If MMO's only got one shot, then EQ2 shouldve died after release already. Even after the extra work they put in, it wouldve died now if EQ2X wasnt released. So you could see EQ2X as 3rd shot already.
A lot of players love Vanguard, but dont believe that SOE will improve it anymore. If they did, Im positive that many players would return to Vanguard. No one would claim it would be millions of course, but enough to keep Vanguard alive and profitable with steady updates. If Vanguard only would receive as little attention as SWG got last couple of years, then more people would start playing it again.
Im just one of the ppl who think that SOE wont do this. Because they already do that for EQ2(X). This still doesnt have to mean that SOE will pull the plug on Vanguard. They need variety in their station portfolio now more then ever.
EverQuest 2 rebounced, due to the extremely huge expansion "Echoes of Faydwer" that added content for ALL levels! Added the AA system and so much more.
This is NEVER EVER gonna happen for Vanguard. Simply because it's too expensive it won't ever work nor recoup the costs!
The game is still not polished enough! The character models and animations still like they were at launch and horribly outdated not many players these days will accept.
To even make an attempt to revive Vanguard will almost be just as expensive as creating a whole new MMO! SOE is never ever gonna take that risk, nor even have the finances / resources left to do so.
That is why people need to be REALISTIC and accept for what the game is today and that any patch they release from now on is a plus for the remaining players / fans. Enjoy it while you can.
Plus EQ2 Extended is a total failure! It only got one single server that isn't even high populated. Hell, Antonia Bayle server has a much higher population.
DDO and LOTRO you cannot compare. LOTRO was never really in trouble, it still had over 200k subscribers worldwide, but with the success of the Hybrid F2P of DDO and the take over by Warner Bros. they smelled $$$ and decided to convert LOTRO into Hybrid F2P as well.
All You VG haters, firstly let me tell you that no game in this whole market can survive for 2 yrs w/o any love , updates but VG did..It always had atleast enough subs to keep the servers running..otheriwse SOE would have closed it already if it was in RED
Secondaly its not so old that it can be considered obsolete...hell EQ1 is still goin, WOW is 8 yrs old...
Everybody realise its potential and SOE also realising it now...this bug patch is just a start and dev already communicated that..so there will be lot more coming
EQNext is not on the horizon for at least next 3 years...so enough time for VG to make hay..
This game is not for person seeking instant gratoficationa and with no patience..give it time and it grows on you...Its what a real MMO supposed to be...giving a real world feel..like another life..
People who play it for 1-2 years do not even know half of thing s they can do in this...I don;t know how people just start commenting on its negatives w/o spending even a month in it..
Just don;t come to Telon with a perceived notion....just enjoy what it gives and explore...be social..get a guild
So... Everquest was controlled by SOE and the original creator(s) went and created Vanguard and it took them five years. At the end of five years, they realized that they bit off more than they could chew and ran out of money and released a game to generate some income that was not near finished. "Floating eyeballs bouncing along as your face when you're running down a street" ...not finished. The world was huge and beautiful and the character classes and races were very very diverse and varied.. which I loved.
I remember the game having SO much potential and beta testing it and thinking, "wow, I need to give this game a couple of years". So after running out of money, the creators of Everquest had to get BACK in bed with SOE to bail them out. The playerbase was pissed because SOE already ruined EQ and EQ2 in their eyes... so Vanguard was one of those games the SOE hating players were flocking to, just to have it returned to SOE- viewed as a nutkick to a majority of the fanbase.
Bumpy start for any game startup but especially for an endeavor as large as Vanguard. The love this game 'hasn't' received over the years just feels like a further 'fk you' from Sony to the creator of the original Everquest. Please forgive me if I remember some of these facts incorrectly, it's been a long time. I guess moral of the story is: don't whore yourself to SOE lol.
All You VG haters, firstly let me tell you that no game in this whole market can survive for 2 yrs w/o any love , updates but VG did..It always had atleast enough subs to keep the servers running..otheriwse SOE would have closed it already if it was in RED
Secondaly its not so old that it can be considered obsolete...hell EQ1 is still goin, WOW is 8 yrs old...
Everybody realise its potential and SOE also realising it now...this bug patch is just a start and dev already communicated that..so there will be lot more coming
EQNext is not on the horizon for at least next 3 years...so enough time for VG to make hay..
