Speaking for myself, I just recently downloaded Vanguard (last night) and found the game quite enjoyable but mostly the same as before.
Vanguard offers an exciting, fun, challenging and deeper combat experience for group-oriented players. Combat can be pretty intense. And the class system is awesome.
Teala, in no small measure did your videos and screenshots influence my decision to redl. I am happy I did.
----- WoW and fast food = commercial successes. I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
There are a lot of reasons I'm not going to invest time or money on it. The hardcore bent of it doesn't appeal to me, many of the game mechanics and classes don't appeal to me, the generic "elf, dwarf and orc" environment doesn't appeal to me, bugs don't appeal to me, and SOE definitely doesn't appeal to me. Add to that the fact that the game is apparently in poor health as far as subscribers go, and the fact that games with small populations usually get much less attention from their live teams (due to fewer developers actually involved), and you have the following:
a low-population, buggy, hardcore, generic fantasy MMO being run by a corporation with a terrible reputation that probably won't see content updates anywhere near as often as more successful titles. That's a tough sell for anyone, unless you've already played every MMO on the market and just need something, anything, to keep you busy until the next big release.
Vanguards problem is time. 1 year on and those who subscribed from launch are all hitting top level with nowhere to go. Time is of the essence to keep this game from floundering. SOE know this. They are trying to get performance and the raiding implemented and then they have hinted that further high level group and solo content is one of the next things on the list. But, they can't get this done fast enough. I just hope for the games sake, that they can pull it off in time.
I wouldnt hold out much hope. They've had it for what 7-8 months now and they havent added any content. They've managed to do the server merges and some bug fixes but nada in the way of content. They've cut the dev team severely, I dont think they are even trying to turn the game around anymore just holding on to it as a part of the station pass.
It's tainted by a few things already. while I'll be one of the first people to ignore that type of thing I'll emphasis this even more when you can't play it on release.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
The people from Sigil that was kept at that time was not replaced. So... most of those people that works at SOE and on Vanguard was working on it at Sigil. It was at that time around 50 people being kept out of Sigils original 100(?) people, they added some people from SOE to work with the former Sigil staff. Disregarding those facts is ignorant.
Dont forget to mention that they've since fired half of the remaining 50, some have moved on to other projects at SOE and some have left to other companies.
Was not half and is a moot point in the orginal answer.
Face it this game has lost whatever chance it had with the masses and SOE is going to try and fix that by pissing on the customers that remain. This game is going nowhere but down.
Hahahahaha that actually made me delete the rest of what I answered in this post as it seems that your just yet another duuuuuuuuuuude flaming on SOE
I played for a good 4 months. The reasons why I left are:
* Grouping is way too hard and with the lack of players online and the difficulty to meet up, group, stay within level bracket (5 levels) it was a complete nightmare and I prefer not spending my limited gaming time standing in front of a dungeon screaming "level 38 Sor LFG!!"
* Lack fo soul is another major reason. Too many static NPC's and basically feeling like you were running through a postcard. I mean it was plain weird looking around a magnificent city and being the only player there...
* Lack of direction. There are two sides, order and shadow but does it really matter? no. In all their attempts to make the game huge, beautiful and no instances they really left 'a point' to the game. Almost the missions and storyline was slapped on at the end.
In saying that there are plenty of other crap games and Vanguard does look great on the right rig and I had fun until I was forced to find a group to level (high level) and that was pretty darn hard!
Tabula Rasa has got it right. Grouping is everywhere and its easy. Vanguard / SOE should take note.
I played for about a month after release and loved it despite the bugs... I got tired of running around completely alone, though. If the game was more populated, I'd go back in an instant.
i really wanna play this game, its one of the few titles that have grabbe dmy attention in a while, but the pop and how long will it stay up and updated is what concerns me, i really dont wanna spend the money on the game, the monthly fees, and jog alot of time into the game if it will just shut down or float 80% empty in less thne a yr. i just want a lasting experience
The option you missed is: It is not fun. VG is the most unfun activity you can do on a computer. And that includes going to work and doing spreadsheets and doing your taxes. They should have never allowed it to go live. It is disgrace to gaming.
Hyperbole aside there is a point to be found here, I just didn't find VG fun...at all.
While VG has some of the most beautiful environments ever seen in an MMO it lacked soul. Conversely WOW is simplistic and looks like it was made in 2002 however levels 0-59 were some of the most fun I've had in an MMO to date.
