By making the game easier they are alienating their core target audience, the ones that Brad said he was making a game for, the hardcore players. Hardcore players are all about long term investment of time, wether it's raiding or grinding. I have no doubt this decision was forced on Brad by SOE, it's similar to what they did to SWG's core players when they dummied down SWG.
I simply do not see how a little extra XP is "dumbing" the game down. You still have to battle the same MOBs, use the strategys, survive the same dungeons.
Plus, I never remember them saying they were making a game for the hardcore. They said "core" and "core" has no meaning. If this game was for only the hardcore, meaning those who are physically handicapped, friendless, famlyless, and/or jobless, the game would not see it's return on investment. The only really hardcore game out there is Eve with it's 10k subscriber base. I am sure Eve cost a fraction of the cost of Vanguard to produce.
You and your hardcore buddies will have to give way to those who live in the real world of jobs, mortagages, kids, Wives, physical exercise, and life. Vanguard is by no means for the casual player as it stands. This is simply a little extra XP that the company is giving to their fans to make up for some of the outstanding problems with the game that may have caused them to lose normal XP. I do not see any reason to read more into it. I wish they would keep the double XP in as a part of the game but will yield so that you and your 20 hour/day buddies can have some time to reach 50.
By the way, the old SWG/SOE bashing has it's own sticky at the top of this forum for those who can not just let go such as yourself.
I'm hardcore but i no way hardcore in way's sometimes said on these forums, i'm hardcore which translates into passion for mmorpg, i'm not bound to that invisible deathline people need to hurry in mmorpg, if i make lvl 30 next year and still am enjoying meself then that's hardcore for me, i do not treath a mmorpg like most seem to play it like a job, someone that spends 24/7 in a game is not hardcore my friend that is a lunatic with indeed no rl whatsoever.So stop being narrowminded and say "you and your hardcore buddy's" cause you insulting people that really are hardcore, and you are not adressing to them but to the fanatics that are unable to play mmorpg, like that dude who made lvl 50 as the first player in V:SoH lol big deal to show lack of understanding mmorpg and play the game like its a singleplayer game.
I do agree with you that the double xp weekend has nothing to do with dumping the game down.
Also i was under the impression that the extra double xp weekend was due to the fault SOE has made when sending out mass-mail about XP-weekend the day after XP-weekend, wich translates atleast for me to give people another change to get there lost xp or gain extra xp for a short time and here we have it another change to have extra xp.
Hmmm Server malfunction I can believe that why? Because i work with a mail server that has over 1.5 Million accounts on it and in the last 12 months we have suffered several issues with delivery normally right after an upgrade has been completed so yes it does happen Either way im not bothered and i never received email from sigil about the XP weekend i found out myself by searching affiliated sites
Though I will not argue with you, I just want to point out that Vanguard doesn't have 1.5 million accounts, Brad has indicated subscriptions are more along the lines of the 100,000 in my example. Also, if Sigil management is making a business decision to mass email immediately following an upgrade, well, that means they are making decisions without checking with the front line people. That is not a good business decision.
Frankly, you check your organizational capabilities prior to initiating an action, not vice versa.
Whereas I realize that you want to stick up for this game, think how many tens of millions of dollars were spent, over how long a period of time, and whether the product introduced into the market is indicative of a functional organization? Obviously Microsoft did not think so, and if SOE did, they are in a financial position to provide the cashflow needed for completion. Instead, I get the feeling SOE threw this game under the bus as an answer to WOW's Burning Crusade release.
