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A Beta Tester's Impressions

HolyAvengerOneHolyAvengerOne Member UncommonPosts: 708
in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Posts: 107



default A Beta Tester's Impressions



In the past four months, I've been playing and testing and discussing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Beta and I wanted to take advantage of the NDA being lifted to share with you all a couple of screenshots as well as my impressions of the game as of now.



The world of Telon in itself, with its varied environments, vast expanses, changing moods and ambiance, is awesome to behold. There's an incredible amount of details, places, NPCs to see and each and every place I've went up to now still feel fresh and new, as there's so much to see ! Sailing is simply awesome and I've also developed a taste for mountain-climbing... or just trying to climb about anywhere, that is.



Another thing that makes me want to play, and might keep me hooked for a while, is the sheer amount of things there is to do. From the various overland zones, ruins and sites, to the tens of cities to explore, various dungeons and caves to conquer and defeat, there's also a wide variety of other things to do. While I've but dabbled in these, all 3 other spheres (Diplomacy, Crafting and Harvesting) has a lot of deep gameplay, enough for me to know I'll be able to switch back and forth between these to keep me entertained.



As for the adventuring gameplay itself, I also think its very well thought-out. I've leveled 2 characters to level 8 (I know, not a lot, but my gameplay time isn't huge, I write lots of /bugs and I'm good at dying repeatedly :P), one Rogue and one Psionic, and I found out that both were fun to play after just a couple of levels. By about level 5-6, you already get a good idea of what they will be like and they both already offers quite a few options and possibilities while grouping or even solo. Still, only at those levels, I was able to see a LOT of stuff in the world, but still just a small proportion of the whole thing.



Looking back over the last couple of months, I must say this game went quite a long way from the state it was when I entered Beta. There's more content all around, there are far, far less bugs -- ok, still a couple to squash but were quite a bunch on it, now -- and performance, both server and client, has improved a great deal.



One of the nicest thing, lately, is that there are far more people logged in than ever before. Yesterday, there were about 7000 concurrent user at some point, over 3 shards (Beta 1, Beta 2 and PvP) and about 3800 people on the sole Beta 1. This made for much much better grouping opportunities then back when we were about 300-400 logged in, with peaks at about 800. The best part is that the server's performance is better now at those numbers than it used to be at 1k only 2-3 months ago ! Ok, it still goes down quite often but then again, stress-testing the servers is an important part of a final Beta phase.



As far as I'm concerned, the increase in performance is coming along nicely, but its still my #1 concern for release. After living through SWG messy release and the way it was handled, I can't help but be afraid, especially after Brad's recent post on launching early. Let's say that my faith in this team is being roughly tossed around, but still, I have faith they might be able to pull it together by release.



That being said, those doubts are enough for me not to pre-order -- and to suggest all my friends to avoid doing so, too. In my opinion, you can have the best gaming concepts, nicely done, but if you can't access them in an agreeable manner, then you might as well not do it at all.



One last concern, to me, is the level of polish of the game. Its almost there, almost done, but there's still a little something I can't put my finger on that makes it feel a little wrong. Maybe its the UI, still rough around the edges, not very artistically done or maybe its just the performance/stability issues or maybe again its just the character/object names font that I hate with a passion. I don't know.



In the meantime, I'll hang in there and continue testing. This game might very well be the next best thing... if the last few miles are done right.





-----





Also, I just posted a couple of screenshots over at Silkyvenom (thanks, you guys are amazing for that !!), as I wanted to present a few of the nice places I got to visit. Not many combat screenies, though, as I keep dying when I try to take some and then they don't even look good, heh.



(be sure to click on them to get the full-sized version)



http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2166&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2167&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2165&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2168&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2169&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2170&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2171&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2172&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2173&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2174&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2175&c=28

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/gal...hp?i=2176&c=28

Comments

  • fauxhallfauxhall Member Posts: 132

    I hate all you beta testers............

    Im so jealous that im not in. This game sounds so awsome, even tho it has alot of bugs but it is still a beta so it will most likely be fixed. Your post made me want to play the game even more. Thanks alot!!

