wow, thanks for your review. now i know i wont be playing it, EVER.
This is a perfect example of an individual's taste. The specific REASON the those games turned you off from VG are not important, but the fact that somebody actually wrote a decent review, included information like this that readers can relate to, and left it open ended by not saying "And if you don't play this game you're a complete toolbox/randomgamefanboi".
I know eight million people are going to find it hard to believe, but not everybody likes WoW! I know, I know: blasphemy, but bear with me here. The same goes for EQ and EQ2. Some people, for one reason or another, don't like those two either. Maybe it's the simple fact that SOE is there, or maybe they just hate games with gnolls in them? Who knows.
The point is. Not everybody is going to like every game. Hell, most people aren't going to like every game. Thanks to the OP for writing, what I view as, a great review, but more importantly, thanks to Ssstupido for using the review for what it's for: gaining insight on a game that he has yet to play.
_________________
The above post is purely my opinion. If you disagree, that's your right. However, don't be an ass about it.
I've been playing this more, naturally. All weekend.
I don't want to sound like a blithering idiot, or a sheep fanboy, but this game gets better and better the more you play it. I'm starting to understand the over-zealous fanboys now - you know, the ones who will deny ANYTHING is bad about Vanguard. And although I'm not yet at that stage, Vanguard is fast on track to becoming the best MMO ever released.
It's just such a shame they couldn't keep it in development for a couple more months, to make it perfect. But it's fantastic. I did not think that in a million years there could ever be a game that would recapture that first EQ experience. But Vanguard does it, and surpasses it.
Hopelessly addicted. I'm now a shameless Vanguard fanboy. I can feel the eyes rolling now, but I don't care.
Why it rocks:
1) The world. The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. This is a proper world, not a collection of zones, not with "rivers" that are 3 metres wide, not a forest of about 50 trees... real forests... real mountains... real rivers that are "life size". Coasts, valleys, caves, dungeons, cities... Just when you think you've seen it all, something else totally blows your mind away.
2) The gameplay. Combat feels good. It's addictive. It's challenging when you want it, or easy when you don't. It's rewarding if you make the effort to gather people, but perfectly playable if you don't. It encourages you to group, it never forces you. I've declined group invites simply because I've found a solo area where I can grind fast and just chill out. When I got bored of that, then I joined a group.
3) The depth. One whole week and I've not even touched the crafting and diplomacy side of things yet. Yet some people have done little else. I run past as people argue with NPCs, or chop down trees, but I all I want to do is kill things.
Vanguard > all.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
All I can say is that I originally had no intent on buying this game...
Now I cancelled my WoW subscription and this is the only MMO I'm playing exclusively.
The -exact- same thing I have done, I read about the game a few times and didn't see anything I really liked. Next thing I know the burning crusade was a whole waste of money and I found myself bored within 2 weeks which I hit the 70 cap aswel, ran one instance and then just became frustrated and angry at how they added no new decent content to the game. My friends are still playing it though because they are blind, but they are starting to see!
Then I notice vanguard is nearing release which was completely unexpected, A member of this very site kindly gave me a buddy pass. I have been playing it since and aside from all the bugs and performance issues I am really enjoying myself.
Trust me people this game can only go upwards from here, it has so much potential.
I'm playing with a very bad computer so I can't give a fair judgement at all. Every spec I have is below the required. (My new comp gets here mon or Tues.)
Just the same I'll give my elaboration on something he said. A lot of whether you like a game is where you start and what class you pick. I'm in no hurry, but hard core hours so I try every class and try to scatter around the continents to get a broad view. I loved my high elf cleric, lots of low level mobs and some sticky situations that defied boredom.
I hated the half elf bard, I swear I ran for 5 minutes just to find any mob. At that point I'd have tried to kill anything, but this was a single wasp and then run some more. Very very boring. More than just the class, the landscape was boring in that area.
Then I tried a Halfling rogue and I'm back in love. Lots to do and see, enough danger that it's not a snooze fest and pretty scenery.
Then I tried a dark elf and liked that middle.
I think if more people wouldn't be in such a hurry and just test things out a bit they'd all have a better time.
It's the animations that made me not want to carry on, the character models don't have facial expressions and look like dolls too. With new mmorpgs like WOW i've come to expect a higher level of polish that wasn't in this game and it's hard to get used to again.
I'll play when they'ved fixed these points above, by then i'll probally be addicted to WAR.
Because WoW models are lifelife full of expression:
Static picture doesnt show several animations triggering on while idle like turning head and changing posture. There are also race specific animations in WOW.
Fanboys and haters are really worst scum not only on this forum. So if you dont want to be accused of weting your pants, having blisters on face and ass or suffering from hate-induced heartburn DONT POST BULLSHIT. Dont post about non existing points. Thank you.
I play both WOW and Vanguard and I enjoy both games. Vanguard has big immersive world, interesting pve, nice crafting and diplomacy. But when I read someone claiming wow doesnt have more polish I dont know whether to cry or laugh.
