I only started playing recently but this game doesn't seem very good at all. It seems like a poor WoW clone with worse graphics and slower. I was really hyped to play this game after reading some good reports but playing it now just seems like a let down. It still seems buggy and nothing seems new or interesting. Could anyone tell me what I should have to look forward too. Atm it just seems like the same old same old with a poor engine. I'm not here to slate the game but I feel a little let down after spending 12+hours patching it to find nothing new. I would love it if some experience gamers could let me know the big pros I should look forward to and aim for. Because as it is I'm really not sure if I have the patience to put in the hours for the same things I can find in another game. I'm a bit biased because my pc runs it ok but not as smooth as it could be and I might as well play a game where I can enjoy a smooth experince while putiing the time in.
I will be getting a new pc in the near (ish) future so if it's worthwhile I'd contine but as it stands it's not looking like a great investment of time. I feel bad asking this so early in playing but these are real concerns.
If you are after new exciting features unfortunately there is nothing on the market at present. Most MMO's have the same features just implemented in different ways. What I have seen is different MMO's focus on different playstyle's. WoW is fast paced action focused on end game raiding and PvP and it guides the player quickly to these goals. Vanguard IMO takes a more slow approach and is focused on group play through dungeon exploring and VG has some of the most amazing dungeons I have seen in a MMO. Maybe this is the problem, switching from a fast paced to a slower paced MMO.
Can I ask what server you are playing on. If it's Sartok (PvP), this may effect your enjoyment due to the low population. I would suggest Seradon or Xeth due to the higher populations or if PvP is a must have feature to try a different game. Unfortunately PvP is near the bottom of the VG's devs to do list.
Due to the large open world, when you first step into the world the low level population is spread out among all the different starter areas which may cause a negative experience if you are used to being one among many. Population gets better around the mid teens, you come across your first group dungeons. You get to enjoy popular quests the Hunter's League and United Races of Threstra Quests which offer great rewards and the opportunatey to get some good loot from the named mobs you encounter. To experience the game in it's fullest you need to group and explore the dungeons, join a guild etc.
I would also suggest like a previous poster to try out the different classes, Most of them play differently from each other and are not as limited to a set role i.e healers have to muck in with the damage to be more effective in combat, not just stand at the back just watching health bars. Tanks can dish out decent damage some better than others and depending which tank you play you are not restricted to a sword and board.
If you are playing VG at the lower spectrum of the settings I can understand your concern reagarding the graphics and if it's having a negative effect on your fun maybe try again at a later date. I've enclosed some screenies from the high quality setting (one below the highest).
Character's and animations are being worked on at present and hopefully will be introduced before the end of summer. I do agree VG has it's fair share of bugs and the patch last week broke some of the quests. At present VG is not at it's full potential, but the small team of devs have worked miracles to keep the game a float and to bring it to it's present state compared to launch. I have in the past disagreed with some of there actions and still do, but I know you cannot please everyone.
These are just a few suggestions to hopefully improve your fun, they may not imply to you. I'm not sure due to the info given in your post and not knowing what you want out of a game. Maybe I will see you in game, but if you do decide that VG is not the game for you all the best in your next game you play and I hope you find it a more enjoyable experience.
Really great post Buccaneer, I couldn't really have asked for a better answer. It becomes more apparant that I should try this game again but I think I'll wait till I have a a better pc and some of the characters are updated.
I would like to go back and try some grouped dungeons if they are that good, not something I got as far to try. An aspect of rpgs I generally enjoyed was getting to group while leveling up but wasn't sure how this applied in Vanguard. Hopefully this would be an option, not sure what the population was like.
Is good to hear someone talk about the game with such verve though and talk about the aspects of the game they enjoyed playing. Just what I was looking for. Hoping I get get back playing soon and give the game a more indepth try.
Thanks also Perception, this maybe an idea I didin't concider. Might have a look at this. Nice to hear your expreience too.
I stoped reading the op after this "It seems like a poor WoW clone with worse graphics and slower." Your fricken hopeless.
No he said it seemed like a poor WoW clone. He's prepared to admit the possiblity that it isn't in fact a poor WoW clone, and he's been quite reasonable about it.
