SOE to Publish Vanguard

[stray]

With an ego like that, I think McQuaid is literally going to crack once Vanguard is released (and received).

[shiznitz]

It is hard for me to decide whether my distaste for a level grind is simply a result of the fact that I can no longer play four hours a night.

Do I enjoy EQ2's easy levelling because I can only play four hours a week now or because I am truly sick of the grind?

EQ was fun because it was dangerous. But danger is easier to deal with when one has lots of exposure to it or lots of time to recover from it.

There are certainly just as many (if not more) MMOG gamers out there who can play 30-50 hours a week as when EQ was at its peak. Vanguard has a good chance of attracting many of those people because everyone views "the grind" through their own time committment lens. As has been said here already, Vanguard's biggest impediment to getting a critical mass of customers is the system requirements.

[Azazel]

So, while the Frenzied Ghoul will be in a community dungeon, it will be your Frenzied Ghoul (once you do the quest to spawn it) and other people won't be able to interact with it or something like that.

Sounds pretty clumsy to me, but I'd have to see it in action.

Doesn't EQ2 have something like this? Where once a mob in engaged no one else can touch the thing. It does sound a bit weak, but I guess it depends how it plays out. In WoW, the Templars you can spawn in Sith are "owned" by the spawning player/group but other people can join in the whacking without a risk of killstealing. If it's like that it might work.

Of course, I thought VG was "old-skool eq stylee" a la built around camping for hours on end waiting for the rare drop off the rare spawn, not being able to spawn your own Frenzied Ghoul.

[sinij]

  But then again when I started posting people though I was that dipshit telemod.

You arent?

[stray]

Heh. Dude, he posted that in May.

[Simond]

Brad does his passive-aggressive thing on AoConan

"Only one race". Hah.

[Trippy]

It's one of the reasons PvP worked so well in EQ

[Modern Angel]

He's sort of a douchebag.

Telling: every single person I've talked to who has not followed the game claims that it's going to be a WoW killer, the greatest MMOG ever made. The EB clerk yesterday when I preordered my Burning Crusade copies was one of them. Every single person I've talked to who has followed the game or played the beta agree it's going to be absolute fucking ass.

I predict big box sales followed by one of the most massive subscription drop offs you've seen in months two and three post release.

[Murgos]

Games like D&D Online, Guildwars, Tabula Rasa, etc. are not about huge online worlds to explore, nor about freedom.

Heh, they are evil communist games linked to terrorist activities around the world.  Play Tabula Rasa and you are supporting muslim fanatics.

[stray]

Brad does his passive-aggressive thing on AoConan

"Only one race". Hah.

Dune. "Only one race." Hah. 

[Venkman]

I love Brad, he's such a crazy nutjob.  "No, it's ok that it won't run on today's machines, really!  You can buy a better machine than now in a year.. THAT's what we're looking for!  (Along with ~400k subs)"   Those two statements.. they don't mesh so well, eh?

Oh, how I love the irony

Perhaps it's a statement that they're only after 'serious' gamers who have the bankroll and care to keep their machines within the last 1-2 years worth of tech.

And my point for VG would be the same as TR: They require higher specs and will therefore capture less players for games already niche. TR I can see because it's trying something not tried often. But yet-another-diku? SOE made the same argument for EQ2 and that got them nowhere.

Yet, in the late 90s when EQ pushed the envelope into something everyone new was the few (3D cards), they had competition that could be counted on one hand. Nowadays there's just too many time sinks to choose from, particularly ones comparable to VG in almost every level of experience. All they've done is try to make a game even more high resolution, at a time when photoreal is passé and style is in.

Supposedly, Vanguard will have pseudo-instancing for [some/most/all] important mobs.

At the time I heard something about that, it sounded to me like EQ2's Locked Encounter system. I didn't like it then nor now nor in EQ2. It's like running through a glass maze where you see everything but can't do nuthin.

[Azazel]

I hope they release a lot more information about it, and I do know Funcom knows how to make a good game (AO). Is it something that is made to challenge WoW in 2007 like Vanguard?

 

[Miasma]

please check out a couple of articles on www.bradmcquaid.com

I have seen twelve year olds put together better, more coherent websites than that.  It looks like some sort of awful fan fiction site that someone with a serious mental deficiency would create.

[tazelbain]

Brad does his passive-aggressive thing on AoConan

"Only one race". Hah.

Even worse than third party sites that give sloppy blowjobs...

[Margalis]

Telling quote:

Looking at Conan's tech, like I said, the graphics look great, but appear to be about a year or more behind Vanguard's in tech and they are rendering a LOT less.

