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Level 50... review from my point of view
Durthu
Member Posts: 29
Well, I have been playing Vanguard since day 1. I've reached level 50 a month ago and I've almost hit 200 skill in Diplomacy and level 20 in Outfitting. I've tried a few classes but I played a Necromancer to level 50.
I'll admit, my computer isn't great. I have an Acer Aspire 5570 and upgraded to 2 gigs of ram. I run off xp and my hard drive is clean of spyware and other crap. I get roughly 10 fps to 25 fps on the lowest settings but the game is playable but I can't experience the graphics that I see posted on these forums.
My background mmo experience has been EQ1, EQ2, EVE, and SWG... oh and Shot Online.. lol.
Instead of raving or complaining, I will just post the pros and cons based on my experience and opinion.
Performance : 68% rating
- I would rate it at 65% at the moment. I know my comp specs are low but I would expect better performance at the lowest settings. That being said, the game is playable and performance is really not an issue unless I am in a town full of people running around.
- Decent music but I turn music off now due to performance issues.
Community: 95% rating
- Pro: A great community.. hands down. Very similar to EQ1.
- Con: Gold spammers galore but it's more annoying than effecting my overall experience.
- Neutral: Responce time from GM's. My experience has been pretty good. I've only waited maybe an hour at the most for a GM or Guide to answer my petition. I play in the PST time zone from 6pm to 10pm during the week.
Adventuring : 75% rating
- Pro: Easy enough to level with modest death penalties: caters to players with less time on their hands.
- Con: Lack of Lore - I can't get into the story of the land. I am very disappointed with the storylines.
- Pro: Almost a seemless landscape including hours and hours of potential exploring time
- Con: Many empty spaces and lack of content
- Pro: Great mix of classes for different playing styles
- Con: Some classes need a tweak (even my Necro that can solo 6 dotters... sorry Necros) old news i know
- Neutral: Quests are being added but I find many quests mundane though there are a handful of great quests that are quite fun but generally require a group.
- Con: It can be difficult to find a group due to lack of population. This should change after the server merge though but I am basing this review on my current experiences.
- Pro: Solo friendly world. You have a choice to level by yourself or in a group. The only limitation to soloing is that the loot isn't great. If you can't get a group, you can still grind some xp and you don't have to be a solo class to solo
- Con: Traveling. Get rid of the instant teleporters. Have the boats run more often and that would add to the experience of meaningful travelling.
Diplomacy : 60% rating
- Con: A huge grind to gain skill in the sphere. It really is a time sink compared to the rewards.
- Pro: A neat and fun card game at the early levels. Boring a repetative as you grind out skill.
- Con: Besides up to skill 50, I couldn't get into any story lines. There should be some uber lore in Diplomacy but really, it's absolutely brain numbing.
- Pro: Levers do help out your fellow adventurers and crafters. I suggest practicing diplomacy only if you craft because the buffs are quite nice.
Crafting : 70% rating
- Pro: you can level without needing resources. Fairly strait forward quests.
- Con: I would like to see more rewarding quests for the lower levels. Grinding would be fun if there were more quests and storylines. This sphere seems a little unfinished.
- Pro: I like the crafting system. Leveling speed, to me, is perfect. I do not use macros to level quicker.
- Con: There is one really annoying bug. When you select a work order and go to a station to work on it, sometimes you will not be able to work on it and you will have to drop it and ask for the work order a second time. This gets annoying after the 100th time.
- Pro: Not very dependent on other crafting classes unless you are making boats, houses, etc. I think the dependency of other classes is spot on.
- Con: I would like to see other crafting classes. Perhaps a chef that could make food with nice stats.
- Pro: You can make decent items that are useful to adventurers.
Well, I will rate this game, at its current state, a score of 72%. I am a little disappointed of the depth of the game at this time but I do have hope for the future. I am both excited and nervous about SOE but I will withhold any comments until SOE has had 6 months to work on the game and iron out coding, bugs, etc. My recommendation to players thinking about purchasing the game to try out, I would go ahead and buy the game if $50 doesn't make or break your lifestyle. If you liked EQ1, you will like Vanguard. If you liked EQ2 but not EQ1, you probably won't like Vanguard. If you liked Shot Online, you will like WoW... lol joking.
I will continue to subscribe until Decemeber 2007. If the game hasn't changed much, I may try out some of the new titles that should be released around that time. If the game improves and has a lot of new content, I will stay for a very long time.
Thanks for reading this review. I tried to keep the review as unbiased as possible. Thanks for the constructive comments.
