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Listen up if you're thinking about playing Vanquard
mcast123
Member Posts: 15
So yeah you've read all the posts about the failure, bad performance and impending doom and asking yourself "what's it really like?". It's a fun game, most will enjoy it and there's plenty to do. Yes, it has performance issues and crashes but while annoying they are not game breaking. Crafting, adventuring and diplomacy will give you enjoyment, some aspects are better and some worse than other comparable mmos. Yes, it has population issues which should be addressed by the mergers.
Now here's why people are quitting...
When you get past the mid 30s you realise it's very very samey. The higher level quests are a cut &paste of the lower ones. Also, the world has some amazing cities and graphics but you can't help feeling that cut&paste again. The boats are fun for about 5 minutes, then you realise there's nothing to really do with them, same applies to housing. Mounts are fun for a bit longer but ultimately they get old fast. Diplomacy, again becomes very samey. Crafting will give you more RSI than any other MMO (it will wear your mouse out).
The game lacks soul, no real lore, no real reason for completing a quest or traveling to a location. Same old quests dressed up with slightly different themes. The NPCs are the same with different clothes. You can argue that it's the similar for every mmo, but it's moreso for VG. If you look at the feature list, the videos and other material it just fails to live up to what it says on the cover.
It's not a bad game it's just not that great either. On the whole I would say EQ2 is slightly better for that more "in depth" fantasy mmo. Some argue that LotR and WoW are more "basic" but ultimately VSoH is a basic game trying to be complicated. Try it before buying it.
Comments
I brought it for £5 so i dont really care hehe.. i rekkon it has to be worth the risk of £5
anyway should get the game running next week as i am away from my gaming computer until then.
"When you get past the mid 30s you realise it's very very samey. The higher level quests are a cut &paste of the lower ones. Also, the world has some amazing cities and graphics but you can't help feeling that cut&paste again. The boats are fun for about 5 minutes, then you realise there's nothing to really do with them, same applies to housing. Mounts are fun for a bit longer but ultimately they get old fast. Diplomacy, again becomes very samey. Crafting will give you more RSI than any other MMO (it will wear your mouse out)."
Like you say a lot of mmorpgs are like this.. so i guess i will just have to check it out for myself... its a shame they dont have a free trial yet but it took a while for EQ and EQ2 to get free trials...
I very much agree with the OP...
I think that SOE had pinned their hopes on Vanguard taking over the "Flagship" game in their Station Pass Lineup as Everquest2 starts to get long in the tooth in comparison to offerings like Age of Conan, Warhammer, and Tabula Rasa...and the promise that Vanguard had wasn't realized in the inital release.
That promise *is* there, though... It'll just take more time than SOE has available before the competition heats up a lot and they start losing "happy customers" who were playing EQ2 for a good long while, but are going to flock to greener pastures without something that can compete on even footing as some of the Fall's titles, these being in addition to the "SWG Vets" who're gone and won't ever come back.
Sony has already taken a beating on the PS3, and have had significant numbers of layoffs worldwide over it. They've got to get their act together in relatively short order.
Enter SOE's deal with Flying Lab Software and Pirates of the Burning Sea. A solid self-funded publisher with an almost-finished game, who's looking for someone to slap their name on it as a Distributor and get the boxes in the store, and not a lot more. It's a win-win deal for SOE and FLS both.
Buy POTBS...Buy Vanguard.
Play both, and watch Vanguard get better and better over time as Sony works on it.
EQ2 players will say that EQ2 had a rocky start, and it got solid as time went on.
I imagine Vanguard will do the same, in time.
In the mean time, you get to play a top-shelf Pirate game... *grins*
its funny how the devs of this game once said, "SOE can't touch this game, they are only responsible for the marketing and sales stuff"
now look at vanguard again, it became a great failure and runs under SOE now...
they say it needs time to get fixed, but what kind of time are they talking about ? this game is running out of time, since future mmorpgs are on the road and what kind of chance will it have when funcoms "age of conan" or "warhammer online" gets released ?
do you guys think that SOE will give a damn about this game, when in the same time they have to take care about their upcomming "the agency", the broken star wars galaxies or everquest 2 ?
do you really think that SOE will spent any serious ressources or money into this game ? vanguard is done and it's over and the only marketing strategy for SOE is to avoid further investments into this game since it was a flop, thats a marketing fact and they will stick with this.
I feel sorry for the vanguard fans, but keep your head up, better games are on the way, so dont worry...
"You must be either retarded or a fanboi..."
