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Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: Pre-Launch Preview

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Comments

  • tigris67tigris67 Member UncommonPosts: 1,762
    Originally posted by Rattrap

    Is it a good MMO , it is.... If you liked original EQ combined with bit of WoWish flavor.

    Actually so many things of original EQ made crossover to Vanguard.
    Is Vanguard more like the original EQ than EQ2 itself? How ironic would that be....But if thats true...then I'd much rather play vanguard than EQ2 =(.

    Hi! My name is paper. Nerf scissors, rock is fine.
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  • NineSpineNineSpine Member Posts: 54
    Rattrap -



    Im playing the game on this machine:



    Athlon X2 4400+

    1GB DDR RAM

    ATI Radeon X700 w/ 256MBs



    It runs GREAT. Get over it. Every other post you make is going on about how you need a top of the line computer to run the game. I havent added anything to my computer in a YEAR and the video card is like 2 years old
  • jimmyman99jimmyman99 Member UncommonPosts: 3,221
    Originally posted by Rattrap


    Yet another , biased semi propagandal preview.
    Let me give you the real deal
    Vanguard is released 6 months before it is ready.
    Is it a good MMO , it is.... If you liked original EQ combined with bit of WoWish flavor.

    Actually so many things of original EQ made crossover to Vanguard.
    The world is big, huge. But also not as well fleshed out like let say WoW or EQ2. You will feel very generic , randomly placed monsters

    and generally uninteresting locations.
    However Vanguard is home of potentional. And will easily become the best hack&slash fantasy mmo in years to come.
    Reviewer also forgets to mention how greatly unoptimised game engine is. And how playing the game on any but top of the line PCs equals frustration.
     
    So my advice is
    Vanguard will be great game when it is "really" ready to release , and if by then you purchase new PC - You will be in for a treat
    How is it biased? It is a simple description of a low level character(s) played in VSoH. It does promotes VSoH slightly, but only becuase the person playing it  actualy ENJOYED the experience. Thats not an advertisement or propaganda.



    Im playing VSoH since beta (currently level 10 shaman) and im enjoying it so far. Maybe soon ill hit the "grind" wall, or maybe not. I dont know that untill I experience that myself. So for now, Im enjoying VSoH. Am I advertising? No, im expressing my own opinion. Now If i said a lot of good things without actualy experiencing it, yeah then id call it advertising.

    I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
    image
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
    imageimage

  • venalitervenaliter Member Posts: 14
    i think this Article hit it right on the head.



    nice big world, tons of things to do, crafting and diplomacy are addictive.



    but a couple of bugs to be fleshed out but i think performance increase greatly through the open beta.

    This is my system



    AMD 3700+

    2gig ram pc3200

    Geforce 7800gtx 256meg

    7200rpm Maxtor drive.



    with settings on balanced and at a Resolution i like I'm getting about 40fps in the field and about 15 or so in crowded towns.



    people who say 6months more time is needed  I'm not 100% convinced they even played the game recently. sure in a couple of months time this game will be outstanding and will be greatly polished and ready to go for all those people who are sick of WoW and TBC.



    All in all the game is good now and it'll be one of the best games on the market in about two or three months time (if it isnt the best already to some people)



    i personal plan on playing this one for at least a year but I'm sure ill check out Conan and maybe Warhammer when they are released just for kicks
  • VrazuleVrazule Member Posts: 1,095
    I'm not sure its a good idea to support a company that is taking shortcuts and charging players to be guinea pigs and beta testers for its unfinished game.  Many games have had launch issues in the past, but this is blatantly unfinished and they're expecting people to foot the bill before its even remotely complete.  This is very bad business and anyone who supports this kind of behavior is going to help set a precedent for future MMOs.  I find it unbelievabe that people are so desperate for online entertainment, they're willing to put up with this kind of crap.  No other business could get away with such underhanded tactics, the consumers would launch a counter attack.

