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How to maybe save Vanguard
littlestar12
Member Posts: 22
My suggestion on how to save Vanguard is quite simple.
SOE has to pump up the game's player base. One way would be to hand out free 3 month trial accounts (well, and give out the equal amount of free time to subscribers). That way I at least would try the game out. Sigil couldn't afford that, but SOE can.
The problem is that would seem quite desperate, but I can't see any other way out...
Comments
eqnext.wikia.com
That's what I'm waiting for too. I want to give it a look but I'm not gonna drop $40 just to try it out.
This is correct. Most games offer trials that range from 10-14 days, because that's more than enough time for a player to decide if the game is worth their attention or not. 3 months would be excessive and a foolish waste of resources for a game that can't afford it.
I'm ok with SOE withholding any free trials until Vanguard is in better shape. No reason to go and ruin any more first, second or third impressions of the game. The reasons why Vanguard wasn't a hit at launch still exist today afterall, and probably will for quite awhile.
- How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
- I don't know, but some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?
Change the core code (Quake 3 engine is really bad for an MMO...dont knowo what they're thinking), add more quests and content and create some decent character animations and I'll be there.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Oh, and they used the Unreal Engine, not Quake III's (which would have owned, by the way--how many MMOs let you rocket jump?)
- Less starting zones
- Less zones in general, more things to do in them though, so the content density would be higher: kind of like cut the game to 1/3-d of it's size, add in the rest, when they have content. Make more zones hand crafted.
- Revision the PvP servers, tweak game mechanic around the PvP on those servers.
- Change animations
- Revision XP gain, death mechanic (in short teh hardcoreznezz of the game)
Not even talking about the bugs here, nor about the fact that going with 2.5 U as an engine was a fool's mistake.
Once all is done, market a relaunch, release a free trial.
SOE is heading in goodish direction, I am happy they took over from those amateurs, will it be enough to save it? I say the game might still have a future, however deep down, I hope it doesn't, a sacrifice, so this mistake would not happen again in the realm of developers.
Things are NOT still " borked ".
Many...big improvements have been made.
Is it perfect ? no
Do I see good graphics and solid fps ? yes
I've yet to encounter a broken quest ...I'm actualy enjoying the crafting process and nearly all the people I've come accross in game have been mature and pleasant.
My experience in Vanguard has never been as bad as some claim here. I've been enjoying the game since day 1 and expect to be enjoying it for a long time to come.
I would like to see a free trial offered too....so people can come see for themselves.
Unreal Engine..... Quake 3... same thing
Crap engines for MMO. A layman knows that.
And yes, you can remove the core code and leave Vanguard with the same look and better performance. It's not impossible to do but it's the only way to save the game.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Lineage 2 also uses the UR engine.
Not fair to knock the UR engine. The base engine is fine, it's more what Sigil makes the engine do.
Wish Darkfall would release.
1. Expand housing. Make more/smaller zones especially right outside the town. This will have town services in the center and player populations cocooning it. It will also serve to bring players together. If there are increase demand of housing, mobs near the town should be relocated and the area declared as 'settled'. Do this once every two months. This will show that the world is being affected by the players.
2. Add player vendors. Setting items sell limit to 10 per character is rediculous. Compare the two: a weaponsmith selling 10 'uber' crafted swords vs a tailor selling 10 bags. 10 bags is barely enough to cover 3 buyers. This is just a rediculous design decision. If you add player vendors, then folks will need to 'explore' and look for consistent suppliers of items. For example, a renowned weaponcrafter might setup 'shop' outside Mekalia. This in order to check what he has for sale, folks will need to travel to Mekalia. Suddenly you have a reason to travel and explore. This is what I deem as player-made exploration content.
3. Limited teleport stones i.e. 3 per character. All characters to 'mark' and subsequently teleport to any location (outside) dungeons. Some people like meaningful travel. Some people don't. Some folks just have 2-3 hrs to play and they need to be able to get to the content quickly. This does not change meaningful travel because you still need to 'explore' to mark the location.
