Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
More great resources to find out the TRUTH behind Vanguard
This discussion has been closed.
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Comments
I'll start my own SWG... with Black Jack... and Hookers!!!
In fact, forget the SWG!!!!
This is my first post on these boards, and yes I am a member of the Vanguard forums. Brad is very active on many forums, trolls will say it is to help the profit margin, but I have followed Brad's career since the original EQ and IMO he is very dedicated to producing a quality product. I look forward to the game and will give it a very good look upon release.
I fall in between casual and core gamer, my schedule doesn't always allow for massive raid time commitments so a game that has content I can enjoy when I have only play 8 hours this week gets my vote. And it can also keep me going when I have 30 hours in a week, gota luv it!
Brad gave many links to help answer questions you may have, and to dispell misconceptions. I have always been the type to check things out for myself and not accecpt as fact something that someone with an agenda has to say. I have seen so many times, on this and other boards the confusion of the terms "core gamer" and "hard core gamer". Vanguard is being developed for the "core gamer" and because all indications are it will be massive and immersive, I believe the "hard core gamer" will find it enjoyable.
Please folks, check it out fot yourself! Don't let the trolls steal from you the game you may be looking for.
Vanguard is being fine tuned and tweaked to target so many
vast play styles. From what I have found, following it for the past year and a
half, seems to be, a limitless amount of possibilities. This will be a game where
you can truly wrap your hands around and immerse yourself into whatever your
mind can imagine. An incredible amount of features are going to make release,
but, post launch, 2 months... 4 months... That is when the fun will just
multiply.
Having tracked this company for awhile, I have gained a sense of their
direction, their ambitions. I've read several times regarding how much focus
they had put into the 'Design' of the game, that would lay out the path for the
next 5 years after release. They have an incredible amount of ambition to throw
all kinds of unique and exciting things into the mix.
A Few things that peek my interest as a casual gamer…
I've got to say. Diplomacy. After reading an article on Games Radar about it, this is going to offer a truly unique
way for dealing with faction. Doing quests within the city, or within a vast
temple, will never be the same. Instead of relying purely on might, the players
will be faced with mind games in order to 'persuade' your way further, deeper.
Along with that, Crafting will also be an important asset, in relation to game
play advancement. Utilizing found materials within the world, bringing them
together to really make unique items that will easily compete with
weapons/armor/etc found in the world. Have a friend or a guild mate that plays
the game a lot? Perhaps you can buy it off of him to build yourself some better
gear.
I could drag this thread out with all kinds of things that I keep my eye on,
but, as it is, people will probably skip right over it. So, I better keep it
small and just begin to answer questions.
I've got to admit, I am -really- excited about Vanguard. That said, you will
rarely ever see me criticize this game, just because I have an open mind to the
possibilities of the direction that Sigil is taking it too. I have absolutely
nothing bad to say about it right now, but, I am open to attempt to answer any
sort of questions that might peek your interest. Even if you don’t want to spark a
conversation here on the forums, feel free to message me on AIM (aim marine),
Yahoo (ildave1). I’m open to any sort
of discussion, because I don’t want you to miss the next best thing that is
about to hit those shelves.
Kindly,
-Ethanael 'aka' PixeledRAIN on the VG Forums
http://twitter.com/xmcgraw
I invite any interested posters to click on Silky Venom's site to determine for themselves if the links provided actually answer the questions that I put to Brad. I would submit they do not (which is to say they talk around the issues without answering the hard questions), but I expect most folks will divide on that according to their existing opinions.
And while there are many juicy inaccurate and misleading tidbits in your post, I think for now I will laser in on just this one. Note that first of all the claim of being "casual friendly" is based in large part on crafting and diplomacy. I think that's just cute as a button! So as a casual player I can enjoy the game if I content myself to making items for adventurers to fight monsters with or, as described in a recent article, click funny joke while talking to NPCs. "Here Mr. l33t dood. I made you a sword so you can fight while I take refuge here in the City. You're my hero!"
