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Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: The Shadow of Things to Come?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
It is MMORPG.com writer Phil James's fondest hope that Vanguard will soon go free to play. As he states, the precedent has been set by SOE with Everquest 2 Extended. But would a F2P iteration of Vanguard come too late to save it or is Matrix Online the shadow of things to come? Check out Phil's thoughts then weigh in with your own.
But does it even need saving? I don’t work for Sony Online Entertainment and I’m not privy to any meetings or intel regarding Vanguard, but I’d probably go with yes. Even the briefest of glances will give you an idea of the state of the game. Vanguard launched in 2007 with 14 servers, but failed to hold on to much of its player base and is now down to two servers, which isn’t a good sign. Few games can be counted as success stories with so few realms to choose from (Eve fans don’t hate me, your game is a notable exception).
Read more Vanguard: The Shadow of Things to Come?.
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Comments
I would enjoy to see graphical updates and more content.
Why do posters always have to put in they want better graphics when they have to know that redoing graphics is a huge undertaking which just won't happen with the vast majority of games, especially this one. Personally I find nothing wrong with Vanguard graphics even today. They just need more content and with the small support team, not sure that will happen.
As to f2p, not sure SOE wants to reallocate staff to do such since their development dollars are being focused elsewhere.
I have said it before, if Vanguard was a great a game as the rose-colored-glasses brigade seems to think it is, it wouldn't be in the state that it is now and has been for years. Wasting the time, money and resources to convert Vanguard to a f2p model won't save the game, because all the reasons for the dying subscriber base (and critical inability to attract and more importantly keep players) that currently exist are still going to be there. You would just be giving people another avenue to play a game without spending any money and dragging out the eventual demise of a game that should have shut down a long time ago..
We constantly see posts here at MMORPG.com where people say they would come back to Vanguard if it was free, so we already have a culture of Vanguard supposedly being good enough to play, but not good enough to pay for. So how would Vanguard going f2p help the game when there is a very good chance that it would be generating less revenue that it currently does as people don't want to pay to play it now, so why would they want to pay to play it for free.
Just pull the damn plug on this game already.
If you do not like a game, then don't like it. You have your own opinion to not like anything. But to wish something an ultimate demise? Really? I know plenty of people who love this game, including myself.
I think if SOE went with a f2p plan that is less inclined to bring in money and more inclined to bring in players, this game could take off and then MAYBE add more money objective cash shops items, IE Mounts, Factions, etc.
Well the community can't have it both ways, personally I think the game has great potential and they don't necessarily have to reduce the difficulty of everything. But hardcore games just don't do well anymore and they haven't for a very long time. I would prefer they went f2p copying what Turbine has done with DDO and LOTRo. No second copy like EQ2E! But if they did that, they would probably bring in more money via a cash shop even if it was all mostly cosmetic, those types of things rake in the cash. This would of course mean they would need to put in a little more effort in putting out a significant update to go with the F2P relaunch of the game, and the only graphical "update" they'd need is to go back and finish the character model and animation revamp. The rest of the game is gorgeous and doesn't need much of anything right now. But I really think they are making a stupid mistake and missing out on a potentially huge profit by leaving Vanguard in the dust.
If what you say is true, then that means DDO and LOTRO both didn't get any new players with the switch to free to play, because everyone who could've possibly thought the games were any good would've already been playing them.
I hope it survives. It seems to have a small but loyal band of fans. But I just don't see SOE putting the kind of effort into a F2P rebuild to save it.
I don't think SOE would spend the time or money to make Vanguard into a micro transaction model. I would like to see them try a reduced subscription model...maybe $10/month with a bigger price break for multi-month subscriptions. However for them to try that they would at least have to act like they are working on the game, from the looks of it the last update of any kind was in March 2010. The lack of development is the main issue that has kept me from resubbing.
In my opinion, Vanguard died because it was released too close to Everquest II, and was largely thought to be a better game than EQ2. SOE bought it out and then just let it go so it couldn't compete with EQ2. They shipped the game way too early so it was riddled with bugs, and they didn't pay any attention to it since then.
I have wondered for a while why they didn't just pull the plug earlier on if this was their intention. So, in reality, maybe it was not their intention to kill this game, but maybe they had put in just enough money where they needed to see some profits from the sales and subs. Either way I'm speculating.
However, from my months in Vanguard, I really enjoyed the game. I thought it was the only game I've played to have interesting class/grouping dynamics besides Everquest (the original). I liked the diplomacy thing and the sandbox feel. Overall, I somewhat agree with the sentiment that Vanguard could have been a great game, but something happened that stopped it and stopped the developer community from following its small footsteps.
It didn't seem like too much effort for them to get EQ2X going.
Plus, doesn't Vanguard already have the in game shop where you can buy stuff off of other players? Or am I just imagining this? If that's the case it should be almost no effort. Hell, just open the flood gates and make money off the transactions.