Cheers,
Durth
Comments
A seeming fair and honest review....short and sweet and thorough. I hope VG will grab you at somepoint like it has me...but I suspect so do you
. We all play to get that " I - can't - stop - playing " feeling...which it sounds like you didn't get much of in game...but ya didn't seem to exactly dread pleaying either. I hope you do get " hooked " at some point...if not...safe travels in all your online adventures and thanks for sharing your experience in VG.
An excellent review over all, just had to take issue with these two comments.
I'd venture to say the VG is only a pro-solo friendly world if you play a class like a necro.... Soloing a 6 dotter..... contrast that with my Druid that could only solo 3 dotters that were 3-4 level below me (unless I had a ton of real estate to kite in) Heck, if I got more than two same level 2 dot mobs it was run time..... once I hit 20 the soloing just wasn't feasible, because all the zones started having nothing but 3 dot and higher mobs in them.
The only other thing you didn't really mention were crashes to desktop. (and other bugs) I would experience them at least 2-3 time a day...and on many occasions they cost me hard won experience...... I recall one day (which lead to me quitting) when I had almost reached level 21 by grinding out my counterspell abilities in one spot for 2 day.....I went back to town and ran into a string of desktop crashes that left my character with exp losses that wiped out 75% of my level....... which pretty much ended my VG experience. Maybe you never had any.... game performance certainly varied among players.....
Good review though....might just be the most balanced I've read on these forums......
"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
Nice good review , still won't make me play the game tho.
Played it in closed beta and they still havent fixed the performance bugs on it and a 20gb size install for a game
But i wish you the best of the luck with the game.
List of SOE lies
An excellent review over all, just had to take issue with these two comments.
I'd venture to say the VG is only a pro-solo friendly world if you play a class like a necro.... Soloing a 6 dotter..... contrast that with my Druid that could only solo 3 dotters that were 3-4 level below me (unless I had a ton of real estate to kite in) Heck, if I got more than two same level 2 dot mobs it was run time..... once I hit 20 the soloing just wasn't feasible, because all the zones started having nothing but 3 dot and higher mobs in them.
The only other thing you didn't really mention were crashes to desktop. (and other bugs) I would experience them at least 2-3 time a day...and on many occasions they cost me hard won experience...... I recall one day (which lead to me quitting) when I had almost reached level 21 by grinding out my counterspell abilities in one spot for 2 day.....I went back to town and ran into a string of desktop crashes that left my character with exp losses that wiped out 75% of my level....... which pretty much ended my VG experience. Maybe you never had any.... game performance certainly varied among players.....
Good review though....might just be the most balanced I've read on these forums......
I can solo just fine with my Paladin...also have no issue soloing with Disciple, Cleric and Bloodmage. In fact...the school I had the most trouble soloing with WAS necro. I only played about 10 lvs of necro and had great difficulty handling any aggro..which ..if I wasn't super carefull with my minion...I often attracted.
Did you contact support about that issue or just quit?
Ya know..mmorpg's are far from an exact science. Often players have to tweak...adjust and work with support to get a game going correctly....particularly a game with the depth and size of Vanguard.
Personaly..I've had ZERO game breaking issues...but I have a high tolerance for such things.
I appreciate your review, a refreshing take on a difficult issue. The statement above describes how I feel SOE and Vanguard, they have their hands full with this one. I play EQ2 and while I didn't start until recently, from what I hear EQ2 had a bad launch that was pulled up to , imho, is a great and growing game today. I work for a company and we have meetings and in those meetings we sit around saying "OMFG what are we going to do about this?" I think SOE does the same thing. I really don't think SOE execs and devs sit around saying " HA HA, we didn't even have to buy the players dinner, open another bottle of champagne Maurice." The main problem I see is that SOE has many irons in the fire, extended their selves to far, hurt their reputation with SWG, and have to fix Vanguard. Don't know who is at fault for the current state of Vanguard but it needs a lot of attention that maybe SOE cannot give right now. Currently SOE has 6 MMOs they have to support, build content for and try to make the player base happy, a lot of work for what is a small part of a massive company that probably views the MMO as pocket change. Only time will tell with Vanguard. I am very hopeful that in the end the game will be great like EQ2.
Good review. I especially agree with your assessment of the community, it's been a long time since I've played in a game where I've liked and respected the community as much as I do here. Most of my groups do seem to be EQ1 vets, so they are familar with tactics, loot etiquete, hot-keys, etc. However, the folks complete playing this as their first MMORPG seem very decent too.