    With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal

  • JamLordJamLord Member UncommonPosts: 2
    Pre-Ordered from SOE online web digitial download.  It took a 9 or so hours to download off SOE  site (used getright with 4 simo connections for each file to get 60k) while my friend downloaded from Direct2Drive at 400k and up.  After installing, had to wait another 2 or so hours for patching.



    Tried to create char but couldn't because of huge lag issues so quit and tried again and I was able to login and create char.  Had some graphics problems while getting into server but I've seem similar problems when logging into eq2 so just waited.  Waiting for char to show but realize in first person mode so use scroll wheel to get out of first person mode. 



    HUGE lag problems moving.  Tooltip popped up about going to trainer.  The only other tooltip I got in the game was after I killed my first beetle then no more tips.  Graphics was not what I expected after playing EQ2 but gameplay is what's important.  Toolbar looks like WoW and some windows look like WoW. Did they merge WoW with EQ2?



    After about an hour playing, I notice a number of graphics problems and LOTS and LOTS of lag.  I lost connection to server and could not get back into game so I played EQ2.
  • KremlikKremlik Member UncommonPosts: 716

    Nice review, how can you say the reviewer is biased anyway look? at the last line 'it's good but theres still annoying bugs' pointing out the game isn't 'OMG it's the best thing since sliced bread!!' which TBH any review from this site people 'claim' they seem to say about any game that isn't 'their' game. We've already astabished that it's not 'a WoW beater' and the game isn't perfect and we know a lot of players hate it because it doesn't cover 'X,Y or Z' but look at at this way a lot of the 'critics' belong to that '8 millon' that 'WoW' currently has, Vanguard isn't 'like' WoW or EQ2 becuase it wont apeal to that type of gamer witch essenally WoW brought to the MMO table, Vanguard will pull the 'others'  that have been looking for 'the next EQ' so like many have said it's filled a void we've had for a while now 

    Vanguard is techally 'EQ2' more then EQ2 is (as EQ2 is becomming more and more like WoW to try and get it's own chunk of that '8 million') Vanguard has taken of 'old views' of the 1st gen/era titles (EQ/UO), spliced some ideas and tools from the 2nd gen/era (WoW/EVE/EQ2) to create the first of the 3rd gen/era titles (which I'm not going to go into that much over the '3rd gen' debate). Vanguard isn't trying to be a 'game' it's trying to be a MUD/RPG, which TBH was lost within the 2nd gen/era titles in some places and it's done that very well IMO, sure it's ragged and ruff around the edges but it's charm is there, Vanguard will not go away as long as MMOs try to be more like WoW then be like EQ, as that 'EQ' market is still there and it's finding a home within Vanguard. 

    Oh on a side note people who have crappy computers shouldnt beat this game down just because their system is junk. Dont assume this game is going to run well on your computer just because WOW did. Unless you have a P4 3.0 ghz processor, at least 2GB of RAM and an ati x1600 or higher or nvidia 7900 or better your system is dated and you need to upgrade

    VG is just the beginning. Games like AOC will require just as tough a machine if not more so to run. I suggest you start saving your pennies and shopping around if you are planning to enjoy this generations pc games.

    Exacxtaly why I think we're gonna have the same song and dance over AoC too we are deffinitly going to see 'ooh AoC sucks because it doesn't work on my toaster' type of comments because of the way console gaming is. just becuase the PS3 titles 100% work on PS3 and 360 titles 100% work for the 360. doesn't mean all PC titles work on any PC it''s a whole diffrent ball game and people have to remember unlike consoles it's a work tool first and a gaming platform second..

    Bring on the WARRRRGGHH!

