Smed speaks about Vanguard's future

Kenze

Hello Everyone,

Today I would like to formally announce that SOE has acquired the assets of Sigil Games Online, including Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. As a part of this acquisition, we are bringing on approx 50 people from Sigil in order to insure that Vanguard continues to grow. SOE is dedicated to making sure that Vanguard is well taken care of and that we provide the same level of service we do for our other titles. In the near future we will come out with a publishing plan that will largely be driven by the strong player community that Vanguard has already built up. We plan on supporting Vanguard for many years to come, and you can expect many content updates as part of your subscription. Down the line we will of course be coming out with new expansion packs, but right now the focus is on making sure Vanguard is running the way it should be.

We are also officially opening up forums. In the past, our deal with Sigil didn't allow for this, but as with our other games we fill this is an important part of communicating with the playerbase. You can expect a strong presence from our community team as well as the development team members. While we realize that Sigil had said they wouldn't open up general forums, at SOE we fill this hampers our efforts to communicate effectively with the players. We will continue to support the fansites in a big way, and will be contacting many of them directly to discuss what this change means. By no means do we want to lose the strong fansite support by making this change, but we do think it's important to have a forum for players to communicate directly with SOE.

A few other items I wanted to mention

1. Brad McQuaid will be consultant to SOE as a creative advisor for Vanguard. Dave Gilbertson will be the person directly responsible for the day-to-day management of both the Sigil Carlsbad office as well as Vanguard.

2. We do not plan on making any major changes to Vanguard. Any changes are going to come from the team itself. We aren't mandating any big changes to the game. We've learned a thing or two with our experiences with the NGE and don't plan on repeating mistakes from the past and not listening to the players.

3. We do plan on spending a lot of time cleaning up legacy issues with Vanguard and making sure the game's performance improves.

By way of comparison, this team is approx. the same size as the EQ2 team and I feel like that team has done an amazing job improving EQ2 since it's launch. We intend to do the same thing for Vanguard and it is our hope that the players feel like we're doing right by them.

Smed

LINK

severius

Well, pretty much everyone knew this was what the end result was going to be.  Will be interesting to see if Vanguard ends up like EQ2 or like SWG.

Chessack

If that weren't posted on the offical SOE site and locked already, I would think it was a scam. The writing looks like that of a 3rd grader, including mis-spelling the word "feel" more than once. If Smedley really wrote that himself I can finally see why SOE is run in such an incompetent manner.



C

tkobo

While I dont believe what hes saying in this post, it really sounds like he has gotten a clue.If one believes the post that is.

 

So bascially the team gets to continue to make vangaurd .Wonder how many years before it reaches the stage it should have been in at launch.

What was it they were saying at first ?Realised 3 months too early? Than that became, we will relaunch at end of year ?So agian how many years now before it up to release qaulity ?

Shayde

But $OE is only the PUBLISHER you noobs. Go look up "publisher" in the diktshunary and you'll see. Brad and sigil aree still in charge of the game and sony won't do nuthin to it.



noobs

Brad is a visionary god.

Balisidar

No surprise here.   None whatsoever. I saw this coming years down the line when Brad ditched EQ to form Sigil.

Old "Cut and run" Brad we'll call him now.

 

Tiller

 How can people not believe this? 

Kenze

LINK - More Info

ID10T

I haven't played either game but i am very interested in Vanguard. has anyone played EQ and then EQ2 and found it to be a good thing??? I feel SOE has resources so that wouldn't be an issue and it sounds like there somewhat serious, if this is on the UP and UP..

 

Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

But $OE is only the PUBLISHER you noobs. Go look up "publisher" in the diktshunary and you'll see. Brad and sigil aree still in charge of the game and sony won't do nuthin to it.



noobs

Brad is a visionary god.

SOE was the publisher until they bought Sigil out.  This really isn't that hard to understand.  You can argue that it was always GOING to happen but up until this point SOE was only the publisher.

Chessack

Originally posted by tillamook

How can people not believe this? 

Who said they don't believe it?



I certainly believe it is happening... I just find it hard to fathom that Smedley can be president of a huge company like SOE and not know how to spell the world "feel"... LOL.



C

Tamalan

Originally posted by Kenze

A few other items I wanted to mention

1. Brad McQuaid will be consultant to SOE as a creative advisor for Vanguard. Dave Gilbertson will be the person directly responsible for the day-to-day management of both the Sigil Carlsbad office as well as Vanguard.

