So Brad comes out and admits he put out an unfinished product. Hmmm, wonder if that is enough for me to go to the Attorney General's office and force Sigil to give me my $50 back that I blew on this crappy game.
Just a short sided question here that has been on my mind since I started playing and frequenting the support boards. Having sold PC's and supported them for several years I can tell you this, the majority of users buy cutting edge when the next cutting edge is released. Very few customers, gamers included buy upgrades as their released as they tend to be as buggy as say the 8800 Nvidia currently is.
Now, with that observation, I have also observed that people with duel core systems, 4 GB of Ram, 8800 SLI Configurations as well as Raptor Drives are reporting "decent" performance under High Performance Mode and sometimes Balanced Mode. With that said, exactly when will systems be able to run the game as Brad intended?
If the game was released six months from now, how many people would fork out the money for today's cutting edge hardware, even if it was a few hundred cheaper for the package. My system is less than 6 months old, duel core 4,600 with 2gb of Ram (yes, I know I should add a Gig), but should in theory run the game better than 15FPS in High Performance Mode.
I'm not bashing the game or Brad, just thinking that the "Vision" that people would have flocked to the stores to buy the latest released hardware to play the game if it was released 6 months from now seems a little dreamlike.
2 GB DDR-2 Memory averages $200-$300
8800 Nvidia $400-$500
Sata High Performance Drive $100-$150
So at todays prices were looking at $700-$950. Maybe 6 months from now it will be $500-$700? To me that's one hell of a gamble to base your game working as intended on the newest hardware. What percentage of users will plunk down that kind of money to play a game? Some will, but doubtful that the 300,000 he needs as stated will.
A 30 million dollar budget gets you this??? Umm, I think upper management needs to be replaced. Way to squander that.
Now imagine WOW's sub-fee x 8mil , with that amount of money WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies, instaid they made a cartoon?? not a bash at wow i do like cartoons (sometimes) but it makes me wonder where all THAT money is going i'm sure as hell not seeing it in WOW 's BC
So at todays prices were looking at $700-$950. Maybe 6 months from now it will be $500-$700? To me that's one hell of a gamble to base your game working as intended on the newest hardware. What percentage of users will plunk down that kind of money to play a game? Some will, but doubtful that the 300,000 he needs as stated will.
I would...for a game that comes out 6 months from now. But not for a game that is already half a year old.
I had to requote this post from another forum because it basically sums it all up.
Originally Posted by DJk_zero So Brad, your solution to Vanguard running like shit is to spend $2500 US on an entirely new system? Are you going to put that on the box as a sticker?
"Unless you run at stone-age resolutions, be prepared to buy a new $2500 rig so as to actually have the game look good and still somewhat run like shit" ?
Seriously, Ive stayed out of most of the VG threads as there are more then enough people to point out how utterly wrong your attitude is to the MMOG playerbase and the industry in general, but holy hell do you need to seriously wake up to reality.
As much as I like to see competition in any industry, you and the people like you that share similar gaming mindsets need to be put out of business.
Brad's response was more of his typical bull that people need to upgrade their pc. I really feel sorry for those who still subscribe to the game. Dont confuse Brad's honesty - ie I know this game is badly designed and runs like shit - but please keep giving me money and upgrade your pc! - with the claims that the performance will improve. What they mean is your computer will improve performance when you upgrade it.
The serious deception is the so call minimum specs that were printed on the box at launch. At least when games like WOW print them you can actually play with those specs.
Funny indeed how some people think, wonder if they still are running their systems with the very first drivers they installed they must with short-minded coments like these, they really fail to see that Brad isn't only adressing new high end systems, tech. is much more then that
A 30 million dollar budget gets you this??? Umm, I think upper management needs to be replaced. Way to squander that.
Now imagine WOW's sub-fee x 8mil , with that amount of money WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies, instaid they made a cartoon?? not a bash at wow i do like cartoons (sometimes) but it makes me wonder where all THAT money is going i'm sure as hell not seeing it in WOW 's BC But were talking about money spent BEFORE the release, before you knew how the game would go. Obviously, even though I don't play WoW, Blizzard had a good idea who their target would be based on other games and followed through. I see a few problems in the blame shifting in this situation
You had several years and 30 million with MS to deliver and made a choice at some point to pitch it to SoE instead. Obviously, it was thought to be the right move assuming that it was not the only move they could make. So now SoE is part of the blame for the forced release?