    [size=16pt]The Scions[/size]
    ~A Mortal Online Guild~
    www.scionsonline.com

  • brihtwulfbrihtwulf Member UncommonPosts: 975
    Having 2 level 8 characters after 4 months of playing does not give us much reason to believe your flowery outlook on the "depth" of the game.  Places you've explored and things you've done?  Not much if you've only played about 1/10th of the available levels...  I've only been in the beta for a month, and I've experienced more than you have.  And I'm not sure where you draw your comparions from as far as stating it has breathtaking graphics and TONS of things to do...  I mean, it's a fairly good game and all, but it's no masterpiece...  There are already games on the market that beat this one in many categories.
  • FullMetalAlcFullMetalAlc Member UncommonPosts: 217
    Originally posted by Holyavenger1


    Posts: 107


    default A Beta Tester's Impressions


    In the past four months, I've been playing and testing and discussing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Beta and I wanted to take advantage of the NDA being lifted to share with you all a couple of screenshots as well as my impressions of the game as of now.



    I've leveled 2 characters to level 8 (I know, not a lot, but my gameplay time isn't huge, I write lots of /bugs and I'm good at dying repeatedly :P), one Rogue and one Psionic, and I found out that both were fun to play after just a couple of levels.
    You say you don't have a lot of time but come on. I can get to level 12 in 2 days easy. What have you been doing bug reporting? How can you bug report without playing the game and testing out the mechanics. Were you wandering around looking at trees and grass for 4 months?  Doesn't sound like someone eager to play a game to me. Lastly, every Vanboi on this site says you need to get to level 20, 10 at least to have experience of your char because everyone else is greatly displeased with the 1-10 level experience. How can you say you know what the classes are only having played to level 8?



    Have you grouped and gone dungeon crawling? Have you teamed up with other people at all? Your review doesn't really say much except you are one of those players who likes to sit in town crafting(preferably baking muffins) and roleplaying a goofy merchant or something like that. There's nothing wrong with that, but crafting is just one asepct of the whole. The crafting is no better then EQ2 imho, the whole game is really a rip off of EQ2 when it first released underneath.
  • NovalarNovalar Member UncommonPosts: 32
    Good OP and I agree with most of it. 



    The game is coming along nicely.  I have been in beta for 6 days now and you can tell performance is getting better all the time.  I have a druid and the class is a lot of fuin to play.  Yes, there are some places that give a bad FPS but I turned off the volumetric clouds and ding 15 FPS improvement!  I have only done harvesting, adventuring and started the diplomancy but is fun.  The only real issue is performance but i believe they will be going across to new servers shortly with a lot of grunt so things are looking up.  That and lots of fixes each day!  People have to remember we are stress testing and we are trying to break things!  Once the game is upgraded to the Unreal 3 engine and is Vista compatible you knows where we will go!  I expect the game to be different 3 months after relase, but in a good way.



    We have to remember, when WoW launched it was laggy, oh so laggy, we server downtime and problems and Blizzard also did not have all their content 'in' for release.  I felt it took them 12 months to get it right but i stopped playing as it did not grab me anymore.  I have been playing again lately with friends and two years after release it is very smooth. 



    I also do not compare the graphics between the two games.  WoW is cartoony in look while Vanguard has a real world feel.  It is like comparing apples and oranges.  You either love them or hate them.     I am playing on the first Beta server so you never know we might meet in game!

    Currently Playing:- nothing

  • FullMetalAlcFullMetalAlc Member UncommonPosts: 217
    Originally posted by Novalar

    Good OP and I agree with most of it. 



    The game is coming along nicely.  I have been in beta for 6 days now and you can tell performance is getting better all the time.  I have a druid and the class is a lot of fuin to play.  Yes, there are some places that give a bad FPS but I turned off the volumetric clouds and ding 15 FPS improvement!  I have only done harvesting, adventuring and started the diplomancy but is fun.  The only real issue is performance but i believe they will be going across to new servers shortly with a lot of grunt so things are looking up.  That and lots of fixes each day!  People have to remember we are stress testing and we are trying to break things!  Once the game is upgraded to the Unreal 3 engine and is Vista compatible you knows where we will go!  I expect the game to be different 3 months after relase, but in a good way.



    We have to remember, when WoW launched it was laggy, oh so laggy, we server downtime and problems and Blizzard also did not have all their content 'in' for release.  I felt it took them 12 months to get it right but i stopped playing as it did not grab me anymore.  I have been playing again lately with friends and two years after release it is very smooth. 



    I also do not compare the graphics between the two games.  WoW is cartoony in look while Vanguard has a real world feel.  It is like comparing apples and oranges.  You either love them or hate them.     I am playing on the first Beta server so you never know we might meet in game!
    What Vista? What Unreal3 engine? lol. People have no clue what they are talking about. 3 months my ass. Even Age of Connan will be DX9 compatible.
  • NovalarNovalar Member UncommonPosts: 32
    Actually SIGIL have always talked about going to the Unreal 3 engine for they already have the ground work in their current code and with Vista coming it only makes sense to make sure the game will run on it.  Also, of course the game will be better three months after release - all games are.  Look at WoW.  It was better three months after release (as in less server downtime). 