4. Crafting - complications revamped to 50% positive effects + 50% negative effects. Negative effects reduced and positive effects increased as character levels exceed item level. This represents mastery over items. Revamp items so that it is % based stats rather than just grade A/B/C... A better granularity will better differentiate the 'products' made by a crafter.
5. Harvesting - revamp so that the harvested 'materials' have a % quality. A simple % stat will do. Quality will be different in each chunk or linked set of 4 chunks. This is really just a simple 'table' updated once a week. I really don't think it is difficult. Double the material's effect. This means if you do get 100% quality materials, you can start crafting at 50% (edge of C/B) quality for the item. This also has the effect of a 'fun' treasure hunt once a week. If you do hit the jackpot i.e. 100% quality materials, it will only last for a week. It's like a weekly gold rush. It introduced 'exploration' that is renewed once a week. Folks who have explored more of the world would know and could explore/harvest in more dangerous chunks i.e. chunks with higher level mobs. This rewards levelling. It also bring interest to under-explored places like Kojan and such. Boat utility also increased as it is easier to explore certain places using a boat.
6. Re-balance PvP. Turn it into RvR. There is no way you can balance say Fighter vs Mage vs Healer in PvP without removing their individuality. It might be possible but there will always be some disgruntle folks who will think it is unbalanced and they might even be right. Instead use the effort and covert it to Realm vs Realm. Turn it into continent vs continent with invasion possible only via boats or flying mounts only. Since both sides have the bulk of the classes, the balance issue will be lessen. Allow big towns like Khal/Ahgram/NT to be invaded. Slowly rebalance the servers so that it has more PvP servers than non PvP servers. PvP folks still need friends/companions/guildies who might not share the same PvP focus. For example, what if we have a boyfriend/girlfriend who both like VG with the boy favoring PvP and the girl favoring crafting? They should have the ability to play together. This was what is great in DAoC. Non PvPers remain behind a heavily guarded walls. During off 'peak' hours, the PvPers still have folks to talk to and interact with. PvPers can also defend towns and repel invaders. After a while you have well known PvPers, well known 'villians', well known crafters each with its own niche in the world. Owning 'towns' should grant the winning continent a continental wide boost e.g. 5% extra magic damage if you conquer Ahgram or 5% extra melee damage if you conquer Khal. This idea was great in DAoC because it create a common purpose for PvP for all folks within a continent. This is also used to great effect in Guild Wars.
7. Add siege machines. Towns should be able to build defence towers. Invaders can bring rams (for doors) and catapults (for defence towers) Allow flying mounts to act as mobile catapults e.g. flying dragons will breath fire and damage defence towers. I would add this in an expansion though. This is a difficult change compare to the others.
8. Change the freaking code so that performance is increased 10-fold. If need be, simplify the art or reduced the cool 3D effects. Art is great. Art is nice. Art can kill the gaming experience too.
9. Add SOME instance raids. Forget what Brad has said. Brad's has lost touch with the modern gamers and he is still lost in the EQ1 glory days. Players need the ability to gather a group or two and hit a difficult encounter in peace. AES sounds stupid and difficult to implement. The 'raids' should succeed or fail within 2 hours.
10. Polarize the continents' storyline and morals. Right now, faction means nothing. It is just a name to a grind. The difference between continents are non-existance. They feel like a randomly placed set of NPCs/objects and landmarks. Dark Elves should not be on the same continent as Halflings if they hate each other. I don't mind them being friendly though if they are on the same continent. What I want to see is some rhyme and rhythm to the structure of the world and factions.
11. Rebuild New Targanor. It's design is ugly and hard to navigate. Redesign Ahgram. A town should be a place to relax not a place of frustration. Khal should be bigger and fill with more interesting NPCs.
