Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
What to do..?
MrPetter
Member Posts: 32
I may very well upset some folks now, but I consider it worth it. Ofc., this is a question answered in some ways in other forums, but this SHOULD manage to get more to the point. I hope!
;-)
I have been kinda looking forward to Vanguard for a few months now. A mate of mine, that I've played MMORPGs with for a long time was all hyped out on it, see. And when I checked an old E-mail account the other day - lo and behold, beta access. I jumped in, looked around and was - honestly - grossed out.
Not as pretty as I had expected. And yes, I have my graphics hooked up, but that is not reeeally an issue for me. I, as someone said, don't play games to be knoced out byt graphics (although Oblivion was pretty) - I (honestly) play MMORPG's for the sake of roleplaying. Anyway, I was taken aback by the shear number of little misses. So far I've tested one char lvl 10, in one country. A rougue (EQ2 damaged error). Some kind of catty person in a country... well... some ugly country. Anyway, the place was absolutely overrun by mobs - lvl 1 mobs that could hardly be killed by me alone. Well, i don't mind grouping - besides I'm the original noob here, so it might be expected that anythin gwith fans manages to get a bite out of me... but still. Here goes grouping. Which, as I gather, is important to this games. And I'm shocked! No representation on the map, more or less impssible to find anyone but your group leader (who also bugged out and remained on the map several hours after the group had been disbanded - a pretty obvious bug to remain in a game about to be released in a week or so, in my opinion).
Mmmk. So far, not so impressed no. Ok, the map is killing me. Nothing shows up at all - not quest NPC, no nothing. Hey, i played Morrowind - one of the best things they fixed to Oblivion was to get rid of the annoying simulation of having to walk around all day to for the obvious. If it is a feature, I don't like it. The quests... well... I suppose they work out. I haven't really gotten any sense of how items and bonuses works out together yet, but that is to be expected, I suppose. It bothers - and worries - me, that there is no "aaaah"-effect in the game. After several hours, I still look at this as a bleak copy of EQ2. Like, take the system of EQ2, tweak it around a bit and wash out the colours and there ya go! I'm just not impressed. As is now, I really can't see myself buying the game, and tht sucks because I REALLY miss having a MMORPG to be excited about!
So, what to do? You guys that have played this to bits - where should I go and what should I try? Where is the magic in the game and how can I experience it? Seriously? I'm not ironic - I want to get a feel for what is unique with Vanguard and where its strengths are. I want to be impressed, I want to fall atleast a little bit in love - 'cause if not... hey... I'm gonna miss out on all the fun and have to go back to MUD or something.
Well? Someone? Pretty please?
//Petter
Comments
Next, in the group window there are small arrows pointing in the direction of your group mates as well as an indication of how far away from you they are. There is also important quest locations with toggles to show them on the map as well as on your compass.
Well that's about as far into your crappy post as I can bother to read. Instead of posting this drivel on the web, please read a FAQ or something, perhaps the in game help bubbles. You make me sad.
-doro
I am terribly sorry if I have upset you. That was truly not my meaning. And if there are issues with my post regarding newbie misunderstanding of the game, then I am also very sorry. I stand my ground on thinking the group targeting, fighting etc. sucks big time and I recognize that you disagree. Great. As to being able to check / uncheck for what to show on maps - nothing at all does show up no matter what is checked - might be bug, but then there it is. Bugs aren't exactly wonderful either. Which was, by the way, the shouted explanation going around the newbie grounds as to why lvl 1 mobs were unkillable at solo. Still, as I said, that really isn't the issue. What's below is.
My main question remains; what makes Vanguard special and where do I go to experience it? I have a week to find out if this is a game worth buying and I'd like to know if it does live up to the hype, and if so - where and how do i experience it?
Greatful for your time...
//Petter
However, this game will not lead you along on many quests. The NPCs may not know exactly where you will find your objectives. This is when you go exploring and see the world. Sometimes it may cause you to go off track as you'll see something in the distance and say "I wonder what that is?" and head off to find out.
There are no artificial zone boundries like huge mountains surrounding each zone.
I, for one, absolutely love the graphic style of the game. I love the vision of what this game will look like 6 months from now, a year from now, and further into the future (as the developers have a pretty lengthy design document to continue making additions to the game). I've also played several characters. My main, a level 28 Dark Elf Cleric. Several other characters to around level 12. Ranger, Necromancer, Sorcerer, Paladin. While also dipping into the other character classes to experience the newbie effect.
