Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Vangurad is starting to Shine
corechamber
Member UncommonPosts: 148
I got Vanguard when it released, I was thinking this will be the end all be all of MMO's. Everyone knows it wasnt, it was released to early. Plagued with bugs and proformance issues ( you would think they would know better to release a game in this state by now) the game was bashed by all conors of the internet, even the fanboys knew that brad had failed.
I never believed the game had bad devolepment, just promised to much to soon and instead of polish they choose to work on content. If this game would have waited till now to release you would see a whole diffrent story.
I just started back and things have improved 10 fold. Yes it still takes a nice machine to run it but it doesnt take the best anymore. With just this last patch my fps improved, I never crash anymore do to memory leaks. Played 8 hours stright the other night without any issues. I man the big thing is I can now explore this huge world with having to restart every 30 mins. The combat system is great there are tons of diffrent little dungeons to crawl in. It so reminds me of ever quest without haveing to regen mana 5 mins between each fight, plus I can solo... woot.
Its so cool to have all these diffrent mounts (even flying), can own a house that someone can ride buy (can you say roleplay, if your into that). I can sail the high seas on my very own boat. And all this stuff was built by someone. Which leads me to the best crafting system ever. So much stuff to make it jsut boggles me and its not easy. I mean its not like wow where I have 500 others making the same item as me, because if your making the high lvl items you put a ton of time in to do it. Plus there are so many diffrent types of armor, I dont look the same as eveyone my lvl, I hate when games use the same armor sking and just call it of the wolf or of the bear.
This game is so close to offering what it was intended to offer and so much more is planed. I think they really care about the game even if they got greedy in the beging. I just hope that people get to try this game before its to late, if this game crashes it will be awhile before you see another with this amount of charisma. They just released phase 1 of a big patch which improved proformance greatly, and it to the point to where the scales have started tiping in favor of this being a good game. So if you havnt tried it in awhile please do so and post about what you thought.
Comments
I agree with you on most of the stuff, but the armor skins is a lie. Everyone I have met my level that is my type of armor class looks the same. I don't actually care though because I look cool and that is all that matters to me.
Now we just need helm graphics, or some new hairstyles and faces to hold us over till they are implemented....
3 questions:
1. Is it still a lifeless world with no soul and dead cities ?
Have they added all these small things that bring a world alive ? :
- npcs living in the world (traveling around the roads, "living" in the cities going about their business, working, smoking, talking to each other, etc...), or do the cities still feel dead?
- some of the older famous rpgs have living quarters in the dungeons. Yes the npcs need to eat/sleep somewhere. Kitchens, dormitories, etc... As it was in Vanguard, you entered a dungeon and the npcs (I'm talking about human npcs, not monsters) were just standing there, they had no life.
- the small things like birds in the skies, butterflies, fish in the water, small animals that animate the world (not everything needs to be a huge mobs for xp).... -> life in the world.
2. Have they added the missing polish ?
- have they fixed the broken/missing shadows ? There were no environment shadows, you walked on a stone the shadow was broken/missing; walls had no shadows (standing next to a wall the shadow was broken) etc....
- have they fixed the broken weather ? (inconsistent weather between chunks, missing rain drops on the ground, rain effects on the environment, etc...).
- missing water reflections, etc...
3. Have they implemented the missing lore, the soul of the game ? (I am not talking about diplomacy)
- are there now books scattered around to read about the lore in the game?
- when I go to a dungeon, can I learn/read about the history of the place to get somehow "connected" to it, to learn how the place came to be, what happened, etc... (yes things like these, history, is also the soul/life of the world)
To sum the above up, IN 1 WORD: is the game finished ?
Can you explain me why do you need to know that a NPC that sells general good is going to bed every night, or to see him doing that? It's just a silly script with two or three nodes. But what's the point of it, it doesnt make it feel live.
There are guards patrolling around as they always were, the game is supposed to be a bit desolated not as colorful and living as let's say Sigil town in Planescape Torment.
And the diplomacy is the soul of the game. It's like asking ok where's the lore in Baldur's gate 1 (apart from dialogues, quests and books)... Hell, where IS THE LORE?!