12. Closed off sections of the world that are not ready for public. There is nothing worse than wandering into an new area with excitement and subsequently finding out that it is not ready, underpopulated or just plain half baked. The dark elf town of Harthor Zhi is a prime example. The whole town is like a subterrenean dungeon that looks reasonably cool but it is filled with NPCs that does absolutely nothing. The are no mobs to kill except for 2 flying dragons (a nice touch). It is supposely to be an 'ancient and historical' place for dark elves. There is nothing worse than to wander around that place and know that it is unfinish and half done. Is it suppose to be a dungeon or a town? It has all the features of a dungeon but there are no mobs to kill in there. It is better off to just close off the section, put up a cloud of fog, show a few bits of architecture and add some mystery to the place. These are just design decision or a lack of attention to detail that just kills immersion. I would prefer they identify the few open areas of the world and populate it with quality encounters / landscapes and interest monsters than opening it all up and have it all done in a half baked manner. The best example is Guild Wars. The entire oriental land did not show up until expansion 1. The african land didn't show till expansion 2. In the meantime, they did the medieval land very well. It was very well theme and integrated. Vanguard has none of the cohesion. The world needs to be BIG but it also needs to be well populated. One without the other is just half baked.
13. Improve the interface. The default interface is not bad but it lack depth. The crafting interfaces are ugly like hell and could serious some better categorization of items/recipes and such. Interface should be sharp and sweet. Sharpen the fonts. I hate the fonts used in VG. There are a ton of things that are small and irritating. If you are in love with this game, you will overlook it. Once the initial glow wears off, you start to notice all these small and irritating things. The quality of the product can be seen in the details.
14. An MMORPG without population is dead in the water. Population draws population. VG should have given the gamers one single good impression and should have retained the bulk 200k folks who bought the game. Excuses about LOTRO luanch, WoW BC launch etc should be minimized. VG should be built to be able to fight off competitors. Whiney posts like those from Brad should be eradicated.
15. Massively relaunch this game with expansion 1. Rename the game. At least get rid of the V:SOH tag. Come up with a new abbreviation.
Here we go with the "free" stuff again. This is never going to happen.
For a bussiness in this industry like Sigil was, they have to show a certain amount of on going profit to justify they laons in a very short amount of time.
They were loaned $30 million, and had a staff of about 100 people at an average of $38k (not everyong is a dev, programer and program maanger [these would have been paid more]), plus officers, equipment and utilites which is around $75k per month. Which is an annual outgoing of $4.8 million per year. This is where most if not all of the $30 million went. First Microsoft and the SOE said for the outgoing funds we see no income anytime soon, so Mcquaid decided to launch.
Now you need to get the income to first offset the $4.8 million to keep everyone you hired employeed and then you have to pay back the loan. Now in the computer business you don't have 30 years to pay it back you have 5 years, so that is $4.8 million plus $6 million which is a total of $10.8 million you have to net a year just to break even (an average subscriber paying $14.95 per month). We all know that at this time VG is at or beloew this number. So to offer anything free will mean they have to get another loan which with the SOE buyout could possibly be done but is most unlikely. A discounted price that is possible but would mean they would have to get maybe 70,000 or 75,000 subsrcibers. BTW these subscriber numbers are the net amount of subscribers. Gross amounts would most likely be nearly double.
So please stop saying the word free. It will NEVER ever happen.
A MMO is like life. It is something to cherish and enjoy upon in it journey. So why race to the end of it. In life at the end you die.
Let's assume half of the 100 people were fired. So that place expenditure at 2.4M + 6M loan payback, that means they need ~ 560k of subscribers. Still doomed i would say.
Majority of the people (About 160k of 200k) who tried this game and who happen to have a decent gaming standard are now playing something else. Something tells me that they will not touch this again regardless of the options.
CONTRIBUTE INTO THE GAMING INDUSTRY! STOP PAYING FOR BORING COPYCATS, UNFINISHED BUGFESTS AND CRANKY JUNKWARE. BE A RESPONSIBLE GAMER!
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Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
You bring up a good point though, part of the reason why SOE might be hesitant to release a free trial is because of how big the game is. I doubt they'd want to use their own digital distribution servers en masse for people who haven't paid, and usually a deal with alternatives like Fileplanet come with stipulations like paid registration.
Let's assume half of the 100 people were fired. So that place expenditure at 2.4M + 6M loan payback, that means they need ~ 560k of subscribers. Still doomed i would say.
Sigil doesn't own VG anymore...SoE does and they have a revenue of $150 million + and growing. I think SoE is more than capable and probably will...handle a free trail.
I think what's holding them back is the few lingering performance issues and the prospect of being overun with gold farmers.