John Smedley is doing an IAMA on reddit (You can ask him anything)

[Cribanox]

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xlir0/iama_john_smedley_22_year_game_industry_veteran/

For those who are interested

[SirAlvarex]

I'm already in the PS2 beta, and after seeing some of those fervent questions about day 1 beta keys, I'm glad I was already selected.

And if that's really smed, he knows how to play his audience. I was came away impressed.

[poofph]

nice, sounds like a new eq type game is coming down the pipe, Everquest Next.

[poofph]

I'm already in the PS2 beta, and after seeing some of those fervent questions about day 1 beta keys, I'm glad I was already selected.

And if that's really smed, he knows how to play his audience. I was came away impressed.

that start yet? How is it? :) I had fun with ps1

[Danyelle]

nice, sounds like a new eq type game is coming down the pipe, Everquest Next.

That's been known for quite some time haha

[SirAlvarex]

that start yet? How is it? :) I had fun with ps1

I'm under NDA and very paranoid, so I won't do a full run down :) . But I am very impressed with it. Right now the tech test is little more than run, shoot, and capture bases, but I'm still really impressed. I'll be fascinated when they add certs for testing.

When you're playing you can really tell SOE is putting a lot of eggs into this basket. Smed is online practically every night sending out messages, assuring us the bugs/balance issues players mention on the forums are being addressed. And the devs are playing too.

Since it's a tech test, I can't go away without mentioning that the game has been surprisingly stable with hundreds of players on screen. This is on high settings too. The potential for huge open scale battles is here. In fact I've already been part of a few. It's quite a scene to be running over a hill with a squad only to see a battlefield in a valley with tanks on both sides blowing everything to hell.

If they stay true to what's been promised so far, they should have one hell of a game come release. I was hugely addicted to Battlefield 2, and right now without the certs/outfits its a much nicer looking/larger scale version of that. Keep an eye out for this one if you like FPS's.

[Zuranthium]

It's a waste of time to talk to this guy.

[Raddra]

I can't trust Smed anymore. Not after the selling the EU's down the river fiasco. I mean, it mayvery well be a very good game.. but how long will it remain so in SoE's hands? I loved classic EQ. I loved classic SWG. I loved classic EQ2.. I don't even need to mention what happened to these games contrary to everything he said. Then he came out after SWG and said that they learned their lesson after the SWG debacle.. and then they proceeded to carry on doing the exact same things.

[Tarathiel]

It's a waste of time to talk to this guy.

the guru has spoken

[Houdiny]

After seeing what they did with Vanguard It is going to be hard pressed to get me to sub to any SoE game in the future. Such a great game, so much potential, and to let it basically roll over and die was an utter disgust to me. They sit by for years and did nothing. I don't want dev teams and companies like that running the games I pay for thats for sure.

[Adrieth]

After seeing what they did with Vanguard It is going to be hard pressed to get me to sub to any SoE game in the future. Such a great game, so much potential, and to let it basically roll over and die was an utter disgust to me. They sit by for years and did nothing. I don't want dev teams and companies like that running the games I pay for thats for sure.

So true. Vanguard had that same feeling of mystery and adventure that EQ classic did. Beta was so good, and then...

[Houdiny]

So true. Vanguard had that same feeling of mystery and adventure that EQ classic did. Beta was so good, and then...

Well they rushed through launch which everyone knows. And I can honestly see why they did that. You pay a bunch of dollars for a project you want it to start making you money. But it isn't going to do you any good if you wont have any subs after the first two months. I can forgive them for this.

But to have the game so close, and so good to just up and stop developing on it for years at a time when there was obvious interest in the game even in it's riddled stages is what got me. All we ever heard was "hang in there, we are working on making this better" I spent years playing that game, even with the bugs, I managed because I still found the game that enjoyable. Then to take the only 2 guys that were involved with the game off of it to develop hello kitty online adventures? No thanks SoE

Despite all their short comings they managed to clean the game up a lot. There is small amounts of bugs fractional in comparison to what it was. Much better and still no future. And when I play the game it's vast world, it's intense graphics, it's amazing gameplay and functionality, crafting, diplomacy, every aspect was unbelievable. All they have to do is finish polishing it up, start over and release it again. But they were too bust shoveling the remaining player base over to EQ2.

I can't stress how seriously disappointed I am that SoE let the one game I felt had the potential to compete with any other one out there fall to shambles and do basically nothing about it.

[mwatt]

I'll chime in for Vanguard as well. Despite it's unfinished state (it desperately needed true itemization) and the crippling bugs during the first 6 months of its existence, it was compelling. It felt like coming home again. It felt like the real EQ2. It had tremendous potential.

SOE first saved it then proceeded to do a combination of poisoning it and starving it to death. To put Silius in charge of development and Tom T. in charge of the project was criminal. SOE fished a drowning butterfly out of a pond and then proceeded to pull it's wings and legs off, one by one.

NEVER trust SOE.

