Remembrance:
We thought it would be a good idea to take a quick moment to remember the late and great Brad McQuiad “The creator of worlds”. By now anyone who is/was anyone in the MMO world knows his name, but the sad thing is when he passed away people had acted like he didn’t matter. Today we here at the grove take the time to remember one of the gaming industries greatest devs of all time. Brad McQuiad passed November 18, 2019 (aged 50).
Past Accomplishments:
Some say without Brad the MMORPG industry wouldn’t be where it is today, or maybe it was the guy who created Ultima? It’s always up for debate, but the truth is, he impacted open world RPG gaming forever. Not only did he create Everquest, he also created Vanguard, which I still have my physical copy from the day it came out. (I also have a copy of Everquest 1 Collectors edition but admittedly it was gifted to me).
When we look at it from a realistic point of view he had indeed passed on at an early age. Some say it was stress from making his new MMORPG titled – Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, or as some rumors stated maybe drugs were involved. Here at the Grove we dare not speculate, but as you can see above he passed before his time.
Brad McQuiad’s Legacy lives On
The future of Brad’s legacy will live on with his last game Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen since his team announced that they are allowed to continue development. The game is still in development and release date is TBA, however it has a great Vanguard 2.0 feel to it, however it’ subscription based which may scare away some people from playing it.
Reflecting
I never owned Everquest 1 when I was young, but boy I’ll tell you I wanted it so bad, just seeing the cover art made me want to play it. You see I always had an affinity to D&D style RPGS since I had played many classics such as Dragon Warrior, Chrono Trigger, and of course classic Final Fantasy games.
In the early 2000’s I fell in love with MMORPG’S because of Shadowbane, a game created by Wolfpack Studios, and published by Ubisoft. However I always thought about what it would be like to traverse the world of Everquest 1. So one day I finally checked out the trial for Everquest 2. From that point on I knew it was one of the best MMOS ever, not because of hype, but because of the energy it gave, and the feeling I felt. Of course I played WoW for a short bit, had a ton of fun, then realized it wasn’t for me.
Eventually I became a game developer and I now know Brad McQuiad’s work inspired me to get it in gear and try to build something “bigger”. I once thought I could work on MMOs but I quickly learned I was better of making smaller/medium RPGs as well as VR games. If I could get close to the talent he had I will be happy when it comes to my career.
Conclusion
Here at the Grove we have played many, many MMO’s together, too many to mention in this article. (We shall save that for another day). Today and forevermore we shall remember one of the greatest Game Devs the world has ever seen. Whether the world realizes it or not, Brad McQuiad will be missed, but not forgotten.
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