The early release meant that us users could not afford the upgrades that are making the performance in his game lacking.
So basically, you got a bad meal at a resturant and they apologize by telling you that after you waited 60 minutes for your meal, they felt compelled to rush it rather than tell you you were not getting the meal at all forcing them to use the cheaper beef that was delivered earlier that week instead of the beef they expected to get next week, it's really not their fault because they ditched their previous supplier and this is the best they could get. They also had no idea that running a kitchen staff of 100 was going to be harder than when they ran the small place down the street.
A 30 million dollar budget gets you this??? Umm, I think upper management needs to be replaced. Way to squander that.
Now imagine WOW's sub-fee x 8mil , with that amount of money WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies, instaid they made a cartoon?? not a bash at wow i do like cartoons (sometimes) but it makes me wonder where all THAT money is going i'm sure as hell not seeing it in WOW 's BC WOW was made to look that way for a reason , If you think a company like Blizzard couldn't make graphic look like say LOTRO ect then your mistaken , I guess you just have to look at the figures 8 million + so I guess Blizzard knows better than us on how the game should look ...
1. a new type of game gets launched, at the right time when the market is ready but there's no real competitor, game makes a killing and then some
2. venture capitalists think it is that young hot prospect who made it all, who knew what he was doing all along ... whereas he's just someone in the right place at the right time
3. venture capitalists throw money hand over fist at the young hot prospect hoping that he can repeat the feat and multiply their money tenfold
4. it turns out the emperor is naked, it turns out the young prospect has nothing, never had anything just idealistic hopes and not actual competence
You know who I'm talking about, right? John Romero and his Daikatana, and the millions of dollars that disappeared in IonStorm.
Also things like teleporters, experience rates, better LFG tools, etc. are all being looked at and you will see changes soon. I don't have the details yet, but we are listening and the game will get better and the areas where we messed up (large world, but too hard to find a group, etc.) will be addressed. - Brad McQuaid
Is this what the core target audience was asking for during the 4 years of development? If so why wasn't Vanguard designed as an easy casual game from the start?
A 30 million dollar budget gets you this??? Umm, I think upper management needs to be replaced. Way to squander that.
Now imagine WOW's sub-fee x 8mil , with that amount of money WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies, instaid they made a cartoon?? not a bash at wow i do like cartoons (sometimes) but it makes me wonder where all THAT money is going i'm sure as hell not seeing it in WOW 's BC WOW was made to look that way for a reason , If you think a company like Blizzard couldn't make graphic look like say LOTRO ect then your mistaken , I guess you just have to look at the figures 8 million + so I guess Blizzard knows better than us on how the game should look ...
Nope didn't you read my text before responding ? "WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies"
I believe I said it needed 200k-300k to be successful, and that I hoped to see 500k after the game was out 1 year, which would make it very profitable. So far we are in the mid 150s which is less than I would have hoped, but still good and still growing.
I have said we released 2-3 months early and that releasing near BC was a mistake, but there was nothing we could do about it. That doesn't mean we were perfect in our development -- we made mistakes -- I talked about in the NYT about how hard it was to manage and organize a team of 100 people when we were used to to EQ 1 (which had about 25 people). So yes, it was harder to schedule and remain as focused and efficient. We also had the switch from MSFT to SOE which slowed us down and caused us to start beta too early.
We also made the mistake of releasing a little early in terms of tech, e.g. we had hoped that computers would be cheaper that could run Vanguard by the time we launched. Time will fix this, but it is hurting us short term. In 20/20 hindsight we probably should have gone a bit lower tech and made a smaller world. But we really felt strongly from the very beginning that part of immersiveness in next gen MMOG was being seamless where you could travel wherever you wanted to, fly anywhere, be able to load any object in the world anywhere in the world, etc. Again, I think longer term as tech is increasing so rapidly, a lot of these problems will go away and having a seamless world with no instancing, ships and flying mounts, etc. will pay off.
