Vanguard was stillborn...because Brad is a guy who honestly had a dream and a vision, but also had an addiction (so it seems) and basically the leadership over there at Sigil couldn't properly develop the game within a budget and a timetable.  So Microsoft not wanting to piss any more money away parted ways with Sigil.  So then SOE eagerlly buys it, and does hardly anything to develop it, and now is pissing it away with RMT crap.

Vanguard never had a chance in hell at being a success.  It is too bad it actually launched at all because it would be far less drama.

Imagine Blizzard putting out a game in this state, then suddenly changing it.  They wouldn't!  And that is SOE's shame, they are cheep hacks.

I cant disagree with that but even with its buggy launch it still had a chance if they jumped on the issues quick enough.  I had a few friends and myself included who stuck it out for 6 months because we saw a lot of potential. However around the 4 month mark there were too many promises and not enough fixes coming through and a guild of 60 or so dropped down to 5-10. 

In a way I still think Vanguard is great value for money, today.  It seems a load more stable and has tons of content added.  Shame the game got its shit together and the crowds moved off.  Compared to what is on the market if there are enough people playing VG then its worth getting into. 

Still think it has some great elements I have not seen anywhere else.

100% open world

In-depth crafting system with missions

Diplomacy

various mounts and missions for rares

player housing in the open not in instances

etc

i played VG for a while starting at launch and then quit for a year and then came back and played for a few more months and then quit again. its a pretty good game all in all. i just think the bad launch etc.. killed the fan base for the game.

It's still a wonderful game and in my opinion the best one around.  Not everyone will like it and I know some people have problems with bugs (I don't).

But it's still worth playing the people playing it have increased, I hope it's around for a long time.

Well until the sanctioned RMT thing was announced I always gave SOE a pass on this one.

At some level I felt they only picked it up as a favor to Brad and why should be obvious.

SOE certainly hadn't sat around to allocate funds just in case a game like Vanguard came along.  So the slow movement or lack of action didn't suprise me.  They also kept people from Sigil that should have never been kept.

Sorry for a long time I kept some copies of posts from Beta.. I don't have them anymore.  But certain things were stated/said by employees that would lead to job termination at any other company.  Instead they were promoted to the top of the VG food chain.  Pretty much with the expected outcome..

Yes the sanctioned RMT thing... will upset people (most probably don't even play VG).  Its a test run obviously... As SOE's expected business model.

Smedley had plainly stated before that moving forward they want to move away from monthly fees (open the game up to a bigger market) and yes basicly run a cash shop.  They already alluded to the "millions" on the Playstation network and/or already on the "home" service.. and that's what they are looking to bring in.

So I understand why they are doing it.. but at the same time I obviously agree with the OP.

I don't think it would matter if they made VG into the greatest MMO ever... Launch is your shot.. maybe even 6 months after launch.  After the "window" passes your chance is pretty much gone.

You can see that with a lot of MMO's right now.  Vanguard had potential.. the idea.. the design goal... it would have been something we dont' have in the market right now.  I mean it still is... but it missed the chance to be what it was supposed to be.

Its pretty sad all the way around if you think about it.  (and I mean for everyone involved from every side).

Yeah, the cash shop will ensure that VG is around for years and years. I can't pile enough priaise on top of Silius. That guy is a real miracle worker. A real class act and something special indeed.

Lots!

Vanguard promised alot but delivered very little at launch. Vanguard was forced to market there game early due to lack of funds and yes it was the biggest mistake they could make. Vanguard will never be one of those games with 100,000 subscribers since they burned so many people early on but I think the game now has potential.I have went back to Vanguard a few times and I am actually playig it now. There is a small trickle of people coming back to the game so there is still a chance it will be around for years to come. I just hate to see a game that has so much potential end up nothing more than an afterthought in the mmo market now. = (

Like some have stated already, Vanguard missed its window at launch and the following 6 months.  However in its current form (so i read) is a game that could challenge almost any other fantasy game on the market but the MMO community is fickle and have moved on to other games for better or worse.  Its a real shame because Vanguard is truly epic as far as land mass and open housing etc.  In a way the game was 2 years too early since hardly any PC could manage it. 

survey says... Nothing, because its still alive :p I've never had the chance to try VG (comp simply can't handle it for various reasons, primarily can't spare the HDD space required) Aways had an intrest tho. and check back from time to time to see how its going.

By my definition something that was killed, no longer lives.. But servers are still up. so it wasn't killed. Maybe injured heavily, but not killed.

But yes, its early launch and many bad moves after launch/slow fixes ect. did hurt the game pretty badly.

Originally posted by Trueth

Yeah, the cash shop will ensure that VG is around for years and years. I can't pile enough priaise on top of Silius. That guy is a real miracle worker. A real class act and something special indeed.

 

Lots!

Gosh I sure hear ya there! I love the idea of a cash shop so much I just bought a lifetime sub! I figure that was a great investment since a cash shop will definitely bring in more players and help keep this game going for a long time! This game is so great, I'm sure myself and many others won't mind one bit having a monthly fee on top of this! And all those suckers who refuse to buy items too bad for you, I'll have so much great gear now I will just steamroll you all lol! Maybe I'll get houses for all my alts now cornor the real estate market now too lol! This truly was a brilliant move.