Presentation & flash aside, above all a title has to be fun. For instance..long boat rides got old with pre Luclin EQ1. What numb skull thought bringing that little diddy back would be a good idea?
Oh goodie we get to travel the beautiful ocean.....again.....for 15-20 minutes.
That's what I mean, some companies focus too much on bells, whistles and how you should play their game they loose sight of why we play games at all.
the world feel empty, not just empty of player, if you go inside a building its justy empty, maybe 1 table and a chair thats it .
i had no problem with performance, played on very high setting, i had about ~40 fps+ with a mid range gfx card, and the game doesnt look that good anyway.
your character jump on top of the water when you swim.
The issue with Vanguard is that they tried to do everything and be everything to everyone from launch. I would have preferred to see them introducing diplomacy 3- 6 months in, have one large continent only and introduce the other 2 over 12 months and not have Ships or anything else that is not 'essential' to the game.
Rule 1:
Whatever you launch make sure its polished and fun. Players will wait 3+ months for extra content and in a way its something to look forward to.
* Vanguard did everything and was OK across the board and today that isnt good enough.
Look at EQ1, EQ2, and UO to name some greats. Polish at the beginning of the run? You have to be kidding me. Did they all turn into great things? Yes, because they tried new things and eventually worked them out. Vanguard has changed a lot since launch and its fun to play. There is lots more potential to yet to see, but you can expect it.
People keep saying polish is first and foremost, that's true for an old console game you can't patch or fix. But a game that grows with the people that actually play it over the years, that is an MMO.
It was pretty obvious to me that SOE was planning to change directions with VG when they canned the EE system, added rest XP, and started firing Sigil developers.
I'd be the first one in line to bash Sigil for the way they handled VG during development, but at least they had an original idea, however unprepared to deliver it.
I'm not sure why you're curious about this, but I'd suggest adding an "I don't trust SOE" option. You'd probably reduce the "other"s by half.
Needs to be a "principle" option. I simply cannot in good conscience give my money to a company that thinks it's okay to release a game in such a sorry state, and expect us to pay for it.
Sigil is responsible for that debacle. At the moment however they are no longer holding the reins, its SOE.
Both Sigil and SOE are equally to blame. SOE published and marketed the game and they knew the condition it was in when it was released.
originally posted by Xiaoki
The blind SOE hate can be hilarious sometimes. Like the person that said all the original developers were no longer on the game. Thats pure ignorance right there.
Explain why it is ignorance? It is a fact that most of the original developers are no longer with the game because most were fired without notice. That certainly left a stigma with the product as well as hurting it's development. Some of us take things like that into consideration when choosing to support a product and invest our valuable time with it. Disregarding those facts is ignorant.
Im not going to say it is ignorant saying that none of the original developers are still on the team, but i will say that it isnt true. Yes it is very sad that alot of developers got fired but SOE didnt fire them, they just didnt hire them. SOE bought the game from Sigil, for all intents and purposed Sigil is no more, do you expect SOE to hire everyone employee that Sigil had when they were bought out, that isnt how business works. True the way they fired them was NOT COOL but that is what happens sometimes when the company you work for goes under.
And the blind hate for SOE is funny. SOE has done nothing personal to any of these people, all they have done is change aspects of a couple games that THEY own. As i have said before, you cant even say that SOE didnt warn you that they might do that, it is printed right on the box.
And to answer the question i dont play due to performance (though i can play it on my old rig at best performance without any bugs, just low FPS. But i am using a 2.1G system with a 9600 Pro so what can i expect). I plan on giving it another try soon though.
And you all know that if Ubisoft or Sierra or any other publisher not SOE, EA or Microsoft (the three heads of evil) would have published the game they would not be on the hot seat. Its fun to hate SOE.
Comments
Speaking for myself, I just recently downloaded Vanguard (last night) and found the game quite enjoyable but mostly the same as before.
Vanguard offers an exciting, fun, challenging and deeper combat experience for group-oriented players. Combat can be pretty intense. And the class system is awesome.
Teala, in no small measure did your videos and screenshots influence my decision to redl. I am happy I did.