2. We do not plan on making any major changes to Vanguard. Any changes are going to come from the team itself. We aren't mandating any big changes to the game. We've learned a thing or two with our experiences with the NGE and don't plan on repeating mistakes from the past and not listening to the players.

Smed

Two parts really caught my eye, Brad being 'back-seated' to creative advisor (great HE gets to keep his job isnt it? ) and Dave Gilbertson taking the management reigns. If anyone else like me thought, 'who he?', LINK

Also, yet another instance of the Smed publicly using the word 'mistake' and 'NGE' in the same sentance.



Toodles

Tam

Abraxos

I wonder if Brad has been creatively consulting on Vanguard the past eight months he hasn't show up for work? If the rumours are true and so far every other rumour has been, then Brad either

a) went all Brian Wilson and buried himself in his house or

b) Brad gave up on the fans and the employees and goofed off the past eight months playing WOW while "HIS" game took a nose dive.

Either way, I feel his continued input is actually worse than SOE taking over. Smed can actually give a success story on his resume with EQII so I trust him as the lesser of two evils.

Kyleran

Originally posted by mcharj11

The circle is complete, now sony is the master lol.

That's OK, VG really has no where to go but forward....so this will probably be a good thing for the game in the long run.

JayBirdz

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

But $OE is only the PUBLISHER you noobs. Go look up "publisher" in the diktshunary and you'll see. Brad and sigil aree still in charge of the game and sony won't do nuthin to it.



noobs

Brad is a visionary god.

SOE was the publisher until they bought Sigil out.  This really isn't that hard to understand.  You can argue that it was always GOING to happen but up until this point SOE was only the publisher.

LOL!

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm. loosen up your draw-string a bit.

exspecialy since Shayde said it.   

Somnulus

Pretty much the expected announcement, although I had expected far less of the Sigil team to be kept on. I can't understand why McQuaid is being kept on in any capacity, unless it is due directly to his relationship with Smedley or a prior conditional agreement when Sigil went to SOE.

The one thing I found honestly bizarre in this announcement was this little snippet:

---

2. We do not plan on making any major changes to Vanguard. Any changes are going to come from the team itself. We aren't mandating any big changes to the game. We've learned a thing or two with our experiences with the NGE and don't plan on repeating mistakes from the past and not listening to the players.

---

While it's great that they have a desire not to repeat a negative experience like the one they encountered with the SWG NGE, you have to ask yourself; if they have truly learned from their NGE experiences, why is the NGE still implemented and there are no "classic" SWG servers being offered? In my experience, if I've made a mistake I take action to rectify it, rather than continue the same course of action regardless of the consequences.

I am certainly not a SWG NGE refugee; I didn't even pick up SWG until long after the NGE had been implemented. I simply cannot understand the thought process that allows someone to state "we made a mistake" while simultaneously failing to correct the mistake.

That is just strange.

Shayde

JS: The game is already on Station Access, and since January, many of the bugs and issues in the game have been addressed, and the rest will be as well. Vanguard is an SOE product and we're going to make sure it gets taken care of. As for the state of the release, well, Sigil only had a certain level of funding, and we contributed as well. But the game is in good shape now. We sold 200,000 copies...I'm not sure many people realize that. It's actually a very healthy game.





So.. only 200k. You know he rounded up too. Finally the "truth" comes out.



200k is "very healthy". They do have low standards.

Deathstiny

Ahahahahahah!!! OWNED - literally !

That made my day. Now Sony do what you do best and crush whatever is left of that sad excuse of a game.

Kenze

I hope SOE isnt so burnt by the NGE backlash that they are unwilling to make the chnages that NEED to be made to Vangaurd.

Tamalan

From the Gamespot interview...

 "The studio will be run by a gentleman by the name of Dave Gilbertson who has been running Vanguard for quite some time now"

Looks like the rumour of Brad hiding in his house the past few months is true. Wonder if Mr Gilbertson got his wage too?



I'll wager that, going by previous character, Brad didnt abandon his game intentionally but rather has had some sort of nervous breakdown since the SOE publishing deal. So yes, Brian Wilson rather than evil overlord.



Should be interesting times for the Vanguard playerbase. I might even join them if SOE can iron the huge wrinkles out.

