I have a hunch (based on some Twitter activity, not on anything actually stated anywhere) that the dev team is probably part-time but also probably larger than we might think.

Originally posted by Daffid011

That isn't entirely true.  DDO and Lotro both had significant turn arounds and grew after their revenue models changed.  The jury is still out on a few others like Hellgate, Gods&Heroes, APB, etc. 

A lot of things went into those two specific games either turning around (DDO) or growing (Lotro).  They are both pretty good games for what they set out to do and so is Vanguard.  Most other bad releases are hopeless, because they are poor games to begin with.

 

Not that I think Vanguard is going to turn around or a few patches will turn the game around.  People generally don't care enough to come back to an old game, because of a patch.  An expansion, change in business model, switch of ownership or something else that might make headlines could get more people back, but that isn't very likely here.

 I haven't heard any rumors that VG would go free to play or even freemium.  So, I'm not sure why you would even make that comparison.

Originally posted by sri_rishabh

Originally posted by GreenHell

Im sorry but as much as I would like to believe that SOE has a long term plan for VG I just can not lie to myself like that. SOE will throw VG some love since SWG is shutting down. They need to for their station pass. As soon as they release something new VG will once again be put on the back of the bus.

SOE is not releasing anything new soon...

One thing is sure...they will not release an unfinished product and keeping that in mind EQNext is at least 3 yrs away..Planetside 2  is niche game and a diff genre...so SOE need VG to thrive especially  since EQ1 is really getting too old now..

And if VG is able to manage itself in green, then why not

 Even to this day, I sometimes return to EQ Live and I still find it more entertaining than either EQ2 or Vanguard.  EQ Live still has substantially more subs than VG or EQ2.  I believe it would be more in their interest to keep updating EQ Live over either of their other fantasy games.

Originally posted by Vorthanion

 I haven't heard any rumors that VG would go free to play or even freemium.  So, I'm not sure why you would even make that comparison.

That rumor gets mentioned here constantly.  As mentioned many times elsewhere, however, F2P is officially off the table for Vanguard for the forseeable future.

I have often heard this said, and I'm unconvinced by the statement that EQ1 has more subs than EQ2 (more than Vanguard, sure.) Now that EQ2 has a f2p option available, that becomes very difficult to quantify that without access to the real numbers that only SOE has access to.

There's no question, though, that EQ is a very healthy game, which is remarkable given its age.  It's probably not getting many new players aside from the curious checking in on stuff like the Progression Server, and I doubt those folks hang around very long.  So it's dying, but it's dying very slowly, and I suspect it still has many years left in it.  I have no doubt that it will hit its 15th anniversary, and 20 wouldn't surprise me.

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Originally posted by Vorthanion

 I haven't heard any rumors that VG would go free to play or even freemium.  So, I'm not sure why you would even make that comparison.

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That ship has most likely sailed though.

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Originally posted by Ardwulf
I have often heard this said, and I'm unconvinced by the statement that EQ1 has more subs than EQ2 (more than Vanguard, sure.) Now that EQ2 has a f2p option available, that becomes very difficult to quantify that without access to the real numbers that only SOE has access to.

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EQ2X has 1 total servers, so it isn't like there are tons of paying subscribers being added. Both games are winding down though, but I as you suggest I would not be surprised if EQ sees a 20th anniversary and will outlive EQ2 and several other popular games out right now.

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Originally posted by Daffid011
EQ2X has 1 total servers, so it isn't like there are tons of paying subscribers being added. Both games are winding down though, but I as you suggest I would not be surprised if EQ sees a 20th anniversary and will outlive EQ2 and several other popular games out right now.

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I was more talking about non-subscribing EQ2X players, which represents a revenue stream outside traditional subscriptions.  EQ2 overall might therefore be more profitable than strictly looking at the subscriptions might otherwise suggest.  EQ2 servers can accomodate a lot of people due to sharding high-pop zones, so just having one server (on which the players base probably plays more casually anyway) might not neccessarily say very much about the total number of active players.
 
 

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Originally posted by dazedconfuse
Ask yourself one question. Are there more players coming from eq2 to vg or is it the reverse? If you are honest with yourself, you will feel pretty good about the future of vg.

