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10 Days in Vanguard: An Ongoing Diary
Lidane
Member CommonPosts: 2,300
As the title suggests, I'm currently doing a 10-day buddy key trial in Vanguard, and I'm going to write my experiences down here, with my personal impressions of the game, its environment, and how it plays on my system.
First off, some full disclosure:
My MMO history
I started with the original EverQuest back when it first launched in 1999, though I did try out Ultima Online before then via a friend's account. I played EQ from launch, all the way through to the Ykesha expansion, then quit, then jumped around between various beta tests and other online flings with other worlds (DAoC, Anarchy Online, SWG, Earth & Beyond, Planetside, EQ2, DDO, Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call 2, Shadowbane, WW2 Online, The Sims Online, Lineage, Lineage II, Second Life, etc.) for several years before finally ending up in Paragon City, where I've been since 2004.
My main game for the past 3+ years has been City of Heroes/City of Villains. I also tried World of Warcraft back in 2005 for about a month, and recently re-activated my account just for The Burning Crusade, and only with a 60-day game card. My WoW account will expire in 10 days, so this Vanguard test will ultimately determine if I buy another WoW game card, or if I don't.
Simply put, I'm not new to the genre, or to Brad McQuaid, SOE, or any of their previous efforts. I've been around the block a few times, and know the conventions of the genre.
My system specs
Just last week, I spent a good chunk of change and bought all the components to build myself a brand new computer from the ground up. This is what I have now:
Antec 900 mid-tower case
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W power supply
eVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E6400 2.13 GHZ @ 1066 FSB processor
eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB video card (And yes, I know there are bigger, faster cards, and I could have afforded one easily. However, I bought this one as a stopgap until the GTX price drops in a few months, then I'll upgrade again.)
2 GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400 RAM, which run at 800MHz
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card
Maxtor 7H500F0 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 16MB NCQ Hard Drive
My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium, and since it was a clean install on a brand new drive, I'm also using DirectX 10. None of the games or programs I use have suffered any performance because of it, and I see no need to roll back to 9.0c.
This is a brand new system, and one that more than exceeds even the recommended specs for the game.
----------------------------------------------
Now, on to Vanguard itself.
Day 1, Part 1
Installation was easy. Used the boyfriend's copy of the game. He gave me one of his Collector's Edition buddy keys to try VG out, and installing from his copy saves me $50, since I don't have to buy a copy myself. I didn't time the install, since I spent time on the phone and checking e-mail while it went on in the background. It didn't seem to take any longer than most other installs, as far as I know.
In order to patch, I have to have an active subscription. OK. I can handle that. Now, let's enter the buddy key.
Oops. Snag #1-- the buddy key is only valid for brand new SOE subscriptions, NOT brand new Vanguard subscriptions. Since I used my old EQ account for the Vanguard beta, that means my current account is ineligible for the key. Fine. I'll play along. I create a second account strictly for this trial, then move to patch the game.
Patching takes about 30 minutes or so, so I get up to grab something to eat, then come back later.
OK. Game is installed, and patched, and I'm ready to play.
Oops. Snag #2-- the game won't start, and repeatedly crashes out. Finally, the culprit is nailed. This message repeatedly appears on my screen:
"This application has failed to start because d3dx9_31.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."
Ah. It's a Direct X issue. Fine. I'm not rolling back, just out of principle, so let's see if there are any solutions. I check the Vanguard tech forums, and sure enough, there's a sticky thread, since this is a common enough issue for others. I make a brief trip to the Microsoft site, download their End User Runtimes, since apparently, that's what I need for this game to run at all.
OK. Now things work, so let's log in. Because my CoH guildies are wanting to create a guild in VG, we settled on Halgarad as a convenient location for them. I would create a character in the area, and start around there, so we could get together tomorrow to start the group. I finally settle on a Varanjar Druid, and start working on my character.
Character Creation
This is all rather anti-climactic, at least coming from CoH/CoV's ridiculously detailed character creator. Just the fact that I still only have four hair and face choices is painful, especially since I've gotten used to dozens of choices for both. The Oblivion-esque body sliders are okay, but unless I invade another player's personal space and zoom all the way in, chances are I'm not going to see much of a difference between me and anyone else around me.
Frame Rates/ Environment
Because of my system, I can easily run this game at the Highest Quality setting. However, if I ever expect to group with others, or spend any time around other players, this would be a monumentally stupid idea, since my FPS at that setting averages 15 FPS when I'm on the screen alone. That's fine for running in a straight line, but when I start dropping down into the single digits when I turn a corner or get near an NPC or other person, it's time to turn things down.
High Quality has me maxing out at around 25-30 FPS. This is passable, at least until I start venturing too far and the game starts rendering everything in a 10,000 mile radius, dropping my FPS to 10-20. It's okay for soloing, but again, since I'm looking to group all the time, it's still not good enough.
That leaves Balanced, which is the lowest setting I would ever consider for playing this game. Balanced gets me 35-50 FPS at the top end, which is playable, and would give me the most reasonable performance in a group, so I'll go with that. Still, it 's a bit of a kick in the teeth to have to turn down my system to Balanced in order to try and play with my friends. I really wish this game was properly optimized, since I can actually handle the highest setting on my own, but can't maintain it if I get around anyone else.
