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My impressions of VGSOH- I like it
Lateris
Member UncommonPosts: 1,831
I am no writer so bear with my simplicity.
Well I finally gave this a try. This game has so much more depth than world of warcraft. I selected a FFA server. The community is very helpful. I have been ganked but I can't complain. It is a FFA server. I have had no client crashes and my 7800 handles the game just fine with 2GBs of memory. The engine does need a little tweaking when you cross over the maps. The quest system reminds me of EQ. which I do like. So hell ya- this game is getting better since I spent one week in beta. The crafting is better than I expected. The freedom to travel anywhere reminds me of what I loved about SWG at release. The cities are amazing and huge. There are endless quests and areas to explore on ships or on foot.
This game has come a long way since beta and release per posts on mmorpg.com. The player houses and guild systemhalls are very well thought out. The mods that are available for the UI are top notch. Over all the game is not a let down for me even though I am afraid of SOE's mentality per management and leadership. They need to let the sigil office finish this game. Then leave it alone. So I give it 7.5 out of 10 because it just has a few more kinks to work out. But I am staying with it. Hell even eve online was buggy at release. And WoW would boot out 64bit AMD users when it launched for a few months. I know the VG SOH release was terrible. But my game play with VGSOH was fun, immersive, and not mundane.
Comments
Not to sound mean or anything but I literally thought no one played this game anymore.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Unfortunately, that's the common misconception with this game.
It's fairly simple though. If, during it's development, you really thought Vanguard was going to be a great game, but was disappointed with it's crappy release, then you should try it again and see how you like it.
If you bought it, and was pissed about it's release, then you should try it again (since you already own it), and see how you like it.
I was in both of those classes. I decided last week to try it out again. So far, I've been having a TON of fun with it. There are a couple of kickers though. Starting areas -- Sometimes you'll create a certain race, and realize that the starting area is pretty empty (no other players, maybe 1 or 2). But this varies completely with each starting area (as there are quite a few). Basically, either stick it out, or ask around to see which areas seem to be more populated if this concerns you.
As you level up a bit, you'll start to see more and more people running around. LOTS of those people you see are also NEW players. By the time I hit level 5 or 6, I starting seeing alot more people. Even created a group, then merged that one with another to form a full group, and we all killed the boss of this particular area.
If you feel like you're running out of quests, then explore the area. I did this today just looking for resources, and I stumbled upon a little camp hidden in a valley. After completing all of the quests there, I hit level 10, had enough money for a horse and all my spells. This took about 2.5 hours max, and alot of that time was just goofing off, and waiting on my wife to catch up.
It's a fun game. Someone else said this once: "Vanguard has the most important thing --- mechanics." The game's mechanics are absolutely great. It has everything you need and want. Some of those other games like Sword of the New World that got like a 9.0 in a mag review, might be stable, it might have fewer bugs, but look what kind of game it is. It's point & click for god's sake.
Vanguard is a WESTERN game. And a very good one at that. It has it's areas that need improvement, but as it stands right now, it's absolutely fine.
I picked up VG a couple months ago then my gaming pc died after a few days in VG (no, VG didn't kill it lol) and I just got back in 4 days ago. Having a blast. Still has a few issues, and I'm only 13 so I can't comment on the high-end content obviously. But the server merge made a HUGE difference -- there's plenty of players adventuring, crafting, chatting... I got a group last night very quickly for Gardens of Xai'Liu, my first-ever outdoor dungeon and we all had a great time. *So far* the in-game community has been very helpful and mature. VG has a lot of depth and breadth, and there's almost no hand-holding at all so it's very much a learning experience but I'm really enjoying it (and I'm thankful that the people have been kind enough to help explain my noob questions too).
Would I go so far as to say "omg everyone should rush out and buy VG?" No. But I won't say that about any game, no matter how good it may be. They claim the next update will fix even more bugs and improve performance quite a bit. The new art assets allegedly improve framerates by up to 60% (I'm averaging 25-35 in towns, and 30-50 in the wilderness) *however* those new assets will only be on the Trial Island and then will be slowly implemented throughout the rest of the world. So it will still be a few months until we start seeing major fps increases anywhere in Telon.
