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Vanguard bonus xp week on now!
Still playing Vanguard? Good for you! Now go get leveling, because starting today and until next Tuesday's server reset, you'll be earning a 50% experience bonus on all your adventuring and crafting.The bonus xp kicked in this morning around 7, and should last for all a week and through the weekend.
MMOG Podcast Roundup: Nov. 1 - Nov. 18th
Every week, hardworking Massive gaming fans put their voices on the line to bring us news, opinions, and 'critiques' of their favorite games. Podcasts are a staple of many hobbies nowadays, and fans of online worlds are especially fortunate in this regard ... there are a ton out there.As such, every so often we'll try to update you on the podcast world. Keep your eyes on this space for links to your favorite MMO-commentary celebs. Good and bad, straight-man or blue-mouthed, they all have something to offer about this amazing style of gameplay.Today we've got an rundown on the latest updates from podcasts across the genre, covering everything from the still-going classic Merdian 59 to the still in-development Warhammer Online.
Vanguard team struts their nerdy stuff
Ever wonder what kind of work environment it takes to crank out your favorite MMOs? Personally, I conjur up an image of a pristine high-tech underground bunker, perhaps built under a volcano, with rows of computers facing a large screen showing the current state of the game. All the developers are busy yammering on headsets while reading from indistinguishable printouts. But that's just in my head.The Vanguard team recently made the move to SOE's San Diego offices, and they thought it would be fun to engage in a bit of a nerd-off with their fans, give fans an inside look at the life of a developer, and to see whose desk is littered with nerdstalgia in the greatest density and splendor. The Vanguard boys put up a pretty good fight, but we'd say their fans give them a run for their money.
Vanguard Producer's letter to the community details what's in store for Vanguard
It's been about a month since the Vanguard development crew made the big move from Carlsbad, and they must be settling into their new lofty digs at SOE HQ in San Diego, California, as work on Phase II and III continues as scheduled. Other than that, what's Vanguard's plan? Well, cleaning up one of the worst MMOG launches in the history of the genre isn't an easy feat, and SOE has delegated Thom Terrazas to command Vanguard's development team to some sort of victory. In Vanguard's defense the game has drastically improved since launch but much more still needs to be done. Terrazas has already shown frequent communication with the playerbase on the official Vanguard forums since taking the assignment. In his recent letter to the community Terrazas details Vanguard's long term development focus and proposes a few controversial changes that some consider "WoW-ifying" the game. The two biggest changes causing a forum uproar are: implementing a faster leveling curve and removing the experience loss component from the death penalty. (More after the jump.)
Where Vanguard's Vision is headed
There's that infamous word again. Thinking about all the different "Visions" for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes cleaves my skull with a splitting headache. Thankfully, Thom Terrazas, recent inductee to the Vanguard helm, lays out some specifics on what the newly cut chopped, diced and spliced Vanguard development team has in store for the different phases in Update 3. Some highlights with my commentary include: Update 3 Phases Phase 1 had its up and downs: Performance gains are noticeable in many different game areas. Chat server hiccups fix took awhile, water wasn't working. It happens. Not enough polish and that's something the team will work on. (Dev_01 "It's not shiny enough, shine harder!" "Dev_02 "Man, that's the third lens flare I used on that tree!") Phase II what's coming: Overland raid encounters and Khal optimizations. Lots of new art is getting added to make it easy-on-the-eyes and help to keep your computer from melting. Phase III is in the not so distant future: Ancient Port Warehouse is being combed over, battered, and prodded to iron out all the bugs and to make it suitable for playing. Expect this to go live one or two weeks after Phase II. Check your local patch listing for Revenge of the Vanguard Phases show times. Fine, I'm putting the popcorn away. Vanguard isn't dead, it's there, it's alive, it's still being updated and played. This is great news considering the troubling layoffs (a rumored 18 devs) it remains to be seen if they can get the rest of these updates out so soon but at least the man in charge is communicating with the players, and that's always a good thing. Phase II is planned to go live in less than two weeks.
