things like better management. These all take time and resources to do but once they are in place the benefits will be faster turn around on content, better quality on updates, and a better game.
It sucks that the game isn't as good as it potentially could be or as good as we expect for a released game. But thats the situation and there is nothing anyone can do to fix it. Could they dump a bunch of money into it? Sure but that wouldn't necessarily fix things if processes and management aren't in place and working. Dumping more people into it would just be chaos and we know how that went. So unfortunately we have to give them time.
If the game is too buggy or not to your liking I think it is time to stop paying and move on. If you can enjoy the game with some bugs and like to be in it while it evolves it can be a fun time. If you are like me and want to kinda do both their is always a station pass account and you can kinda dabble in VG and keep track of the changes while playing other SOE games like EQ2 and soon Pirate of the Burning Sea. Or heaven forbid create a new SWG character or even try Matrix. I tried SWG a bit and it wasn't too bad if you start it like it is a new game starting from scratch
Anyway SoE is gonna need time to fix all the issues with VG and I don't think there is anything that can be done short term to really speed things along...
---
Ethion
Well, I agree with most of your posting, but the "Bind on Equip" step really was a disaster to me. Had it been a new game, it would have been the total killer for my interest in the game.
For I absolutely enjoy working on getting the perfect equipment for every level, then handing it over to newbies once I dont need it anymore. This approach is now totally killed by the new system. All you can do is getting decent but cheap equipment and level to 50 as fast as possible.
And: help the market ? What market ? Do you really think a crafter wants to spend all his time online crafting ? I surely dont. And I have big trouble to get other crafters doing the work I would like them to do. For in truth, there is simply no market to be helped ! Its hard enough to reach level 50 without dying by boredom, but even after that point crafting isnt more interesting than before. Whenever I check around, I find lots of stuff which is simply completely missing from the broker, because no crafter wants to make it, and I often dont want that trouble either.
My prefered mechanism for bringing life into the market is overenchanting, like in Lineage 2. Thats IMHO a great mechanism. You give people the chance to get a better item at the risk of breaking it.
Anyway, I think your posting is the most substantial I read about Vanguard, in a long time.
err... yeah.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.