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Hopeful about Vanguard
Tekaelon
Member UncommonPosts: 604
I’ve been reading threads on this forum for several weeks now. Unlike many of those that post here (and on other game forums on this site) I’m a relative newcomer to the MMO world having played only Guildwars for a couple years (for the nice mix of PvE and PvP) and WoW (Fantastic classes and world) for the last year. In fact I’m still playing WoW finally exploring the horde side and amazingly enough still having fun. 
I’m a causal player putting no more than one to two hours of time in a night with a bit more on the weekends but enough with the autobiography.
I visit this site almost daily and more specifically various game forums including LOTRO, Warhammer Online, Tabula Rasa, and others but recently this forum seems to be the one I browse the most. The game has a great look to it and is loaded with nearly everything on my online world wish list. I realize there are still bugs (BTW I found several quest bugs in WoW too ) and that some people just get all lame when it comes to anything SOE. However the appeal of a huge world to explore, a large variety of classes to choose from, and unique elements such as diplomacy make it hard to resist. A friend and I are seriously considering making Vanguard our third game of choice to play but like my potential players I have a few questions.
(PvE)
1) One of the things I really like about WoW is the time and effort Blizzard took in creating their world. Even with cartoony low poly graphics nearly all the area have a great look and feel. The landscape of forest/villages/cities, sites and sounds all combined in a very immersive way. I keep reading how nice the graphics are in VG but graphics are only half of it. Does the world just make you want to slow down and take a look around?
2) Are quest well written? I know there will be the usual go get me 10 of this and that quests but I’m one of those lame people who actually quest dialog. Do quests give you a sense of accomplishment or are they just a means to the next level.
3) I know there are lots of classes to choose from but do they all have a distinct playing style? Is character development varied in that there are several paths to take in each class?
4) Are there things to do when not questing or grouped. I know there is crafting but are there minor activities (like fishing in WoW) to do?
5) Is the success of your character based solely on what gear you have?
6) What is the guild system like?
7) is this game for casual players?
PvP
1) Is thee PvP and if so what types?
I apologize for my long winded post. I appreciate any comments and feedback. I’d like to hear from everyone but no flames or thread trolling please. I would like to get the reasonable opinions of those people who have tried the game since GU5 being negative or positive.
Thanks
Comments
Always glad to see a new person interested in VG as I happen to love it. Ive also played GW's and WoW and agree that both are fairly enjoyable, good games. Memory serving me correctly I played GW's for about 9 months and WoW for about two years so Ill try to reference both to help better discribe VG.
VG world and emersion? One word-awesome. Along with the two games youve played, I can add a pretty long list of games Ive played (yes-Im friggin old..) and can say that VG has impressed me the most with environment and emersion. I run an above average system which helps-but by no means is it stupendous. Yet the world is very dinamic and rich in diversity. Areas do not repeat in topography. By that I mean you may be in desert surrounding but travelling along you will see that the environment textures, rocks, trees and what have you change, giving a feel of a new area. Building structures very from continent to continent as well-as does the armor associated with each continent. Cities can be quite huge, while outposts can range from village size to just a few tents and wagons. One thing that I absolutely love is the music in vanguard. It really adds to the environment imo because it will change as well depending on region and continent. A good example would be the continent of Thestra that is the home for the high elves (few other races as well). The background music just sounds like elven music which goes right along with the rich, green forests found there. Very nice indeed. WoW did a very good job with this (better than GW's imo) but to me VG took it to a completely new level with the buildings, armor, environment, and ambient sound. I think anyone would agree that at many times they climbed a mountain-or panned out their veiw while flying-just to get a glimpse of a particular setting before them. Which brings up another point. VG has dinamic weather as well. Ive gone from being rained on to being snowed on as I make my way upwards in elevation. You can see storms brewing in the far off distance at times, or the moon high above.