To the OP I say: you're making the right decision. Wait for a good PC and wait for the game to stabilise and beautify a bit more, I think you will really enjoy it eventually.
Some of the other anti-VG posts are as silly as the fanboi posts. VG is a buggy game for sure, but it gets less buggy all the time, and it's got a hell of a lot of good gameplay; however, it does take a wee while for that to become apparent.
You have to have some reason to love the game enough when you first play it to stick with it for a while for the good stuff to become apparent. These reasons will be, from the point of view of gameplay, pretty superficial, but nevertheless they are important. Different people have different thresholds for this. For me basic playability on my system comes first, then immersive graphics and UI customisability, then animations.
6 months ago when I first tried VG it failed on many of these points, I couldn't stand it and had to uninistall. Now, with a modern Core 2 Duo/8800 rig, with graphics on max it looks great, with a "'realistic' High Fantasy" look that no other game has at the moment, and that gives me a reason to stick with it, and the more I stick with it the more I find the actual gameplay blossoming. The animations and animation lag are still terrible, but enough of the other boxes are now ticked for me to stick with it and appreciate what's there, which is a nice, deep MMORPG with a particular look and feel that I find congenial (i.e. "realistic" high fantasy, as opposed to cartooney or over-stylised).
Vanguard is definitely a viable alternative for people who have the rig to play it and who want to venture in that kind of setting, and who want a game with lots of things to do and places to explore - and a lot of freedom to take it at their own pace.
I've been playing Vanguard since early beta. As it's been said a couple of times already, Vanguard now is a vastly different game than it was in beta. Around beta 2 a bunch of players started whining, and whole chunks of the game were removed, and it was made easier. This downward trend has continued, unfortunately.
But that said, I am still enjoying the game a great deal. Sure it has problems. Sure I'd love it to be the difficult, challenging game that was promised pre-beta. But it still has a lot going for it. The dungeons are simply.. amazing. Many of them are tiny (I would, for example, recommend skipping the hive. It's miniscule, and pretty much a single tunnel. But there are other amazing dungeons to explore. As I've said, I've been playing since late beta 1/early beta 2ish, and I still haven't seen all of the game. THere's /still/ a ton of ton of content that I would love to explore, I continue to make new characters, each time hoping to see different things. To get back to the dungeons... I will mention one in particular - the necropolis. WOW this is an awesome dungeon. Sure, it's later on in the game, but seriously. WOW. We explored it long before it was actually populated (we had a bard in the group and managed to get up to it, hehe), and even without monsters, it kept us busy exploring and looking around for hours. Seriously. With monsters... well. How could it be anything but even better when it has a population of things to fight as you look around? It's huge, it's gorgeous, it's great fun. THere's also a ton of dungeons scattered around, so you're never really hurting for a place to delve into. Some of them can even be soloed, if you know what you're doing.
And the classes. Vanguard has my favorite classes, bar none, of any MMO I have ever played. They all play vastly differently than each other, also, so I'd add my recommendation to the list that you try out a whole bunch. I was lucky enough to get into early beta, so I managed to try them all out up until at least 20 before launch, so when the game went live I knew exactly what I wanted to play as a main. SO, yeah. The classes, I recommend trying all of them. One thing I will note is that player skill is actually very apparent when it comes to difficult/challenging content. The game is significantly easier than it used to be - but you can still tell a good cleric from a bad one, a good bard from a bad one, a good rogue, etc etc, and that will often make or break a deep dungeon group.
If you are concerned about graphics, I would also say that when you have a system that can actually display them, they rock. I recently upgraded my computer, and can now actually handle Vanguard on high graphical settings, and it's like a whole new world. I used to hate Hathor Zhi, for example, but now it's gorgeous. I started a new character just to experience the game again from the ground up with the new look.
I will probably be accused of being nothing more than a fanboy, but I would say Vanguard certainly has it warts, but every game does. ANd even despite them it's a fun game if you take the time to actually play Vanguard, rather than trying to force the mode of another game onto it like so many do.