And then we have the carefully chosen language "it does not exclude casual gamers." That's nice. Forget the in game impediments to experiencing content with the gear that comes from solo and casual play. Forget the time commitment. Forget the group sizes needed. They didn't actually IP ban me from logging on so I'm technically not excluded. Let the rush of casual enthusiasm begin!
I'm sorry, but sending over one of the SV flame jockies doesn't add anything to the equation other than demonstrate that there is an inner circle of ravenous Vanbois Brad keeps close to him who do this every time anyone says anything critical of the game. That may work for now, but soon we will be voting with our dollars and that just won't cut it anymore.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Vanguard will prove to be one game filled with fun and one game that will also prove to be unlike any other game that you have played in regards to having a challenging approach to gameplay. Nobody will truly gain that feel for the 'Casual', until the NDA is lifted and testers can start talking about their casual experiences. Until then, we have to keep an open mind about how they are dealing with the game for the casual.
Expect it to be easier than EverQuest (less tedious), but, more challenging than World of Warcraft (not for /every/ living soul).
Kindly
-Ethanael 'aka' PixeledRAIN on VG Forums
http://twitter.com/xmcgraw
I am putting up my $100 bucks in a yes vote, I am buying the collectors edition.
Not so nice guy!
I invite any interested posters to click on Silky Venom's site to determine for themselves if the links provided actually answer the questions that I put to Brad. I would submit they do not (which is to say they talk around the issues without answering the hard questions), but I expect most folks will divide on that according to their existing opinions.
And while there are many juicy inaccurate and misleading tidbits in your post, I think for now I will laser in on just this one. Note that first of all the claim of being "casual friendly" is based in large part on crafting and diplomacy. I think that's just cute as a button! So as a casual player I can enjoy the game if I content myself to making items for adventurers to fight monsters with or, as described in a recent article, click funny joke while talking to NPCs. "Here Mr. l33t dood. I made you a sword so you can fight while I take refuge here in the City. You're my hero!"
And then we have the carefully chosen language "it does not exclude casual gamers." That's nice. Forget the in game impediments to experiencing content with the gear that comes from solo and casual play. Forget the time commitment. Forget the group sizes needed. They didn't actually IP ban me from logging on so I'm technically not excluded. Let the rush of casual enthusiasm begin!
I'm sorry, but sending over one of the SV flame jockies doesn't add anything to the equation other than demonstrate that there is an inner circle of ravenous Vanbois Brad keeps close to him who do this every time anyone says anything critical of the game. That may work for now, but soon we will be voting with our dollars and that just won't cut it anymore.
Hmm... Well, it's good to see your +1 of flaming is still working. Why did you choose to go that route as opposed to opening a dialogue with me about the aspects of Vanguard that you think are detrimental to casual gamers. As opposed to the areas that I gave which I see as casual-friendly?
Really curious, when you could have clearly chosen either path.
I invite any interested posters to click on Silky Venom's site to determine for themselves if the links provided actually answer the questions that I put to Brad. I would submit they do not (which is to say they talk around the issues without answering the hard questions), but I expect most folks will divide on that according to their existing opinions.
And while there are many juicy inaccurate and misleading tidbits in your post, I think for now I will laser in on just this one. Note that first of all the claim of being "casual friendly" is based in large part on crafting and diplomacy. I think that's just cute as a button! So as a casual player I can enjoy the game if I content myself to making items for adventurers to fight monsters with or, as described in a recent article, click funny joke while talking to NPCs. "Here Mr. l33t dood. I made you a sword so you can fight while I take refuge here in the City. You're my hero!"
And then we have the carefully chosen language "it does not exclude casual gamers." That's nice. Forget the in game impediments to experiencing content with the gear that comes from solo and casual play. Forget the time commitment. Forget the group sizes needed. They didn't actually IP ban me from logging on so I'm technically not excluded. Let the rush of casual enthusiasm begin!
I'm sorry, but sending over one of the SV flame jockies doesn't add anything to the equation other than demonstrate that there is an inner circle of ravenous Vanbois Brad keeps close to him who do this every time anyone says anything critical of the game. That may work for now, but soon we will be voting with our dollars and that just won't cut it anymore.