With regard to diplomacy, it opens up wonderfully at 301 with access to many quests in New Targanoor. There was alot of grinding between 225 to 300, and I hate grining in any sphere. However, the quests at 301 jumped me to 312 so far with no grinding at all. There's definitely a hurdle here and it was not fun getting over.
Adventuring, I'm trying to take it as slow as possible. I felt at about level 32-34 that leveling became to fast and I found myself outleveling dungeon and quest content before I could complete it. I'm harvesting and doing a lot of diplomacy quests right now to slow down my leveling, but I still do about a level a week. I completed some quests in my log to make some room and got about 200-300k a piece... yikes.
Well as far as the community goes, that 95% rating must only apply to pve only servers because the pvp community, especially on tharridon was really, really immature...
No, the pve servers that I played on weren't any better.
Actually, the community of VG was one of the main reasons that I left.
< shrug >
One of the best reviews so far. Thanks for posting it.
OP: I feel you were extremely generous with your numbers. Many of the cons you list are extremely serious problems in my opinion; in particular, most of the ones listed under Adventuring are absolute game-killers in my estimation.
But then, you say you like the game, so obviously these matters must not be a big deal to you.
I very much disagree with the statement that people who liked EQ1 will like VG. To me, the most compelling aspect of EQ1 was the detailed, engaging world, yet you fully admit that Vanguard is quite the opposite in this regard.
If EQ took on the gameplay elements of a better MMO, but in the same old Norrath, I would play it again in an instant. I would never in a million years go back to Vanguard, no matter how many gameplay improvements they made, because the world design is so slapdash and vapid.
Solo fine eh? You can take down 6 dot mobs with those characters? Can you take down 3 dot mobs? I couldn't on my Druid...which brought my solo progress to a halt..... and aren't you the guy who claims to rarely solo...since you are engaged in a great guild?
Regarding my support issues, yes I did, and when they found out I was playing on a Dell Inspiron XPS laptop, that uses an Radeon 9800 video card, that is running 2 year old drivers (that cannot be safely upgraded) they basically said... sux for you.... better upgrade to a new computer. Besides, guildmates who had built brand new boxes were crashing as much, if not more than i was.... (poor fools had 8800 cards it seems) so I didn't see the point. I also asked the support tech if he could recover my lost experience and was told they could not do such a thing.
I played the VG adjustment game, followed peoples recommendations to improve performance (which resulted in more crashing in some cases) and generally wasted far more time on this one game than any other MMO I have ever loaded on a box (and I've played 10)
I took the best option available to me at the time...I quit the game....now playing EVE (2 instances at the same time) without any problems (a bit of lag..but eh...)
"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
You can easily solo in this game, some classes better than others, however you wont have many quests to do it'll basically be grinding for xp. You may have to hunt around for 2 dots or 3 dots your level or lower that are by themselves. Having said that it's pretty damn boring for the most part and it's another flaw in design amplified by the low population. They designed the game for 20% solo 60% grouping 20% raiding. They dont have any raids yet so it's more like 30-70. Low population with 60+% of the content designed for groups means little content for the majority of players.
Come on now. Crafting only 70% - I give it a 95%.
Solo fine eh? You can take down 6 dot mobs with those characters? You're not supose to take down a 6dot mob solo!!, sorry to say but for someone who post on forums you seem to be awefull badly informed. Can you take down 3 dot mobs? Equel lvl YES, bit hard but its definitly doable I couldn't on my Druid...which brought my solo progress to a halt..... and aren't you the guy who claims to rarely solo...since you are engaged in a great guild?
Originally posted by Thamoris,We play pretty casual for now. Someday we may organize and become more structured, but for now..till VG starts growing again we are remaining on the small side with about 30ish active members. visit www.lhguild.com/forums for details on our clan.
Regarding my support issues, yes I did, and when they found out I was playing on a Dell Inspiron XPS laptop, that uses an Radeon 9800 video card, that is running 2 year old drivers (that cannot be safely upgraded) they basically said... sux for you....Well DOH in 2007
better upgrade to a new computer. Besides, guildmates who had built brand new boxes were crashing as much, if not more than i was.... (poor fools had 8800 cards it seems) so I didn't see the point. I also asked the support tech if he could recover my lost experience and was told they could not do such a thing.
I played the VG adjustment game, followed peoples recommendations to improve performance (which resulted in more crashing in some cases) and generally wasted far more time on this one game than any other MMO I have ever loaded on a box (and I've played 10)
I took the best option available to me at the time...I quit the game....now playing EVE (2 instances at the same time) without any problems (a bit of lag..but eh...) And thats what gamers do they find themselfs a game to have fun with, great you found fun with EVE.