This is not an accurate discribtion of the games content, and it appears the person neaver used the boat to travel to any of the many islands in the game that require you to use a boat to get to them, one being a mid-40s grouping area with some great content and excellent rewards. For crafting you can go to vanguardcrafters.com and pick up some macros so you won't "wear your mouse out."
Also there is some very good storylines within it, again sounds like the complaining of a PLer who only did one line since he knew he could get a lot of EXP from it in a short amount of time. This game is not something you should rush through at all. Into my 3rd month in the mid 30s and still finding content and storylines.
And there are many NPC at the high end that you will not see at the low end ever.
Overall it has EQ2 beat hands down, once all the bugs get worked out this game will be the #1 MMO. This most likely will be 2008 number 1 MMO. This game at 5 months into it, in comparison to EQ, EQ2, WoW, DAoC, AO and various others at 5 months into their live beats them in performance and bugs. I should know I was there at 5 months in for all of them.
A MMO is like life. It is something to cherish and enjoy upon in it journey. So why race to the end of it. In life at the end you die.
Also there is some very good storylines within it, again sounds like the complaining of a PLer who only did one line since he knew he could get a lot of EXP from it in a short amount of time. This game is not something you shouldn't rush through at all. Into my 3rd month in the mid 30s and still finding content and storylines.
And there are many NPC at the high end that you will not see at the low end ever.
Overall it has EQ2 beat hands down, once all the bugs get worked out this game will be the #1 MMO. This most likely will be 2008 number 1 MMO. This game at 5 months into it, in comparison to EQ, EQ2, WoW, DAoC, AO and various others at 5 months into their live beats them in performance and bugs. I should know I was there at 5 months in for all of them.
I beg to differ. I had two characters in the mid 40s when I quit. Sure I used my boat to hit Ceros isle, yes it was slightly faster than swimming, but face it, they're not that useful or fun.
Please don't start with the "it will be better in x months", that's now a cliche born out of Vanguard and becoming more laughable than serious.
I share your enthusiasm for VSoH but not your optimism.
Again, it's cheap to try so give it a go.
Your complaints about it are more cliche and thank you for proving me correct about your PL status
A MMO is like life. It is something to cherish and enjoy upon in it journey. So why race to the end of it. In life at the end you die.
Here's the lines I got into at 32 (I'm now 43):
Strandon port Bounty Hunter quests. The Seawatch Coast Arena fights and arena coin brokers. The whole Xenn experience from the Named Isle to the Xennu Shard quests etc. Planes of Anguish quests lines and the Unamrked Armor quests!!! Just last night, got invited to a Sunset Pointe group.. I mean wow, that was fun and I didn't even know it was there and it has it's own deep quest line. There's a involved line in Fallen Cove, theres the Demon spawn new New Targonor, etc. etc. etc.
Sheesh, these quests are very fun, varied, with different rewards, armor lines... there is simply too much to do before you outlevel them and the next thing you know you are into another quest line.
You and I are in total agreement. I am aware of all these line. He has already shown himself to have not exlpored and that he rocketed to fast into his level 40s and most likely doing the exact same quest as I said before. I have all eight of my character slots full and I am doing different quest lines with each and everyone because there is that much content in the game.
A MMO is like life. It is something to cherish and enjoy upon in it journey. So why race to the end of it. In life at the end you die.
I have not posted on a VG board in a long time. But I will agree with some of you that I believe SOE can pull this game up and at least give it some life it was suppost to have. I have no problem with SOE. I've played one of their games, Everquest 2 and absolutely loved it. I think they can execute a game pretty well and lets just hope they can bring back vanguard like they did for EQ2.
Vanguard, in no way, in any different than WoW or Lotro, like the other poster said. It's a very simple game with broken concepts in quests and in the crafting (oh man what a mess.) If SOE can fix the game, the graphics, the models (humans really look like that??) then they might find another person buying the game. But, of course they have to do this before October, or else I'm off with aoc. it's sad how Vanguard turned into what it did. All those promises we were fed yet it was a totally different game.
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
If you're going to be spreading negative propaganda, please do us all a favor and provide some form of evidence. You state the game is very "cut and paste" and "samey samey" (not that i'm picking on your literal skills), however i have seen little evidence to support this in game. To me, cut and paste would imply everything appears similar in some aspect.
Traversing the three continents reveals ample variety in scenery and almost every type of terrain you could imagine. While some of the smaller outposts may have inherent similarities (how many different ways can you texture a tent) - i have not seen one city that resembles another.