Hmm... Well, it's good to see your +1 of flaming is still working. Why did you choose to go that route as opposed to opening a dialogue with me about the aspects of Vanguard that you think are detrimental to casual gamers. As opposed to the areas that I gave which I see as casual-friendly?
Really curious, when you could have clearly chosen either path.
He is trying to level up his diplomicy
Not so nice guy!
If he was posting something to the effect of, "we have listened to the community, recognized flaws in our design and have new plans for how we will respond to those criticisms, which are, specifically, ___", I would agree with you Lennonventur.
"The" community. Which community, exactly? Your community?
Sigil has been marketing this game to the hardcore since jump street, this fiction of the "core gamer" notwithstanding.
Actually, Sigil has been marketing this game to be middle-ground since jump street. I just don't believe they were using the term "core gamer" to identify that middle-ground until the past couple of years. Brad probably started using the phrase "core gamer" when someone said "hey...you're confusing everyone because everyone thinks that there is only black and white". Obviously the change in terminology was a fly-by in your case. But it has been very clear from the beginning that Vanguard is neither a casual game nor a hardcore game, alone. It provides content for those two extremes, but neither extreme is the *target*. The target is the group of folks that sway between both ends of the color spectrum.
Here is a paraphrase of what I interpreted Brad to mean in this thread: "BUT! That doesn't mean that we're excluding casual and/or hardcore players. There will be content for those folks--it just isn't the focus."
But as they move closer to launch and get more realistic about sales figures, suddenly the casual player is their friend! All those thousands of posts they indulged on their boards by their inner circle trashing soloers, trashing casual players, telling everyone to go back to WoW, is all coming right out of Brad's wallet. So suddenly the game is for everyone! Hats and horns! Did they change the game? No, they just changed their tune.
The reason the tune may have appeared to change to you is not because they somehow realized they made a mistake the past four years. It is because they realized that they still weren't getting the message across after four years of trying because some folks (you among them, obviously) continue to think that Vanguard is "hardcore only".
No, Vanguard is not "hardcore only", nor is it "casual only", nor is it "core gamer only". Thus, it has aspects that may appeal to "everyone", but the content focus (for the purpose of *having* a focus and not designing blindly) is put on the "core gamer"/middle-ground player.
For those of us who have been following the game since day negative 465, this has been blindlingly apparent. Not everyone has been there from the beginning, so it bears repeating again, and again, and again, and again, and now again on these forums.
One of my favorite hypocracies is that Brad used to be careful to explain that not everyone would like his game, which was fine because there was a target market and they had no intention of trying to compete with WoW. He even gave sales projections in the 500k and less range where he said he would be happy with those numbers because they were targeting a niche market of people who wanted a challenging game (as he views it anyway).
Mmmm...probably more accurate to say "a more challenging game". Ok, so...more challenging than what, ask you? Well if we're down to naming names, I would suggest "more challenging than WoW" for starters. That really leaves lot to interpretation. The "niche" market you're probably referring to is EQ1. EQ1 is not all "hardcore gamers" either, but many contend that it is more challenging than WoW. So I think EQ1's success is in part what Brad is basing his estimates on, but that's just speculation on my part.
And anyway, I've never heard him say otherwise and so I really do not believe he has given up on or "changed his tune" on that topic, so I don't see how it could be hypocracy.
I think it's safe to assume amathe and jonaku have never gotten laid. they're too busy writing detailed articles about games they know nothing about, or even care to know anything about for that matter. you idiots have one track minds. i can just picture your parents waking you up in the morning, then you rushing to your computers to check the recent vanguard posts which will in no way benefit you.
i would never in a million years read something about a game that i had no intention of playing. and then go and post essays about it everyday of my life?? you guys need a new hobby.
One side would say that they are just here to irritate those that have a genuine interest in Vanguard. For whatever reason they have become jaded to MMORPG's, or SOE, or Brad, or pick a reason not listed. Anyway, they enjoy egging on those who let their rants irritate them.
