Vanguard Saga Of Heroes - Player made screenshots released

[Harovan]

Look at them here. The game is still early in the beta, Sigil just took applications of guilds into the next beta phase. Official information on release date is next winter (which may mean next year). The game already looks pretty solid, as you can see in the screenshots. Two of the screenshots show outposts (Leth Nurae and Three Rivers), others dungeon fights and some just free hunts or landscape impressions. The board thread discussing the shots is here.

[DrSpike]

But is it good?

[Skanky Burns]

Hopefully. Initial impressions are good, and Sigil have bought all rights from Microsoft so they have full control over what goes in the game and such. Their design philosophy seems to at least take into account the problems of previous MMO generations, although whether their solution actually works remains to be seen.

Hopefully my guild gets into the beta so I can see for myself.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by DrSpike
But is it good?

It's teh savior of MMOGs, didn't you know? Being that, how could it possibly be bad?

[DrSpike]

Dark and Light?

[Skanky Burns]

Now we get to play the waiting game. Which is somehow appropriate.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Dark and Light?

Remember kids, crafting near water is dangerous.
And also, don't forget to take off your armour before venturing into dangerous areas.

[Grumbold]

I see the penchant for females in heavy armour that somehow neglects to cover important parts like the midriff is not yet dead.

[DrSpike]

GW is the pinnacle of this movement.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Dark and Light?

You can always turn up gamma if it's getting too dark. Seriously though, DnL is an imposter savior at most. They lack 2 things: The creative awesomeness of Brad McQuaid and Aradune Mithara.

What concerns the dressing code, I have to agree with Spikie. Compared to GW the women on the screenshot are dressed like nuns.

[DrSpike]

Maybe Vanguard will prove an impostor too.

[Harovan]

Maybe, maybe not. And everything is, as always in the eye of the beholder. If it will be a success in the eyes of the target audience, I'll be happy with it.

But what will make the game a success? Several numbers have been named in the official discussions. That was about the time when the rights were bought back from MS and the deal with SOE has been hammered out. 100000 subscribers, and there won't be any expansions, it will be barely possible to maintain the core game. 200000, and there can be expansions with some "foreign investment". Can we see the greedy claws of SOE here? 300000, and the game will be a great success, with Sigil keeping it completely in their hands, including all expansions. I think Brad would be fine with something between 250k and 300k and, considering the target audience and the amount of interest of the fanbase, this should be a doable job. He's predicting of 500k+ however (did I mention he's an optimist ), and several times mentioned that, but the break even is about half of that and every subscriber more will make the game a success for Sigil. And hence, a success for the MMOG community as a whole, at least the part of it for which WOW and EQ2 were a letdown. GW as non-MMOG is a special case here.

It will not be a second WoW, and neither a Guild Wars, and does not aim to be that.

[DrSpike]

I consider 500k unlikely.

[Harovan]

It probably is, but can you blame him for being an optimist? 300k+ should, however, be doable, which would already make the game a success.

[Grumbold]

Originally posted by DrSpike
GW is the pinnacle of this movement.

There's something more ridiculous than Lineage 2 out there? I'm amazed