Originally Posted by PlaneCrazy

Just because Vanguard is now in the hands of the distributer (ie: SOE) doesn't answer why the information wasn't posted first (or at least simultaneously) on the official forums?

This is all about how we are to get accurate information on this game. The system that Sigil described to us recently doesn't seem to be in effect yet. Granted, I bet everyone at their offices are scrambling to get the game as ready as possible for the launch, so hopefully, once the game is launched, Sigil can settle down and make this affiliate business work ok.

Originally Posted by Zeppo

Day 11 of 2007.
Word on Release:
http://www.soepress.com/release.asp?i=53

The wait is over.

Thanks Mihm, for the great thread.

Originally Posted by talanisen

So when a company refuses to host a forum for the game, and instead chooses to spread that meta data over a variety of fan sites, it makes me really nervous about the quality and stability of the game and the company. There isn't really anything you guys can say that will allieviate this concern... it's the action that speaks loudest, not the words.

Originally Posted by sgtcasey

Wow, I just read this on the main website and I can't understand the reasoning behind it.

Instead of keeping the community together, they're going to spread them out over numerous fansites. How does Sigil plan on keeping up with all those forums? If I start up my own forum for VSOH, is Sigil going to assign an employee to reply to things people bring up?

Sigil says that forums are difficult to maintain. Okay. I'm a volunteer forum moderator for the official forums on another online game (non-MMORPG) and I fail to see how it's difficult to maintain a forum. All Sigil needs to do is keep an eye out for folks who participate in the forums, are helpful to the community, and agree to help police those forums based on a defined set of rules that all the forum users agree to when they sign up. That is easy and will keep the game community in one place instead of spread out all over the place.

Not having centralized forums makes it that much more difficult when someone needs and answer to an in-game question in a hurry. Now instead of just hitting up the crafting or diplomacy forum we'll have to head to Google and search away spending more time to sift through the junk.

Sigil claims this isn't about money and it isn't on their part. But anyone who is thinking about spend $60 on the game and $15/month or whatever to play it might be turned off in a hurry when they look for the forums to see what folks are saying and don't find any official forums. In the end, I believe this decision will be about money, too bad it will be about money lost.

To the poster who said the forums are useless, they need to learn how to tell the difference between junk and a useful thread. If these forums had even the smallest big of moderation (and in the months I've been hanging around here I don't think I've ever seen a thread moderated) then that would not be a problem.

Sure, the forums are packed right now because VSOH has gotten quite a following in the last 6 months or so as release draws near. That'll cool down. And all you need is a couple folks to help keep up with things and allow the community the ability to report posts that they feel violate any rules.

Forums are a valuable way for people who enjoy the game or need help to come together. In this decision, Sigil is throwing out the window this awesome resource for, in my opinion, a dumb reason.

Sigil, it's my opinion that this is a *very* bad idea. Please reconsider.

Dave

Originally Posted by Skystrike

I agree. If this is a representation of how the actual game will be, count me out. I for one do not understand why a different time for these big patches is not implemented, as of right now hitting at peak time every day for hours and hours is horrible choice and I would atleast like to be informed this will not be the case upon release.

Originally Posted by wolfdor

I appreciate your time and attempts to ease the community into having no game forums, But I'm finally just going to accept that like Guild Wars, there won't be a living breathing community for this game outside of the actual game. That is of course there aren't pending plans to disable in game chatting channels?

Originally Posted by zantax

My two cents.

Am I the only one that researches a game before buying it most of the time and sees a huge red flag go up when the company doesn't run a forum for it? I don't know about anyone else but that usually says to me "uh oh the players are so upset with the quality of the game the company doesn't want potential customers to read what existing customers have to say about the game". I am not saying that's the case here, only that a certain percentage of people will draw that conclusion.

It also sends the message that the devs don't want to be bothered with the concerns of the customer, sort of like "I am tired of reading what all of those cry babies have to say every time we nurf them". Again, not saying that's the case here merely, pointing out an impression it may give to some customers.

The MMO market is getting more crowded every year, if I was running one I would be striving to create the impression that my customer service was above and beyond that of my competitors instead of doing away with a service people have to come to expect from a pay to play game but that's just me I guess.

I have been playing these games since way back in the Isle of Kesmai days so I have certainly seen the animosity that some developers develop towards what can often be an unruly and outspoken player base. I realize it is probably disheartening and demoralizing to see people criticize, flame and generally trash your hard work on a forum your company is funding and understand the impulse to simply do away with them while rationalizing that many players get turned off to the game reading those kinds of posts, I have seen quite a few devs make those arguements in past games, the Asherons Call franchise and Funcom to name two, but I think it's a mistake from a customer service perspective, Sigil is of course free to ignore my thoughts on the matter.

Originally Posted by WolFox

I can understand why they are doing this, but I am with the folks who do not agree with it. Since they are set on not having an official forum, I will not be visiting any forums. I've never visited a MMORPG forum site if it wasn't the official. The flames on these forums can be a downer.. but I will miss personal server forum threads where I can learn about the folks on my server.

Originally Posted by jaeenox

Good point! It is obvious that Sigil is strapped for cash. The game is going to be released even though it is not ready. The forums are closing. I can't even seem to pre-order the game. I just received an email from Fry's that my pre-order is cancelled as Fry's is out of stock. How can a company be out of stock of a game that has not been released yet? Has Sigil run out of money to even make the game boxes now?