Game Update 3 for Vanguard
The dev team at Vanguard: Saga of Heroes have released notes on what is coming in Update 3. Although the list is small, it is certainly significant. This is just phase one, of course, so I am sure there is more to come. First up are the additions to Ksarvi Gulch, an area for adventurers in the low to high teens, where players will have access to three new quest lines which will add 20 solo quests into the game. Group quests are added to, but they aren't nearly as exciting as the news that players will get to fight astride black wyverns. Expect new rewards to go with your new quests, of course. What is epic questage without epic loot?Next up is the news that guild and player housing are getting some love. Guild trophies are now available for placement in your housing. Player housing will now be located close to a crafting center, with vendors and trainers galore. I think it's important to note that the items for said crafting will also be easier to obtain. As a lover of crafting in any game, anything that streamlines the trade skill process is a good thing.Last but not least is the addition of a spam filter into Vanguard. This comes after the constant, and sometimes overly exhuberent requests of the players that they be shielded from the barrage of messages they were receiving. If you are familiar with other SOE games, the spam filter is supposed to be pretty much identical, with a flagging feature that alerts Customer Service of the issue while the game happily removes spam messages before you even get them.Read the rest of Update 3 phase 1.
The end of the MMO boom, and the next step
Tobold speculates, as only he can do, on "the future of MMOs." If you listen to what he says, we've basically just experienced a boom in the MMO market-- after the huge success of World of Warcraft, tons of MMO makers sunk tons of money into making new "WoW-killer" MMOs, and they've all started falling apart (Vanguard, Gods and Heroes) due to lack of resources. But that doesn't mean things are over. It only means that developers are starting to realize the truth: starting up a successful MMO is a huge undertaking.Starting up a successful single-player game can be a very cheap undertaking-- I'm currently going at it with Puzzle Quest on Xbox Live, and it is a successful single-player game that didn't require much more than the intuition to combine addicting puzzle gameplay with addicting RPG gameplay. But an MMO doesn't work that way-- the more popular you get, the more it costs you, and the more games you sell, the more you have to work to deliver even more content. Tobold is exactly right: it's tough, if not impossible, to run a lower tier MMO, just because even the lower tier games require an upper tier budget.But he doesn't end on a cynical note, fortunately. There are definitely videogame companies running around out there that have $50 million dollars to really invest in a great MMO (EA is one of them, and now they've got not only Mythic, but another great RPG company under their wing). And when they do, we the players will benefit. As Tobold puts it so succinctly: "MMORPG history doesn't end with WoW, it begins with it." Excuse me-- the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.
The "punctuated equilibrium" of WoW content
Relmstein has posted a quick analysis of what he calls the "punctuated equilibrium" of WoW content patches. In evolutionary biology, there's a theory that species change not gradually over time, but in quick bursts of dynamic change. And Relmstein applies this idea to WoW's own population changes-- the playerbase seems to grow in quick leaps when brand new content is introduced, but slows down and even falls off when standard bugs are being fixed, or not much content is being patched.What's really interesting, however, is that Relmstein then compares WoW's changes to the effects that content schedule has on other MMO releases. Lord of the Rings Online and Guild Wars (which are WoW's two worthy opponents) both released during downtime (after Burning Crusade and after the vanilla release, respectively). And on the other side of the spectrum, both Vanguard and Everquest 2 tried to go directly up against new WoW content, and, as Relmstein says, got steamrolled.So looking towards the future, it's not hard to see what might happen. Wrath of the Lich King will make a big splash for sure, both bringing lots of players back, and maybe even bringing new players (who played Warcraft III and want to see Arthas) into the fold. Games like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online may try to go up against it, but it wouldn't be a good idea-- they'd be better off waiting until about a month after the expansion, when many players have reached 80, seen what they can see in Northrend, and Blizzard is confined to bugfixes and small content updates. Of course, a WoW content break isn't all these games need-- they still need to be good games by themselves. But placing themselves in this downtime between new content will give them a much better chance to woo more players away from Azeroth.