So three responds are 1) no, 2) no, 3) no.
Nevertheless, I still love the game.
REALITY CHECK
I also enjoy seeing kids running around towns, and people idly chatting it adds to the feeling of life in the world. I do NOT however like to READ what the NPCs are saying to eachother. So maybe just have them making their little body movements, and such, but not make their chat interrupt what I am trying to read.
I mean with the kids playing around you talk about WoW stormwind. Okay that's one thing there:> What so active and special was for example in Darnassus town or actually in 95% other towns in WoW. Even in VG there are patrolling guards, and NPC's are moving. It just doesnt have those bloody kids fooling around with a doll ;p
REALITY CHECK
I am enjoying vanguard right now though, and my only real complaint is lack of facial expressions for the characters (and I mean MY character not NPCs) and lack of customization options for hair and stuff.
Bold is there, i dont complain ;p
REALITY CHECK
I am enjoying vanguard right now though, and my only real complaint is lack of facial expressions for the characters (and I mean MY character not NPCs) and lack of customization options for hair and stuff.
Ted, I think that WoW has SO many NPCs actually walking around and doing things (in even the smallest outposts), that if they all were speaking in voice it would just be a cacaphony of sounds. Almost every post has patrols, NPCs doing things, NPCs 'talking' to each other, and so forth.
What is interesting is that WoW has started to add text in the Chat Box for NPC conversations. One especially amusing one that I can think of right away is the two Orcs at the Catapult in one of the small posts in Hellfire. They are having a very lively conversation related to shooting the device.
So, I think it is ok that there are not hundreds of NPCs talking in voice all at once. That was tried, to very ill effect in EQ2. Even the Chat Bubble idea has been show to be a PITA.
I truly dont think you are looking for a MMO game. If you want that then you want a sandbox rpg. As for reading books in a dungeon, what group would stand around reading a book, never been in one in wow. Plus if you want that cause it would be true to life cause they would have book there, well that still dont make sence. I mean if you and your fellowship where travleing into a castle or a cave to conqure a foe that has been killing local towns people I doubt you would be half way in and so " oh look Charles I do believe there a good read laying on that book shlef there. Can we stop fudeing with these guys long enough for me to read it. Everything cant be in a game, its all roleplay and imagenation, its a waste of developers time and your hard drive to have them there.
I understand you love details, I do to. I didnt say that they added anything really new, they are just getting caught up on what is promised. There doing such a good job at this point I believe once they do get to the ponit where the can focus on just content that they will bring some of the true detail all of us want. I was just posting to say that this game feels more like a retail ready game ,that if you played it before and if thought that it was just unfinished, you should give it a try. Things will seem kinda empty when you start out till you get a few lvls but thats because this game really doesnt have the best growing playerbase. And that is really sad because its as good as much if not more the any other mmorpg out there at them moment ( tons to explore if your into that).
P.S. sorry for all the grammer, im at work and check up between breaks
I am enjoying vanguard right now though, and my only real complaint is lack of facial expressions for the characters (and I mean MY character not NPCs) and lack of customization options for hair and stuff.
Ted, I think that WoW has SO many NPCs actually walking around and doing things (in even the smallest outposts), that if they all were speaking in voice it would just be a cacaphony of sounds. Almost every post has patrols, NPCs doing things, NPCs 'talking' to each other, and so forth.
What is interesting is that WoW has started to add text in the Chat Box for NPC conversations. One especially amusing one that I can think of right away is the two Orcs at the Catapult in one of the small posts in Hellfire. They are having a very lively conversation related to shooting the device.
So, I think it is ok that there are not hundreds of NPCs talking in voice all at once. That was tried, to very ill effect in EQ2. Even the Chat Bubble idea has been show to be a PITA.
This is true, and I'd really love to see that sort of thing implemented in more games. Maybe not with the Humor angle that blizzard took all the time, but that is really case sensitive because humor is a HUGE part of the warcraft franchise.
I am enjoying vanguard right now though, and my only real complaint is lack of facial expressions for the characters (and I mean MY character not NPCs) and lack of customization options for hair and stuff.