This forum used to be great. Once. But over time - due to enormous population of immature fanboys and haters it became trash. Noone really cares about opinnions expressed here since only around 20% has ANY worth. The rest is bs. Aggresive fanboys/haters with taste and sensitivity of a stone criticize artistic styles of some games (wow/war), others (with computers stolen from museum) bash vanguard performance. Some predict quick drop in numbers of WOW subscribers (lol..all I can say is lol). Others claim war will be clone of wow or worse yet: vanguard is the clone of wow (rotflmao!). Just browse some random posts and you will see my point.
I really think its high time for moderators to sweep through this forum and clean it. Instead of usual watchdog stuff moderators should muzzle aggresive haters/fanboys, kick them in the butt and start to care about the merits of discussions.
I have to agree, the WoW models are better animated - and that static image of naked Night Elves is just begging for a picture of a naked Vanguard gnome. Trust me, I can post much, much uglier things from Vanguard...
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?
I never liked the graphic style Blizzard has chosen with their Warcraft series. It is too cartoony for me. That didn't stop me from liking the game and playing it for quite a while but the graphics always made me sigh. The environments look like a bad rendering of the old Roadrunner cartoon backgrounds and the number of unique critter/monster models are too low for me not to categorize simply into "Red Ogre", "Blue Ogre", "Grey Ogre" etc.
The count is a lot more satisfying in Vanguard for me at least. I like the fact that gazelle like creatures inhabit the savanna and deer analogues inhabit the forests. Small things but they add to the enjoyment for me. It also is nice that panthers, lions, and tigers have SEPARATE models... I'm tired of the eternally identical cats of World of Warcraft.
So far I have not seen more idle animations in World of Warcraft in comparison to Vanguard, they are there in both games, they are non-consequential, they are the same every few minutes anyway (in both games).
I also find it fun that some will say World of Warcraft has better models. Basically that is closing your eyes to the fundamental fact:
World of Warcraft has zero character customization - they are ALL the same models.
One Night elf male is the same as every other night elf male, a few colors can change (hair/skin) but height, build, muscle tone, eye color per face etc. are all completely identical. At least Vanguard allows you to create a skinny human, og a broad shouldered elf, or a tall dwarf, or a squinting lesser giant, or a dark elf with very angular facial features and a bushy eyebrows, or or or or....
Does that make Vanguard a better game? No. Does it mean that making blank statements about World of Warcraft's polish is a bit pointless and doesn't really accept the fact that these games are different? Yes.
Hmm.. i think i really need to try this game out. But i will still wait for couple of months more. But overall i think this game is quite good. Will be better then EQ-2 for sure.
To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?
I never liked the graphic style Blizzard has chosen with their Warcraft series. It is too cartoony for me. That didn't stop me from liking the game and playing it for quite a while but the graphics always made me sigh. The environments look like a bad rendering of the old Roadrunner cartoon backgrounds and the number of unique critter/monster models are too low for me not to categorize simply into "Red Ogre", "Blue Ogre", "Grey Ogre" etc.
I don't like slagging people off on this site to much but you really need to look at what you’re saying.
When he says polish he means... polish there is really only 1 definition in this context. WoW is an extremely polished product where Vanguard isn’t(baring in mind I do like Vanguard). I’m not going to define it you can look it up.
The graphics in WoW are nothing short of staggering. Even if you don’t like them you should be appreciating them for how well they are implemented. So saying that they look like a bad rendering of the old roadrunner cartoon makes me wonder if you even know what rendering is or at least have a very shallow scope of the gaming industry.
The guy that made this post did a really good job so if your going to be rude by saying things like To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?" its probably better if you don’t post at all.
Yet another thread turns into "Vanguard vs. Wow". What the hell is wrong with you people? Seriously. Are you so narrow minded that you are unable to think about anything other than smearing load after load of shit about a game that somebody else likes, just because you're not a huge fan? Okay. Great. Thanks. You don't like Vanguard's character models. You don't like WoW's models. Get over yourselves, and your ridiculous need to argue with anybody that has a different "Favorite MMO" than you.
Opinions are usually like bellybuttons, but yours are shit.
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The above post is purely my opinion. If you disagree, that's your right. However, don't be an ass about it.
To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?
I never liked the graphic style Blizzard has chosen with their Warcraft series. It is too cartoony for me. That didn't stop me from liking the game and playing it for quite a while but the graphics always made me sigh. The environments look like a bad rendering of the old Roadrunner cartoon backgrounds and the number of unique critter/monster models are too low for me not to categorize simply into "Red Ogre", "Blue Ogre", "Grey Ogre" etc.
I don't like slagging people off on this site to much but you really need to look at what you’re saying.
When he says polish he means... polish there is really only 1 definition in this context. WoW is an extremely polished product where Vanguard isn’t(baring in mind I do like Vanguard). I’m not going to define it you can look it up.