  • jimmyman99jimmyman99 Member UncommonPosts: 3,221
    Originally posted by Vrazule

    I'm not sure its a good idea to support a company that is taking shortcuts and charging players to be guinea pigs and beta testers for its unfinished game.  Many games have had launch issues in the past, but this is blatantly unfinished and they're expecting people to foot the bill before its even remotely complete.  This is very bad business and anyone who supports this kind of behavior is going to help set a precedent for future MMOs.  I find it unbelievabe that people are so desperate for online entertainment, they're willing to put up with this kind of crap.  No other business could get away with such underhanded tactics, the consumers would launch a counter attack.
    I would of agreed with you about a week or two ago. Back then,  there were a fair amount of game-breaking buggs and it seemed impossible to fix them in time for release. But 1 day before the end of beta those ground-shaking buggs were ... fixed. There are still bugs around, too many IMO, but most of them are cosmetic. I only encountered one serious bug myself, and my friend had another  serious bug. One of my quests was bugged and could not finish it, while my friend seem to not be able to hit a mob. Oh and another bug that ive see was people losing EXP, but as far as I know  devs could fix it and give back lost exp to affected characters.



    So yeah, VSoH release was not as polished as WoW or DAOC release, but its still very much playable and not annoying enough for me to get pissed and drop playing it. If VSoH were like any other MMORPG, then id agree with you. But VSoH has alot of "unique" features to support the company developing it. VSoH is not a regular "bland" game, its a game mixed with truly innovative ideas. I hate to sound like a fanboi, but I hope VSoH will set up new standards for future generation games, where crafting is meaningfull and doesnt feel like a chore, where grouping is fun and is another substitute for soloing, where graphics are amazing, where you could do much more then just grind mobs.



    VSoH is not a perfect game, but just like WoW, it is one step closer to the perfection. Please more games like these

    I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
    image
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
    imageimage

  • metalcoremetalcore Member Posts: 798


    Originally posted by Chaotica
    I'm going to be honest here. I have beta'd a lot of games and i have pre-ordered a few as well. I am actually afraid to try and play Vanguard right now. I got burned very badly by SWG when they changed every single aspect of the game I loved, got rid of the classes I enjoyed playing and basically rewrote the entire game... all while I was paying the piper.

    Well your not alone about what happened with SWG, this is the main reason why Brad and co set up Sigil, to stop the SOE fiddling and to do things their way.

    I believe the crunch for them was EQ2, when they realised they had not got enough control of the game and after they left it became a different beast.

    The whole game design is controlled by Sigil and they are an experienced bunch. As for SOE, I think they have learn't their lesson well with SWG.

    As many have said and I agree, Vanguard is the spiritual successor to EQ1. It has elements of SWG, WoW, UO, just about every good game you can find.

    The preview was I believe very straight forward and fair. The bugs the reviewer experienced don't happen all the time, in fact I have only seen them a few times now, others folks more.

    I am seriously impressed with this game and its launch, probably the smoothest lag free MMORP I have ever played (at launch) and I am on a highly populated EU server and expected huge lag spikes.

    Currently I have a 16th level Shaman and hunting in Kaon Rush, a wonderful place with an elven outpost and undead plaguing the area. The music is just so amazing, the game is just amazing, totally addicted.

    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

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435
    It wasn't really a review, more of a preview.... obviously there wasn't time for her to get to level 25 yet.  It was fair enough, if not a little forgiving .....  hey, I'm playing it.... and having a good time.... all the matters I suppose in the end.....

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • vickykolvickykol Member UncommonPosts: 106

    I pretty much agree with the preview.

    This game has a great deal of potential.  Despite what I am reading here about the game being insta-debugged, the game was still buggy last night for me, when it crashed to desktop twice in an hour and also did this weird freeze to black and then a minute later zones back in thing.   Somebody fell through the ground yesterday and wound up dying someplace odd.  But those problems are actually decreasing.

    I pre-ordered and will not cancel.  I have a Station Pass, so my subscription fees are already being paid, and the game is fun enough to play when it is not crashing.  I knew that I would buy it eventually, so I figured that I would just get it now and watch it get debugged.  I am still sampling the various starting areas, races and classes, because there really is quite a variety.  My Thestran human paladin has been doing so many diplomacy quests that she hasn't been leveling as a paladin, which is ok for now. 