Quests? Id agree that there are of course the gather Y and kill X quests but honestly not that many. Most new areas where quests are there are also the chain quests, dungeon quests, group quests etc. If youd like to get an understanding of some of them visit vgwalkthrough.com. It gives step by step directions on a few of those that can be found. Theres quests in VG that could take weeks even months to complete the chain on. Do one of those and heck ya-its rewarding. In WoW I wasnt much of a quest reader-just grab and go. I find myself now really reading the quests and finding them to be just as emersive and everything else. Especially the chain quests. Ive finished the unicorn quest line and the Hunter's league quest line and have to say that both lines were very interesting and enjoyable story wize. GW's seemed to have a pretty darn good story line too but its forever long and was hard for me to follow (or pay attention to) after so many days, weeks, months hehe. VG id say is more mini stories. As you finish a questline the story ends. Diplo as mentioned from what I understand does have a more indepth story line though havent persued diplomacy enough to say.
Characters and uniqueness? One thing youll find is that you cant go wrong in VG with choosing a class to play. They are all well thought out and diverse. Each brings something new to the table and never have I seen anyone say 'X' class sucks or 'X' class needs to be nerfed. Saw that alot in WoW-probly cause of the pvping but none the less - wont see it in VG. Go with a class that fits your style and interests and you wont go wrong.
Things to do outside adventuring? Sure. Diplomacy and crafting. Pretty short answer there considering how incredibly rich each is. Ill leave diplo alone as I dont have alot of exp. with it. Crafting on the other hand I really love. Its as full as adventuring. You have to gather your items to craft with. Have to discover the different areas to harvest the mats at. When actually making things you can create different enhancements and of course then theres the three styles associated with the three different continents. Theres houses that need to be build (many different styles btw). Boats that need to be built (again-many different styles and sizes). All this culminates into a pretty good active market for the crafter. One would be hard pressed to find another game that offers such a rich crafting system that DOES impact the community. In WoW alot of crafted gear was eh-ok but that was about it. In VG - some of the best equipment available is crafter made.
Gear importance? WoW and GW's (more WoW..) was very gear dependent. VG is no where near gear dependent. Sure everyone wants to up there gear and look good so on and so forth but ive never been in a group that whiped and had it asked-'what the hell are you wearing dude?'. And yeah-seen that many a times in WoW. Essentially gear is for the player-not the group or soloist survival. Its not game breaking to have below grade gear.
Guild systems? Well Id have to say its the same as any other game-private guild chat channels-guild halls that stand as bohemith castles. Guildmate lists and online offline lists so on and so forth. The tools are there to help guildmates and their inner community, sure.
Casual friendly? Ill tell you, the one reason I left WoW was it became stressful. I felt that if I didnt commit 6 + hours a nite I was falling behind. Thats no way for a game to be. VG really is a 'stop and smell the flowers' kind of game. Theres no rush to anything. Hell theres even a spell for everyone to NOT gain xp. so that you can keep with friends. Theres also whats called a brother hood where essentially your xp is shared with another character (sorry-not able to form brotherhoods with your own characters hehe). So you say your friend and you were thinking of joining, you could form a brotherhood and garentee that one wont outlevel the other if either happens to go out of town for a week or whatever. People say the populations is too low to find groups and stuff-eh personally never had a serious problem ever. Sure if im at some place where not many go and need a group then yeah-might take a nite or two to get a group. Come the weekend garentee it wont be a problem as thats when most people spend longer hours on. And btw-Im a solo player, I also belong to a small guild of players that are all mainly solo. We group when we want or are able to but for the most part we stay to ourselves as far as adventuring goes. So yes-VG is a great casual game.
pvp? Mmmm no-not really. Sure theres a pvp server but from what I hear its not very populated and its a free for all everywhere. Due to that its hard to level-hard to craft-hard to diplo and so on. Kinda funny to me everytime I think of standing at a crafting table doin my thing and on comes along a battle axe to the face hehe.
But yeah, in summary I think you and your buddy would really enjoy VG. For me personally it has everything Ive ever wanted in a game. Good community to boot as well. Very helpful with questions and such and have always felt welcomed each day entering into world chat. Always going to be some #!&*@ but thats goin to happen in any mmo community. Hope you give it a shot and hope this helps.
Thank you!
I really appreciate the detailed replies. You guys provided the exact answers I was looking.
This has absolutely made up my mind to give Vanguard a shot. Fortunately my timing is good with the Trial coming out next week.
You can try out the trial now! Check the thread on these forums.
If nothing else, the world in Vanguard is without competition in how deep and well designed it is. I could play it as a single player RPG and be happy. It is absolutely beautiful.
Darkfall Travelogues!