Oh - if you do play, and get high level - avoid Tehatmani. It's super boring. Go elsewhere at that level. lol
edit to say: If you're starting out, feel free to send me a PM. I am happy to help you out, answer questions, etc.
I only started playing recently but this game doesn't seem very good at all. It seems like a poor WoW clone with worse graphics and slower. I was really hyped to play this game after reading some good reports but playing it now just seems like a let down. It still seems buggy and nothing seems new or interesting. Could anyone tell me what I should have to look forward too. Atm it just seems like the same old same old with a poor engine. I'm not here to slate the game but I feel a little let down after spending 12+hours patching it to find nothing new. I would love it if some experience gamers could let me know the big pros I should look forward to and aim for. Because as it is I'm really not sure if I have the patience to put in the hours for the same things I can find in another game. I'm a bit biased because my pc runs it ok but not as smooth as it could be and I might as well play a game where I can enjoy a smooth experince while putiing the time in.
I will be getting a new pc in the near (ish) future so if it's worthwhile I'd contine but as it stands it's not looking like a great investment of time. I feel bad asking this so early in playing but these are real concerns.
If you are after new exciting features unfortunately there is nothing on the market at present. Most MMO's have the same features just implemented in different ways. What I have seen is different MMO's focus on different playstyle's. WoW is fast paced action focused on end game raiding and PvP and it guides the player quickly to these goals. Vanguard IMO takes a more slow approach and is focused on group play through dungeon exploring and VG has some of the most amazing dungeons I have seen in a MMO. Maybe this is the problem, switching from a fast paced to a slower paced MMO.
Can I ask what server you are playing on. If it's Sartok (PvP), this may effect your enjoyment due to the low population. I would suggest Seradon or Xeth due to the higher populations or if PvP is a must have feature to try a different game. Unfortunately PvP is near the bottom of the VG's devs to do list.
Due to the large open world, when you first step into the world the low level population is spread out among all the different starter areas which may cause a negative experience if you are used to being one among many. Population gets better around the mid teens, you come across your first group dungeons. You get to enjoy popular quests the Hunter's League and United Races of Threstra Quests which offer great rewards and the opportunatey to get some good loot from the named mobs you encounter. To experience the game in it's fullest you need to group and explore the dungeons, join a guild etc.
I would also suggest like a previous poster to try out the different classes, Most of them play differently from each other and are not as limited to a set role i.e healers have to muck in with the damage to be more effective in combat, not just stand at the back just watching health bars. Tanks can dish out decent damage some better than others and depending which tank you play you are not restricted to a sword and board.
If you are playing VG at the lower spectrum of the settings I can understand your concern reagarding the graphics and if it's having a negative effect on your fun maybe try again at a later date. I've enclosed some screenies from the high quality setting (one below the highest).
Character's and animations are being worked on at present and hopefully will be introduced before the end of summer. I do agree VG has it's fair share of bugs and the patch last week broke some of the quests. At present VG is not at it's full potential, but the small team of devs have worked miracles to keep the game a float and to bring it to it's present state compared to launch. I have in the past disagreed with some of there actions and still do, but I know you cannot please everyone.
These are just a few suggestions to hopefully improve your fun, they may not imply to you. I'm not sure due to the info given in your post and not knowing what you want out of a game. Maybe I will see you in game, but if you do decide that VG is not the game for you all the best in your next game you play and I hope you find it a more enjoyable experience.
I only started playing recently but this game doesn't seem very good at all. It seems like a poor WoW clone with worse graphics and slower. I was really hyped to play this game after reading some good reports but playing it now just seems like a let down. It still seems buggy and nothing seems new or interesting. Could anyone tell me what I should have to look forward too. Atm it just seems like the same old same old with a poor engine. I'm not here to slate the game but I feel a little let down after spending 12+hours patching it to find nothing new. I would love it if some experience gamers could let me know the big pros I should look forward to and aim for. Because as it is I'm really not sure if I have the patience to put in the hours for the same things I can find in another game. I'm a bit biased because my pc runs it ok but not as smooth as it could be and I might as well play a game where I can enjoy a smooth experince while putiing the time in.
