Better to ask these questions on Silkyvenom.com or tentonhammer.com most of these posts result in a flamefest. Besides that, there's allot more information on the game there.
Yes, if you want an answer to your question from a source where you are only allowed to wuv wuv wuv XOXO the game, and any other opinion is deleted, that's where you should go. Of course, then you will have to discover the truth once you waste $50.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Better to ask these questions on Silkyvenom.com or tentonhammer.com most of these posts result in a flamefest. Besides that, there's allot more information on the game there.
Yes, if you want an answer to your question from a source where you are only allowed to wuv wuv wuv XOXO the game, and any other opinion is deleted, that's where you should go. Of course, then you will have to discover the truth once you waste $50.
QFT
Currently Playing: Everything but MMORPGs Cancelled: L2, FFXI, VSoH, LotRO, WAR, WoW Looking Forward To: SW:TOR
DO NOT buy this game before you try it. Get a buddy key. I am confident you will be VERY glad you did, one way or the other. (OK, probably just one way, the way that ends with an Uninstall.)
If you haven't played anything since UO, you might be happier with some of the more polished games out there. There are many that are far superior to this game in almost every conceivable way.
Potential is all well and good, but a certain amount of that potential needs to be realized BEFORE the game is released. That has not happened with Vanguard.
On the positive Sigil are waking up to players needs and going back on their so called key features, and adding teleportation. For some reason they thought the average player would enjoy riding a mount for 20mins to get from point A to B.
This actually shoots about the only [b]really[/b] amazing feature of Vanguard then, and that is that the world is so big and slow to travel that it creates an immersive fantasy feeling.
Yippee o/
Ok, save yourself the money then - if they dumb it down, they kill the [b]core[/b] of Vanguard.
SQUEAK. --(The Death of Rats, Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)
Overall I like Vanguard more than any other MMO I have played, other than pre-NGE SWG.
The negatives from my point of view:
1. Knowing SOE is involved makes my skin crawl. I think about cancelling everything I see their logo and the Station login screen.
2. More importantly, the game's techinical performance is just ridiculous. I have a pretty good system (E6600, 8800 GTX, 2 gig ddr 1000 ram) and even on the default settings, I still occassionally get some lag. I do like the game graphics, but they aren't as good as you would expect them to be based on the strain the game puts on even high end machines.
This is the wrong site for opinions on vanguard from people that have played it for any significant length of time. Try Silyvenom or tentonhammer. What you really get here are alot of SOE haters, WOW fanboys and people with uber rigs who cry they dont get 60 fps.
QFT and now to my point;
Just go out and try it or read up from the sites suggested. I read all the posts, and "reviews" buy some people here and in the end the only way to find out for sure was to try it. I did and I am currently enjoying it. Will I be enjoying it in a weeks time, or at lvl 30? Who knows.
Will you hate it? Can't say, no-one can
Will you enjoy it? Can't say, no-one can
Please ignore the haters that inhabbit the MMORPG forums of which there are many many many. Im no fanboi (vanbois) make your own mind up.
Well, it really depends on what kind of game you're looking for, and what kind style of play you prefer.
Let's start with the obvious. Graphics. Many people are drawn to a game because of the graphics, then it's the gameplay itself that keeps the player playing the game. In general, judging by the opinions of many, many people - Vanguard has oustanding graphics. However, you will need a top-of-the-line rig to be able to enjoy most of the graphical features. I know several people who are able to run most MMORPG's nearly maxed-out graphically, who run Vanguard on much lower settings so they can get the performance to actually play the game. I have a pretty darn good rig myself, and my personal opinion is that the graphics in Vanguard are nice, but nothing special. I have seen better in MMORPG's. I point to Lineage 2 as a game that is graphically superior to Vanguard in many ways, and is 95% less cumbersome to your machine. Though, the character customization in Vanguard is a spectacular feature . . and this is a feature that really no other MMO has. Still, if you have to play the game on lower settings, you don't really get to appreciate your customization job. Still, when I think of graphics I think more of the world around me rather than my own character. In this, I think Vanguard does a pretty good job - but as I said, I think that other games have done environments much, much better.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Vanguard "right out of the box" for me is the different things you can do to level. Soon after you begin playing, you will discover that you can level in Adventuring (killing mobs and doing quests), Crafting (making items and filling work orders), Harvesting (gathering materials from doing things like skinning, lumberjacking and mining) and Diplomacy (a sort of card game that deals a lot with the lore of the game).
