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Honest feedback on my trial experience
ZeyaVisuddha
Member Posts: 15
(I'm going to try and give more updates to this as I play a little bit more.)
I'm sort of a casual player. Life has been busy lately, but I thought I'd try out Vanguard a little bit. Well let me preface this... I've played 8 months of WoW, almost as much of GW, maybe 1-2 months of WAR, POTBS, CoH, and tiny amounts of Eve and Ryzom. I quit WoW because all I was doing was buying/selling on the auction house and it became a second job. I really wanted to like Eve but was physically unable to play it (font is too tiny and I have bad eyes). And POTBS was close to being a great game, but I was hoping for more from the economy.
So basically I'm a PVE guy who likes crafting and economy and that's what's drawn me to Vanguard. I'm coming into this without preconceptions, I've glossed over people saying bad things about the launch, but don't put too much stock in that. Anyway on with it. I give games a pretty fair shake; I'm not here to cause drama or whatever. I just wanted to share.
Setting up the SOE station account and downloading/installing the game was a breeze. It downloaded pretty quickly. (Had to update ATI drivers to stop from crashing, but whatever, that happens with every game.)
I didn't spend too much time on character creation, but it looked pretty standard. I see they went for a realistic style. The wolf people looked kind of freaky. I just threw together a ranger so I could jump in the game and check it out.
The first thing that grabbed my eye once in the world were trees falling down in the distance. I ran over and it was an NPC chopping down trees. I approached a tree and saw a negatory chop-down-tree icon and thought it would be cool to do some lumberjacking later on; I assume that's harvesting for crafting.
The models and shaders and stuff look pretty solid. I had to turn down graphical quality to get it to run at framerate, but I'm running on a 1080p screen right now, lol. My character's jump animation looks a little wooden/floaty. I don't like how if I stand still for more than 3 seconds (literally) he starts swinging his swords around. But I've certainly seen worse graphics out there.
I talked to an NPC and he's like "go over to this other guy". They were giving me the runaround with not much to do, so I decided to run off and find a mob and check out the battle system. Well there weren't any obvious mobs nearby, so I just kept going in a straight line, and started swimming. I swam to the bottom of the lake, and then kept swimming: I swam right through the ground! Great a nice bug in the first 5 minutes of gameplay. I got myself back on land somehow, finally saw some sort of spider/lizard mob or something, ran up and he two-shotted me and I died. Being a noob and not knowing the hud well enough yet, I had attacked a level 45 mob because I assumed it was a level 2 or something, being the starter area. They really shouldn't put such high level guys right where people start the game. I really didn't go that far from where the game started. I admit I was running off instead of doing the starter quest chain though.
So next I went to do this introductory Diplomacy quest. The card game started and it was my turn to make a move. The dialog said to choose a card from... trying to remember the wording... the little tray or whatever of cards. First of all the tray thing wasn't open. The dialog didn't say how to bring it up, and finally I poked around in menus and found a listing of cards, with a button I pressed that popped up the shadowy tray thing. (Sorry I can't remember the terminology.) I tried dragging cards, which I assumed to be skills, into the tray, but that wouldn't work. I tried clicking the tray...tried hitting the action button on the game window... nothing's working and no explanation. They need to hold your hand just a little more on this first dialog tutorial. I got frustrated and gave up on that.
Then I had a phone call and my friend came over and I stopped playing. I'll probably give it another try in a day or two. My initial impression is that this might be another rushed SOE game like POTBS. I always hope for a hidden gem, but I'm sure most people reading this thread know how that goes: you have to compromise and "look the other way" on things. Anyway I'll post back with more impressions later.