I will apolgize for all of the above and the buck stops here. I won't, however, apologize for the team: they worked their asses off and continue to and truly believe in the game (as do I). That said, while I apologize for the mistakes, some of which we made and some of which were out of our hands, we also got the opportunity to make a very ambitious game, the game of our dreams, and were a start-up company that got a 30M+ budget, which is basically unheard of. So while VG does indeed have some issues, I know a lot of people are having fun with it, and a lot more will have fun with it in the future and call it a home. I am also proud to have been part of such an awesome team and to have been able to launch a second MMOG (not something a lot of people can say they have done). So, again, I do apologize for the shortcomings, but am also proud of the game and its potential, and am confident that while it is a successful game now (certainly not a WoW, but not a D&D online either) it will gain momentum as tech catches up, people tire of BC, etc. And also as we through both expansions and the live team add more really cool features to the game over the next year.
Also things like teleporters, experience rates, better LFG tools, etc. are all being looked at and you will see changes soon. I don't have the details yet, but we are listening and the game will get better and the areas where we messed up (large world, but too hard to find a group, etc.) will be addressed. - Brad McQuaid
Can you post a Link to said thread I can't find it anywhere on silky venom ?
I feel somewhat better about the game after reading Brad's statement.... When the game first released it felt unfinished and Sigil was not owning up to it... Seems to me there now owning up to it and are dedicated to making it better...
[b]What I am waiting for is more hairstyle/face choices, and some facial animations during combat. Once those two things are in I am golden. [/b][/quote]
Dang man.. what do you want. This game has more character customization than just about every game out there, except for maybe EVE. WoW doesn't have much for customization, but millions of people still love it.
Anyway, your post gave me a good laugh for the day.
A 30 million dollar budget gets you this??? Umm, I think upper management needs to be replaced. Way to squander that.
Now imagine WOW's sub-fee x 8mil , with that amount of money WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies, instaid they made a cartoon?? not a bash at wow i do like cartoons (sometimes) but it makes me wonder where all THAT money is going i'm sure as hell not seeing it in WOW 's BC
Three decision to go with the cartoon graphics was more to do with allowing the widest range of computers to be able to play the game. I doubt it was financial.... And if they did make killer graphics then they would have the same problem with everyong complaing that there 3 year old computer can't play it.... I gurentee you there subscription base would be like 1 million instead of 8 million if that was the case..
Have to remember highend computers probably only make up about 15%-20% of the computer population out there...
I feel somewhat better about the game after reading Brad's statement.... When the game first released it felt unfinished and Sigil was not owning up to it... Seems to me there now owning up to it and are dedicated to making it better... As far as the Brad bashing threads... What is really funny is the ones that are doing the bashing have probably not accomplished anything in life, I doubt they have created anything and I would bet most of them are pizza delivery boys ... Before you attack someone on a personal level you better make sure your not standing in a glass house...
Ya, because when I buy a car I want to be sure it only has 3 wheels, a radio...but I have to install it, only 1 seat, and no windows. It should be up the consumer to buy the rest of the parts to make that vehicle run. That's pretty much the same mindset Brad has, after reading this post. Unfinished product, incompetent management, passing the buck for releasing it too soon, and blaming the consumer because we all don't have $1,000 laying around to upgrade our PC's so we can play this boring ass game.
It'd be a completely different story if Vanguard was free, because then nobody would have the right to piss and moan. But as a consumer, you have EVERY right to complain when the product you buy does not meet your standards. And if I was a pizza delivery boy...I would be very pissed off that I blew $50 bucks on this game, being delivery boys don't make alot of money in the first place.
Brad's honesty is refreshing imo. Like the game myself. Areas that need improving imo
LFG is tough
Diplomacy is a little boring, It needs to be less repetative. More quest. Rewards outside of diplomacy gear
Crafting is also a bit boring
Need more hairstyles
need more auction space desperately. a special auctioneer that includes all zones and continents, while still maintaining a local auctioneer. Maybe charge a premium for the all zone auctions. I feel the lack of auction space encourages egold sales.
I wish they had some pvp similar to WoW. arenas, battlegrounds etc. Simple implementation would be to have a banner we can choose b4 starting the battle. It wouldnt matter what race you are. I bet with successful implementation that alone would double sales.
I'm 46 in RL and appreciate the realistic graphics. The wow kiddy cartoon thing was to much. I do feel their implementation of pvp was outstanding and hella fun thou.