Adventuring is kind of time consuming in this game. There are an abundance of quests . . and a LOT of running around. You will spend a lot of travel time in Vanguard. (Thankfully, you are able to get a mount at level 10, which makes travelling quicker and a little more interesting). Yes, it is possible to solo in Vanguard, but it is certainly not the most productive way to level. One of the things I like about hunting in Vanguard is that there's not a MMO mentality for finding mobs. What I mean by this is . . every open field is not littered with mobs that are seemingly placed there so that people can kill them. Vanguard does a pretty good job (through quests and lore) of having a REASON for their mobs to be where they are. Still, the world is almost too big . . .and often you will spend 5 minutes travelling to find a particular group of mobs, and then spend perhaps 10 minutes killing them to complete your quest. So basically, you're gonna spend at least 33% of your time just running to get somewhere.
Crafting, Diplomacy and Harvesting are not necessary for anyone to do, but I really think that people who don't do a least one of these are missing out on part of the game. Every class can enjoy crafting, harvesting and diplomacy. You level these skills up much like you do adventuring . . . the more you craft, harvest and explore diplomatic relations . . the higher your level becomes. Personally, I hate crafting and harvesting. This has nothing to do with Vanguard, it's just my personal preference. The two go somewhat hand in hand. You can harvest materials and then use them to create something. Crafting and harvesting take a lot of time, and can be monotonously repetitive. But, the rewards are great . . not only in armor and weapons . . but it is also a terrific way to make money. Still, in my time in the game, just by doing quests and selling drops I have gotten from monsters, I have never been at a lack of funds. Still, there are a lot of "work orders" (crafting quests) that can be done, and it is a nice break from the grind for some.
Diplomacy is very fun, mostly because it is something that no other MMO has tried before. It's like a side-game, where you use cards to try to coerce an NPC to do your bidding or agree with you. There are several diplomatic quests to do. Diplomacy takes quite a bit of strategy and also a small amount of luck. But for me, it is a nice break from the grind and a very fun and interesting addition to the game. I love Diplomacy.
As you progress in the game, you will see things like mounts, houses and ships. These are somewhat difficult to attain . . as it should be. But they are interesting goals for everyone to reach. Also, if you're on a pvp server you will certainly run into pvp! For me, this is a weak point in this game . . mostly through no fault of Sigil.
Many people don't understand the concept of PvP. The biggest complaint I see in "shout" is people complaining that they have been ganked in an unfair fight . . many times while standing at a crafting station. I can't stand the whining that I have seen in this game. Eventually, I think people will come to realise that, if you are on a pvp server, you should be prepared to DIE to another player at any time. It's fair. Get over it. Go play on an RPG server if you don't wanna get killed!
Finally, let's talk about the community. Frankly, I don't see one. The websites are barren wastelands of nothingness when it comes to community interaction. There is not a whole lot of chatter in-game. In fact, if I am out hunting ... it is usual for me not to see another soul the entire time I am out! Part of this has to do with the sprawling world, and the fact that many people are crafting and not hunting. Also, this may be a product of all the races there are to play in the game. But honestly, the game seems to be extremely unpopulated and empty. Often times, I feel alone in the game. This is my biggest problem with Vanguard . . a lack of people . . . especially compared to other MMO's I have played. I hope this problem corrects itself soon.
i dont currently play this game i really havnt played anygame since UO went downhill few years back recently i been watching few games this was one of them now i know when most new mmos are released you see alot of PPL complaning i remeber when Daoc and SB and AO were released and about anyone i can remember was ppl bitching Is there any good points to this game ? is there anyone who acaully likes it i think there is alot of thinks that look great about this game is there any positive reviews out there?
My current opinion of this game, after quitting, uninstalling, then re-installing after a defrag (which seemed to improve performance) is this:
1. Performace is still sub-par, and from what I can gather from he forum posts is that the game sometimes runs better on inferior rigs. On mine (P4, 1 gig RAM, 256mb 6800 GS card) it runs okay in the wilderness at Balanced, but in populated areas the lag can be maddening.
2. The adventuring elements (classes, levelling, skills, combat, etc) are pretty much par for the course. Nothing really new, but I'm not saying it's bad. Things seem more spread out to me; i.e. it takes longer when in a town/settlement to find things. Maybe it's just me, but in games like WoW and LOTRO I never feel like I'm wandering aimlessly trying to find a particular NPC.
