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Resubscribed after 4 months - REVIEW
Morgaur
Member UncommonPosts: 196
Earlier on I was flamed by truenorthbg for not writing a proper review of my third attempt to play Vanguard. In general in his opinion I am a quitter, whiner and a very frustrated player. I understand that its hard for some individuals tp accept that other pepole have different views of the game than them, so with this document I will try to explain my views in a better way. I guess that some fanboys will draw swords and come running, but that is their rights on a open board like this. flame all you want, I will not change my review based on trolls or any numbered lists some of you produce.
First som backgrounds of my ventures into Vanguard SOH.
I didnt play the beta, but I kept myself updated on the progress and the promises of this game. I just couldnt wait to play it, so I bought it as a Direct Download when the game was released and played, died, played, died etc. After a time the totally unfinished product V:SOH got me and I collapsed, cancelling my account. Well, most of you remember how the game was after launch. Combine that with a 8800GTS card and you are set. Not sure if I had Vista 64 at that time aswell. Cant remember.
The second time I actually played to level 28 on my Dark Elf Cleric and enjoyed the journey, until the problems began again. Falling throught the world, dying, loosing xp, and falling through again, even more xp debts, then dying trying to get the tombstone after falling through the world again. Well... you get the picture. After almost a whole day it slowly occured to me that this was not challenge, this was a pain in the ass, the product was still not good enough to pay for. I felt like I was beta testing the thing, and paying for it. So I quit, refusing to play it any more.
Im now going to review this game from the time I started playing it, and uptil now recently. I will try to keep this fair and square, flame me if you want. I dont really care. Dont mind the typos either, english is not my native language.
Population 5/10
I remember after the launch. There were tons of people playing the game. Then the servers got lighter and lighter. Im not going to speculate why. Anyway it got to a point when you soloed alot, trying to find groups, that was the time I first quit the game. Then they decided to merge the servers, and I started playing again. Hopefully I started a Cleric. Teams was no problem to find and now the game was actually playable. I did all the hunters league quests and they were amazing. No problems finding teams as a cleric at least. Then I left the game again because of condition of the game. At this time servers were booming with people after the merge.
Recently I joined the game again with my cleric. And again the server load is light. I have played several times at prime time europe (Halger) and again the server load is light and in the green. Well, I dont think it will rise again. The chat is filled with chit chat which is good. Thats because all people on a continent chat in the same channel. Had things been like EQ2 where you have a channel for level 1-10, then there would be NO people chatting. Thank god for some intuition and foresight.
After creating a DK and levelling him to level 14 I found a few players running around here and there. Nothing much. Mostly people asking for TK and higher level places. The population is stable, but could sure need more people. The people are somewhat friendly if you dont complain about anything inside the game and generally helpful in the chat.
Gameplay 7/10
The Gameplay in Vanguard is not more exciting than most of the mmos out there. Choose a target, pull with something, hit the standard buttons for hit for 40hp +12, stun, kick etc etc. V:SOH have finishers, counterattacks etc that can trigger sometimes but this is the standard overrated stuff. Its nothing new here. EQ2 had a more exciting system called Heroic Opportunities. You train at a trainer and get upgrades for the same spells xxx number of times, but some spells drop from mobs later, which is good
Classes however feel varied and entertaining to play. Healers do damage and especially the Blood Mage is a fresh addition for the healier loving classes. However the Inquisitor and the Berserker classes haven't made it into the game yet, and probably never will at this speed. The game is designed around grouping, so prepare for it, even tho you can solo alot. The thrill
The World 8/10
Vanguard has a huge, huge, huge world. And the view some places are awesome to take in, and totally breath taking (If you have a decent graphic card). But again, some places feels incredibly unfinished. Ruins with no mobs, places barren. Its an unfinished world. If you want to take screenshots of the view, this game is definately for you 
Horses are essential to get around, also are rift ways to teleport you. In the beginning we spent alot of time travelling around for teams, which is not good.
