Vanguard chatter

[Slayerik]

a static is a set party. (eh, idk if that was a joke or not lol)

Thats what makes it teh funneh!

[Tale]

Is this the place to post the email where they merge 13 servers into 4? Also that they have a server called Farking, I mean Varking.

[Simond]

Anyone seen Geldon recently?

[Nebu]

Merging 13 servers into 4... that's a sure sign of success.  AMIRITE?

[HaemishM]

Merging 13 servers into 4... that's a sure sign of success.  AMIRITE?

It means they are CONCENTRATING the success. Kind of like dehydrating soup.

[Tale]

"Please note that all existing servers will be removed from the game and all characters will be moved onto one of the new servers."

I wonder. Is that simply a PR move to avoid anyone feeling there was favouritism towards a particular server, or are they being moved to lesser hardware as well as being merged? If you're going to free up 9 servers of a type and repurpose them, it might make sense to free up all 13 at once.

[Stephen Zepp]

"Please note that all existing servers will be removed from the game and all characters will be moved onto one of the new servers."

I wonder. Is that simply a PR move to avoid anyone feeling there was favouritism towards a particular server, or are they being moved to lesser hardware as well as being merged? If you're going to free up 9 servers of a type and repurpose them, it might make sense to free up all 13 at once.

Honestly, I'd suggest the opposite: it would be more cost effective to move them to better hardware, so if hell freezes over and subscriptions increase, you can ride out the profit for as long as possible without a hardware change.

[Trippy]

That hardware will be better used in Free Realms and The Agency.

[Abelian75]

"Please note that all existing servers will be removed from the game and all characters will be moved onto one of the new servers."

I wonder. Is that simply a PR move to avoid anyone feeling there was favouritism towards a particular server, or are they being moved to lesser hardware as well as being merged? If you're going to free up 9 servers of a type and repurpose them, it might make sense to free up all 13 at once.

The name is just cosmetic... just because it's a new name doesn't mean it isn't using the same hardware as previous servers.

[Yegolev]

"Please note that all existing servers will be removed from the game and all characters will be moved onto one of the new servers."

I wonder. Is that simply a PR move to avoid anyone feeling there was favouritism towards a particular server, or are they being moved to lesser hardware as well as being merged? If you're going to free up 9 servers of a type and repurpose them, it might make sense to free up all 13 at once.

Honestly, I'd suggest the opposite: it would be more cost effective to move them to better hardware, so if hell freezes over and subscriptions increase, you can ride out the profit for as long as possible without a hardware change.

I would say new hardware, for two possible reasons.  If it is Sigil hardware, they are probably being moved into a SOE datacenter.  If SOE bought the hardware, they could be writing it off, replacing with cheaper hardware from their preferred vendor, covered by the same service contract in all likelyhood... and moving into a SOE datacenter.  Both of these mean savings.  Neither one necessarily means better hardware, in fact if SOE is smart then they are using virtualization anyway so the new VG servers might be running in a VMWare partition.  Who knows?

[sam, an eggplant]

That's an interesting point. Are MMOs really moving into virtualization? I could see it being useful for load balancing and fault tolerance, but as far as I've seen, everybody uses tons of little dell PE1950 1U linux boxes for the app/world servers with distributed db backends on higher-end but still cheap linux clusters segmented for persistence and billing. And they don't really care about fault tolerance for anything but billing.

[bhodi]

That's an interesting point. Are MMOs really moving into virtualization? I could see it being useful for load balancing and fault tolerance, but as far as I've seen, everybody uses tons of little dell PE1950 1U linux boxes for the app/world servers with distributed db backends on higher-end but still cheap linux clusters segmented for persistence and billing. And they don't really care about fault tolerance for anything but billing.

In very high performance tight tolerance applications like MMO clusters and database servers, VMs generally aren't a good choice except as a development environment. It's hard to tweak and troubleshoot performance on VMs since there's an additional layer of 'stuff' between the hardware and the application. Also, the licenses involved cost almost the same as the additional hardware itself, so you don't really save any money going the VM route either.

[shiznitz]

I logged into VG last night for 10 minutes and performance was not noticeably different.

[HaemishM]

I bet the sky outside was still blue as well.

[Sky]

I bet the sky outside was still blue as well.

Just can't quit these blues.

Also, LEMME IN! ;)

[WindupAtheist]

I have to ask, why does anyone still play Vanguard?  Why did anyone ever play it?

Yeah, yeah, I'm that fucking crazy guy who still plays UO, but come on.  At least UO does some things which, for better or worse, all the other games aren't too interested in doing.  But there are a million games out there that are just like Vanguard, only better.  If you want to group up with a tank, and a nuker, and a healer, and a crowd control guy, and go farm some mobs to level up, why aren't you doing it in WoW?  Or EQ2?  Or EQ1, or DAoC, or anything that isn't fucking Vanguard?

[Numtini]

In very high performance tight tolerance applications like MMO clusters and database servers, VMs generally aren't a good choice except as a development environment.

I seem to remember that Linden is using it because their infrastructure is one sim per server. (Which validates your point)

[Modern Angel]

I have to ask, why does anyone still play Vanguard?  Why did anyone ever play it?

Yeah, yeah, I'm that fucking crazy guy who still plays UO, but come on.  At least UO does some things which, for better or worse, all the other games aren't too interested in doing.  But there are a million games out there that are just like Vanguard, only better.  If you want to group up with a tank, and a nuker, and a healer, and a crowd control guy, and go farm some mobs to level up, why aren't you doing it in WoW?  Or EQ2?  Or EQ1, or DAoC, or anything that isn't fucking Vanguard?