3. Crafting, for me, was horribly tedious and frustrating. Likely I would just be a harvester and be done with it.
4. Graphics: at the higher settings, very nice. However the environments felt empty and oddly unfinished.
Despite what sounds like a more-or-less negative review from me, I would probably still be playing if the performance was up to snuff. Perhaps down the road, if they improve it and/or I upgrade my pc, I would likely try it again.
And don't listen to the people who say VG is for hardcode gamers. IMHO, that's a load of steaming entrails. It simply takes longer to do stuff, and the mobs (from what I can recall) are a little tougher than your run-of-the-mill MMO.
It pretty much just a copycat of all other games but it failed to deliever them smoothly and to those saying how much potential blah blah blah guess what every game out there has potential its up to the DEV to make it work and currently these DEV are just suck at it. U want some good idea of a game this is the place if u got bunch of ppl bashing a game like Vanguard then u know there is something wrong with it.
Yes, yes it is, its 8 years is too late, its an EQ1 remake and nothing more. If you liked EQ1 then go for it else forget it.
On the positive Sigil are waking up to players needs and going back on their so called key features, and adding teleportation. For some reason they thought the average player would enjoy riding a mount for 20mins to get from point A to B.
Theres also a reason theirs no free trial (except getting hold of a buddy key), and its not because the servers are full.
i am an average player and i enjoy the travel, i will never use the teleportation system even if it implemented. To me mmo's are not all about lvling, i could care less if i ever reach max level as i'm enjoying all 3 spheres. Only reason most people don't enjoy the travel is cause they are spoiled by other games that has these so called teleporters which just makes those worlds seem even smaller IMO. It's the easy way out and while i like VG i actually am dissappointed at sigil for considering putting these teleporters in. It relegates all other forms of travel to meaningless. what's the point of a horse, or boat or a flying mount if you can just teleport to a given location?
edit: as i thought about it and as much as i hate to say it, if sigil intends to add a teleportation system they need to do it more like WoW, instead of it being a instant teleport, it should use flight paths to do the same thing, at least that way it wouldn't hurt the immersiveness of the world all that much. They already have boats paths, so why not flight paths if they seriously considering a teleport system?
also as far a free trials, most mmo's don't offer free trial till atleast a few months after release, and as you put it's not because the other mmo's server were full either, it's just for business reasons, not offering free trials at first tends to get a few more people to buy and try as most that are seriously interested does not want to wait to try.
Travel can be fine if 1) there's more than just empty scenery between quest hubs, and 2) it doesn't take 20 minutes. Casual players won't like this because they don't have boatloads of time to put into a game, not because they're spoiled. Honestly, how does riding/running 20 minutes or more equate to fun? It's realistic, absolutely, but realism in a game can really suk sometimes.
And I agree with you about flight paths vs teleporters; people can make fun of WoW all they want, but even with the flight paths sometimes you still have to traverse lots of territory to get somewhere for the first time, and in the pre-mount levels a fair amount of time sometimes needs to be spent hoofing it.
On the positive Sigil are waking up to players needs and going back on their so called key features, and adding teleportation. For some reason they thought the average player would enjoy riding a mount for 20mins to get from point A to B.
This actually shoots about the only [b]really[/b] amazing feature of Vanguard then, and that is that the world is so big and slow to travel that it creates an immersive fantasy feeling.
Yippee o/
Ok, save yourself the money then - if they dumb it down, they kill the [b]core[/b] of Vanguard. Honestly, and believe me when I say I am not attacking you in any way, but my idea of fun and immersiveness isn't riding/running for 20 minutes through a barren landscape just to get to the next quest hub. I'm playing LOTRO closed beta atm, and I don't think it takes 10 minutes to run clear across a zone. And the game is immersive, only because you don't have to go far to find a bunch of NPC's who'll give you quests.
And if they are truly "dumbing" the game down, then I would have to believe there's a good reason; i.e., the game is struggling a little and they believe "dumbing down" is necessary.
havn't read entire post but in case it hasn't been mentioned yet...vanguard 'has' potential' but it is a long ways away from that potential. Basically its still a very unfinished game.
unfortunatelly the game is possibly months away from being playable in my opinion. what i mean by this is that the game is still undergoing major tweaking. classes, equiptment, stats etc...among other things can and have been changing drastically with every patch, which come frequently. bugs and general game performance are still being fixed and optimized...there are still issues in this department as well.
If anyone asked me to recomend vanguard i would seriously suggest checking back in 3 months or so. as it stands now i dont think this game is anywhere near playable. but it all depends on your tolerance for upset and change.
having said that the world is complete. you can go anywhere, see anything, play every class/race. craft, be a diplomat etc...