-----
WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
There are a lot of reasons I'm not going to invest time or money on it. The hardcore bent of it doesn't appeal to me, many of the game mechanics and classes don't appeal to me, the generic "elf, dwarf and orc" environment doesn't appeal to me, bugs don't appeal to me, and SOE definitely doesn't appeal to me. Add to that the fact that the game is apparently in poor health as far as subscribers go, and the fact that games with small populations usually get much less attention from their live teams (due to fewer developers actually involved), and you have the following:
a low-population, buggy, hardcore, generic fantasy MMO being run by a corporation with a terrible reputation that probably won't see content updates anywhere near as often as more successful titles. That's a tough sell for anyone, unless you've already played every MMO on the market and just need something, anything, to keep you busy until the next big release.
I wouldnt hold out much hope. They've had it for what 7-8 months now and they havent added any content. They've managed to do the server merges and some bug fixes but nada in the way of content. They've cut the dev team severely, I dont think they are even trying to turn the game around anymore just holding on to it as a part of the station pass.
It's buggy, unoriginal, not fun, incomplete and deserted.
It's tainted by a few things already. while I'll be one of the first people to ignore that type of thing I'll emphasis this even more when you can't play it on release.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Dont forget to mention that they've since fired half of the remaining 50, some have moved on to other projects at SOE and some have left to other companies.
Was not half and is a moot point in the orginal answer.
Face it this game has lost whatever chance it had with the masses and SOE is going to try and fix that by pissing on the customers that remain. This game is going nowhere but down.
Hahahahaha that actually made me delete the rest of what I answered in this post as it seems that your just yet another duuuuuuuuuuude flaming on SOE
I'm so broke. I can't even pay attention.
"You have the right not to be killed"
I played for a good 4 months. The reasons why I left are:
* Grouping is way too hard and with the lack of players online and the difficulty to meet up, group, stay within level bracket (5 levels) it was a complete nightmare and I prefer not spending my limited gaming time standing in front of a dungeon screaming "level 38 Sor LFG!!"
* Lack fo soul is another major reason. Too many static NPC's and basically feeling like you were running through a postcard. I mean it was plain weird looking around a magnificent city and being the only player there...
* Lack of direction. There are two sides, order and shadow but does it really matter? no. In all their attempts to make the game huge, beautiful and no instances they really left 'a point' to the game. Almost the missions and storyline was slapped on at the end.
In saying that there are plenty of other crap games and Vanguard does look great on the right rig and I had fun until I was forced to find a group to level (high level) and that was pretty darn hard!
Tabula Rasa has got it right. Grouping is everywhere and its easy. Vanguard / SOE should take note.
Its approaching a year since the game was released and I think at this point I have recovered from the overwhelming disappointment.
The Old Timers Guild
Laid back, not so serious, no drama.
All about the fun!
www.oldtimersguild.com
An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it. - Jef Mallett
I played for about a month after release and loved it despite the bugs... I got tired of running around completely alone, though. If the game was more populated, I'd go back in an instant.
i really wanna play this game, its one of the few titles that have grabbe dmy attention in a while, but the pop and how long will it stay up and updated is what concerns me, i really dont wanna spend the money on the game, the monthly fees, and jog alot of time into the game if it will just shut down or float 80% empty in less thne a yr. i just want a lasting experience
vanguard does serve a truely good example of one thing.
whatever happens in the first month sticks with your game for all time.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Hyperbole aside there is a point to be found here, I just didn't find VG fun...at all.
While VG has some of the most beautiful environments ever seen in an MMO it lacked soul. Conversely WOW is simplistic and looks like it was made in 2002 however levels 0-59 were some of the most fun I've had in an MMO to date.
Presentation & flash aside, above all a title has to be fun. For instance..long boat rides got old with pre Luclin EQ1. What numb skull thought bringing that little diddy back would be a good idea?
Oh goodie we get to travel the beautiful ocean.....again.....for 15-20 minutes.
That's what I mean, some companies focus too much on bells, whistles and how you should play their game they loose sight of why we play games at all.
Fun..
Dutchess Zarraa Voltayre
Reborn/Zero Sum/Ancient Legacy/Jagged Legion/Feared/Nuke & Pave.
Theres no, I'm playing vanguard option on there hehe
but seriously...people DO still play regardless of this forum's opinion of the game hehe
Raid Officer
Blades of Wrath
Vanguard
Was just not fun at all and from all the reviews i hear it sucks =/
Ill stick with eve online
Playing: Everthing
Played: DAoC,AC2,EvE,SWG,WAR,MXO,CoX,EQ2,L2,LOTRO,SB,UO,WoW.