The world itself is very static, with NPC's standing around like mannequins, and not interacting with each other, or with the environment at all. This is what I see at the highest settings:
While the rocks on the ground are very detailed, and the grass sways in the wind, the grainy textures and drab colors of the rest of the world leave much to be desired, at least so far. Also, the art style of this area feels rather bland. I know that the Varanjar are supposed to be Barbarians, and a hard working people, but come on. It feels rather generic compared to what it *could* be in comparison. At least IMO.
Starting Area
Holy crap, it's dark. I log in, and it's nearly night time, so I find the torch and light it, which helps a little bit, but it's still rather hard to see. Sheesh.
After listening to the NPC's, who all sound like they're harboring rejected Goa'ulds from Stargate SG-1, I read through the newbie quests, and see what's in store. Kill 8 hill cats, kill enough moths to get 8 cotton wings, and find five small pups to scare them back into a pen nearby, which consists of finding the pups and right clicking on them to get them to go.
So far, pretty standard MMO fare.
I get rid of the auto-attack function, since I've gotten used to gaming without one these past few years, and off I go.
Since none of these NPC's are aggressive, I can walk up to a moth, hit it twice with my lightning spell, then loot, since it dies quickly. Same goes for the hill cats, although it might take three casts instead of two. And my running around the area showed that the pups are static spawns that re-pop almost as soon as you've sent them back to their pen.
Within 10 minutes, all the quests are done, and I'm level 2. I find my next round of quests, find the Harvesting trainer, and begin to plan my next play session.
More in Day 1, Part 2. It's late now, and I'm tired.
First off, some full disclosure:
My MMO history
I started with the original EverQuest back when it first launched in 1999, though I did try out Ultima Online before then via a friend's account. I played EQ from launch, all the way through to the Ykesha expansion, then quit, then jumped around between various beta tests and other online flings with other worlds (DAoC, Anarchy Online, SWG, Earth & Beyond, Planetside, EQ2, DDO, Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call 2, Shadowbane, WW2 Online, The Sims Online, Lineage, Lineage II, Second Life, etc.) for several years before finally ending up in Paragon City, where I've been since 2004.
My main game for the past 3+ years has been City of Heroes/City of Villains. I also tried World of Warcraft back in 2005 for about a month, and recently re-activated my account just for The Burning Crusade, and only with a 60-day game card. My WoW account will expire in 10 days, so this Vanguard test will ultimately determine if I buy another WoW game card, or if I don't.
Simply put, I'm not new to the genre, or to Brad McQuaid, SOE, or any of their previous efforts. I've been around the block a few times, and know the conventions of the genre.
My system specs
Just last week, I spent a good chunk of change and bought all the components to build myself a brand new computer from the ground up. This is what I have now:
Antec 900 mid-tower case
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W power supply
eVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E6400 2.13 GHZ @ 1066 FSB processor
eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB video card (And yes, I know there are bigger, faster cards, and I could have afforded one easily. However, I bought this one as a stopgap until the GTX price drops in a few months, then I'll upgrade again.)
2 GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400 RAM, which run at 800MHz
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card
Maxtor 7H500F0 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 16MB NCQ Hard Drive
My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium, and since it was a clean install on a brand new drive, I'm also using DirectX 10. None of the games or programs I use have suffered any performance because of it, and I see no need to roll back to 9.0c.
This is a brand new system, and one that more than exceeds even the recommended specs for the game.
----------------------------------------------
Now, on to Vanguard itself.
Day 1, Part 1
Installation was easy. Used the boyfriend's copy of the game. He gave me one of his Collector's Edition buddy keys to try VG out, and installing from his copy saves me $50, since I don't have to buy a copy myself. I didn't time the install, since I spent time on the phone and checking e-mail while it went on in the background. It didn't seem to take any longer than most other installs, as far as I know.
In order to patch, I have to have an active subscription. OK. I can handle that. Now, let's enter the buddy key.
Oops. Snag #1-- the buddy key is only valid for brand new SOE subscriptions, NOT brand new Vanguard subscriptions. Since I used my old EQ account for the Vanguard beta, that means my current account is ineligible for the key. Fine. I'll play along. I create a second account strictly for this trial, then move to patch the game.
Patching takes about 30 minutes or so, so I get up to grab something to eat, then come back later.
OK. Game is installed, and patched, and I'm ready to play.
Oops. Snag #2-- the game won't start, and repeatedly crashes out. Finally, the culprit is nailed. This message repeatedly appears on my screen:
"This application has failed to start because d3dx9_31.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."
Ah. It's a Direct X issue. Fine. I'm not rolling back, just out of principle, so let's see if there are any solutions. I check the Vanguard tech forums, and sure enough, there's a sticky thread, since this is a common enough issue for others. I make a brief trip to the Microsoft site, download their End User Runtimes, since apparently, that's what I need for this game to run at all.
OK. Now things work, so let's log in. Because my CoH guildies are wanting to create a guild in VG, we settled on Halgarad as a convenient location for them. I would create a character in the area, and start around there, so we could get together tomorrow to start the group. I finally settle on a Varanjar Druid, and start working on my character.
Character Creation
This is all rather anti-climactic, at least coming from CoH/CoV's ridiculously detailed character creator. Just the fact that I still only have four hair and face choices is painful, especially since I've gotten used to dozens of choices for both. The Oblivion-esque body sliders are okay, but unless I invade another player's personal space and zoom all the way in, chances are I'm not going to see much of a difference between me and anyone else around me.