    Is the game ready?  No.  Is is worth playing?  It is for me, because it really has a lot of material.  Is it balanced?  No, I get the sense that they haven't finished with all of the starter content for some races and classes, because they were rushed to release.  I don't blame the design team, because they have done miracles over the past few weeks since I went into open beta.

    I bought the game because it is fun, and because I have full confidence that the game will continue to improve at a quick pace.  If I hit a wall, I will take off a month or so and come back, because this game is a keeper.  It is just a shame that SOE wouldn't let Sigil finish this one right.

  • CymdaiCymdai Member UncommonPosts: 1,043
    I think a lot of people read the preview and interpretted it to be a review.



    There's a pretty big difference.

    Waiting for something fresh to arrive on the MMO scene...

  • cyberace66cyberace66 Member UncommonPosts: 28
    I played since beta 4 and the game is obviously released early. If your on the fence about buying this game I would wait 6 months and download the free trial. The thing that bugged me the most was the horrible performance; game played like a slide show for me.



    2.8GHz P4

    1gig DDR2

    7600 GS OC 512MB DDR2
  • EranuEranu Member Posts: 191

    I cant say i was particularly that impressed with the authors preview feature , seemed to lack a little substance and didnt really say anything i didnt know.

    Im going to hang on for a little while longer and see how it pans out before i buy. Been suckered into preordering before so im never gonna do it again.

    Greatness is difficult to appreciate from close up. The great mountain on the horizon is only the ground when you are standing on it.

  • CarolynKohCarolynKoh Staff WriterMember Posts: 202
    Originally posted by Cymdai

    I think a lot of people read the preview and interpreted it to be a review.



    There's a pretty big difference.



    Not only is it a preview, it's a "First Impressions" of a new game at Pre-Launch stage with a total of about 8 hours in-game.  The standard requirement by MMORPG.com for a Review is two months of game time after official launch and about 3,000 words plus Ratings in 8 different areas.  Heh.  It can't even be called a "At First Glance" article because the game only launches today. 

    Editor Jon (and previously Dana) deliberately will not send a "fanboi" to review a game.  I was the biggest skeptic in the bunch and frankly, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by my early experience.  Despite some bugs... despite the difficulty in figuring out which death option gave me the least xp debt... despite my getting horribly lost in some areas and whining for maps.

    I've seen some impressive trains.  I'm wondering if the way xp is awarded will allow for power leveling.  I have yet to explore the trade-skill gameplay, I'm in total LOVE with diplomacy at this stage despite some NPCs that "cheat" by having more cards and the ability to play them faster than I.

     Different strokes for different folks.  From what I've seen, it looks like pretty good mix of challenge and temperance of tedium.  For example the map & direction system.

    You don't have to practice "Sense Heading" you have a compass that works.  You can get locations marked on that compass - from Quests and from town guards.  There aren't any detailed ingame maps but there is a large overview map with some key locations marked.  You aren't spoon-fed nor are you just thrown into a completely new landscape without any tools to find your way.

    The game launches today.   The jury is still out of whether the game will keep my attention long term - I have yet to explore the game with any depth. 

    {Edit}  Oh... P.S.  /wave Kevyn Padraig on the Florendyl server.  Thanks for twinking me that Novice Woodsman Axe!

     

     

    Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.

  • EnigmaEnigma Member UncommonPosts: 11,384
    Originally posted by GFulls



    With the launch of Sigil's Vanguard: Saga of Heroes now at hand, Carolyn Koh takes a peek inside the game pre-launch to give us her impressions of this new MMORPG offering.

    I did not know what to expect when I logged into Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Despite a couple of previews at shows and an interview with Brad McQuaid and Paul Luna, I had a nebulous idea of a game with lots of grinding in various forms of game play.
    I had deliberately not played in beta as I wanted to approach Vanguard as a new player. While the game patched, I read the manual which was surprisingly well written. Score... one point.

    Read the entire article here.