This game is not for person seeking instant gratoficationa and with no patience..give it time and it grows on you...Its what a real MMO supposed to be...giving a real world feel..like another life..
People who play it for 1-2 years do not even know half of thing s they can do in this...I don;t know how people just start commenting on its negatives w/o spending even a month in it..
Just don;t come to Telon with a perceived notion....just enjoy what it gives and explore...be social..get a guild
Once a Telonian , Always a Telonian..Cheers
Though I agree with most of your post, one thing I felt needed a comment:
SOE would have closed it already if it was in RED
that's not exactly true. Sometimes companies allow for losses so they can write them off. I actually worked for a company that was kept alive so that the holding company could use it as a write off.
I would say Sony kept Vangaurd to bolster the station pass.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
All You VG haters, firstly let me tell you that no game in this whole market can survive for 2 yrs w/o any love , updates but VG did..It always had atleast enough subs to keep the servers running..otheriwse SOE would have closed it already if it was in RED
Secondaly its not so old that it can be considered obsolete...hell EQ1 is still goin, WOW is 8 yrs old...
Everybody realise its potential and SOE also realising it now...this bug patch is just a start and dev already communicated that..so there will be lot more coming
EQNext is not on the horizon for at least next 3 years...so enough time for VG to make hay..
This game is not for person seeking instant gratoficationa and with no patience..give it time and it grows on you...Its what a real MMO supposed to be...giving a real world feel..like another life..
People who play it for 1-2 years do not even know half of thing s they can do in this...I don;t know how people just start commenting on its negatives w/o spending even a month in it..
Just don;t come to Telon with a perceived notion....just enjoy what it gives and explore...be social..get a guild
Once a Telonian , Always a Telonian..Cheers
Though I agree with most of your post, one thing I felt needed a comment:
SOE would have closed it already if it was in RED
that's not exactly true. Sometimes companies allow for losses so they can write them off. I actually worked for a company that was kept alive so that the holding company could use it as a write off.
I would say Sony kept Vangaurd to bolster the station pass.
I have thought about the economics behind saying that VG didnt went into red and at least broke even all this while..
I started playing last year when population was at its lowest. On an average 150-300 people online was the range for a 24 hr period on Telon. Extrapolating it , it can be assumed that VG had approz 2000 unique subscribers atleast all these while including (telon+halgar)..which gives 30k per month( I am not even adding the minor share from station pass)
Now how much it costs to just run the server nobody knows but i dnt think so its much . Only expenditure all this while was GMs which I guess will not be 30k per month.
I think now SOE is not even planning it to make it a maerket breaker or something, but even if they are able to move the subs to 10k which should not be tough and maintain it ...VG should do just fine
Im sorry but as much as I would like to believe that SOE has a long term plan for VG I just can not lie to myself like that. SOE will throw VG some love since SWG is shutting down. They need to for their station pass. As soon as they release something new VG will once again be put on the back of the bus.
Im sorry but as much as I would like to believe that SOE has a long term plan for VG I just can not lie to myself like that. SOE will throw VG some love since SWG is shutting down. They need to for their station pass. As soon as they release something new VG will once again be put on the back of the bus.
SOE is not releasing anything new soon...
One thing is sure...they will not release an unfinished product and keeping that in mind EQNext is at least 3 yrs away..Planetside 2 is niche game and a diff genre...so SOE need VG to thrive especially since EQ1 is really getting too old now..
And if VG is able to manage itself in green, then why not
This is a happy day indeed as a Vanguard player, and it sounds like there will be better things coming! I'm stoked!
I can say this with certainty though - if they ever shut down Vanguard, SOE will have one less station access account. I believe it's in their best interest to keep maintaining it and the other station access games.
SOE bought Vanguard for the simple reason it was a direct competior to Everquest 2 which is SOEs flagship.
Everyone knows if Vanguard was getting a lot of love it will flatten EQ2 and SOE can't have that, I really hope SOE understands now that Vanguard is the goldmine not EQ2.
Five years in and this is no less silly than it was back then.
I have thought about the economics behind saying that VG didnt went into red and at least broke even all this while..
I started playing last year when population was at its lowest. On an average 150-300 people online was the range for a 24 hr period on Telon. Extrapolating it , it can be assumed that VG had approz 2000 unique subscribers atleast all these while including (telon+halgar)..which gives 30k per month( I am not even adding the minor share from station pass)
Now how much it costs to just run the server nobody knows but i dnt think so its much . Only expenditure all this while was GMs which I guess will not be 30k per month.
