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Should I begin playing Vanguard?
SebOfSpades
Member Posts: 3
I'm thinking about playing a MMORPG again, and I am not sure which one I would like to play. Currently my two choices are start fresh with Vanguard, or to return to WoW and play Cataclysm. I want some suggestions from players who have played both of these games. I have read a lot about Vanguard and it sounds like a great experience for a MMO, even with it's rough history. I am downloading the 14 day trial currently, but would still love some feedback and the ups and downs of this game and if you can, compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of WoW and Vanguard.
With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels.
Comments
I'm one of those collector editions vanguard players, who got to 50. I would go ahead and skip this game. I have no idea why SOE doesn't just slit Vanguards throat and let it die after all the misery.
I would have LOVED Vanguard to be a good game but it was mismanaged and funded into nothingness.
/tear
The Stranger: It's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid.
One word for Vanguard that makes me love the game and others as well "Community". It is one of the best communities in all of the MMOs I have played. They are helpful, friendly, curtious, kind (wait that is the Boy Scout's) but pretty much what I listed and more.
Setting doom and gloom prophecies aside for a moment.. reality is Vanguard is more alive now than it has been since launch. I was on at about 4am CST this morning and there was still a lot of activity in game. Prior to the merge it would have been completely dead. Two things to take into consideration if you try it. First what you see is what you get. There won't be any new content. Of course if you never played it, you get a heck of a lot. As long as you do not rush through it there is enough to keep you going for a while. The other thing is the Isle of Dawn is a fraction of what the main game is like but for some reason can get awfully laggy for some people. There are some lag spikes in the subscriber areas but nowhere near as much as the Isle of Dawn.
I've played both WoW and VG but in my opinion they are too different to compare. VG is kinda like mmos of old, take your time, adventure, craft, explore, do whatever you want and play it however you want, maybe even get some role play in. WoW is hurry up, grind your way to max, get super gear so you can do end game raid and pvp. Two very different games and experiences. Two very different communities too. You can make a name for yourself be a part of an in game family in VG, in WoW you are just another noob. It really all depends on what you are looking for in an mmo to determine which one sounds better. Best of luck and hope you enjoy the trial.
Imo,Vanguard is the best game on the market now but it has serious problems. Those problems are mainly that the game design is very group focusing for all main loot drop and the population is very low.On the other han there is a lot of solo and duo content wich may keep you busy for months or years but you will not get any high end items from this playstile. I would resubscribe on Vanguard if population would grow alot or they would make most of exsiting content solo or duoable.
Vanguard is, very easily, the best PvE MMORPG on the market at the moment. Its worth playing at least once before it goes under. The only reason I'm not playing now is because I just cannot justify to myself giving SoE another single cent. If I could pay the Sigil developers personally I would. But SoE wants this to die, they keep removing staff.
They just had a final server merge, and there's a lag bug that still hasn't been fixed because they just don't have developers for it.
But yes, play this game before it goes.
Have to agree with the others here. Vanguard is, by far, the best MMO out to date. The community is awesome, helpful, mature and friendly. Each of the classes has its own uniqueness to them. They're pretty dynamic too. Tons of content that you will probably never even see it all (unless you disable XP). The game does not hold your hand so much either (some, like myself, like that). Crafting is awesome too if that is your thing. You can build your own house and customize/furnish it. And lets not forget that you can build a boat too!
Really, its up to what type of game interests you.
World of Warcraft
If you're looking for an easy, hold-your-hand, tell-you-what-to-do every step of the way game, then perhaps World of Warcraft is right for you? The game basically guides you all the way to endgame without much diversity or freedom (not that there is anything wrong with that). The game excells at handing you entertainment on a plater - and it can be quite fun (although repetitive). You get only what you are given and have fun with it. If you are more into speed leveling to get to endgame and love to raid over and over - this is your game.
Vanguard
If you enjoy more of an "old school" MMO feel and want a bit more freedom with no clear path to follow and a not-so-linear game play, then perhaps Vanguard is right for you? The game has 3 spheres (all that can be viable endgame play) - Adventuring, Crafting and Diplomacy. You don't "have" to adventure - you can be a viable endgame Crafter or Diplomat (should you chose to be). This game excells at letting you decide how to entertain yourself and allows for more freedom and imagination. If you love to level slowly and explore with freedom - this is your game.
Both games can be played very casually if chosen to do so. Hope this helps some and best of luck in finding your game!
Couple of things to consider. Firstly, VG does require more system resources to run well than WoW does. Secondly, it doesn't take advantage of multi-core processors and never will. So it can be a balancing act to get a PC spec to run it really well.
As others have said, it's an 'old school' style of MMO. It doesn't hold your hand as much as some modern ones do. The upside of VG is that the character classes are very interesting, the world is HUGE and beautiful and there is a lot of content to explore.
I personally enjoyed it and may resubscribe (but I do wish I wasn't paying SoE money) but a couple of my friends who are wow-addicts tried it and hated it. I think it just confused them as they were used to being led through all the content.
I'd say to anyone looking, just give it a go. It's free and you may discover it's what you have been looking for all this time.
I'm in the trial right now and loving it. The world is gorgeous, the classes are varied and interesting, the diplomacy and crafting systems bring in much needed variety to this type of MMO, and are a ton of fun as well. So far it seems like a very fun and relaxing game to play. I've even role played a little bit with some people for fun
I'm seriously considering subbing to either this game or fallen earth... I'm leaning toward Vanguard at the moment though. I would love to have a flying mount, a boat, and a house (= This game is like everything I always wanted WoW to be. .
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Playing:
FFXIV, TERA, LoL, and HoTS
My Rig:
GPU: GeForce GTX 770, CPU: i7-4790K, Memory: 16 GB RAM
Do the free trial of Vanguard, it is worth the chance. A pretty nice game, not so polish as Wow, a lot less content and fewer players but it is very innovative, have great crafting and feels different from the standard MMO.
You already know how Wow is, expansion or not and you probably have some reasons that made you quit in the first place. Trying something new will at least widen your horizons and if it won't work out you can always go back later.
The trial is free so it will only cost you some time.
A week into the game (trial) and having never played it before, I can say that I'm enjoying my time with it. I won't go so far as to say its the best game I've ever played, but to make a decision based solely on the Isle of Dawn content (noob island) would be unrealistic. There are a few things that could use improvement. Quest text/objectives sometimes tend to be a bit vague or unclear. On the other hand, its nice to not feel like my hand is being held all the way through it. You can't go wrong with 14 days free, so I'd say give it a shot and see what you think.
As someone who has played most of what's out there today, I can agree that Vanguard is amazing. It really did turn into the game that it was supposed to be at launch. I tried it almost a year ago and I loved it. The downside is (and it's a REALLY big downside) that the population is way too low, and other new players seem to be few and far between. If I'd had people to group with and level with, I may still be playing it today.
The low population does have an upside, and that it the quality of the community. People are friendly and helpful. I'm usually not one to make loads of friends quickly online, and I tend to prefer a small group of select friends with whom I interact. This made finding the right guild or group difficult in Vanguard where in WoW it was much easier due to a much larger playerbase. My advice, like others here is to enjoy the free trial. I'm sure you'll like it. For me it was even woth a months sub to get into the rest of the game. I remember being lost in the first real city I came to because it was so big and there was so much to see. It's really a shame that this game has never been given a second chance. It's one of the few out there right now that deserves it.