Vanguard Beta (Fileplanet)

Wyrdo · 13 Jan 2007 at 10:55

Kezmo said:
Do u have proof to back this statement up ?

When I said control of the game I didn't mean design, I meant financial / business. They're launching because Sony aren't giving them the money to keep developing so they have to launch now.

There are plenty of posts from Brad on the Vanguard forums, here's a couple of quotes.

The financial reality is that while we don't have Blizzard's budget, this game is probably the second most expensive MMOG that has been put together and we've done the best we can in the time we've had, and like I said, will continue with the same vigiliance post launch. But there comes a time where the financial reality is that you have to launch. No one likes that. Heck, I remember wishing we had more time with EQ 1, and now the competition and expectations from MMOG players are that much higher. But we have to work with the cards we have been dealt and from one perspective I can only be grateful to Microsoft and SOE for financing this game to the point it has been -- very few developers are given the faith to get the kind of money and support we have recieved from both companies.

With all due respect, Smed has done EVERYTHING possible to give us as much time and money and support that he can. The reality is that SOE is under Sony Pictures and there are financial realities and the game must be released and go commercial at some point, and it is soon (we'll be announcing the launch date in the next week or so). But I just wanted to assure you that Smed and the entire SOE team has been great.

Spirit7 · 13 Jan 2007 at 13:09

Having been in the beta since 2005, I have to agree with the other posters in this thread that SoE shoving this game out of the door in its present state will ruin any hope the game has. There are several reasons for this:

1) (The most obvious): The game is in a pitiful state. Whilst it's clear from playing it that there IS a potentially epic experience, this feeling is tarnished frequently and repeatedly by bugs, lag, graphical performance (my rig is no slouch but it runs awfully - I've even heard comments ingame from people experiencing jerkiness and slowdown with 7950GTX SLi setups...), and a general lack of polish. I think the latter is the key, really. At the moment Vanguard doesn't feel like a game, it feels like a sandpit that's being constantly modified in a rushed manner to achieve set release targets by SoE. This is a crying shame, as I still think this game has the potential to be a WoW-killer, but at the moment it's a shambolic mess and nowhere near the promised '3rd Generation MMORPG' of 2004/2005.

2) Why would you release it around the same time as The Burning Crusade? As a WoW player myself, I know that this is going to be taking up the majority of my time, and who in their right mind is going to switch to an incomplete and shoddy final build of a game which might only start to show its promise in 3-6 months? It's a marketing disaster, and the idiots at SoE (who, incidentally, have a history of causing ****-ups in games, see SWG and numerous problems with EQ back in the day, not to mention the initial horror of EQ2).

I was always suspicious and wary when Sigil gave the publishing licence for Vanguard to SoE, buying it back from Microsoft: Microsoft have limitless funds, so a prolonged or elongated development programme wouldn't have been a problem, and would appear to be more market-savvy and less idiotic in their choice of publishing decisions than SoE.

Time will tell if their stupidity manages to ruin what should be and could be a fantastic game.

-C

regulus · 13 Jan 2007 at 14:06

Spirit7 said:
Having been in the beta since 2005, I have to agree with the other posters in this thread that SoE shoving this game out of the door in its present state will ruin any hope the game has. There are several reasons for this:

1) (The most obvious): The game is in a pitiful state. Whilst it's clear from playing it that there IS a potentially epic experience, this feeling is tarnished frequently and repeatedly by bugs, lag, graphical performance (my rig is no slouch but it runs awfully - I've even heard comments ingame from people experiencing jerkiness and slowdown with 7950GTX SLi setups...), and a general lack of polish. I think the latter is the key, really. At the moment Vanguard doesn't feel like a game, it feels like a sandpit that's being constantly modified in a rushed manner to achieve set release targets by SoE. This is a crying shame, as I still think this game has the potential to be a WoW-killer, but at the moment it's a shambolic mess and nowhere near the promised '3rd Generation MMORPG' of 2004/2005.

2) Why would you release it around the same time as The Burning Crusade? As a WoW player myself, I know that this is going to be taking up the majority of my time, and who in their right mind is going to switch to an incomplete and shoddy final build of a game which might only start to show its promise in 3-6 months? It's a marketing disaster, and the idiots at SoE (who, incidentally, have a history of causing ****-ups in games, see SWG and numerous problems with EQ back in the day, not to mention the initial horror of EQ2).

