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Vanguard might be it!
JK-Kanosi
Member Posts: 1,357
I've played practically every MMORPG on the list on the left there and some not on it. This is over a 5 years span though. Only 2 games ever grabbed me from the start and those were DAoC in 2002 and SWG in 2005. I've been a wanderer since Catacombs killed group play in DAoC and SWG was ruined by the NGE. In spite of all its performance flaws, Vanguard has grabbed me and here is why.
* A great, helpful, and talkative community. I haven't ran across one player that you would normally hear in WoW general chat. I also found a great guild in my first day playing.
* A HUGE seamless world. No instanced housing, no instanced dungeons, no instanced cities. Just a big seamless world. The world is expansive and I felt immersed walking through the cities and their outlying farms, guard posts, acadamies and etc. It was nice.
* More races, classes, and starting areas than you can shake a stick at. The races are unique too. The classes are diverse and I have found the gameplay enjoyable.
* Something to do other than grind quests. I don't craft, so I can't comment there, but it sure is nice to be a diplomat and build myself a reputation in the land. This allows me to play my role as a Paladin better. I use my diplomatic skills to influence the nobile and my sword to enforce justice throughout the land. Having a big world and being able to sail ships allows another dimension to the game. No longer are you bound my hand held quests designed to take you straight to the top. You can actually lose yourself to the exploring and adventuring.
* Meaningful, yet not tedious advancement. I played the entire day (noon-midnight) and logged off as a lvl 5 adventurer and skill 6 Diplomat. I didn't feel like I was grinding once and I enjoyed my time online. I haven't played that long, even on newly purchased games since I started SWG in 2005. I'm in no rush to max level and I don't need xp speeded up for me, just because I am a casual player. I am fine with the advancement rate and don't need it catered to the players that feel they need to advance a level every day to feel like they accomplished something. When you see a lvl 17, you know they worked for it, much less a lvl 50.
* A great Dev team. I, being a former SWG player, was skeptical of SOE handling this game. I don't know about the Devs over in SWG, but the team working on Vanguard are doing a good job and the community is overall pleased with their progress. Yes I have heard the moaning about the EE and Rest xp changes. I agree with the moaners, but it really isn't that big of a deal.
* You look good from the beginning. I don't know any fantasy game that can say that. I'm not talking about your character creation clothes either, which I think look fine, but the clothes you get while questing at low levels or the gear you can buy at your beginning levels. Looks are important to me and Vanguard does it for me.
Do I feel like I am on an Epic journey? No, but I'm only level 5 and shouldn't feel that way. I do feel like I am a local that is just trying to do his part for his community. I am sure when I get further in the game, I will take on tasks that are epic in nature. Will I save the day or be the Hero? I don't know, but as a diplomat and a higher level adventurer, I believe the locals will appreciate the work I do for them. Along the way, I will forge strong bonds with guild mates and that will keep me playing longer.
Now I know I have just started out, and the newness hasn't even wore off, but when a person has played as many games as I have, you'd think you know if you are hooked or not by now. As I said, no game has hooked me since DAoC and SWG. Those games hooked me within the first few hours. I was hooked on this game within the first 12 hours. I'm not blind to Vanguards flaws either. I do see and experience the performance problems and this is coming from someone playing on 1gig of RAM and a Geforce 7300LE video card. I have to play on High Performance, Low Texture quality. The graphics on those settings aren't as good as I can get playing EQ2, but they still are better in my opinion that any other popular game out there, aside from LoTRO, which I think is just as linear if not more linear than WoW. I just thought I would share my experience and enthusiasm with the readers here. To be fair, if I ever change my mind, I will let you all know, so you can gloat about it. At this rate, I doubt I will be playing AoC.
Thank you
MMORPG's w/ Max level characters: DAoC, SWG, & WoW
Currently Playing: WAR
Preferred Playstyle: Roleplay/adventurous, in a sandbox game.
Comments
Wow! (No reference intended to the fantasy world). You certainly are passionate about Vanguard. Although I wish I could have found the same enthusiasm for the game I fear I did not. It is a truly amazing land to explore and I enjoyed most of the time I spent on it. I hope that most of the graphic bugs have been worked out. I made it to level 24 Ranger before it became the usual drag of an MMORPG. I agree with all of the things you said about Vanguard and salute you for a positive (although lengthy and slightly repetitive) posting. Good luck with the game.
