Ok, I am not even going to pretend that I was ever enthusiastic about Vanguard. The first time I entered beta, I thought to myself, "hmmm, this feels just like old EQ with a graphical facelift".

The fanbois were rampant, loud and enthusiastic and I got tired of being labeled a nay-sayer, so I admitted that yeah, the flying mounts are cool and the diplomacy mini-game was OK (though I'd been expecting something more... robust). I even liked the look of my little Goblinette, although I was constantly annoyed by my character's seeming inability to remember their appearance settings.

Still, I would have been happy to have been proven wrong, and to be blown away by the incredible awesomeness of the game that so very many of my friends found irresistible. Instead, over a month or two they quietly started leaving the game, saying little... and eventually the wolves came out of the walls.

At this point, coming up with a follow-up article that sticks to known facts would be very short. An interesting and in-depth article would consist of pure hearsay, speculation and repeating rumors that run around the net like a bunch of rabid gerbils... so I'm just going to sit back and wait a bit.

I have been trying to talk Alluvian into writing a piece about the crumbling world of Vanguard and Sigil, but he is concerned that it will be too snide. I said "Dude, we are an irreverent site anyway - just stay a little to this side of snide and we'll be fine. You can even stick your toe over the line, as long as you pull it back within a reasonable time-frame." I also suggested that he cite sources, so that people don't think that we invented the stuff. I don't think I could invent this stuff!

What we do know is that Vanguard did not meet expectations in the marketplace, Sigil is, in effect, D-E-D, and that SoE took on a number of the employees as well as the game itself. I should now insert some comment that is so far out in left field that Alluvian is forced to reply with a proper take on the matter, but I am not quite into tabloid journalism yet. Haven't had enough beer!

In closing this mostly useless commentary, I'll say that it is nice that SoE is not labelled the bad guy, for once.