I have played every MMO that has ever come out.
the world feel empty, not just empty of player, if you go inside a building its justy empty, maybe 1 table and a chair thats it .
i had no problem with performance, played on very high setting, i had about ~40 fps+ with a mid range gfx card, and the game doesnt look that good anyway.
your character jump on top of the water when you swim.
character looks ugly.
system specs too high for my computer. My computer is getting dated and instead of upgrading(which I'd have to upgrade it all) I got a PS2=)
Good:
having seperate adventuring,crafting and diplomacy clothing
Lots of mounts and mount customisation
lots of races/classes
Nice harvesting and gathering ideas
Staggering amount of enemys and mob types
Good in game community,helpful and friendly
Housings good
Bad
Crafting is about standing still left clicking a similar sequence of buttons for long periods
Diplomacy missed the mark by about 20 miles
Lack of character customisation at creation and in game (sliders dont do squat if everyone has the same face...)
Dull lifeless scenery in the wilderness,which is also empty apart from certain zones
Static manequin NPCs
Odd sheen on surfaces
Bugs,and not just the type you fight
Boat building whilst a good feature was utterly pointless
1999 gameplay elements
Vanbois
The issue with Vanguard is that they tried to do everything and be everything to everyone from launch. I would have preferred to see them introducing diplomacy 3- 6 months in, have one large continent only and introduce the other 2 over 12 months and not have Ships or anything else that is not 'essential' to the game.
Rule 1:
Whatever you launch make sure its polished and fun. Players will wait 3+ months for extra content and in a way its something to look forward to.
* Vanguard did everything and was OK across the board and today that isnt good enough.
bad first impression...
I would like to try it to make up my own mind, But my system 3.0 ghz 6800 nvidia will probably not run it.
Guess I will have to wait a while.
Look at EQ1, EQ2, and UO to name some greats. Polish at the beginning of the run? You have to be kidding me. Did they all turn into great things? Yes, because they tried new things and eventually worked them out. Vanguard has changed a lot since launch and its fun to play. There is lots more potential to yet to see, but you can expect it.
People keep saying polish is first and foremost, that's true for an old console game you can't patch or fix. But a game that grows with the people that actually play it over the years, that is an MMO.
Other
It was pretty obvious to me that SOE was planning to change directions with VG when they canned the EE system, added rest XP, and started firing Sigil developers.
I'd be the first one in line to bash Sigil for the way they handled VG during development, but at least they had an original idea, however unprepared to deliver it.
I'm not sure why you're curious about this, but I'd suggest adding an "I don't trust SOE" option. You'd probably reduce the "other"s by half.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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Sigil is responsible for that debacle. At the moment however they are no longer holding the reins, its SOE.
Both Sigil and SOE are equally to blame. SOE published and marketed the game and they knew the condition it was in when it was released.
originally posted by Xiaoki
The blind SOE hate can be hilarious sometimes. Like the person that said all the original developers were no longer on the game. Thats pure ignorance right there.
Explain why it is ignorance? It is a fact that most of the original developers are no longer with the game because most were fired without notice. That certainly left a stigma with the product as well as hurting it's development. Some of us take things like that into consideration when choosing to support a product and invest our valuable time with it. Disregarding those facts is ignorant.
Im not going to say it is ignorant saying that none of the original developers are still on the team, but i will say that it isnt true. Yes it is very sad that alot of developers got fired but SOE didnt fire them, they just didnt hire them. SOE bought the game from Sigil, for all intents and purposed Sigil is no more, do you expect SOE to hire everyone employee that Sigil had when they were bought out, that isnt how business works. True the way they fired them was NOT COOL but that is what happens sometimes when the company you work for goes under.
And the blind hate for SOE is funny. SOE has done nothing personal to any of these people, all they have done is change aspects of a couple games that THEY own. As i have said before, you cant even say that SOE didnt warn you that they might do that, it is printed right on the box.
And to answer the question i dont play due to performance (though i can play it on my old rig at best performance without any bugs, just low FPS. But i am using a 2.1G system with a 9600 Pro so what can i expect). I plan on giving it another try soon though.
And you all know that if Ubisoft or Sierra or any other publisher not SOE, EA or Microsoft (the three heads of evil) would have published the game they would not be on the hot seat. Its fun to hate SOE.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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