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Facts about VGSOH from a NEUTRAL long time MMO'er
WizardBlack
Member Posts: 156
OK, I am nobody's fanboy and never will be. I play what I like and change up when I get bored or the game sucks. I guess I am ruthless that way. I started back with Final Fantasy 1 if that tells ya my range of experience. I am 29 and enjoy casual stuff and more involved stuff as well when time permits.
Facts and Rumors:
BUGS: Yes, there are bugs. Yes there are many at times but they are not significant IMHO; it's beta after all, not retail. I am telling you right now, though; they are being corrected systematically on an hourly basis. Yes, hourly. I have some programming background myself. The socalled lockups every 60 minutes is not your client messing up and locking up. EVERYONE gets booted because they are systematically applying hotfixes to the server side and boot everyone to reset. If you are in beta, you are there to help fix stuff. It isn't bug ridden; it's being honed. It's close.
LAG: Yes, there is some lag. The server side and the client side are both not fully optimized. They are also running extra things to debug as well. Just in the last day I have picked up 10 FPS. No joke.
SLOW PERFORMANCE: Your computer must be up to spec. It requires more than EQ2 and everything else MMO-wise. It's next gen, guys; deal with it or go elsewhere. Don't expect super speed framerate like pick-your-poison current MMO's. It's designed to have top tier graphics for the next couple years; we are going to struggle a bit at first; same as EQ2 was but perhaps a bit more on this one. You NEED an nVidia 7 series card or ATI equivalent. You need 1Gb at the minimum; preferably 2Gb. VGSOH also has a long render distance design which blows everything else out of the water. It WILL cause a tad bit of load on the GPU, but it's not a major thing. UPDATE YOUR DirectX or SHUT UP, plz. Don't be lazy; it also affects performance. The correct drivers are only a few months old.
GRAPHICS: Phenominal. That's all I can say. Even with the amount of effects, texture, object quantity and render distance, they are doing a pretty good job already and more to come. I just run it on balanced performance with a few tweaks. I can't wait to be able to push it up when they tidy up and wrap up for release. I think everyone who hasn't played in the last 7 days should retry; semi daily patches are making obvious (seat of the pants?) differences in framerate.
GAMEPLAY: Well, it could use some more filling in of content and quests, but that's easy to add over the long term. Not really sure (no one is) what their behaviour will be on content on the fly. Every MMO gets released with some "soft content" due to the budget concerns. I have faith it will come. MMO's aren't static products anymore. This is probably my biggest point to watch to see if it succeeds.
FEATURES: It has features I loved about Wow, features I loved about EQ2 and a few other MMO's, etc. I am not interested in FFA PvP. RvRvR would be cool, though. It is startlingly easy to pick up for the most part if you have played EQ2, WoW and a few others. The crafting system seems to be one of the less complete things ATM but it is very nice.
IMHO, you don't qualify with a valid opinion on performance of the game if you haven't done the following things:
1. Updated your PC to the recommended specs.
2. Updated your drivers to the recommended specs.
3. Tried beta in the last few days to see rate of improvement as they move forward.
That's my humble opinion. I am not being elitist against guys with below spec machines (I feel for ya), but don't make unqualified statements either, plz. It doesn't help anyone. I will NOT stay around to listen to fanboys, trolls, whiners or anyone else argue or flame. Take it or leave it. I made this post for the open minded individuals looking for another person's sane expression of opinion.
My own box (so you know, not that it's something to brag about):
AMD 3500+ 2.2 Ghz
nVidia 7950GT KO (I did buy this to update for this game)
1Gb Medium Quality RAM (will buy more after trying out a stabilized retail version if necessary)
nVidia nF4 SLIdr MB
plain jane components the rest of the way
Few other things:
If you don't like it or think it's too buggy, wait for retail or just go elsewhere. Methinks half the constant flaming and negative press about it is to discourage others to try it out. I think some of this is because secretly some ppl worry it will pull lots of players from their own favorite MMO or because they themselves don't have the hardware to run it correctly.
<heads back into VGSOH to assist with bug squashing>
Comments
______________________________
WAR is coming. Look busy.
That was one of the most straight foward reviews I've seen in a long long time. For any game.
Kudos!
Personally, I think the game has a LOT going for it. Sure the problems are currently a big turn-off, but if you look past those problems, the potential is very good. I only hope they don't attempt to release it shortly after Burning Crusade, as that would likely kill any critical mass adoption.
To any who have not tried it yet: Try it, if you can't get into the Beta try it when it goes to the stores, it will be worth a try if nothing else.
This is my sig...
True, the alleged late January release date could result in a hit to the initial player base, but people who are already discontent with WoW realize that BC really isn't introducing anything radically new, with the possible exception of flying mounts.