I admit, some npc's may appear similar with different clothing, but i'm sorry, do many of us as people not have similar features? Would you rather not one npc in the game be of the same race as another? Perhaps we should introduce a couple thousand more races just to appease you? Moving from city to city, outpost to outpost, there are numerous races of all colours and shapes, sizes and dispositions providing considerable variety.
Now to be honest, i play and love this game and i have played and loved many others. One thing all MMO's have in common is quests. When there exist thousands of quests in one game, what does it take for quests to still be interesting after you've done one? After all, the majority of quests involve killing something at some point. The countless quests that the game offers involve anything from chasing down a group of bandits, swimming through a mid ocean cave to reach a hidden valley within an island, to scouring the bottom of the ocean for rare flowers or even soaring through the skies scouting the land on a griffon. Just as the quests are varied, the rewards obtained are diverse. Anything from your traditional coin rewards to armor, helpful buff potions or foodstuffs and epic mounts. The rewards you earn are only as useful as the effort you put in.
As a brief mention, the game does not lack lore. For those willing to search, there are surprisingly a number of npc's with interesting stories and tales that can both lead to quests or just a few minutes of amusement.
Houses and boats are by no means useless. If you look at any MMO, what is it that keeps people playing after they've finished a story line or reached max level? Houses and boats are to some extent a sign of your persistence, dedication and commitment to the game. Before riftways, teleporters, and the rentable flying mounts, boats were the ultimate mode of transport and as such came at a hefty price. While to some extent the use of boats has been reduced, the are by no means redundant. There are so many circumstances in which a boat could save you travel time or your life - while trying to reach an important point in a higher level zone (where swimming would result in a tasty meal to the local marine life). Houses not only provide another personal bind point and storage point, but can double as guild halls which, for those guilds who enjoy meeting or organizing events (could be quite useful once raids become an integral part of the game), provides an invaluable reference point.
When people first began purchasing houses, it was a representation of someone's prestige to a certain extent. It had them (as a player) recognized as having achieved a level of wealth. At least until gold selling....bah that's another topic entirely.
Crafting...well what can i say about that? The ultimate source of income for a dedicated VG player. The riches match the effort you put in here. While adventuring will make you enough coin to get by, maybe buying some nice armor and weapons along the way, it's crafting that's going to get you that house or that caravel, or that slight advantage over a potential rival. Many people have argued that crafting is too hard and requires too much effort, and for the higher tiers yes it may be true. Having said that, those who are dedicated enough to go the distance know it's well worth it and their names are known across their corresponding server.
I hate to sound arrogant, but when you say the game fails to live up to what "it" says on the cover, i have to ask myself what cover you were referring too?
OK, you are now just making stuff up. I was definitely there for WOW and DAOC at the 5 month mark, and both of those games had far better performance and fewer bugs and performance issues than VG does now. Best game in 2008? Not a chance, that title will belong to either AOC or WAR. (and about 6 other titles have a better chance of gaining the crown vs VG)BULL. I was there both had performance issues. WoW didn't come out of a major memory leak issue until the end of the 6th month and DAoC was having similiar issues in the PvP zone, it was so bad they had to shut down the PvP zone for a week or two, I don't make up stuff.
AoC is for PvP and WAR is a WoW replacement so WAR may do as you said but if they went to real content and not copycating a game that finally over came its problems(WoW is what I am refering to here) I still support VG for getting the award
NOTE: the macros are on a supported VG site and do not violate any rules, they are not bots, you still have to be there to control the crafting as it progresses the macros just speed things up a bit and cut down on the use of the mouse. The crafting is that complex it is not a click and go situation like in other games.
A MMO is like life. It is something to cherish and enjoy upon in it journey. So why race to the end of it. In life at the end you die.
I played Vanguard for 3 months after released, I reached lvl 39 with my Necro. The game was allot of fun, it had a lot of issues, Crafting and Diplomacy blow all other MMO's to date out of the water. The higher end content does not match the lower end. The lower end has some awesome quests lines but as I reached 37 - 39 their were fewer and fewer quests lines and more and more single quests. (I don't know if that changed but it might have). I am camped out near the Minotaur temple were I could solo with easy.
Vanguard has so much potential it is scary, The development team just didn't finish the game. That is my take on it, they simple ran into a wall and could not go any further. Vanguard could have and I guess it still could be one of the greatest MMO's on the market. (although I think it passed that exit away back). Diplomacy had the potential to become huge if implemented correctly,
Just image you are all set to raid a castle with your guild mates, all 30 of you ready to go, then the castle army shows it self, it is massive, four times the size of your raiding party. Now what? Do you attack and hope you can win? or do you send in your best Diplomat's to talk it over. So now you send in your 3 best diplomat's to talk to 3 of the castle garrisons diplomat's. Each one of your three guild mates must win their parlay to be allowed to enter the castle without a fight.. But wait, one of your players fails and the now the Army is charging out of the gates right into you. See now that would be fun, that is how Diplomacy should have been used.