I have to agree with these guys, I followed vanguard for a while then bought it the day of the release and played it to level 14, my first thoughts was it was alot like world of warcraft but worse as far as lag and development went, I ended up having to quit because of the lagg due to my computer not being up to par for a 2007 mmo. 3Days ago I reactivated and I have to say its much better, the reason for reactivating is I have a new computer, I'm now playing the game on MAX settings with 100% better performance than I had been before on low with my old PC. My outlook on the game has changed and its doing well for a new mmo and will only have room to improve. Great Graphics, Good Gameplay (I dont fall to sleep like I do on wow), Fun people, Good dungeons.. and telon's just so huge I feel i'llnever see the whole game. So hey try it out, you have little to loose and alot to gain.
I had been playing VG since Beta. I have watched the game improve significantly well. And I am really enjoying the game. I suffer no real bugs at the moment and lag is very concentrated to cities but as in almost any MMORPG the cities typically have the lag.
My real issue with Vanguard comes from the fact that I am a casual gamer. I am a father with three little boys and a full time job. So I typically don;t get to play until they are in bed and only for a few hours a night. So with this type of time constraint, I am limited to pickup groups or soloing.
Vanguard, unfortunately does not cater to casual players as much. Don't get me wrong, they offer many soloable quests but I tend to run into many quests requiring groups and since there is an extremely noticable lack in players online, i find it increadibally hard to get into a pickup group before I end up running out of time for the night and have to log out. And exploring dungeons is a real pain in th arse, since mobs respawn way too fast and soloers tend to get overwhelmed.
I personally missed my old days in Everquest. I never seemed to have any trouble getting into a pickup group, and soloing was always a blast. I just wish SOE would have invested in revamping EQ1 with Vanguard quality graphics and machanics.
And where is the advertisements for Vanguard?!? Maybe we'd see a hell of a lot more eager players if SOE would invest in advertisements. I have yet to see a T.V. commercial about vanguard and how about running some movie trailers on vangaurd like SOE did with EQ2? Just seems that they are keeping Vanguard lowkey. Most new players out there are turning to WOW simply because of the advertising that Blizzard has produced.
I'll continue to play Vanguard and hope it continues to evolve for the better. And trust that SOE will start promoting Vanguard more and increase it's popularity. If their pattern holds true, mayhaps Vanguard will really start to get good after a year, like SOE did with EQ2.
Class envy is alive and well in VG. If you are a Shaman or a Disciple LFG you will most definately be overlooked for that Cleric or Blood Mage that's also LFG. If you're a Psionicist, you'll get the backseat while a Sorcerer or Bard rides shotgun. Another problem with finding groups is that the game has boiled down to a bunch of old friends at this point, and they can easily find the class they want in guild or on their friends list.
Since there is good XP and decent loot to be made from running quests, there are far fewer "grind groups" than there were in original EQ, which is why EQ was so good for casual gamers and those who relied on PUGs for their advancement.
SOE was planning a re-release and are probably saving any marketing dollars for that pool. They probably are keeping it low key at the moment, as they might think that anyone joining at this stage might leave before they get it polished. I would assume they plan to get it polished before they do any serious advertising and re-release.
yes i have noticed the friend element in VG a lot! there seems to be a lot of people that are always grouped while others are left behind. I myself have a 25 ranger that has only ever grouped once, that was looking for zombie skins for the hunters quests which i picked up 1 skin then the group disbanded
one thing i will say is that the post about missing EQ1 was spot on for me as you didnt quest much in eq it was more exploring then grinding, and i hate to say it but i actualy miss the grind. ok i only ever enjoy it in interesting places but it was actualy fun going to a dungeon and running inbetween names back and forth. or holding a really tough camp. i wish in VG there was a few alt quests, i wanted to finish the hunters league quests but realised at my level a group is a must. that's the thing that dissapoints me about most Mmorpgs! i wish for casual/solo players there were alt methods. ok maybe they could make it take me 4 times longer to solo it, i wouldn't mind that. but at the moment its a case of group or dont complete the quest.
Come on devs lets see a little bravery when it comes to quest design! give us a few ways to complete a quest depending on gamestyle!
Heh, the game is actually buzzing. Yeah, there are only 4 servers. So its not like 400.000 people are palying. But Halgar is well populated. Infineum (25ish) was overcrowded yesterday. Almost to many people around...
The population on Halgar is all right. Not empty but also not overpopulated. I'm glad i dont meet another adventurer every 10 seconds, or a need to wait for a quest mob to spawn, because it's being farmed by 5 other groups. But still enough to be able to get a group for anything within 10 minutes.
REALITY CHECK
We queued yesterday for "Using the Weapon" in the mines. Queued and also helped the small team behind us in the queue to kill thee adds. Thats quite crowded for a 25 ish area
. Ok, it was a sunday...