Played MMORPGs since june 99
EQ1 and EQ2
DAOC
SWG
WOW
WOW BC
Find myself trying to find that old EQ1 feeling. I don't quite have it yet but know if I stick with Brad, I'll eventually find it.
I feel somewhat better about the game after reading Brad's statement.... When the game first released it felt unfinished and Sigil was not owning up to it... Seems to me there now owning up to it and are dedicated to making it better... As far as the Brad bashing threads... What is really funny is the ones that are doing the bashing have probably not accomplished anything in life, I doubt they have created anything and I would bet most of them are pizza delivery boys ... Before you attack someone on a personal level you better make sure your not standing in a glass house...
No, a pizza delivery boy would understand being complained at by the customer if he/she delivered a pizza with uncooked dough and missing toppings.
What's all the sensitivity for? No one at Sigil is anyone's friends; it's strictly business and we just so happen to be consumers. All we owe Sigil is dollars, not respect. All they owe us is the product of their advertising; and if we feel it falls short, we complain.
So on the contrary, any intangibles you decide to lend Sigil besides your money is getting a little too personal. It doesn't matter what mistakes he admits to from the past or what he hopes happens in the future; only whats tangible and present.
I moved on but I sincerely hope he pulls it off. I had high hopes for VG and played the initial month and left pretty pissed at what was delivered... but I still wish him the best.
VG is certainly a HUGE project. Unfinished as it is, it shows some spunk to shoot for the stars like that.
I honestly believe it's better to set the goal too high and never reach it, than to set it to low and reach it easily.
If people don't shoot too high than big things never happen. So... it's a gamble and at the moment he lost.
He may pull it off if they act quickly. As NON-Fanboi as I am about VG, it's certainly got some things going for it. Performance is not one of them though.
I am gone for now, but I am holding onto this DvD and keeping it close by. I will watch it evolve and may very well check it out again someday. But for now, the sting is still too fresh... Once bitten twice shy.
Good luck to Brad and gang. May they turn this around and deliver upon the promises made. It can only better the market for all of us if they do.
I feel somewhat better about the game after reading Brad's statement.... When the game first released it felt unfinished and Sigil was not owning up to it... Seems to me there now owning up to it and are dedicated to making it better... As far as the Brad bashing threads... What is really funny is the ones that are doing the bashing have probably not accomplished anything in life, I doubt they have created anything and I would bet most of them are pizza delivery boys ... Before you attack someone on a personal level you better make sure your not standing in a glass house...
No, a pizza delivery boy would understand being complained at by the customer if he/she delivered a pizza with uncooked dough and missing toppings.
What's all the sensitivity for? No one at Sigil is anyone's friends; it's strictly business and we just so happen to be consumers. All we owe Sigil is dollars, not respect. All they owe us is the product of their advertising; and if we feel it falls short, we complain.
So on the contrary, any intangibles you decide to lend Sigil besides your money is getting a little too personal. It doesn't matter what mistakes he admits to from the past or what he hopes happens in the future; only whats tangible and present.
*throws stones*
It's always funny to see people compare a MMO to a car... But if you insist on comparing the two, then yes, cars can be released before there done, how many cars over the years have had recalls? How many have to be taken back to the dealership to have TSB done to it? I just got a recall on my Headlights for my Infiniti FX35.... Not to mention my 350z had to go in to have its fuel line replaced under another recall... I've seen lots of recalls on BMW's and Mercedes vehicles also....
Guess im tired of seeing people posting in these threads with just plain hate... They don't list why they don't like the game or anything, they just go into rants about what a ""loser"" Brad is for attempting to make a MMO... I for one would like to see these same people list what they have accomplished so far in life.....
Does Vangaurd deserve to get slamed for being in the condition its in? Yes, but IMO people go to far....
EDIT: my first statement was not ment for the person I responded to, it was from another thread i was reading and got the two mixed up... my bad...
A 30 million dollar budget gets you this??? Umm, I think upper management needs to be replaced. Way to squander that.
Now imagine WOW's sub-fee x 8mil , with that amount of money WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies, instaid they made a cartoon?? not a bash at wow i do like cartoons (sometimes) but it makes me wonder where all THAT money is going i'm sure as hell not seeing it in WOW 's BC
Three decision to go with the cartoon graphics was more to do with allowing the widest range of computers to be able to play the game. I doubt it was financial.... And if they did make killer graphics then they would have the same problem with everyong complaing that there 3 year old computer can't play it.... I gurentee you there subscription base would be like 1 million instead of 8 million if that was the case..