    Is she a seasoned MMO player?  I mean everyone has their own opinion but it sounded like she never played a MMO before (reading the manual and it was greatly put together ...score ....lol, whats that all about; most of us judge the game based on game play. Not manual layout)



    Ehh...I dont know....but I would have given it a totally opposite review that Carolyn did.  Just seems like all the previews here has now been watered down and politically correct to make the ad payers happy.



    Dont be afraid to give an honest review from time to time.  It'll help you more than hurt you.



    edit:  and I do understand its a preview...

    People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.

  • VrazuleVrazule Member Posts: 1,095
    I don't plan on playing the game, but I was still disturbed to see that after 8 hours of play, she had barely made level 3.  That is some stiff time requirment.

    With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal

  • MinimumMinimum Member UncommonPosts: 236


    Originally posted by Vrazule
    I don't plan on playing the game, but I was still disturbed to see that after 8 hours of play, she had barely made level 3.  That is some stiff time requirment.

    The way I read it, she played multiple race/classes. In order to see different starting areas.


    I doubt she spent a lot of time on just one character.


  • GerecGerec Member CommonPosts: 185
    Originally posted by Vrazule

    I don't plan on playing the game, but I was still disturbed to see that after 8 hours of play, she had barely made level 3.  That is some stiff time requirment.
    And she did things like Diplomacy as well . .
  • CleffyIICleffyII Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 3,440

    Don't worry, they solved the problem of 100 players trying to kill 20 rats who spawn every minute with 20 players trying to kill 3 Rat Monsters that spawn every 10 minutes.

    I like the Diplomacy, but there isn't enough of it in the game.  So much of the game is adventuring centric that doing any side things require you to be a certain adventuring leveling class, (harvesting, diplomacy, crafting).  It isn't a replacement as advertised.

    image

  • roadwarriorsroadwarriors Member Posts: 218

    Let me get this strait. Vanboi's claim that wow has a sloth of immature players, and this reviewer named her character "Sweete Treate". Um that's like a name that my five year old cousin would think of. I'd rather see someone named ELITE knight dash five or something than Sweete Treate, roleplay wise too. And this isn't just my opinion, tell me how bad ass as a diciple yoru going to feel when your grouped with Candy Kane, or Lovely hugster. Seriously, everything that anyone about vangaurd ever said with regards to wow being a haven for immature players has just been nullified. I myself am a hardcore roleplayer. You'll see me in wow iwth names such as Moontip, Skintag, etc. naming my characters with epithets similar to the native american tradition except int he enlgihs languag enad less profound.

     

    I don't want to sound lik ea stickler picking on the name, but really vanboi's you need to drop the argument that wow is full of immature players because from the looks of it it seem sthat there are more pople who play vangaurd under the age of 20 than wow.

    Edit: Speaking according to ratio that is not absolute number.

  • mix2pixmix2pix Member Posts: 21
    I played the adventuring path the first night and got to level 8. Similar to most mmo's where you can get to around 8 or so in one 4/5 hour session of play. I'm now level 12 and have found questing to be a much better way to level than grinding. So, at least until level 12 where I am, I recommend quests as you will waste a lot of time if you just grind. I think this has been done on purpose to promote questing vs. grinding. Good idea if you ask me. Grouping has been fun and challenging. Ask anyone who has tried the "Stronghold" quests for the first time. I bet everyone has taken a dirt nap thinking they are just going to run through it like some other games I won't mention.



    Diplomacy is pretty addicting once you figure it out. I've played about 5 hours of diplomacy without the need to be above level 1 in adventuring so for me, adventuring, crafting, and diplomacy have been independent of each other.



    Not a big fan of crafting yet. It's just boring to me.



    Other things I like:

    - Death penalty brings back the days of actually having to pay attention and caring about yourself and others while adventuring. However, the tedium of EQ has been fixed with the multiple ways of getting your stuff back. Well done.



    - Mounts can be purchased early on. At my level, I already have a horse that has 39% speed increase. Nice.



    - Starting continents are very unique and, so far, appears that the replay value may be very good already.