The other side would say that they truly believe what they are saying and they think they are doing us a service in trying to point out; what to them are, the glaringly obvious "truths" which for some reason most of us just don't see. They see themselves as our saviours, and that we will eventually come around to their way of thinking if they are persistent enough.
So, you just have to decide which school you want to put them in.
It always cracks me up when someone gets to the "never been laid" insult. Makes me feel young again...young like junior high young.
Those that don't like Vanguard, seem to actually be those that dislike Brad himself or SOE. Well, everyone makes mistakes guys, get over it. Your letting an alternate reality ruin your life. That's almost as bad as going on Oprea and saying society made me do it.
Not so nice guy!
I'm sorry, but sending over one of the SV flame jockies doesn't add anything to the equation other than demonstrate that there is an inner circle of ravenous Vanbois Brad keeps close to him who do this every time anyone says anything critical of the game. That may work for now, but soon we will be voting with our dollars and that just won't cut it anymore.
Hah. I never said I actually liked the game, or Brad. But I think it is part of integrity to defend truth even when you don't agree with it. And since I work on a fansite for the video game who has been collecting information about the game since its inception, I felt in a position to try to speak to that truth. Personally, I'm looking forward to Zelda: Twilight Princess and a few other games more than Vanguard. EQ1, SWG, EQ2 kinda burned me out on MMOs in general.
So, enough false assumptions about who or what I am and why I'm here. And speaking of "flame jockies", it adds nothing to a discussion to downplay everything I said by claiming I'm saying it just because I'm a fanboy. Argue the topic, not the person.
Oh, and hey...believe whatever you want about the game, Amathe. It is your right to do so. But if you go around spreading misinformation, you're spending energy to discredit a large group of people and that is not cool.
And then we have the carefully chosen language "it does not exclude casual gamers." That's nice. Forget the in game impediments to experiencing content with the gear that comes from solo and casual play. Forget the time commitment. Forget the group sizes needed. They didn't actually IP ban me from logging on so I'm technically not excluded. Let the rush of casual enthusiasm begin!
Perhaps the point was not clear. The point is, again: The game is not "FOR" everyone. The game does, however, have aspects that everyone can enjoy. I'm making the assumption that you're a casual gamer (else why would you be arguing the point on their behalf?). So, when you play Vanguard, you may find diplomacy and crafting interesting...or, you may not. You're more likely to find diplomacy and crafting interesting, however, being a casual gamer. That's really all that is being said here.
Don't take me too literally. Nobody is saying you *can't* progress in adventuring as a solo gamer, either. (By the way...what do you define as "casual"? Someone who never groups?) You *can* progress in adventuring as a solo gamer, just not as quickly as those who group. When I said it doesn't exclude casual players, I meant that it doesn't eliminate the aspects of casual gaming that many casual players enjoy.
Yeah, ok, so you can't get the top uber item x solo. Yeah, ok, so it takes you 2 months to level as much as this other guy who groups continually levels in 1 month. I mean...what is it exactly that you want from a "casual friendly" game? An item vendor that gives you free uber items that would otherwise require a raid force to get?
Edit: Anyway, I gotta get back to work (my real day job), so I'll leave it at that. Looks like you get the last word. I'm betting you wouldn't have it any other way. ;-) So make it a good one.Exactly! Really great way of saying what I have been saying for over a year. I would have left out the getting laid part though, just not constructive really. I have a beautiful girlfriend whom I love, but getting laid takes no real special talent, other than maybe a tiny bit of confidence. Remember guys, on the confidence thing, what George Costanza said: "It's not a lie if you believe it." So believe in yourself, but I digress.
I too can't understand them though. If I didn't like a game, I would never ever even read a single post in their forums. But then I'm not a rabid hater of anything at all in life. Even WoW, which has brought a slew of idiots posting in forums in our genre, I have plenty positive to say about. And the negative only gets displayed in forums other than the WoW forum. What kind of attention h0 do you have to be to flame a game in it's own forums??
The reason Brad came here is because of people like YOU who make offhand criticisms
Well, if you read Brad's posts he invites questions and criticisms, so I fail to see why you are offended. Of course, while he invited questions he did not actually answer them.
