Originally posted by olepi Do you mean it launches with updated graphics? If so, then yes, I'd play it. But if it launched today with the existing graphics? Probably not.
^--- this post is a perfect example of why there's no money in making cutting edge graphics for most developers. Doing so means having to do a graphics overhaul every three years or gamers will reject/leave it, no matter how much they like the gameplay.
Perhaps I should have said that I've played a lot of Vanguard already, and already enjoyed all the things in the OP's list. I even loaded it up on a SSD drive, which makes it almost instant when switching chunks.
Yes, the game world is huge, and open, but the problem is that it is *too* open. There is not enough stuff in the open spaces. Sparse vegetation, and lots of brown ground, make it less interesting. The gameplay is great, and I still play on occasion, but if they just re-released the game as-is, with bug fixes (I found very few bugs anyway), it wouldn't be enough for me to come back.
I tried Vanguard about year ago and it was fun. I played for about a month. There was this weird lag though that made combat annoying. Maybe it's fixed now, but I have moved on.
Yes, the game world is huge, and open, but the problem is that it is *too* open. There is not enough stuff in the open spaces. Sparse vegetation, and lots of brown ground, make it less interesting. The gameplay is great, and I still play on occasion, but if they just re-released the game as-is, with bug fixes (I found very few bugs anyway), it wouldn't be enough for me to come back.
That's kind of what I like about it. It feels like "a world".
Part of what I detest about lord of the rings online is that I can't travel along a plain or a road without having to deal with a mob every 20 feet.
It's nice to be able to set out into the distance and find something interesting as opposed to fighting or running from something every step along the way.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I played it for quite a while at launch, it is a great game.
So, in your supposed parallel universe, if it was released now instead of back then and if it had the same "quality of Vanguard to quality of other current games" ratio, I would play it in the parallel universe too.
Tough to say, because I can't really tell whether the things I really disliked about Vanguard (aside from the technical glitches) were simply due to a lack of resources and time or purposefull design qualities that wouldn't have changed.
1) Litteraly the most infantile and amaturish quest writing I have ever experienced in an MMO.... "flying pizza monsters" (or maybe it was "clock monsters")... really?, "go kill me some treants so I can build my wife a cabinate from the lumber"......really? what's wrong with the stand of oak tree's your standing in front of, right by that stump with the axe in it?. Many more of that ilk.
2) A dead world. I don't mean vast and sparsely populated, that's fine.....I mean "dead". No animals moving, birds singing, butterflies floating in the breeze, cities empty save for the few essential quest givers. Mobs being few and fare between fine......but the sense that the world is completely absent of all life (save what's needed for gameplay) in places that shouldn't be the case.....that just doesn't work for me.
Yes, it is in my top 5 mmorpgs. If it had a full development crew now, I would play it. I was on the pvp server, when they announced they would only focus on pve, and it became a ghost town and I didn't like the idea of just moving to pve at the time and the reduced focus it seemed to have from SoE, so I stopped playing.
I have been debating going back to a mmo I played before atm, and it is on the list, since the last content I did was APW, and I think they have more stuff out since then, but without much of a dev team, I don't know if it is worth it.
So yes, if VG rereleased with a new commitment, and for those that say no pvp, they did have a team and ffa pvp server at one point, so no reason (well they have to balance it, which is why they stopped pvp focus, because they broke it with pve patches) they couldn't have them.
I would play a official classic UO that stayed true to more of it's original gameplay, and I am not so caught up on pvp, but the older skill systems (hate the new combos/skills), dungeons and such...If they kept the older focus style in new content. I have gone back to play UO in different forms many times (using 2d client as still my favorite way to do so).
Tough to say, because I can't really tell whether the things I really disliked about Vanguard (aside from the technical glitches) were simply due to a lack of resources and time or purposefull design qualities that wouldn't have changed.
1) Litteraly the most infantile and amaturish quest writing I have ever experienced in an MMO.... "flying pizza monsters" (or maybe it was "clock monsters")... really?, "go kill me some treants so I can build my wife a cabinate from the lumber"......really? what's wrong with the stand of oak tree's your standing in front of, right by that stump with the axe in it?. Many more of that ilk.
2) A dead world. I don't mean vast and sparsely populated, that's fine.....I mean "dead". No animals moving, birds singing, butterflies floating in the breeze, cities empty save for the few essential quest givers. Mobs being few and fare between fine......but the sense that the world is completely absent of all life (save what's needed for gameplay) in places that shouldn't be the case.....that just doesn't work for me.