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Too, the VG population is small enough that even a modest inflow of addtional players (wherever they come from) can make a major practical impact in the game.

what server has the most players

Originally posted by Raxeon

what server has the most players

There are only 2 servers Telon and Halgar. Halgar being the European server. Halgar is a pretty barren server with most of it's players moving to Telon. So, yes jsut go with Telon hehe

Originally posted by Ardwulf

 
I was more talking about non-subscribing EQ2X players, which represents a revenue stream outside traditional subscriptions.  EQ2 overall might therefore be more profitable than strictly looking at the subscriptions might otherwise suggest.  EQ2 servers can accomodate a lot of people due to sharding high-pop zones, so just having one server (on which the players base probably plays more casually anyway) might not neccessarily say very much about the total number of active players.
 
 

When I said subscribers I was including people who are paying a la carte as well.  EQ2X is still just one server and that one server can only hold so many people and a portion of those players on EQ2X are not paying anything at all.  In all actuallity EQ2 servers are notorious for bogging down under normal mmo server loads. 

Hopefully Vanguard can live as long as either EQ and see some real development in the future.  Seeing any work being done on the game is a nice step.  A very small step that is little more than a teaser, but better than being ignored completely.

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Originally posted by Daffid011

When I said subscribers I was including people who are paying a la carte as well.  EQ2X is still just one server and that one server can only hold so many people and a portion of those players on EQ2X are not paying anything at all. 

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Sure. What I'm saying is that it's impossible to calculate the money coming in from non-subscribers without actual data (unlike subscriptions,) so we have no real way to judge Extended's impact on the overall health of EQ2. SOE says the service is popular and profitable and I elect to take them at their word on it. They've also talked about Extended players on average putting in fewer hours, being lower level, and having different grouping habits. None of that is really surprising.

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Originally posted by Daffid011

In all actuallity EQ2 servers are notorious for bogging down under normal mmo server loads. 

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That's a problem I've heard talked about but to be honest never really noticed, then or now. However, they have recently (as in, in the last month or two) started upgrading server hardware, so however big these issues are, that ought to help.

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Originally posted by Daffid011

Hopefully Vanguard can live as long as either EQ and see some real development in the future.  Seeing any work being done on the game is a nice step.  A very small step that is little more than a teaser, but better than being ignored completely.

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This is something We talked about on the podcast in the context of the SWG cancellation. In my book any game that hangs around for 8+ years can be considered a success in some measure. It may not have blown anybody's doors off in that time, but that kind of endurance says something.

As for this update, you're right that it's little more than a teaser. But it does mean that devs are looking at Vanguard again, and by implication that means that something bigger than a handful of random bug fixes must be in the works.

Hopefully SOE will sell this game to someone else who will take care of it. 

I havn't played since Beta myself but would like to from what I hear about it.   I just have no interest in investing my time or money in anything that is SOE for all the obvious reasons.  

Originally posted by DSBHR

Hopefully SOE will sell this game to someone else who will take care of it. 

I havn't played since Beta myself but would like to from what I hear about it.   I just have no interest in investing my time or money in anything that is SOE for all the obvious reasons.  

People have been fantasizing about that for many years. It's time to let go of it

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by DSBHR

Hopefully SOE will sell this game to someone else who will take care of it. 

I havn't played since Beta myself but would like to from what I hear about it.   I just have no interest in investing my time or money in anything that is SOE for all the obvious reasons.  

People have been fantasizing about that for many years. It's time to let go of it

NO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFGfWrJR5Ck

Originally posted by Logos1326

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by DSBHR

Hopefully SOE will sell this game to someone else who will take care of it. 

I havn't played since Beta myself but would like to from what I hear about it.   I just have no interest in investing my time or money in anything that is SOE for all the obvious reasons.  

People have been fantasizing about that for many years. It's time to let go of it

NO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFGfWrJR5Ck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t7Ld7fsYI4

Its far too late,  I logged in from the 30 free days we had,  and everything looked and felt old.

At the time, yea, awesome!  But now?... showing visable signs of neglect.   I could barley travel a few minutes before logging off.

A hand full of bug fixes are meaningless.

I think its time to get closure on this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU2ftCitvyQ

I play now - currently - the game is the most feature full MMO out there ATM. It's fun, deep and I haven't noticed a single bug. The graphics aren't old or stale. I have a high end system and they're cranked - it's gorgeous.

Originally posted by sadeyx

Its far too late,  I logged in from the 30 free days we had,  and everything looked and felt old.

At the time, yea, awesome!  But now?... showing visable signs of neglect.   I could barley travel a few minutes before logging off.

A hand full of bug fixes are meaningless.

 

I think its time to get closure on this one.

I think this is a cycle that all commercial products can experience.

Product has a dip in popularity ->  company invests less -> product dip in quality -> less customers etc etc.