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Resubbed: Review
truenorthbg
Member Posts: 1,453
I have recently resubscribed to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes because I became somewhat bored with EQ 2, WoW, and EQ 1. In the case of EQ 1, it is a matter of scheduling with friends and things. The Rise of Kunark expansion for EQ 2, while fascinating, is geared more toward higher level players.
I would like to discuss a few aspects of Vanguard that might be helpful for you if you're considering playing the game or not.
Population
The population is strong, surprisingly on all levels. I created a halfling alt (and my brother created a lesser giant DK) and new players were in both areas, particularly in the halfling areas. I enjoy exploring in the game, and I always run into players. I am confident to say that the population is strong but could be better.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Vanguard is varied. However, it is mostly group-oriented, at least the majority of worthwhile (rewarding) content. Nevertheless, the best "gear" is from crafters. I have heard that crafting is deep but can at times feel tedious. However, crafting is very rewarding. If you are a new player, I suggest you begin tradeskills immediately.
Content
Similar to gameplay, but I particularly enjoy the combat. I have found combat to be intense, unpredictable, exciting, and overall fun. My preference is small group to full group dungeons that feel as if it is a raid in terms of danger, rewards, and design. I also like solo content to log-in and complete things for an hour or so, and Vanguard offers solo content you can complete while LFG.
Performance
My performance has improved but it still needs a lot of work. I have 2g of ram, and I am ordering a third possibly tonight. I am also ordering a sound card; I was previously using on board. Overall, my performance is better and I think I have crashed once since I resubscribed. Is performance better? It is much better but requires a lot more work.
Future
My sense is that SOE is making the same mistakes that SIGIL is. That is, they are focused on 1) nerfing classes, 2) reducing death penalties, and 3) increasing experience gains. However, all of the above are not really preventing people from joining. Instead, performance remains the main problem followed by missing features.
SCORE
Graphics: 9/10
Content: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Innovation: 7/10
Overall: 80% B
Likes
- Large, beautiful world.
- Intense, fun group combat.
- Excellent class system.
- Sense of exploration and boat travel.*
- Slower leveling.
*Ironically, I do not own (cannot afford) a boat.
Dislikes
- Performance can be better.
- Missing character customization.
- Economy seems expensive.
- Money/Gold does not drop much.*
*might inflate the economy more
SOE SHOULD DO THE FOLLOWING:
Fix the Game
- Improve Performance.
- Fix the few bugs that remain.
- Evaluate Travel from a) riftways, b) getting boats to work to c) teleport options.
Finish the Game
- Complete content (e.g., Hilsbury Manor, raid content).
- Introduce additional raid content or full-group named-mobs.
- Other classes: Berserker and Inquisitor.
- Flying Mounts.
Enhance the Game
- Capitalize on the game's best asset (world) to enhance immersion.
- Introduce deep Epic Quests to enhance a) immersion and b) character customization.
- Character customization system that is grouped-based.
- Involve players more in the game's story/lore through deep Quests at the end-game.
- Introduce fun and immersive features such as a) fishing, b) player taverns, etc.
- More player-owned property such as farms, breweries, castles, estates, etc.
- Keep busy at "end-game" with a) earning AA-points, b) completing deep Quests, c) named mobs, d) running player-owned taverns, e) managing the farm/brewery, f) other.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
Comments
One of the best overall assessments of the game and what is good and what needs work. I agree with your todo list and your assessment of the game. I think my biggest issues are still
1. performance and stability. - what's on test is maybe right there.
2. Lvl 30+ content needs a lot of work. A lot of it feels like it was added in a rush and not very polished with a lot of faction grinding or kill 100 x type quests.
I think the first 30 levels are really great.
When 1 & 2 are fixed I'll be coming back but for now I'm back into eq2.
One little comment I'd make is that playing eq2 and comparing the performance in Qeynos or Neriak to the performance of Kahl I'm actually impressed with the VG performance on test. I think I'm getting better performance in VG then I am in EQ2. This is running both games with all settings pretty much maxed. Seems like eq2 is actually taking more memory.
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Ethion
Truenorth elaborate by what you mean they should add epic quests please. Do you mean involving a raid to get certain items to complete a quest?
If so I am so out. I did that once many moons ago in EQ trying to get casual guilds to do raid content for a boss mob that may/maynot drop piece needed for your epic weapon. When EQ2 came around and did that I said forget it, I'll stick with my crummy gear.
I like DDO's approach to a raid with just two groups of six so total of 12 people in a raid and it is much more fun, less lag, voice chat is not going nuts with 20+ in it.
I think the best feel in a game is if you beat a hard boss mob desinged for a well rounded group. That lady you call with a whip for a side quest down in TK6 was a lot of fun and a challenge. I would rather do that any day than 20+ doing a dragon raid. Just my opinion.
Liked the review just don't like the suggestions for AA's and epic quests that may involve a raid to finish.
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Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.
