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Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: Interview & Screens
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Brad McQuaid heads up Sigil Online, a company hard at work on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. The company is formed of former members of Verant - the original developers of EverQuest - and other industry veterans. Vanguard is due out this year. Today we have an exclusive interview with Brad and two exclusive screenshots.
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Brad McQuaid: Quests in Vanguard will range from the more simple fed-ex quests all the way up to epic quests, similar to the Ring quest and other very involved and elaborate quests you may have seen in EQ and other MMOGs. We also have our Rumor system which is a somewhat unique way of both finding quests and learning about whats going on in the world. So there are several ways to obtain a quest, in addition to completing one, other than just the traditional hailing of NPCs. We have some unique ideas and features in our Quest Journal that were not quite ready to reveal, but mostly it works very similarly to what players have experienced in more recent MMOGs like WoW and EQ II. The quests you currently have active and where you are on that journey toward completion are all tracked. In earlier MMOGs, I think quest journals were severely lacking in detail and usefulness. However, more recently quest journals have really evolved, likely taking a lot of great ideas from single player RPG games. I think this evolution is great and well take advantage of that with Vanguard. |
;)
You can read the full interview here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
Lepi,
This article is wonderful! Plainly. Although in my case it mean that I am definitely turning my back on this game as been potentially nice for me.
Interesting, detailed, complete! It is funny that the guy who make PvE server and PvP server like to ENFORCE interdependance, which result in a all or nothing ending. With both raiding and tradeskills (you will need to raid and do tradeskills for the end game), you are dead sure I won't touch the game, not even with a pole. But I guess it can be nice for some folks. All he miss for his "interdependance" is PvP.
Good luck and tons of fun guy, this game is not for me, nor for any "specialist" who only want to either solo or group, it is for "generalists" that like to do many differents activities. Tons of fun guys!
"chanter out"!
PS: I am definitely leaving Vanguard alone now!
I don't believe in his "specific servers" anymore, which was the main reason I was bumping there hoping for non-raiding servers...even with such a server, I would still be trapped in tradeskills, just letting go that "dream" and going to chase another! A little like when you see a "hottie" and realize how nasty that person is and just let's it go, *sighting*!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Ano, no game is for you.
Good questions, Dana, and an awesome article! Brad really knows his game, and his genre, which is plain to see from this answers. He knows that there are many different types of MMOGamers and that no one game can appeal to them all, but Vanguard should have something for everyone except those that don't like a challenge.
Just can't wait for Vanguard, sick of MMO's that don't offer a serious challenge without instances.
LOL.
Anarchy, I have the most simple desire and no game are for me?
I just want a good solo and grouping system that stand on their own, not dependant on some foreign end game.
I am just hoping to get 1 MMO. This is all.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Well the point is, everyone wants and end game right? Once you get max level you want a challenge. What's challenging about soloing? Even grouping is fairly easy to dial in by the time you reach max level. The biggest challenge of all is co-operating on a large scale, i.e. 20-70 person Raids.
Try Roma Victor. It's historical and not raid based at all, but then you don't like PVP. No one is making a game that is just solo or group based with an end game fully accessable by soloing or grouping.
That is why I say no MMORPG is for you.
I've only been seriously reading up on Vanguard for the past couple of weeks, and I gotta say, it's looking more and more interesting with each read.
I also have to say that this has been one of the best interviews I've read at mmorpg.com in quite a while. Brad is VERY open about his game, and generally gave out three times the information other interviewees give when you ask them a question.
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Don't click here...no2
But of all the persons I KNOW in RL, none want a raiding/PvP end game, and none are particuliarly overjoy with tradeskills. (the last 2 gave up respectively a few weeks ago and 3 days ago and they swear they never want that again, ever)
So your "everyone" is certainly lacking. Of course, of all the person I know in RL, none bother to write on forums but 1 (beside myself, and he is rarely on forums).
But that is off topic with Vanguard, I was just saying farewell until you come bumping trying to denigrate me once more. There is FAR more challenge in grouping than in raiding IMO. And a majority of raiders I meet online can't solo much at all. But believe what you want, what please you. Solo judge the individual, it is by far the most requiring. Grouping can be quite hard as well, but other can compensate your weakness and thereby save you. But that is disgressing, again you feel you need to attack me. Again you are wrong.