Ted, I think that WoW has SO many NPCs actually walking around and doing things (in even the smallest outposts), that if they all were speaking in voice it would just be a cacaphony of sounds. Almost every post has patrols, NPCs doing things, NPCs 'talking' to each other, and so forth.
What is interesting is that WoW has started to add text in the Chat Box for NPC conversations. One especially amusing one that I can think of right away is the two Orcs at the Catapult in one of the small posts in Hellfire. They are having a very lively conversation related to shooting the device.
So, I think it is ok that there are not hundreds of NPCs talking in voice all at once. That was tried, to very ill effect in EQ2. Even the Chat Bubble idea has been show to be a PITA.
This is true, and I'd really love to see that sort of thing implemented in more games. Maybe not with the Humor angle that blizzard took all the time, but that is really case sensitive because humor is a HUGE part of the warcraft franchise.
Yup. WAR and AoC should be interesting to see how this evolves. Humor for WAR, and more serious for AoC, maybe.
I am enjoying vanguard right now though, and my only real complaint is lack of facial expressions for the characters (and I mean MY character not NPCs) and lack of customization options for hair and stuff.
Ted, I think that WoW has SO many NPCs actually walking around and doing things (in even the smallest outposts), that if they all were speaking in voice it would just be a cacaphony of sounds. Almost every post has patrols, NPCs doing things, NPCs 'talking' to each other, and so forth.
What is interesting is that WoW has started to add text in the Chat Box for NPC conversations. One especially amusing one that I can think of right away is the two Orcs at the Catapult in one of the small posts in Hellfire. They are having a very lively conversation related to shooting the device.
So, I think it is ok that there are not hundreds of NPCs talking in voice all at once. That was tried, to very ill effect in EQ2. Even the Chat Bubble idea has been show to be a PITA.
This is true, and I'd really love to see that sort of thing implemented in more games. Maybe not with the Humor angle that blizzard took all the time, but that is really case sensitive because humor is a HUGE part of the warcraft franchise.
This is not true actually.
Especially the part saying blizzard with WoW brought NPC chats into mmo. Im pretty sure it was in AC2 where you could read conversations between them. Also in AC1, and im not sure now but in UO it was as well.
And im very glad VG has not the wow-style humor like kids fightning over a doll. If i want to laugh or smile I turn on Monty Python Flying Circus.
REALITY CHECK
Huh?
MMO's are persistent worlds. They don't go away when you log off, and they're much larger than even the most complex sandbox RPG could hope to be. This is because they're designed so that thousands of players will have enough content to keep them playing (and paying!) for months, if not longer.
Because of that, the worlds these games take place in need to be richly detailed, and they need to offer more than just gameplay mechanics or mobs to kill. If you want people to invest large amounts of their free time in your game, you have to do more than just offer things to kill, or rewards to achieve. Giving players a way to connect with the world they're in, whether it's lore, or books that you pick up in dungeons, or ambient life in cities and in the world at large, is important. Doing so gives the world a soul, and gives player characters a larger purpose in that world, and more of a reason to exist at all.
An MMO has to feel like a fully fleshed out, living, breathing world in order to draw people in. Otherwise, they'll just blow through the content, get to whatever level they can tolerate, then they'll quit. You have to give them a reason to stick around that's more than just killing.
I don't know the current state of Vanguard. I don't claim to know it, nor would I presume to talk about their current gameplay. But I DO remember VG feeling like an empty shell of a world back when I played, not because there weren't quests to do or places to go, but because I never had a sense of purpose for my character, and it never felt like Telon was a complete world. It felt like a bunch of random set pieces tied together by a bunch of repeating landscapes. It lacked a soul, at least for me.
It might not seem like much to some players, but for some of us, that can make all the difference whether or not we stick around in a game.