The graphics in WoW are nothing short of staggering. Even if you don’t like them you should be appreciating them for how well they are implemented. So saying that they look like a bad rendering of the old roadrunner cartoon makes me wonder if you even know what rendering is or at least have a very shallow scope of the gaming industry.
The guy that made this post did a really good job so if your going to be rude by saying things like To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?" its probably better if you don’t post at all.
No actually I agree. What is the definition of polish being used here.
If it's regarding bugs WoW did actually go live with a whole host of bugs. Or has everyone forgotten the fact that the warlock and hunter class were completely broken at release and for a few months after due to "in combat" bugs and DoT's overwriting plus a host of other issues to do with pet pathing and control.
If we're talking bugs in quest dialogue I bugged the Tooga quest in beta. I actually did that quest yesterday again and know what...2 years later exact same bugs. Sure they're not game breaking but my definition of polish indicates that sometime in the last two years someone actually fixed the scripting in that quest. Shamans...I recall shamans being a fairly overpowered class for quite a long time. Although Bliz did eventually fix that. The skins on mobs is correct. Although to be fair Bliz do have 3 skins for cats. Standard cat, cheetah cat and cat with mane. Do we mean customer service if we're talking polish if so that has improved no end over the last month. Previously it was pretty bad and Bliz are still banning Linux users due to the conflict it has with some of their 'flags' that go up re hacks and cheating. Server stability...those issues are still there. Two years after release we still have servers going down and staying down for anywhere up to an hour. (Aman Thul on Sunday) We have rolling restarts and we have loot lag due to server compatibilities.
Now...having said all this I play WoW. I don't play Vanguard. But don't come here spouting off that WoW has polish and VG has none. WoW has had longer and has had a lot more cash to fix the problems they have. To me the millions of dollars they have raked in from WoW and the issues of customers still have to put up with shows Blizzard don't give a rats arse about polish. If they did they have made enough cash to make this game near perfect. The fact they haven't indicates to me the fanbois care more then the games owners.
You want to know what had a good release. CoH. Smoothest release I've seen in over 9 years and close to 20 mmo's.
At any rate...nice review. Was good to hear something intelligent and reasonably balanced.
Interesting review, glad to see you're loving it as much as you are. For me the jury's still out. I haven't had a chance to put in any serious hours yet, but there are definitely things I like and things I hate.
As has already been mentioned, the animation graphics are sub-par at best. You may not like the art direction or style of WoW, but you can't argue with the fact that the models they do have are complete, well-animated and fluid. It doesn't feel like you're dragging a fleshed-out stick figure around with your mouse pointer... unlike Vanguard. Combat animations are repetitive, enemy mobs pop into and out of existence, pets inexplicably duplicate (or vanish), scenery models move as you rotate the camera, and the jump animation in particular makes me cringe every time. Furthermore, for all the fine customization available at character generation (how flared DO I want my nostrils to be), the reality is that you never see 95% of other peoples' details because of play disttance and the speed they're running by. Meanwhile at a glance the Newbie zones look like the lost sequel to Attack of the Clones as everyone runs around in the same color scheme with one of the four prescribed haircuts. There's just no excuse for this kind of immersion-breaking garbage in a release version of a game... CoH had more customizability and cleaner animation than this when it released two and a half years ago! Sure, there are many for whom graphics is a secondary consideration, but for myself I feel it reflects badly on the game and it will suffer as a consequence.
On the other hand, the actual content of the game is a welcome surprise - for the first time I actually find myself wanting to read the quests and diplomatic dialogues in an RPG. Sure, there are still the good old fashioned "Go kill 10 chickens and collect their lips" grinders, but they're mixed din with a healthy dose of actual storyline... political intrigue, personal feuds, desperate desperadoes and generally interesting events which (contrary to the graphics) DO make the game an immersive experience. The broken quests (and I've been stuck with a couple here and there) are a pain in the ass, but you can just move on and do something else without feeling that you're falling behind. In fact many is the time I feel like I'm slowly drifting out of an area when I haven't properly finished looking around everything that's there, and forcing myself to go back to ckeck out what I missed. I also like the fact that, despite being an MMORPG, many of the quests are geared around making you feel like your character somehow has a really big part to play in the future of this world.
So yeah, guess what I'm trying to say is that right now Vanguard for me feels like a good example of Substance over Style, like a great book with a shitty cover. I'll keep playing, keep looking around for a while, but I can't say yet whether I'll be continuing my sub once games like Conan and WAR start releasing. We shall see...
I have to agree, the WoW models are better animated - and that static image of naked Night Elves is just begging for a picture of a naked Vanguard gnome. Trust me, I can post much, much uglier things from Vanguard...
The WoW models seem better animated because of your FPS on both games. WoW is 100 times faster if you don't have a late model system with a couple gigs of ram. Wait till you do, the animations are every bit as fluid when you can actually see them properly.