The resource requirements on your pc should not be underestimated. If you dont need pretty graphics but only require playability then a decend system you could buy today for $1000 will play vanguard. if your like me and anything less that detailed and beautifull graphics will do then you will need a higher performance pc. i mean $250 graphics card minimum.....3000+ processor speed. gig+ of memory.
hope this helps some. i tried to be objective as possible. i played vanguard the past month but quit and will check it out again sometime in the future. as it stands now its not finished enough for my taste but definatelly could be a very good game...
i dont currently play this game i really havnt played anygame since UO went downhill few years back recently i been watching few games this was one of them now i know when most new mmos are released you see alot of PPL complaning i remeber when Daoc and SB and AO were released and about anyone i can remember was ppl bitching Is there any good points to this game ? is there anyone who acaully likes it i think there is alot of thinks that look great about this game is there any positive reviews out there?
No
Never take life too seriously youre never gonna make it out alive.
Personally I came to VG with high hopes, Heck I paid money and spent a lot of time to be in the beta to help make the game better.I was/am hoping the game could be a place I would be for a long time.It is simply not close to being finished or stable(want another example..they just patched the game yesterday because they discovered ranger bow dammage was being calculated on a characters strength not DEXTERITY.....duhhhhhh).I could go on for the next hour listing short commings. Yes I have a 4.2 mhz rig..512 video card,2k ram etc etc and run 13 fps on anything over default graphics and a very close clipping range.Games fall short..happens all the time.Whats not so nice is when you spend $100 for you and the wife to play, and realize your hopes for a great game and your money have been wasted.
To me, and remember I said TO ME, this game is not nearly as bad as some of the trolls here make it out to be. I do happen to have a pretty high end system which can gracefully play this game on highest without much other than a minor hitch here or there so I may be biased.
Now, a lot of people are talking about the travel times and such so I will throw in my 2cp. Though it is kind of annoying sometimes to have to travel 10 minutes out of the way for a quest just to have to travel back at the end I'll say this; Last night I was running to a quest location when I noticed something flaming at the top of a mountain. Curious, I decided to try and trek up to the top of this mountain and find out what it was. So I did, and it ended up being the area where I had to go to finish my quest (after going through a small dungeon) so I had to climb back down and get there in the end anyway, but regardless I love that I can just see something on the horizon and get there with some ingenuity.
That said, this game can be extremely frustrating and sometimes you just want to go where you have to go without it being a 20 minute jaunt. Also, the UI is really stupid sometimes. I added the left and right action bars, and they overlap onto my different stances and my counterattack icons. Plus I cannot seem to get my experience bar to show up outside of my character screen.
I still have a pretty fun time playing as long as my guildies are around and I have people to laugh with.
I've seen a lot worse and I've also seen better. This game isn't the greatest game ever but it's not garbage either. It's just average. The reason Vanguard has such a bad rep is the way in which it was released. Bugs and poor optimization lead to the game running poorly on many systems both of high and low quality. Top that off with a rabid fanbase who deny that problems exist and attack those who dislike the game or have problems with it and you'll find it understandable why people say the game is bad. The game does have potential if you're willing to wait six months to a year for that potential to be met. As they say you only get one chance to make a first impression. Vanguard stumbled out of the gate and now suffers for it with a bad reputation. If this game was such a smashing success there would be no reason to even ask how bad it is.
God, if you think this site is one sided, take a look at the forums over there when someone says they don't like it. When you go oevr to silkyvenom and tentonhammer you're going to the forums where the Sigil DEVs themeselves hang out at.
Those site are 1000000 times more one sided than any other vanguard oriented site there is. That's a god given fact. Go over there right now and search for players who stated they didn't like the game. You got vanbois over there that will completely verbally abuse the sh*t out of the original poster.
If you want an answer get a buddy pass and find out for yourself and make your own decision about the game because NO matter where you go you're gonna get the same reactions
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
i dont currently play this game i really havnt played anygame since UO went downhill few years back recently i been watching few games this was one of them now i know when most new mmos are released you see alot of PPL complaning i remeber when Daoc and SB and AO were released and about anyone i can remember was ppl bitching Is there any good points to this game ? is there anyone who acaully likes it i think there is alot of thinks that look great about this game is there any positive reviews out there?
Vanguard is published by SOE, so right there 50% of the posts are going to be from people who hate it because SOE killed their Star Wars fantasy. The only way you're going to get an unbiased opinion is to try it yourself. There are countless amazing things about Vanguard, read about them somewhere. Gotta get back to work.