Frame Rates/ Environment
Because of my system, I can easily run this game at the Highest Quality setting. However, if I ever expect to group with others, or spend any time around other players, this would be a monumentally stupid idea, since my FPS at that setting averages 15 FPS when I'm on the screen alone. That's fine for running in a straight line, but when I start dropping down into the single digits when I turn a corner or get near an NPC or other person, it's time to turn things down.
High Quality has me maxing out at around 25-30 FPS. This is passable, at least until I start venturing too far and the game starts rendering everything in a 10,000 mile radius, dropping my FPS to 10-20. It's okay for soloing, but again, since I'm looking to group all the time, it's still not good enough.
That leaves Balanced, which is the lowest setting I would ever consider for playing this game. Balanced gets me 35-50 FPS at the top end, which is playable, and would give me the most reasonable performance in a group, so I'll go with that. Still, it 's a bit of a kick in the teeth to have to turn down my system to Balanced in order to try and play with my friends. I really wish this game was properly optimized, since I can actually handle the highest setting on my own, but can't maintain it if I get around anyone else.
The world itself is very static, with NPC's standing around like mannequins, and not interacting with each other, or with the environment at all. This is what I see at the highest settings:
While the rocks on the ground are very detailed, and the grass sways in the wind, the grainy textures and drab colors of the rest of the world leave much to be desired, at least so far. Also, the art style of this area feels rather bland. I know that the Varanjar are supposed to be Barbarians, and a hard working people, but come on. It feels rather generic compared to what it *could* be in comparison. At least IMO.
Starting Area
Holy crap, it's dark. I log in, and it's nearly night time, so I find the torch and light it, which helps a little bit, but it's still rather hard to see. Sheesh.
After listening to the NPC's, who all sound like they're harboring rejected Goa'ulds from Stargate SG-1, I read through the newbie quests, and see what's in store. Kill 8 hill cats, kill enough moths to get 8 cotton wings, and find five small pups to scare them back into a pen nearby, which consists of finding the pups and right clicking on them to get them to go.
So far, pretty standard MMO fare.
I get rid of the auto-attack function, since I've gotten used to gaming without one these past few years, and off I go.
Since none of these NPC's are aggressive, I can walk up to a moth, hit it twice with my lightning spell, then loot, since it dies quickly. Same goes for the hill cats, although it might take three casts instead of two. And my running around the area showed that the pups are static spawns that re-pop almost as soon as you've sent them back to their pen.
Within 10 minutes, all the quests are done, and I'm level 2. I find my next round of quests, find the Harvesting trainer, and begin to plan my next play session.
More in Day 1, Part 2. It's late now, and I'm tired.
Comments
nm
Lidane wrote:
My system specs
Just last week, I spent a good chunk of change and bought all the components to build myself a brand new computer from the ground up. This is what I have now:
Antec 900 mid-tower case
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W power supply
eVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E6400 2.13 GHZ @ 1066 FSB processor
eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB video card (And yes, I know there are bigger, faster cards, and I could have afforded one easily. However, I bought this one as a stopgap until the GTX price drops in a few months, then I'll upgrade again.)
2 GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400 RAM, which run at 800MHz
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card
Maxtor 7H500F0 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 16MB NCQ Hard Drive
My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium, and since it was a clean install on a brand new drive, I'm also using DirectX 10. None of the games or programs I use have suffered any performance because of it, and I see no need to roll back to 9.0c.
This is a brand new system, and one that more than exceeds even the recommended specs for the game.
First off, thanks for the detailed run-down of your Vanguard experience. I eagerly await your follow-up posts in regards to your next 9 days in the game.
The one thing that jumps out and kicks me in the nuts about your post is the fact that even with your system set-up, you're getting way below average performance in Vanguard. Compared to my computer, your rig might as well be alien technology.
Vanguard's performance for me, at least during open beta, was nigh unplayable. I've been holding out hope that the devs would have optimized the performance by now, but I guess I'll have to keep waiting and waiting and...
I'm one of those people who wouldn't mind trying Vanguard out, at least for a month, but until the performance issues get resolved, I'm not going to touch it.
Again, thanks for the post.
I can offer a couple of suggestions, that could tune your peformance a bit.
Try making a copy of your vgclient.ini file in the /bin subdirectory, then edit the original with notepad or something similar.
Try setting in game to high quality then exit and mke some edits to the vgclient.ini
The big changes are these
TextureDetailWorld=4 (or higher. This is the biggest impact on performance and can range from 0-7, 0 being the most detailed textures to 7 being lowest texture detail)
RenderQuality=5 (Setting this to 5 sets the game into "very high" mode but coupled with a higher TextureDetailWorld setting, it will give you the special effects of very high with the texture & memory requirements/stuttering of a low or medium settings)
The lesser changes to try are probably these
iShaderCacheSizeMB=64 - might have to add this line in the general area (I put it under renderquality=5)
GlobalHardwareSkinning=True (gave me a noticable bump 2-5FPS-ish)
AnisotropicFiltering=0 (yes, zero, which supposedly works for NVidia folks VERY well) I'm not sure how much of an impact on quality/performance this has as my systems a bit ancient to properly test the higher end opptions.