I think now SOE is not even planning it to make it a maerket breaker or something, but even if they are able to move the subs to 10k which should not be tough and maintain it ...VG should do just fine
SOE has come right out and said that their games need 500-1000 subs to remain viable, unless there are licensing costs involved as was the case with SWG and Matrix Online. It's known that Vanguard has more than that.
Originally posted by JeroKane
The game is still not polished enough! The character models and animations still like they were at launch and horribly outdated not many players these days will accept.
Character models were completely revamped some time back. So you are talking through your hat, here.
Originally posted by JeroKane
To even make an attempt to revive Vanguard will almost be just as expensive as creating a whole new MMO! SOE is never ever gonna take that risk, nor even have the finances / resources left to do so.
And here.
Originally posted by JeroKane
Plus EQ2 Extended is a total failure! It only got one single server that isn't even high populated. Hell, Antonia Bayle server has a much higher population.
And here again. The EQ2X server is EQ2's highest-population server. This was announced by SOE a few weeks ago.
And there are multiple "petitions" floating around for support of Vanguard to get more support. I would also love to see V.S.O.H. to come back as well. I remember the stories of how Sony came to be in charge of the title. Seems to me as well as a lot of people. We would pay the sub-fee, happily; willingly, if only the support was there. Not asking for a full new expansion. none of us are. however, new content and updates would be great. Start small. Fix the known issues. build from there.
Just seems to us that you are walking away from a great deal of money.
I thank you for your time and consideration.
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show details Jul 28 (13 days ago)
Didn't you hear? We are going to be giving the game updates.
I have thought about the economics behind saying that VG didnt went into red and at least broke even all this while..
I started playing last year when population was at its lowest. On an average 150-300 people online was the range for a 24 hr period on Telon. Extrapolating it , it can be assumed that VG had approz 2000 unique subscribers atleast all these while including (telon+halgar)..which gives 30k per month( I am not even adding the minor share from station pass)
Now how much it costs to just run the server nobody knows but i dnt think so its much . Only expenditure all this while was GMs which I guess will not be 30k per month.
I think now SOE is not even planning it to make it a maerket breaker or something, but even if they are able to move the subs to 10k which should not be tough and maintain it ...VG should do just fine
SOE has come right out and said that their games need 500-1000 subs to remain viable, unless there are licensing costs involved as was the case with SWG and Matrix Online. It's known that Vanguard has more than that.
Originally posted by JeroKane
The game is still not polished enough! The character models and animations still like they were at launch and horribly outdated not many players these days will accept.
Character models were completely revamped some time back. So you are talking through your hat, here.
Originally posted by JeroKane
To even make an attempt to revive Vanguard will almost be just as expensive as creating a whole new MMO! SOE is never ever gonna take that risk, nor even have the finances / resources left to do so.
And here.
Originally posted by JeroKane
Plus EQ2 Extended is a total failure! It only got one single server that isn't even high populated. Hell, Antonia Bayle server has a much higher population.
And here again. The EQ2X server is EQ2's highest-population server. This was announced by SOE a few weeks ago.
Oh please.... they just changed some faces and body sliders man...done by students... that's it. I was there at the time they did it. A lot of armor and clothing (especially crafting and diplomacy outfits) still has serious clipping issues! Never been fixed!
The animations are still as clunky as ever. Much much harder and very costly to update. Hence why it's not done.
Even Turbine doesn't bother updating animations in LOTRO, eventho it's one of the major complaints about the game.
Vanguard is a nice game when it comes to adventuring / exploring with vast landscapes and I enjoy it a lot, but it will always have a clunky / unpolished look due to the character models, clipping issues and horrible animations.
The problem with SOE is that they come up with all kinds of promisses, start on it and then pull people away in the middle of the process, before things are finished!
It happened with the character model updates in Vanguard.
It happened with the skeletal update for EQ2 (which they just give up on).
It happened with the Shader Model 3.0, in which they pulled the dev suddenly away, before it was finished.
That is SOE and always has been. Rushing new things and updates into their games and then don't bother finishing and fixing it!!
