When most people think of Vanguard, they usually remember that the game had an extremely rocky launch period. A lot of things were changed and fixed after the game was sold to Sony Online Entertainment. The original developer Sigil Games Online (headed by former SOE superstar Brad McQuaid) was also sold in this deal. McQuaid's blog welcome-page mentions that he's been on a break from the games industry since the above events in 2007, but "as of late, he's starting to get that itch again...". It was probably this itch that prompted him to start a multi-part post-mortem of his time with Vanguard at his blog.

McQuaid said that he will be addressing topics in chronological order, and part one deals with what he calls the first big mistake that Sigil made: get everything in writing.

"The first mistake that would have a serious impact later in development was the verbal agreement with Microsoft that Vanguard was to be a first rate, AAA title."

It sounds like a change at Microsoft led to a completely different level of support for Vanguard; less funding, less time, and overall a different outlook on what Vanguard was to become.

"So the moral of the story is one that should have occurred to us: get everything in writing, get it into the contract, because even a company like Microsoft can suddenly undergo significant changes to its management and teams. And when those changes do happen, you might as well be dealing with a new company – anything and everything can change, and change quickly."

Part two of the post-mortem will be dealing with the good and bad aspects of creating an all-star team, and we'll bring it to your attention when it surfaces.

So the beta launcher is finally un-betaed! Sony has officially pushed the Station Launcher into the "final version," dropping in voice chat, simplified menus, faster servers for downloads, and the ability to run the launcher without administrative rights as well.

The fun stuff, however, is really contained within the voice update. This new voice, dubbed "station voice," lets you communicate with friends from within the game or outside of the game. Creating a room from outside of the game is done with your in-game character, letting people who are on the station launcher join you, or people inside of the game join your room from the inside, no launcher required.

Plus, the other new features like the upgraded servers that will give more downstream bandwidth for game updates, are certainly nothing to sneeze at.

This doesn't mean that Sony is done with upgrading and changing the launcher, as they've already pledged to continue taking user feedback and pushing that into their product to constantly make a better launcher.

For the full patch notes, check them out on the EverQuest forums, located in this thread.

We've seen various pop culture references in our various different MMOs, but this is perhaps the first time we can honestly say that we've seen a star lookalike in terms of the character's face in a game. Sure enough, our keen-eyed regular contributor, Johanis, was adventuring in Vanguard, and happened to notice that this character resembled a well-known face, so he sent this screenshot to us. He writes: Here is Urlay (doing her best Vanessa Williams impression) adventuring in Vanguard. Though she is a very low level Necromancer, I feel she is destined for greatness. Wish her luck!!!

Have you spotted a character that looks like, or is named for, someone from pop culture? We love those pop culture references in MMOs. If you find some, send those in to us at oneshots [AT] massively [DOT] com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post it out here and give you the nod for spotting it and sending it in.

With the blog of Brad McQuaid springing back online after a long hiatus, many folks are once again talking about Vanguard - for better or worse. Of course, while McQuaid has been offline racing dirtbikes, the folks at SOE have been hard at work improving the game leaps and bounds from those early days. Today's One Shots shows off a dreary, stormy night, and a poor, sodden wanderer - CaptainZoli - who decided it might be better outside than inside. CaptainZoli writes: The thirty day trial lured me back to Vanguard, and here is my character, Lanidia, taking part in said return, standing outside the Asylum in preparation for a dark and stormy night of adventuring.

One Shots is in need of more screenshots, so if you've taken some time while out adventuring, why not gather them up for us and send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com? Add your name, the game it's from - guild, server and description welcome too - and you're set. Couldn't be easier, eh?

Remember Brad McQuaid? As one of EverQuest's original creators and eventually the man behind Vanguard, Brad is a legend in the gaming industry. Sure, his reputation spiraled downward after his time with Sigil and Vanguard, but he has now come out of hiding to tell us all that we should play Vanguard!

Wait, what? Is he now working for SOE again? Well, no one knows if that's the case or not, but the fact is, Brad seems quite keen on getting back into the industry. After taking a few years off to "ride street bikes and dirt bikes, as well as drive sports cars, as often as possible", Brad wants to start creating games again. So if you're a fan of Brad's work with EverQuest, Vanguard (or even WarWizard), head on over to his newly-revamped blog and show him some support.

[EDIT: Some are speculating that this is an impostor. You be the judge.]

[Via Common Sense Gamer]

An upcoming patch to Vanguard has been designated as the "Player's Choice" update, and recently the players decided that it should be focused on bug-squashing. The next phase of this process is now underway, and players can submit their choice of which bugs to fix at this thread. There are a few guidelines for people planning to put in their two cents, the most important being that each person can only submit one bug, and they should do their best to avoid repeating previously suggested ones.

The thread will be open for two weeks, and after that time, a poll will be created for forum-goers to vote on Vanguard's worst bugs so that they can be targeted with priority. When one player asked why the devs wouldn't simply work off the bugs submitted by players with the "/bug" command, Salim "Silius" Grant replied, "This way we are hoping to get the most high profile bugs that the players want fixed right away. Digging through /bug does not tell us just how important or how many people are seeing this problem." If the whole thing goes to plan, a bunch of really irritating bugs should be eradicated when the update rolls out.