Yet another thread turns into "Vanguard vs. Wow". What the hell is wrong with you people? Seriously. Are you so narrow minded that you are unable to think about anything other than smearing load after load of shit about a game that somebody else likes, just because you're not a huge fan? Okay. Great. Thanks. You don't like Vanguard's character models. You don't like WoW's models. Get over yourselves, and your ridiculous need to argue with anybody that has a different "Favorite MMO" than you.
I don't normally post on these forums but ummmm...
I have to agree, the WoW models are better animated - and that static image of naked Night Elves is just begging for a picture of a naked Vanguard gnome. Trust me, I can post much, much uglier things from Vanguard...
The WoW models seem better animated because of your FPS on both games. WoW is 100 times faster if you don't have a late model system with a couple gigs of ram. Wait till you do, the animations are every bit as fluid when you can actually see them properly.
Well I'm running an AMD Dual Core 4800 with an ATI X1900 video card and 2gig of RAM... and the animation is still below average. It's not a rendering or an FPS issue, it's a lack of motion capture, a lack of variety, a lack of fluidity and a general lack of natural movement. I refer you once more to the 'jump' animation, which is quite simply retarded. In general there just aren't the `little touches' that bring a character to life, it's still a (albeit high-poly-count) stick figure standing there. I will say though that I do love the necromancer pets - if only they'd put as much character into the characters...
OK. I don't post often on these boards, but I tink this is the perfect thread here! I've played EQ1 and 2 and WoW (as well as UO and AC1 and 2 and DAoC). Now I'm trying Vanguard... And I like it.
To be honest, I still play WoW. And I'll probably keep this game for a one week play, jus in order to turn my XP bar from blue to purple. WoW is still fun for now, but it is a too easy game and bores me quickly.
And now Vanguard is there. It reminds me a lot of the two EQs. On many point that so many reviews have express and that I don"t need to express further. And as many other players, the more I play, the more I like it. I've played around 10 hours this week end, got one crash, but the rest was really a smooth experience, on a middle level hardware (a laptop to be precise). I've tried 3 characters, just to get the feel of the difference between the classes and the zones and it amazed me. In WoW, each newbie zone is the same. You have almost the same quests to perform, but in different orders. In VG, I really got different feeling in each zone and what was asked. OK, I got to kill 10 traders and get the bile of whatever lizard. But I felt the lore behind it. The test of Blood of the Dark Elves is really great and you feel you are part of a clan/familly/race and that you matter. In WoW, I've never felt more than an uber-peon
But don't get me wrong, I still like to play WoW. Because it is fun, no time consuming for my kind of play, and so easy I can play watching a movie (and non, I don't do big raids, I don't feel the need to push this far). I even bought burning crusade. I like it, the draenai are still easier to play (I'll try with a hand in my back, and maybe blindfolded...:p)
Actually, VG will get me hooked because it brings really different kind of taste inside one candy. OK, the candy doesn't look very great like that, but the tases inside... Yummy! For example, I spent 2 hours with my gnome to perform the diplomacy tutorial. 2h for a tuto. And I liked every second of it. Every parley was another challenge. Convince people, basing your strategy on only 5 cards... And it adds so much flavour to the game.
I still got to try the crafting, but it seems so close to EQ2 one, that I think I'll like it (they should have borrowed from Ryzom, that would have been a perfect blend.)
To conclude, I'm glad to see that people have enough sense to write good reviews, glad to see that people can like two games at the same time for different reasons, glad to see that even after the WoW tsunami people try to release games that appeal to another public, glad to see that I've found I game that will probably make me say in a few month 'I loke this game' instead of 'just' liking it.
Guys, play the games you want, be happy with it and don't blame poeple for not having the same tastes, we don't want to go through that again, do we?
25 levels in 7 days or less, and I'm supposed to believe this guy was skeptical about whether he liked it or not? Lol.
I didn't want to play this game, after the shitty beta 5, I reckoned this game was doomed to fail. It came down to peer pressure, guildmates from my old EQ1 raiding guild twisted my arm, and to be fair playing with them changed my outlook from the onset. It didn't matter if it was multiplayer minesweeper, these are people I hadn't played with for at least a year, and had some very memorable times with back in the old days.
If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have given the game the chance it deserved. But that isn't anyone's fault but Sigil. Playing for 7 days was enough to change my mind, and if my guildmates stop playing, chances are I still will, because I want to get a house, a boat, flying mounts, and see some nasty dungeons.
I certainly wasn't the fastest levelling though. Even though I wasn't working that week, I couldn't keep up with some who probably had too much leet beta infos.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
25 levels in 7 days or less, and I'm supposed to believe this guy was skeptical about whether he liked it or not? Lol.
I didn't want to play this game, after the shitty beta 5, I reckoned this game was doomed to fail. It came down to peer pressure, guildmates from my old EQ1 raiding guild twisted my arm, and to be fair playing with them changed my outlook from the onset. It didn't matter if it was multiplayer minesweeper, these are people I hadn't played with for at least a year, and had some very memorable times with back in the old days.
