Brad McQuaid Site Updated

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by Maxx

Here's a gem from Brad...

I hope to see you there in Telon and part of this Vanguard -- I know I'll be there and part of it myself -- the opportunities that await, the adventure, the stories that will be told -- I need to be part of that, and hopefully you feel a similar longing

I made it all the way to the third dash before being fully erect. Anyone beat my score?

Edit: Nevermind, just beat my own score.

[vynde]

Originally Posted by Zehn - Vhex

Clearly it's all a big ploy by SoE. They realized VG was going to flop, told Brad to go into hiding while they fixed the bugs and stability issues. When they were finally ready they would bring in a developer with absolutely no idea what the fuck he was doing and piledrive VG even further into the ground. Up steps Silius who shits all over the last few redeeming factors in the game.

Cue Brad's sudden return. In a desperate grab to recapture the magic of EQ1 they bring him back on. They hit the big ol' Restore button and reverse all the changes Silius made without actually improving anything else and herald Brad as a returning prophet of vision. In the eyes of the VG fanboy's he's been redeemed. SoE gets to use his name as a buzzword as the "man who saved VanGuard in it's darkest hour" when they announce him as lead developer for EverQuest3.

I have forseen it...

/tinfoil hat. <3

SOE does seem to like ramming trucks into games that are on life support (like Pre CU SWG).

I'm more interested in what the story of EQ3 would be. I'm not too familiar with EQ2, so where would it go from there?

[Utnayan]

If anyone backs McQuaid, they are absolutely retarded. Unless their company name is so slandered they just don't give a shit.

And Schilling, you are nuts if you think it is a good idea to defend him while you have a game in development. Or at any other point in time in the next 10 years after the shit he not only pulled on the community; but his company, his employees, his "friends", and the MMORPG genre as a whole.

EQ: Right place at the right time, with some of the worst design implementation in MMORPG history, which damned near brought the genre down with it. If you want to give credit where credit is due, give it to the designers that created the zones. Dragon Necropolis, Tower of Frozen Shadows...

EQ2: Never recovered from initial design philosophies. Became a good game only after someone with a clue (Hartsman) took the helm and guided it to where it needed to go. You want to talk about a revolutionary, maybe it's time to talk to the Jesus savior of a bastardized McQuaid title. As far as I am concerned, Hartsman deserves more credit for getting EQ2 back on track then McQuaid deserves for any of his "contributions" in the history of the genre.

Vanguard: I do not even have to say anything. But I am sure players, employees, companies, and the entire genre as a whole, would like to see an apology for all the lies and outright retarded deceit that was spewed. Microsoft would love to have a word.

Schilling I suggest you stay out of this one and concentrate on your game. If you back this idiot, or turn into an apologist, you are going to fuck your game/reputation in the ass before it even hits alpha.

[UnchainedAcolyte]

Considering the fact that Brad owes SOE for bailing him out, saving the game (despite what it was), and possibly for his sobriety, it's not too far-fetched to expect him to do a little pitching for his redheaded stepchild.

Yes, it's disgusting, reprehensible, and insulting to serious gamers, but it's business (as usual).

My personal pet peeves with VG still lay in minor changes early on with the vampiric quest (that while broken, was a permanent effect on your character that made them distinct) and equipment point allocation (can't remember the specific term for it) where you could carry equipment of a higher level by sacrificing additional points for other equipment.

[Fammaden]

Originally Posted by Zehn - Vhex

The BFA (Bottom Feeder Alliance) on CT would just bring 80+ people to any given fight and zerg it down. Fuck, that even became a 'valid' tactic once PoP rolled around. Lag a zone to the point where the boss doesn't melee swing then by the time the 'real fight' starts because the zone finally catches up from all the people dying to a pulsing AE the boss is already at 40% health.

