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Are you kidding me!!
OvertheHill
Member Posts: 2
After dealing with yet another poor community and lack luster hope for an mmo I could call home for years to come rift has let me down, but enough of that lets talk about my new found love.
So I finally decided to try vanguard after remembering lots of praise on the rift forums from peeps who had just left to play rift due to lack of support, and also the high praise it recieves from this forum. So what the hell I thought, nothing else really out there untill gw2 so i tried the 14 day deal.
Once in game I really wasnt blown away but gave it the benefit of the doubt and kept on trucking. A few lvls in I started to get a feel of it and thought this isnt so bad. I guess 12-16 hours later over a few days (dont remember) I advanced with one of my toons to the end of the quest line for the starter area. At this point I still wasnt sold but could see the potential and that kinda got me excited, and the curiosity got the best of me and wanted to see more. So I thought ok whats the worst that can happen once I get over to the mainland, by this time my head hurts from thinking. Anyways I sub for a month and get teleported to veskels as recommended by some island peeps.
I'm really starting to get stoked now after opening up the map and wow this is a huge game and I had only noticed the continent I was currently in, not till later did I see two other ones. By then I was really blown away, and the world is just gorgeous for a game of its age not sure how old it is. Also for a dead game there sure were alot more toons running around then I had expected too. The community for the most part is very pleasant, I havnt even started on the many classes, I chose a nec and let me say this is how a necromancer should be made in every game, very cool design, only lvl 27 but very fun.
The grouping in this game is just awesome, I was able to get invited to a dungeon quest line on the Desert continent and time just flew by, I havnt had this much fun in a mmo for a very long time if ever, just a great mix of classes this game offers very smart cant say enough about it.
Another bonus apparantly since its going free to play its starting to get regular updates so thats a bonus for me as well. Oh and I was also very happy to see they even have appearance slots like rift or eq2 which was a pleasant surprise. Also the crafting is just somthing so cool, you get your own crafting gear down to an apron really lol, and theres seperate stats for all the stuff as well, very cool.
Well its late so basicly just had to come on here an brag about my new mmo, I really am surprised this good of fantasy mmo slipped through the wall without me trying it sooner. So if your into huge open world with excellant gameplay and community look no more this is the game for you. Atleast its a must try if your skeptical.
If your on the fence about trying this game like I was I hope this little review helps.
Comments
I enjoyed the game also, and ya the community rocks.
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I plan on playing this when it goes F2P myself. I've tried a few times now, and can't seem to get past the starter island. I just don't feel like struggling through that and then paying for a sub. I'll give it a real shot once it does go F2P. And I do think you're seeing a big bigger population than expected now due the the F2P announcement. I think many people are becoming interested in the game again and deciding to sub for it before it goes F2P so that they (hopefully) get to keep those extra classes after the transition.
It's a solid game, but does need some love. Hopefully, the F2P move will really get people excited about it, while still maintaining the core of a very friendly community.
Welcome to Vanguard OP,my home for the last 5+ years.Yup Vanguard is vast beyond imagination for an mmo,the world holds so many adventures it daft.The Necro of Vanguard is one of the best Necro ever designed in a MMO,that's for sure.
As for updates,to be honest a newbie does not need to worry about Vanguard updates for at least a year or even a year and a half.You could play Vanguard for 2 years and still not see half of what it has to offer nin content,it has more content than swtor and rift put together.
19 races 15 classes and 13 different starter areas with their own adventuring quests,diplomacy quests and crafting quests.
Vast non instanced world with many vast 5 man dungeons that are more like raid dungeons in other mmo.Some take a few hours but many take days or even a week to complete.
Glad to see you are having fun.Most people take the Isle as Vanguard the game but the Isle is nothing like the main Islands.With FTP i think they are going to update the starter areas rewards so people can start all over the world of Telon,there are some brilliant starter areas and quest themes.
Yeah, vanguard is a good game that never got a chanse due to Sigils pathetic programmers and the shape it released in.
I hope they fix it up a little more when they make the transition to F2P and actually start updating it regularly, that is really what kept me away.
It was a better game in beta 2, before Sigil traded Microsoft for SOE, than it was at launch.
I'm not someone who bashes SOE generally, as I like the work they've done more recently and I'm looking forward to their current projects... but when they first entered Vanguard's picture, it was thoroughly NGEd. They've done a lot of good for it since then, I'm just saying that I find it hard to blame its state at release on Sigil. It was with SOE's entry that Vanguard's design was upheaved, and it was their choice as the publisher to release it when they did.
To be fair Microsoft had enough with Vanguard and Brad went to SoE to save them. SoE did and gave Sigil a chance but they couldn't pull through in the end. My personal belief is that Sigil's programmers were good they were just creating something out of their league since world design to that graphical level had not been seen yet. In the clean-up that ensued SoE ended up taking a lot of good things out of Vanguard but at least they stablized it.
Vanguard is a wonderful world to explore and I hope the f2p conversion brings it new life. I still think VG would be better served as a level-less, skill based system but then I would never be able to play another game again.
Just not worth my time anymore.
Brad has explained on his website (which since had this explanation removed again, sadly) that Microsoft completely changed their administration for the game sphere. So what Sigil had to face was a completely new management at M$ that did not have any clue what Vanguard was supposed to be, and didnt wanted to continue funding an AAA MMO. So yeah, Vanguard was very unfinished when released.
I'm in the same boat. Played in Beta and had a hard time with the amount of bugginess to it. I understood it was beta but Falling through the world, crashes and performaces issues put me off. Plus I was pulled afk for a year and jumped into a bunch of new games.