I will be getting a new pc in the near (ish) future so if it's worthwhile I'd contine but as it stands it's not looking like a great investment of time. I feel bad asking this so early in playing but these are real concerns.
I played for 6 months and the things I enjoyed are:
1. Crafting. I enjoyed the missions that gave you clothing buffs for crafting and some large missions to learn ship building etc. Also its the best crafting system in the sense that you can make basic weapons but by mixing several options you can create some epic weapons. I managed to make 6 unique items and first time ever made on the server. Was pretty special.
2. Diplomacy is kinda addictive but not as involved as Crafting.
3. Graghics on a good PC does look pretty good so not sure what you are running it on.
4. You can work towards some pretty cool mounts.
Even saying the above I did get tired with the game for 2 reasons. Later on you can hardly level unless you have a group so for me being a semi casual gamer it sucked hanging around for people. 2nd I didn't like how the NPC's just stood around waiting to be wacked. I prefer a bit more AI that reacts to the environment. Tabula Rasa is unreal for this and EVE is not bad either, AoC has a grind factor but I appreciate more animations and the fact that guards will attack NPC's if they get to close. I hated being pwned by a skeleton when there were 10 dwarf warriors standing right next to me!!!
After thought...housing is pretty fun to work towards...
Don't worry OP, it's not you. I experienced this when trying the game out for a couple weeks recently:
· A tedious crafting system
· A tedious and unnecessary diplomacy mini-game
· Flickering textures all over the place. Clothing, flickering hay stacks/rocks, etc
· The ONLY MMO where your framerate is much WORSE in a dungeon than outside
· Bugged mining nodes all over the place
· A large world, but mostly empty
· Worst looking lakes ever. Does not fit with the rest of the graphics.
· Dreary, dull, un-colorful graphics, much like EQ2. It's as if someone placed a grey filter over everything.
· Falling through the world multiple times, mostly when swimming
· Bad animations. And if your computer is running at a nice framerate (above 50 FPS) your character looks like he is running at 20-25 FPS, so he looks shaky.
· Opening doors and the first thing you see is your characters eyeballs as you look through his skull.
· The UI can freeze up if you click the map and another icon too quickly.
· Walking up stairs makes the camera shake violently
· Missing objects such as windmills and doors, some appear when you get real close. Others, like windmills, flicker and then NEVER appear. They are completely missing!
Don't worry OP, it's not you. I experienced this when trying the game out for a couple weeks recently:
· A tedious crafting system yes the crafting is more complicated than simply clicking, but I personally think that's a good thing · A tedious and unnecessary diplomacy mini-game tedious and unnecessary? How else would you do diplomacy? Much like your favoured easy crafting? It's meant to be almost a complete different route to adventuring, a breath of fresh air. · Flickering textures all over the place. Clothing, flickering hay stacks/rocks, etc yes, but these are very minor · The ONLY MMO where your framerate is much WORSE in a dungeon than outside I haven't experienced this, mine seemed roughly the same, although I haven't gone very deep yet. · Bugged mining nodes all over the place Just contact a GM or report a bug. · A large world, but mostly empty Depends what area, I found playing through the gnome starting area quite lively, which I wasn't expecting. Depends what server you are on and what time you are playing I guess · Worst looking lakes ever. Does not fit with the rest of the graphics. Yes, lakes are a let down I'm afraid. · Dreary, dull, un-colorful graphics, much like EQ2. It's as if someone placed a grey filter over everything. I don't know what you're talking about here, mine is bright and colourful. Change your colour settings ingame or on your monitor. Maybe low contrast ratio? Im on 5000:1 and my colours are normal, not dull · Falling through the world multiple times, mostly when swimming I have never done this, but I do sometimes find that I can walk through rocks etc..again, its no biggy · Bad animations. And if your computer is running at a nice framerate (above 50 FPS) your character looks like he is running at 20-25 FPS, so he looks shaky. I'm one of the only people that don't have a problem with the animations. If you want bad jumping then try Oblivion, but I don't see any complaints about that. · Opening doors and the first thing you see is your characters eyeballs as you look through his skull. Seeing my eyes makes me laugh, but yeah it should be fixed. · The UI can freeze up if you click the map and another icon too quickly. I don't click my icons, I'm clever enough to learn the hotkeys and mine has never frozen. · Walking up stairs makes the camera shake violently true it shakes, I wouldn't say violently. · Missing objects such as windmills and doors, some appear when you get real close. Others, like windmills, flicker and then NEVER appear. They are completely missing! I'm not really sure what you mean here
it seems most of your problems are graphics based, which I don't think are the main aspect of the game, as long as the scenery is immersive, which I don't think anyone can say that it isn't.