If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have given the game the chance it deserved. But that isn't anyone's fault but Sigil. Playing for 7 days was enough to change my mind, and if my guildmates stop playing, chances are I still will, because I want to get a house, a boat, flying mounts, and see some nasty dungeons.
I certainly wasn't the fastest levelling though. Even though I wasn't working that week, I couldn't keep up with some who probably had too much leet beta infos.
I don't know how people are leveling so fast. the XP is pretty stingy unless you are grouping alot and going after big tough mobs or hitting dungeons. Man, I wish I had the time to do that. As it stands, I have one character who just past 10th level and another who is 6th.
Anyway, VG is enjoyable. It is deep and as Recant stated if they get the bugs in order it will be noted as very good MMORPGs and I will keep playing. I can say, even though I am not high level yet, that it gets better as you get tougher. One of the reasons I am not higher level I think is I spent a bunch of time getting Diplomacy going and that takes time.
I would recommend trying it out. It may not be to everyone's liking but it is good!
Nice review bud, and I am glad you liked VGSOH as much as your post implys. I tryed to play VG, and I really did have high hopes for the game. I must say, alot of the things VG offers far surpasses any game I have seen recently, and I know it is still buggy and all...It was always just the small things that didnt seem to jive with me. The charecter animations were a huge dissapointment to me...the way they look when they run, jump, and ever the mounts.
I also thought that the travel was suppose to be meaningful...and maybe this was just my experiance with it, but it didnt seem to hold true. Even when i was just lvl 13 or 14 I had a mount, but it seemed I would run forever just to get to where my quest update was.
I hope that VG dose well, and maybe some day I too will go from hater to fanboy in just 7 days
Comments
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Now I cancelled my WoW subscription and this is the only MMO I'm playing exclusively.
wow, thanks for your review. now i know i wont be playing it, EVER.
wow, thanks for your review. now i know i wont be playing it, EVER.
This is a perfect example of an individual's taste. The specific REASON the those games turned you off from VG are not important, but the fact that somebody actually wrote a decent review, included information like this that readers can relate to, and left it open ended by not saying "And if you don't play this game you're a complete toolbox/randomgamefanboi".I know eight million people are going to find it hard to believe, but not everybody likes WoW! I know, I know: blasphemy, but bear with me here. The same goes for EQ and EQ2. Some people, for one reason or another, don't like those two either. Maybe it's the simple fact that SOE is there, or maybe they just hate games with gnolls in them? Who knows.
The point is. Not everybody is going to like every game. Hell, most people aren't going to like every game. Thanks to the OP for writing, what I view as, a great review, but more importantly, thanks to Ssstupido for using the review for what it's for: gaining insight on a game that he has yet to play.
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The above post is purely my opinion. If you disagree, that's your right. However, don't be an ass about it.
I don't want to sound like a blithering idiot, or a sheep fanboy, but this game gets better and better the more you play it. I'm starting to understand the over-zealous fanboys now - you know, the ones who will deny ANYTHING is bad about Vanguard. And although I'm not yet at that stage, Vanguard is fast on track to becoming the best MMO ever released.
It's just such a shame they couldn't keep it in development for a couple more months, to make it perfect. But it's fantastic. I did not think that in a million years there could ever be a game that would recapture that first EQ experience. But Vanguard does it, and surpasses it.
Hopelessly addicted. I'm now a shameless Vanguard fanboy. I can feel the eyes rolling now, but I don't care.
Why it rocks:
1) The world. The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. This is a proper world, not a collection of zones, not with "rivers" that are 3 metres wide, not a forest of about 50 trees... real forests... real mountains... real rivers that are "life size". Coasts, valleys, caves, dungeons, cities... Just when you think you've seen it all, something else totally blows your mind away.
2) The gameplay. Combat feels good. It's addictive. It's challenging when you want it, or easy when you don't. It's rewarding if you make the effort to gather people, but perfectly playable if you don't. It encourages you to group, it never forces you. I've declined group invites simply because I've found a solo area where I can grind fast and just chill out. When I got bored of that, then I joined a group.
3) The depth. One whole week and I've not even touched the crafting and diplomacy side of things yet. Yet some people have done little else. I run past as people argue with NPCs, or chop down trees, but I all I want to do is kill things.
Vanguard > all.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
The -exact- same thing I have done, I read about the game a few times and didn't see anything I really liked. Next thing I know the burning crusade was a whole waste of money and I found myself bored within 2 weeks which I hit the 70 cap aswel, ran one instance and then just became frustrated and angry at how they added no new decent content to the game. My friends are still playing it though because they are blind, but they are starting to see!
Then I notice vanguard is nearing release which was completely unexpected, A member of this very site kindly gave me a buddy pass. I have been playing it since and aside from all the bugs and performance issues I am really enjoying myself.