I have been on PoP raids with 125 people in the raid and 75+ more in Tactics doing a lesser god (holy fuck do those numbers sound insane to you now? how the fuck did anything ever get done with that many people?) and it wasn't like that. The mobs action would catch up fast enough to wipe you the fuck out, there still had to be some manner of strat execution. Zerging just gave you more room for error, but you never got magical drops to 40% from what I saw. I'm not defending the zerg rush, but it really wasn't some win button easy mode stuff, it just meant people could die and you were less concerned with them until it got to be about 1/4 of the raid group.

[James]

Originally Posted by Sean

Fly me to the moon, James.

That would be a walk to remember.

[Snugglebear]

I guess Aradune Mithara finally defeated the Plane of Rehab.

[kcxiv]

about 2 days late on the drug jokes, but i am sure we will see more.

[Cadrid]

Originally Posted by James

That would be a walk to remember.

This thread is turning into a David Rosenfelt novel...

As far as Brad is concerned, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt while Vanguard was in development. I didn't really follow the drama in EQ (though I recall the complaints about the Rathe Council being impossible), so all the EQ Brad hate is beyond me, but when in the VG beta and learning the game was going to be released in 6 months when performance, gameplay and fun factor were all in the toilet and we were still being told "It's cool, we're gonna fix the issues, don't worry about it!" for the 10th time, I gave up.

Maybe he played a large role in modern MMOs, maybe not; regardless he used up all his credibility with Vanguard. It doesn't matter if he's a designer, an executive or in the PR department, any MMO'er worth their salt won't buy it, and will dissuade their friends from buying it as well.

People make mistakes, but what McQuaid did came across to many gamers as a border-line pump-and-dump.

[findar]

Originally Posted by Cadrid

As far as Brad is concerned, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt while Vanguard was in development. I didn't really follow the drama in EQ (though I recall the complaints about the Rathe Council being impossible), so all the EQ Brad hate is beyond me, but when in the VG beta and learning the game was going to be released in 6 months when performance, gameplay and fun factor were all in the toilet and we were still being told "It's cool, we're gonna fix the issues, don't worry about it!" for the 10th time, I gave up.

eq was basically this:

players: "XXXX is broken and hinders gameplay, this is why"
devs: "no it works fine"
players: "no it doesn't"

3-12months later

patch notes: "XXX is fixed"

you can fill in a lot of things for XXX, but thats the jist of it. a lot of the game was not tested properly or shipped incomplete when it came to expansions.

[Himeo]

Originally Posted by Gieve

No. It was awful. That's why there were only 2 types of people who played clerics full time - complete fucking douchebags who no one with any sense at all would let into their group if they were anything other than a cleric and absolute stone dumb housewives who struggled with the concepts of pressing hotkeys in a specific sequence or counting to 4.

Lol, I was totally the first example when I started playing at age 13. After doing it for ten years I'm nearly perfect as a healer and my social skills are up to par. Too bad neither of those things matter in WoW.

[Gecko]

Originally Posted by Muligan

First, EQ's success largely contibuted to those who played the game. The generation of gamers a decade ago were much different in terms of mentaility and attitude. The players refused to give up and the word "broken" was merely an obstacle to overcome. People relied on each other, shared, discussed, and online communities thrived on several different levels. Thus, the time was right, the people were right, and the game, for all it faults, supported all of these things. .

Pretty much all true. The only thing you are missing is the game was a first gen MMORPG, and broke the mold.

The people who were online in the 90s were more technical. They were also a generation of pen and paper gamers from a more social and thoughtful time. Demented and sad, yes, but social.

We had a lot of kids who didn't experience reading and roleplaying games, but they were influenced by the older people who were a higher population of EQ.

By comparison, today is the time of the A.D.D. gamer. The WOW kids have few of these qualities. Most are not technical. Many have no RPG or reading background, outside of the Harry Potter novels. Most have little imagination and have grown up inundated with console games, computers and broadband. That's much different than my Apple IIe and Amiga in the 80s.

Today the most WOW talk and discussions you can get are from legacy EQ boards, such as this one.

EQ was about guilds, people, and forums. WOW is about 'me', tier gear, and armory.