Now recruiting: http://servantsofsteel.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=326759&TabID=2739352
Just wait till you're around 15, then the boredom starts.
Btw is Brad back again?
I bought VG when it came out. I played for some time and then closed my account (No you cant have my stuff). I think I'll probably return some day, cose VG have all you say, but,I really dont know why I stoped playing,
so I cant say what VG needs to make me return. But yeah, in theory is an awesome game. Anyway congratulations if you like the game, is a worth game if you like it.
Go easy on the prozac, Brad.
Yeah I would have to agree with the last poster. But I think I also have the answer why you may have quit. It is more than likely the same reason why a lot of us quit....It just isn't finished...Massive land with a lot of work still needed to fill the empty void.
BTW, anyone else get a a card in the mail from SOE? I am talking about REAL mail. I got a card from SOE that has a special offer for me.
BAsically it says that they noticed that I had played EQ2 in the past and also recently played VG and no longer subscribed to either.
SOE is inviting me back to play EQ2 and I get to have 3 expansions and 3 adventure packs given to me with no charge and it has already been added to my Station account. On top of that, SOE is inviting me back to play EQ2 for FREE until Sept 15th 2007. Hell, you can't beat that. I'm in.....
Something tells me that they are doing this to make up for VG being such a problem. Plus why aren't they giving me free time with VG instead, especially since it was my most current? I will tell you why. Well what I think. I think they know VG has a LOT of work to be done to it and they know that EQ2 has got a long way and is a much more finished product. So instead of losing me completely. They are trying to pull me back into EQ2 and hope I will stay. Then maybe sometime around christmas they will try to intice me into doing the station pass once VG gets better.
Well that's my 2 coppers peices on the subject...BTW anyone else get one of them cards?
Here, I will scan and put up what the back side of the card says. Front side has my address so. hehehe plus most info is on back.
lol omg that postcard was hilarious when I got it! I laughed and laughed and then looked over at my collectors edition of Vanguard and cried inside. What else could I have done with that $100?? What a pathetic plea for your money to return to SOE, I mean, am I right or am I right? I am friggin done with SOE PERIOD! They have let me down consistently for so long... they just suck.
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Darkfall: December or vaporware!
Vanguard might be it? Hopefully, penecilin will cure it too.
Good to see you are enjoying the game. Hopefully they will not pull the plug on VG until after AoC so you can "not play AoC".
@cupertino
Had he said Barrens chat he would have been spot on.
Alot of people I find playing Vanguard have been around the mmo scene for awhile, saying we feel we are too "elite" for wow isnt the case. We just want more then a rehashed (although polished) first gen experience.
Let's see, there were all of eight hours between your "I just downloaded" Vanguard post and your "This is the greatest game ever post"
I think perhaps you should wait until you've had full experience with the mind numbingly boring game play and complete lack of worthwhile content before making a statement like that. Running a handful of starter areas quests.. might not give you enough information.
If he likes the game, lancebird, let him enjoy it.
You're incorrect on the time between those posts. It was actually more like a day. A day full of playing Vanguard. I never really judge a game by its content either, because I actually prefer a game to be more sandbox in nature. I want to create my own story in the world, not play the Devs idea of what my life should be like in game. If I wanted that, I would have went straight back to LoTRO or WoW.
Also, if you read my post, I am qualified to know if I like a game within the first day or not. I suggest you reread my OP for clarification. If you still feel that you are right, fine, but don't come back posting so, because you've already made your point. You don't get extra points or anything by reposting what you've already said.
Anyhow, the starter quests do not give me enough of an idea how the entire game is. But mashing buttons is mashing buttons. As you level you get more abilities to use and different ways to mash those buttons. I find them more entertaining than any other game right now.
MMORPG's w/ Max level characters: DAoC, SWG, & WoW
Currently Playing: WAR
Preferred Playstyle: Roleplay/adventurous, in a sandbox game.
I already explains, extensively, why Vanguard isn't commited to groupers and cannot be considered as a serious grouping alternative for me, or anyone thinking in a similar way...or most casuals. But he likes it? Sure...take it away from me!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
I already explains, extensively, why Vanguard isn't commited to groupers and cannot be considered as a serious grouping alternative for me, or anyone thinking in a similar way...or most casuals. But he likes it? Sure...take it away from me!