Rollotamasi

Originally posted by JayBirdz

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

But $OE is only the PUBLISHER you noobs. Go look up "publisher" in the diktshunary and you'll see. Brad and sigil aree still in charge of the game and sony won't do nuthin to it.



noobs

Brad is a visionary god.

SOE was the publisher until they bought Sigil out.  This really isn't that hard to understand.  You can argue that it was always GOING to happen but up until this point SOE was only the publisher.

LOL!

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm. loosen up your draw-string a bit.

exspecialy since Shayde said it.   

Seeing as how Shayde said it and his rampant hate of anything related to SOE is fairly apparent I don't think taking what he said as not sarcasm was a mistake.

Shayde

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by JayBirdz

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

But $OE is only the PUBLISHER you noobs. Go look up "publisher" in the diktshunary and you'll see. Brad and sigil aree still in charge of the game and sony won't do nuthin to it.Well then, go loot a clue.



noobs

Brad is a visionary god.

SOE was the publisher until they bought Sigil out.  This really isn't that hard to understand.  You can argue that it was always GOING to happen but up until this point SOE was only the publisher.

LOL!

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm. loosen up your draw-string a bit.

exspecialy since Shayde said it.   

Seeing as how Shayde said it and his rampant hate of anything related to SOE is fairly apparent I don't think taking what he said as not sarcasm was a mistake. WELL GO LOOT A CLUE THEN!!!

Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by JayBirdz

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

But $OE is only the PUBLISHER you noobs. Go look up "publisher" in the diktshunary and you'll see. Brad and sigil aree still in charge of the game and sony won't do nuthin to it.Well then, go loot a clue.



noobs

Brad is a visionary god.

SOE was the publisher until they bought Sigil out.  This really isn't that hard to understand.  You can argue that it was always GOING to happen but up until this point SOE was only the publisher.

LOL!

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm. loosen up your draw-string a bit.

exspecialy since Shayde said it.   

Seeing as how Shayde said it and his rampant hate of anything related to SOE is fairly apparent I don't think taking what he said as not sarcasm was a mistake. WELL GO LOOT A CLUE THEN!!!

Where does it drop?

Deathstiny

So anybody know the name of Brad's new company yet? Or when we can expect the first 4th gen title?

But all kidding aside .. I NEVER thought I'd say this but I have gained massive respect for Microsoft for the decissions they made in this whole mess.

Shayde

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by JayBirdz

Originally posted by Rollotamasi

Originally posted by Shayde

But $OE is only the PUBLISHER you noobs. Go look up "publisher" in the diktshunary and you'll see. Brad and sigil aree still in charge of the game and sony won't do nuthin to it.Well then, go loot a clue.



noobs

Brad is a visionary god.

SOE was the publisher until they bought Sigil out.  This really isn't that hard to understand.  You can argue that it was always GOING to happen but up until this point SOE was only the publisher.

LOL!

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm. loosen up your draw-string a bit.

exspecialy since Shayde said it.   

Seeing as how Shayde said it and his rampant hate of anything related to SOE is fairly apparent I don't think taking what he said as not sarcasm was a mistake. WELL GO LOOT A CLUE THEN!!!

Where does it drop?

Not in any $OE title. Try LOTRO.

Lidane

Originally posted by Kenze


I hope SOE isnt so burnt by the NGE backlash that they are unwilling to make the chnages that NEED to be made to Vangaurd.

Well, in fairness, I don't see SOE merging or deleting classes and races like they did in SWG. That game went from 34 professions to 9. People who'd spent years building up their characters and playing the game suddenly found all their work gone, so they were understandably pissed. But that was done with Lucas Arts' involvement to make the game more "iconic". What they didn't count on was the attachment that people had to their toons.

With Vanguard, the biggest problems, aside from the obvious performance/bug and code optimization issues, are more in terms of quality of life. Travel times, LFG and guild tools, a lack of atmosphere and soul, unfinished content, etc. The basic shell of the game had serious potential. The execution of it, however, sucked.

While it sucks for the folks who lost their jobs, and Brad is clearly a Grade A tool who bailed on his own team months ago, SOE could actually turn this game around. They'll never see World of Warcraft numbers with this game, but they could end up with EQ2 numbers someday, which is still respectable, especially after VG's horrid release.