Comments on: SOE’s Wrecking Helm

By: Deadman

Deadman — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 08:36:02 +0000

I could care less who they hire long as they keep producing games like EQ2 is now.

By: Counterpoint - Amber Night

Counterpoint - Amber Night — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:03:00 +0000

[...] Look under your seats. You get a MotWA, and you get a MotWA, and you get a MotWA! Krones, you do not get a MotWA. Go wait [...]

By: Krones

Krones — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:39:35 +0000

I definitely agree, while it would be something I would like to see, Smed isn’t going anywhere for a long time which is why I think the future looks bleak for SOE offerings unless you like RMT. Smed probably won’t leave SOE until the apocalypse and even then he might grow some horns and rule an evil empire.

Saving Vanguard was a mistake, EQII is far more superior and anyone who had access to the beta knew that Vanguard would flop and would need months of work to get into an acceptable state for the non trailblazers. It’s too late for Vanguard, they won’t recover to their projected 300-500k subs; their ip is shit; their optimization is shit; they bit off more than they could chew and now they are paying the price for it.

I remember when Smedley talked about their relationship with Brad and Vanguard and claiming Vanguard was this superb mmog, what a crock of shit - of course, he isn’t going to say anything bad, but any informed gamer will see through his bullshit.

Thanks for posting, I’ll check out your podcast, it has been awhile since I last did. )

By: Meh, lots of morons of the week this week… at MMODIG

Meh, lots of morons of the week this week… at MMODIG — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:05:59 +0000

[...] blogger who got his titties in a twist ober SOE hiring some ex-IGE guy. Well, with the exception of Krones. I want his babies, and you never call you future sperm donor a [...]

By: cyanbane

cyanbane — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 05:25:15 +0000

The only way SOE can cleanse it’s dirty hands is with a shakeup starting at the top by ousting John Smedley and doing some serious restructuring.

Not that I am a Smed fanboi, but from an exec status in the last year he has: a.) brought Vanguard (a “potential”** EQ2 sub leech) in house and in essence mitigated it’s value in the MMO market (atleast vs eq2) and b.) Took someone who knows international mmo markets that worked against SOE policy and brought them in house to work with SOE. c.) showed the investor market that there WAS a market for RMT on official game licened servers, and that an MMO company could provide that to players.

Doesn’t quite seem like fire-able material to me from a business perspective.

Don’t get me wrong there was some shit-hit-the-fans for players and SOE PR/marketing (ie SWG NGE, Station Access Increase + Increase + Increase) but you are looking at it form a players perspective, not a shareholders. With EQ2s playerbase increased from last year (one would think with EoF) all the integrated PS3 home exposure and the above mentioned, from an investor standpoint, the smed is golden.