I have a question about your desire to have a grouping game. I love grouping and I would prefer playing a game that requires you to group. That is why I bought DDO. Have you ever tried DDO before. Most of the community won't touch that game, because grouping is the only way to get ahead. What about FFXI? That game is for serious groupers too, except that it is more of an MMORPG than DDO is. I quit DDO because it wasn't a full MMORPG, but I loved the dungeons and having to group. I quit FFXI, because I couldn't get into the controls + the waiting for hours to group thing put me off.
Last night, a Paladin, Rogue, and I (Cleric) went through a dungeon where there was a group quest and several solo quests to be done. We cleared that thing 3 times before we finally found the room we were looking for. It was a lot of fun. We were around lvl 6. I'm not trying to persuade you at all to play this game. That's not what I do. I prefer the game to speak for itself or answer questions. I'm just saying that I am a group oriented player, and I play this game. However, I tend to solo more because of the lack of groups. From there, I can see why a pure grouper wouldn't want to play this game.
But yeah, I prefer to play with a group of 3-12 people. No more, so big raids isn't really my thing. I also, like you, would like the best xp and rewards to go to groupers. So we are only different in our tolerance of the types of game we play, but not really different on what game we would rather play.
MMORPG's w/ Max level characters: DAoC, SWG, & WoW
Currently Playing: WAR
Preferred Playstyle: Roleplay/adventurous, in a sandbox game.
Depending on how you do your math... the guy has had the game installed for somewhere between 8 and 24 hours. And somehow he has managed to play every race and class enough to know that they're "diverse" all of this with a toon to level 5. The "newness factor" in a new game makes it fun... and probably most of us who ended up leaving Vanguard enjoyed our first few days or weeks. However, anybody who says a game is "it" after such a ridiculously short amount of experience either has no idea how MMOs work or is simply part of the failed Vanboi marketing campaign.
If he likes the game... good for him. But if you post something like that with so little knowledge of what the game actually is, you really should expect to get called on it.
Okay, whatever man
But just to let you know, I knew the first day when I played DAoC and SWG that those games were "it" too and I played both for a long time. The rest of the games I played weren't even good for one day. Maybe I do know how MMORPGs work and maybe I am just smart enough to figure things out faster? If you haven't noticed, most MMORPGs are duplicates in many ways of other MMORPGs. Vanguard is no different. So "learning" or "figuring" this game out doesn't take a genious to do so in a day if he draws upon his past MMORPG experience. Hell, I knew many slash commands that 6 month Vets of Vanguard didn't even know. It's because I've been playing these games for 5+ years as a hobby.
At any rate, I'm through arguing with you. You are entitled to your opinion and I don't have to justify making this my game or claiming that this game will be my home. I'm sure thousands of people knew LoTRO was "it" the first day they played it or that Vanguard wasn't "it" the first day they played it. So what makes you think a MMO veteran of 5+ yrs cannot know that Vanguard is "it" in his first day? It's simple, because you do not like this game and want others to hate it as much as you. Hell, you cannot even imagine knowing a game is it in it's first day, just because you've never had the ability to tell for yourself in one day if the game is it for you or not. Just don't assume that all gamers are as dense as you when it comes to being able to know a game and what they like in one day.
MMORPG's w/ Max level characters: DAoC, SWG, & WoW
Currently Playing: WAR
Preferred Playstyle: Roleplay/adventurous, in a sandbox game.
Fair enough. And besides.. it probably would be pretty tricky to find a valid argument to defend the "I played the game for a few hours now! I know it's the best thing ever!" logic anyway.
One thing is for sure; he loves posting about vanguard.
The best part about this thread is:
Nobody (or very few) people would be giving him shit if he posted the exact same thing about WoW or LoTR on their forum.
It is just cool to hate and bash Vanguard now. Im sure you all picked on and beat up the little weaker kids in school didnt you? Or perhaps you were the little weaker kids in school.
Vanguard may be down, but it isnt out yet. Let him enjoy it if he wants and post his enjoyment on the forum that serves that game.
I could see all the hostility if he posted this on the WoW site.
P.S. Its ok to like Vanguard, really it is.
Weird. My most recent toon hasn't ran across one player...period. Played for almost 2 hours.