How casual player friendly is this game then?

leipuri

McQuaid was telling how this game was for both casual and core players. Got me to wonder how long does it to level up max level here with group and/or just solo? Answer to this will be only thing that matter if I will give VG a try.



What else is there that makes this game casual player friendly? How fast I could form groups in lowbie areas if I started now? Would these be very populated or have most of player base moved to upper levels already?

Enigma

You're gonna get all kinds of answers. 

I would suggest you to get a buddy pass and try it for yourself and find out.  If you need one, gimmie a pm and Ill look my buddy pass up

anarchyart

Originally posted by leipuri

McQuaid was telling how this game was for both casual and core players. Got me to wonder how long does it to level up max level here with group and/or just solo? Answer to this will be only thing that matter if I will give VG a try.



What else is there that makes this game casual player friendly? How fast I could form groups in lowbie areas if I started now? Would these be very populated or have most of player base moved to upper levels already?

I play 14 hours a week max. I am a casual player. However, for me casual does not mean hyper-short levelling curve. Diplomacy and Crafting are very casual friendly as you can go afk at any time and not need to do a CR. There are people in every lowbie area to group with. I cannot count the number of groups I have turned down. I prefer soloing to at least level 10. After that, it becomes much mroe necessary to group especially for certain quests. You can solo to max level in Vanguard, polkadots did it in under a month.

Groups are easy to come by if you have any social skills whatsoever.

Gangster-Man

well just to give u an example, the first lvl 50'es soloed all the way. Im casual, have been playing since headstart, and im only lvl 22/8crafting/50diplomacy. There is a lot of stuff to do, either casually or 20+hours a week.

Tnice

Originally posted by leipuri

McQuaid was telling how this game was for both casual and core players. Got me to wonder how long does it to level up max level here with group and/or just solo? Answer to this will be only thing that matter if I will give VG a try.



What else is there that makes this game casual player friendly? How fast I could form groups in lowbie areas if I started now? Would these be very populated or have most of player base moved to upper levels already?

I would say it "sort of" is.  What I mean by that is you have to change your expectations from other games.  For example, I only play 2-3 hours/night includng weekends (average 15 hours/week).  I plan ahead what I will do during my sessions.  I camp out where I want to play my next session.  I plan my questing.  If I want to do a group session I travel to the place I want to group prior to asking for a group.  Hopefully, the new LFG tool will help with that part.  LFG is a huge problem in this game.  You don't really need to form groups in the lowbie areas.  You can solo up to the mid teens.  Actually, you can solo to 50 if you want but it will be extremely boring and you will hate the game.

The other part of "sort of" is that they seriously need to increase the XP gained from MoBs.  Right now they are catering more to the 15-20/hour a day crowd (and in this game there a a lot of them).  Plus, I am sure they are artificially slowing down progression so they can create upper level content.

At the moment I think the progression is slower than EQ1.  However, I was at a different place in my life during my EQ1 days so my perception may be off.

Coldmeat

I'd say it has a significantly faster leveling curve than EQ. Now, it might be thrown off by the fact that I was a newb in EQ, and now I've played these games enough to where I could almost do it in my sleep, but I play alot less vs what I did in EQ, and I am leveling far faster than I remember doing in EQ. I imagine it'd be even more noticable after lvl 35, or whatever it was, where the hell levels kicked in in EQ.

Fariic

The amount of time it takes to get to max lvl doesn't really indicate the soloability of a game.  Just means you don't have to have a group to get there.  Time to max lvl is only relevent to the number of hours you are willing to deditcate to play each day.  It will most likely take me about a year or more to reach 50 at my current rate.  I could do it in a few months, but I can't play any MMO that much any more.

PnHobbit

I'd say it can be a casual MMO. Just don't feel like you have to reach the max level within a specified time. Just enjoy it.

MX13

Originally posted by Enigma


You're gonna get all kinds of answers. 
I would suggest you to get a buddy pass and try it for yourself and find out.  If you need one, gimmie a pm and Ill look my buddy pass up

Good answer, and I agree...

That said, my opinion is: Yes, it is, as long as you enjoy playing and understand leveling is slow in the game.

rounner

I feel obliged to warn you, if you want to solo a lot, you must pick a solo friendly class. Some classes must not be played if you want to do a lot of soloing. Dont trust low level experiences, there is much less solo content after level 20. I am not trying to be negative, just choose a necro, psi, druid or other kiter if you want to solo. For the love of jebus dont play a monk or rogue.

Distopia

I play very casually at present , Have only grouped twice . I have been working on all 3 trees of advancement as well . Been playing about 3 weeks level 13Main , 8 , 2 level 6's, 9, 3 ( my Alts). Ive made many more toons tried just about every class and race .(Always try everything before deciding on a main ) But solo play has been kind so far , Yet I haven't reached  the tedious point of grinding yet . 

Tnice

Originally posted by Malickiebloo

I play very casually at present , Have only grouped twice . I have been working on all 3 trees of advancement as well . Been playing about 3 weeks level 13Main , 8 , 2 level 6's, 9, 3 ( my Alts). Ive made many more toons tried just about every class and race .(Always try everything before deciding on a main ) But solo play has been kind so far , Yet I haven't reached  the tedious point of grinding yet . 

I don't think "casual friendly" means just solo content.  It means being able to accomplish something meaningful during a 2-3 hour window of time.  That time may be spent grouping or solo.  It may be spent advancing in crafting or diplomacy (although I don't do those).

I would much rather have a way to quickly get a group and play for a set period of time rather than solo.  Solo is just a means to an end so that I can try to keep in the average level on the server.  Grouping is fun as Hell in this game.  The group dynamics and unique combat engine are amazing.  Soloing is like sticking little needles in my eyes but I do it to advance.

In this context I can call EQ1 casual friendly after the LDoN expansion came out.  With LDoN you were able to achieve a set goal in a set period of time.  It was easy to group because everyone was doing a LDoN dungeon and you knew where to gather.  LDoN style play may not work in Vanguard because the freak Nerds that play it are against instancing for some reason.  I think Vanguard can come up with some type of creative way for group to take on a dungeon in a set amount of time without using instancing technology.

To me the only difference between hardcore and casual is "time"; Hardcore = more time.  Casual = less time.  I think there is a way to have a complex, challenging game experience without having to piss and poop in a bottle to advance or giving up trying to function in real life.  Also, you should not have to "dumb down" a game to make it casual friendly.   When a game is able to achieve that it will truly be 3rd generation.  At the moment Vanguard falls short on that but I think the Sigil guys are aware of it and will try to make it happen.

If they have any doubt about what to do they just need to look at themselves and ask if they have time to play the game.  If they don't then they should make some changes to accommodate their own play time.  More people are like them than are freak Nerds with 20 hours to play each day.  Besides that the 20 hour/day freak Nerds will stay anyway.  I am sure they would not be caught dead playing WoW or EQ2.