Needless to say I came back now and am really falling in love with it. I wasnt getting into the diplomacy and crafting at first, until I sat down and really gave it an honest shot. You are literally playing three different characters. An adventurer, a diplomat and a crafter, down to gear, ability points levelling etc.
I am going to do a full up review on this one hoping to catch peoples eye. I am hoping this one gets a second wind with F2P this summer, it is defintely a gem. With enough new traffic maybe SOE will put some real effort into it. It deserves it.
Last MMO I played that I really liked, due to lack of support a long time ago, I had left, but nothing since then, in the last 4-5 years has been better....I may check it back out when it goes f2p....
I thought the viewing distance, and graphics were great for the game, and they actually toned the graphics down and reduced the polygon count to fix the scanning/jog type lag when near a lot of high polygon graphics...So it was even nice looking at one point, but I guess the code is kind of a mess from so many different people having their hands in it.
Are you serious? Sigil Entertainment devs were mostly fresh devs straight from school. They had hardly any experienced devs in their team!
Hence, why the game was horrendously bugged and had a horrible performance with insane chunk loading issues.
I mean seriously.... look at the character models and animations.... can't get any more basic and amateuristic than that.
When SOE took over after launch and threw some "real" experienced devs at it, they actually managed to fix a lot and made the game actual playable and more enjoyable.
IIRC Sigil actually had a careful selection of gaming veterans as development team, and they had a huge team (200, 300 people ?), too.
The main issue why the game was so sucky at release was that the game was in no way ready to be released, yet. Hardly any endgame content, many bugs ...
I remember many years ago when VANGUARD sounded like a dream to me. I was captivated by it. It was going to be the first MMO I buy for myself, subscribe to, and keep a job for so I could keep paying for my hobby.
Then the internets flooded with terrible reviews, warning people away from the title. Sadness.
I'm looking forward to finally trying it now that it's going F2P, especially the open world feeling of finding adventure wherever you decide to travel, by whatever means (I'm hoping to sail quite a bit) but now I wonder about the combat, and how outdated and slow it must feel. It's my sole worry about the game.
Either way, I'm happy the game is still kicking and getting some love
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
If I ever had to say a game had hope as a F2P; vanguard would be it.
I would and will return to vanguard when it hits f2p. I'm sure countless others will join in. Might get more dev love.
Played - M59, EQOA, EQ, EQ2, PS, SWG[Favorite], DAoC, UO, RS, MXO, CoH/CoV, TR, FFXI, FoM, WoW, Eve, Rift, SWTOR, TSW.
Playing - PS2, AoW, GW2
Sony having the EQ2 model and again making decent money with there offers and station cash will do the same thing for Vanguard and the more folks who play the more things will be done to Vanguard. Future looks promising.
MAGA
Nice to see the OP is enjoying the game..it is fantastic.And so much to explore,played it for 2 yrs solid and only reason i left was lack of support from SOE.thats not saying SOE were bad.they did really good stablizing this game and getting it playable.looking forward to f2p as well so i can head back there.bt far the best mmo i ever played and will play.nobody will ever take a risk and make something loke this again.i believe that archeage is goin to be similar,not sure but it wont have asmuch variety in classes.thats for sure.
What surprises me is that no producer/softwarehouse looked at Vangard and said we should copy it.
Instead they copy Wow and the likes and there are a 100 and 1 of those type of games, Aion , Rift, GW, SWTOR, etc etc are essentially skins of the same game, that is why I for one get tried of them after a month or so.
But nothing else with the depth of play as Vanguard.
It there was then perhaps Sony would have realised what a gem they had and given it a bit more love. Oh well I think once it goes F2P these devs will open their eyes and realise that there is a massive market out here that craves for a indepth fantasy MMO.
I can't wait to head back when the F2P conversion takes place. It defnitely has the best MMO world in existence, not to mention some distinct and interesting classes. I agree that the starter area is pretty boring and run of the mill stuff and that the game really opens up when you leave it.
I really think F2P is going to help this game quite a bit as the low population is the biggest problem it has.
Yeah,i think they are going to bring the racial starter areas item rewards in line with what you get from the isle.Vanguard has some fantastic starter areas with Dahknarg being my favorite.The music and the native indian feel to the area is fab along with the great atomosphere and drums playing in the backround.
Listen.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysBSjRAXQAk
I heard there are 120 different class combinations in Archeage,each with thier own name picked by the players.Wether they do this and change the names by western choices is yet to be seen so I think classes will be fine in AA.I too will go back to VG when its F2P and will probably subscribe again.I went back there for 1 month but decided to cancel my sub because I had no one to group with at low level and I like to do as many quests as possible.
As long as it isnt anything like the 'variations' that Rift offered. Cheap multiclassing trash. Give me a well defined class with real soul and careful creation over that crap anyday.
Any single class in Vanguard is a billion times more interesting than all four soul trees in Rift combined.
MAN i wish VG went f2p a year ago. it's crazy that they are doing it THIS summer with all the other games coming out. just bad timing on soe's part. i really want to get in to this game but with D3, TSW, Tera, and GW2 all happening at the same time it is going to be hard.
Do you have to SPAM for groups?
As long as it isnt anything like the 'variations' that Rift offered. Cheap multiclassing trash. Give me a well defined class with real soul and careful creation over that crap anyday.
Any single class in Vanguard is a billion times more interesting than all four soul trees in Rift combined.
I agree.I beta tested Rift for 3 hours and got to level 10 then saw how 'awesome' the crafting was and never went back.