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Vanguard, the sleeping giant.
Moregrim
Member Posts: 25
Before anyone read's, or doesn't read, this text wall. Let it be known that I know Vanguard had a very rocky start. With that said...
Please watch this video if you want to see how amazing the game world is.
I quote from the video "All it takes is word of mouth. While many people think, "Oh, Sony Online Entertainment isn't doing what they should to promote the game" they have to keep in mind that money allocated to the game is determined by its income. So if you love the game, do your part and get others to try it too. You will see people stop playing because of the lack of players. Get them into a guild, or group up with them often. "
I have to say, Vanguard has been one of the first MMO's to have me literally excited about logging in in a long time. I'm lucky because I have about 10 friends playing it, but the only thing this game lacks if a player base. Even with a tiny tiny dev. team, they publish updates, and continue to fix bugs.
Do not play this giant alone. This game is awesome, I know it's totally goofy, but even riding around horses with friends is exciting. They did a great job of creating a wonderful world.
Highlights
Dungeons : Every dungeon is open world, and I am amazed by how many there are. Though many of them are basic, it's exciting because they don't provide you with a map and directions. You have to explore it and find out yourself. Last night, my group of 6 found a GIANT hobgoblin in an encampment, it took 3 wipes before we got him. We are only level 20 and already seeing contient that has endgame feel.
Level Curve: This game isn't easy, nor hard to level in. I will say, that thus far, in my adventures i've had an over abundance in quests, and the dungeons break up any time I feel that questing would be dull.
Brotherhood: Brotherhood's are basicly a level group. If you enjoy playing MMO's with a friend, but they have a busy life, or even you sometimes just want to play when they aren't around. You can create a brotherhood, where both of your EXP is split, and if you play while your buddy isn't on, your EXP will grow towards his level. It's a great way for you and a friend to stay the same level, but still be able to play alone.
Level Syncing: Once again you can use this to play with people you out level. Level Syncing allows you to "mentor" a player and drop to their level allowing you to quest with them, any EXP you gain goes towards your next level too!
Housing
BOATBUILDING: Yes sir, boat building.
Trade skills are challenging and rewarding.
Flying mounts: You can fly anywhere too!
Lets face it, the game is massive, and it's awesome!
I know that Vanguard is looking grim, but I also that that it is one of the best mmo's on the market, and has amazingly high potential. Try it out, play on Seradon and hit me up, Adaglen. I wont let you game alone!
Or if you just want more info, Xfire me: msgtadamus
GSG9.x.am Huah! Feel free to hop over to our site and join in!
Comments
There are reasons things 'are looking grim' for Vanguard. The engine, while producing some nice vistas, is slow, buggy, and demands a top-end PC to use it at full resolution. It's a good thing you were flying in the video you made; you'll never fall through the world that way, something which happens frequently in VG. If you can put up with that, and the occasional crash to desktop, and you have a very high end PC, and you don't mind a lot of loading times as you wander through the world, maybe VG is your game.
VG is also very group focused. Without a group you can make slow progress in the game with some of the classes, but not all. With the lack of other players, and the large world, you will have problems finding groupmates. No way around it.
There is very little endgame content in VG. For years there was NO endgame content at all, but they have added one or two raid dungeons over the last year or 2. Compare this to any of the other PVE-focused titles out there of comparable age and VG comes up sorely lacking.
But, for all this you still get to pay top $ to play this game. Yes, despite the fact that SOE has a skeleton crew working the game, updates are infrequent, day 1 bugs still abound, and there is almost no new content being made, you still get to pay the same hefty monthly fee as EQ2, Wow, or any of the other top-end games in the genre. INHO, this game is a great candidate for the DDO model of micropayments, because with a little (well, maybe a LOT) of love from SOE, this could be a strong niche game in the genre. Maybe.
There's a rabid cadre of fanboys out here at MMORPG, and it amazes me how often I see messages posted about how someone 'went back to VG and I'm loving it!', yet the population continues to decline. People are leaving the game for a reason. Or maybe one of the several I've listed. I played VG at launch, played it again a year later, and recently went back and played the demo isle, and what I'm telling you is that the game hasn't changed dramatically from the day it was released. It's a slow-paced, lonely grind through a buggy and sometimes beautiful world. If that's your thing, you might like VG, and I'd recommend you check out the demo. Otherwise, I'd wait for a revamp of the engine and payment model before seriously considering this game.