[Nilasbik]

you guys realize that soe rehired brad mcquaid to do the launch of f2p vanguard right?

[Houdiny]

I'll chime in for Vanguard as well. Despite it's unfinished state (it desperately needed true itemization) and the crippling bugs during the first 6 months of its existence, it was compelling. It felt like coming home again. It felt like the real EQ2. It had tremendous potential.

SOE first saved it then proceeded to do a combination of poisoning it and starving it to death. To put Silius in charge of development and Tom T. in charge of the project was criminal. SOE fished a drowning butterfly out of a pond and then proceeded to pull it's wings and legs off, one by one.

NEVER trust SOE.

I couldn't have said it any better. I kept on playing, and once you finished up your Pantheon armor and got your weapons and such it was a really nice set up. Well tailored gear set. Major faction grind though.

They made Sorcerers the gods of the game basically by giving them an AoE wave that you could cast on an endless amount of mobs while running. So every player had a Sorc and nobody actually grouped anymore unless they were in said group with a Sorc mass kiting 30 mobs at a time. Or as many as their computer could handle. Completely ruined the game. And they decided to just leave it. Month after month, turning into years they never fixed it.

The flying mounts were awesome though. The raiding was awesome. I can't say enough good things about the game. Just too bad it ended up in SoE's hands.

[Raddra]

I was really looking forward to planetside 2, but even if I do end up playing it, I am going to have to make a new account with proseiben becaus eno way in HELL am I going to convert/give my old SoE account to some dodgy german company I had never heard of.

I don't want to give any money to that company either to make them think buying the euro playerbase from SoE was worth it (can't believe that happened) but I have been wating for PS2 since the end of planetside... sigh

[mwatt]

you guys realize that soe rehired brad mcquaid to do the launch of f2p vanguard right?

Nilasbik,

Thank for this tidbit. It gave me a small surge of hail-maryesque surprise and hope - and then reality reared it's ugly head. :(

First, Brad McQuaid is not what he once was and apparently is still in the grip of whatever issue he had (not going to say it) that caused him to funk out during VG development.

Second F2P for companies means RMT. Unless RMT were done exactly right - and probably even then - it would ruin the game for me.

Lastly, does the hiring of Brad mean that real resources will be applied to the game? Will he be assigned full time coders and artists? Cause there is stuff that needs to be done and stuff that needs to be undone in VG. I seriously doubt SOE has committed any real development resources.

I'd love to be proven wrong though. I'll do some research. Thanks for the heads up.

I'll research it

[Houdiny]

you guys realize that soe rehired brad mcquaid to do the launch of f2p vanguard right?

Interesting indeed. I think Brad's issues with Sigil was more or less a money crisis. He got into that game and money ran out and he didn't know what to do. So he flaked out.

The world, the lore, the game play that he and Sigil first created was great. I think he has a lot of talent still. But he just has such big ambitions he can't really wrap his head around the fact that there is a financial limit.

I think everything they do in Vanguard right now is a waist unless they re-release the game though. Making it F2P isn't going to get you subs. Trial Island is great, but when they get off that island and realize there is nobody around people will soon unsub or just quit.

Have been saying this for years but in order for that game to resurge it needs to be polished up drastically, reset and re-released or at the very least a 2 month completely free to play trial with all options at a players fingertips. And they need tangible evidence the game still exists. Boxes in stores, cards to pay for subscriptions. Advertisement. This is why Blizzard is crushing the competition. They have these things out in the publics eye and people can't help but notice them. Most of the people I talk too that tried Vanguard at launch has no idea the game is still alive. They thought the doors shut down long ago.

Telon in Vanguard is a world you can literally get lost in. Spend months to explore. You can roll 3 or 4 characters all the way to 55 and still not see all the dungeons that are in that game. It is that complex and that vast. Replayability is unrivaled. And I think some of the classes are the most unique experience in any game. Blood Mage being one, Disciple another, and the Bard class is as good in Vanguard as it has ever been in any mmo.

I could go on and on and I kind of have. That game has sooo much potential. If it wasn't basically dead I would encourage anyone to try it.

[SirAlvarex]

I played Vanguard in beta and I loved everything about it...except the combat. It was so watered down and the animations were lackluster. Killing stuff felt anti-climatic. I can't put my finger on it, but I never felt like I wanted to kill something. EQ and EQ2 (original) made me actually want to fight something, and not just for loot. The creatures seemed to have a purpose in an area. Hell, the areas had a purpose.

That's something that's lost on all the failing MMOs. Just throwing crap around isn't enough. Have to put some soul/personality in the hunting areas.

I don't understand the hate with SOE and Vanguard. Sure they lost vision in EQ, EQ2, and SWG, but Vanguard was DOA. You can say what you want about SOE "sweeping it under the carpet", but I actually saw advertisements. It was cursed because it was a game that needed a lot of players to feel special, and it lacked players. Unless SOE actually *payed* people to play, I don't think it had any chance of revival.