I loved the game so much, that I levelled a toon of each class up to cap. However, although when I started playing the game, I had no tech issues, as updates were released, my performance suffered. Combine that with very little additional content being released, and all those horrible bright colours in chat (is there a way to disable that now?) I found that I didn't consider it worth the monthly fee.
Shame really, as I did truly enjoy the game.
Actually, having thought about it, I'll grab myself a trial and see how it is. Why take the word of another, eh?
No vanguard was a buggy un-optimised mess at launch it instantly drove of the majority and then gradually lost more due to population issues, the VG dev's well now part time dev have performed some great work over the years optimising code and getting all the bugs squished sadly it was too little too late.
People don;t look on it with rose tinted glasses most look on it as it was i know i certainly do however credit where its due its been turned around by a tiny team and if it was launching today would undoubtedly be a relative success sadly the game feels very empty these days so F2P is the major kick up the arse it needs.
I would love to see Vanguard go F2P, just not the same model as EQ2X. A model closer to DDO and LOTRO would be the best. EQ2X stinks of greed.
Vanguard is one of my favorite games. I loved almost everything about Vanguard, except for the bugs and graphic anomalies.
Vanguard structurally does not lend itself to any kind of F2P model. EQ2 had the resources to develop a F2P model (that may or may not be sucessful) but VG has no such resources. There are NO SOE employees who are actually on any kind of VG staff. There are no full time developers. No one at SOE advocates for the game or has a presence in the VG forums (part time community managers don't count.)
SOE would have to decide would VG be worth the investment of F2P. Remember it would take resources (and therefore money and time) to develop it for VG. Mabye it is worth the investment...or maybe not. If you are a VG player who loves the game, great. You might not like Shoju's opinion but they are just that, opinion.
You WOULD have to admit though: it's been a LONG time since you've seen any indication from SOE that they even HAVE a plan for VG in the future. It just doesn't bode well for the future of the game. You can play till the day the plug is pulled & be happy with that: but many players just don't want to spend time in a game with no future.
The last major barrier to F2P would be the existing player base. LoTRO struggled with some rebellion from its subscriber base but was able to absorb any criticism because of its size. VG doesn't have that. VG NEEDS all of its playerbase to be on board with something like F2P, or at least most of them. And I'm not sure that's currently the case.
I won't say it like Shoju did. Let VG exist in its current form into the MMO sunset. But I think (like Phil speculates) that VG is on the same slab as MxO until we hear otherwise (which may not happen this year.) Until then, let the playerbase have their fun, it's their time & money & they can spend it on VG if they wish.
RIP Vanguard. If it DOES cancel I think everyone can agree it will be the great "might have been" of the MMO universe.
Realistically, what is going to change?
In the past SOE has spent time and money fixing bugs and adding content and the game still bled subscriptions like a stuck pig. What good is going to come from throwing more resources at this game? If the game was a good as people say, then it would have recovered from the clusterfeck of a luanch that it had. Word of mouth and positive reviews from the gaming media should have seen at least an increase in population, but for some reason Vanguard has continued it steady decline despite the communities attempts at viral marketing and positive articles at sites like MMORPG.com and Massively. If the game was a good one, then more people would be wanting to play it. As it stands, this isn't the case.
Why should SOE fund future development for a game that continues to lose more subscribers than it gains?
DDO and LotRO weren't games that crashed and burned at launch ensuring thier places in the MMO history books for all the wrong reasons.
Vanguard was never a great game and it has aged horribly in only 3 years.
I would rather SOE let Vanguard die than mutilate it in yet another manner. I'll readily admit that I'm pretty bitter about everything they've done to it.
I would rather play a Vanguard f2p than a DDO or Lotro f2p that is for sure. Keeping an eye out!
It could work, BUT I think it would prosper from a true F2P design and not the F2T (free to try) plan being put in place with some other western "F2P" games.. Unlock the whole world for players to explore.. Unlock all of the features and include some new ones.. In the cash shop include things like alternate mounts, vanity items, potions, xp bonus items.. You could even have land deeds for sale in the cash shop..
Locking classes and races and content is not truly making the game F2P.. It is basically a trial at that point, a less handicapped one, but one indeed..
However there has not been a single expansion from its launch and support team behind is 1? 2 people? Playing this game results like... outdated, the quest system, NPCs localizator, etc...
I think something could save the game would be offering an expansion together with the F2P, but well, this won't come
The only expansion Vanguard will ever see is called EverQuest Next.
Usually, I find it appallingly hilarious when people don't do even the most basic of fact checking before posting an opinion that just makes them look...like they didn't do even the most basic of fact checking.
But in this case...I stand by you in solidarity, my friend...
Everquest II Release Date: November, 2004
Vanguard Release Date: January, 2007
I agree that Vanguard was released too soon to EQII - 2.25 years wasn't NEARLY long enough.
P.S. I fact checked that in about 90 seconds.
...On my phone.
...Sitting on the toilet at work.
Vanguard P2P or F2P it's still boring as heck.
The only exciting part about the game is the customization options on Character Creation