A Year Later:

Who remembers this??

oh, WOE...the Ides of March continue

It's an article I wrote last March, and if you read through it, you'll see that I had some real concerns. Starting with this:

Vanguard:Saga of Heroes has been in the works now for more than 3 years and has been one of the most anticipated games of the...decade? Century? There are some huge shoes to fill, and fortunately, the feet in them are the ones that stretched them out that far! But that doesn't mean it's an easy job! Trying to cater to a more educated player base has got to be tough, and, that's why they make the statements that Sigil is making a game that they all want to play! All very educated in many ways, and all very passionate about what they are doing.

And then I wound up with something like:

So, to all of you who want to "play" VSoH now....don't! We don't want to hear about how crummy it is. We don't want to see posts from people in OR out of beta who want to cast dispersions on a world not yet fully created, or the people working on it!

I will admit, some of the things I said in the middle were idealistic and hopeful. Some just flat out wrong, and some that should have been "ok", as I look back on it, kinda took a turn we didn't see. Other stuff seems to have been right on target.

It's the first quote that I've thought about ever since the announcment last week. I asked CK if he remembered me talking about this so long ago, and he did. We all discussed this possibility.

So, what happens when people put SO much faith, trust, loyalty and expectation into a single thing? People who literally spend years chomping at the bit for something so grand, so huge, so...so....phenom (in their own minds) that it makes expectation into something totally unachievable?

One thing is what some of the same article talks about: Naysayers!

It's a breeding ground for flames, hate, near liable and near anything else you want to add. Look at what happened on FoH (who didn't care! More members for them!) and what even SV and TTH (to name a couple others) have had to combat and deal with! If this was TV ratings, those sites would have blown the others away! Spheres would have had to dig a hole and climb in, but...we didn't. We, and our readers, kept waiting and hoping for the truth. Our "ratings" went down, but we stayed firm and steady! (Thanks, guys....you're the best!) TTH and SV started saying "STOP THE MADNESS" to some and did take action!

Another thing that happens: May 14, 2007...the day SoE took over.

Did we see it coming? Many of us actually did. Is it what we wanted? Not in a million, g'zillion years! Was there anything anyone could do about it? No.

The damage was done. Something had been so built up in people's minds that there was no chance of a developer meeting everyone's expectations. The dream was unobtainable in the time it had left to actually come to fruition, and became a nightmare to many. I'm not sure even Brad's mind could keep up!

We need dreamers! I'm horribly afflicted in that area, but I have this awful "real" streak that plays havoc with me and others, poor souls. If I do push it away, I always have someone like Pirotess, Kethra, CK or...my husband...to reel me back in (thank God for all of you!) Left unchecked, it's very true: A mind is a plaything forever! But sometimes, you just have to let the reality check smack ya between the eyes but, hopefully, not hard enough to leave a scar.

Do I hate Brad McQuaid? Never in a million years. He's one of the ultimate dreamers in the world and I feel horrible for all the shots people have taken at him! Do I dismiss him of all accountability? Gracious, no! He even says that. Do I believe everything he's said? I'm not really sure, and I don't think this is the time to start casting stones. Too many have been flung and too many got hurt. Badly!

Everyone here knows my passion for Customer Support, I'm sure. I was honored to do the first 2 rounds of GM interviews for Sigil. Keejay, Daegarmo, Aughos, Tage, Verityn, Auspex, Djembe....a few more. Laby (of SV) and I both talked to Michelle Butler about the plans she had. I've talked to players and the hopes they even had for CS! Almost all agreed that the most successful CS are/were the ones where GMs worked in conjunction with volunteers who were the forefront and actually responded, could actually help and would contact a GM, if needed! Real people helping real people, if you will. NOT outsourced contracts to a country that 1) doesn't know the game and/or 2) how to understand English (and other languages) well enough to know what the players are talking about and 3) took jobs away from good people right here who knew all the above and needed...and loved...the job! NO canned e-mails with the invisible GM attached. NO "knowledge base" that is, at the best, frustrating and way too time-consuming so that, by the time you maybe get it figured out, it's WAY too late!

Strangely, every time I would ask about this, I would get no reply. So, as I'm seeing Squires and Knights of the Crimson Fellowship working some of the servers with new GM names, I am hopeful that things don't revert to the EQ style of no Customer Support.

*crosses her fingers and eyes*

So, now what?

About the Affiliates, to quote Brenlo:

We will put up a list of fan sites but it will not be "An official" list. We are not going to recognize any one fan site over another. This is how we treat our fan sites on all of our titles...

Ok....that's pretty clear. VSoH is just another title in the stable. WAY ahead of the others, in many ways, actually, but....

Is it going to get the help it needs? According to them, yes! They are planning new releases and fixes. They did hire back some of the devs that have worked so very hard over the past few years, so at least there's that!

Is it going to become another SWG? That's something I really don't see happening! VSoH is incredible! It really is!! But, I've been wrong before...

Is Spheres and the others going to shrivel up and die? Naw. That'd be too easy! We can't let you guys run us off, even if there is the new OVF.

Do the other Affiliates have plans? Why don't ya ask them? I think we all do, really. Some of us are sticking pretty close together. Remember: Thru adversity comes might!

You might just be surprised!