http://m.ign.com/articles/2014/02/13/the-inside-story-of-how-a-major-mmo-went-wrong
Goes into detail about Verant and SOE and Vanguard, and most importantly for Saga, how they aren't trying to make their next game for everyone.
And that groups are key.
However, the Kickstarter project (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1588672538/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen), asking for $800,000 hasn't even hit $400,000, so that's interesting. Maybe there aren't enough people that want tough content. Or are people just scared of McQuaid running another project.
I have respect for him as a person, and he's not half bad as a game designer. But if what he says is true, then Vanguards disastrous launch can be attributed to his lack of management expertise. I'd like to see Pantheon, honestly, but I have a lot of reservations about whether or not that's even possible assuming he got the rest of the $400,000 he needs.
Fear and historical precedent are very powerful influencers. I still think the project would be better off either without McQuaid attached or if he just remained in the background. While I can't blame him entirely for the travesty that became Vanguard's launch, as the leader, the buck had to stop somewhere, and so I agree with Namae about his lack of management experience (or even lack of drive to manage instead of develop).
I also can't help but think of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen as a pretentious name for a title coming from a fallen god of the MMO industry, having yet to prove he can rise from the ashes of anything...
It's a shame it's hard for me to get excited about it, but that comes from experience as a player. The one thing I was surprised and semi-pleased to read in the article is that McQuaid has Tony Garcia on his team. He was very involved with the lore of EQ and EQ2, and I really liked his style, so I'd like to see Pantheon succeed; I don't want it to fail, but at the same time, I can't get emotionally invested in it out of fear and historical precedent.
I feel the same way.
I want it to be successful. I would love for a niche game to do well as opposed to the WoW killers we've had every year starting with EQ2.
But I don't think I can back it. I want a finished project here as opposed to Sony's game, which I have no problem buying sight unseen.
heh. I feel kinda like a sailor in ancient Greece who can hear the song of sirens. You yearn to follow the song, but at the same time you know there is only death and disaster that way.
I am still waiting for pillars of eternity and tides of numera to release ( and star citizen) . I need to see actual stuff I've already backed and play them before I even think of backing a kickstarter mmo
Same here Rumze.
Very excited for Pillars of Eternity.