News from November 13th, 2007
With the upcoming Game Update 3, there is also plans to change the entire face of the city of Khal. VGPlayers has already posted some before and after shots of Khal, which show some of the really nice looking changes that are going to take place.
The city of Khal , an oasis of sorts in the northern sands of Qalia, has always been a magnificent, bustling city. The Vanguard art team has been working diligently to ensure that Khal is properly represented as the "jewel of the desert" that it should be. In the second half of Game Update 3, players will be able to experience the city of Khal in a whole new light!
You can find the screens
here.
Posted on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:05:45 -0600
There is a new podcast on the SOE page:
Today marks the 3rd anniversary for EQII, so it only seems fitting to have an interview with its Producer, Scott "Gallenite" Hartsman. Also in this episode, an interview with EQ producer Clint Worley, discussion on the Vanguard Producer's Letter, as well as a recap of the SOE Meet and Greet! You can listen to the latest episode here, and stop by the Station forums to tell us what you think!
Posted on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:04:21 -0600
There is going to be some planned downtime in order to complete some Character Transfers this week, here is a message from VGPlayers:
Character transfers will resume tomorrow morning for all servers. If you have a character currently in queue, prepare for your move!
All servers will be brought down tomorrow, Thursday November 8 th at 5:00 AM PST . The expected downtime is 2 hours, with the servers up and ready for play by 7:00 AM PST.
If you created a character before the server merges and have not used the /switchserver command for that character yet, you will have until December 31 st at 11:59 pm PST to do so.
Keep in mind the following when transferring:
Your guild, friends list, and any other server specific information will not transfer with your character.
Characters will be able to bring their items with them.
Characters are responsible for packing up their houses for transfer, should they want to. Houses will not transfer over to the new server.
Experience loss/debt will move over to the new server.
Mail and brokers will not transfer.
Enjoy your news homes!
Posted on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:03:24 -0600
The Official Site has posted a message about helping a good cause, which everybody should definitely take a look at!!
Child's Play has put out the call to the gaming community!!! Let's do our part and help them raise money for those in need!! The Child's Play Charity has collected more than 2 million dollars in toys, games, books and cash for kids in children's hospitals all across North America!!! For more information head over to the official Child's Play Web site,
http://www.childsplaycharity.org/index.php.
Posted on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:01:47 -0600
VGPlayers had an great letter from the Producer, which although quite lengthy has some great details about current and future work and more!
Let Yourself Free and Make This Game Great!
These are pretty exciting times for Vanguard right now. The team is currently putting the finishing touches on Phase 2 and 3 of Update 3 after having launched an astounding performance update in Phase 1. We received a lot of great feedback from you on Phase 1, and we're going to continue our focus in delivering consistently high quality, engaging and in-demand content in each update.
I'd like to introduce myself to many of you that do not know me. My name is Thom Terrazas, Producer for Vanguard. In a few words, I've been with Sony Online Entertainment over 9 years (unofficially). During that time, I have and still do work, with some of the greatest people in the MMO world of whom I intend to solicit feedback from and use to my advantage. One of the best things that I have learned in this industry is to work closely with your team, while at the same time allow them to do their jobs and show off their talents – and we have some amazingly passionate and talented developers working on Vanguard. I give them a lot of credit for launching an MMO of this caliber, and you'll continue to see their talents shining through in our future updates.
You can find the rest of the article
here.
Posted on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:59:58 -0600
There was a recent post on the Official Site with some screenshots from the Halloween fun in Telon. If you want to see some players and the landscape having fun on the holiday, click here.
The creatures were out and about in the land of Telon yesterday evening! To help players get in a festive mood, various members of the Vanguard team logged into game and handed out tricks and treats to players, in the form of candy and numerous illusions.
Posted on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:58:36 -0600
News from October 16th, 2007
Warcry has gotten a chance to interview John Smedley, the CEO of SOE. He talks about both Everquest II and Vanguard, as well as his thoughts about the two games when compared:
As the President and CEO of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), John Smedley oversees the largest portfolio of AAA MMOs on the planet. With fans as passionate as they are about their games, it's no surprise that he has evolved from a simple game programmer to easily the most polarizing personality in the video game development industry. Today, SOE is a company in transition as Smedley works to bring MMOs into the mainstream. He spoke to us about his company and each of the titles in their library in a wide-ranging interview.
"I think we have the capability to make a game that has 10 million or 15 million subs," Smedley said of his company's prospects. "What you can do is make your best game and see what happens."
The above comment doesn't mean he expects one of the games in the pipe to surpass World of Warcraft, it's just a statement of his confidence in what they as a company can achieve.
"The MMO genre in general is becoming the me too stuff," he told us. "There's a lot of grind that's in all the games, ours included."
He's hardly the first executive to lament this, but year in, year out, the same kinds of games keep coming out. According to Smedley, SOE at least, hopes to go in some new directions.
Posted on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:55:41 -0500
Come Meet the SOE Community Team at E for All!
If you are planning to attend the E for All Expo, or if you are going to be in the Los Angeles area on October 18, join the SOE Community Team at the Standard Hotel in downtown LA for a Meet and Greet! We will be partying it up on the pool deck of the Standard during the E for All Expo. The party starts at 7 PM and ends at 11 PM on Thursday, October 18, 2007. The food and drink are free, and conversation will be plentiful. 21 and older only please.
Address: 550 South Flower St. @ Sixth St. Los Angeles, CA 90071
Phone: 213-892-8080
E-mail: downtownla@standardhotel.com
Web Site: Click to visit their web site - http://www.standardhotel.com/
Posted on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:53:53 -0500
There was an article put on VGPlayers that explains all of the changes to the Account Management and Authentication Systems that took place with the downtime on the 28th. You can find the full article here:
Station Account Management System – 9/28/07
On this last Tuesday, Sony Online Entertainment brought all of its games and services down for approximately 14 hours. While we did everything we could to make people aware of the pending downtime as early as possible, some SOE gamers have expressed confusion about what exactly we did that day.
Posted on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:52:50 -0500
Warcry`s Vanguard site was able to sit down with the Vanguard Dev`s and ask a few questions. It`s quite the interesting read, you can find more about it here:
WarCry: With the latest patch for Vanguard now available, will we be able to expected regular patching to Vanguard to resume once again?
Vanguard Dev Team: Once Game Update 2 is pushed to Live, it is our every intent to make sure we have regular consistent game updates.
WarCry: Sigil had been planning a number of additions to the game for the future, such as with expansions, such as mounted combat, ship-to-ship combat, new classes, and "RTS-Style city building". Are these still planned for the future?
Vanguard Dev Team: They are still on the big list of exciting things we want to integrate into Vanguard. However, the main focus for the upcoming months will be spent on performance, optimizations, bug fixes and polish. Once we have resolved those issues to our satisfaction, and more importantly our customers, we will tackle the huge list of features. That includes expanding our core gameplay mechanics as well as adding new ones where it makes sense.
Posted on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:47:13 -0500