Because MMO fandom somehow has become a point of pride where Game A is not only great but all other games suck. And that morphs into the fact that a lot of people play Game B meaning Game A MUST be better because instead of pointless but quick crafting it has pointless and SLOW crafting. You could write a book on internet tribalism in MMOs.

[schild]

You could write a book on internet tribalism in MMOs.

No one wants to read a book that's 50 pages of MUD/P&P RPG mechanics and a thousand pages consisting of nothing but various synonyms for shit.

[Modern Angel]

Maybe. But you COULD write one. :D

[schild]

Let's put it this way: Something not worth reading is definitely not worth writing.

[Nyght]

Let's put it this way: Something not worth reading is definitely not worth writing.

Certainly true but where would the intraweb be if people paid attention to that?

[Nonentity]

Let's put it this way: Something not worth reading is definitely not worth writing.

SCHILD I... I WANT YOU TO READ THIS

BUT I HAD TO SPEND TIME WRITING IT

THERE IS NO POINT TO THIS AND YOU ARE NOT ENRICHED IN ANY WAY

[Engels]

Actually, VG wasn't so bad if you had a top of the line machine that managed to circumvent the horrid coding through sheer cpu/memory power. So the few folks staying in VG probably are a special class of player; those with catass written all over them and the hardware to match, which ironically, is exactly the player base Brad was aiming for.

[schild]

Certainly true but where would the intraweb be if people paid attention to that?

The internet is already 7 layers of awesome.

I can't imagine how much more awesome it would be if everything was worth reading.

[Modern Angel]

I don't know. I'd read a research paper on how people who will readily get drinks at a bar with people they don't know or get a facial massage from someone who might be a face stabbing serial killer won't spend an iota of time in a game with a non guild member. I dig that sort of internet social construct stuff though.

[JWIV]

I don't know. I'd read a research paper on how people who will readily get drinks at a bar with people they don't know or get a facial massage from someone who might be a face stabbing serial killer won't spend an iota of time in a game with a non guild member. I dig that sort of internet social construct stuff though.

10 minutes in a bar with sweet, sweet booze > 2+ hrs doing corpse recovery with a pug.

[Murgos]

I don't know. I'd read a research paper on how people who will readily get drinks at a bar with people they don't know or get a facial massage from someone who might be a face stabbing serial killer won't spend an iota of time in a game with a non guild member. I dig that sort of internet social construct stuff though.

U hava rink?

I had a conversation with someone who said it made them feel 'uncomfortable' to group their dark-elf with my Freeport-betrayed high-elf in EQ2.  Three years later I am still not sure what I think about that, and no, it wasn't an attempt at RP'ing.

[Merusk]

I think the pronunciation of that homograph he's going for is "reed" not "red".

[Ironwood]

Let's put it this way: Something not worth reading is definitely not worth writing.

Tell that to Anne Fucking Coulter.

[shiznitz]

I have to ask, why does anyone still play Vanguard?  Why did anyone ever play it?

That is a fair question, actually. Obviously I can only answer for myself.

I only play MMOGs. Single player games don't do it for me anymore, or at least they stopped doing it for me some years ago and I haven't been tempted back by anything seriously since (HL2, Railroad Tycoon 2, Civ4 were the last.) I just like the social aura of the games even if I branch away from my MMOG internet family.

So when Vanguard came out it was 1) new and 2) part of Station Pass for which I was already paying to play Planetside and EQ2. New is a big reason. New is also the biggest challenge for MMOG designers. A game has to offer something new while not abandoning everything with which I am already familiar.  VG offered new races, classes and a new world. The well-documented problem was that experiencing any of this new stuff was a headache due to bugs, system requirement and timesinks. Nothing in the game was worth putting up with the crap.

Some will argue that EQ2 had similar issues at launch yet I have stuck with that for almost 4 years now. I disagree that EQ2's issues were as bad but they were there. When EQ2 came out, I was REALLY jonesing for a new MMOG fantasy game and I knew a lot of people in the same boat. Plus, I cannot deny that the "EQ brand" had some power over me after my three year, free-time consuming stint in EQ1.

Today, EQ2 is an incredibly robust game that I continue to enjoy so it will take a lot to drag me away for good, but I intend to sample any and every major MMOG release for years to come. Except WoW. I don't know why but I have zero interest in it. Strange.

[WindupAtheist]

A perfectly sane answer, but then you're not still playing it now, are you?  Poking your nose in because it was the newest thing on the Station Pass you already had is one thing, actually being into the game is another.

[sam, an eggplant]

You play vanguard but not WoW?

Give WoW a shot. Level one character to 70 then immediately quit. Don't start raiding or faction grinding or PvP grinding, just quit. You can do it in around 10 days /played, and you will have a fantastic time.

WoW's leveling period is one of the best games, not just MMOs but games, ever made. You're exploring, and questing, and constantly leveling and improving your character, and it's all incredibly seamless and polished. The endgame is pedestrian, so skip it.

[shiznitz]

I haven't played VG in two months but I will try it again at some point now that the servers are merged. Maybe.

Your WoW idea intrigues me...

[Venkman]

If I had a station pass, I'd have jumped into VG. It wasn't nearly as bad at launch as some of the online vitriol made it out to be. It was a throwback to EQ1 which was my fallback game for three solid years. It was rough, but like mos there, we're used to rough. And I wasn't disappointed because I never believed in the hourly books justifying the design decisions in the first place. If it had come out during my waning days of post pub-19 EQ2, I'd have probably jumped up to Station Pass for some PS action as well.

But it's not worth it's own monthly fee. And right now I'd rather play , and occasionally visit WoW.

And Shiz, you should at least check out WoW. You might like it's action-y spin over EQ2's combat model. Or it may remind you of why you like EQ2.