Comments
Good attempt but I fail to see how this is feedback on a game. You just said what you did. You also come off as being young which explains the lack of substance in your long post. good luck next time.
hmmm, I'm not sure how you got lost in this but I suggest to try again. When you appear there is a person in front of you jumping up and down and waving. You might not have seen him but he is there. I believe he is there for general questions. He then sends you to one person who gives you a bit of background about what is going on. This is the start of the story. She then sends you to someone who has you start your killing and collecting. The area is a tutorial so if you follow the quest line it takes you right to the exciting "renting a pegasus to fly up to the mountain stronghold to kill the evil" ending.
then you get a choice at lvl 10 to leave and go to one of a few areas (quest hubs) to start your Vanguard life. From there it's up to you.
as far as the high lvl mob, that is one of the reasons I play Vanguard. I like that there is possible danger to be found everywhere. I actually did the same thing and targeted a lvl 50 at about lvl 13. I could't stop laughing.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
One of my favorite thing is having the feeling of danger all around you, so high levels in low level areas is one of my favorite features. I am willing to bet you won't swing without looking at the level of the mob again eh?
And having your character fidget when bored? When I first saw that, I thought it was cool as hell, a nice detail to make the game feel more alive.
Honestly, you should play thru the Isle before you set your opinions in stone, it doesn't sound like you spent much time at all with the game. Definitely not enough to provide feedback on it, aside from submitting a bug report on the hole in the world you found.
My best advice is to follow the starting quest line. VG is a pretty complex game and the starting quests give you an introduction to all aspects of the game. If you try to jump into something without the introduction you are gonna definitely be lost. READ the quest dialog esp for new systems where it is more of a tutorial. Diplomacy and crafting are both totally new and kinda complex compared to other games.
Till you learn the basics it is gonna be easy to just get completely lost.
Dying to a lvl 45 is kinda funny. I'm not sure what you attacked but on the trial island the highest lvl thing you would normally see is like maybe lvl 10 or so. So finding a lvl 45 you can attack and then actually attacking it is pretty impressive :P
Anyway good luck, I'd start a new character and take it slower when you got more time.
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Ethion
Hehe, I can tell you what 45 he found. Those are those leaf walker things. Kinda looks like a stick bug.
Anyway. OP, you seriously need to slow down and read the quests on the starter chains. If you just like to jump in and start a whacking you may find it very difficult to play Vanguard.
It is more EQ than WOW. There is enough of the WOW in the game to irritate older EQ players and enough EQ in the game to irritate the WOW players. It is kind of a happy medium in between the 2.
Just from reading your post of what you did in the game I would suggest either you take it more slowly and have some patience reading what you are doing and go through all of he tutorial quests or just not bother because the game will irritate you.
For the other posters, do not hate on him yet. He did say it was feedback and not an opinion piece or his take on the game or how Vanguard suxx.
Say hello, To the things you've left behind. They are more a part of your life now that you can't touch them.
Thanks. Yeah I was just sort of doing a blog style thing of my first 10 minutes playing the game, because I thought it might be interesting to some. And to the guy who said it wasn't feedback, I pointed out an egregious bug, explained my mild frustration with getting ganked by a high level mob, the confusion with learning to be a diplomat, and I called out things that I liked too. If this isn't feedback I don't know what is.
I'll definitely slow down and try again. I was just running out to see what it felt like. I might want to focus on harvesting and crafting if that ends up being fun for me. Thanks.
For the diplo portion.... you have to set your deck frist before you start the parley. You can do that by hitting 'P' and click the diplo tab.. you can then drag the cards you want to your deck. That should get you started - I think the diplo could be explaned a bit better in game - I had to ask a friend who knew how to do it to fully grasp it... its was pretty obvious after it was explained but I think the in game instructions made it more complex than it was.
The Trial island has a good story - quest line will lead you in the right direction to where you should be at your level. The quest line will give you good gear that will last you until your mid teens.
As for the bug - I never ran into that... but then again I've never swam to the bottom of the lake..
Good luck next go - any I would suggest trying different class's. Each one is a different experience.
https://www.youtube.com/user/NemsGaming
the holes underwater are a well known bug. While it is disturbing it is so minor that nobody really cares if they fix it. Thankfully it doesn't drop you when you got into it and you can just swim up. And of course it is good that all the water doesn't spill out :P
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Ethion
oh, I don't think anybody hated on him. just advice to perhaps help make his stay a bit more enjoyable.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
You kind of failed at playing the game, no offense intended. There's a mob right there on the Isle of Dawn, just walk forward/left a bit and it's clearly marked. For the quests, you must have talked to the wrong person. You should talk to two people and be told to kill some things.
