SOE's involvement already starting to show?

Senden

I will start off by saying that i'm not one of those SOE hateboys who will do anything to stir up crap with them but rather i'm a very disgruntled sucker who got robbed from Sigil/Fileplanet for clearly false advertising.

Well like most of you, I saw the big advert on fileplanet saying about the vanguard beta and in my excitement, signed up to the fileplanet members thing for a smallish amount of money.  I click on the notify me when the beta is up thing and everything goes fine. I even manage to download and install the client.. 17gb WOW!

Then just a few minutes ago I go to the fileplanet site to get my key and BAM... This is for Us residents only crap. Now I could go on all day about how as an EU resident, I sometimes feel like a second class customer compared to my counterparts from across the pond but this is far far worse than that... this is false advertisement! Not once, anywhere have I read that this beta is for NA people only. Yet fileplanet still have no problems taking my money and I doubt my request for a refund will be taken seriously.

Now this sounds strangely too familiar doesn't it.. it reminds me of a common SOE business practice you see... where they wrong fans of their money. Now I hope Sigil will improve on this but as it stands, they have probably lost a customer.

JustFinch

As Carlos Mencia says -

" 'Cause That's America BITCH!"

Mirrim

There have been quite a few EU players and others around the world in beta up to this point. How the heck do you know that SOE set policy to Fileplanet on who gets keys? Perhaps it was a Fileplanet decision.



Will admit that EU policies and laws sometimes makes it unappealing or difficult for companies to cater to players there. That's also why so many US-based sweepstakes and contests are US, territories and Canada only. Blame the lawyers.

jwshaw88

Well, I can't say I have an EU hate comments (I enjoy the diversity of non-US players playing on US servers, particularly when I worked the night shift and you guys were the only ones online )  or even anything helpful to say really in regards to your situation.  I think that SOE's influence has been seen and felt in the beta (as I have been in it for months now) and it will pour out into anything they do.  I can't say who is responsible for the exclusivity of north america to this little beta venture they have going, but I would guess based on my dealings with Sigil and SOE that one or both at least had some kind of say in this.  One might venture to guess that the servers will already be over populated as there are only two available and the PVE server is already over double the highest I ever saw it in closed beta so they may have decided to limit the audience.  One might also guess that it's a quirk of file planet, at this point, it's anyone's guess.  Don't play the game based on the game itself though, not it's policies.  If you've been looking forward to it and you like what you read about the game, you should at least try it out.  I for one, won't be seeing this game through into public release.

Agricola1

I am a confirmed and vehement SOE hater and am glad to see that SOE is using Sigil and Vanguard to recruit more gamers into our ranks of hatred!

Already the excuses have started coming out and soon the legions of Vanbois will be on their crusade to try and blame someone else for SOE. Despite my extreme bias and the fact that I believe SOE is the scum of the MMORPG industry and that Smed is the devil the facts about Vanguard are,

1: Sigil split with microsoft (or the other way round, who knows?) for unkown reasons.

2: SOE bailed them out of bankruptcy (don't remember anyone else lining up to buy the publishing rights), terms of contract unknown.

3: Vanguard is being released too early due to pressure from SOE.

4: Vanguard will be released unfinished and will probably be finished within one year of being live.

5: SOE made a clean sweep at the MMOWTF awards.

6: System requirements to run Vanguard are ridiculously high, once live I expect alot of rubber banding in cities despite everyone having powerful comps with great connections.

I think that after one year this MMO could realy shine, however the evil aura of SOE destroys that belief/hope. Brace yourselves for an expansion (that you have to pay for) after six months or so. Then after a year maybe a combat upgrade because a focus group told them combat is too dull in Vanguard (which it is).

Vanguard isn't quite a Vanturd but it's not Vantastic by any stretch of the imagination!

jwshaw88

Originally posted by Agricola1


I am a confirmed and vehement SOE hater and am glad to see that SOE is using Sigil and Vanguard to recruit more gamers into our ranks of hatred!
Already the excuses have started coming out and soon the legions of Vanbois will be on their crusade to try and blame someone else for SOE. Despite my extreme bias and the fact that I believe SOE is the scum of the MMORPG industry and that Smed is the devil the facts about Vanguard are,
1: Sigil split with microsoft (or the other way round, who knows?) for unkown reasons.