Have to remember highend computers probably only make up about 15%-20% of the computer population out there...
Very true my example was a bit to the extreme and know we would face the same problems as in tech., but I really do wonder over all these years WOW is running where all that money is going, like I said in BC?, so that’s about $ 119.600.000, a month x X years x 12 months afcourse they did not have 8mil from the start so lets make it rough and say they make 60/70mil a month, I know business upkeep is expensive especially in that industry, but really you would have thought they could come up with something more then BC, again let me say no bash at wow, I’m genuine curious what Blizzard does besides the obvious marketing strategy's.
Still the things Brad is saying is honost, can't recall SOE doing this type of straightforwardness
I moved on but I sincerely hope he pulls it off. I had high hopes for VG and played the initial month and left pretty pissed at what was delivered... but I still wish him the best. VG is certainly a HUGE project. Unfinished as it is, it shows some spunk to shoot for the stars like that. I honestly believe it's better to set the goal too high and never reach it, than to set it to low and reach it easily. If people don't shoot too high than big things never happen. So... it's a gamble and at the moment he lost. He may pull it off if they act quickly. As NON-Fanboi as I am about VG, it's certainly got some things going for it. Performance is not one of them though. I am gone for now, but I am holding onto this DvD and keeping it close by. I will watch it evolve and may very well check it out again someday. But for now, the sting is still too fresh... Once bitten twice shy. Good luck to Brad and gang. May they turn this around and deliver upon the promises made. It can only better the market for all of us if they do.
Well said. I too have moved on but I am still a Brad fan. I think this experience will just make him and his team stronger. It will be bad in the short term but if he starts another one he will come back strong.
Success makes you weak. Projects like Vanguard will make him very strong.
First of all, as bad as it is.... DDO was still a much more complete and polished game at launch than Vanguard. I don't know if he is saying Vanguard has more current subscribers than DDO or that it sold more boxes... I doubt either is true.
Secondly.... we aren't so naive that we believe the only way to make the game run better on current standard hardware would be to make the world smaller, or less seamless... or even necessitate lowering the top end settings. I think a lot of people would be less critical of the games hardware requirements if they seemed justified, and were more accurate on the box. I know that the game looks great at the highest settings, but at low settings it looks terrible. Plenty of games manage to look and run good on my machine at the same time.... Why can't vanguard?
p.s. -- regarding the DDO comment...that was kinda poor form. DDO seems to be the red-headed stepchild of MMOs, but it is, despite what people on this site say, a decent niche game and doing well enough.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Comments
He essentially said Sigil guessed wrong on the following :
Timing - Too close to Burning Crusade
Timing - Technology wasn't where we thought it would be at release
Timing - Released too early
Timing - We started beta too early
Timing - We expected the price of hardware to be lower at release
Timing - We didn't have enough time to get all the cool features in
Timing - Some was our fault, some was Sony's
But trust me that I finally got a handle on timing and everything I am promising will be in the game within
a year.
Now, with that observation, I have also observed that people with duel core systems, 4 GB of Ram, 8800 SLI Configurations as well as Raptor Drives are reporting "decent" performance under High Performance Mode and sometimes Balanced Mode. With that said, exactly when will systems be able to run the game as Brad intended?
If the game was released six months from now, how many people would fork out the money for today's cutting edge hardware, even if it was a few hundred cheaper for the package. My system is less than 6 months old, duel core 4,600 with 2gb of Ram (yes, I know I should add a Gig), but should in theory run the game better than 15FPS in High Performance Mode.
I'm not bashing the game or Brad, just thinking that the "Vision" that people would have flocked to the stores to buy the latest released hardware to play the game if it was released 6 months from now seems a little dreamlike.
- 2 GB DDR-2 Memory averages $200-$300
- 8800 Nvidia $400-$500
- Sata High Performance Drive $100-$150
So at todays prices were looking at $700-$950. Maybe 6 months from now it will be $500-$700? To me that's one hell of a gamble to base your game working as intended on the newest hardware. What percentage of users will plunk down that kind of money to play a game? Some will, but doubtful that the 300,000 he needs as stated will.So basically, you got a bad meal at a resturant and they apologize by telling you that after you waited 60 minutes for your meal, they felt compelled to rush it rather than tell you you were not getting the meal at all forcing them to use the cheaper beef that was delivered earlier that week instead of the beef they expected to get next week, it's really not their fault because they ditched their previous supplier and this is the best they could get. They also had no idea that running a kitchen staff of 100 was going to be harder than when they ran the small place down the street.