Trust me people this game can only go upwards from here, it has so much potential.
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Lend a hand and break the chains of regularity you lean so closely upon
Great post by the OP.
I'm playing with a very bad computer so I can't give a fair judgement at all. Every spec I have is below the required. (My new comp gets here mon or Tues.)
Just the same I'll give my elaboration on something he said. A lot of whether you like a game is where you start and what class you pick. I'm in no hurry, but hard core hours so I try every class and try to scatter around the continents to get a broad view. I loved my high elf cleric, lots of low level mobs and some sticky situations that defied boredom.
I hated the half elf bard, I swear I ran for 5 minutes just to find any mob. At that point I'd have tried to kill anything, but this was a single wasp and then run some more. Very very boring. More than just the class, the landscape was boring in that area.
Then I tried a Halfling rogue and I'm back in love. Lots to do and see, enough danger that it's not a snooze fest and pretty scenery.
Then I tried a dark elf and liked that middle.
I think if more people wouldn't be in such a hurry and just test things out a bit they'd all have a better time.
Asdar
Because WoW models are lifelife full of expression:
Static picture doesnt show several animations triggering on while idle like turning head and changing posture. There are also race specific animations in WOW.
Fanboys and haters are really worst scum not only on this forum. So if you dont want to be accused of weting your pants, having blisters on face and ass or suffering from hate-induced heartburn DONT POST BULLSHIT. Dont post about non existing points. Thank you.
I play both WOW and Vanguard and I enjoy both games. Vanguard has big immersive world, interesting pve, nice crafting and diplomacy. But when I read someone claiming wow doesnt have more polish I dont know whether to cry or laugh.
This forum used to be great. Once. But over time - due to enormous population of immature fanboys and haters it became trash. Noone really cares about opinnions expressed here since only around 20% has ANY worth. The rest is bs. Aggresive fanboys/haters with taste and sensitivity of a stone criticize artistic styles of some games (wow/war), others (with computers stolen from museum) bash vanguard performance. Some predict quick drop in numbers of WOW subscribers (lol..all I can say is lol). Others claim war will be clone of wow or worse yet: vanguard is the clone of wow (rotflmao!). Just browse some random posts and you will see my point.
I really think its high time for moderators to sweep through this forum and clean it. Instead of usual watchdog stuff moderators should muzzle aggresive haters/fanboys, kick them in the butt and start to care about the merits of discussions.
regards
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?
I never liked the graphic style Blizzard has chosen with their Warcraft series. It is too cartoony for me. That didn't stop me from liking the game and playing it for quite a while but the graphics always made me sigh. The environments look like a bad rendering of the old Roadrunner cartoon backgrounds and the number of unique critter/monster models are too low for me not to categorize simply into "Red Ogre", "Blue Ogre", "Grey Ogre" etc.
The count is a lot more satisfying in Vanguard for me at least. I like the fact that gazelle like creatures inhabit the savanna and deer analogues inhabit the forests. Small things but they add to the enjoyment for me. It also is nice that panthers, lions, and tigers have SEPARATE models... I'm tired of the eternally identical cats of World of Warcraft.
So far I have not seen more idle animations in World of Warcraft in comparison to Vanguard, they are there in both games, they are non-consequential, they are the same every few minutes anyway (in both games).
I also find it fun that some will say World of Warcraft has better models. Basically that is closing your eyes to the fundamental fact:
World of Warcraft has zero character customization - they are ALL the same models.
One Night elf male is the same as every other night elf male, a few colors can change (hair/skin) but height, build, muscle tone, eye color per face etc. are all completely identical. At least Vanguard allows you to create a skinny human, og a broad shouldered elf, or a tall dwarf, or a squinting lesser giant, or a dark elf with very angular facial features and a bushy eyebrows, or or or or....
Does that make Vanguard a better game? No. Does it mean that making blank statements about World of Warcraft's polish is a bit pointless and doesn't really accept the fact that these games are different? Yes.
When he says polish he means... polish there is really only 1 definition in this context. WoW is an extremely polished product where Vanguard isn’t(baring in mind I do like Vanguard). I’m not going to define it you can look it up.
The graphics in WoW are nothing short of staggering. Even if you don’t like them you should be appreciating them for how well they are implemented. So saying that they look like a bad rendering of the old roadrunner cartoon makes me wonder if you even know what rendering is or at least have a very shallow scope of the gaming industry.
The guy that made this post did a really good job so if your going to be rude by saying things like To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?" its probably better if you don’t post at all.
Opinions are usually like bellybuttons, but yours are shit.
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The above post is purely my opinion. If you disagree, that's your right. However, don't be an ass about it.
When he says polish he means... polish there is really only 1 definition in this context. WoW is an extremely polished product where Vanguard isn’t(baring in mind I do like Vanguard). I’m not going to define it you can look it up.