The diplo quest can be quite difficult, you just need to poke around the UI for a while.
Next to this, I don't think you can form 'honest feedback' when you are probably not even level 3.
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Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online
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== RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP ==
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Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online
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Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth
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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Its people like you OP that i hope stay away from Vanguard. Go play free realms
Currently Playing: Fallen Earth
Played and liked: TCOS, Vanguard, Guild Wars, DDO
Played and didn't like: CO, MO, STO, DF, AoC, WAR, WoW, EQ2, EVE, most f2p
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, Secret World
this is a note to everyone.
i know you made this post with the best of intentions. and this goes to anyone else that does a trial and thinks their feedback here might help someone.
DONT
youll just get flamed by anyone that likes the game if you didn't or vice versa...
heres what happens on mmorpg.com's forums when these posts are made.
1) guy plays a trial, decides to leave feedback about his experience here.
2) player posts positive review!!
2a) players that hate the game call the OP a massive fsking liar
or
3) player posts negative review
3a) players that like the game call the OP a massive fsking liar
remember, to be a member of this forum requires a level of douchyness not everyone in the internet has.
so in the future, heres a protip:
if it makes sense and seems useful. DONT. not at mmorpg.com anyway. this website is home to the gaming worlds worst. myself included. Nobody here will appreciate your good will anyway.
Games i'm playing right now...
"In short, I thought NGE was a very bad idea" - Raph Koster talking about NGE on his blog at raphkoster.com
Hehe, that's pretty much it. Although I do look forward to see more of the blog, a review after 2 levels.... meh.
Again, I don't really recall anybody hating on him, but simply pointing him to the right direction? Ok one guy hated on him but I think in general people told him where he should look. (read: no where to go)
edit; yup, reread it again and was pretty much people giving advice, maybe one or two negative comments in the whole thread.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Cerebrix, you are a massive fsking liar!
Gee, I guess you are right.
And to the OP. I've owned a copy of Vanguard for over a year now. Been waiting to install it until I felt in my gut that VG was ready. Still waiting, but now I am tempted to do the Trial. I'm just afraid I will be disappointed.
Okay, so I am confused. You say you ran into a 45 mob from the trial island? I know I accidentally attacked a guard the other day. But anyhow, the water bug is annoying, and happens periodically, just swim back the way you came and swim on the surface and you will be able to run up the shore.
Here's what I'd say: start over with a new character on the island again. Follow directions for the whole 3 minutes it takes to get to your first "kill 5 tadpoles" quest. Then you will be on your way killing stuff all over in glorious victory.
Bear in mind that if you do all of the quests on the newb island before you leave (should you subscribe), you will be better equipped as a level 10 than my first toon was at level 20 before the game had the island. With that in mind, a little extra time spent on the island can really get you set for the next 10 levels to go out onto one of the mainlands and have some fun.
OP here. Lol I love these responses. People are so jaded: it's just a video game and I'm just a guy posting some thoughts on a board that gets..what? 4 new threads a day maybe? My advice is don't scare people away from the boards you enjoy reading, because there aren't many here.
Anyway, I probably should have posted after a little more time spent with the game, which is exactly what I did last night. I rerolled with a warrior and did some starter quests. I did the adventuring one where you attack troll guys or whatever and that was alright. Standard "go kill x" fare.
Then I tried out diplomacy a little, and used someone's advice here saying to set up the cards beforehand. I failed my first battle of wits, and decided to go give crafting a try. I'll come back to diplomacy later. I have a quest to go defeat 5 or so NPCs in diplomacy. This sounds interesting... do you come into a new area and get these quests to diplomacy-battle people? What does that accomplish? (I.e. what rewards to you get?)