I won't go back because SOE has changed the game so much. The dot system over the monster's heads anymore mean nothing, suppose to give you an idea on how many players it will take to kill it. SOE gutted it like they did EQ2, EQ and numerous other games. All they needed to fix was the performance and bug issues.
They also ruined the way travel was suppose to be etc etc. There is plenty different about the game then what it was suppose to be.
I could never get around the shitty combat system.
To slow and clunky for me sorry.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
No its not by long shot can't believe this topic its if your a payed promoter of the game try getting more subs.
I agree with most replyers above me dont touch this game.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
To me, the world design looks somehow generic. Quite boring.
You can see good level design in World of Warcraft, Age of Conan and Darkfall.
What? You're even going to try and compare the world of vanguard and df? or wow?
VG for me strated a decline with the travel system and slowly began the SOE push to wowify all of its titles.
[Mod Edit]
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The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
I certainly would. I actually prefer Darkfall's world a great deal more(if you have the machine to really crank it up), it has more character and feels less generic. Lighting, Reflections, and Shadows are much more impressive in Darkfall.
WoW maybe not so much, but it can be impressive every now and then.
The one thing Vanguard does really well is draw distances. Other than that, I'd say I prefer LotRO and Darkfall's world design by quite a bit.
Back to the subject though, I can't stand playing Vanguard for the same reason they I can't stand playing LotRO... the combat is boring as all hell. Other than that its a great game... but thats a pretty huge mark against it in my book.
I play Vanguard and I'm loving it.
I have never fallen through the world though I've heard other people say this. I'll ask in chat next time I"m on if others have experienced this.
There is a lot of content that is group but from what I understand one can solo to the top. I don't believe I will find it long as I've played Lineage 2 and compared to that leveling at higher levels, nothing is long. Probably some classes take longer than others. I know I got up to about 30 with no issues.
I do agree Vanguard has its bugs and what I consider it's creakiness but nothing of yet that is game breaking for me. It isn't as smooth as LOTRO as wow though I do get spans where I start wondering if it is. then I cross a particular chunk and it halts for a few seconds.
Your reasons not to play might be good for you but I'm pretty sure there are other people out there who don't care about rushing to level cap or some minior inconveniences. It's those people who will enjoy Vanguard.
The issue I see is where people will Join Vanguard expecting a WoW or LOTRO experience. They will be dissapointed as Vanguard just isn't as polished and doesn't get the same attention from the devs. But if people go into it as "it is what it is" then I think they will find a very rich and rewarding experience.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I would reluctantly agree with your post...Reluctantly because I do Play VG, and I did come back, and I do very much like the Game...I can't speak for performance issues because I do have a higher-end Rig and I have next to no performance issues outside of the minor little bugs in the Game...
But where I HAVE to agree is the Payment model...It's tough to pay $15 bucks for a Game that still needs some work and most importantly is VERY lacking in population...I pay $10 for LOTRO...I can't see how SOE thinks $15 is OK for this Game and I don't want to hear about the Station Pass garbage cause no one is playing SWG or EQII either...It's no deal any longer...Unfortunately it looks to me like SOE is simply going to run VG and SWG into the ground instead of giving Folks an alternative payment structure that could potentially revitalize the Games just a bit...It's sad but lets face it...Both Games are older Games and they're not getting any younger...Oh well...
Sorry no. Instead of sleeping giant it's more like comatose.
Vanguard, the comatose giant. It will not be waking up anytime soon, so don't hold your breath. This is coming from someone who has the box in front of him. What a shame.
Vanguard as a Sleeping Giant? Michael Jackson has a better chance of waking up.
I would probably agree to the assessment that it isn't some force that once woken will make itself known throughout the land.