(sorry I have an over active imagination and I love to use it).
Anyway, Vanguard is a solid game, I played it for 3 months and I had allot of fun, now I don't play it because, I enjoy doing raids and their was no content for raids when I left. If you enjoy a massive world with endless lore and endless quest lines that put in you the storyline Vanguard will be a good game, but if you are like me and enjoy massive raid events, then Vanguard will be a let down.
You should only listen to yourself when deciding to play an MMO, only you know if you will like a game, nobody can know you better then yourself.
Skalantra Deathbringer - 39 Dark Elf Necromancer - Gurgurthor Server (or something like that) - Long Retired
Sooner or Later
This is not an accurate discribtion of the games content, and it appears the person neaver used the boat to travel to any of the many islands in the game that require you to use a boat to get to them, one being a mid-40s grouping area with some great content and excellent rewards. For crafting you can go to vanguardcrafters.com and pick up some macros so you won't "wear your mouse out."
Also there is some very good storylines within it, again sounds like the complaining of a PLer who only did one line since he knew he could get a lot of EXP from it in a short amount of time. This game is not something you should rush through at all. Into my 3rd month in the mid 30s and still finding content and storylines.
And there are many NPC at the high end that you will not see at the low end ever.
Overall it has EQ2 beat hands down, once all the bugs get worked out this game will be the #1 MMO. This most likely will be 2008 number 1 MMO. This game at 5 months into it, in comparison to EQ, EQ2, WoW, DAoC, AO and various others at 5 months into their live beats them in performance and bugs. I should know I was there at 5 months in for all of them.
I have to disagree with you, the story lines are very small and do not give much detail or depth, there more like a trailer for a movie, problem is there is no movie just a trailer.... They obviously ran out of time and didnt get to put in much as far as story arc's goes.. I have a lvl 50 monk and lvl 38 weaponsmith and I'm bored out of my mind.... I was actually pretty bored when I got to my 30's but pushed on just for the sake of getting to lvl 50... The game has no soul at all... It might of if Sigil could of finished it...
Best way to describe Vanguard is that its a Shell of what could of been a great game...
The crafting is better then most MMO's only because the goods you make are actually usefull... But it still falls short of the original SWG Crafting system...
I agree with the OP.
It's not that its a bad game, because it isn't.
It's just that it all blends into a kind of boring vanilla grind...much more so than similar games on the market.
Edit: On the upside they have fixed quite a few bugs in the 2 months I was away. I came back recently just to look around and duo a bit more with my wife, and the game is much improved. I can't really see much wrong with it now aside from the (better) stability and the vanilla grind.
What is Vanguard?
Brad, players, flamers, trolls ... no one is able to answer that. Everyone seems to have a different answer. No one can get a straightforward answer. The reason is that Vanguard is unique. It is not WoW. It is not LotR. It is traditional like EQ 1 was, and it is not an easy game.
It is a massive world, with an extraordinary amount of ways to experience the game. It is the ultimate fantasy sandbox game for people that want to be apart of and influence through adventuring, crafting, and diplomacy an incredible world.
It was released very early, very buggy, and very laggy. Its end-game is underdeveloped, badly. It has more potential, with all of its interesting and some fascinating features, to deliver a world and gaming experience unlike any other in terms of options to do things. The option to adventure in a variety of ways (group, solo, raid) and craft and diplomacy (control NPC cities, impact the politics, etc.). Vanguard needs time, perhaps a lot, to get to where it is supposed to be. Very visionary but still incomplete.
Boycott EA Games. RIP Sim City.
Vanguard IS nowhere close to complete. It needs another 2-3 years of content polish, redesign of some boring parts and more FUN content. It is too bad that is has already been released. You don't get a second chance at making a first impression and the first impression for Vanguard was bad. Worse than bad, it was disastrous.
This is not an accurate discribtion of the games content, and it appears the person neaver used the boat to travel to any of the many islands in the game that require you to use a boat to get to them, one being a mid-40s grouping area with some great content and excellent rewards. For crafting you can go to vanguardcrafters.com and pick up some macros so you won't "wear your mouse out."
Also there is some very good storylines within it, again sounds like the complaining of a PLer who only did one line since he knew he could get a lot of EXP from it in a short amount of time. This game is not something you should rush through at all. Into my 3rd month in the mid 30s and still finding content and storylines.