The graphics in WoW are nothing short of staggering. Even if you don’t like them you should be appreciating them for how well they are implemented. So saying that they look like a bad rendering of the old roadrunner cartoon makes me wonder if you even know what rendering is or at least have a very shallow scope of the gaming industry.
The guy that made this post did a really good job so if your going to be rude by saying things like To me statements regarding the "polish" of World of Warcraft gives me nothing. What is the poster's definition of "polish"?" its probably better if you don’t post at all.
No actually I agree. What is the definition of polish being used here.
If it's regarding bugs WoW did actually go live with a whole host of bugs. Or has everyone forgotten the fact that the warlock and hunter class were completely broken at release and for a few months after due to "in combat" bugs and DoT's overwriting plus a host of other issues to do with pet pathing and control.
If we're talking bugs in quest dialogue I bugged the Tooga quest in beta. I actually did that quest yesterday again and know what...2 years later exact same bugs. Sure they're not game breaking but my definition of polish indicates that sometime in the last two years someone actually fixed the scripting in that quest. Shamans...I recall shamans being a fairly overpowered class for quite a long time. Although Bliz did eventually fix that. The skins on mobs is correct. Although to be fair Bliz do have 3 skins for cats. Standard cat, cheetah cat and cat with mane. Do we mean customer service if we're talking polish if so that has improved no end over the last month. Previously it was pretty bad and Bliz are still banning Linux users due to the conflict it has with some of their 'flags' that go up re hacks and cheating. Server stability...those issues are still there. Two years after release we still have servers going down and staying down for anywhere up to an hour. (Aman Thul on Sunday) We have rolling restarts and we have loot lag due to server compatibilities.
Now...having said all this I play WoW. I don't play Vanguard. But don't come here spouting off that WoW has polish and VG has none. WoW has had longer and has had a lot more cash to fix the problems they have. To me the millions of dollars they have raked in from WoW and the issues of customers still have to put up with shows Blizzard don't give a rats arse about polish. If they did they have made enough cash to make this game near perfect. The fact they haven't indicates to me the fanbois care more then the games owners.
You want to know what had a good release. CoH. Smoothest release I've seen in over 9 years and close to 20 mmo's.
At any rate...nice review. Was good to hear something intelligent and reasonably balanced.
As has already been mentioned, the animation graphics are sub-par at best. You may not like the art direction or style of WoW, but you can't argue with the fact that the models they do have are complete, well-animated and fluid. It doesn't feel like you're dragging a fleshed-out stick figure around with your mouse pointer... unlike Vanguard. Combat animations are repetitive, enemy mobs pop into and out of existence, pets inexplicably duplicate (or vanish), scenery models move as you rotate the camera, and the jump animation in particular makes me cringe every time. Furthermore, for all the fine customization available at character generation (how flared DO I want my nostrils to be), the reality is that you never see 95% of other peoples' details because of play disttance and the speed they're running by. Meanwhile at a glance the Newbie zones look like the lost sequel to Attack of the Clones as everyone runs around in the same color scheme with one of the four prescribed haircuts. There's just no excuse for this kind of immersion-breaking garbage in a release version of a game... CoH had more customizability and cleaner animation than this when it released two and a half years ago! Sure, there are many for whom graphics is a secondary consideration, but for myself I feel it reflects badly on the game and it will suffer as a consequence.
On the other hand, the actual content of the game is a welcome surprise - for the first time I actually find myself wanting to read the quests and diplomatic dialogues in an RPG. Sure, there are still the good old fashioned "Go kill 10 chickens and collect their lips" grinders, but they're mixed din with a healthy dose of actual storyline... political intrigue, personal feuds, desperate desperadoes and generally interesting events which (contrary to the graphics) DO make the game an immersive experience. The broken quests (and I've been stuck with a couple here and there) are a pain in the ass, but you can just move on and do something else without feeling that you're falling behind. In fact many is the time I feel like I'm slowly drifting out of an area when I haven't properly finished looking around everything that's there, and forcing myself to go back to ckeck out what I missed. I also like the fact that, despite being an MMORPG, many of the quests are geared around making you feel like your character somehow has a really big part to play in the future of this world.
So yeah, guess what I'm trying to say is that right now Vanguard for me feels like a good example of Substance over Style, like a great book with a shitty cover. I'll keep playing, keep looking around for a while, but I can't say yet whether I'll be continuing my sub once games like Conan and WAR start releasing. We shall see...
The WoW models seem better animated because of your FPS on both games. WoW is 100 times faster if you don't have a late model system with a couple gigs of ram. Wait till you do, the animations are every bit as fluid when you can actually see them properly.
Thank you!!!
The WoW models seem better animated because of your FPS on both games. WoW is 100 times faster if you don't have a late model system with a couple gigs of ram. Wait till you do, the animations are every bit as fluid when you can actually see them properly.