My second attempt at this game was ruined after falling throught the world a crazy number of times, and dying trying to recover my tomb stone, also remember someone ressurected me in mid air, which made me fall down and die again. Not much fun when you just want to play. My third attemt to play this game was also soured by world bugs like these, which brought painful memories back from my second attempt. Read this post for more on that: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/157685 but dont mind the troll destroying my post.
Crafting
Not much of a crafter myself so I leave this part to others. The cool thing is that the best equipment in the game is player crafted, at least until the new raid instance comes (if it ever makes it live). Some say crafting in this game is very deep, and tedious. Not sure myself here, make up your own mind.
Graphics 8/10
The graphics in this game is pretty fair. I have seen extremely beautiful places here, but also places that sucked. It goes from the 10 to 1 on the scale sometimes. Characters and their armor can seem very plastic sometimes. The characters are also lifeless. I would love some facial expressions sometimes. They are like plastic dolls standing there, just blinking and rolling their head now and then. The armor is detailed. However do not run this game on a low budget graphic card, it will totally ruin the game for you. This monster will empty your wallet if you want good performance
Performance 5/10
Well well well. First time I played V:SOH I was in shock. Performance was terrible, crashes to desktop, game stopping up when crossing chunks, and some players still do. Its not the game engine either, the coding is terrible in this game. Actually you can play most other games at extreme performance, but when you launch this game your down on your knees. The last time I played performance had increased tenfold, no doubt this have been a priority at SOE. The game still need alot of work with performance. Try to open a door for instance, everything stops up, and starts again when the door is open. Crossing chunks can be damn annoying sometimes as your torch goes out (no biggie), you change directions (annoying when maneuvering areas with tight mobs). I also heard some rumours that buffs are getting dropped but I cannot confirm this.
Character creation 5/10
In the beginning when we created characters in this game, you ended up with something else than you original created. The hair changed color, clothes wasnt the ones you had choosen during creation etc etc. The game sport a creation tool where you can change height, width, nostril size, shape of your neck etc etc. Problem is that almost everyone looks the same from the neck and up. Each race have like 4 different faces, hair, facial hair. Actually due to all the problems in the beginning with the appearance, you can at any time change the appearance of your character, you can change your character totally at level 50... strange.
Music 7/10 Voiceovers 2/10
The music in this game is only "ok". The first time I heard the starting music in this game its was like a ever repeating damn annoying song that bombarded my eardrums. After a while when you travel around its quite ok. Nothing fancy really. Now to the worst thing, Voiceovers. This game probably have the worst, most horrible voiceovers in any game. I cant believe that they actually liked it as it is, or hmmm maybe its not finished, like 60% of this game. An example here is a small village outside Martok called Gaxton. There is a hall there called "Shanty of the Grand Hex", yeah thats right, the place that was severely bugged in the beginning. If you want to torture people, record the sound inside the house, pull a hood over a person head and tie them to a chair in a room with a slight echo. The next morning I can guarantee that he will tell you anything, all the way from his childhood and up. Incredibly bad voiceovers *brrr*
The Future of V:SOH
I simply cannot see that this game have a future, not at this rate. SOE have few people working on the game. Things take forever to fix, and people are getting restless, annoyed and the content is non existing at end level according to some. I read a very good comment somewhere. There was a guy who didn't want to spend hours upon hours on a product he felt had a very uncertain and I cant blame him. I know Im not going to play this game again. Its very sad, since I loved the original idea. But the let down was too much, and the trouble I experienced too much too handle.
I get the feeling that the idea was to create a vision, hype it, then invest 50 million $, sellv the game to 200.000 people and harvest that money. MMORPG's have gone from visions to business, and business is good. Who cant resist creating a mmo, investing a minimum of cash and then harvest 400% of that, and then screw the audience. I really hope this is not the trend we are going to see in the future. God forbid!