And there are many NPC at the high end that you will not see at the low end ever.
Overall it has EQ2 beat hands down, once all the bugs get worked out this game will be the #1 MMO. This most likely will be 2008 number 1 MMO. This game at 5 months into it, in comparison to EQ, EQ2, WoW, DAoC, AO and various others at 5 months into their live beats them in performance and bugs. I should know I was there at 5 months in for all of them.
Vanguard is bland and boring not to mention loaded down with bugs and crappy design. If you think this game will be #1 or even closed to it, you are having delusions .... or perhaps going senile.
What a joke.
Vanguard is a sand box game. It is what ya make of it.
My experience has been vastly different than the OP here. I don't have any more issues than I've had in any other mmorpg that I've played.
A vast majority of the posts here come from the adventure's perspective. Even the OP here..though touched on crafting seems to be mostly adventure driven. Now...I am only lv 24 in adventure, but I do have several guildmates in the 30's and 40's in adventure levels and none of them have expressed frustration over lack of content.
One guy has diplomacy nearly maxed out and constantly raves about how interesting it is and the fantastic lore that diplomacy offers.
Several guildmates are high level in harvesting and getting rich selling high end harvesting goods.
Other guildmates are high end crafters and seem to really enjoy making high end gear. Did ya know each continent has it's own " style" of crafting gear? Complete with unique bonuses depending on where the item was made? Your swords crafted on Kojan will look different and have different bonuses that can be applied while crafting than say the swords made on the Thestra continent. I find this " regional flare" to be interesting. A top notch crafter will study on all three continents allowing him/her to make dozens of variants of any particular weapon or armor.
Diplomats unlock various regional bonuses to craft, diplomacy, and / or adventure. These bonuses are good for everyone in that area to enjoy.
Vanguard is a good game for people who like a sand box playstyle. Vanguard is a good game for people capable and willing to play outside the " box " a bit. Maybe the quests do slim down some after lv 30...I dunno..I'm not there yet. Lucky for me...I don't depend on quests to motivate and drive my toon through this virtual world. I find my own personal quests to be even more rewarding than whatever some Dev can think of.
example..
Go here ..get that...go there ...find this...bring it to so and so and get Uber Sword of Kill Everything made. Finding the components and the crafters to make the item is the quest while the item itself is the reward.
With the popularity of watered down...hand holding mmorpg's where the whole game is about getting to the end and raiding non-stop...I suspect this will be the last true sand box mmorpg to be launched for a long time. I think everyone that likes this style of gameplay should play Vanguard. The game that sucks less than the rest !
For me its the journey that counts more than the destination. The sweet aint so sweet without some bitter.
G&H is a mmorpg PVE with minions and awesome graphics.You have the whole world to explore and anough lore to put any other game lore to shame even Warhammers 25 yesrs dont compare to 1000s of years of history.
Just look at this vid on the main site lol..vanguard has no chance agaist this as a matter of fact i would seriously put this up there with WAR-AOC.Dont mistake this as a Guild Wars type mmorpg because its like eq-wow-vanguard free roaming mmorpg.
www.godsandheroes.com/
I wonder if PE (the developers of G&H) agrres with you that G&H is a SoE game
Anyhow, G&H is not even a semi sandbox game, so I don't think G&H will steal any customers from the Vanguard crowd
---
And when we got more women on the team, it was like No, no, no. We need puppies and horses in there.
John Smedley, SOE
As to lore comparisons.... history is boring... WAR lore is fun....
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I wonder if PE (the developers of G&H) agrres with you that G&H is a SoE game
Anyhow, G&H is not even a semi sandbox game, so I don't think G&H will steal any customers from the Vanguard crowd
LOL is that the best you can come with.You
know what i mean by SOE and G&H and all i am saying is G&H could take some of Vanguards player base no matter how sandbox you think it is.I can tell you now that its not as sandbox as you would have people believe.
Lets face it Vanguard is broken and i say that from having a lvl 50 bard and lvl 22 psionist.I was doing Crypt/RI/(1st person to get Drum Of Separation on my server lol.I have not played for 4 weeks either.
I know all about vanguard and you talk sandbox but if you look at the server population and the difficulty in getting groups you might as well be box off.A vast World dont mean shit if there is fuck all to do in it.
As to lore comparisons.... history is boring... WAR lore is fun....
Its PVE at the start but they have already said it will turn RVR-PVP when they introduce a new nation..ie like Carthage or Goul.