SOE acquires Vanguard dev Sigil Games
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it is acquiring Sigil Games Online, makers of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. The acquisition had been referenced by Sigil CEO Brad McQuaid earlier this month, citing less-than-desirable results with the MMO. According to SOE president John Smedly, approximately 50 people from Sigil will be brought over to keep working on Vanguard. McQuaid will serve as consultant to SOE and creative advisor for the title. Sigil VP David Gilbertson will be "directly responsible for the day-to-day management" of Vanguard as well as the Sigil Carlsbad office.Citing the lambasted New Game Enhancement controversy with Star Wars Galaxies, Smedley said that any major changes will come from the team themselves and not SOE. Smedley also mentioned that they will be listening to the players for idea on improvement, and said they will soon be opening up forums for the game. Smedley did say that they plan on "spending a lot of time cleaning up legacy issues" and improving performance.Smedley said that the plan is to support Vanguard "for many years to come," and to expect content upgrades as part of the subscription service as well as future expansion packs. "But right now," he said, "the focus is on making sure Vanguard is running the way it should be."
Sigil to have closer relationship relationship with Sony
Isn't love great? Sigil games online, makers of the semi-popular Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, have noticed that their not doing as well as they initially thought. In fact, they've come to the point that Sigil's CEO, Brad McQuaid, has admitted that Sony Online Entertainment is thinking about taking the extra step and acquiring the company. He said that in the acquisition, "SOE is going to be getting more involved with Sigil and Vanguard - our relationship is going to become even tighter - much tighter, [so that the game can] both continue to be worked on and improved and debugged and optimized."Vanguard isn't reaching mass-market appeal for a variety of reasons, says McQuaid. One is the marketing campaign -- the game doesn't require as much team effort and time as, say, Everquest. This wasn't explained very well. Also, the specs requirement were too high for early January 2007. He thinks a re-launch would be the best, with a new campaign and tweaked system. How will they do that? If Sigil gets funded and supported. Thus, the Sony Online Entertainment talks. Will we see Vanguard coming to the PS3? Who knows. We'll keep on this, since acquisitions are great.
Because you need to know more about Medal of Honor
Curious about Medal of Honor: Vanguard and just how it's going to play on the Wii? You know we're here for you! After the jump you'll find a video that not only shows off some of the gameplay footage, but gives you a little rundown on how to pull off the maneuvers with the Wii remote. Now if only we could magic some online play in there! Unfortunately, our powers are limited.And as a small bit of trivia that is completely worthless to you, this very blogger shares the root of her name with one of the weapons in the game.
SOE's Vanguard rushes to retail Jan. 30
SOE and Sigil have upturned some eyebrows today with the announcement that their MMORPG Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will be released on January 30; just two weeks after Blizzard drops the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion. While it seems like poor timing for any new MMO franchise to enter the market, there's also pervading doubt that Vanguard has been thoroughly beta tested. SOE has already become (somewhat) infamous for a string of ill-received alterations to its big brands, notably EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies. If Vanguard is indeed rushed, such a careless release would only deal further damage to the studio's image.
Medal of Honor Vanguard announced for Wii, PS2
Just announced Medal of Honor Vanguard looks to replace Airborne in Wii and PlayStation 2's early 2007 lineups. Rest assured, Vanguard is not a poorly disguised rehash; that's not to say it will offer much beyond WWII shooter standards -- unless you're a sucker for motion controls (on Wii, not PS2).It appears that there will be some loose correlation between the Vanguard and Airborne plotlines, as both games focus on characters in the 82nd Airborne Division and share common mission locales, like Sicily. The "Vanguard" name implies players will be engaging in operations at the very front of the frontline (even behind enemy lines). It's unclear when EA decided to nix development of Airborne for Wii and PS2 and go for a wholly different tie-in -- perhaps it was the top-secret plan all along. In any event, it's for the best, as Wii and PS2 versions of Airborne wouldn't hold up against their Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC counterparts. Here's to hoping Vanguard gets the deserved attention it needs, earning its place as co-heir to the Medal of Honor franchise.