I prefer grouping over soloing, but I have no shame to admit that solo is harder, since it judge the individual. 1 mistake and you are a goner. In a group, you have a team with you, so unless everyone does a mistake simultaneously, you are never endangered similarly. But no, you can't seem to understand that. Old SSI game products are taking the "raiding" approach on a GBT system, they are MANY layer deeper in strategy and challenge than raiding can be. Raiding is a waiting system. The average raider join a group, wait, wait, wait...judge the XP and quit if not enough. They are not helping the group, they are not contributing, they are just there to amass the XP, sitting on their arses as they do during a raid. And you want me to respect THAT? Well, as far as they are on other servers and not affecting my world, NP. But if they are getting better reward for THAT, I am outta that world, no second though. I value efficiency and worth. I am...an achiever.
I was "neutral", not judgemental, I was leaving...than you come arrogant...well arrogant you back slimy unworthy PvP lazy raider! Go hide your unefficiency behind DKP!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Wow. Into arguement fast. I'd like to say this was a pretty good interview and I'm looking forward to this game. If it isn't good, I probably won't play MMOGs anymore. I, for one, am glad to see that challenge and risk are being put into a game and that it's focus is mainly group play. Then again, I've always been of the opinion that if you want to solo, play a single player RPG, they tend to be better for that sort of thing and way cheaper. You also don't have to worry about PVP, trains, assholes, you name it! As far as raiding though, didn't he just say in that interview that only roughly 20% of the content would be toward raiding? Also, was anything mentioned about endgame only being raiding? Really, if you don't like raiding, isn't your endgame at a different place than a raider's? Why is it only one conclusion you can come to and it be the end of the game? I have friends that never raided in EQ1 and still play EQ2 not raiding and totally have a good time in the games. Sorry for the tangent. Anyway, this game can't come out soon enough!
-doro
If raiding isn't your thing then at least you can observe the raid taking place thanks to zero instancing.
Then the people watching will think damn I want a piece of that action or not as the tank loses control and it goes pear-shaped
Hmm I wander if the AI is in place to make a raid mob go on some kind of rampage if it isn't slain or they could have some massive live event. See how much excictment no instancing can bring to a persistent world! 
The game is shaping up nicely, is slowly moving up my most wanted list just behind W.A.R & Pirates of the Burning Sea.
In the land of Predators,the lion does not fear the jackals...
Quests in Vanguard will range from the more simple fed-ex quests all the way up to epic quests, similar to the Ring quest and other very involved and elaborate quests you may have seen in EQ and other MMOGs. We also have our Rumor system which is a somewhat unique way of both finding quests and learning about whats going on in the world. So there are several ways to obtain a quest, in addition to completing one, other than just the traditional hailing of NPCs.
We have some unique ideas and features in our Quest Journal that were not quite ready to reveal, but mostly it works very similarly to what players have experienced in more recent MMOGs like WoW and EQ II. The quests you currently have active and where you are on that journey toward completion are all tracked. In earlier MMOGs, I think quest journals were severely lacking in detail and usefulness. However, more recently quest journals have really evolved, likely taking a lot of great ideas from single player RPG games. I think this evolution is great and well take advantage of that with Vanguard.
That whole segment on questing in Vanguard... What is so different about that from EQ2 and WoW and DAoC and.. and.. Not exactly awe inspiring stuff there sadly. It honestly sounds from that quote as though they've just copied what works in all the current successful games.
But yeah, only a teaser interview, as is expected at this time frame, but not a whole lot there to get excited over. At least not for a non-fanboi anyways I guess.
"(The) Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude." - George W Bush.
Oh. My. God.
I have been following Vanguard for seems like forever. I think they are trying to do something different while not straying from the traditional Fantasy MMORPG format. Guess thats the best we can hope for.
I am interested to hear what folks would like changed? None of the normal races?, no magic? no levels? spaceships? Trouble is the experienced MMORPG player has a check list of must have features and a designer excludes them at their peril.
I will confess to being as jaded as any after a series of disappointing and shallow MMORPG's. I wont belive that Vanguard has cracked it until I have played it. If it fails I will give up on MMORPG's since I see no other game that grabs my imagination.
love it or leave it....
for alot of us this game is going to kick major a$$, and for the rest of ya that don't like this style of game play or don't like a game with raiding...that sure is a bummer! sucks for you i guess, good luck with some other game i suppose.
read this http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1044304#post1044304 then come back and talk to me about the vanguard/soe fiasco.....
Whats new about it? Well the whole diplomacy aspect of the game for one. You are supposed to be able to have real and lasting effects on the world from what I have read. It ought to be interesting. Go to the official site and read the faq. It is quite informative
.