Yes i think it could have done with more testing and development, but the way i see it is its out now for general release, everyone has an option to play it or not, the choice is theirs,
The second XP weekend is due to people not receiving emails stating first weekend took place and to be honest the new patch and then subsequent Hotfix took place (either the downtime or loading) during primtime (bear in mind the game is aimed towards mature players so in europe most of those would be in work while patch was done but still lost time to download it)
for me this was 2 days i could have played around 10 hours instead i got approx 2 hours
who knows the real reason why they decided to hold another weekend, im not bothered im gonna use it to level my alt up to try and catchup with my main, but RL has to cut in some where so that whole weekend i will probably get around 8 hours game time in total
I dont see how double exp is any kind of indicator of anything. Its just a small boost in PR for people currently subscribed to Vanguard. I dont feel any kind of for or against Sigil for doing this. Its like if everyone in EQ1 was granted a gift of full suit of rusty armor.. so game breaking, wow. Keep up the drama flowing LOL
Comments
I simply do not see how a little extra XP is "dumbing" the game down. You still have to battle the same MOBs, use the strategys, survive the same dungeons.
Plus, I never remember them saying they were making a game for the hardcore. They said "core" and "core" has no meaning. If this game was for only the hardcore, meaning those who are physically handicapped, friendless, famlyless, and/or jobless, the game would not see it's return on investment. The only really hardcore game out there is Eve with it's 10k subscriber base. I am sure Eve cost a fraction of the cost of Vanguard to produce.
You and your hardcore buddies will have to give way to those who live in the real world of jobs, mortagages, kids, Wives, physical exercise, and life. Vanguard is by no means for the casual player as it stands. This is simply a little extra XP that the company is giving to their fans to make up for some of the outstanding problems with the game that may have caused them to lose normal XP. I do not see any reason to read more into it. I wish they would keep the double XP in as a part of the game but will yield so that you and your 20 hour/day buddies can have some time to reach 50.
By the way, the old SWG/SOE bashing has it's own sticky at the top of this forum for those who can not just let go such as yourself.
I'm hardcore but i no way hardcore in way's sometimes said on these forums, i'm hardcore which translates into passion for mmorpg, i'm not bound to that invisible deathline people need to hurry in mmorpg, if i make lvl 30 next year and still am enjoying meself then that's hardcore for me, i do not treath a mmorpg like most seem to play it like a job, someone that spends 24/7 in a game is not hardcore my friend that is a lunatic with indeed no rl whatsoever.So stop being narrowminded and say "you and your hardcore buddy's" cause you insulting people that really are hardcore, and you are not adressing to them but to the fanatics that are unable to play mmorpg, like that dude who made lvl 50 as the first player in V:SoH lol big deal to show lack of understanding mmorpg and play the game like its a singleplayer game.
I do agree with you that the double xp weekend has nothing to do with dumping the game down.
Also i was under the impression that the extra double xp weekend was due to the fault SOE has made when sending out mass-mail about XP-weekend the day after XP-weekend, wich translates atleast for me to give people another change to get there lost xp or gain extra xp for a short time and here we have it another change to have extra xp.
Though I will not argue with you, I just want to point out that Vanguard doesn't have 1.5 million accounts, Brad has indicated subscriptions are more along the lines of the 100,000 in my example. Also, if Sigil management is making a business decision to mass email immediately following an upgrade, well, that means they are making decisions without checking with the front line people. That is not a good business decision.
Frankly, you check your organizational capabilities prior to initiating an action, not vice versa.
Whereas I realize that you want to stick up for this game, think how many tens of millions of dollars were spent, over how long a period of time, and whether the product introduced into the market is indicative of a functional organization? Obviously Microsoft did not think so, and if SOE did, they are in a financial position to provide the cashflow needed for completion. Instead, I get the feeling SOE threw this game under the bus as an answer to WOW's Burning Crusade release.
LOL
I have to agree about the bus thing
Yes i think it could have done with more testing and development, but the way i see it is its out now for general release, everyone has an option to play it or not, the choice is theirs,
The second XP weekend is due to people not receiving emails stating first weekend took place and to be honest the new patch and then subsequent Hotfix took place (either the downtime or loading) during primtime (bear in mind the game is aimed towards mature players so in europe most of those would be in work while patch was done but still lost time to download it)
for me this was 2 days i could have played around 10 hours instead i got approx 2 hours
who knows the real reason why they decided to hold another weekend, im not bothered im gonna use it to level my alt up to try and catchup with my main, but RL has to cut in some where so that whole weekend i will probably get around 8 hours game time in total
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.