March 2012 Producer Letter Discussion Thread

With regards to the FTP model, many of my guild members have voiced some concerns.
One concern is that the station store will be utilized to provide items that will improve player's progression. In other words, a player could conceivably purchase his way to the top by just buying the gear with real money. What kind of items would we expect to see in the station stores? What kind of assurances can we get that this wont be the case?
Many others have voiced concerns about how the game will change demographically. Currently we enjoy a higher maturity level of players than in other games. The community gets along with each other and we have very few high maintenance kiddies on the server. Can the development team share a bit about their vision with regard to demographics? What do they hope to gain by implementing FTP. We like our happy little community like it is. We fear we may see lots of griefing, and immature chatter in channels with FTP.
~Val

Valencia@Xeth wrote:

Log onto EQ1 Val.. it will most likely mirror something like that. Housing items, fluff pets, illusions, appearance gear, etc...

As for the community, take a look at the SOE "F2P" model for their other games:
http://www.everquest2.com/free
http://www.everquest.com/free
http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/free/

Valencia@Xeth wrote:

our happy little community isnt very profitable for sony, so if they can bring in a larger playerbase with this im fine with it - as more money means more development which means a happier me - our community is overrated.

Graye@Xeth wrote:

Ok I respect that, I just fail to see why they would not roll back such a monumental stuff up, leaking that much plat into the game...
Normal augs were selling for hundreds of plat, resist augs that players used to vendor were being sold for 50-100 plat...I saw all the big market exploiters selling too, so this will seriously change the game in a bad way if this issue is not rectified and quickly.

... fix rogues?

Jakkal@Telon wrote:

Hostage Negotiations texted me today. It read:

"So you're saying there's a chance!!!!"

About bloody time
I can bring mah friends into trying it.

This leaves Planetside as the last sub only MMO left under Sony I guess.



I hope SOE takes all the data from their four F2P redo's and make this the best.

This post has moved: /vg/posts/preList.m?topic_id=55509&post_id=684813 Removed for racism

Kilsin@Telon wrote:

Eh, 5 gold a piece for some unique equipment... youd make what 10 plat in an hour. You mean the SoK gems went for 100 plat last night? Did not notice that. Economy is no less no more screwed up now than it always was.

Mackan wrote:

it was 20g a peice in the 40+ zones, but yeah. As for resist augs for selling for 50p who's that dumb?

Apaelias@Telon wrote:

Lots of people.

Mackan wrote:

20g - 40g per drop in the higher zones, I know people who made a ton of plat from it. Players like myself with 3+ accounts boxing cleaned up 3x as fast as anyone else by mentoring, I know of at least 4 people who made well over 200+ plat each toon from this exploit (roughly 600p - 900p by the end when the servers went down) and that is just 4 players I know that made that much each...how many other players were online that took part in the exploit?
So it is going to stuff our economy up even more than it already is...just when things were getting back to normal after Live Gamer. We can now expect months of inflated prices making the game miserable for many players (again).
The resist augs were spamming for 50p-100p, whether someone is dumb enough to buy it means nothing, it just shows how stupid some people become with too much money, always wanting more and at who's expense?
I have quite a lot of plat saved from earning it legitimately over my 5 yrs and 3 accounts. I did not partake in this exploit nor do I care who did, I am just annoyed that everything is going to be stupidly over priced now due to a mistake SOE made that they will not roll back on. (now is too late, it should of been picked up and rolled back within an hour or two of it happening).
So now all the honest players will have to sit back and wait months for prices to come back down to normal once all this plat is thrown around and wasted on PotA, Pots, Augs, Alts and so on.
Nice job SOE.
Now where is our promised content releases? (F2P is not content and neither is a botched patch with Golden Path)

As someone who's played through EQ2 & LOTRO's transition to a F2P model, I have nothing ill or negative to say about it.
I've kept a Sub. to LOTRO and have paied for a few "niceties" on EQ2. For me it works out quite well.
I think it will open Vanguard's door again to many who left and many who will be curious to see what the game offers.
It certainly fill a much needed "nitch" in the MMO market imo, due to it's structure and game mechanics.
F2P can't come soon enough imo
Regards & Good hunting All
Rol

Zatozia wrote:

Silly me. How could I think SOE woulda thought/planned further than to the next coffee break.
How stupid of me. Summer 2012 is MILES away. No, wait...

Thank you for the letter, it is great to finally hear something from the team behind the iron curtain. I would have liked a bit more “meat” in the future plans, But I understand its early, and this is a definite step in the right direction. Please keep the communication coming, a little outreach goes along way.

A few points I will cover:

1 – F2P is here, I have been against it for a long time, but have come to realize it could be the best thing for the game. But as with all things, time is the true judge of change.

2 – Do not dumb down the game anymore than it has been. Vanguard stands as one of the only games of its kind left. Please use that as its foundation, its differentiator, bored with easy? Come try a true MMO, a game where challenge still stands and you pay to play with others not ignore them. Stop chasing a white rabbit, time to make your own purple rabbit.

3 – Do not destroy to create, no revamping of current content. Vanguard stands with so much great content, it begs for alt after alt to enjoy all it has to offer. Add to its greatness, give us new, not recycled content.

4 – Bring us the Zerker and Inquisitor classes, itemize the unfinished dungeons and finish the closed dungeons all over the game, easy cheap quick content for a game and a market place to buy it. There is so much left unfinished, already here. I for one would love to see it. Heck maybe time for yet another alt!!

5 – Keep us informed, keep the momentum of this first step. A little good faith goes a long way, be active in forums, pop in say hi, tell us a joke, tease us with future plans. We do not want much, just to be treated like customers.

6 – I for one would love a new server, to experience a fresh Telon. Call it Phoenix or something.

7 - Do not give up on what makes Vanguard stand out, diplomacy, crafting, grouping, and real non instanced dungeons or housing. Expand on what is here, diplomacy is something no on else offers, and few games can even come close to Vanguards in depth crafting. Please keep these relevant and in your future plans.

Lastly keep this momentum moving. We have our first step, now keep them coming.

Exmortis wrote:

Think that would be better as Hayatet

Graye@Xeth wrote:

Hayatet Haven?

My one big suggestion for future development echoes that of many others: play to Vanguard's strengths, rather than trying to mass-market it. I say this not out of purism, but rather becuase I think it's the best route strategically. Lots and lots of games offer easy progression, shallow worlds, etc, while Vanguard boasts a lot of things that they lack. Work on new quest and raid content, yes but also work to flesh out and improve diplomacy and boats and housing and the other unique things that Vanguard brings to the table.

What about those of us that paid for yearly subscriptions - we getting our money back?

Josh@Telon wrote:

There will be a subscription model always, so you will keep all the benefits of that. F2P will have limitations.