Vanguard "is what it is". For those who can put aside their cynicism or critical mind and enjoy it for what it is they will find a great experience. For those who really require a polished full blown experience I would say move along.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Despite all of the bugs, Vanguard launch was the funnest time I have ever had in an MMO. I played with two other friends and had a blast. Many of the bugs were very gamebreaking, but at the same time we found them to be very humorous. We played together until around level 40 when the excitement began to die down along with the population. Looking back, I honestly can't explain why I had such a good time.
A couple things from the Vanguard design I would like to see in other games:
1. The gear system. I loved how you could wear gear too high for your level, but would just take up more of your alloted equipment points.
2. The classes. Some of the classes seemed a bit more unique than many of the rehashed ones we get from other games. Some of them were the same old but they had some decent mechanic designs.
3. The flowing rivers and 3 dimensional environments. Rivers had currents that could wash you across the continent as far as they reached. There were a lot of waterfalls in the areas that we played in and cliff edges that held consequence with them. If you fell over or got washed off in the waterfall it could be hours before you would find your way back to the top. WoW may have some pretty and well designed areas, but nothing like this. Many people consider WoW to be "open world" but it's not, you still have set entrances to "zones", just no loading screen. Vanguard was not only big, it had the environments to make it feel truly big. I would say WoW maps were designed for quest progression and grinding efficiency, Vanguard's were designed to be played.
AoC is the sleeping giant...it's a monster of a game which deserves millions of subscribers...Unfortunately it's reputation was *deservingly* ruined and tarnished because of the problems at launch.
OK just hold up there fella... I was just sitting here reading some comments while eating my pancakes and bacon with no intentions of commenting because I didn't want my food getting cold.. There's nothing worse than cold pancakes and bacon, but I just had to reply to this ridiculous comment.....
First of all, I'd really like to know how old your PC is... It must be an incredible piece of garbage.. My current PC was a mid level PC back in 2007 and I can honestly say I've never once crashed to desktop while playing Vanguard,,,, back in 2007 when the performance was considered baaaad.. I fell through the world just one time while riding my horse, but rebooting fixed it, *shrug* I have a AMD 64 AthlonX2, 4 gigs of ram, and a 8800 gts vid card.. It's still not bad, but far from the best machine in 2007..
Now, I do remember hitting crazy lagspikes while in heavily populated areas and dungeons like VT and Thel, but that happens in all the high end graphical MMORPG's.. I hit bad lagspikes like that in EQ, EQ2, and AoC as well, *shrug*
As for the loading times, I do remember hitting mini zones which took time to load, but most of the time It only took a few seconds for me, especially while zoning in the wilderness..
Lastly, I believe you are probably a newer gen type of WoW mmo gamer who believes everything has to be compared to WoW.. WoW is a game with horrible graphics, horrible textures, horrible kiddyland resolution, and belongs in 1998.. That game was purposely made to look like crapola so many people out there with their pew pew computers can run the game on it.. It's the most popular MMORPG now simply because of word of mouth and you literally can run it on a outdated 15 year old computer..
In conclusion, Vanguard was supposed to be a MMORPG for the true hardcore veteran MMO gamer.. It wasn't meant to be played by noobs, whiners, illiterate children, and those with, "the little engine that could" old dinosaur computers.. People like myself already knew we'd have to buy a decent computer to truly experience the glory and awesome world of Vanguard.. The true fans knew the game was going to be played similar to the original EQ, where it would be a group oriented game.. We knew this and couldn't wait to play it.. We literally thought it would be the new EQ experience.. Well, it was for a while then SOE took over and dumbed it down like WoW causing at least 250,000 people to leave between March 20th and April 1st of 2007,,,, myself included! SOE ruined the game by trying to make it playable for dumb moronis illiterate people! Which was yet another mistake on SOE's part! WELL DONE!
They fixed alot of the performance issues, but they changed the concept of the game which is the same thing as creating a new game within the previously existing game,,, just like they did with SWG, LOL!! It's kinda funny actually because those numnuts working for SOE just don't have a clue!!!! They all try copying off of Blizzard and each and every time they do this, the game gets destroyed because the true fans of that game see it getting turned into another WoW clone, and the people walk away with disgust!
Ever since SOE took over Vanguard, I had absolutely no desire to come back.. Getting rid of the item equipment system was ridiculous, which was literally one of the main reasons I left.. If SOE would have just focused on fixing bugs, glitches, and the performance issue without touching the gameplay mechanics, then I along with MANY MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE wouldn't have left!