So the graphics are better than Vanguard but the technology is worse...ok. Which do I care about again?

Wow, all your fancy technology created some truly ass graphics - impressive!

Did Brad just forget that the entire point of graphics technology is to produce good graphics?

[Raguel]

I'm glad I avoided EQ all of those years. To be honest, I'm surprised that some of you are still interested in mmo's after those early experiences. That you aren't jaded for life.

I mean, I'm almost jaded by the idea of "good loot" period. Let alone the idea of "good loot" that can only be found in huge raids. I'm jaded by leveling period. I'm almost at the point that even "faster leveling" isn't good enough.

Im right there with you. Personally, grinding and item-acquisition are things I tolerate to get to the "fun", but to mmo devs, that stuff is supposed to be the "fun". No thanks.

[Simond]

Brad does his passive-aggressive thing on AoConan

"Only one race". Hah.

Dune. "Only one race." Hah. 

Yeah, that was sort of my point, you know?

Anyway, there needs to be a couple of dead pools set up for the Vanguard launch - one being max number of subscribers, and another being how long before Brad quits/SOE buys out Sigil.

[stray]

Yeah (Just to be clear, I was mocking McQuaid. Not you).

[Merusk]

I love Brad, he's such a crazy nutjob.  "No, it's ok that it won't run on today's machines, really!  You can buy a better machine than now in a year.. THAT's what we're looking for!  (Along with ~400k subs)"   Those two statements.. they don't mesh so well, eh?

Oh, how I love the irony

I've never seen TR say they were going after large numbers, nor are they making stupid claims like "It's ok that the specs are bleeding-edge supercomputer-high RIGHT NOW, really!"  I also pointed out that TR's specs AREN'T as crazy as you all were contending, they're at about the level of 'cutting edge' machines 1 1/2-2 years ago.  I was, however, waiting for someone to come in and post that link-back. Thanks for not dissapointing.  :-D   

[Venkman]

Yea, that was likely barely borderline related, but I had to do it :)

From the AoC v VG Brad post:

The problem with this genre thus far has been longevity.

Considering that less than two hands worth of MMOGs have ever closed out of the scores out there over the last decade, this genre has no problem with longevity.

I don't think we're talking about a large virtual world to explore. I may be wrong here and they just haven't released that information yet.

He is mistaken, but it's also an irrelevant comparison. The things he saw at E3 were just localities around the main cities, each of which they claim will be about the size of Coronet in SWG. But the more important point is that the size of the world is secondary to how well it's used. From what I saw of VG, there was a lot of running around with pockmarks of activity. Compare that to, say, any Alliance region in WoW.

In summary, very different game, older tech, likely a lot less content (and therefore longevity), solo player focus and then PvP focus -- where's the PvE and exploration? Cool combat system and lots of gore -- they're really going after the M rating where we are going for T. One race? Why so little info on the web site? Why the release date on the web site that seems a year off? And why do people call it an MMOG?

Because WoW's older tech graphics made it a failure, solo play opportunity is such a turnoff, one race just means one race with multiple factions, and talking yourself to death about the wonders of a game that seems to be losing interest with each passing quarter is much better than saying little and proving later? I understand he's all old school about community relations, but it's really a shame how defensive he is, and how aggressive he's allowed himself to become.

[Tale]

please check out a couple of articles on www.bradmcquaid.com

I have seen twelve year olds put together better, more coherent websites than that.  It looks like some sort of awful fan fiction site that someone with a serious mental deficiency would create.

It's a myspace page without myspace.

[WindupAtheist]

I can't believe he's posting lists of reasons why competing products will suck.  I mean people may like making fun of catasses and The Vision(tm) and whatnot, but as an EQ guy McQuaid is nevertheless something of a "name" in the industry.  This is a level of unprofessionalism I really didn't expect from him.

[Simond]

All that PR work Brad did on the FoH boards, all down the drain.

Such a shame. 

[Margalis]

Yeah, I really have never seen that before. Most people don't want to acknowledge the competition at all. Just by acknowledging it you are tacitly admitting that you are in for a fight.

I think Brad is the perfect example of someone with no real talent or repeatable ability to make anything. He was just in the right place at the right time, and is being exposed for what he is - a pretty clueless dolt.

There are a lot of people that get lucky exactly once. Then there are people like Id software that can repeatably reproduce the same basic pattern. Then there are people that can repeatably produce good things over a wide variety of genres. Blizzard has shown that ability, Miyamoto has shown that ability, etc.

Brad falls firmly into the first category, and is trying to move into the second one but failing miserably.

[Jayce]

This is a level of unprofessionalism I really didn't expect from him.