Well I'm running an AMD Dual Core 4800 with an ATI X1900 video card and 2gig of RAM... and the animation is still below average. It's not a rendering or an FPS issue, it's a lack of motion capture, a lack of variety, a lack of fluidity and a general lack of natural movement. I refer you once more to the 'jump' animation, which is quite simply retarded. In general there just aren't the `little touches' that bring a character to life, it's still a (albeit high-poly-count) stick figure standing there. I will say though that I do love the necromancer pets - if only they'd put as much character into the characters...
OK. I don't post often on these boards, but I tink this is the perfect thread here! I've played EQ1 and 2 and WoW (as well as UO and AC1 and 2 and DAoC). Now I'm trying Vanguard... And I like it.
To be honest, I still play WoW. And I'll probably keep this game for a one week play, jus in order to turn my XP bar from blue to purple. WoW is still fun for now, but it is a too easy game and bores me quickly.
And now Vanguard is there. It reminds me a lot of the two EQs. On many point that so many reviews have express and that I don"t need to express further. And as many other players, the more I play, the more I like it. I've played around 10 hours this week end, got one crash, but the rest was really a smooth experience, on a middle level hardware (a laptop to be precise). I've tried 3 characters, just to get the feel of the difference between the classes and the zones and it amazed me. In WoW, each newbie zone is the same. You have almost the same quests to perform, but in different orders. In VG, I really got different feeling in each zone and what was asked. OK, I got to kill 10 traders and get the bile of whatever lizard. But I felt the lore behind it. The test of Blood of the Dark Elves is really great and you feel you are part of a clan/familly/race and that you matter. In WoW, I've never felt more than an uber-peon
But don't get me wrong, I still like to play WoW. Because it is fun, no time consuming for my kind of play, and so easy I can play watching a movie (and non, I don't do big raids, I don't feel the need to push this far). I even bought burning crusade. I like it, the draenai are still easier to play (I'll try with a hand in my back, and maybe blindfolded...:p)
Actually, VG will get me hooked because it brings really different kind of taste inside one candy. OK, the candy doesn't look very great like that, but the tases inside... Yummy! For example, I spent 2 hours with my gnome to perform the diplomacy tutorial. 2h for a tuto. And I liked every second of it. Every parley was another challenge. Convince people, basing your strategy on only 5 cards... And it adds so much flavour to the game.
I still got to try the crafting, but it seems so close to EQ2 one, that I think I'll like it (they should have borrowed from Ryzom, that would have been a perfect blend.)
To conclude, I'm glad to see that people have enough sense to write good reviews, glad to see that people can like two games at the same time for different reasons, glad to see that even after the WoW tsunami people try to release games that appeal to another public, glad to see that I've found I game that will probably make me say in a few month 'I loke this game' instead of 'just' liking it.
Guys, play the games you want, be happy with it and don't blame poeple for not having the same tastes, we don't want to go through that again, do we?
Hyb'
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I was waiting for you to come say this, although I thought it would come sooner.
If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have given the game the chance it deserved. But that isn't anyone's fault but Sigil. Playing for 7 days was enough to change my mind, and if my guildmates stop playing, chances are I still will, because I want to get a house, a boat, flying mounts, and see some nasty dungeons.
I certainly wasn't the fastest levelling though. Even though I wasn't working that week, I couldn't keep up with some who probably had too much leet beta infos.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have given the game the chance it deserved. But that isn't anyone's fault but Sigil. Playing for 7 days was enough to change my mind, and if my guildmates stop playing, chances are I still will, because I want to get a house, a boat, flying mounts, and see some nasty dungeons.
I certainly wasn't the fastest levelling though. Even though I wasn't working that week, I couldn't keep up with some who probably had too much leet beta infos.
I don't know how people are leveling so fast. the XP is pretty stingy unless you are grouping alot and going after big tough mobs or hitting dungeons. Man, I wish I had the time to do that. As it stands, I have one character who just past 10th level and another who is 6th.
Anyway, VG is enjoyable. It is deep and as Recant stated if they get the bugs in order it will be noted as very good MMORPGs and I will keep playing. I can say, even though I am not high level yet, that it gets better as you get tougher. One of the reasons I am not higher level I think is I spent a bunch of time getting Diplomacy going and that takes time.
I would recommend trying it out. It may not be to everyone's liking but it is good!
Nice review bud, and I am glad you liked VGSOH as much as your post implys. I tryed to play VG, and I really did have high hopes for the game. I must say, alot of the things VG offers far surpasses any game I have seen recently, and I know it is still buggy and all...It was always just the small things that didnt seem to jive with me. The charecter animations were a huge dissapointment to me...the way they look when they run, jump, and ever the mounts.
I also thought that the travel was suppose to be meaningful...and maybe this was just my experiance with it, but it didnt seem to hold true. Even when i was just lvl 13 or 14 I had a mount, but it seemed I would run forever just to get to where my quest update was.
I hope that VG dose well, and maybe some day I too will go from hater to fanboy in just 7 days