I wonder if Microsoft didn't push them to release only on XBox 360.....after all, Halo started out as a PC game until MS game studios took over and bailed them out.
2: SOE bailed them out of bankruptcy (don't remember anyone else lining up to buy the publishing rights), terms of contract unknown.
They are in bed now, and I don't think that will ever change now.
3: Vanguard is being released too early due to pressure from SOE.
I agree with this 100%


4: Vanguard will be released unfinished and will probably be finished within one year of being live.
Again, 100%


5: SOE made a clean sweep at the MMOWTF awards.
That was for SWG though....in their defense they do have others games that didn't make the awards, however it doesn't make up for the atrocity that is SWG today!


6: System requirements to run Vanguard are ridiculously high, once live I expect alot of rubber banding in cities despite everyone having powerful comps with great connections.
I am currently running the second most powerful dual core desktop processor from intel ( i work there, so they gave me one free, hehe) and a 7900GTOC w/256MB of ram.  I can pull 265 FPS max on some games, average is around 150, and this game runs at 24, LOL!  Again, agreed 100%


I think that after one year this MMO could realy shine, however the evil aura of SOE destroys that belief/hope. Brace yourselves for an expansion (that you have to pay for) after six months or so. Then after a year maybe a combat upgrade because a focus group told them combat is too dull in Vanguard (which it is).
Vanguard isn't quite a Vanturd but it's not Vantastic by any stretch of the imagination!
Mediocre and make some cash....the new motto for a dawning age of game development!

Hehe, had to add a few comments of my own in there....I don't nearly hate SOE as much as you do....except maybe on the days they patch, you spend an hour trying to get on after you get the files, then play for 30 minutes, work your way into a dungeon a little and they announce a server shutdown in 5 minutes and it'll take you 20 to fight out because you have no gate ability other than death....LOL.....however, I cant say I disagree with anything you've said here.

Agricola1

I have a feeling that SOE snapped up the rights to publish Vanguard out of fear more than anything. If say Mythic published this game in six months time it would mean very hard times for SOE and EQ 1/2. I don't like Vanguard or the genre of game (D&D) but many do, and I could see the main marlet being EQ players.

In my opinion SOE bought the rights because they felt they had little choice, if someone else published it they would've taken a serious loss. However after publishing it they can now sell more station passes to EQ players that don't already have them, a shrewd business move but pushing it early is gonna hurt it in the long run. Either way SOE can't lose now, but Sigil might hurt its reputation (SOE couldn't go much lower) if it SOE continues to short change the Vanguard playerbase.

I do hope that Vanguard doesn't end up as another SOE title that had potential but was never realized, because it does have potential and the market is about to get very tough this year for that genre of game.

swede2

Originally posted by jwshaw88


 

Hehe, had to add a few comments of my own in there....I don't nearly hate SOE as much as you do....except maybe on the days they patch, you spend an hour trying to get on after you get the files, then play for 30 minutes, work your way into a dungeon a little and they announce a server shutdown in 5 minutes and it'll take you 20 to fight out because you have no gate ability other than death....LOL.....however, I cant say I disagree with anything you've said here.I would think that that all part of been in a beta isnt it ,of course thier going to be shuting down all the time . Thems the breaks lol

viciousexe

I totally agree with you (original poster) but thats not SOE's fault that fileplanet did that. And it isn't the american players fault that they do that to you EU guys. We(at least I) feel bad for you guys and wish it was all equal.

Somnulus

You know, in addition to all of the extremely accurate observations that have already been made by others in this post about SOE, you can add the fact that Sigil is being forced to use the SOE Launcher.

That is a fate worse than death. It is quite possibly the most poorly designed piece of software I've ever had the displeasure to utilize.

After having subscriptions to EQ, EQII and SWG, I've watched helplessly as the SOE launcher has:

1. Failed to patch update files. At all. Just simply failed to overwrite the patched files.

2. Repeated the patching process over and over... and over again. And again.

3. Crashed to desktop without starting the game after reporting that a file could not be found that it supposedly just patched on more occasions than I can even count.

