Vanguard: Saga of Heroes players past and present will undoubtedly know the name of Brad McQuaid, one of the original creators of the game. According to a new interview on the Vanguard site, McQuaid rejoined Sony Online Entertainment in February.

What exciting plans do you have in store for Vanguard?

As MMOs grow older there are often areas in the game where the loot and rewards aren't as good as in other areas. This unfortunately encourages players to choose a specific region or quest line for their level and ignore much of the rest of the game. One of the things we're working on to get ready for the free-to-play (FTP) launch is a re-itemization of the majority of regions in the game. This means we're going through areas and making sure that quest rewards and boss loot drops give you great items. As a player you'll be able to explore and level up in different areas of your choice without having to worry that you're missing out on great loot that drops elsewhere.

Read the full interview on the Vanguard site.

This post will probably bring on another long list of "I hate SOE's FTP model" rants, but I for one can't wait to get back into this game!  It should be a lot of fun! 

Originally posted by nuttob

This post will probably bring on another long list of "I hate SOE's FTP model" rants, but I for one can't wait to get back into this game!  It should be a lot of fun! 

There is no denying other companies have done FTP models that are successful and not entirely restrictive (see: Turbine).  All I know is SOE really makes it impossible to play the game as a "free" player.  What's ridiculous is instead of making people want more, they get pissed and leave the game.

I played Vanguard in the past and had a decent time with it.  There wasn't enough people to delve into dungeons though and I get tired of dying solo.  Instead of making a good hybrid model for longevity, this feels like a last leg, cash grab at this point.

Originally posted by nuttob

This post will probably bring on another long list of "I hate SOE's FTP model" rants, but I for one can't wait to get back into this game!  It should be a lot of fun! 

no, it wont.

Because those posts are actually somewhat reasonable.  Hating the model is one thing, its not designed for max level play for free, and thats all some people want.

[mod edit]

Originally posted by teakbois

Originally posted by nuttob

This post will probably bring on another long list of "I hate SOE's FTP model" rants, but I for one can't wait to get back into this game!  It should be a lot of fun! 

no, it wont.

Because those posts are actually somewhat reasonable.  Hating the model is one thing, its not designed for max level play for free, and thats all some people want.

Instead, it will being on a rash of completely ignorant posts stating such nonsense as 'SoE never learns, this will fail' (while ingoring the fact it worked well for EQ2) or 'f2p players cant do anything with this model' when they can experience all the content the game offers with the exception of max level content just fine.

 

LOL!  Thanks for making the distinction!  I play EQ2, and I think a lot of people don't understand that you can avoid subbing, only buy triple station cash, and for very little money you can have a full lev character with epic gear (at least in EQ2 you can).  You do have to put out some money though, and that's where most of the screaming and yelling comes from.  They want the whole game for free. 

this game should go f2p

Originally posted by toekaless

this game should go f2p

really? [mod edit] its going F2P late summer.

I hope they do a significant revamp on certain portions of the game like character models and animations and probably some upgrades to the overall visuals in general, the game is pretty but it still looks plasticy and unfinished in some cases.

Originally posted by Aeolron
It's nice to see brad back with soe good things could happen with vanguard now.

I feel the exact opposite, not pleased to see him back at all.

Once *again*, experience trumps how that experience was used.

I'm cool with giving people second and even third chances.  But how big a screw-up do you have to be to to get held accountable for it?

Originally posted by Aeolron
It's nice to see brad back with soe good things could happen with vanguard now.

I'm torn about this...

One part of me says it's a good thing because I liked his overall philisophy of game design back then, but the other remembers the smoking ruin he left Sigil and Vanguard in.

As long as he is on board as just another dev and not actually heading anything up I think it probably is good to have him around.

Originally posted by falc0n
Unless swg cu came back haha. pre cu or post

I'm not saying theres a SWG emulator somewhere, because that would be against MMORPG.com TOS.

Preordering Vanguard was the worst money I ever spent on a game.

Vanguard was one of my favourite all time games, specially due to the team PvP, as soon as they closed that down, i added another notch to my 'reasons to hate SOE for destroying games' belt.

Im not a fan of brad or his so called "vision" but his addition to the team is the strongest signal ive seen that $oe may actually make a real attempt to do something with vg other than maintain lifesupport.

Brad is a genius in creating games that harken back to the times of old that so many of us miss about mmo's. Now keep him as a dev and he flourish's, put him in charge of anything and it explodes and kills everything around it.

Lesson learned.