The EQ2Ex server is a failure. It mostly contains a bunch of low levels and that's it. Simply because the whole EQ2Ex pricing model is a total farce!
When it comes to "true" highest and "active" PAYING population, then Antonia Bayle is still the highest pop EQ2 server on the block! Always has been.
SOE is really not gonna give you "real" numbers on how many actually activily pay on the EQ2Ex server.
EQ2 live still gives you the best experience. Best bang for your buck so to speak. That's why everyone continued playing on EQ2 Live and didn't mass transfer their chars to EQ2Ex (as SOE would have hoped, but did not happen).
I have a hunch (based on some Twitter activity, not on anything actually stated anywhere) that the dev team is probably part-time but also probably larger than we might think.
That isn't entirely true. DDO and Lotro both had significant turn arounds and grew after their revenue models changed. The jury is still out on a few others like Hellgate, Gods&Heroes, APB, etc.
A lot of things went into those two specific games either turning around (DDO) or growing (Lotro). They are both pretty good games for what they set out to do and so is Vanguard. Most other bad releases are hopeless, because they are poor games to begin with.
Not that I think Vanguard is going to turn around or a few patches will turn the game around. People generally don't care enough to come back to an old game, because of a patch. An expansion, change in business model, switch of ownership or something else that might make headlines could get more people back, but that isn't very likely here.
I haven't heard any rumors that VG would go free to play or even freemium. So, I'm not sure why you would even make that comparison.
Im sorry but as much as I would like to believe that SOE has a long term plan for VG I just can not lie to myself like that. SOE will throw VG some love since SWG is shutting down. They need to for their station pass. As soon as they release something new VG will once again be put on the back of the bus.
SOE is not releasing anything new soon...
One thing is sure...they will not release an unfinished product and keeping that in mind EQNext is at least 3 yrs away..Planetside 2 is niche game and a diff genre...so SOE need VG to thrive especially since EQ1 is really getting too old now..
And if VG is able to manage itself in green, then why not
Even to this day, I sometimes return to EQ Live and I still find it more entertaining than either EQ2 or Vanguard. EQ Live still has substantially more subs than VG or EQ2. I believe it would be more in their interest to keep updating EQ Live over either of their other fantasy games.
I haven't heard any rumors that VG would go free to play or even freemium. So, I'm not sure why you would even make that comparison.
That rumor gets mentioned here constantly. As mentioned many times elsewhere, however, F2P is officially off the table for Vanguard for the forseeable future.
Originally posted by Vorthanion
Even to this day, I sometimes return to EQ Live and I still find it more entertaining than either EQ2 or Vanguard. EQ Live still has substantially more subs than VG or EQ2. I believe it would be more in their interest to keep updating EQ Live over either of their other fantasy games.
I have often heard this said, and I'm unconvinced by the statement that EQ1 has more subs than EQ2 (more than Vanguard, sure.) Now that EQ2 has a f2p option available, that becomes very difficult to quantify that without access to the real numbers that only SOE has access to.
There's no question, though, that EQ is a very healthy game, which is remarkable given its age. It's probably not getting many new players aside from the curious checking in on stuff like the Progression Server, and I doubt those folks hang around very long. So it's dying, but it's dying very slowly, and I suspect it still has many years left in it. I have no doubt that it will hit its 15th anniversary, and 20 wouldn't surprise me.
I haven't heard any rumors that VG would go free to play or even freemium. So, I'm not sure why you would even make that comparison.
There was some discussion in the thread about games never getting a second chance, which isn't exactly true. I wasn't suggesting the VG is going F2P, but that it could possibly rebound if it did and the f2p was done right.
That ship has most likely sailed though.
Originally posted by Ardwulf I have often heard this said, and I'm unconvinced by the statement that EQ1 has more subs than EQ2 (more than Vanguard, sure.) Now that EQ2 has a f2p option available, that becomes very difficult to quantify that without access to the real numbers that only SOE has access to.
EQ2X has 1 total servers, so it isn't like there are tons of paying subscribers being added. Both games are winding down though, but I as you suggest I would not be surprised if EQ sees a 20th anniversary and will outlive EQ2 and several other popular games out right now.
Ask yourself one question. Are there more players coming from eq2 to vg or is it the reverse? If you are honest with yourself, you will feel pretty good about the future of vg.