Deep Silver offers loads of new media for GC 2006
WorthPlaying has posted dozens of new screens and trailers from games that will be distributed by Deep Silver in Europe. The German publisher made these visuals available as part of their marketing efforts for this week's Games Convention 2006 in Leipzig. Among the games represented are future North American releases Gothic 3, Mage Knight Apocalypse, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and expansion packs SpellForce 2: Dragon Storm and EverQuest II: Echoes of Faydwer.
Was Microsoft's vision for Vanguard Vista exclusive? [Update 1]
Sigil Games, developers of the upcoming MMORPG Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, shocked quite a few people by announcing that they were buying the publishing rights from Microsoft so that they could co-publish the title with Sony Online Entertainment. We've already provided some speculation about what the "varying visions and direction for the title's development" between Microsoft and Sigil were, but a tipster (who asked to remain unnamed) from E3 provides another possible reason for the split. Our tipster claims to have spoken to several developers working at Sigil and at another development company that has Microsoft as a publisher -- we'd say the meat of the tip is on the same level of credibility as someone saying that the Government is tapping your phone (yes, I made a political joke -- the first comment to judge my political affiliation wins my apathy!).According to our tipster, Microsoft intended to make Vanguard a Vista-exclusive title and Sigil didn't like it. The fact that XP users wouldn't have been able to play the game (limiting the user base quite drastically) and Windows Vista's notoriously slippery release date being the obvious disadvantages of such a move on the part of Sigil. If true, the motivation for Microsoft would have been that the title would be the first MMO to take advantage of Live Anywhere, Microsoft's online games platform which blends Xbox 360, PC and mobile phone devices: more Vista sales = profit!It's credible that Microsoft wanted to use Vanguard as the first MMO to work with Live Anywhere but that Sigil didn't want its game to be Microsoft's guinea pig and therefore bought the publishing rights. With Vista around the corner, Microsoft wants to provide as much incentive for gamers to upgrade and by making big name games playable exclusively on Vista it can gain that incentive. At the very least we get a kick out of discussing the vague PR explanations of the reasons behind leaving a game's publisher during the beta stage. It's impossible for us to believe that simple, meaningless "varying visions" caused this massive, late in the game move.Update 1: Brad McQuaid (Sigil CEO, creator of MMORPG Everquest) responds by saying "false rumor", but Joystiq commentator Jack Slater cleverly rebukes: "personally I would just deny everything if I was him, as there is no legal obligation for me to tell the truth on the forums but there is likely a legal obligation to keep the reason for leaving Microsoft undisclosed." Meanwhile, Ctrl+Alt+Del daydreams about how the meeting between McQuiad, Microsoft and Sony went. Funny stuff.
Splitsville for Microsoft and Sigil after "varying visions"
Sigil Games Online, developers of upcoming MMORPG Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, announced today that they'd be co-publishing the game with Sony Online Entertainment after "it became clear that [Microsoft Games Studios] and Sigil had varying visions and direction for the title's development," according to Brad McQuaid, CEO of Sigil Games Online, as quoted in a company press release on the break-up. It's rare that a game in beta switches publishers. We have no inside information, but a little digging makes it clear that something's not quite right fresh in Denmark. At least one high-profile game designer recently quit, and Sigil's CEO has been defending the game from legions of WoW Fanboys doubters that have been questioning whether it'll ever be commercially viable. The surest sign that the game may be in choppy waters is the fact that McQuaid's now doing business with SOE after his high-profile departure from the same company in the fall of 2001. According to MMOG-community gossip circulating at the time, this departure was also the result of diverging creative visions between McQuaid and Sony on the evolution of Everquest, the successful MMORPG that McQuaid co-founded and designed. Smart observers suggest that the culprit behind all of the churn und drama is the tremendous success of World of Warcraft. To wit: how will Vanguard fare against WoW and the other bajillion MMOGs slated for release? For reaction to this announcement from MMORPG insiders, check the FoH forums, where the unruly mob is being characteristically brutal. Even the President of Sony Online Entertainment is trolled into doing some damage control.