    Currently Playing:- nothing

  • frankrizzofrankrizzo Member Posts: 3

    I played WoW in beta  and in the stress tests and both phases ran better than this one.  WoW's current issue is the sheer number of players.  Just count the servers 200+ actual servers, that admazing.

    I couldn't believe the performance in VG over that past couple months and they only had about 700 people on the sever when I played.

    Still, it is coming along nicely.  Constant improvements. 

    This game is not going to be for everyone.  It's an EQ clone from about 5 years ago with updated graphics, mounts, and a housing system.  Some folks will love it, I personally don't... but, in all fairness I still play it now and again.  I just get bored quickly.  It's a mellow game, not all that exciting, and sometimes a mellow game is fun.

    "Dark and Light" had a lot of people really excited too.  I think this will be night and day better than that one.  DDO had people really excited, but that tappered off at launch.  Posters here raved about how "kewl" those games were going to be... one was a stink fest that is about to go under, and the other proved to be a good niche game.  If you really want to see if this game is good do some homework, but don't take what we have to say here very seriously

     

  • TanrTanr Member UncommonPosts: 54

    "Former" Beta tester here.  I started Beta well over a year ago..  back when it was rare to see over 100 logged in.  I don't even know why they called it beta because technically to me it was Alpha.  ALOT of the game mechanics weren't even in game yet.  I haven't  logged on in a while now so I am sure it has changed a little (but i doubt much has really changed).  From the time I stopped beta testing they had better have made some major changes or this game is in trouble.  And I'm not just speaking of bugs but game mechanics.  I'm not going to get into to that because I don't know what, if anything,   has changed. 

    One thing I will say is  the overall game experience to me was just....... BLAND!  It was just......  like..... blah.  Nothing exciting what-so-ever.  For a game claiming to be next generation, new and inovative blah blah blah (like all games promise),  it falls WAAAAAAY short of any such claims.  To me it's just another MMO.  Nothing new, nothing special.  Same ol' same ol'.  Even better... its a bad version of the same ol' same ol', just with nice graphics.  VG just has no..........(trying to find the word)......  Life.

    Some people will like and even love this game,  but IMO it will never be a top MMO. 

    If I had to choose one word to describe VG that word would be...  BORING.

  • dragonacedragonace Member UncommonPosts: 1,185
    Originally posted by Tanr


    "Former" Beta tester here.  I started Beta well over a year ago..  back when it was rare to see over 100 logged in.  I don't even know why they called it beta because technically to me it was Alpha.  ALOT of the game mechanics weren't even in game yet.  I haven't  logged on in a while now so I am sure it has changed a little (but i doubt much has really changed).  From the time I stopped beta testing they had better have made some major changes or this game is in trouble.  And I'm not just speaking of bugs but game mechanics.  I'm not going to get into to that because I don't know what, if anything,   has changed. 
    One thing I will say is  the overall game experience to me was just....... BLAND!  It was just......  like..... blah.  Nothing exciting what-so-ever.  For a game claiming to be next generation, new and inovative blah blah blah (like all games promise),  it falls WAAAAAAY short of any such claims.  To me it's just another MMO.  Nothing new, nothing special.  Same ol' same ol'.  Even better... its a bad version of the same ol' same ol', just with nice graphics.  VG just has no..........(trying to find the word)......  Life.
    Some people will like and even love this game,  but IMO it will never be a top MMO. 
    If I had to choose one word to describe VG that word would be...  BORING.
    A lot of that "Life" is the other players.  With over 3,000 players on the servers - it's a lot different than when there were only about 100.  And if you haven't played since those days - then A LOT has changed.  Some players may not want to admit it, but seeing a lot of other players going about doing their thing is what MMO's are all about. 



    I know for me that's what ended my run on SWG.  When I could stroll through Theed and hardly see another soul - and my framerate was exactly the same as it was when I was out in the wilderness.  That's when I knew I was done with SWG.



    Seeing a bunch of other players running here and there (yeah, acting like a bunch of "kids") is what makes you believe you are in a living world.  Right now - that's what the Beta servers are like.  Hopefully they will be able to get even more people on each server after some more tweaking.  I wouldn't mind seeing around 5,000 on each server (as long as it doesn't cause too much lag).  The size of the world can easily take that many on each server.
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