I for one can not wait for the game to come out. Its number one on my list. The only other one that I am really looking forward to is The Lord of the Rings Online. I am also kind of interested in Tabula Rasa just because Richard Garriott is involved. But fantasy games are more my type. I might check out Dungeons and Dragons Online but I will have to see about that.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Some of the ideas in the game sound great,but there is two areas of concern that really need addressing or answers.
It's all fine and dandy to say how great the raiding and majority of the game is based on grouping,but for once in my life,i would like to hear ,how this will be accomplished?
What system will be in place to make grouping fun and not a looooong tedious waiting period,like in 100% of these games?If you want to make the game group based,then you better well have a system to make it work.I am sure any half knowledgeable person knows that the majority of players will join the game with maybe 1 or 2 friends.Perhaps just a husband/wife or even GF/BF.They won't be joining with an entourage of 20-30 people.So how do you plan on making grouping work in this game?
The second part that baffles me is Raiding!Has any designer actually done a raid?
I can tell you i have done quite a few ,and there a joke.If a raid involves 20+ players,then you can count on the raid having horrible lag/gameplay.I have had the not so privelage of tanking a few raids.Thankfully we made it through to victory,because i had 3-4 very good players that aided me with healing and hate cntrol.It's funny because after the victories,there all celebrating and saying how great it was,when they didnt even have a clue what they were doing.A bunch of the clueless end up dying or getting aggro from surrounding mobs creating total chaos in the fight,and even some never take part in the fight,but merely stand there ,yelling what do i do!
So my question is,how do you plan on making a raid lag free and actually have all 20+ players be significant in the fight.
other issues ...
quests that allow outside help .example level 20 quest being done by lvl70 player doing it for the level 20 player.[dumb idea]
GIL farming/sellers! they ruin every game.
game routing/ mapping....this is a real neat trick companies like to do.They take a very small map and make it seem huge by routing you in ridiculous directions ,back and forth ,taking an hour to get across an area that shoulda taken 5 minutes.
My favourite of them all is TIMESINK...will the player feel part of the world,or just feel like there putting in massive time to complete quest a or craft item b........or attain level 50,then revoke there subscription and move on to another game?
I think these are all valid concerns.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
[quote]Originally posted by anarchyart
[b]
Well the point is, everyone wants and end game right? [/quote]
Nope.
I play MMOs because there is no end game. Open-ended gaming with no goal and no conclusion, that's what I want.
I doubt Vanguard will offer it, but it looks better than any of the alternatives.
i am just starting on that whole vaguard thing. atm I am playing eq2 and notice it is becoming more and more easy to play (I just say veteran awards!) So hopefully this game gives me back a little of that thrill i felt playing my chantergnome in eq1, where the tank was dead, and the healer mdding to gat that ittle bit of mana needed to rez him, and me trying to mez it all :-)
I've seen people say this so many times it makes me want to pull my hair out
. Please read a game FAQ before you decide its not for you 
. The game has a solotion to the fact there is no instancing if you would like to read. In fact, ill supply anyone who would like to do so with the site of the Vanguard forum, which is also updated with every developer quote there has been:
http://www.silkyvenom.com/pages/faq.php
Thanks to all the informed posters out there
EQ1 was the holy grail of MMO games while Brad was still at SOE (Norrath was the world of his pen and paper game years ago). EQ started to gradually fall apart after Brad left. Anyone who played EQ and who currently plays WoW outta be having a good look at this new game.
IMO Brad's work DEFINED the current MMORPG concepts. WoW is a great game in many regards, but it isnt anything new over EQ, really. Sure thers lots and lots more fluff, but the recipe generally remains the same. There is no doubt in my mind WoW was catered to be a next generation EQ rather then something INNOVATIVE.
EQ2 falters because they're smoking some weird stuff over at SOE. All of the points that Brad makes in terms of lore are points SOE dropped the ball on. Their lore made no sense (as of a year ago), their world was a series of disjoined zones with no real explanation that passed the torch from Eq1 to EQ2.
Yes, I think Vanguard will the be the next game all the big names are going to try and clone. Yanno, with EQ2, Lineage2 Empire Earth 2, Age of Empires 3, [insert game] [sequel version here] titles out there right now I think its been a very long time since we've seen something truly new.
I worship the ground Brad walks on (not really) because his team and his game will introduce true innovation and truly unique ideas.
And to all of those that say " gee this game looks like EQ or EQ2" well DUH Everquest was Brad's baby, of course some of the ideas are going to flow over.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"