1. a new type of game gets launched, at the right time when the market is ready but there's no real competitor, game makes a killing and then some
2. venture capitalists think it is that young hot prospect who made it all, who knew what he was doing all along ... whereas he's just someone in the right place at the right time
3. venture capitalists throw money hand over fist at the young hot prospect hoping that he can repeat the feat and multiply their money tenfold
4. it turns out the emperor is naked, it turns out the young prospect has nothing, never had anything just idealistic hopes and not actual competence
You know who I'm talking about, right? John Romero and his Daikatana, and the millions of dollars that disappeared in IonStorm.
But I wonder hmmm who else fits this description?
Also things like teleporters, experience rates, better LFG tools, etc. are all being looked at and you will see changes soon. I don't have the details yet, but we are listening and the game will get better and the areas where we messed up (large world, but too hard to find a group, etc.) will be addressed. - Brad McQuaid
Is this what the core target audience was asking for during the 4 years of development? If so why wasn't Vanguard designed as an easy casual game from the start?
Nope didn't you read my text before responding ? "WOW should have looked as good ingame as we see in their intro movies"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-558004745331070575
INTRO movie see link
Now if you go ingame of LotrO does it even comes close of those animation in those INTRO movies?
I feel somewhat better about the game after reading Brad's statement.... When the game first released it felt unfinished and Sigil was not owning up to it... Seems to me there now owning up to it and are dedicated to making it better...
{ Mod Edit }
[quote][i]Originally posted by TedDanson[/i]
[b]What I am waiting for is more hairstyle/face choices, and some facial animations during combat. Once those two things are in I am golden. [/b][/quote]
Dang man.. what do you want.
This game has more character customization than just about every game out there, except for maybe EVE. WoW doesn't have much for customization, but millions of people still love it.
Anyway, your post gave me a good laugh for the day.
Three decision to go with the cartoon graphics was more to do with allowing the widest range of computers to be able to play the game. I doubt it was financial.... And if they did make killer graphics then they would have the same problem with everyong complaing that there 3 year old computer can't play it.... I gurentee you there subscription base would be like 1 million instead of 8 million if that was the case..
Have to remember highend computers probably only make up about 15%-20% of the computer population out there...
It'd be a completely different story if Vanguard was free, because then nobody would have the right to piss and moan. But as a consumer, you have EVERY right to complain when the product you buy does not meet your standards. And if I was a pizza delivery boy...I would be very pissed off that I blew $50 bucks on this game, being delivery boys don't make alot of money in the first place.
LFG is tough
Diplomacy is a little boring, It needs to be less repetative. More quest. Rewards outside of diplomacy gear
Crafting is also a bit boring
Need more hairstyles
need more auction space desperately. a special auctioneer that includes all zones and continents, while still maintaining a local auctioneer. Maybe charge a premium for the all zone auctions. I feel the lack of auction space encourages egold sales.
I wish they had some pvp similar to WoW. arenas, battlegrounds etc. Simple implementation would be to have a banner we can choose b4 starting the battle. It wouldnt matter what race you are. I bet with successful implementation that alone would double sales.
I'm 46 in RL and appreciate the realistic graphics. The wow kiddy cartoon thing was to much. I do feel their implementation of pvp was outstanding and hella fun thou.
Played MMORPGs since june 99
EQ1 and EQ2
DAOC
SWG
WOW
WOW BC
Find myself trying to find that old EQ1 feeling. I don't quite have it yet but know if I stick with Brad, I'll eventually find it.
What's all the sensitivity for? No one at Sigil is anyone's friends; it's strictly business and we just so happen to be consumers. All we owe Sigil is dollars, not respect. All they owe us is the product of their advertising; and if we feel it falls short, we complain.
So on the contrary, any intangibles you decide to lend Sigil besides your money is getting a little too personal. It doesn't matter what mistakes he admits to from the past or what he hopes happens in the future; only whats tangible and present.