Phew, I think that was it! Now flame on whoever who want to do it. I dont fracking care. Im out, if you want to buy this game, please do. Its your money, not mine hehe
I just want to apologize in front of those fanbois I might have offended. All I have been writing is a lie, go back to your plastic world now shoo-shoo 
I just want to thank those of you who defended my right to post my views without getting bashed in that other post. Thanks to Daffid011, Brostyn, Elikal, Excalaber2, Sevenwind, Phos, Lidane and the others Thumbs up
Comments
You can blame me, but I think it is plain and obvious for all to read and see. Just look above.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
Whatever, there you have your review. If you have a problem with 1 line of text, trying to be humourous you have 1) No sense of humour or 2) Just trolling or 3) very fond of bulleted lists
Interesting review, I subscribed a while ago and I like the game, it does need some work still, though. I can't wait for the character model re-vamp, because most of the characters look awkward (except the smaller ones.) But SOE has made great progress from what it used to be, I do believe that Vanguard has a solid future if they do promote it after these milestones are completed.
Interesting review but you only describe the dark side of vanguard. VG has also a bright side, craft, diplomacy, areas are really beautiful... you can make boats etc.... Even EQ2 doesn't propose these.
I feel free, i mean, absolutely free in 2 games: Vanguard and Eve online. No more, no less.
VG isn't an easy game. It's not a standard MMO with light craft or easy fighting. That's why VG is, IMO a MMORPG "only" for mature players, like Eve Online.
Never forget EQ2 has been flamed 3 years ago...SOE made a nice work on it and now, EQ2 is a success. IMO, VG is EQ3, VG going to be the future of Everquest.
Those dungeons which I have visited are exciting and I like the seamless entrance to them. They are a part of the world for the players, which is great.
I just gotta say...
The voice overs are AWFUL. I too cannot believe that they would allow this stuff to be in the game, whether its stuff left from beta or what they actually intended. Some of them sound like some staff brought in their kids or grandparents to record some voice overs on an old tape recorder. Most of the time you cannot even understand what they're saying because its either too soft or... you literally cannot comprehend what the NPC just said! Terrible.
This is something people always forgets about the VG combat. It is a little "deeper" then the other games.
eqnext.wikia.com
I'll agree with that. One of the bad things that stood out for me when I played VG were the voice overs. They were utter garbage. Every NPC I talked to sounded like they either had their mouths stuffed with marbles and then wired shut, or as if they were hosts for a bunch of asthmatic Goa'ulds from Stargate SG-1. I really, really didn't like them at all.
Still, with the VG team now having access to more of SOE's assets, that could include the EQ2 voice actors and casting coaches as well, and they could very well upgrade it all as they work on improving the game.
As for the rest of the review, I can't comment on it since it's been months since I played Vanguard and I don't know the current state of the game. But I do remember hating the voice overs. With any luck, that will change someday.
Good post Morguar. I palyed Vanguard when it first went live and during the take-over by SOE. While I tolerated the unfinished "feel" of the game. The declining server pop. became intolerable. In my opinion the reason is SOE's massive disreguard for its player/subscribers, which at this point is a well established fact.
I can't see the reason of reviewing the game from release till now. Everyone knows that it was bad at release, hence the low pops now, but that is history now. And reviews should really be based on the current build IMHO.
Giving game play 6/10 is also unfair when you say it is more or less like any other MMO out there, if so then there is nothing better out there. This to me implies that all MMO's you play have a rating of 6/10 meaning you don't actually enjoy the game play in the first place !?!
Ya vanguards are bad but really any game that has voice overs becomes annoying as hell i think .Last time i did bg's in WOW was out of shatt city and alls you hear is the same laugh and the same crying man that gets on my nerves
Am glad vanguard has very little voice overs good or bad cause i would turn off npc voices just like most game's How many people do you think let the npc's take 10 minutes to voiceover quests information in oblivion after there first quest .I bet not many i know i just read it in 20 seconds rather than hear the npc take 10 minutes to tell me it Anyhow just my two cents , that even when there good there annoying as hell
yeah I agree on the voiceovers. Im not particularly fond of voiceover myself. Imagine my surprise when I heard it in this game hehe. Have you been to the place I mentioned outside Martok? You should try it, its worth the horror haha
I can't see the reason of reviewing the game from release till now. Everyone knows that it was bad at release, hence the low pops now, but that is history now. And reviews should really be based on the current build IMHO.
