Age of Conan

First we had the "Return to EQ2" campaign, and now I saw this in my email...

Service Notice Email for Telon Rides On Reactivation

This message is to inform you that your Vanguard: Saga of Heroes account has been reactivated for a limited time*.  Between June 26, 2008 at 12:01AM and July 31, 2008 at 11:59PM your account will be re-activated and you will be able to log-in and experience all that Vanguard: Saga of Heroes has to offer.  Vanguard: Saga of Heroes has undergone many game changing updates and we are offering all former account holders a chance to play the game for FREE for a limited time.

Your account has been reactivated; simply launch the game software and log in to play Vanguard: Saga of Heroes until July 31, 2008 at 11:59PM PDT for free.

For all the latest news, updates, and information please visit Vanguard: Saga of Heroes update page at http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/gameUpdates.vm.

Come back to Vanguard today for a limited time and experience the new game updates firsthand.

- The Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Team

This is a customer service notification

*This offer, and the period of free game-play described in this offer, expire on July 31, 2008 at 11:59PM PDT.  This offer is not available for current Vanguard: Saga of Heroes or Station Access accounts or for accounts that were banned or were not in good standing when its Vanguard or Station Access subscription previously expired.

Entering billing information before July 31, 2008 at 11:59PM PDT will terminate the free service and you will lose the balance of any unused free play period game time.  In addition, if you re-subscribe to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, you will not be entitled to any game time that may be included with the purchase of certain versions of, or other offers related to, Vanguard.  Sony Online Entertainment does not ensure continuous or error-free access, use or availability of any game content, feature, game-play or server and may change, modify, disable, suspend or remove any such content, feature, game-play or server at their sole discretion.

To add billing information to your account, simply visit www.station.sony.com and log in to your account and select “Subscriptions Info” and click “Add Another Plan”. Select “YES!” to subscribe to the Station Access multi-game subscription offer (game software sold separately) or “No” to only subscribe to Vanguard. Choose a Subscription Plan or Pre-Paid Game Card and click “Continue”. Enter the required billing information or Game Card Code (if available) and click “Continue”.  Additional recurring costs apply as part of the Vanguard account subscription.

Maybe because nobody plays soe's crapttastic station pass games, thats why they are offering free months on all theri so called flagship titles.  Beyond a joke.

Hey we know our games suck, but for  a limited time only, free of charge you can coe back and see how crap our gaems still are. 

I dont think this has much to do with AoC.

First of all its summertime and veterans who growed up into their own family probably have a bit time to play now.

EQ2 is going through changes atm. Scott Hartsmann left SOE and the new producer is a dev who who was working on EQ2 since day 1. He left SOE at some point and is now back. For some reasons i think EQ2 is heading back to its roots. A bit at least. The WoW-ification didnt do much good to the long term motivation of classic EQ2 pre EoF. Time will tell if i am right and if the next expansion will have that epic feeling of pre EoF expansions.

Vanguard is close to release the trial and maybe the revamped character models with GU6. Why not dig for players now and then surprise them with a big patch ? Although the dev team is small, the game improved with every patch and is the best/most modern classic mmo on the market. Classic as in traditional MMO gameplay. Not exactly a skill based UO, but with three spheres to keep players busy and entertained. It took EQ2 a long time to recover from GU13 and it shows how much patience SOE has. EQ2 isnt a WoW killer, but has probably twice the content of things to do. Vanguard has the potential to beat that.

Wrong section, ain't it?

Any fraction of AoC's box buyers would be enough to open another Vanguard server or two; but so long as the game consists of three graveyards and a less than half-filled last leg of a server, I wouldn't call it "capitalizing" so much as an attempt to.

No different than the release of City of Heroe's Issue 11 around launch, of LOTROs reinstatement of Lifetime Subscription offers...I'd mention those two games before I'd mention EQII or Vanguard. There's even the upcoming guild beta phase of WAR. S'all just competitive behavior.