*throws stones*
I moved on but I sincerely hope he pulls it off. I had high hopes for VG and played the initial month and left pretty pissed at what was delivered... but I still wish him the best.
VG is certainly a HUGE project. Unfinished as it is, it shows some spunk to shoot for the stars like that.
I honestly believe it's better to set the goal too high and never reach it, than to set it to low and reach it easily.
If people don't shoot too high than big things never happen. So... it's a gamble and at the moment he lost.
He may pull it off if they act quickly. As NON-Fanboi as I am about VG, it's certainly got some things going for it. Performance is not one of them though.
I am gone for now, but I am holding onto this DvD and keeping it close by. I will watch it evolve and may very well check it out again someday. But for now, the sting is still too fresh... Once bitten twice shy.
Good luck to Brad and gang. May they turn this around and deliver upon the promises made. It can only better the market for all of us if they do.
What's all the sensitivity for? No one at Sigil is anyone's friends; it's strictly business and we just so happen to be consumers. All we owe Sigil is dollars, not respect. All they owe us is the product of their advertising; and if we feel it falls short, we complain.
So on the contrary, any intangibles you decide to lend Sigil besides your money is getting a little too personal. It doesn't matter what mistakes he admits to from the past or what he hopes happens in the future; only whats tangible and present.
*throws stones*
It's always funny to see people compare a MMO to a car... But if you insist on comparing the two, then yes, cars can be released before there done, how many cars over the years have had recalls? How many have to be taken back to the dealership to have TSB done to it? I just got a recall on my Headlights for my Infiniti FX35.... Not to mention my 350z had to go in to have its fuel line replaced under another recall... I've seen lots of recalls on BMW's and Mercedes vehicles also....
Guess im tired of seeing people posting in these threads with just plain hate... They don't list why they don't like the game or anything, they just go into rants about what a ""loser"" Brad is for attempting to make a MMO... I for one would like to see these same people list what they have accomplished so far in life.....
Does Vangaurd deserve to get slamed for being in the condition its in? Yes, but IMO people go to far....
EDIT: my first statement was not ment for the person I responded to, it was from another thread i was reading and got the two mixed up... my bad...
Three decision to go with the cartoon graphics was more to do with allowing the widest range of computers to be able to play the game. I doubt it was financial.... And if they did make killer graphics then they would have the same problem with everyong complaing that there 3 year old computer can't play it.... I gurentee you there subscription base would be like 1 million instead of 8 million if that was the case..
Have to remember highend computers probably only make up about 15%-20% of the computer population out there...
Very true my example was a bit to the extreme and know we would face the same problems as in tech., but I really do wonder over all these years WOW is running where all that money is going, like I said in BC?, so that’s about $ 119.600.000, a month x X years x 12 months afcourse they did not have 8mil from the start so lets make it rough and say they make 60/70mil a month, I know business upkeep is expensive especially in that industry, but really you would have thought they could come up with something more then BC, again let me say no bash at wow, I’m genuine curious what Blizzard does besides the obvious marketing strategy's.
Still the things Brad is saying is honost, can't recall SOE doing this type of straightforwardness
Well said. I too have moved on but I am still a Brad fan. I think this experience will just make him and his team stronger. It will be bad in the short term but if he starts another one he will come back strong.
Success makes you weak. Projects like Vanguard will make him very strong.
First of all, as bad as it is.... DDO was still a much more complete and polished game at launch than Vanguard. I don't know if he is saying Vanguard has more current subscribers than DDO or that it sold more boxes... I doubt either is true.
Secondly.... we aren't so naive that we believe the only way to make the game run better on current standard hardware would be to make the world smaller, or less seamless... or even necessitate lowering the top end settings. I think a lot of people would be less critical of the games hardware requirements if they seemed justified, and were more accurate on the box. I know that the game looks great at the highest settings, but at low settings it looks terrible. Plenty of games manage to look and run good on my machine at the same time.... Why can't vanguard?
-----Zero Punctuation Eve Online Review-----
Well, I hope Brad gets his ship in order.
I'll be happy to give it a try again in a year.
p.s. -- regarding the DDO comment...that was kinda poor form. DDO seems to be the red-headed stepchild of MMOs, but it is, despite what people on this site say, a decent niche game and doing well enough.
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Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
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