It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line."
Nuff Said!
Now...
OP nice topic, good details and well balanced nothing more to ad
The review is, as we say, spot-on.
I like things about Vanguard, and I dislike like things about Vanguard.
What I LIKE:
Solo Content. Classes. How a duo of any two classes is as good and maybe better than a duo of tank and a healer. Quests are pretty cool if you get into some of them. Graphics are sweet. The different races and the huge world is great to travel in. The boat travel is pretty cool but a lil buggy. The community is mostly really cool. You have your share of jerks as you do in all games.
DISLIKE:
The game can feel grindy. The faction-grinds are inhumane, boring, and can even lower morale. Performance, admittedly much better, still is not good on my "fairly" advanced rig. Travel is just tedious. Huge world but empty feel to it.
REMEMBER:
All the classes can solo. Some are awesome solo classes like the Necro, Druid, Pscionist, Shaman, Dread Knight, and Ranger.
Boycott EA Games. RIP Sim City.
Cheers everyone.
As for the crash to desktop issue, I have never experienced it at all. I have not once crashed to desktop so the game has been stable for me. As for the crafting rating, that's just my own personal opinion and I am by no means a hardcore crafter in this game. Thanks for the update in the diplo sphere. Perhaps I'll hit diplo a little more aggressively to get over that skill 301 hump.
As for the adventuring rating, the only game killer for me is the lore and the storyline. That being said, the status of the lore isn't at the game killer stage; it's just a little mundane and requires a good writer to take it to the next level.
Thanks for the comments,
Durth
I have not played since beta but that seemed to be a fair assesment of the game. Maybe things will improve, I doubt if I will be leaving LoTRO for it, but as you said I was/am a EQII fan more than a EQI fan.
I miss DAoC
Durthu, I'm not disputing your claims with the "Necro" soloing a 6 dotter but was this of the same level, was the pathing on the mob right, was it a open field around the boss mob, what gear and grafts did the Necro have.
I mean there are many factors involved with, Necros being able to solo a 6 dot in Vanguard, the only 6 dotters I have been able to solo or go after without toomuch of a problem was about 10 levels lower than me and I have some of the best grafts and gear that I could have for my level as a Necromancer (level 35 currently).
I can even go so far to say I have never "solo" a 4 dot on my own with the dots and such unless "NEcros" become gods of disease and sickness at level 50, please enlighten me on the how the hell 4-5 people across all servers are claiming this without any pathing bugs or flaws in coding design.
P.S.
I seen a level 50 Necromancer kill Tharridon on Florendyl and I can tell you it took him damn near a whole hour and a whole lot of deaths before he actually killed him off and he was 5 levels below him /6 dot mob (had Legendary gear and grafts on minion).
Hmmm... dont care about the gameplay features at the moment because of performance issues. When / if performance get solved I will look at those features with the free trial that said :
You didnt post spec's in there entriity BUT you experience a low of 10 FPS in places @ the lowest settings and you give performance 68%. Would you say this is based on your performance or a general slice of the playerbase?
In my opinion the code is seriously unoptimised to the point where I found gameplay an irrelevent issue. Crowded areas were a joke in beta and in some ways the low player base ( not mentioned ) is helping a lot I guess. I'd really honestly couldnt give VG anymore than 40% for performance and thats *with* a large fat wad of cash in my pocket from SOE.
Seriously Im gonna have to inflict some of my Java programs on you all ... just look past the performance and see my gameplay/functionality
I soloed the 6 dotter on island of madness. In fact, I can solo almost every 5 dotter on that island as well. I was soloing those namers at level 40. I pulled the 6 dotter out of the tower with my pet. He will run into the wall and then run down the ramp bringing his 4 dot friends. When he's on the ground, FD and sick your pet on the namer. Keep doing it until the space between the 6 dotter and his friends spread and you lose the 4 dotters' agro. You pull him to the open area by the cliff and fear and dot him until the cows come home. It takes around 10 minutes to down him.
In my guild, Necros, Pscionists, and Druids regularly solo 5 and 6 dots. Everyone is level 50 and they camp and solo level 52, 53 6 dot.
They actually compete with each other a little bit to solo these mobs for the gear like earrings and gloves and things they drop.
Boycott EA Games. RIP Sim City.
Great review Durthu. From the recent news release maybe things will be looking up for V:SoH in the future. Thanks!