UseJoystick=False (I don't know why but this did give me an extra fewFPS)
UsePrecaching=True (For NVidia folks and some ATI folks, this is the holy grail)
UseTrilinear=False (For some folks this was an incredible boost)
UseCubemaps=False (I only noticed an ugly load screen, the game still looks fine to me)
ReduceMouseLag=False (this has worked for a few folks as well)
Different effects based on differnt cards it seems.
UseTripleBuffering=True (This is a tricky one, some people work better with it and Vsync off some with it on, it will produce a little staggering of the image doing fast pans if off, as it won't draw one entire top to bottom frame at one go, however that was worth the FPS gain on my system) or UseTripleBuffering=False
UseVSync=True (see the above explanation, either vsync true & tripleB true or both false) or UseVSync=False
(NOTE: Changing the in-game drop-down graphics settings to Medium or High (or whatever you change it to) changes BOTH RenderQuality and TextureDetailWorld to their default settings. The trick is really to adjust the quality drop down in-game settings FIRST, THEN mess with the .ini settings for these two and don't flip between the quality drop down at all in-game since that would reset this change)
In game you can turn off HDR, pick a lower resolution, make sure hardware sound is on, and play with all sorts of options like grass density, shadows, reflections etc to further fine tune performance a bit easier than making text edits.
A note on the settings, I think almost everyone misses the point - they should be labelled,
2005hardware
2006hardware
2007hardware
2008hardware
2009hardware
to make it a bit more obvious. The engine is supposed to scale for several years, so if you turn on highest quality you aren't supposed to be able to handle it unless you have a time machine to collect a top of the range computer from the year after next. no argument that the default settings could be better though as alot of testers find, with my old rig I doubled my fps with a few vgclient.ini edits. by the by I run a plain AMD single core (not evn FX or whatever) 3200 CPU, 6600nvidia and ide HD - it's not perfect performance but it's fine for grouping I'm not scared to set my options down until I get the fps I want though
Hope the above tweaks give you some ideas to experiment with for the right tuning.
What kind of software company requires you to make changes like that just to get acceptable performace? This is software you paid $50 to buy and then a monthly premiumum mind you. Hello, RED FLAG people!!!
To the OP - well written and I look forward to reading all of your future posts. In my opinion 10 days in game is not going to provide enough time for you to really get to know what VG has to offer in terms of gameplay. But please, press on and I enjoy your writing very much!
When I take a boat out I rig it according to the conditions, wind & weather, tidal, coast hugging, inland waterways, open sea etc - it's just going to get me better performance and be safer. Upto you if you want to or not.
I enjoyed the writeup as well.
A couple points I wanted to touch on though:
-The "Drab" colouring of things in the area you started in. It should be noted that the area is dark and a little gloomy to represent the barbarian lifestyle somewhat. In other areas there are lots of colours. Part of the colour issue is that the Varanjar start in one of the immense evergreen forests, which tend to all contain the same kind of tree. In other areas such as the grasslands of Thestra, you have all sorts of different coloured trees and scenery.
- The static NPCs. The reason why most of the NPCs you saw were static was because they're in a newbie town. The NPCs there have to be more or less static so that people can find them easily. Players are still getting used to the game and they don't want to have to run around everywhere trying to find some guy that wandered off. That being said, there are NPCs out there in other cities and whatnot that do walk around and engage in other activities. There's plenty of NPCs that patrol, and there's a few that wander around crafting areas as if they're checking peoples work.
Edit: On a side note, I wanted to say while I do agree that they need more than 4 faces and 4 hair styles, I don't think any game will ever be as customizeable character wise as CoH, heh. That game has absolutely crazy customization. It'd be nice to see something like that for VG or any RPG for that matter, but I don't know if it's going to happen. I suppose it's cause they expect the armor that you acquire to be part of your look.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
Very well written, and an enjoyable read. This is proof that you can write a review about Vanguard, and not have a shining opinion on the game without being a complete asshat. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in game though, and if you don't CoH will always be there for you!
Oh, and on a side note, nothing will EVER beat CoH/CoV for character customization. Those games have the very BEST customization in any game period. I spent an hour creating the look of my first hero in CoH, and afterwards I just wanted to make another one because I thought I could do better =P
I'm hoping that they start to limit a lot of it, especially while graphics intensive programs are running because from a design standpoint XP doesn't really take advantage of 64-bit chip architecture the way Vista could if they let it.
Anyways, if you'd like to criticize Vanguard's performance there are a lot of legitimate things to gripe about. Don't try to pin issues connected to a recently released operating system on the game's developers until they've had a chance to smooth out performance issues caused by the new system.
--
Also, thanks to the OP for posting this review. I'm looking forward to reading more!
WARNING: Spelling and grammatical errors intentionally left in document to test for Anal Retentive Trolls.
"The key to wasting time is distraction. Without distractions it's too obvious to your brain that you're not doing anything with it, and you start to feel uncomfortable." - Paul Graham http://paulgraham.com/hs.html
You need another gig of ram.
I don't think DX10 is supported by VG yet so yes that can cause a problem.
There are driver issues with the 8800 and vista as well.
Contrary to what everyone is saying Vista is supposed to be THE gaming OS. It's just not all the way there yet; give them a couple of months and vista and 8800 owners will be at the head of the pack.