You aren't going to get anything other than generalities from Brad because he is between a rock and a hard place. If he were to attempt to prove the solo/casual game was worthwhile, one he couldn't do it, and two, if he could do it his leet hardcore base would have a fit that their game, as they view it, had been "dumbed down." Catch 22.
But Sigil painted itself into this corner. There is a flaw in the Vision and there always has been. If you make a game that will be enjoyed primarily by hardcore gamers who want to distinguish themselves, who are they going to distinguish themselves from? In other games they distinguish themselves from soloers and casuals and non-raiders (if gear is a measurement of success). But Sigil has already scared those players away (thus this full court press to try and get their interest back). So let's say that several hundred thousand hardcore gamers sign up. Guess what? In a few months a lot of people who thought they were hardcore will find themselves behind the curve, and if their enjoyment of the game came from being on top they will quit and go somewhere that they can be on top.
But as I've always said, I don't fault Sigil for making a hardcore only club. God willing he will succeed amd attract those folks to his game so they will stay out of ones I like.
But I do fault Sigil for this "our game is for all types of gamers, we love the casuals!" PR campaign that he knows is hogwash.
I've read a lot of posts on the official forums and on sites like FoH where people just don't seem to get it...they make so much effort in trying to prove the devs wrong, and act like they have some secret insight into a game that is still in beta...though I doubt anything I write will quench your thirst to spout misinformation about a game you haven't even played, I'm bored.
What particulars do you want that deal with solo/casual game play? Solo is bound to be less sexy than group/raid content...it's been stated that long solo quests that are broken up into smaller chunks will in fact yield useful gear. Harvesting, crafting and diplomacy can all be done solo if you so choose. Granted you won't have all the best items and gear but they are designing an mmo, not a single player oblivion style game. Interdependency leads to forming bonds with people in the game, and that leads to longevity, a feeling like you are actually working together towards a goal. That's a huge part of bringing a virtual world that is the home of thousands of actual people to life. That's one reason why 60% of the game content is aimed at group play, which casuals can take part in just fine. Is it going to be harder to level up than other games, probably, are death penalties going to sting a bit now and then, probably, but the fact remains that anyone who wants to have fun can in VG, but like Brad says not everyone is going to like the game, it's just a fact of life, but what I see as the whole point of VG is to create an amazingly in depth world where anyone can play and find some niche that will allow them to have fun.
Content is stuff to do, anything that causes someone to log in is content, pretty simple. More specifically if you think that solo content is only going to be limited to killing some lame weak arse mobs all I can say is expand your mind just a tad and think about how all the spheres are connected, how they are adding in things that most mmorpgs don't have, how they are planning for the future. Yes solo content for the adventure sphere is rather limited...you can kill some mobs, work on solo quests, which is about all most other mmorpgs offer in terms of adventuring...or you could work on diplomacy, crafting, or harvesting...sure a lot of crafting and diplomacy and even some harvesting content will require a group but the fact remains you can max crafting and diplomacy solo. And to be perfectly honest this game is being designed so that people interact, if you want to spend all your time alone in a virtual world sure you can advance in Telon, but you will probably not be in the upper eschelon of players. And if you can't accept that then fine.