I wanted to give my final review of how I felt the game had progressed from I started until I left recently. No harm in that or? I just say something how it were contra how it has become now.
Giving game play 6/10 is also unfair when you say it is more or less like any other MMO out there, if so then there is nothing better out there. This to me implies that all MMO's you play have a rating of 6/10 meaning you don't actually enjoy the game play in the first place !?!
6/10 is my personal view of the Gameplay in V:SOH compared to the general mmo market. Its nothing new and extraordinairy. All games have the same target/attack/kill/loot mentality. Only change i have seen in this is Tabula Rasa so far, and even there you "lock on" to stuff so that the game knows what gets damaged. Ist just another interface, which is very refreshing. I enjoy a lot of games I play, for instance I loved EvE online when i played it, I liked WoW when I played that.
Tell me, when a reviewer gives Gameplay a score of 6 or 7 do you assume he dont like the game automatically. Just check out Gamespot reviews of MMO's out there. Lotro Gameplay 8/10, WoW Gameplay 9/10, Archlord 2/10, the list is long. Why do you say because I give a number that I dont like the games i play. I dont get this??
It allows better party customization, and it adds a twist and can make bad pulls doable. If you didnt notice it that lad... what can I say... your review sucks, because it is an important part of any grouping in VG.
The fact, you didnt even notice the system, and then saying VG is not deeper than any other makes me wonder how many other features in VG you didn't even notice. I guess this is a perfect example of all those twits coming here saying "VG is not deeper than other games, it doesn't even have crafting ..."
REALITY CHECK
However giving a review of how the game has progressed is more or less redundant. Why? New players don't really care about how the game progressed; they want to know what it is like now. And old players already know how the game has progressed.
Did you even notice the weaknesses system in combat? If you talk about Heroic Opportunities and not about weaknesses system.
Actually I wasnt aware of the weakness system so I admitt that this is a mistake on my behalf. My mistake there. Ok lets say the combat system is equal to EQ2 then. Strange that I didnt know about it.. When do you use it in combat? Do you guess? Or read the combat chat spam? If its not noticable to players, then its pretty bad. Imagine I have played VG on and off without even noticing this system, and no group I have been in have used it. Thats weird if you ask me.
It allows better party customization, and it adds a twist and can make bad pulls doable. If you didnt notice it that lad... what can I say... your review sucks, because it is an important part of any grouping in VG.
My review is still my personal opinion on the game, hence it doesent suck to me. Maybe to you. Reviews are what they are, personal opinions written down. And also, Im not your "lad". Of course this system is important for groups, if someone actually uses it. None of the teams I've been in have used it. Of course you are now going to tell me I suck, the team sucked, they were noobs etc.
The fact, you didnt even notice the system, and then saying VG is not deeper than any other makes me wonder how many other features in VG you didn't even notice. I guess this is a perfect example of all those twits coming here saying "VG is not deeper than other games, it doesn't even have crafting ..."
VG:SOH is not any deeper than most other MMOS out there today. If you care to read the review you will see that I mention crafting. I did not however mention Diplomacy, or did i? Not sure. Anyway, you can whine and troll all you want. These are still my own personal opinions of V:SOH.
If you dont like it, then dont! No need to criticize me and offending me by calling me a twit. Im trying to be polite here you know, so please keep a civil tone, if you can...
My point about the game play score is that if it is the same as others, not better or worse, then give it 8 or 9 /10. Since 6/10 implies that it not as good as what you are used or what you expect. I am just saying that the score you gave is misleading, not what you wrote about the game play.