You may also want to look into the way your system is doing sound now as well. Vista is using Open AL for sound, and luckily you have the only sound card on the market that supports it as far as I know, but Open AL may cause performance problems if a game isn't set up to use it. A lot of people are overlooking this, but then a lot of people never pay attention to sound cards and drivers and formats associated with them.
You're using some of the newest technology available on a PC and like a lot of PC stuff it needs time to be optimized.
Im using:
AMD 64x2 4100+
2 gb ram spread across 4 512 mb sticks. Would be better off with 2 1gb sticks but I can't afford that yet.
7950
300 gb hd
I don't know the specifics of my ram or the HD.
I have no performance issues outside of some optimization that the server and client need like most MMO's after release. I can maintane 40+ fps with High quality. Grass density, far clipping, tree detail range, lighting all the way up. I don't use HDR, Bloom, or Tone maping. I can't set the enviroment shaders past 80% because the card doesn't support something in the engine, and the texture lvls aren't maxed. I don't use simple terrain, or atmosheric distortion either. I run in 1280x1024 because that's the highest my 19" LCD will display for some reason.
In towns I'm getting 30+ FPS and with other players around it's about the same.
Some of the hitching I get is also due to my CPU trying to process gigs of info and my card attempting to render it. If they don't resolve this it's not a big deal as the hitching is minimul and gets better the longer I'm in game. The update is supposed to fix a big memory leak wich I have noticed but by /flushing on occasion It never really impacted me. I also noticed that the loading between chunks has improved SUBSTANTIALLY. I was accually shocked when I crossed a chunk and it wasn't that noticable.
Take note folks. Just because you are using the latest and greatest hardware and software technology with a game and geting poor performance doesn't mean it's the games fault. Vista is using new standards as far as the way it's handling sound, processing, and graphics. The 8800 is using all new architecture that is revolutionizing the way that gfx cards are utilized and this can cause problems. The latest and greatest isn't always the best, and just because you have it doesn't mean you'll be geting the bester performance then some older cards and XP. In a few months maybe, but right now no.
Another misleading statement, I have a relatively new system(meaning I just bought it) that's not state of the art. Dual-Core, a few gigs of RAM and a 7950GT and I've had to change absolutely nothing in my .ini file and the game runs fine. I concur with the other posts in this thread pointing out that the latest and greatest GFX card will not always improve your performance because of lack of decent drivers that the companies are still working on.
Vista is crap for gaming at this point in time compared to WinXP and will be so for awhile until they get issues sorted.
What kind of software company requires you to make changes like that just to get acceptable performace? This is software you paid $50 to buy and then a monthly premiumum mind you. Hello, RED FLAG people!!!
(standard WoW responce incomming)
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Also as someone said above, remember you are in the barbarian starting area. It's kind of supposed to look like that.
If I may suggest, try making up a Kojani monk and just running through enough of the "starter" stuff to get to the city of Tanvu. You will see something extremely different and much less generic "fantasy" in appearance. (Also, IMO, the storyline is much better.)
C
1. For me, .ini tweaks are supposed to be options, not requirements for running a game. I've taken note of them, but have not used any tweaks yet, since part of this experiment on my part is to test this game on its own merits, without jumping through a bunch of hoops in order to get a few extra FPS.
2. Regarding Vista: With the exception of CoH/CoV, which isn't optimized for Vista at all, and which I have to run in Windowed mode in order to play, all of the other games and programs I have installed run fine. I haven't noticed any glaring issues just yet, though I'm keeping an eye on things.
3.Adding another gig of RAM would be overkill at the moment, since nothing else really needs that much room. I may well add more down the line, but I'm not about to run out and buy more just yet, since it's not needed.
I'm currently playing a Raki Disciple (more on that experience later, since it ties in to the previous post), and oddly enough, my performance *improved* in that area over the Varanjar newbie area. I ended up running all of the beginning quests at Highest Quality without even realizing it, and in a duo, to boot. It ran smoothly, at around 15-25 FPS, and didn't need to be turned down until I got to the next area, when the sheer number of NPC's slowed everything down to a crawl.
I'm beginning to suspect that the game is only optimized in certain areas, and not across the board, which is the developer's problem, not a hardware issue. But more on that when I actually sit down to write a real post.
After finishing my earlier quests and getting the second round of newbie Varanjar quests, the boyfriend mentions that he would rather play the Raki, because at least then, he could be a Monk, which is his preferred class, and which he has played since EQ. I bring up the fact that the guild is starting in Halgarad, so maybe something in the area would be preferable, but this goes nowhere. What fun is a game like this without some sort of challenge, he points out, and getting from wherever the Raki start over to Halgarad fits the bill.
This shouldn't surprise me. After all, he puts up with me on a daily basis, so he's used to challenges.
I'm not sure how it will all work, but in any event, the Varanjar Druid goes on the back burner, and it's back to the character creation screen for me.
The Raki are a small, fox-like race, so character creation is a bit more streamlined, since the only real choices i end up making are the size of her ears, her eye color, and fur pattern. I also bemoan her lack of a tail. It's rather disappointing to me, since a tail shouldn't be all that hard to put in. Still, I decide to let this slide so we can get in and play, because the sooner we get leveled up and get moving, the sooner we can get to Halgarad to start the guild tonight.