I've already answered how a casual/solo player could spend his or her time (much more stuff to do than any other mmorpg in terms of variety). So lets define risk, if you think it's purely time in these games you should probably think again. Yes you can boil down anything to time, but it's really how that time is valuable to us...not the fact that it's just time...if the time has no value then there is no risk, so the challenge for the game is balancing things out so that we feel like we've accomplished something instead of wanting to bash our face against a wall after camping a spawn for 36 hours with no results. I'll agree plain old time has been and still is used to add barriers to entry for content. But in actuality risk in these games is failure and the loss of valuable time. Sure failure results in a time sink, but lets compare that to real life...risk is associated with danger failure or loss. In a fantasy game setting death often stings and is a widely accepted penalty for failure. Also in the real world if people accomplished things without expending any effort or risk (aka time) then everyone would always risk as much as they could afford to lose (in terms of money or whatever) and anything that required time has suddenly lost all value because anyone can do it. So I want to become a doctor, I might not be cut out and don't realize that until 2 years of med school has passed me by...I drop out and I've failed...what a waste of 2 years and money. Aside from time and money, humans can risk their lives, or relationships, or anything that actually holds value to them. In a virtual world in a fantasy setting in a games based around gaining xp and better items what is there to risk? We generally want to make friends not lose them, we generally want to keep our gear we've worked so hard for, we generally want to not lose levels (seperate debate) and well what else is there besides time? But if we don't log in we don't waste any time, we take no risk, if we log in and take a risk and fail we've lost some time, but we've also miss out on the sense of accomplishment because we failed...you could spend 3 minutes on a quest and fail and not be out anything else but maybe you can't ever try the quest again...there is some risk that didn't really cost any time at all, though that's a bit rare. So in order to accomplish something that actually feels like it has significant meaning you have to have a penalty for failure, and well you guessed it, xp is time, failing to kill a mob is time, working 3 months to get the crafting skills in order to craft an item you want is time. But what makes time important in a game is the fact that we have every ability to spend our personal time on something else. So a game has to strike a balance between time invested and the rewards paid out for that time. I have yet to see if VG has a general balance of this, but I'll bet you they are aiming to find some balance so that the core gamer they are targetting enjoys playing a challenging game that doesn't give all it's rewards to those who simply put in the most time, but also doesn't just hand out the best rewards to people who barely put forth an effort. And the very fact that Brad has stated VG is a game almost anyone can try and probably like leads me to believe they will be giving appropriate rewards to people and their investments into the game. But the kicker is that there is so much sphere dependency that even solo/casuals people will feel needed in the game because they can do things and be good at things that other players need and want (this is where the comment about crafting and diplomacy being better suited for casual play, as the majority of players will be adventuring and gaining levels in that sphere people who don't play much and only solo will fall behind in leveling, granted there will be full time diplomats and crafters but you don't need a group to level up at a faster rate). Anyway, enough of this point, moving on.
Gear is the driving factor in so many games, but as you add complexity to the games you start to get things like faction really taking on an important meaning, EQ style faction that actually meant something other than can I start this quest, will these mobs attack me, I'm sure you can think of a ton of things with just diplomacy alone, I'm not going to elaborate. A house is huge for players feeling like they live in a virtual world, a ship, mounts etc, granted these are sort of gear...but you can boil everything down to gear, even faction is gear..;) Do you have high dark elf faction? Do you have the breastplate of uber? More important than any gear in these games is the social interaction, guilds, fellowships, rl friends, online friends, the fact that the games wants you to talk to other people helps reinforce these bonds and form new ones...help a newbie out when he trains you by accident, make a friend for life...that's sure as hell not going to happen in a 6 man instanced dungeon that you've been grinding with the same 6 people for the last 3 weeks. This game is striving to be a living breathing world with stuff in it that isn't gear...
I can only guess what raiding in VG will be, but I bet it's going to be epic encounters that when you go on them will make you feel weak and small, least I hope so. The rewards will be like any other reward, appropriate, in this case they are planning far ahead to avoid the EQ raid/solo gap in gear...raiders in awesome gear trivializes group content. Raiding will be required to get SOME of the best loot, as will every other sphere and form of play, and most of the very best loot will require a bit of all 3. That being said there shouldn't be huge gaps between the power of casuals and geared to the teeth core players or power gamers, there will be a gap but it's not game breaking. Those with more experience/access to tougher encounters thus better rewards will always be inherently better...though to be honest I think the fact that the combat system is complex enough you will see casual and core gamers that will be able to out damage or tank their respective better geared raider contemporaries. When you really know sympathetics and are always meshing perfectly with the group you are in because you have educated yourself as to what combos work best you'll definately notice a difference...even if you don't have the most uber equipment.