Rallithon Oakthornn
(Retired Heirophant of the 60th season)
This is an example of one of the main reasons Vanguard did so poorly. I followed this game every day for more than a year before it launched. I also beta tested it. Back in those days, the Vanguard boards were filled with self-styled hardcore posters who wanted Vanguard to be the anti-WoW. Anyone who didn't beat their chest and ask for the most draconian possible gameplay was instantly labeled a WoW kiddie and reviled. The boards were also filled with posts about how much WoW sucks. I can't tell you how many times people got interested in the game, came to the boards to be part of the pre-launch Vanguard community, and got so insulted by the leetism that they gave up and left. "Go back to WOW," they were told. So they did.
Brad allowed that to contnue, and even fostered it with some now infamous quotes, until the months leading up to launch. Then he belatedly realized the folly of what he had done because the game, as it was perceived then, would not be popular enough to cover their huge investment. In an effort to correct this, he went running around posting everywhere, including this website, about how casual players would enjoy Vanguard too. It was too little, too late, after years of selling people on the idea that unless you were a hardcore player, Vanguard was not for you.
Clearly the Vanguard community hasn't learned a damn thing. You tell people this is a fun game, and that people should try it, but the first expression of skepticism you encounter and out come the catcalls of "oh you must be one of those WoW players." That's fine. Enjoy your dieing game that grows more stagnant with every passing day. Look out over your empty world and know that a large part of why it is empty is the abuse the Vanguard community heaped on potential players for years, and evidently is quick to hand out still.
So please take this opportunity to tell an EQ1 Pre-Luclin player to "go back to WoW," because I was certainly told 50 times before Vanguard's launch to do just that. And you know what? I did.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
It may be a sleeping giant, but SOE keeps hitting the snooze for it.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
Well we agree on this last part at least. VG has used up its 3 strikes with me, and I won't be going back again. Well, unless it becomes a F2P game with a cash shop maybe, that way I at least wouldn't be putting any $ into it until I was certain things had actually improved. But that doesn't seem imminent, does it.
VG is more like the clinically brain dead giant, never getting out of his coma after a high speed collision with a tree.
This game, like just about everything on SOE's life supoort station pass, are just waiting to die.
Nothing to see here.
I got to tell my VG story
.
I played VG for a while and had fun. But the game was buggy as hell.
.
I played the most overpowered class in the history of MMOs, the bear shaman. Imagine a WoW priest with a WoW hunter tank pet. The only way I could die is if I lost my connection during the fight. A bear shaman is quite capable of healing a six man party.
.
Thing was, when in a group, the bear would freak out and attack party members. Everyone would think it was a hoot at first, but soon they would get tired of it.
.
I'd say, 'stfu, i'm a healer, let her chew on you'
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
Imo , Vanguard is second to no game other than maybe Asherons Call,I wish soe will do something to give the game some highlight but it does not look good.
The thing is we all know vanguard has potential and it's good even now but SOE needs up their game up and make it a better game before people play it, plus the low population makes anyone interested go away.
Gonna just take this point on...
You see, often the income of a game is also determined by the money allocated.
Without a sign of faith, in this case real meaningful investment, people just dont trust SOE to not shut VG down tommorow, and to a PvE social gamer thats the worst thing imaginable in their game.
If SOE showed publicaly that they cared about VG and were here for for the long stretch, by maybe putting out an expansion as a 'relaunch' or whatever, and offered a new free month of play with the purchase then people would flood back.
But, sadly, no investment = no trust = no pop.
I remeber that. "Go back to WoW". I think AoC had that issue as well. Very rude community. They must have been thrilled when they got their way. "Hey guyz, where'd everyone go??" *crickets*
I enjoyed my brief visit in Vanguard and may have stuck it out longer had my friends not all given up on the game and done what they were advised and went back to WoW. I think it would be interesting to know how much this type of horrible community affects games, especially when they are first released and trying to ramp up a player base. First impressions go a long way in games and in life.
because, unlike other games, people care and actually want what VG offers.
They just recognise a sad situation.