Originally posted by Daffid011 EQ2X has 1 total servers, so it isn't like there are tons of paying subscribers being added. Both games are winding down though, but I as you suggest I would not be surprised if EQ sees a 20th anniversary and will outlive EQ2 and several other popular games out right now.
I was more talking about non-subscribing EQ2X players, which represents a revenue stream outside traditional subscriptions. EQ2 overall might therefore be more profitable than strictly looking at the subscriptions might otherwise suggest. EQ2 servers can accomodate a lot of people due to sharding high-pop zones, so just having one server (on which the players base probably plays more casually anyway) might not neccessarily say very much about the total number of active players.
Originally posted by dazedconfuse Ask yourself one question. Are there more players coming from eq2 to vg or is it the reverse? If you are honest with yourself, you will feel pretty good about the future of vg.
Now? There's probably more flowing from EQ2 to VG at the moment, I think, although there were periods in the past when the reverse seemed true. I also expect that the new lower-priced All Access Pass is making a difference for Vanguard - folks who play mostly EQ or EQ2 who might be willing to spend an extra $5 a month (possibly less with multi-month packages) to get Vanguard, but much less willing to spend another $15.
Too, the VG population is small enough that even a modest inflow of addtional players (wherever they come from) can make a major practical impact in the game.
There are only 2 servers Telon and Halgar. Halgar being the European server. Halgar is a pretty barren server with most of it's players moving to Telon. So, yes jsut go with Telon hehe
I was more talking about non-subscribing EQ2X players, which represents a revenue stream outside traditional subscriptions. EQ2 overall might therefore be more profitable than strictly looking at the subscriptions might otherwise suggest. EQ2 servers can accomodate a lot of people due to sharding high-pop zones, so just having one server (on which the players base probably plays more casually anyway) might not neccessarily say very much about the total number of active players.
When I said subscribers I was including people who are paying a la carte as well. EQ2X is still just one server and that one server can only hold so many people and a portion of those players on EQ2X are not paying anything at all. In all actuallity EQ2 servers are notorious for bogging down under normal mmo server loads.
Hopefully Vanguard can live as long as either EQ and see some real development in the future. Seeing any work being done on the game is a nice step. A very small step that is little more than a teaser, but better than being ignored completely.
Comments
EverQuest 2 rebounced, due to the extremely huge expansion "Echoes of Faydwer" that added content for ALL levels! Added the AA system and so much more.
This is NEVER EVER gonna happen for Vanguard. Simply because it's too expensive it won't ever work nor recoup the costs!
The game is still not polished enough! The character models and animations still like they were at launch and horribly outdated not many players these days will accept.
To even make an attempt to revive Vanguard will almost be just as expensive as creating a whole new MMO! SOE is never ever gonna take that risk, nor even have the finances / resources left to do so.
That is why people need to be REALISTIC and accept for what the game is today and that any patch they release from now on is a plus for the remaining players / fans. Enjoy it while you can.
Plus EQ2 Extended is a total failure! It only got one single server that isn't even high populated. Hell, Antonia Bayle server has a much higher population.
DDO and LOTRO you cannot compare. LOTRO was never really in trouble, it still had over 200k subscribers worldwide, but with the success of the Hybrid F2P of DDO and the take over by Warner Bros. they smelled $$$ and decided to convert LOTRO into Hybrid F2P as well.
All You VG haters, firstly let me tell you that no game in this whole market can survive for 2 yrs w/o any love , updates but VG did..It always had atleast enough subs to keep the servers running..otheriwse SOE would have closed it already if it was in RED
Secondaly its not so old that it can be considered obsolete...hell EQ1 is still goin, WOW is 8 yrs old...
Everybody realise its potential and SOE also realising it now...this bug patch is just a start and dev already communicated that..so there will be lot more coming
EQNext is not on the horizon for at least next 3 years...so enough time for VG to make hay..
This game is not for person seeking instant gratoficationa and with no patience..give it time and it grows on you...Its what a real MMO supposed to be...giving a real world feel..like another life..
People who play it for 1-2 years do not even know half of thing s they can do in this...I don;t know how people just start commenting on its negatives w/o spending even a month in it..
Just don;t come to Telon with a perceived notion....just enjoy what it gives and explore...be social..get a guild
Once a Telonian , Always a Telonian..Cheers
"Re-launch" VG again in some way and I will come back!
