Vanguard:SoH shutting down :(

[Rhambuk]

Originally Posted by stormlord [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's a damn shame a open world MMORPG - that's not a WoW-clone - I liked in many ways could only muster enough population to survive essentially on life support for about 6-7 years.

its a huge shame, too bad vanguard had such bad name on release. I didnt get to really play it until a year or 2 after so they had fixxed a lot of the issues but population was low. vanguard by far was one of my favorite mmo's based on design, loved the graphics and the class design its just too bad more people didnt give it a chance it could have been A + with a proper population

[stormlord]

Nice read:
www.wolfsheadonline.com - Unintended Consequences of Quest Directed MMO’s...

Makes me think the key to all this includes how Brad handles grouping in Pantheon. After all, if he watns to focus on it so badly then he better make sure it works for as many players as possible.

Figure out a way to make grouping easy and not a pain. Make it so we can AFK as easily as we do when we're soloing. Make it so we can get story while at the same time being pulled on by group members. Don't make it hard for people with different classes to group effectively. Make grouping easy and people like it. AT the end of the day, a group game has to make us feel like heroES and also not make soloing more attractive.

In my experience, grouping has a long ways to go. Soloing is so popular because of its convenience. You can play at your own pace which is crucial to not falling behind or not losing interest.

Can we have a group-based MMORPG without all of the negatives people attach to EQ and Vanguard? Can there be a casual group-based MMORPG that did what WoW did for MMORPGs?

I'll end with the concluding remarks by the commentary writer linked at the beginning of this post:

While it’s doubtful that in the near future we’ll see a return to open-ended sandbox games like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, there has to be a way to put the power back in the hand of the players and give them control over how they experience the game world. New mechanics can and need to be created that inject a healthy dose of dynamism and immediacy back into virtual worlds. Players need to wrestle control over their avatar’s destiny from the clutches of micromanaging developers. Regrettably that will never happen until MMO companies find the courage to go beyond the WoW success formula. They need to start trusting their players with more freedom and tempered by mechanics that ensure in game accountability. We need to get beyond incentivized gameplay and move to a system that allows its participants to be more then just trained monkeys and let them take an active role in the virtual worlds they inhabit. - See more at: http://www.wolfsheadonline.com/unint...ed-mmos/#53d10

[Haynar]

I was in on beta for vanguard. It was just a mess. You could see the potential in what they were trying to do. Initial release was pretty bad. Had too often that I couldnt stay connected. Gave up on it pretty early on.

H

[Shaakglith12194]

Unfortunately, if you try to make it so that players with little time can be at the same level as everyone else, you have to implement some way that they can buy what everyone else has. That trivializes everything about a game. Niche games are the only ones that flourish. EQ, Eve Online, EQ2, WoW (it hit a niche, and blew up), and so on. These games all did their particular brand of MMO well. Start adding microtransactions for gear/levels/loot boxes, you got problems. Appealing to the "casual" player is why so many MMOs fail (see: any WoW clone). Do something cool or original or just plain fun, people will pay. Brad has good vision. Also, I believe Vanguard got pushed into beta and released in the state it did because of a lack of funds, like SOE forced them to put it out way before it was done. And then there still wasn't enough money to keep developing/supporting it after release. I played a few months after it came out on the pvp server and had a GREAT time. I think I quit because it was too hard to find pvp and a lot of shit was broken/unfinished. Really sucked to go exploring and see all this cool shit and get to the front of a big ass temple and realize that the dungeon just hasn't been built yet.

[Sarajo]

Casual vs. Hardcore: Didn't Vanguard have the caravan system, where you'd form a permanent group and anyone offline but in the caravan would share the XP gained by the members online?

As for it shutting down, I'm deeply saddened but slightly less saddened than when I read about
1) How badly SOE botched the launch (I was there for the last month of beta and the first month of live)
2) The gold duping hack that wrecked the economy in the first year or two (this was after I left)

I always felt it was a better EQ2 than EQ2, even if it was in a different world with different lore. The Vanguard RP site was where I met some friends who I've been in a few other MMOs with, too, and I have Vanguard to thank for them. But mostly, I just liked all of the dozens of options. More-than-just-cats for the furries! Black and Asian humans! Healers who heal by punchin! So many good ideas, so little execution.

[nilbog]

r.i.p. nilbog the lvl 50 blood mage

[citizen1080]

Originally Posted by nilbog [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

r.i.p. nilbog the lvl 50 blood mage

Bloodmage was my favorite class after my bard =(

VG had the best classes in any MMO imo.

[Ahldagor]

that sucks. finally have a comp that could run it pretty well, so was going to give it a whirl again. i liked the necro part harvesting thing a lot.

[phacemeltar]

some of the posts in that original link are depressing.