Vanguard Revisited

[Sleepery]

Actually the first time I logged in after the last update (the anti-hitching one) I found my graphics presets were all messed up. 4x AA was on, high detail tree distance was set to 100%, and a few other detail sliders were set to bloody silly settings. Since I have my view distance set really far out, the 100% high detail tree distance just murdered my framerate.

Might be worth checking a few of these settings.

 

[scorza]

They should have done the same to SWG after the CURB.
Get rid and start a fresh or bring back Pre-CU.

I think SWG proves his point about MMOGs never recovering from what's launched. SWG was a niche market game at launch, the only problem - LucasArts didn't want it's mainstream IP associated with a niche game, hence the CU/NGE etc. Trouble is that by this point too many people have bought it, tried it,didn't like it, and will never go back to it - so all they ended up doing was alienating their existing niche customers.

I suggest that if they'd had the CU/NGE at launch SWG wouldn't have bombed so badly. I've heard from a couple of people who quit shortly after launch and have since gone back to it that it's now much more how they expected it to be.

 

[Orcish-Horde]

I take it you were all not aware when sony took over they sacked nearly ALL the devs for Vanguard and did not replace them!

Sony saved the game from the scrap heap, vanguards dev team had run out of money months before the game was released. They needed Sony to fund the rest of the games develoment, release and servers. Sony wanted a return on their investment which the vangaurd dev team snaped up. All sony did was to force them to release the game, if they didn't Vangaurds dev team would still be finishing it for release today. Without Sony there would have been no Vangaurd. Why did Microsoft droped Vangaurd?


http://internetgames.about.com/b/2006/05/07/vanguard-moves-from-microsoft-to-soe.htm

 

[Sleepery]

Deadkomodo trolled and then left, not much point in replying to him at this stage.

 

[saguy]

Actually the first time I logged in after the last update (the anti-hitching one) I found my graphics presets were all messed up. 4x AA was on, high detail tree distance was set to 100%, and a few other detail sliders were set to bloody silly settings. Since I have my view distance set really far out, the 100% high detail tree distance just murdered my framerate.

Might be worth checking a few of these settings.

I am interested to know if you gained any performance benefits from GU5.

My performance improved considerably allowing me turn up the view and high detail distances plus adding the improved lighting and reducing stuttering. Apparently the latest stuttering fix is the first in a four part solution. I would have to say that on my rig the stuttering is not much worse than any other large environment MMO that I have played. It is only bad in large settlements but so was the town of Bree in LOTRO.

 

[Sleepery]

To be honest it's hard to tell, since I didn't have the same settings before and after - because the sliders and settings were all mixed up, I just adjusted them again after the update to a point where the framerate is smooth, and I can't remember in detail what my settings were beforehand.

It runs now pretty much as you'd expect any modern mmo to run to be honest. If it had been like this at launch (minus the silly detail slider settings) I think a lot of people would have stuck with it longer. It'll forever be a niche game now unfortunately. I don't mind, as long as they keep the servers running

 

[spirity]

Why did Microsoft droped Vangaurd?

With every MMO (and indeed, every genre of game) the developers are given milestones they must meet. These milestones are agreed upon before work commences, and they're used to keep the game on track and progress timely. Microsoft gave Sigil their milestones (or objectives if you like) but Sigil couldn't keep to them.

Microsoft would occasionally visit the Sigil offices in Carlsbad to view Sigil's progress on the game. Sigil set up demo's of the game to show it off to MS, BUT the stuff they were showing wasn't part of the current build being worked on. It was a mocked up version of a small area of the game, bug free and solid. Sigil were lying through their back teeth about the progress they were making.

Microsoft started to smell a fish. They hired a consumer group to provide them with a bunch of people and gave them beta invites, unbeknownst to Sigil. The beta testers knew immediately something was up when the chat channels ingame were filled with obscenities from these players who were clearly expecting to be playing a solid game and not a beta.

There's lots more to it than that, like Sigil completely ripping whole chunks of Unreal 2.5 code out because they thought they could do a better job than Epic, and the lead programmers not allowing anyone to use scripting tools and stuff that's almost mandatory in order to make a game -- but the long and short of it is that Microsoft got cold feet and dropped Vanguard like a bad habit.

 

[Orcish-Horde]

With every MMO (and indeed, every genre of game) the developers are given milestones they must meet. These milestones are agreed upon before work commences, and they're used to keep the game on track and progress timely. Microsoft gave Sigil their milestones (or objectives if you like) but Sigil couldn't keep to them.

Microsoft would occasionally visit the Sigil offices in Carlsbad to view Sigil's progress on the game. Sigil set up demo's of the game to show it off to MS, BUT the stuff they were showing wasn't part of the current build being worked on. It was a mocked up version of a small area of the game, bug free and solid. Sigil were lying through their back teeth about the progress they were making.

Microsoft started to smell a fish. They hired a consumer group to provide them with a bunch of people and gave them beta invites, unbeknownst to Sigil. The beta testers knew immediately something was up when the chat channels ingame were filled with obscenities from these players who were clearly expecting to be playing a solid game and not a beta.

There's lots more to it than that, like Sigil completely ripping whole chunks of Unreal 2.5 code out because they thought they could do a better job than Epic, and the lead programmers not allowing anyone to use scripting tools and stuff that's almost mandatory in order to make a game -- but the long and short of it is that Microsoft got cold feet and dropped Vanguard like a bad habit.

I know it was a loaded question for deadkomodo.

 

[Sleepery]

You can probably still google stories about the demise of Sigil, I read several different ones from the employees that got fired at the time, and it makes for a great read. It's amazing the thing ever got out the door with the way things were run.

 

[Hedge]

I fancy trying this game. Been looking about for it.

its only 5 quid in shops, im assuming you get a month free with it.

for that price i think anyone should give it a go

 

[NeoReloaded]

Leonidis the traitor

 

[Hedge]

Leonidis the traitor

AoC just isnt drawing me back , dunno why.. I just felt like there was no direction for what loot to aim for or anything.

I might come back to AoC at some point, but its a bit grim at the minute i feel

 

[saguy]

AoC just isn't drawing me back , dunno why.. I just felt like there was no direction for what loot to aim for or anything.

I might come back to AoC at some point, but its a bit grim at the minute i feel

Yeah, apart from the satisfaction of winning in PvP, AoC is missing the key elements that make us keep playing these games for hours - there is no hook. I am a PvE player so I always need something to work towards like new armor loot or skills that change the way you play the game as you level. There is nothing to aspire to in AoC and apart from the nice graphics, the game is bland and soulless.

 

[Hedge]

Think ill have to ask for a buddy key for vanguard. cant find a bloody shop with it in