Thanks for elucidating something I've been thinking about him.  Every paragraph he writes seems to fall into the same basic pattern: "X is not good for y reason. Now Z Company who made it, I would never say anything bad about them, they're great developers, but [indirect dis].

And his essays are remarkably all over the place for someone who has spent as much time around this genre.  I love reading design-y beardy-y MMOG stuff, but I couldn't make it through.  I kept looking for a coherent thread to follow.

[HaemishM]

I can't believe he's posting lists of reasons why competing products will suck.  I mean people may like making fun of catasses and The Vision(tm) and whatnot, but as an EQ guy McQuaid is nevertheless something of a "name" in the industry.  This is a level of unprofessionalism I really didn't expect from him.

You didn't play early EQ. He is responsible for a few of the truisms of bad PR in MMOG, such as "working as intended" and "bug not feature."

[Yegolev]

please check out a couple of articles on www.bradmcquaid.com

zomg lern2html n00b

When has McQuaid been professional?  Or outside?

[Flood]

Well, I played a lot of EQ back in the day.  I cut my MMO teeth on it because I sort of missed the boat on UO.  (AC1 is the puppy love of my MMO life however.)  I was never really into "the industry" or personages related too until I started lurking here.

That being said - here's what I see in this thread so far as an "outsider":

1. - A larger upswell of The Hate than usual.
2. - For everyone claiming to not care either way about Vanguard, there's 10 pages of hyena yapping.
3. - I discovered I don't care about Vanguard.
4. - Vanguard looks like EQ with EQ2's textures on it.
5. - Because your hobby is computer games, spending more time immersed with said hobby than other hobbyists apparently makes you an expert in the field of computer game design.  Regardless of your actual level of insight and/or skill at game design.
6. - I'm excited about Warhammer Online and Age of Conan.

[HaemishM]

2. - For everyone claiming to not care either way about Vanguard, there's 10 pages of hyena yapping.

Oh, we care all right. At least in my case, I just want to see this twat-flapping douchebag get the comeuppance he deserves for his galatic-level ego, his arrogant disregard for what most players want, and for all those goddamn corpse runs.

[HaemishM]

please check out a couple of articles on www.bradmcquaid.com

zomg lern2html n00b

When has McQuaid been professional?  Or outside?

Holy fuck, you aren't kidding. That's like Icy Hot Ninjaz peen-waving level shittiness.

[Tale]

Holy fuck, you aren't kidding. That's like Icy Hot Ninjaz peen-waving level shittiness.

Wow, he uses separate domain names to show off his possessions:

Brad's Micro Machines collection: http://www.microcollection.net/
Brad's motorcycle collection: http://www.sportandtrack.com/

Each has its own forums:
http://www.sportandtrack.com/forums/
http://www.microcollection.net/forums/

[Merusk]

I can't believe he's posting lists of reasons why competing products will suck.  I mean people may like making fun of catasses and The Vision(tm) and whatnot, but as an EQ guy McQuaid is nevertheless something of a "name" in the industry.  This is a level of unprofessionalism I really didn't expect from him.

You didn't play early EQ. He is responsible for a few of the truisms of bad PR in MMOG, such as "working as intended" and "bug not feature."

"Bug not feature" worked both ways, though.  If it was detrimental to the players or generally fucked with things, it was a feature not a bug.  If it was helpful and outside of 'teh vision' it was a bug, not a feature.

[HaemishM]

"Bug not feature" worked both ways, though.  If it was detrimental to the players or generally fucked with things, it was a feature not a bug. 

Alchemy, rogues at release, Soulfire quest.

If it was helpful and outside of 'teh vision' it was a bug, not a feature.

Camping, kiting.

[Kageru]

Aggro management, main tanks, healers, and "more fookin' dots" doesn't even equal beating the shit out of Glass Joe.

Actually not true at all.. a lot of the most recent raid encounters are not main tankable. Admittedly this is also less fun than
it sounds because it means the fights feel more like demented puzzles, or "trick" encounters, rather than a real combat.

As an actual example the mob my guild recently encountered hits for enough (50k+) to one shot even the very best geared tanks in
the game. Aggro management and healing are totally irrelevant to this fight, instead he must be tanked by priests. There's
lots of other examples of them going further than any other MMORPG to make varied encounters.

... it's still a grind fest of course. No game has really worked out how to make an endgame that is anything but. And it certainly
doesn't look like vanguard has any answers. Assuming it even has a endgame at the moment.

[Sky]

No game has really worked out how to make an endgame that is anything but.

Ultima Online. Planetside. I'm sure there are others.

Camping, kiting.

Feign pulling.