So... Everquest was controlled by SOE and the original creator(s) went and created Vanguard and it took them five years. At the end of five years, they realized that they bit off more than they could chew and ran out of money and released a game to generate some income that was not near finished. "Floating eyeballs bouncing along as your face when you're running down a street" ...not finished. The world was huge and beautiful and the character classes and races were very very diverse and varied.. which I loved.
I remember the game having SO much potential and beta testing it and thinking, "wow, I need to give this game a couple of years". So after running out of money, the creators of Everquest had to get BACK in bed with SOE to bail them out. The playerbase was pissed because SOE already ruined EQ and EQ2 in their eyes... so Vanguard was one of those games the SOE hating players were flocking to, just to have it returned to SOE- viewed as a nutkick to a majority of the fanbase.
Bumpy start for any game startup but especially for an endeavor as large as Vanguard. The love this game 'hasn't' received over the years just feels like a further 'fk you' from Sony to the creator of the original Everquest. Please forgive me if I remember some of these facts incorrectly, it's been a long time. I guess moral of the story is: don't whore yourself to SOE lol.
No bitchers.
Though I agree with most of your post, one thing I felt needed a comment:
SOE would have closed it already if it was in RED
that's not exactly true. Sometimes companies allow for losses so they can write them off. I actually worked for a company that was kept alive so that the holding company could use it as a write off.
I would say Sony kept Vangaurd to bolster the station pass.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I have thought about the economics behind saying that VG didnt went into red and at least broke even all this while..
I started playing last year when population was at its lowest. On an average 150-300 people online was the range for a 24 hr period on Telon. Extrapolating it , it can be assumed that VG had approz 2000 unique subscribers atleast all these while including (telon+halgar)..which gives 30k per month( I am not even adding the minor share from station pass)
Now how much it costs to just run the server nobody knows but i dnt think so its much . Only expenditure all this while was GMs which I guess will not be 30k per month.
I think now SOE is not even planning it to make it a maerket breaker or something, but even if they are able to move the subs to 10k which should not be tough and maintain it ...VG should do just fine
Im sorry but as much as I would like to believe that SOE has a long term plan for VG I just can not lie to myself like that. SOE will throw VG some love since SWG is shutting down. They need to for their station pass. As soon as they release something new VG will once again be put on the back of the bus.
SOE is not releasing anything new soon...
One thing is sure...they will not release an unfinished product and keeping that in mind EQNext is at least 3 yrs away..Planetside 2 is niche game and a diff genre...so SOE need VG to thrive especially since EQ1 is really getting too old now..
And if VG is able to manage itself in green, then why not
I can say this with certainty though - if they ever shut down Vanguard, SOE will have one less station access account. I believe it's in their best interest to keep maintaining it and the other station access games.
Five years in and this is no less silly than it was back then.
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SOE has come right out and said that their games need 500-1000 subs to remain viable, unless there are licensing costs involved as was the case with SWG and Matrix Online. It's known that Vanguard has more than that.
Character models were completely revamped some time back. So you are talking through your hat, here.
And here.
And here again. The EQ2X server is EQ2's highest-population server. This was announced by SOE a few weeks ago.
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I was having a slow nght so I fired an email to JSmed...
Just a link to a movement that has been trying to get Sony's attention.
http://www.mmorpg.com/
And there are multiple "petitions" floating around for support of Vanguard to get more support. I would also love to see V.S.O.H. to come back as well. I remember the stories of how Sony came to be in charge of the title. Seems to me as well as a lot of people. We would pay the sub-fee, happily; willingly, if only the support was there. Not asking for a full new expansion. none of us are. however, new content and updates would be great. Start small. Fix the known issues. build from there.
Just seems to us that you are walking away from a great deal of money.
I thank you for your time and consideration.
--
From the mind of:
******** *******
show details Jul 28 (13 days ago)
Didn't you hear? We are going to be giving the game updates.
On Jul 28, 2011, at 9:26 PM, "****** ******" <***** *******@gmail.com
Just a link to a movement that has been trying to get Sony's attention.
- Show quoted text -
Oh please.... they just changed some faces and body sliders man...done by students... that's it. I was there at the time they did it. A lot of armor and clothing (especially crafting and diplomacy outfits) still has serious clipping issues! Never been fixed!
The animations are still as clunky as ever. Much much harder and very costly to update. Hence why it's not done.