    - in-game email, broker (auction house), and LFG tools already built in



    - Player models are larger than EQ2 and the ability to show off your new equipment is more comparable to WoW. Big plus.



    - You can cast spells and perform skills while moving. Nice feature and may add some more strat options in boss and end-game content.



    - Action and reaction spell and skill chains look like they'll be more exciting than that of EQ2. I'm having fun with them anyway.



    - Graphics are top notch. Not as Artsy as WoW but better than EQ1 and 2. Some aspects better than WoW.



    Things I don't like:

    - Server stability is still an issue but they are working hard on it. It's much better than Beta but still needs a little work.

    - Yes, there are some graphic issues and bizarre things here and there but they will be fixed.

    - Some of the quests are broken

    - Some pathing issues

    - Ship/Boat system not working

    - The game supposedly came out today but no one seems to have them. I pre-ordered from Best Buy and they didn't have one copy today :(





    Even though Vanguard is not a innovation is gaming, I thing they have successfully raised the bar a bit.
  • CarolynKohCarolynKoh Staff WriterMember Posts: 202
    Originally posted by Vrazule

    I don't plan on playing the game, but I was still disturbed to see that after 8 hours of play, she had barely made level 3.  That is some stiff time requirment.

    For the record.

    After about 8 hours of game play.

    High Elf Cleric - level 7 - took a dive immediately to check the death penalties. 

    Wood Elf Ranger - level 4 & completed first 2 diplomacy quests

    Thestran Human - level 2 & completed first diplomacy quest, harvesting quests and grouping to check out what it did for harvesting

    Goblin Blood Mage, Orc Shaman, Mordebi Human Warrior (and a couple others I've since deleted) to check out starting experiences.

     

    Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.

  • TiliquaTiliqua Member UncommonPosts: 2
    Very weak review. At best Carolyn is a newbie mmo gamer, at worst she is in the pockets of the devs. I come to this site for realistic and accurate info about mmos, not gushing crap designed to suck us into playing the game. Here is an alternate pov from the Guild I hang out with:









    The graphics engine is a wierd, laggy, overblown mod of an Unreal 2 license. It's so modded they can't upgrade to a newer Unreal engine. It feels unsuited to an MMORPG. Performance is a problem on any machine. Animations are poor and repetitive.

    It's shoddy. Almost every system in the game is in a half-baked temporary state and due to be revamped for the sixth time. They've never been able to get things to work. A lot of their ideas have fallen flat and been totally reinvented, and still ended up a mess. Still can't tell you how the death penalty will ultimately work.

    It's "the big empty" like SWG's planets. Huge amounts of pointless land, nothing going on. Vast empty areas. The biggest cities in any MMORPG, mostly empty because it would take an entire dev team a year to populate them. Where there are NPCs, they're just standing around for thin lore reasons.

    Bad WoW rip-offs in the UI and quest interface (after previous crappy Vanguard UI ideas were tried and abandoned). If you're going to steal something for a rival product, it should be because you're improving on it.The UI and the quest interface are straight from WoW, but look like a high school student's implementation of it.

    They kicked us out of beta. We had a good bunch of people trying to test Vanguard for Sigil even though it was a crappy beta, but a disgruntled member told them we had a private Vanguard forum on this board. They suspended all our testers for investigation and accused us of breaking the NDA and threatened to ban the ...... name from Vanguard. It was a ridiculous, anal retentive overreaction that destroyed our commitment to helping test the game.

    Microsoft dumped Sigil because the game was a mess. SOE funded them to continue development, but now even SOE has reached the end of its tolerance and is making them ship it. Do you really want to play the result of that?
  • solymnarsolymnar Member Posts: 85

    Ignoring all the political crap and getting to the point, your starting experience varies greatly depending on your starting race/class.

    Some is intentional, others like having a gap in quests if you start as a half-elf or kojani durring levels 12-14ish are clearly showing that some quests are planned and have stories written complete with excellent and detailed dungeons but simply not implementing the actual option to take the quests yet.  Magi Hold is a great example.  Damn impressive, clearly has story to it but you can't get any quests for it yet.