As for twinks and PL it's never been said that these will not exsist...go to the faq and look it up, I've already typed too much. In short measures are being taken to ensure that it's not crazy like in other games, but twinking will surely exsist and it's even being promoted to an extent so that people will equip and alt instead of sell their old gear...a nice way to keep items out of circulation. And when you put that lvl 50 appropriate breastplate on your lvl 1 twink you can be sure it probably won't be much better that the newbie bp you can quest for. No idea about PLing to be honest, personally I don't see the problem if people want to rush through the levels, one thing though is that a lot of skills and whatnot will have to be learned from different mobs in different parts of the world. So if you just shoot for the max level you are going to be missing out on a lot of content and skills etc that will make your character more well rounded and most likely better in the end.
Now on to the crap you are saying about how he's stuck between a rock and a hard place...making a game like this is a huge balancing act. Yes they want to make money, yes they want to make a great game, yes they want a lot of people to try it and like it, yes they want to have both hard core and casuals playing it, yes they want engaging content and a world that feels like an actual world with variety and different things to do and see. So it's a lot of work trying to present bits and pieces of a game that's still in beta to a wide range of people, I think Brad and co are smart enough to realize that ultimately the game will speak for itself. But when you have people like you and me posting on message boards about a game we've never played saying how great or how sucky it'll be you have to manage that somehow. So he's trying to get the word out that some of the things said about the game are just not true. I have no clue where you get the notion that they've scared away casuals and are desperately trying to get them back. When the word started getting out about VG the number of registered users on the forums took a nice jump...and well that doesn't seem like an indication of people being scared away from the game...I can guarantee you that most people who play mmorpgs fairly seriously have heard of VG for some time now, so that'd lead me to believe that the mag covers, beta 3 starting, all the informal vids being put out etc etc is getting people talking and telling their freinds...definately a sign that all the casuals are scared away. It's impossible for any game no matter how hard core or how casual to only contail one type of gamer, the world is filled with bell curves and mmorpgs are no different. The simple fact is that the game is being designed so that most anyone can enjoy it, though ultimately they can't make anyone enjoy it, and it's not fair when people parade around message boards saying that it's this or that when they haven't even played it. The cheerleaders are just as guilty as the naysayers, but I at least know the amount of information I have read about the game and am fairly confident in my ability to reason logically and apply what I want in a game to what I see as VG containing and make a valid assessment of if certain groups of people will enjoy the game. And after reading this thread I sometimes wonder about the logic and reasoning and information people use to come to their conclusions.
There I'm done, if anyone thinks that VG isn't striving to be a balanced game for the core gamer while not excluding the hard core raider or the light on time casuals do a bit of research...or just take my word for it as I'm not affiliated with Sigil in any way, other than the fact that I will be playing VG and judging for myself how well they did it.
Josh
P.S. I reserve the right to not edit this long arse rambling for corrections anymore...too darn long to read through yet again..;)
so by claiming there will be some solo content that means he is saying the game is for everyone? thats fine if you consider that twisting of words to support your argument, its a bit of a stretch but ill give it to you.
but I'm still looking for the quote where he said it will be a "wow killer" ill patiently await the quote you provide to support this, I'm curious to see how you twist his words on this one.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
fair enough, i can dig up quotes where brad himself says vanguard isn't a wow killer. i don't doubt the magazine said that but i don't do alot of reading of magazines that would explain why i haven't heard of that.
Also the game is more focused on groups than raids and im sure players will be able to get just as good items from group content as raid content.
Having said that, the only ones can say for sure how it's shaping up are the ones in beta now. The problem with taking info from this group is that you will only see posts from people that are discontent as they are the only ones that will post and chance losing their spot in beta for breaking the NDA. You have to remember he has thousands testing now, so if you are getting only a few nay sayers that might indirectly be an endorcement.
I'm gonna have to play this one to see, it's got enough new whistles and bells that I want to play it and am cautiously optimistic it's going to be good. If the price of the game is not a major for you i'd sugguest giving it a try and see for youself when it comes out, if it's a concern, wait till you see what's said about it in the beta after the NDA is lifted or after the first month or so after gold and form your opinion from there.
Bottom line if it's good it's gonna get played if not it won't, only thing your buying coming in early is the jump on the ones that don't.