Even Turbine doesn't bother updating animations in LOTRO, eventho it's one of the major complaints about the game.
Vanguard is a nice game when it comes to adventuring / exploring with vast landscapes and I enjoy it a lot, but it will always have a clunky / unpolished look due to the character models, clipping issues and horrible animations.
The problem with SOE is that they come up with all kinds of promisses, start on it and then pull people away in the middle of the process, before things are finished!
It happened with the character model updates in Vanguard.
It happened with the skeletal update for EQ2 (which they just give up on).
It happened with the Shader Model 3.0, in which they pulled the dev suddenly away, before it was finished.
That is SOE and always has been. Rushing new things and updates into their games and then don't bother finishing and fixing it!!
The EQ2Ex server is a failure. It mostly contains a bunch of low levels and that's it. Simply because the whole EQ2Ex pricing model is a total farce!
When it comes to "true" highest and "active" PAYING population, then Antonia Bayle is still the highest pop EQ2 server on the block! Always has been.
SOE is really not gonna give you "real" numbers on how many actually activily pay on the EQ2Ex server.
EQ2 live still gives you the best experience. Best bang for your buck so to speak. That's why everyone continued playing on EQ2 Live and didn't mass transfer their chars to EQ2Ex (as SOE would have hoped, but did not happen).
Vanguard gettin' some love finally. Bout' time.
I have a hunch (based on some Twitter activity, not on anything actually stated anywhere) that the dev team is probably part-time but also probably larger than we might think.
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I haven't heard any rumors that VG would go free to play or even freemium. So, I'm not sure why you would even make that comparison.
Even to this day, I sometimes return to EQ Live and I still find it more entertaining than either EQ2 or Vanguard. EQ Live still has substantially more subs than VG or EQ2. I believe it would be more in their interest to keep updating EQ Live over either of their other fantasy games.
That rumor gets mentioned here constantly. As mentioned many times elsewhere, however, F2P is officially off the table for Vanguard for the forseeable future.
I have often heard this said, and I'm unconvinced by the statement that EQ1 has more subs than EQ2 (more than Vanguard, sure.) Now that EQ2 has a f2p option available, that becomes very difficult to quantify that without access to the real numbers that only SOE has access to.
There's no question, though, that EQ is a very healthy game, which is remarkable given its age. It's probably not getting many new players aside from the curious checking in on stuff like the Progression Server, and I doubt those folks hang around very long. So it's dying, but it's dying very slowly, and I suspect it still has many years left in it. I have no doubt that it will hit its 15th anniversary, and 20 wouldn't surprise me.
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That ship has most likely sailed though.
EQ2X has 1 total servers, so it isn't like there are tons of paying subscribers being added. Both games are winding down though, but I as you suggest I would not be surprised if EQ sees a 20th anniversary and will outlive EQ2 and several other popular games out right now.
I was more talking about non-subscribing EQ2X players, which represents a revenue stream outside traditional subscriptions. EQ2 overall might therefore be more profitable than strictly looking at the subscriptions might otherwise suggest. EQ2 servers can accomodate a lot of people due to sharding high-pop zones, so just having one server (on which the players base probably plays more casually anyway) might not neccessarily say very much about the total number of active players.
Now? There's probably more flowing from EQ2 to VG at the moment, I think, although there were periods in the past when the reverse seemed true. I also expect that the new lower-priced All Access Pass is making a difference for Vanguard - folks who play mostly EQ or EQ2 who might be willing to spend an extra $5 a month (possibly less with multi-month packages) to get Vanguard, but much less willing to spend another $15.
Too, the VG population is small enough that even a modest inflow of addtional players (wherever they come from) can make a major practical impact in the game.
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what server has the most players
There are only 2 servers Telon and Halgar. Halgar being the European server. Halgar is a pretty barren server with most of it's players moving to Telon. So, yes jsut go with Telon hehe
When I said subscribers I was including people who are paying a la carte as well. EQ2X is still just one server and that one server can only hold so many people and a portion of those players on EQ2X are not paying anything at all. In all actuallity EQ2 servers are notorious for bogging down under normal mmo server loads.
Hopefully Vanguard can live as long as either EQ and see some real development in the future. Seeing any work being done on the game is a nice step. A very small step that is little more than a teaser, but better than being ignored completely.