    So was VG released early?  You bet.

    Was it released too early?  Matter of opinion.  My thought is that its a game. 

    The purpose of a game is to have fun.  My wife, myself and my friends are having quite a bit of fun so far.  Tons of guildies from back when we all played EQ have come out of the woodwork.

    And yes it feels much more like the original EQ than EQ2 does.

    But it also gives you A LOT of choice in how you want to go about things.  The death penalty is a shining example.  You CAN go on a nakkid corpse run, or you can summon your corpse at an alter for a fee and take a hit to your gear's durability. 

    Sometimes the risk of trying to get your body back just isn't worth it, so you swallow the hit to your gear and pay repair fees.  A lot of the time you'll find yourself happy that you can make a corpse run.  Its just extremely well balanced in most cases in that regard.

    Many of the animations are stale, many are excellent, another example of "released early" but "released too early?" well, it doesn't break immersion for me but anyone's milage may vary.

    I like the reactive combat and chains... a lot.  The game definitely is more challenging than WoW close to on par with EQ but with more depth to the combat system comes more options for player skill to shine so you can pull off some impressive stunts with a less than full group and still survive if you're careful, where as in EQ if you didn' thave a full group you had no prayer in several cases.

    You also will find yourself exploring at several points much like in EQ instead of having your hand held 24/7.

    I have yet to talk to someone who was unable to solo at any given level.  Some classes are better at it than others but so far they feel pretty capable. 

    Things that can hook you is taking great floating leaps jumping from roof to roof "crouching tiger hidden dragon" style fighting evil monks that appear in puffs of smoke with cherry tree petals floating around you. 

    Some aspects you just say "OK that's just plain cool" and then you'll hit a glitch or crash to desk.  Granted crashing to desktop doesn't happen too often but its another ear mark of early release.

    The servers have been pretty solid though, a credit to SOE. 

    More quests seem to be added every time I log in, both adventuring, diplomacy levers (civic diplomacy), and crafting options.

    If you have a weak graphics card, you'll have to turn the settings way down, but it still looks much better than EQ2 did when it launched and everyone with older graphics cards had to turn their settings way down.  (remember faces that were simply a blur?  Yeah VG doesn't have that problem ;))

    The lore and background is consistantly excellent and diplomacy is a GREAT vehical for it.

    Crafting currently is dissapointing to me, I expected there to be MANY more recipies than what is currently available, GRANTED my crafter is low level but still...feels like way too few recipies.  On the flip side crafted gear is excellent on average compared to dropped and quested gear...very competitive and functional but not unreasonably so.  A good balance.

    I could go on about this and that, but if some of this intrigues you, talk to someone you know whos been playing and still is, hit em with questions, see if its a good fit for you.  It won't be fun for everyone.  Example, while you can always solo I can tell you that the game dynamics don't show themselves off unless you're in a group rockin and sockin.  Soloing is nice, especially to get more in touch with your character and their skills, but the real action happens in groups, even smallish ones of 3 people can be a blast and functional.

    The group harvesting idea is excellent and works.  You'll just have to do it to see what I mean, wish every MMO with harvesting did it the way VG does.

    Anyway, find a friend, convince them to give you their free 10 day trial pass.  See what you think.  I'm having fun with the game right now, I like the mechanics and flow among other things, the game made litteral leaps on improvement in the last few weeks, seems to be continuting to polish rapidly.   I'm looking forward to that as well. 

    The lack of instancing hurts at some choke points in some of the over crowded popular newbie area's but after a point people get spread out far and wide pretty quick, it seems to work well in practice overall.  Its nice to have real people around in dungeons that you can save or follow and/or group with or lead etc.  Its nice to be able to to do run by heals or buffs again that have significant enough durration to be useful to the groups being buffed etc.  :)

    Ok done rambling must sleep. 

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