E3 may be the show on everyone's minds right now, but SOE is doing what they can to make sure that people don't forget that they have their very own event later in the month. They've put up a preview of some of the digital schwag that attendees will receive for coming to SOE Fan Faire 2009, and the new rule this year is that you'lll be able to get one in-game item for each game you have an active account for -- no need to choose just one anymore.

The preview has pictures and some details about the items, and there's one in particular that will probably get the most attention: the Dianoga Dumpster for Star Wars Galaxies players will spit up collection items if fed once a week for a month, and besides that, it just looks kinda cool. Other neat items include a statue of Firiona Vie for EverQuest II, and a flying dragon mount for Vanguard, although, that one might divide people due to its bright pinkish-purple color. Registration for the fan faire is still open, so if you simply must have a pink dragon, now's the time to book.

Thom Terrazas just recently replaced Clint Worley as the producer for EverQuest, and we were lucky enough to get the chance to speak to him about the move. Among other things, we found out what's in store for the current playerbase in the future, why EverQuest newbies should try the game, and learned that although the 51/50 server type won the latest poll, we should hold out hope for other new types too -- maybe even a "Classic" server. We snuck in a few questions about Vanguard and PlanetSide as well. To get Thom's take on these things and more, click through and read the full interview.

We don't get to see Vanguard: Saga of Heroes as much as we'd like to, but we appreciate the players there sending in beautiful images of their journeys. Today's peaceful image from Vanguard was sent in to us by Paksao from the guild Aequinox on the Seradan server. He tells us about his love of his home game: This is a shot of SOE's Vanguard, one of the most underestimated games I've had the fortune of playing. Look at the depth of the view, the things in the background. That's hot. One person said this game is like a unknown gem of the MMORPG world. I agree.

We know there are oodles of you out there reading, and we're betting that at least some of you are playing/have played MMOs - otherwise, why would you be here, eh? One Shots needs your screens, dear readers! So while you're out playing, or digging through your hard drive, grab some screenshots for us. Send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, server, and a brief description of what's in the screenshot. (Please, turn your UI off if possible.) In turn we'll give your screenshot and note to us a moment to shine, right here on Massively. How cool is that?

Vanguard has been patched with its "Halls of the Pantheon" game update, which marks the first level cap increase for the game. The new level cap is 55, and we're already hearing from the community that getting through the five extra levels is going to take a bit of work. The titular Halls of the Pantheon will have players proving themselves to the gods of Telon in return for great rewards. The feature list for the patch is fairly long, but here are some of the highlights:

Feature Details:

• 200 new quests
• 1000+ new items
• 2 new flying mounts
• Choose your alignment and reap the rewards
• Find out the truth behind the schemes of Kamelott
• Become a god warrior and unlock the way to the Halls of Shattered Souls
• Craft enhancements making them more powerful
• Craft god armor
• Craft a unique epic weapon for each class
• New item mods
• New resistances

Level Increase:

• New level cap is 55
• 95 new abilities
• Spell crafting added
• Item levels increased
• New crafting related quest series

The full feature list can be found at the Vanguard community site.

For the last few years Thom Terrazas has been the producer for Vanguard -- we interviewed him in that role only a couple of months ago. Now, with EverQuest's former producer Clint Worley moving on, Terrazas has stepped up and taken the reigns. Although some might already be familiar with him, he has introduced himself properly over at the EQ Dev Blog, where he explained that this won't be his first involvement with the venerable EverQuest. He was one of the first GMs on the Tunare server way back in the day, so he certainly has some old-school credibility.

Most people would agree that Terrazas has done a fantastic job at improving Vanguard, and he will probably continue to perform well in his new position. This does leave one big question though: who is taking over as producer of Vanguard? We haven't heard any news from the Vanguard team about their producer departing. Is it possible that Terrazas is doing some uber multi-tasking?

SOE is searching for their two biggest fans, and plans to reward their loyalty with a trip to the SOE Fan Faire in Las Vegas later this year. It would be pretty difficult to work out who the biggest fanboys or girls are without any input from the community, so it's up to the players to nominate suitable candidates -- and yes, you can nominate yourself. What qualities should you be looking for in potential Players of the Year? From SOE:

"Do you know someone who is the poster child for your favorite SOE title? So dedicated to the game, he or she walks around with bloodshot eyes, sleep deprived, wearing his or her favorite wrinkled SOE T-shirt? Does this player stand out as the first person to go beyond the call of duty to help fellow community gamers in and out of the game? If so, you may have the perfect candidate, and we want to know more!"

To submit a nomination, send an email to SOEContests AT soe.sony.com with a 300 word letter or role-playing story explaining the worthiness of the player in question; a link to a screenshot, video or artwork can be included. The contest is already underway and closes at midnight PST on the 10th of May, and the nominee must be a US resident and 21 years of age or older. Full competition details can be found here.