Yes. Maybe thats what it was for me too. I know I stated other things, but the world did feel dead, I wonder if they would have had those other things if I would have been more engaged in it. hmm.
edit - actually now that I think about it, that does go a long way. In WoW the squrirels and frogs and deer around with birds circling overhead. In EQ I don't recall seeing those but the sound effects all had them giving the same impression.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
VG does have most of those immersion things you are mentioning, especially in terms of the sound effects. I guess it might not have quite as many random birds and such flying around, but it definitely has some, and other wildlife, and definitely sound.
Here are a couple videos of just the ambient/landscape environments in VG, that actually focuses on the surroundings and views. Pretty cool, actually.
No. Ive played it before and loved the game, especially diplomacy system. But for me rerelease wont change anything, I dont need zergs running around to enjoy it. If I wanted to play it, Id play it now. And I advice to everyone that says "YES!!" go and play. There is enough players to group with
Originally posted by olepiDo you mean it launches with updated graphics? If so, then yes, I'd play it. But if it launched today with the existing graphics? Probably not.
^--- this post is a perfect example of why there's no money in making cutting edge graphics for most developers. Doing so means having to do a graphics overhaul every three years or gamers will reject/leave it, no matter how much they like the gameplay.
That is why EVE isn't improving the graphics...?
Is that sarcasm?
EVE overhauled their graphics engine with the Trinity update (2007). After that all these expansion had graphical updates (for ship, UI, astral bodies): Quantum Rise (2008), Tyrannis (2010), Crucible (2011) and Inferno (2012).
I would still be playing Vanguard if there was some type of character customization, but there isnt, every druid is just like every other druid. A fully developed AA system like Conan or the EQ's would do wonders in VG, so much I would sub right now if that was added
Originally posted by iZakaroN Many years I have played most of MMOs that I can get to, released, beta or alpha. Vanguard still is the best Themepark mmo in my memory, maybe I will still playing it of was properly managed.
I agree, i have been playing the game since beta and still play now and again, it's more of a hybrid than total themepark imo.
Best dungeons post EQ and right up their with EQ2, feature deep as well. Chunking is near on instant with an SSD and many of the bugs are now fixed even though the game will never be bug free.
I would still be playing Vanguard if there was some type of character customization, but there isnt, every druid is just like every other druid. A fully developed AA system like Conan or the EQ's would do wonders in VG, so much I would sub right now if that was added
Progression is absolutely non-existant at 55
Sorry but AA was one of the worst things EQ ever introduced. I'm all for a hardcore game, but AA created an endless treadmill. Furthermore, as time progressed AAs made it so that the barrier to entry for new players was prohibitively high, especially at the speed that you could acquire them.
I would still be playing Vanguard if there was some type of character customization, but there isnt, every druid is just like every other druid. A fully developed AA system like Conan or the EQ's would do wonders in VG, so much I would sub right now if that was added
Progression is absolutely non-existant at 55
Sorry but AA was one of the worst things EQ ever introduced. I'm all for a hardcore game, but AA created an endless treadmill. Furthermore, as time progressed AAs made it so that the barrier to entry for new players was prohibitively high, especially at the speed that you could acquire them.
Lol it's EQ, the king of the linear progression games. At least let fans of that style have one game. Honestly, new people can catch if they put some time and effort into it. Not everything in this genre has to be 100% streamlined and easy.
On topic: I would definitely play VG if updated. Hopefully that inventory loot PvP server would be up. I think it was inventory loot right?
Tough to say, because I can't really tell whether the things I really disliked about Vanguard (aside from the technical glitches) were simply due to a lack of resources and time or purposefull design qualities that wouldn't have changed.
This is always a problem with these theoretical discussions. You never know if a lackluster feature was desigend so by intent or was simply the victim of a lack of resources. There are a number of features in Vanguard that sounded interesting on paper but did not come out right in the game that was released. Maybe a 'finished' Vanguard would have improved on teh feature and made it something players loved. Maybe the devs intentionally made teh feature that way to fit their 'vision'.
I'd be playing it right now in it's current form if it had a decent population. Huge world, group-based mmos don't work very well with a low population.
I would probably still play it now if there was an active dev plans, or plans to add in PvP.