PS DONT go to silky venom and tentonhammer lol God, if you think this site is one sided, take a look at the forums over there when someone says they don't like it. When you go oevr to silkyvenom and tentonhammer you're going to the forums where the Sigil DEVs themeselves hang out at. Those site are 1000000 times more one sided than any other vanguard oriented site there is. That's a god given fact. Go over there right now and search for players who stated they didn't like the game. You got vanbois over there that will completely verbally abuse the sh*t out of the original poster. If you want an answer get a buddy pass and find out for yourself and make your own decision about the game because NO matter where you go you're gonna get the same reactions
I agree completely. Telling someone to go to those boards is actually more biased then you will find here. Are there haters and fanbois here? Yep. But at least with the presence of both you will be able to find some objective views on the game or be able to form a better picture. The other sites mentioned are sites for people who are way more likely to be enjoying the game, which is fine, but it's also one sided. If you like VG, more power to you, but don't trash this site because there are wide range of opinions which may include ones you don't agree with.
I bought PC Gamer magazine (UK) today where vanguard scored 68 %.
I liked this quote:
"Vanguard is a game of ambition, but not of imagination or presentation. It's a sort of absent-minded professor, with a headful of clever formulas but a droning voice and completely unaware that he's got bits of egg in his beard". P. 70
and
"The trouble is, it's all presented with machine-like coldness. The writing and voice acting is miserably flat, while any game that announces "establishing ownership" in its ugly, cramped font when you start attacking a foe hasn't stopped to consider whether you're having fun or not". P.71
Better to ask these questions on Silkyvenom.com or tentonhammer.com most of these posts result in a flamefest. Besides that, there's allot more information on the game there.
And asking the question on two very Pro Vanguard sites is likely to get an unbiased opinion ?
At least here the OP will see both sides of the argument. True, opinions will vary in extremes from the pro and anti Vanguard posters, but at least there will differing opinions, whereas two Vanguard guild sites I would expect to be pretty much behind the game especially since the Devs and Designers are members of both those guilds.
This is the wrong site for opinions on vanguard from people that have played it for any significant length of time. Try Silyvenom or tentonhammer. What you really get here are alot of SOE haters, WOW fanboys and people with uber rigs who cry they dont get 60 fps.
Yes lets all go to tentonhammer and silkyvenom where we can get one sided opinions from Sigil and Vanguard fanboys at least here there are opinions from both sides of the spectrum.
Yes lets all go to tentonhammer and silkyvenom where we can get one sided opinions from Sigil and Vanguard fanboys at least here there are opinions from both sides of the spectrum.
Mate, I agree with you. I don't know about tentonhammer, but Silkyvenom has changed a lot. In the beginning it was extremely vanboistic, but over the time, when people started realizing what they are playing, the forums have become more realistic. It is not fanbois' haven anymore.
CONTRIBUTE INTO THE GAMING INDUSTRY! STOP PAYING FOR BORING COPYCATS, UNFINISHED BUGFESTS AND CRANKY JUNKWARE. BE A RESPONSIBLE GAMER!
Comments
Well, now that we have seen each other, if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
QFT
Currently Playing: Everything but MMORPGs
Cancelled: L2, FFXI, VSoH, LotRO, WAR, WoW
Looking Forward To: SW:TOR
DO NOT buy this game before you try it. Get a buddy key. I am confident you will be VERY glad you did, one way or the other. (OK, probably just one way, the way that ends with an Uninstall.)
If you haven't played anything since UO, you might be happier with some of the more polished games out there. There are many that are far superior to this game in almost every conceivable way.
Potential is all well and good, but a certain amount of that potential needs to be realized BEFORE the game is released. That has not happened with Vanguard.
Yippee o/
Ok, save yourself the money then - if they dumb it down, they kill the [b]core[/b] of Vanguard.
SQUEAK.
--(The Death of Rats, Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)
Overall I like Vanguard more than any other MMO I have played, other than pre-NGE SWG.
The negatives from my point of view:
1. Knowing SOE is involved makes my skin crawl. I think about cancelling everything I see their logo and the Station login screen.
2. More importantly, the game's techinical performance is just ridiculous. I have a pretty good system (E6600, 8800 GTX, 2 gig ddr 1000 ram) and even on the default settings, I still occassionally get some lag. I do like the game graphics, but they aren't as good as you would expect them to be based on the strain the game puts on even high end machines.
Sigil really dropped the ball on this.