4. Attempted and failed multiple times to verify that my system was, indeed, running DirectX 9.0c (October 2006). WTF?

5. Failed to actually start the game engine itself after patching.

6. Claimed over and over again that my station identification or password were incorrect.

7. Couldn't find the installation location of the game. Over and over again.

The only SOE Station game that I owned that never had these difficulties was Matrix Online. The reason? It didn't USE the SOE launcher.

I mean, if you can't even log in, what difference does it make how well-crafted and exciting a game is?

I dropped my station account just because of launcher issues. I was sick and tired of debugging their shoddy software.

Pitiful. I truly feel sorry for Sigil. Honestly, I think I would have taken bankruptcy over SOE. They still may have had a chance to complete the game to their satisfaction, albeit at a slower pace while they retained ownership of the intellectual property and sought funding.

I am not holding out much hope for the upcoming MMO releases. It seems like every one is less complete and more bug-ridden than the last.

Mysk

Not much to add other than that I feel for ya.  I'd be pretty torqued off too.



They should refund the money as far as I'm concerned, seeing as there was no statement that it would be for NA only.  Good luck.

blitcz

Even though your post, Somnulus, sounds a bit sour, I must thank you for opening my eyes.



I had a glancing experience with The Launcher in SWG Beta and on a few other occasions - at that time it did not seem to be the most problem-ridden link in the chain.



I did consider a test-run of the SOE subscription to get a taste of the Everquest(s). I do not anymore.

Mundus

Originally posted by Agricola1



1: Sigil split with microsoft (or the other way round, who knows?) for unkown reasons.

As far as I know Vanguard already was about to be released even earlier due to pressure of Microsoft.

Among other things because of that Sigil itself bought all rights from MS, which was surely not inexpensive, and went to SOE.



Unfortunately it´s pretty common to release games unfinished, no matter if MMOG or offline game.

So even if this is not great it also is no real argument againt it as far as I´m concerned.



I don´t know if the NDA is already lifted, otherwise I would tell more about it supposedly being unfinished and about the performance.

It´s not yet lifted, is it?

M1sf1t

Originally posted by Mundus

Originally posted by Agricola1



1: Sigil split with microsoft (or the other way round, who knows?) for unkown reasons.

As far as I know Vanguard already was about to be released even earlier due to pressure of Microsoft.

Among other things because of that Sigil itself bought all rights from MS, which was surely not inexpensive, and went to SOE.



Unfortunately it´s pretty common to release games unfinished, no matter if MMOG or offline game.

So even if this is not great it also is no real argument againt it as far as I´m concerned.



I don´t know if the NDA is already lifted, otherwise I would tell more about it supposedly being unfinished and about the performance.

It´s not yet lifted, is it?

The game is officially in BETA 5. The NDA is null and void.

Mundus

Well, in this case ...



I´m beta tester since phase 2 and quite a lot was done since then.

The performance was horrible back then, although the graphics didn´t look too nice.

Now it looks a lot better, even though the performance still isn´t really good.



However, we are still in beta and it´s usual in a beta.

I think the performance will improve as it already has since beta 2.



The main problem isn´t the video card, though.

I have "only" 1 gb of RAM and have serious problems when it comes to loading new areas.



When I´m just walking around in the country I have 30+ frames, however this changes when I enter a new area or even a town where much new stuff has to be loaded.



As for Vanguard being released unfinished, I don´t know.

I have played quite a few different races and I crossed nothing obviously unfished.

You have dozens of quests, common and for each of the races.



Of course there are still some bugs, e.g. in diplomacy and crafting, but not in the basics.

So everything works just fine, as far as I can tell.

Renessa

Of course I know, that everything that is wrong with Vanguard is the fault of SOE , however,  I have my doubts concerning this issue..

You see, I've been a European customer of SOE for quite some time. I'Ve been playing EQ2 for nearly 2 years now and we non-Europeans get every patch, every adventure pack, every expansion a couple of hours after the Americans. There is also no problem getting onto the test server.

This is not common business practice. Turbine, for example, lets their European players wait weeks for every new update after the US gets it. I also wonder whether Fileplanet is to blame. They seem surprised themselves. I must say, I think this was Sigil's idea...