Explorer: 87%, Socializer: 60%, Achiever: 47%, Killer: 7%
p 3hz dual core
g/force 7900gs 256mb
1012 ddr2 ram
see how i go might neend more mem i think
if you want everything at max, yes, you need a better system. But, you should play just fine at this. My system isnt nearly this good and runs great for me (albeit with some stuff turned down)
I wanted to bump this so other peeps could see another balance overview. I must say, to add since the last post, that things have continued to move along about the same. The only thing that I think is going to kneecap the game at this point is lack of content. It seems too bland; they haven't really developed that aspect at all IMHO. Granted, my experience is with many classes and races and not one character to a high level. I may just be stuck in the uninteresting part (noobieland), which is not entirely abnormal.
I will play it at retail and get a toon up higher and see if that helps. There are so many really NICE features that I have not had a chance to try yet (decent crafting level, player economy, fellowships, etc.)
Im very impressed by the level and speed of updates and patches, VSoH has improved considerably. The graphics are better then anything Ive seen, except perhaps oblivion. Im making a tons of screenshots to be used as my wallpaper. The combat is much more fluid then it used to be, thats a huge boost for me, although its still unfinished and needs a light overhaul to be more dynamic and more fast-action-paced. Right now it reminds more of EQ1(although improved by much) then WoW.
That brings up another worry I have, as Sigil stated earlier (cant get a link, sorry) they said VSoH is suited more for hardcore people then casuals. I worry that this will leave me at a greater disadvantage at higher levels. My max char is level 7(4 of them) so I would appreciate any comments from people 20+ levels - is it feasable to solo at higher levels? Is it grinding or WoW-like where I can mix up grind with questing? that alone is a decising factor for me, if im gonna be forced to group or grind my way into mid-high levels, i might have to pass on VSoH due to tight RL schedule.
Crafting is also well done, I liked that it is much more complicated then a classic formula "combine A+B+C to get an X chance of" making item Y of quality Z". With VSoH style it is complex enough to be interesting, involving enough to keep your attention on the crafting action and not overbunded with countless little things to do before u finaly make that rusty nail for your coffin. Your skill (both in-game and your personal one) wll actualy play a part in the quality of the item! Amazing! Took me some time to figure out how to do that though, ruined a lot of items before I learned to balance points and quality for maximum effect.
Diplomacy is also a great addition to the game, I just hope it turns out to be more then just a mini-feature in a game...dang i gotta stop here, this begin to turn out another review... all i wanted to do is ask about high level adventuring. Sorry for going way beyong my request.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
Having things WoW-like is not the way to. Its what me and probably many others are trying to escape. I want a game that requires interaction and good group dynamics. This role is not filled with WoW, where you solo all the way.
EQ1 promised, and delivered a world suited for groups, not individuals. This hopefully will stay the same within the world of VG.
The game is 10 days from LAUNCH and you still want to play the "it's still beta" card? Hahahahahahaha.
That's almost as funny as your claim to being neutral, fanboy.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Excellent post by the OP. There's a number of points he makes that people need to think over before getting out from under their bridges.
Don't worry about Amathe, he's just another troll. First of all he can't count (12 days according to the date of your post buddy, not 10). Secondly, it IS still beta. EVERY mmo in history has had bugs and issues up until the last day of beta, and even in retail. (WoW is no exception) What's different about Vanguard is the devs are patching and working on the game almost 24/7 these days, and the game is perfectly playable the way it is now (for most people). When was the last time you saw another dev group do patching at 1am, or have 3 different patches (all working on different areas of the game) in 2 days of beta?
Every MMO has patches that go through the day before launch, Vanguard is no exception. I don't know why that surprises anybody. Every other game did the same thing.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
I have to disagree on the graphics. The textures are horrid up close. It reminds me of Dark and Lights graphics. Things look good at a distance but up close they are mediocre at best and that is with everything teaked up graphics wise. The animations are first generation quality also.
The game is still in beta , ummmm my rear. The game has gone gold and the disks have been pressed so that is BS. They will continue to fix and patch, they have to. Question is why all these tweaks and patches were not done three or four months ago.
Just my 2 coppers
I miss DAoC
Yep, great review. It's looking sweet at 1920 x 1200. Definitely the best looking MMO around IMHO. Only 11 days left /drools!
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
A good post. I'm not a fanboy of anything either and like the OP I just move on if I don't like a game or I get bored. I'm also an old fart so game play is far more important to me than eye candy. Here's something for those like me with a low end PC.
My rig is craptastic:
P4 2.4 533MHz FSB.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128.
2 Gigs PC2700 Ram
Now that is a sad box for gaming by today's standard but I only really play MMOs, one soccer management sim, and my staple has always been DAoC since I quit EQ to go there. I haven't upgraded because I really haven't needed to. I use the ToA client for RvR other than that I can run Darkness Rising and LotM client just fine. I've also tried most of the currently active games at least for the first free month or in beta and have been able to run them well enough. Err, well apart from that piece of dog turd called Dark and Light, but nobody could run that steaming pile. I can run EQ2 fine at reasonable settings, not all the bells and whistles, but good enough to please my eye and not effect game play.