Immediately, I notice that my performance is improved over what I was getting before:
This shot, as it turned out, was taken at the Highest Quality setting, though I didn't notice it until after I left the starting zone. It's why I've come to suspect that the game is only optimized in particular areas rather than across the board, and why people are doing things like tweaking their .ini files. While there, my frame rates varied between 15-35 FPS, and the shots in this post will reflect that.
Yes, I know those sorts of .ini tweaks are easy-- it's just a matter of changing a line of text in Notepad, and doesn't alter anything else on your system. But still, the game shouldn't require them in order to run smoothly, or at an optimum level. It's like overclocking your CPU-- you shouldn't *have* to do it in order to get good performance. It should be something that only some users want to do in order to go faster.
The environments in the Raki/Elven areas seem to be much more lush and green, and more pleasing to the eye, but I'm used to games that have very individual art styles and art direction, and I'm still not seeing anything that stands out in any way other than being decent, but generic art.
For all the hate spewed towards World of Warcraft around here for its "cartoony" style, not only does its style fit the Warcraft universe as a whole (since, you know, it looks like a Warcraft game), but the colors and environments are vibrant, even if they're meant to be spooky, like Deatholme in the Blood Elf starting areas, or even the Undercity for the Undead. And each area has its own style, with transitions that feel natural when I'm running from one area to the next.
To Vanguard's credit, the environment is decent, if generic. Even I will admit that the horizion here looks nice. But again-- after playing both CoH/CoV, and more recently, World of Warcraft, art direction and overall style are big issues for me. If I'm going to be spending weeks, months, or even years playing the same game, it has to knock my socks off in the looks department as well as in gameplay. I'm just shallow that way.
Also, one other note-- the NPC's themselves have a very vacant, Poser-like look on their faces sometimes. And, just like in the Varanjar area, their speech is garbled, and even sounds lifeless, as if the actors were just reading the lines without any emotion. For me, that's a bit of a downer, since I'm a big fan of digital art and I enjoy games that have good voice acting in them, since it makes the world feel alive. For me, it's not just about the pretty view when I'm standing on a vista or looking at a mountain in the horizon. It's a complete view of the world itself that ultimately makes the difference.
However, those are personal preferences. I can understand why some people look at the art and think it's outstanding, but my tastes tend to run in a different direction.
Gameplay
I decided on the Disciple because I'm used to being the healer, but I also like getting into the middle of things and fighting. It seems to be a good fit, and with his Monk, we're off.
Starting in the Raki area is fairly straightforward, and I vaguely remember these quests from my time in beta. And I quickly remember that not having an auto-attack button hotkeyed doesn't matter at all. As soon as you target anything and hit it with a spell, you start auto attacking anyways, so having the hotkey is just a waste of a slot that is better used for something else.
The Disciple animations, once I start using the staff I got for a quest reward, look an awful lot like the Polearm animations that my Blood Elf Paladin has in WoW, although in that game, she tends to go through the motions more. Here, it feels like my character is standing waist deep in water while trying to fight. I can see that they've tried to aim for something smooth, but for my playstyle, and for what I'm used to in a game, it feels too languid and slow. Between my Paladin, and the Scrappers, Brutes, and Defenders I've played in CoH/CoV, I like my combat a bit more fast paced. Still, that's a personal issue, so we'll let that go.
The quests don't take long to do, and in a matter of 20 minutes or so, both the boyfriend and I are done with the entire area, and are sent off to the next part. It's not until we start leaving that I finally have to turn my performance down at all, and again, have to go back down to Balanced, since even High Quality still gives erratic frame rates.
Also, both Raki areas showed a rather odd glitch:
Character names, at least for me, aren't visible except as broken text unless I sweep the camera around in a panoramic arc. This is what i saw when looking straight at the vendor. I couldn't see his name at all until I panned the camera to the left and right. And the tree behind the NPC character isn't the culprit, since the same thing happened elsewhere:
It's a bit of an annoyance, since some quests will involve finding a particular named NPC. Yes, I know there's a shield over their heads pointing them out, but that's not the point-- the missing text can become a rather serious issue over time, so it's something I'm working to find a solution for.
Leaving the newbie area for the second little village, my frame rates dropped dramatically, so it was back down to Balanced, but even then, performance took a hit when I went inside a building to find a couple of quest NPC's I needed. Outside the tree, I was cooking at around 50-65 FPS, but once inside the tree, this happened:
That's a loss of almost 2/3 of my FPS, and just from walking into a building. And BTW, that shot was also taken with my gamma raised to 125%, and my torch on. This is how dark the game is at night, especially inside a building. Also, please note the lack of NPC names, since they're still missing.
The gameplay itself is simple enough-- kill X mobs, meet Y person to talk about this or that, or deliver Z to this place. It's nothing I haven't done before in other games. Of course, I have yet to try Diplomacy, which will be another post when I get around to it. The quests really aren't that hard, at least so far. We'll see what happens over the next few days.
As for Crafting, I'm the type of player that doesn't craft for profit. I craft for need. For example, my Ranger in EQ was a Fletcher, since that made sense. I could make myself more powerful bows and arrows over time, which helped. And in WoW, my Paladin is a Miner and Engineer, since I like blowing things up, and anything that gives me the means to stun and/or distract adds is a good thing.