I, honestly, have no clue as to why your newbie experience would be quoted as, "... the place was absolutely overrun by mobs - lvl 1 mobs that could hardly be killed by me alone." I'm pretty sure you are talking about the Kurashasa (but this goes for every race). Yes, the starting areas have a heavy mob density, and most starting areas do. The reason for this is, you're not the only player in the area... In addition, it's a starting area, the mobs in the area can be killed by you. It'll take getting used to the controls and actually understanding your spells, but other than that, the starting areas are to introduce the player to the game. I would try again, read your spell list, fight a creature that is near a guard and see how you hold up. If you are a warrior, expect a decent fight and downtime. If you're a cleric, you can get back into the fight pretty easy. If you're a sorcerer, your going to blow the mob to pieces. Maybe you should start a Sorcerer.
The game is more of a challenging game. It's not going to hold your hand the entire way. The map isn't going to show how to go through the game, level 1 - 50, by telling you to go to point A >> B >> C >> D >> etc. There isn't a reason for that. Talk with players or visit affiliate websites when the game launches for spoilers to quests and such. If you read the quest dialog, they at least tell you which direction you need to go.
If you have any other specific questions, feel free to ask.
Regards,
http://twitter.com/xmcgraw
-doro
Actually, this is doing exactly what i hoped it would do. The reason I started out admitting people would get annoyed is that I realize that this thread is much like other threads for those of you that have been hanging here a long time. Still, to me it is a very nice destillation of why people who do like the game actually fell in love with it. And yes, I do appreciate that. A lot!
Not change my opinion and gut feeling? On the contrary. The posts here have me thinking that this actually is a game focused on adventuring, exploring and EXPERIENCING something. And THAT I can relate to. I have nothing but the super-newbie perspective as of yet, I haven't seen what this game turns into when you leave the more basic locations. And aparantly that is a huge mistake.
So thanks again! And if anyone else feels like sharing their reasons for loving this game, do feel free!
//Petter - giving it another go
Vanguard is intentionally a little harder to play than has become common in MMOs of late. Some may not care for that. There certainly can be annoying aspects of it - such as the devs' dislike of mapping. However, a harder game is exactly what many people are looking for.
Vanguard also offers crafting and diplomacy "spheres" that are - in theory - supposed to be every bit the equal of adventuring and combat. As one might have guessed, they're not, adventuring is still king. However, it's a valid attempt; it's the first game since pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies where playing a non-combat character is a reasonably engaging pursuit. Diplomacy in particular is very nice, but is WAAAY behind the rest of the game in dev effort to date - and that's stated outright by the lead diplomacy dev. I kid you not, the diplomat's game play is 80% different now than it was just 2 weeks ago - that's how fast they're playing catch-up in that arena.
Oooh, mention SWG pre-NGE and I will automatically go into detailed reading mode. One thing I loved about the original SWG idea was the ability to really play the "little person" - some of the folks in the scenery. Which absolutely required working systems for handling crafting, economy etc. Would you say that Vanguard is reaching into those areas with their alternative spheres? That is, do they manage to actually put extra dimensions to the universe in itself, or is more of a "minigame" styled feature? I'm sure the intention is to make it a necesary and intricate part of the game - but does it actually "make it"..?
//Petter
I'd say that Vanguard's crafting focuses more on the crafting process than resource gathering. Any one who crafted on SWG knows that crafting there was about procuring the highest quality resources and sticking a formula in a factory for mass production.
Vanguard doesn't do mass production. What it does is eliminate grinding as a skill-up tactic - you perform workorders for NPCs to skill up. Making a single item is more involved, but far more rewarding skill wise vs. SWG's 1000s of items for one skill box. Item quality varies based on how much effort you put into making it. If you just want low-end stuff, the process is pretty simple. If you want Grade A outcomes, though, you need to plan out how much cleaner you're going to use, what kind of stitching you want to put in the cloth, etc - remembering to conserve resources to clean up little "complications" (some positive, some negative) that arise along the way. The biggest problem with crafting at present is low-level crafters don't feel like they are accomplishing anything, which causes a lot of proto-crafters to give up pre-level 10.
I have spent more time diplomacizing than adventuring, myself, and the diplomacy environment literally improves daily. It's clearly going to be unfinished at release, but compared to its state just a few weeks ago, it's clearly been turned into a dev priority. There's a bit of clothing associated with this - probably never to SWG Tailor levels, but more than you've seen elsewhere - and dyes and such to colorize them. Diplomacy offers some very interesting things, notably lowered costs, premier land access, access to the black and gray markets (!) and city-wide buffs. You can make friends pretty quickly when your entire city gets a 1 hour +25% crafting bonus thanks to your efforts (though it's really hard to pull off on your own at the skill levels currently around in beta) or a mana-regen boost. Diplo PvP will be in shortly after launch - even on non-PvP servers (since it's opt-in). Devs have suggested that certain areas of content will only be made accessible through diplomacy, so every high-end adventuring guild better find a diplo buddy ...
Honestly, you are making me drewl. MAN have I missed out! That's it, I suppose. No sleap tonight.
//Petter