Well never happened to me. True is im only around lvl 20 adventurer and mostly improving my crafting.
REALITY CHECK
The mechanics are "typical"? I think you're misunderstanding "mechanics" and "features".
Diplomacy is a feature. I haven't tried it yet, as I'm not big into "card" games, and I don't quite see yet how leveling that up is going to help me kill bigger mobs and get better loot. But I do see people doing it all the time. I see the results in city-wide buffs.
I wasn't saying the game was revolutionary. I'm saying the gamepley mechanics are there. The core system that allows for great gameplay, tactics, and depth.
Your assessment of "western" is moot. Launch is over. They failed, we all know that. The problems you speak of have been fixed - mostly. Again, when I say it's a western game, I'm saying it's not your typical Lineage 2 clone, with point and click movement, horrid grinds, new equipment "sets" available at levels 4, 7, 11, etc. Skills that only increase in power if you "grind" them out.
Geez, didn't see the time. have to get to work.
We queued yesterday for "Using the Weapon" in the mines. Queued and also helped the small team behind us in the queue to kill thee adds. Thats quite crowded for a 25 ish area
. Ok, it was a sunday...
Is "Using the Weapon" fixed yet? It was broken for months and you couldn't do the quest while grouped lol. It was great fun trying to find a workaround for my 3-man group however, especially when it was the Sorcerer's turn to do the quest
Brad and Co. took the money and ran after they sold the game to SOE.
Don't worry about Torak. He's been in a bad mood since the Teon server was launched in Lineage 2.
I'm not the one who resorted to personal attacks like a ^%&$, I just slammed the game. Its fair game like any other. I do have that effect though, don't I?
We queued yesterday for "Using the Weapon" in the mines. Queued and also helped the small team behind us in the queue to kill thee adds. Thats quite crowded for a 25 ish area
. Ok, it was a sunday...
Is "Using the Weapon" fixed yet? It was broken for months and you couldn't do the quest while grouped lol. It was great fun trying to find a workaround for my 3-man group however, especially when it was the Sorcerer's turn to do the quest
It is. One kill updates all in group. Respawn is good too. Mobs stays on the group that hailed him. No steal possible.
Hey hey, that's good news. Guess I can file my workaround in the bank of worthless knowledge now. Who knows, they may just find a way to pull this together yet.
Just need 2x:
Ring of Necessity 64C
Soulbound
Jewelry Left Finger
+12 FPS
Item Level: 1
This ring is imbued with the harsh face of reality
Perhaps it just took my leaving to get them into gear. Is it possible they were leaving things broken just to piss me off?
EDIT: Spellcheck came up emty, so I added a typo
Sorry about the WoW reference- that was negative. I clearly see your point. I am on the FFA server and a level 17 Orc ranger if anyone want to form a brotherhood. The name is Lateris.
...RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE...
I beta tested this game. Played up til a couple monthes after pre-launch. Pulled 52% of the hair out of my skull and quit.
Came back to play with a buddy who has been playing since near launch. Having fun. Genuine fun. Not the kind of 'fun' where I'm tring to convince myself that I'm having fun. Or whatever.
The game still needs a good bit of work. I'd say if you like the complexity in SWG you might like this game. Or maybe not. Who cares!
Anyway...
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
I played early beta to a little while after release and I liked the game but server pop and bugs just ruined it for me....I had huge hopes for Vangaurd.
I am going to jump back in tonight hopefully and I hope it really is better. I have a 30 Cleric on the FFA server and I hope it will be fun to play again.
http://codmw3.me
I like the game. It has some strange bugs in it, like random crashes, and today I fell through a mountain. Overall it's fun though.
As a poster has said, there is a lot of depth in VG. Even now I am still finding out stuff about the game, reminds me a lot of EQ1 in that respect.
If I compare that to WoW (bare in mind I haven't played the expansion), WoW is pretty much straight forward and in your face, guiding you to everything and explaining everything. VG is completely the opposite and I prefer it.
Plus content wise, VGs three spheres (four if you count harvesting) provide a ton of game play and even at 50th adventurer, I am still have too much to do.
If your a casual player, I would suggest concentrating on one sphere and find some regular friends who play similar hours or a good guild.
Now playing: VG (after a long break from MMORPGS)
Played for more than a month: Darkfall online, Vanguard SOH, Everquest, Horizons, WoW, SWG, Everquest II, Eve