I'm also planning on Crafting in Vanguard, just to give all three spheres a try, but for the most part, I will be Adventuring in this game. And speaking of Adventuring, I think it's time I go and try to do some more of it. More in the next update, Day 2.
try hitting the "n" key to display names.
I really like your diary style. And I also really like the fact that you're evaluating the elements you encounter while clearly stating when it is your personal view that affects your attitude and when there is a tech/game issue.
The missing names is a game issue although it does not originate from the game but from the drivers supplied with the newer video cards. Previously, most video drivers had Anti Aliasing turned to "Application Control", which meant that if the running program activated Anti Aliasing then it was "on", otherwise it was "off". The newer video drivers (at least from nVidia) has this by default set to "on" at x4. For some reason this will cause a problem in Vanguard.
The bug here is that it does not always happen and that some situation has to be there in order for this glitch to surface. It is a bug on Sigil's part made visible (or invisible as it would happen) by newer standards in video drivers. Turn off the automatic Anti Aliasing in your video control panel and you should be fine.
Since I'm now writing anyway I can't help but offer an alternate oppinion to the view that WoW is more real when it comes to graphics. To me it was annoying that the areas where so distinct, it sort of fragmented the world into little slices instead of giving me the feeling of one big world. Think of desert to jungle in Thousand Needles/Feralas or the red sand of Duratar vs. yellow praerie of The Barrens for instance. You could literally stand on the crossing line.
I like that Vanguard has these huge areas of very identical landscape and that the changes are so very gradual. It makes for a more complete feel for me personally and makes the world a bit more "whole". It also means that once you're travelled a long way you sometimes stop and think, "hey, when did the vegetation turn to this?" ... you turn around and you can, far off in the distance, see where you started. Just an alternate view I know and not better or worse than yours. Please keep up your good work in this diary, but try to review your Anti Aliasing setting, it might do you good.
When I'm in a game and start seeing the same thing over and over and over as I'm running along, I start drifting back to when I was 12, in the back of that cramped car, looking at nothing but empty farmland and the occasional herd of cattle for hundreds of miles. It's not fun.
I can understand why some people might like identical areas and much more gradual transitions, but it's not for me. I don't think that World of Warcraft is more "real", since honestly-- how real can a game that has zombies, orcs, trolls, and elves as playable races be? It's just more vibrant and alive, at least by my standards. That's all.
HI
In regards to your missing names i have just solved this one on mine on another post
Check the AA on your GFX card menu, it needs to be set to let programme decide or switched off, The game doesnt support AA and if its switched on it forces itself onto the game and causes the names to disapper, the windows you open will also produce an eraser effect deleting names whereever it is moved on your screen, you will see the names around the edge of you screen when you pan teh NPC into that area
Give that a try and see if it cures the names issue
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
It's sad, really. I can build my own system, since it's basically a big jigsaw puzzle with wires added, but video captures when I'm playing a game are beyond me.
Also, this post will finally catch me up, since today, March 8, will be Day 3. Hopefully now, I'll be able to write one recap daily instead of going by my notes and being one step behind like I have been. I'll also give the anti-aliasing setting on the graphics card a go to see if that works for the names. It's disconcerting wandering around a world where no one has a name over their heads. And that name bug is one reason why this post is a bit harsher than the others.
Day 2
"OK, so ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good thinking, yeah?" -- Zaphod Beeblebrox
There's something to be said for the best laid plans of mice (or, in this case, a pair of Raki) and men. Heh. The boyfriend's plan of leveling up the Raki and somehow transporting them across the world to Halgarad ended up falling apart for two resaons: 1. Reality quickly set in, and 2. Sigil brought the servers down twice for patching at the same time we were working at gaining XP, killing our momentum. While the characters are leveling nicely, there was simply no way to get them high enough to travel across the world in time, especially with the loss of play time.
And I'm not pissed about the patching. It happens in these games. It just happened to coincide with when we were trying to get up to level 10 to buy mounts. Ah well.
It's just as well, really. Even with us logging in the Varanjar an hour or so before our friends were wanting to meet, navigating the Halgarad area and looking for the guild registrar was a pain in the butt for one simple reason-- the maps in this game suck. Hard. I know that's a harsh sentiment, but hear me out. This isn't just a mindless flame.
I know there are those that didn't want a map in Vanguard at all, but all I can think is that there's a certain sense of masochism involved in that. I mean, I like getting in my car sometimes and driving around aimlessly to clear my head, but that doesn't mean I want to travel cross-country without any idea where I'm headed.
Back when I played EverQuest, there wasn't a map in the game. Of course, when I started, meditating with my caster was a game in itself, since the spellbook took over my entire screen, which was heinously annoying. But I digress. Back to the maps. EverQuest itself might not have had maps, but I still have the tabbed and annotated binder of maps for every zone in the game that I downloaded from sites like EQ Maps, and which many players (at least if they're honest with themselves) depended on in order to get around.
Thing is, that was back in 1999-2000. Times have changed, and games have hopefully evolved since then.
Even if the developers didn't want detailed maps in the game, and even if there are those l33t gamers who think that maps are a form of spoon feeding and dumbing down a game world, they're still helpful for the average player. Why not have a compromise, like where the maps slowly open up as you explore, with the detailed areas showing up after you find them? That would seem to make sense.