It is, without a doubt, the best PvE MMO on the market.
It has some of the best dungeons and hardest group content.
The only bad thing is that over the years the devs have WoWified it. They lessened the death penalty, they cut out a bunch of deep features that they thought were too confusing (they weren't), they added bind on pickup to items. They cut some depth from combat.
The game, as it stands, is the best exploration MMO out there.
If it came out today, with better graphics, no bugs, and some of the old features making a comeback, it would knock the genre flat on its face.
i always feel a little sad when vanguard is brought up.
there was a dedicated group of beta testers in that game and the feedback we gave was entered, and alas, disregarded for the most part in the final publish, but that was attributed to the "get it out the door we are loosing money" mentality of the devs at that time.
if it was re-published with a graphics update, i would certainly try it again, i mean its have so many positive updates, but i think that this game, and the unfinished quality of the release really started the deathnell of large open world gaming and set a standard in lazyness for the genre as far as releases go.
while I don't play it on a regular basis, when it went f2p I got the client again just to have it lol I played it a lot back in the day but after wow came out I moved to it.
I still log on and play my old toons when the Rift servers are down for updates. still LOVE the game
but after playing so many other MMOs, the character animations could use some updating lol
Comments
Perhaps I should have said that I've played a lot of Vanguard already, and already enjoyed all the things in the OP's list. I even loaded it up on a SSD drive, which makes it almost instant when switching chunks.
Yes, the game world is huge, and open, but the problem is that it is *too* open. There is not enough stuff in the open spaces. Sparse vegetation, and lots of brown ground, make it less interesting. The gameplay is great, and I still play on occasion, but if they just re-released the game as-is, with bug fixes (I found very few bugs anyway), it wouldn't be enough for me to come back.
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2024: 47 years on the Net.
No, you spelled it correctly.
I tried Vanguard about year ago and it was fun. I played for about a month. There was this weird lag though that made combat annoying. Maybe it's fixed now, but I have moved on.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
That's kind of what I like about it. It feels like "a world".
Part of what I detest about lord of the rings online is that I can't travel along a plain or a road without having to deal with a mob every 20 feet.
It's nice to be able to set out into the distance and find something interesting as opposed to fighting or running from something every step along the way.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I played it for quite a while at launch, it is a great game.
So, in your supposed parallel universe, if it was released now instead of back then and if it had the same "quality of Vanguard to quality of other current games" ratio, I would play it in the parallel universe too.
Tough to say, because I can't really tell whether the things I really disliked about Vanguard (aside from the technical glitches) were simply due to a lack of resources and time or purposefull design qualities that wouldn't have changed.
1) Litteraly the most infantile and amaturish quest writing I have ever experienced in an MMO.... "flying pizza monsters" (or maybe it was "clock monsters")... really?, "go kill me some treants so I can build my wife a cabinate from the lumber"......really? what's wrong with the stand of oak tree's your standing in front of, right by that stump with the axe in it?. Many more of that ilk.
2) A dead world. I don't mean vast and sparsely populated, that's fine.....I mean "dead". No animals moving, birds singing, butterflies floating in the breeze, cities empty save for the few essential quest givers. Mobs being few and fare between fine......but the sense that the world is completely absent of all life (save what's needed for gameplay) in places that shouldn't be the case.....that just doesn't work for me.
Yes, it is in my top 5 mmorpgs. If it had a full development crew now, I would play it. I was on the pvp server, when they announced they would only focus on pve, and it became a ghost town and I didn't like the idea of just moving to pve at the time and the reduced focus it seemed to have from SoE, so I stopped playing.
I have been debating going back to a mmo I played before atm, and it is on the list, since the last content I did was APW, and I think they have more stuff out since then, but without much of a dev team, I don't know if it is worth it.
So yes, if VG rereleased with a new commitment, and for those that say no pvp, they did have a team and ffa pvp server at one point, so no reason (well they have to balance it, which is why they stopped pvp focus, because they broke it with pve patches) they couldn't have them.
I would play a official classic UO that stayed true to more of it's original gameplay, and I am not so caught up on pvp, but the older skill systems (hate the new combos/skills), dungeons and such...If they kept the older focus style in new content. I have gone back to play UO in different forms many times (using 2d client as still my favorite way to do so).
