Another Server Merge for Vanguard

On the official Vanguard forums, Silius has confirmed another server merge in the works for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. They are still working out the details but the future looks grim.

There are currently only four servers left, three PvE and one PvP. My guess is that the three will be combined, while the PvP server left as is. Since it's one big open world, I can only assume players will lose their homes and guild halls in the transfer. But I have to wonder how long will SOE continue to support an MMO with two servers?

As was mentioned in comments in a previous post, Vanguard could have been the real Everquest successor. It just needed a little TLC...okay maybe a lot of TLC. If SOE had piled on the love and care EQ2 has received, I think Vanguard could be a phenomenal game. But maybe that was intentional. Maybe they didn't want Vanguard to be good enough to compete with EQ2 which might have caused population issues there as well. They want to bring in new subscribers not spread out the ones they already have. Could they have let it flounder for that reason? I don't know, but whatever their reasons, the state of the game is a tremendous shame.

New Flagship MMO for SOE

SOE recently advertised they are seeking a Lead Game Designer for what they are referring to as a New Flagship Project. Their use of the term "flagship" has me curious what they might possibly have planned. I would consider their current flagship to be Everquest, versions 1 and 2. John Smedley did mention in a previous interview ... "when we say "the EverQuest franchise," we'll be visiting that world again, and we're definitely in development on some things."

So if it is another version of the world of Norrath, how would they do this differently? They will want it to be more profitable than the other two, so most definitely not as hardcore as EQ1. And I would also think it would be less graphic intensive than EQ2 to cover a wider audience. And based on SOE's current trends, it might not be a subscription model.

If not Everquest, then what else would they have up their sleeves to warrant being referred to as flagship? The other themes they have in the works are action spy, comic book hero , and DisneyWorld. Might they do something fresh and new or use a pre-existing ip? Fresh and new is always a risk. With all the current and upcoming offerings, it really will need to offer something unique. But pre-existing ip's sometimes put limitations on where the game can go due to lore or franchise restrictions. Inquiring minds want to know!

Credit Spammers - The Sweet Sound of Silence

A couple weeks back there was an announcement at the SWG site that they were looking for volunteers to be part of their new Warden program. They were looking for about 30 responsible people for each server who would be given the ability to silence anyone spamming credit sales or power-leveling services.

It went into effect a couple days ago and Mos Eisley is once again a happy place to visit. The first couple days you still saw the spammers sitting there, but the Wardens were doing their job and no chat was coming across the chat box or in chat bubbles over their heads. Today they just weren't there at all.

I've seen complaints about greedy SOE being too cheap to hire people to do this, blah blah blah. I think it's a great idea. A lot of players love helping to making their server a better place to be. And I think it's great for a company to have enough confidence in players to make them part of the process.

From Middle-Earth to Tattoine

Though I tried to focus on the fun stuff, the negatives still kept getting in my way so think it's time for a little break from LOTRO. In a way, the whole leveling process reminded me of end-game EQ but minus the awesome rewards. Most of the group quests to me are no different than raiding....one hour to fill the group with just the right classes and then two to three hours muddling through elite mobs. Having only an hour and a half of uninterrupted play in the evenings and no desire for this type of play anyway, this leaves me with the Auction House to obtain my gear. Since the AH is so expensive to post items to, unless I know my item has a very good chance of selling within two days, I vendor all armor drops. And I'm guessing many others do too since there is very little to be found for sale. At level 39, I am still in level 21 pants.

So with my class trainer having no skills to offer after level 40 and there being no items to save up for, there's just nothing to look forward to. The Evendim expansion to me was a bit disappointing. It was supposedly the expansion with solo quests to get you through the 30's. More than half of the solo-designated quests were not soloable at all. Unless you are a class that can handle four to five mobs on you at once, you really need a friend or two to get these done. The zone is so dense with mobs, you can't take three steps in any direction without being ganged up on.

But anyways, being the glutton for punishment that I am, last night the other half and I resubscribed to SWG. I had Station Pass several months ago and had retried SWG for just a few hours. It was so unfamiliar to how it used to play, it was really hard to get back into. But my husband's been mentioning it often so here we go again. I only just logged in briefly this morning on the Bria server. My chat screen was immediately filled with spam from four afk players advertising their gold selling websites. I could not believe how blatant they were about it. This would not be tolerated in EQ2 so not sure why SOE is permitting it here. I've gotten tells and mail messages in other games but to be standing in the center of town shouting?

Ah well, I still intend to give it a fair shake. I at least want to level high enough to get out of Tattoine and onto prettier planets. If anyone is currently playing, please let me know!

As the World of Telon Turns

A few former Sigil employees have let their feelings been known regarding this whole debacle.

Here is an excerpt from a very lengthy interview at F13:

"Ex-Sigil: It's hard. I really wanted Vanguard to be a great game, but it seemed like we were blocked by stupid decision making at nearly every step. Good people busted their ass, only to be shown the door because they weren't a 'culture fit' moving forward. I don't believe Brad is a bad guy like some people are painting him on the various forums right now. I DO think however, that he believed people wanted to play a game that HE liked, regardless of the masses of people telling him they didn't like his ideas. He ignored the opinions of people who worked for him, and busted their ass for him, and it cost him dearly, at least in reputation. So many of us jumped at the chance to work with Brad, only to find out he was a paper leader. You can only fool me once. I never want to work for Brad or Dave ever again. There was so much good in the team, so much effort wasted. None of the people listed above should ever work in any position of leadership. Though, Jeff might have a chance. He learned lessons from this, I think. The others did not. The whole ordeal has been rough. I know I'm exhausted."


Nino posted over at FoH: "I promised not to be publically scornful, but I will say this: I hope those truly responsible for the deep rooted failings of the company lay in bed tonight and relive the events that transpired today in their heads, over and over. For not ONE of you is without your job come tomorrow morning." Follow the link to read the whole thing.

Obviously, there's a lot of bitterness and resentment and I sure can't blame them for feeling that. Sounds like Sigil was full of wonderful musicians without a qualified maestro to orchestrate them.

The End of Sigil?

Life's been busy and I've fallen a bit behind in keeping up with various blogs and gaming sites. But what a shock to read F13 regarding the firing of Sigil employees. Supposedly an announcement is coming today so I'll have to keep an eye out to feed my curiosity. I may not have been fond of Vanguard, but having followed it for a few years I'd really gotten to like many of Sigil's employees. My heart goes out to those guys and I wish the best for them.

More surprising still was reading Grouchy Gamer. Assuming that what is posted here is correct, Brad had been a rare visitor to the Sigil office since last December. There are some other bits there regarding an irritating personality, but I take all that with a grain of salt.

I'm guessing SOE will pick up some of the cream of the crop of Sigil. And while I know many are upset about SOE having anything to do with Vanguard, I do believe the game can only improve from here. They may have botched SWG completely, but they did turn EQ2 around and have learned quite a bit from past mistakes. I'm not sure if I'd go back to Vanguard to give it another whirl, but I'm rooting for the game and hope it succeeds.