In any event, wandering around for ages trying to find the one guy we needed was irritating, and even the few maps we found online were no help at all. I'm not asking for the world. And contrary to the stereotype of WoW players around here, no, I don't want to hit max level in a week, or have all the great gear given to me on a sliver platter without having to work for it. All I ask for is a way to find where I need to go in a relatively efficient manner. That's it.
The mapping system here in Vanguard? Not efficient. And I would think that player maps would be more helpful, considering some have been playing this game for close to a year, if not longer, and the basic geography of the world is pretty much set. Nope. No help on that front, either.
I understand that some people like the idea of open exploration, with no markings and no maps, and having to find things by either blind luck, or by wandering around for hours on end. I get that, and respectfully disagree. Thing is, for some of us, play time is limited, and spending most of our time wandering around aimlessly while looking for that one guy we need really isn't all that enjoyable. I know that's a personal gripe. I accept that. But I like enjoying myself when I play a game. I don't like exercises in frustration.
This is also why they need to fix their Anti-Aliasing issues. Not being able to see NPC names = even more irritation when trying to find that one guy, especially since he's not a quest giver and isn't going to have a handy dandy shield over his head.
All that said, creating the guild was simple enough, and we were up and running quickly.
Eventually, sitting around talking in a group got tiring, especially since their characters are all higher than ours, so the boyfriend and I switched back to the Raki, continuing the quests we'd been doing up to that point, and I finally hit on two other things that stick out for me-- weapons animations, and NPC deaths.
First, the weapons animations. And here, I'm not talking about how the weapons look in battle, since I really haven't gotten to see all that much. I'm talking about the individual act of your character equipping and unequipping their weapon. In short-- there isn't one. Press the Z button, and your weapon magically appears in your hand. Press it again, and it magically goes either on your back, or at your hip, with no motion in between.
This is a small issue, I know. But it's a symptom of the larger issue I'm starting to have with the animations in this game. NPC deaths are another symptom, but we'll get to that in a moment. While it doesn't really seem like a gamebreaker to have your weapon magically appear in your hand, or magically re-equip, it's all about things like style and flourish, at least for me.
For example, in City of Heroes, when my Katana Scrapper pulls out her sword (which usually isn't visible at all), she reaches across to her right hip with her left hand, pulls the sword, bringing it across the front of her body (blade out, of course!), extends it out to the left, twists her wrist, then pulls it back, bringing the blade to rest in front of her, both hands now gripping the katana. At the same time, her stance changes, as well. She goes from just standing there to having her knees bent, and her body crouched, ready to attack. There's also a very satisfying metallic sound effect of a sword being pulled.
In World of Warcraft, my Paladin will reach over her shoulder to grab the hilt of the Polearm or Two-Handed Sword on her back, then pull up and forward, bringing the weapon down by her side. Same thing happens when my Mage equips a staff. While not as fancy as the CoH animation, it still shows some response from the character when equipping a weapon.
By contrast, when my Disciple equips her staff in Vanguard, it just pops into her hand. No movement from the character, no changed stance, nothing. I just hit the button, and there it is. Putting the staff back is just as dead, since it just pops right back into place across her back.
Again-- this is a personal issue, and, in the end, is nothing but a matter of style. Some people might not be bothered by this like I am, and that's cool, but for me, it's just one of those little things that takes away from my character really being a part of the world around her. A physical motion to equip a weapon, and even a change in stance when doing it both add to a sense of immersion, at least for me.
Another thing that adds to immersion, IMO, is a real reaction from the NPC's when I kill them. The dryads I was fighting with the boyfriend would have no reaction to dying at all. One second they're standing there taking a beating, the next, they're laid out flat on their back without so much as a death flop. I'm hoping this is just something unique to the dryads, because I'd hate to get up in levels and have humanoids doing the same exact thing and falling over backwards, like a cardboard cutout tipped over on to the floor.
See, I'm used to the CoH system, which has some pretty solid particle and ragdoll physics. Trying to find new and interesting ways to have NPC's die, and new ways to destroy things is a game all its own in Paragon, since the possibilities (and anatomical contortions the corpses can do) are fairly varied. Also, if I kick a guy in the head near a ledge, there's a good chance he's going to go flying over it. That's fun.
Beating up on a dryad then having them just fall over flat, without so much as a whimper when they die? Not as much fun.
Again, this could just be something unique to the area I was in. And things might be different at higher levels. But seriously-- fighting something only to have it stop and just suddenly fall over is rather anti-climactic, especially after coming from a fast-paced combat experience like CoH/CoV.
Thus far, the Raki are moving along. Wtih any luck, we'll get up to 10 today, buy our mounts, and start moving across this world to see what else is out there. There are some decent moments in the game, but nothing has bowled me over just yet. We'll see what happens.
Vista is optimized at 3gb of ram. It uses 1gb just to run vista. You don't "need" to get a 3rd, but it has been recommended in every article on vista. Most of the info I get also comes from personall friends and familly that are programers, bebuggers, or IT profesionals. 3 gigs on XP is overkill as it can cause problems when you get over 2 gigs, but for vista it's pretty one of those must have things, like a sound card with Open AL support.
Great diary btw; you're a pretty good writer.