Now crafting was fun! I was hoping to see something like this in Warhammer (and instead ended up just sticking some seeds in pots to grow in that game grr). I like how it goes in stages and "complications" pop up, and you try to pump up quality while you can. And it looks like you can craft as much as you want in a day, if I'm not mistaken? You just need the requisite supplies, eh? I like the work orders. That reminds me of Eve. I wish PotBS has work orders or something to stimulate the economy more, because in that game it was all about closed economies within a guild. Anyway things look up on the crafting front.
Then I found a harvesting guy. I picked mining and quarrying since I figured that would go along with blacksmith. I didn't get a chance to try harvesting anything because I was coming up on 12:30am. (I started late because of long work hours.) Hopefully harvesting is alright.
Oh I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the equipment page and found multiple tabs with a ton of slots. I like the idea of optimizing my harvesting gear versus crafting versus adventuring etc. I only worry that the drops might be too numerous and fill up my bags too quickly, but hopefully they have that balanced.
Anyway that's about it for now. I'll tackle some more quest chains and diplomacy maybe later tonight. Peace!
I didnt read everyone's post, so if someone already mentioned it then I'll jsut say it again....
WHen you do diplomacy, you HAVE TO set up your cards/strategy before you talk to the NPC. If you open up the dialogue and try to change your cards it wont work, instead you'll have to cancel the text and setup then talk to him again. I had this trouble back when the game released, but figured it out. I hope this helps.
for diplomacy there is definitely a learning curve but it still sounds like you are bypassing the diplomacy starting quests. Reason I say that is because the first 5-6 quests are all pretty much just tutorial and you can't really loose them if you have one playable care. Even some of them you don't need any cards I think cause the npc never plays a card. You should have got a quest from the starting area that sent you to find the diplo quest starter and the crafting quest starter.
Once you find the starting guy there is also a merchant there that sells more cards and some clothing. You don't really need to buy a lot because you will win some of the cards in later diplo quests but before you leave the island it is definely a good idea to fill our your deck.
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Ethion
If you can't figure out starting quests and tutorials on the Isle, you should stick to console games. I don't think ANY mmo is for you.
Very good intro area and very similar in design to the EQ2 starting island. There are three linear type quest lines that allow you to explore the three spheres of the game (adventuring, crafting, and diplomacy). There is a final dungeon that encourages grouping, but not so difficult that it can't be solo'd by most classes if you are grinding through it just to make an alt. The trial experience is the most complete and polished area of the game, but the drop off once you leave isn't to bad. The problem becomes when you hit your 20's and feel like grouping up for stuff. It seems fairly difficult, even guilded to find groups to explore grouped content. The most interesting areas in the game seem to be group only areas leaving you to pretty much wander the contryside killing spiders or whatnot till you find a group that is doing something interesting.
Biggest downfall is no PvP. The lone PvP server left is very close to deserted (between 30-150 people on the entire server at any one time). This game is EQ2-plus or minus depending on who you talk to. If you have a few friends that you are with trying it out, or you find a group that happen to have your playtimes then it could be fun for all the PVE lovers out there. If you have any intrest in PvP, well I suppose wait till MO comes out and hope that doesn't suck.
Yes, the crafting, adventuring, and diplomacy tutorials couldn't be any more clearly and cleanly laid out. But they are pretty in depth. That's the beauty of a free demo, you can decide if this type of MMO is going to be enjoyable for you or not. I wouldn't say go back to console games, but there is a bucket-load of MMOs that are much simplier and more linear than Vanguard.
All three spheres have pretty steep learning curves and I very much enjoyed the learning component. Diplomacy is probably the most difficult to learn and get good at.
I had a similar thing with diplomacy the first time. Try dragging cards, nope, try clicking cards, nope. Just couldn't get the things into the tray, so then I started thinking I had to do something else first instead, which was a wild goose chase. I forget what happened where I finally got them in there, but doing the obvious things of clicking or dragging were not getting it done.
I wouldn't be suprised if he didn't double click on the icon again.
Clicking and dragging works for me....
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Ethion
I had the same issues with Diplomacy. I finally just gave up on it. There are plenty of Adventures out there to take up my time.