Attack of wow fanboys ? Vg is a wow clone, even Eve online is a wow clone, Roma victor is a wow clone, my computer is a wow clone, I'm a wow clone, my dog is a wow clone, my car is also a wow clone, my house is a wow clone i eat wow clones, i sleep on wow clones, i don't even have an Ipod but listening MP3 with a wow clone...
Thanks for this interesting thread.
A Wow clone
Ergo, vis-a-vis, life is a WoW clone...
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
Don't worry OP, it's not you. I experienced this when trying the game out for a couple weeks recently:
· A tedious crafting system · A tedious and unnecessary diplomacy mini-game · Flickering textures all over the place. Clothing, flickering hay stacks/rocks, etc · The ONLY MMO where your framerate is much WORSE in a dungeon than outside · Bugged mining nodes all over the place · A large world, but mostly empty · Worst looking lakes ever. Does not fit with the rest of the graphics. · Dreary, dull, un-colorful graphics, much like EQ2. It's as if someone placed a grey filter over everything. · Falling through the world multiple times, mostly when swimming · Bad animations. And if your computer is running at a nice framerate (above 50 FPS) your character looks like he is running at 20-25 FPS, so he looks shaky. · Opening doors and the first thing you see is your characters eyeballs as you look through his skull. · The UI can freeze up if you click the map and another icon too quickly. · Walking up stairs makes the camera shake violently · Missing objects such as windmills and doors, some appear when you get real close. Others, like windmills, flicker and then NEVER appear. They are completely missing!
to be truthful vanguard is full of bugs and has not improved much since launch.
So did you break your own rule and buy Vanguard, an SOE game? No? So how exactly do you know?
You statement implies you played VG at launch and you have played it since GU5 . Yet according to your tagline, you don't buy SOE games. I think what you know about VG's rate of improvement is actually very little.
OK so I've played this game in beta and tried it again a short bit after release and while yes some really nice concepts got implemented overall the game was a mess. Despite the hype V:SoH never even hit 150K subs and last report I heard it was under 50K (that would mean DAoC and UO have more subs!). I'm not a really big fan of what some people's (and based on numbers that would be a minority) definition of "hard core". To these peeps its about meaningless time sinks, which V:SoH had plenty of.
Anyway I'm going to give V:SoH another shot and I'll try to keep an open mind and be fair. Just to note my PC's should run this game fine (weakest is a dual core 2 at 3.2ghz, 4gb ram, 8800GTS 640mb, 15mb connection).
to be truthful vanguard is full of bugs and has not improved much since launch.
So did you break your own rule and buy Vanguard, an SOE game? No? So how exactly do you know?
You statement implies you played VG at launch and you have played it since GU5 . Yet according to your tagline, you don't buy SOE games. I think what you know about VG's rate of improvement is actually very little.
maybe vanguard gave me that impression of soe, did you ever stop to think of that..been burned twice by soe in as many years is why i do not play their games..but you were getting too excited in your little head with your little flame attempt to think fo that.
to be truthful vanguard is full of bugs and has not improved much since launch.
So did you break your own rule and buy Vanguard, an SOE game? No? So how exactly do you know?
You statement implies you played VG at launch and you have played it since GU5 . Yet according to your tagline, you don't buy SOE games. I think what you know about VG's rate of improvement is actually very little.
i played at release and have checked to see how the game has come on in the last year "for free".. i still see the same bugs that were apparent in beta. But if you like paying for a sub-standard game then more power to you.