Originally posted by Trueth

Yeah, the cash shop will ensure that VG is around for years and years. I can't pile enough priaise on top of Silius. That guy is a real miracle worker. A real class act and something special indeed.

 

Lots!

I doubt Silus had very little to do with this.  Smedley all the way.

I would actually say that Vanguard is in a good position to have a resurgance, for several reasons:

1. Its finally at the stage it should have been at upon release, with expansion equivalent content about to be rolled out in the next few months.

2. Computer hardware has finally reached a cheap enough point that anyone getting a new computer should be able to afford a video card that can run this game at max settings.

3. It still has the largest handcrafted dungeons of any MMORPG, and its ingame world is one of the most detailed and realistic computer worlds to date.

4. After having been released 2 years ago, and the community dieing off, it feels like you are exploring a new world because there is so little information on quests, items, locations, and game related material. It is fairly difficult to cheat and look up something in order to make things easier.

Originally posted by LordVanidor

I would actually say that Vanguard is in a good position to have a resurgance, for several reasons:

 

1. Its finally at the stage it should have been at upon release, with expansion equivalent content about to be rolled out in the next few months.

2. Computer hardware has finally reached a cheap enough point that anyone getting a new computer should be able to afford a video card that can run this game at max settings.

3. It still has the largest handcrafted dungeons of any MMORPG, and its ingame world is one of the most detailed and realistic computer worlds to date.

4. After having been released 2 years ago, and the community dieing off, it feels like you are exploring a new world because there is so little information on quests, items, locations, and game related material. It is fairly difficult to cheat and look up something in order to make things easier.

All points well said. If VG was released in it's current state, it would have had a spectacular launch. As it stands now, VG is hands down the best PVE MMO around. More and more people are realizing this.

Obviously the launch is what killed it.  I bought the CE of the game for $70 or so and was very excited about it.  Then I tried to play it.  Everyone knows the story, it failed at launch big time.  I went back a couple of months ago due to the good things I was hearing about it.  I got it installed and updated and was set to play.  The first thing I did was create a new toon.  I just wanted to start fresh and see the game from the beginning in it's less buggy state.  When I got done customizing my toon I tried to enter the game and (this is where the bugs came back) I never left the "platform" thing that your guy is standing on after you create him.  Yes, I had full control of my character... I was just on my little platform, lol.  I said to heck with it and walked off into a great white void.  I didn't die or take any damage for that matter, I was just.....alone in a great white void.  Needless to say, I spent $15 to reinstall the game, create a toon, find a major bug, and then uninstall, lol.  That was twice they burnt me, to hell with Vanguard and all who work with it!! hehe

Z

I'm really lukewarm on VG.  It does have really awesome dungeons and the quest chains are pretty amazing too.  But there is obviously a vaccuum in some areas like housing.  It really serves no purpose other than as an extra bank.  You can't craft there or set up a shop.

I played for about 8 months or so about a year back, but finally I quit because it just felt bland.  Everything feels sorta plastic.  There's no conflict or 'reason' to fight or do dungeons, etc.  I just never got that 'hero' feeling I got from EQ.  Gear was too easy to come by, is one of the reasons.  In EQ when you earned a piece of gear, it felt heroic because it was very hard to accomplish.  In VG, we could 3 man group content, so when you killed that boss or whatever the gear you got felt pretty mundane.

It really could have been a great game, and they did build a really beautiful world and dungeons.  I just wish Brad had laid off the damn pills.  If he had, VG would have had a much different history than it does now.

VG servers were closed down?

That's news to me last I checked VG had around 75-100k subs Sony would be mentally retarded to toss away 1 million+ in revenues a month.

so where this VG is dead link? something official?

the game would have been amazing, so many cool classes

two things that killed it

1. released to early, it needed more work

2. you needed a beast of a computer to run the game

Originally posted by Vinterkrig

the game would have been amazing, so many cool classes

two things that killed it

 

1. released to early, it needed more work

2. you needed a beast of a computer to run the game

Pretty much dead on.

Game needed at least another year of development and polish.  Plus that extra year would have gave technology a chance to catch up with the games requirements.

Originally posted by Vinterkrig

the game would have been amazing, so many cool classes

two things that killed it

 

1. released to early, it needed more work

2. you needed a beast of a computer to run the game

The game IS amazing and it's far from dead.  But your two points are the primary reasons the launch was a failure.  That said, those issues have been addressed and Vanguard has slowly gaining subs for 6-7 months now.  The bad launch is the reason why Vanguard will never be a mass-market MMO, but because it is the best PvE game out there, it'll continue with a healthly population and a good future.

Originally posted by boojiboy

Originally posted by Vinterkrig

the game would have been amazing, so many cool classes

two things that killed it

 

1. released to early, it needed more work

2. you needed a beast of a computer to run the game

 

The game IS amazing and it's far from dead.  But your two points are the primary reasons the launch was a failure.  That said, those issues have been addressed and Vanguard has slowly gaining subs for 6-7 months now.  The bad launch is the reason why Vanguard will never be a mass-market MMO, but because it is the best PvE game out there, it'll continue with a healthly population and a good future.

Have to add, in addition to the above points, poorly implemented PVP gameplay drove those players players from the game as well. (permanently)