Yes. Maybe thats what it was for me too. I know I stated other things, but the world did feel dead, I wonder if they would have had those other things if I would have been more engaged in it. hmm.
edit - actually now that I think about it, that does go a long way. In WoW the squrirels and frogs and deer around with birds circling overhead. In EQ I don't recall seeing those but the sound effects all had them giving the same impression.
VG does have most of those immersion things you are mentioning, especially in terms of the sound effects. I guess it might not have quite as many random birds and such flying around, but it definitely has some, and other wildlife, and definitely sound.
Here are a couple videos of just the ambient/landscape environments in VG, that actually focuses on the surroundings and views. Pretty cool, actually.
Is that sarcasm?
EVE overhauled their graphics engine with the Trinity update (2007). After that all these expansion had graphical updates (for ship, UI, astral bodies): Quantum Rise (2008), Tyrannis (2010), Crucible (2011) and Inferno (2012).
I would still be playing Vanguard if there was some type of character customization, but there isnt, every druid is just like every other druid. A fully developed AA system like Conan or the EQ's would do wonders in VG, so much I would sub right now if that was added
Progression is absolutely non-existant at 55
I agree, i have been playing the game since beta and still play now and again, it's more of a hybrid than total themepark imo.
Best dungeons post EQ and right up their with EQ2, feature deep as well. Chunking is near on instant with an SSD and many of the bugs are now fixed even though the game will never be bug free.
This sounds exactly like ArcheAge.
Ontopic, with a graphic/engine overhaul i would gladly play Vanguard.
Sorry but AA was one of the worst things EQ ever introduced. I'm all for a hardcore game, but AA created an endless treadmill. Furthermore, as time progressed AAs made it so that the barrier to entry for new players was prohibitively high, especially at the speed that you could acquire them.
Lol it's EQ, the king of the linear progression games. At least let fans of that style have one game. Honestly, new people can catch if they put some time and effort into it. Not everything in this genre has to be 100% streamlined and easy.
On topic: I would definitely play VG if updated. Hopefully that inventory loot PvP server would be up. I think it was inventory loot right?
This is always a problem with these theoretical discussions. You never know if a lackluster feature was desigend so by intent or was simply the victim of a lack of resources. There are a number of features in Vanguard that sounded interesting on paper but did not come out right in the game that was released. Maybe a 'finished' Vanguard would have improved on teh feature and made it something players loved. Maybe the devs intentionally made teh feature that way to fit their 'vision'.
Currently Playing: DAOC Uthgard
Previously Played: UO, DAOC, Shadowbane, AC2, SWG, Horizons, COX, WOW, EQ2, LOTRO, AOC, WAR, Vanguard, Rift, SWTOR, ESO, GW2.
Absolutely.
I would probably still play it now if there was an active dev plans, or plans to add in PvP.
It is, without a doubt, the best PvE MMO on the market.
It has some of the best dungeons and hardest group content.
The only bad thing is that over the years the devs have WoWified it. They lessened the death penalty, they cut out a bunch of deep features that they thought were too confusing (they weren't), they added bind on pickup to items. They cut some depth from combat.
The game, as it stands, is the best exploration MMO out there.
If it came out today, with better graphics, no bugs, and some of the old features making a comeback, it would knock the genre flat on its face.
Maybe...
I actually played, and really enjoyed VG back in 2007-2008 despite all of its imperfections. Crazy, I know. How could I?
In the year of 2014 I'm not looking for themeparks anymore even if it is a perfected Vanguard. Stuff like EQN+L and beyond is where my interest lies.
i always feel a little sad when vanguard is brought up.
there was a dedicated group of beta testers in that game and the feedback we gave was entered, and alas, disregarded for the most part in the final publish, but that was attributed to the "get it out the door we are loosing money" mentality of the devs at that time.
if it was re-published with a graphics update, i would certainly try it again, i mean its have so many positive updates, but i think that this game, and the unfinished quality of the release really started the deathnell of large open world gaming and set a standard in lazyness for the genre as far as releases go.
but hey, thats me
over 20 years of mmorpg's and counting...
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
It's a good game i would love to play more of.
But the very poor animations and slow as hell combat turns me off it every time i want to get into it.
while I don't play it on a regular basis, when it went f2p I got the client again just to have it lol I played it a lot back in the day but after wow came out I moved to it.
I still log on and play my old toons when the Rift servers are down for updates. still LOVE the game
but after playing so many other MMOs, the character animations could use some updating lol