Just go out and try it or read up from the sites suggested. I read all the posts, and "reviews" buy some people here and in the end the only way to find out for sure was to try it. I did and I am currently enjoying it. Will I be enjoying it in a weeks time, or at lvl 30? Who knows.
Will you hate it? Can't say, no-one can
Will you enjoy it? Can't say, no-one can
Please ignore the haters that inhabbit the MMORPG forums of which there are many many many. Im no fanboi (vanbois) make your own mind up.
Well, it really depends on what kind of game you're looking for, and what kind style of play you prefer.
Let's start with the obvious. Graphics. Many people are drawn to a game because of the graphics, then it's the gameplay itself that keeps the player playing the game. In general, judging by the opinions of many, many people - Vanguard has oustanding graphics. However, you will need a top-of-the-line rig to be able to enjoy most of the graphical features. I know several people who are able to run most MMORPG's nearly maxed-out graphically, who run Vanguard on much lower settings so they can get the performance to actually play the game. I have a pretty darn good rig myself, and my personal opinion is that the graphics in Vanguard are nice, but nothing special. I have seen better in MMORPG's. I point to Lineage 2 as a game that is graphically superior to Vanguard in many ways, and is 95% less cumbersome to your machine. Though, the character customization in Vanguard is a spectacular feature . . and this is a feature that really no other MMO has. Still, if you have to play the game on lower settings, you don't really get to appreciate your customization job. Still, when I think of graphics I think more of the world around me rather than my own character. In this, I think Vanguard does a pretty good job - but as I said, I think that other games have done environments much, much better.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Vanguard "right out of the box" for me is the different things you can do to level. Soon after you begin playing, you will discover that you can level in Adventuring (killing mobs and doing quests), Crafting (making items and filling work orders), Harvesting (gathering materials from doing things like skinning, lumberjacking and mining) and Diplomacy (a sort of card game that deals a lot with the lore of the game).
Adventuring is kind of time consuming in this game. There are an abundance of quests . . and a LOT of running around. You will spend a lot of travel time in Vanguard. (Thankfully, you are able to get a mount at level 10, which makes travelling quicker and a little more interesting). Yes, it is possible to solo in Vanguard, but it is certainly not the most productive way to level. One of the things I like about hunting in Vanguard is that there's not a MMO mentality for finding mobs. What I mean by this is . . every open field is not littered with mobs that are seemingly placed there so that people can kill them. Vanguard does a pretty good job (through quests and lore) of having a REASON for their mobs to be where they are. Still, the world is almost too big . . .and often you will spend 5 minutes travelling to find a particular group of mobs, and then spend perhaps 10 minutes killing them to complete your quest. So basically, you're gonna spend at least 33% of your time just running to get somewhere.
Crafting, Diplomacy and Harvesting are not necessary for anyone to do, but I really think that people who don't do a least one of these are missing out on part of the game. Every class can enjoy crafting, harvesting and diplomacy. You level these skills up much like you do adventuring . . . the more you craft, harvest and explore diplomatic relations . . the higher your level becomes. Personally, I hate crafting and harvesting. This has nothing to do with Vanguard, it's just my personal preference. The two go somewhat hand in hand. You can harvest materials and then use them to create something. Crafting and harvesting take a lot of time, and can be monotonously repetitive. But, the rewards are great . . not only in armor and weapons . . but it is also a terrific way to make money. Still, in my time in the game, just by doing quests and selling drops I have gotten from monsters, I have never been at a lack of funds. Still, there are a lot of "work orders" (crafting quests) that can be done, and it is a nice break from the grind for some.
Diplomacy is very fun, mostly because it is something that no other MMO has tried before. It's like a side-game, where you use cards to try to coerce an NPC to do your bidding or agree with you. There are several diplomatic quests to do. Diplomacy takes quite a bit of strategy and also a small amount of luck. But for me, it is a nice break from the grind and a very fun and interesting addition to the game. I love Diplomacy.
As you progress in the game, you will see things like mounts, houses and ships. These are somewhat difficult to attain . . as it should be. But they are interesting goals for everyone to reach. Also, if you're on a pvp server you will certainly run into pvp! For me, this is a weak point in this game . . mostly through no fault of Sigil.
Many people don't understand the concept of PvP. The biggest complaint I see in "shout" is people complaining that they have been ganked in an unfair fight . . many times while standing at a crafting station. I can't stand the whining that I have seen in this game. Eventually, I think people will come to realise that, if you are on a pvp server, you should be prepared to DIE to another player at any time. It's fair. Get over it. Go play on an RPG server if you don't wanna get killed!
