Everyone thought I was crazy… Business as usual. Like the time I had them kill every baby dragon in an instance in Lotro to make sure we weren’t missing something in the encounter with Thorog (to this day they still don’t let me live this down). But, even in my moments of madness, I tend to be on to something. Not always, I can be wrong just like anyone, but I have a unique way of looking at things.

A little more than a month ago, I made an odd comment in vent. I said, “You know, if AOC flops, it could be the best thing that ever happened to Vanguard.” This was met with some, “huh?”, as well as the usual, “here he goes again.”

 

Being a GM I have to look at every game available, present and future. Not because I want to play them, or because we’re going to move to that game (though Lord knows they’ve followed me through enough games), but because I have to know what’s on the table. Not only because it might actually end up being the best game thus far, but also because I might lose people to said game.

And this was how my comment came to be. I saw what was on the table, what was scheduled, and what had the most to offer. If AOC wasn’t going to pan out, I saw the best option being Vanguard. That is IF Vanguard had seen some progress since I played last.

Now this was just a personal observation, mind you. This meant that what I had WANTED in an MMO was in Vanguard if AOC didn’t pull through. Quite frankly, had Vanguard been tweaked and released properly, it had what I’d been looking for all along.

AOC took the piss out of me (which you will find the details in another blog), and so I took the plunge and started playing Vanguard again casually. Oddly enough, another of my officers did the same. All in all, everyone of my officers, myself, several from the guild, and even some from our world first kill Lotro guild, The Covenant, have all moved to Vanguard. And you know what? We’re having fun, and we couldn’t be happier. In fact, it’s the most fun I’ve had in a year and a half, maybe more. It’s a blast. Long story short, Vanguard has shaped up, and it is finally starting to look like what EQ2 should have been (Don’t get me started yet on what might be coming in Sony’s Everquest “program” and momentous announcement in August).

I guess the point to this blog is that as you log into Vanguard now, all you hear in general chat is, “I tried AOC, didn’t like it, here I am,” or “I am back,” and even quite a few asking how to do things for the first time. Looks like subs are up for Vanguard, so cheers to Funcom. I wish them the best, and I think in five to six months AOC will be a great game for those that stick with it and enjoy it, but personally I hope they keep taking the piss. Means more people coming to Vanguard to discover what it has to offer, and of course that means more people I can play with, and possibly recruit.