The state of the game is so much better than release. But I am saddened by SOE's staff cut recently. It makes me fear for the future of VG
I'll wait for a trial, not going to invest any $$ in a game with this bad of a history(short as the history is)
Theres enough lore about this game already, just read the amount of threads
the game has a huge offline history that most games will never have. Just look at the amount of players that dont like the game but continue to come back and continue to have a interest in the game. That alone should speak volumes to how much this game means to people. I agree with the op that the game has come along hugely but to a point i also agree that there needs to be more added to make the world seem alive. I have noticed guards actualy wander around now and that adds a whole lot to the game. Also i am another who would love to see Facial expressions in the game.
Keep the same standard of patches up SOE and i will be very happy.
To bad you don't know that these games are never "Finished".
==================================================
Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!
I'll give the trial a chance when it comes out. With some of the other highly anticipated games being pushed back, Vanguard does have its chance to win back some subscribers if they can get the demo out soon.
Just got it..
Im obsessed.
Get it.
You will be too.
[url=http://profile.xfire.com/yournamehere][img]http://miniprofile.xfire.com/bg/sh/type/0/yournamehere.png[/img][/url]
No matter how good it is now... do you seriously think it will ever exceed 300k subscribers? yet alone 100k ?
Vanguard is weak. I currently play it. It stilll is far from complete. They don't even have helms in yet. The only good thing about vanguard is its variety on the fantasy theme, i.e. lots of classes that actually are all different, unlike EQ2 where you have 4 archetypes, each class in vanguard is really unique, or so it seems at first. I'm still only level 30. The thing that sucks about vanguard, and the reason that I can't play it for more than an hour, is that it is essentialy a grind game. I'm done with grind games. In fact, when my subscription runs out, I will def. not resub. Also, I still play wow, which is the only game you can grind solo with every class which is why i still play even though it is a grind game. Grind games suck. I can't take it anymore, someone please show me some light. Show me an online gaming world that is more immersive. Where I don't feel like i'm a module or something. Get my drift? I guess it will enver happen because inovation only happens once in a blue moon, and it already happened when vanguard came out. Oh lol, sorry that's a joke.
I agree with the poster talking about lore being important and Vanguard being lifeless. This has been a mark against Vanguard from the very beginning. It's pretty obvious the lack of real leadership and direction at Sigil all those years led to the overbloated symphony we got in Vanguard's final form. It looks like an MMO...it smells like an MMO...it tastes like an MMO... but does it feel fun?
Blizzard had 3 games, 2 major expansions, and years of lore to build on before starting to work on World of Warcraft. Sure, a lot of players don't care about lore and they were raiding Ragnaros for the loot, to hell with the why. But a lot of players DO care about the why.
Vanguard is every generic fantasy game rolled into one without any explanation as to WHY? I remember when Sigil first posted the storyline for VG... " uhh yeah, so this continent is at war with elementals, this one is at war with the undead, and this one is at war with gnolls...go at em"
And even if you do ignore the lore, the fact that the lore is there and noticeable makes a huge difference in the experience and the value of the experience. This is nearly completely lacking in Vanguard (and diplomacy is not enough...diplomacy is in its very nature detached from the world)
I wish I could say I'm surprised that people still play this game, but then again people still play Horizons so who am I to judge?
----------
Life sucks, buy a helmet.
Grind game? Ok name me one that isn't a grind game. Maybe DDo is not a grind during leveling but end-game IS grind. I can't think of any other example.
REALITY CHECK
I have played most mmorpgs out there. Atleast the big ones. Everquest was my first big love...
Picked up Vanguard last week (getting really tired of the damn grind in WoW) and i´m so happy with it.
I love this game and i hope they will get more subscribers. Thats the real threat i think, and possible the system req is a too high.
I have one big problem though, cant make up my mind what class to focus on! Have a lvl 20 necro but my bard and druid is so much fun aswell!
A damn good game! (in low levels anyway!)
Grind game? Ok name me one that isn't a grind game. Maybe DDo is not a grind during leveling but end-game IS grind. I can't think of any other example.
No your right, I won't resub. That information is correct. I didn't lie about a thing. My subscription says it has 30 days or so left. I'm out after that. I can't play grind games anymore, rl won't let me. Guild wars is not a grind game. Make a game like guildwars with pvp and without instancing you hav eyourself a hit. Kind of like hellgate london.