Finally, let's talk about the community. Frankly, I don't see one. The websites are barren wastelands of nothingness when it comes to community interaction. There is not a whole lot of chatter in-game. In fact, if I am out hunting ... it is usual for me not to see another soul the entire time I am out! Part of this has to do with the sprawling world, and the fact that many people are crafting and not hunting. Also, this may be a product of all the races there are to play in the game. But honestly, the game seems to be extremely unpopulated and empty. Often times, I feel alone in the game. This is my biggest problem with Vanguard . . a lack of people . . . especially compared to other MMO's I have played. I hope this problem corrects itself soon.
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1. Performace is still sub-par, and from what I can gather from he forum posts is that the game sometimes runs better on inferior rigs. On mine (P4, 1 gig RAM, 256mb 6800 GS card) it runs okay in the wilderness at Balanced, but in populated areas the lag can be maddening.
2. The adventuring elements (classes, levelling, skills, combat, etc) are pretty much par for the course. Nothing really new, but I'm not saying it's bad. Things seem more spread out to me; i.e. it takes longer when in a town/settlement to find things. Maybe it's just me, but in games like WoW and LOTRO I never feel like I'm wandering aimlessly trying to find a particular NPC.
3. Crafting, for me, was horribly tedious and frustrating. Likely I would just be a harvester and be done with it.
4. Graphics: at the higher settings, very nice. However the environments felt empty and oddly unfinished.
Despite what sounds like a more-or-less negative review from me, I would probably still be playing if the performance was up to snuff. Perhaps down the road, if they improve it and/or I upgrade my pc, I would likely try it again.
And don't listen to the people who say VG is for hardcode gamers. IMHO, that's a load of steaming entrails. It simply takes longer to do stuff, and the mobs (from what I can recall) are a little tougher than your run-of-the-mill MMO.
It pretty much just a copycat of all other games but it failed to deliever them smoothly and to those saying how much potential blah blah blah guess what every game out there has potential its up to the DEV to make it work and currently these DEV are just suck at it. U want some good idea of a game this is the place if u got bunch of ppl bashing a game like Vanguard then u know there is something wrong with it.
i am an average player and i enjoy the travel, i will never use the teleportation system even if it implemented. To me mmo's are not all about lvling, i could care less if i ever reach max level as i'm enjoying all 3 spheres. Only reason most people don't enjoy the travel is cause they are spoiled by other games that has these so called teleporters which just makes those worlds seem even smaller IMO. It's the easy way out and while i like VG i actually am dissappointed at sigil for considering putting these teleporters in. It relegates all other forms of travel to meaningless. what's the point of a horse, or boat or a flying mount if you can just teleport to a given location?
edit: as i thought about it and as much as i hate to say it, if sigil intends to add a teleportation system they need to do it more like WoW, instead of it being a instant teleport, it should use flight paths to do the same thing, at least that way it wouldn't hurt the immersiveness of the world all that much. They already have boats paths, so why not flight paths if they seriously considering a teleport system?
also as far a free trials, most mmo's don't offer free trial till atleast a few months after release, and as you put it's not because the other mmo's server were full either, it's just for business reasons, not offering free trials at first tends to get a few more people to buy and try as most that are seriously interested does not want to wait to try.
Travel can be fine if 1) there's more than just empty scenery between quest hubs, and 2) it doesn't take 20 minutes. Casual players won't like this because they don't have boatloads of time to put into a game, not because they're spoiled. Honestly, how does riding/running 20 minutes or more equate to fun? It's realistic, absolutely, but realism in a game can really suk sometimes.And I agree with you about flight paths vs teleporters; people can make fun of WoW all they want, but even with the flight paths sometimes you still have to traverse lots of territory to get somewhere for the first time, and in the pre-mount levels a fair amount of time sometimes needs to be spent hoofing it.
Yippee o/
Ok, save yourself the money then - if they dumb it down, they kill the [b]core[/b] of Vanguard. Honestly, and believe me when I say I am not attacking you in any way, but my idea of fun and immersiveness isn't riding/running for 20 minutes through a barren landscape just to get to the next quest hub. I'm playing LOTRO closed beta atm, and I don't think it takes 10 minutes to run clear across a zone. And the game is immersive, only because you don't have to go far to find a bunch of NPC's who'll give you quests.