Despite having so many people, there really isn't much WOW community. WOW is better in every way than EQ, in that it is casual, yet has great raids. It's instances, and avoids the problems of competition between guilds. It's simple to play and there are mods to ensure leveling is easy and simple and everything EQ was not.

Let me try an analogy:
I have a loaded killer new 2008 car I bought last year. It's far, far superior to my first POS used car that I owned in 1988. However, that first car was magic and owning it was special. My new car... is a car. I think that comparison is valid for EQ and WOW.

[Quineloe]

Originally Posted by Requiem

And you guys ate it the fuck up. We all did.

hah, not me. I didn't touch vanguard until I saw it in the bargain bin and just wanted to see how truly awful it really was. It was terrible.

[Tudana]

Originally Posted by Muligan

You have to be careful of either taking too much credit away from Brad/EQ and also not discredit it to much as well.

First, EQ's success largely contibuted to those who played the game. The generation of gamers a decade ago were much different in terms of mentaility and attitude. The players refused to give up and the word "broken" was merely an obstacle to overcome. People relied on each other, shared, discussed, and online communities thrived on several different levels. Thus, the time was right, the people were right, and the game, for all it faults, supported all of these things. By the time other games came out, it was an addiction or habit moreso than anything. People strived to be the first and best with each expansion not to mention the community was so concrete that many people had such deep loyalities that EQ was home.

Next, with all of that being said, it really sounds that I believe EQ's success was mainly impart to the time and the people. Though being true for the most part, it was still a game that faciliated our needs. It played of our competitive edge, the need for interaction and community, and challenges that many today would complain but we felt had to be conquered no matter what and place on our guild's and server pages as trophies. Regardless if it was accident or purpose EQ was the game for us during that generational culture. Thus, you have to give credit to the game regardless of the colored glasses you look through today.

I'm curious if McQuaid has been waiting for this moment to spring board an opportunity back into the MMO realm or if there is something backstage at SoE. Brad is a great visionary but I really believe it takes a watchful eye and a great team to execute and control his creativity. I would be very welcoming to SoE/Brad EQ3 but at the same time how do you create the right game? EQ fit to us, a decade ago "us", and today's gamers are much different. How do you avoid turning off the loyal old school fans, yet cater to the new school. I believe it comes down to something deep down in Brad's creative roots and a little luck (or accident). EQ is really a story, not a game. It's places, a time, a road, a building, a mob, a raid, and place for it's people. EQ3 could be a completely new UI, graphics engine, combat mechanic, etc. but as long as it worked and laid on a great foundation of Everquest, to me, that would be amazing.

Very well said sir.

What the roadblock would be today for an EQ3 is their old-timers are 10+ yrs older now and have different priorities in life and in gaming. I think they will find a hard time drawing in that crowd again. We, as well as the old EQ feeling, has but faded into memory now.

I currently am following SWTOR, a completely different landscape for me, I am a dwarf, ogre, barbarian type gamer...But I realize I have changed from my EQ days since leaving it and this might spark something again new and fresh for me. Create new memories, fun, and loyalties.

I yearn, deep inside for a new EQ, that EQ community, that EQ challange, drive, and drama, but I will not hold my breath. I will watch from afar if Brad comes up with a new plan and announces something in the cooking pot, but will be hard for me to jump on board again I fear.

I think it would help if he left SOE far far behind maybe. Together they are a thing I would would rather avoid at all cost....meh

[Gecko]

Originally Posted by Tudana

Create new memories, fun, and loyalties.

I yearn, deep inside for a new EQ, that EQ community, that EQ challange, drive, and drama,

I think most of us do. However many of us have changed. Just like we can never recreate the first car or the first girl, we can't really have MMO freshness again.

WOW and EQ2 had some fun moments, but they weren't comparable to the EQ newness feel.

I think future games and settings will enable more fun, but I think the initial MMORPG magic is gone forever. Now, MMO's are just a game. I think they'll remain that way until something advances the genre or creates a new technology that can capture that freshness.

Holodeck, please?