I've been in V:SoH beta since they opened it for us Europeans, so not that long. My initial thoughts were geez my machine can't get anywhere near this game, they must be joking with those minimum specs. I could barely walk around even with the settings on high performance. Then I nosed around and found the .ini tweaks. I scouted all the sites and found all the .ini tweaks folks had suggested and I experimented. This worked wonders. I could at least play the game, but not at an acceptable level for a game so close to release. Then I realised how quick these guys are patching, I don't give up easy so I've stuck in there. It's come on amazingly in the last two weeks. As had been said even the last main patch gave me about a 10 FPS jump over the previous one.
I now get around 25-30 FPS is the wilderness, 15 to 20 in dungeons and 10 to 15 in towns. Hitching is still bothersome though. Considering the age of my PC and GPU this isn't bad. It amazes me why folks with far higher spec rigs are saying they can hardly move in the game. They must be trying to run all out or have very badly maintained PCs. My box may be old but I keep it clutter free, well maintained and drivers always updated. Running the game at this level is extremely playable, though far from ideal. So those of you with older PCs you probably will be able to run V:SoH acceptably on high performance, you *will* need 2Mb of RAM though.
As it happens my new GFX card arrived yesterday, a 7600GT. I didn't buy this for V:SoH but because the DAoC ToA client is about to be pulled and I will need to RvR on the Cats client. I'm sure this card will give me a substantial boost in V:SoH but I'm not fitting it until the beta is over as I want a reference on how the game performs on the old 9800 Pro so as I can advise folks with this range of GPU.
This post is getting too long but I also agree with the OP about game play. I really wasn't expecting to like V:SoH, in fact I was rather disposed not to like it for reasons I won't go into here. I have however been very pleasantly surprised. So I will be playing at launch. Don't believe the haters, make your own mind up, don't let others make it up for you.
And Jackdog, how you can mention Dark and Light in the same sentence as Vanguard...Well it just isn't right
. There is an actual game here and the graphics are better designed, all DnL had was _Pix_'s VWORLD TERRAIN. No half way decent game should be mentioned in the same breath as that piece of sh*t and you *know* that Farlan/NPCube make even SoE look like the gamers' best friend and Santa Claus rolled into one. They even make SoE look like paragons of business ethics.
This sure ain't no DnL flashback. No comparison at all. Even if you don't care for V:SoH game play, it still has game play. And content.
I'll see all of you who take the plunge in Telon on the 30th
.
“Hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside.”
― William S. Burroughs
hi
i have a good system according to the specs the op stated but where we live in the boonies we still do not have high speed available - we played wow and city of heroes no problem at all on dial up - believe it or not - so i was wondering how you guys think we might do with vanguard?
it sounds pretty good and we are looking for a game - we have been gameless for a couple of months now
quit wow months ago and tried coh again and got cov and got bored in less then a month lol
we decided to go gameless untill something decent comes out that we can play
well let me know - especially if you have tried beta on dial up and let us know how it is
good informative post by op too
thanks
Still not sure about the game but ive given up on WoW so might give this a try.
Just wondering, my spec is:
2.2Ghz processor (AMD 64)
2Gb ram (DDR2)
Radeon x1900 X-Fire
Is that gonna be good enough to run the game in good graphics/performance?
Some points I'd like to bring up on your so called " NEUTRAL" post...
First you start out by saying..."OK, I am nobody's fanboy and never will be" . 13 out of your total 27 posts on the site are in praise of VGSOH! So don't be blowing smoke up our asses with that comment.
Then there is this one..."It's next Gen, guys; deal with or go somewhere else". Saying this is "next Gen" is like saying K-Fed is the next gen in rap music. PLEASE.
Or This... "UPDATE YOUR DirectX or SHUT UP". How about... FUCK YOU! Don't give me an ultimatum numbnuts. Typically most games will install the latest version of Directx for you anyway. Including Vanguard. So once again ...PLEASE!
How about this one..."It's designed to have top tier graphic for the next couple of years; WE are going to struggle a bit a first". I emphasize we because it usually refers to a collective group agreeing on the same topic or principles. As well as to be used instead of I, especially by a writer wishing to reduce or avoid a subjective tone.
Then this from your system specs... "nVidia 7950GT KO (I did buy this to update for this game)". So you went out a purchased a $250-$300 item specifically for Vanguard? And you're not biased? Come on dude!
All I can say is...If you like the game fine, great, go on with your bad self, but saying this is a NEUTRAL post..Don't Bullshit a Bullshitter!
http://mentaltruancy.guildportal.com - Friendly Vanguard:Saga of Heroes Qalia based Guild.
It's the Van-bois that are turning me off of this game more than anything.
That and I WILL NOT BUY AN UNFINISHED GAME ever again.
And please don't use the cop out that MMO's are never finished. That's B.S. I prefer them to GROW than be incomplete from the start!!
"One word, Thundercougarfalconbird."