And if they are truly "dumbing" the game down, then I would have to believe there's a good reason; i.e., the game is struggling a little and they believe "dumbing down" is necessary.
havn't read entire post but in case it hasn't been mentioned yet...vanguard 'has' potential' but it is a long ways away from that potential. Basically its still a very unfinished game.
unfortunatelly the game is possibly months away from being playable in my opinion. what i mean by this is that the game is still undergoing major tweaking. classes, equiptment, stats etc...among other things can and have been changing drastically with every patch, which come frequently. bugs and general game performance are still being fixed and optimized...there are still issues in this department as well.
If anyone asked me to recomend vanguard i would seriously suggest checking back in 3 months or so. as it stands now i dont think this game is anywhere near playable. but it all depends on your tolerance for upset and change.
having said that the world is complete. you can go anywhere, see anything, play every class/race. craft, be a diplomat etc...
The resource requirements on your pc should not be underestimated. If you dont need pretty graphics but only require playability then a decend system you could buy today for $1000 will play vanguard. if your like me and anything less that detailed and beautifull graphics will do then you will need a higher performance pc. i mean $250 graphics card minimum.....3000+ processor speed. gig+ of memory.
hope this helps some. i tried to be objective as possible. i played vanguard the past month but quit and will check it out again sometime in the future. as it stands now its not finished enough for my taste but definatelly could be a very good game...
No
Never take life too seriously youre never gonna make it out alive.
To me, and remember I said TO ME, this game is not nearly as bad as some of the trolls here make it out to be. I do happen to have a pretty high end system which can gracefully play this game on highest without much other than a minor hitch here or there so I may be biased.
Now, a lot of people are talking about the travel times and such so I will throw in my 2cp. Though it is kind of annoying sometimes to have to travel 10 minutes out of the way for a quest just to have to travel back at the end I'll say this; Last night I was running to a quest location when I noticed something flaming at the top of a mountain. Curious, I decided to try and trek up to the top of this mountain and find out what it was. So I did, and it ended up being the area where I had to go to finish my quest (after going through a small dungeon) so I had to climb back down and get there in the end anyway, but regardless I love that I can just see something on the horizon and get there with some ingenuity.
That said, this game can be extremely frustrating and sometimes you just want to go where you have to go without it being a 20 minute jaunt. Also, the UI is really stupid sometimes. I added the left and right action bars, and they overlap onto my different stances and my counterattack icons. Plus I cannot seem to get my experience bar to show up outside of my character screen.
I still have a pretty fun time playing as long as my guildies are around and I have people to laugh with.
Bottom line for me:
1. Not worth 50 bucks AT ALL
2. No feel for immersion. Just a western Hack N slash with a neat Diplomacy sphere
3. World so big and players spread so far apart, finding a group is too hard (Brad admitted to this)
4. Buggy as hell
5. Level treadmill with a harsh grind
6. Low quality player animation and art glitches.
7. A rushed feeling of having the game pushed out without finishing
This is just my opinion and I understand others will have totally different views than me
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
PS DONT go to silky venom and tentonhammer lol
God, if you think this site is one sided, take a look at the forums over there when someone says they don't like it. When you go oevr to silkyvenom and tentonhammer you're going to the forums where the Sigil DEVs themeselves hang out at.
Those site are 1000000 times more one sided than any other vanguard oriented site there is. That's a god given fact. Go over there right now and search for players who stated they didn't like the game. You got vanbois over there that will completely verbally abuse the sh*t out of the original poster.
If you want an answer get a buddy pass and find out for yourself and make your own decision about the game because NO matter where you go you're gonna get the same reactions
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Vanguard is published by SOE, so right there 50% of the posts are going to be from people who hate it because SOE killed their Star Wars fantasy. The only way you're going to get an unbiased opinion is to try it yourself. There are countless amazing things about Vanguard, read about them somewhere. Gotta get back to work.
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I liked this quote:
"Vanguard is a game of ambition, but not of imagination or presentation. It's a sort of absent-minded professor, with a headful of clever formulas but a droning voice and completely unaware that he's got bits of egg in his beard". P. 70
and
"The trouble is, it's all presented with machine-like coldness. The writing and voice acting is miserably flat, while any game that announces "establishing ownership" in its ugly, cramped font when you start attacking a foe hasn't stopped to consider whether you're having fun or not". P.71
It's so true.
At least here the OP will see both sides of the argument. True, opinions will vary in extremes from the pro and anti Vanguard posters, but at least there will differing opinions, whereas two Vanguard guild sites I would expect to be pretty much behind the game especially since the Devs and Designers are members of both those guilds.
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