You and me seem to be on the same page. My preference would be solo or small-group to full-group based epic Quests (or a combination of all three and perhaps a raid element). The point is to enhance world immersion and character customization/development simultaneously.
I agree that raiding should be limited to two groups. I have a poll in which I asked the community what they think is the most important feature to MMORPGs. Thus far, not a single person has selected "raiding." www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/157222
I think most people would prefer challenging group content and encounters to raiding.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
Good review of the game.
I was a bit put off when i read the dev post on the things they were looking at fixing for Vanguard: Faster leveling, faster travel, less the death penalty. These are not things that i think need to be fixed with Vanguard. Like you said, i dont think that people arent playing Vanguard because you lose exp when you die (well, some might be), performance (or lack there of) is the issue that sent people away and is keeping people from starting/coming back. Now performance has gotten better, and it is playable even on a lesser machine but it could still be better. It seems they are working on that with stuff like the bone removal on characters.
Please fix the performance, add the content that is lacking at midlevels and end game. But please dont speed up the exp/leveling or change the death penalty. People that want fast leveling and little to no death penalty are already playing the game that they like and probably wont change to Vanguard so give the people who want a more challenging game with slower leveling a game to play.
Feel free to mess with travel a bit if you want. I never understood why they werent going to have porting classes in the game to begin with. At least a porting class with help with building community, riftgates do nothing and if you go as for as EQ did with POK books then the size of the world becomes meaningless.
Nice review,
I do not agree with the nerfing comment though. A lot of classes have been made more powerful / fun and more are getting enhanced in the next patch. I have not heard of any real nerfs. There was a concern about Rangers getting nerfed but that was blown all out of proportion.
I would say the only major thing left out is how &^#%@# beautiful the graphics and world are on high settings. Character models are not all that great but the world is better looking and more realistic than Oblivion IMO. It blows EQ2 away.
Vanguard is a lot of fun and I hope word gets out that it is very playable and enjoyable now.
One of the things you talk about most in your post is performance, yet you fail to include performance as one of the score criteria. Don't you think the score that you give the game should also include the games performance? It looks like you are deliberately trying to skew your score in Vanguards favor.
"Those who dislike things based only on the fact that they are popular are just as shallow and superficial as those who only like them for the same reason."
I think this was the most well written review and assessment of a game that I've ever read on this site.
I did beta for this game for some time and I played it for a few months before I couldn't take its many many problems. I had really hoped for the "next big thing" with vanguard and quite honestly it let me down. I still find myself looking in on reviews and comments of what's going in there from time to time. I guess part of me hopes that one day I'll see a bunch of "this game is now what it should have been at launch" threads. I realize that it's better than it was (for those of you still hanging in) but I refuse to play Vanguard again until I see enough evidence that it is "fixed' so to speak.
me too
Well, I think that is a good point. Performance is a major issue, but I am not sure if it would have been appropriate to include it in the SCORE. Nevertheless, performance is a major issue for many reasons.
From my perspective:
STRENGTHS
Large, diverse world
Classes
Gameplay: Combat
WEAKNESSES
Performance
OPPORTUNITIES
Optimization; Questing; Character Customization
[Interest in Vanguard is still strong]
THREATS
AoC, WAR, Darkfall
[Elder Scrolls]
SOE's perspective:
OPPORTUNITIES
Time
I think SOE's strategy might be to rely on time to improve performance, which I think is a naive strategy because additional competitors will be in the market. If time is a factor that SOE is considering regarding performance, by the time people have compatible PCs to play Vanguard, they might already be playing WAR and in particular AoC. WAR will probably capture the more WoW-oriented market, and I think AoC will capture the more sophisticated and mature MMORPGer market. Pure speculation.
Time is of the essence for SOE to improve performance more, not twiddle its thumbs hoping that people's PCs can run Vanguard well in a year.
Well, vacation is over, back to the grind.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
Great review and have they officially implemented the new look of Khal yet? Do they plan to do this for the rest of the game? From what I remember from beta, the game was beautiful but the art design was lacking -- it was dull and lacked flavor.
Also how would you say the questing is? Is there any deep and immersive lore/story tied to the questlines? Do you feel immersed in the game at all like many felt in the old EQ days?
KHAL
They have not implemented the new look to Khal yet, and I hope they do. I have visited Khal once or twice since I resubscribed, and I lagged pretty badly.
QUESTING
I think that deep questing is an opportunity for SOE to capitalize on for Vanguard.
IMMERSION
I think the game is immersive; I sort-of look forward to playing Vanguard as I similarly did with EQ 1, and I still play EQ 1 to this day (very casually). The world is huge, open, diverse, and interesting. Overall, I think Vanguard is the most immersive game presently on the market [for fantasy games, excluding SWG].
Great questions because it points to what people are interested in: 1) world immersion and 2) deep Questing in MMORPGs. Vanguard, by its world design, offers many opportunities for SOE to harness its resources to enhance 1) world immersion and 2) deep Questing.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.