I was always suspicious and wary when Sigil gave the publishing licence for Vanguard to SoE, buying it back from Microsoft: Microsoft have limitless funds, so a prolonged or elongated development programme wouldn't have been a problem, and would appear to be more market-savvy and less idiotic in their choice of publishing decisions than SoE.

Time will tell if their stupidity manages to ruin what should be and could be a fantastic game.

-C

Hmmm. You've just convinced me to cancel my pre-order and get Burning Crusade instead. I'll rather give Vanguard a year or so to sort itself out before getting it.

siscid · 13 Jan 2007 at 14:36

Oh cool i like the look of vanguard! I hope its as good as it looks

Macro · 13 Jan 2007 at 14:45

Having played Vanguard for quite some time I'm convinced there's a great game there for people that like "heavyweight" RPGs (i.e. lots of focus on exploring, needing groups and tactics etc). I just don't think that game will emerge until autumn/early winter. Give it 6 months of bug squashing, balance, tuning, polish and additions of content not ready in time for launch and it'll be a cracking game, it's just not ready now.

The danger is, much like EQ2 that it'll get a bad reputation on realease and later in the year, despite being a cracking game it won't recover from the reputation it has. I'm told EQ2 is a stunningly good game now and has no resemblence to when it was released. Unfortunatly it's too late for it to have the chance of being the market leader the heritage of EQ1 suggested it could have been.

SOE rushed EQ2 to launch at the same time (just before) WoW and cocked it up. Now they've rushed Vanguard to release at the same time as the expansion for the most popular MMORPG in the world. Someone at SOE really needs to be sacked...

mark_t50 · 13 Jan 2007 at 14:54

I think that Vanguard is starting to come together nicely. I'm not saying that in an ideal situation it is ready for release, it isn't. Having said that, In the week I've been playing it there have been dramatic improvements. The performance on my system has doubled, it is now perfectly playable for me on High quality and at 1920x1200. The stability seems to be better now, I played for 4 hours last night without a single crash or kick back to the login screen. This is miles better than the first night I played when I was lucky to go 15 minutes without a crash of some description.

Based on the Beta I've pre-ordered this now, it might seem strange given some of the negative feedback, especially on the official Vanguard boards, but I can really see the potential of this game. I personally think the graphics are outstanding given the scope of the game world. I agree with the comments comparing this with EQ2. EQ2 was released to early, I still play EQ2 now and it really is a good MMO and much different to the game that launched. I suspect Vanguard will be a small hit in the US but I think it might struggle elsewhere much like EQ2 (The European EQ2 servers are deserted somedays). luckily I don't mind playing on the US servers so I'm looking forwarded to playing Vanguard from launch.

Macro · 13 Jan 2007 at 15:18

Can't see how anyone would think the graphics are ugly TBH... I tend to think they're coming along nicely...

Compare this to the DDO shot earlier in the thread...

Ozzie Dave · 13 Jan 2007 at 20:28

Athanor said:
Having played Vanguard for quite some time I'm convinced there's a great game there for people that like "heavyweight" RPGs (i.e. lots of focus on exploring, needing groups and tactics etc). I just don't think that game will emerge until autumn/early winter. Give it 6 months of bug squashing, balance, tuning, polish and additions of content not ready in time for launch and it'll be a cracking game, it's just not ready now.

The danger is, much like EQ2 that it'll get a bad reputation on realease and later in the year, despite being a cracking game it won't recover from the reputation it has. I'm told EQ2 is a stunningly good game now and has no resemblence to when it was released. Unfortunatly it's too late for it to have the chance of being the market leader the heritage of EQ1 suggested it could have been.

SOE rushed EQ2 to launch at the same time (just before) WoW and cocked it up. Now they've rushed Vanguard to release at the same time as the expansion for the most popular MMORPG in the world. Someone at SOE really needs to be sacked...

Yep, pretty much agree with that. It's another EQII in the making.....6-12months of hell until it sorts itself out. The danger is of course that if things are really bad then they won't generate the player-base/funds to keep it viable. And that would be a shame, as the little I played of Vanguard in beta does show great potential.