Ok I get you. I can agree upon your arguments. Its worth at least 7/10 then "when compared" to the other mmo's out there
Point being, there's more people who've played the game before and quit than there are new players buying the boxes. So it's valuable that new reviews of the game include how the game has progressed since launch. So really, no, the vast majority of the "old players" really don't have any idea how the game has progressed without anyone telling them.
Besides the fact that newer games are supposed to be better than old ones, 6 is above average on a scale of 1-10. Maybe a 5 would've been more appropriate then if he meant Vanguard's gameplay was nothing special?His score isn't misleading. The same ol' same ol' is supposed to receive an average score.
Sorry I can't keep a civil tone when dealing with someone who intentionally or unintentionally drag the game down based on false facts. And I didnt call you a twit, I just compare you to the people that trolled those forums a couple of months ago.
Yes it's your personal opinion, but again based on false facts. So I came here and pointed out what was wrong on your review.
The weaknesses are there at every mob, a small icons that only says for example "burning, nauseated..." And certain abilities have a small line on the bottom that says for example "Exploit burning weakness" So if someone opens that weakness on a certain mob (there are 16 different weaknesses and each class can open 2-3), and you use an ability that exploits it, you deal what, sometimes 50% more damage, sometimes double, sometimes triple.
Yes it's not as obvious, but it's there and it's where a good groups differs from the bad ones. It's one aspect of the depth of the system.
So it is noticable, there are always 3-6 those small icons if you were in a group on each mob, so if you said you didnt notice it, that proves that you weren't there to learn all the original and unique things, but instead you only looked for generic things that are in other MMORPGs. That would also explain why your review was so negative and that you couldn't find anything unique or original on the game.
The fact you didnt mention diplomacy as well, just proves my point.
REALITY CHECK
Point being, there's more people who've played the game before and quit than there are new players buying the boxes. So it's valuable that new reviews of the game include how the game has progressed since launch. So really, no, the vast majority of the "old players" really don't have any idea how the game has progressed without anyone telling them.
Besides the fact that newer games are supposed to be better than old ones, 6 is above average on a scale of 1-10. Maybe a 5 would've been more appropriate then if he meant Vanguard's gameplay was nothing special?His score isn't misleading. The same ol' same ol' is supposed to receive an average score.
if it is same ol same ol, then there is nothing better and he should give it a 10! is another way of looking at it as its the best there is!
Im going to say it again. This review is my personal experience of the game, nothing more nothing less. You can argument all you want, but my critics of the game is how it is. Its an average game.
I dont see why new players should put any effort into this game, when I dont see any future for it. Who in their right minds should spend all those hours and all their cash on this.
Imagine what is going to happen when WAR comes out, and AoC comes. The only population in Vanguard is going to be a shadow of the already frail population in there now.
Eventually it will dwindle away and die. And all the long hours you spent on getting that insane armor will be in vain.
Cry all you want on my review. I dont care. Right now the lasagna im going to make is much more important than this game will ever be
I rest my case!
Morgaur signing out of this thread! Defend it whoever wants to
And if the reviewer didn't notice the weakness system being used in groups he was in, then we know that it's something we might except happening to us unless we get to those good groups.
But now that we've been notified that such system exists, we can think logically and quess ourselves that if we get into good groups we may have better combat experience than the reviewer had. It doesn't mean the reviewer didn't to his job telling about his experience, it doesn't mean his review would be bad, it just means that our experience with the game's combat system may be a little better than his was.
Now seriously, if you think the crowd that is playing VG right now waits for games like Warhammer or AoC to jump into, you should consider defragmentating your brain cells.
REALITY CHECK
Now seriously, if you think the crowd that is playing VG right now waits for games like Warhammer or AoC to jump into, you should consider defragmentating your brain cells.
I just cant resist answering. I like the polite tone you have towards other people uttering their views here. Is this how you normally answer people you meet in real life too? If it is, you are not going to have many friends.
I prefer to write with people who can keep a civil tone, and not a degrading one. If you cant keep it friendly you should not post. Try to keep it more formal in the future,
Thanks