I’m not saying everything he is going to do is going to right on, but you have to give the man credit for some of the things he has done and the influence he has had on these games, rather than only point out the flaws and bash him for the things he has supposedly done, or lack there of, as you tend to do, solely based on hearsay. Heh, as for “slurping the Kool-Aid,” there isn’t much to be slurped as of late. I don’t claim to be a McQuaid lover, but I do read alot of his theories and about “the vision” and it seems to me that they are almost spot-on with what the intelligent base of MMORPG gamers wants. Forget the sausage, where’s the love?

Just to set the record straight, I never had a bias against Brad until all this stuff happened. I, like you, had slurped the Kool Aid and thought whatever he was going to do was going to be right on. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I felt compelled to report my findings and my opinions here.

On the subject of supporting the game, I do. While I don’t actively play I do have a station pass with Vanguard on it, and I operate one of the longest-running fansites (since March of 2005) for Vanguard that is still out there. So I’ve been supporting Vanguard by either discussing it on their forums, running a fansite, playing the game, or through other methods since 2003.

I say all this to say don’t discount my criticism of Brad as someone who was a long time Brad hater. Think of me as a long-time Brad supporter who finally saw the sausage being made.

Nice read!

This would explain the crappy starting areas in Vanguard.

So, basically, this game was dev’d in a year… props to those newbie devs?

I guess the only thing left for me to wonder is are we ever going to get the “anti-WoW”/”more like EQ1″ game that so many of us thought VG would be? I would reckon not after this failure… What a shame.

I would also add that I just started playing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and I must say, I’m impressed. It is buggy, not even a little buggy mind you, kind of final beta buggy but that’s good. This means to me that in the next few updates the game will be rock solid. Right now it is definitely filling it’s role as an alternative to the WoW Fanboi game. I was on EQ from beta till release and right now it reminds me alot of EQ Beta, where people could see where the game was headed and the impact it would have on the gaming industry. With regards to V:SOH, it will be the different elements of game play, diplomacy, crafting and adventuring that lend to the atmosphere of the game and also most importantly, the scope of the game. Then there is as mentioned the size of the world. I still remember Ultima Online in it’s infancy and thinking that was huge, then playing Asheron’s Call and feeling that same rush. This game blow’s them both away. It’s so huge, I spent 40 minutes running nonstop from one city to another tonight and I was still in the under 20th area’s.

I would say that though this may be off topic, if you haven’t tried it yet but have been waiting for it to be playable, now is a good time to get in the mix. The game, though still buggy like I mentioned, is very enjoyable. I hear from alot of people who say they are happy they gave it a chance. I would add that the recidivism rate is about 80% right now from people that came back for the free month in December. Thats pretty good but I’m also seeing a bunch of new players who are playing just from word of mouth from other players. The fact is people are very loyal to this game and for good reason, they took a hacked up game and finally made it into a solid MMORPG. I strongly feel that this game will only get better and with the history of SOE support for it’s games, it will be around for long enough for us interested party’s to enjoy.

Enuf Said.