Comments
If you are after new exciting features unfortunately there is nothing on the market at present. Most MMO's have the same features just implemented in different ways. What I have seen is different MMO's focus on different playstyle's. WoW is fast paced action focused on end game raiding and PvP and it guides the player quickly to these goals. Vanguard IMO takes a more slow approach and is focused on group play through dungeon exploring and VG has some of the most amazing dungeons I have seen in a MMO. Maybe this is the problem, switching from a fast paced to a slower paced MMO.
Can I ask what server you are playing on. If it's Sartok (PvP), this may effect your enjoyment due to the low population. I would suggest Seradon or Xeth due to the higher populations or if PvP is a must have feature to try a different game. Unfortunately PvP is near the bottom of the VG's devs to do list.
Due to the large open world, when you first step into the world the low level population is spread out among all the different starter areas which may cause a negative experience if you are used to being one among many. Population gets better around the mid teens, you come across your first group dungeons. You get to enjoy popular quests the Hunter's League and United Races of Threstra Quests which offer great rewards and the opportunatey to get some good loot from the named mobs you encounter. To experience the game in it's fullest you need to group and explore the dungeons, join a guild etc.
I would also suggest like a previous poster to try out the different classes, Most of them play differently from each other and are not as limited to a set role i.e healers have to muck in with the damage to be more effective in combat, not just stand at the back just watching health bars. Tanks can dish out decent damage some better than others and depending which tank you play you are not restricted to a sword and board.
If you are playing VG at the lower spectrum of the settings I can understand your concern reagarding the graphics and if it's having a negative effect on your fun maybe try again at a later date. I've enclosed some screenies from the high quality setting (one below the highest).
Character's and animations are being worked on at present and hopefully will be introduced before the end of summer. I do agree VG has it's fair share of bugs and the patch last week broke some of the quests. At present VG is not at it's full potential, but the small team of devs have worked miracles to keep the game a float and to bring it to it's present state compared to launch. I have in the past disagreed with some of there actions and still do, but I know you cannot please everyone.
These are just a few suggestions to hopefully improve your fun, they may not imply to you. I'm not sure due to the info given in your post and not knowing what you want out of a game. Maybe I will see you in game, but if you do decide that VG is not the game for you all the best in your next game you play and I hope you find it a more enjoyable experience.
Peace
Edit: Enclosed system specs as requested.
Windows XP
Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E6600 @ 2.40GHz
2 Gigs of Ram
ATI Radeon X1950 512mb Crossfire Edition
Onboard Soundcard
250 gig bog standard HD (7500rpm)
EDIT- Thanks Buc
http://spellborn.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
Really great post Buccaneer, I couldn't really have asked for a better answer. It becomes more apparant that I should try this game again but I think I'll wait till I have a a better pc and some of the characters are updated.
I would like to go back and try some grouped dungeons if they are that good, not something I got as far to try. An aspect of rpgs I generally enjoyed was getting to group while leveling up but wasn't sure how this applied in Vanguard. Hopefully this would be an option, not sure what the population was like.
Is good to hear someone talk about the game with such verve though and talk about the aspects of the game they enjoyed playing. Just what I was looking for. Hoping I get get back playing soon and give the game a more indepth try.
Thanks also Perception, this maybe an idea I didin't concider. Might have a look at this. Nice to hear your expreience too.
I stoped reading the op after this "It seems like a poor WoW clone with worse graphics and slower."
Your fricken hopeless.
No he said it seemed like a poor WoW clone. He's prepared to admit the possiblity that it isn't in fact a poor WoW clone, and he's been quite reasonable about it.
To the OP I say: you're making the right decision. Wait for a good PC and wait for the game to stabilise and beautify a bit more, I think you will really enjoy it eventually.
Some of the other anti-VG posts are as silly as the fanboi posts. VG is a buggy game for sure, but it gets less buggy all the time, and it's got a hell of a lot of good gameplay; however, it does take a wee while for that to become apparent.
You have to have some reason to love the game enough when you first play it to stick with it for a while for the good stuff to become apparent. These reasons will be, from the point of view of gameplay, pretty superficial, but nevertheless they are important. Different people have different thresholds for this. For me basic playability on my system comes first, then immersive graphics and UI customisability, then animations.
6 months ago when I first tried VG it failed on many of these points, I couldn't stand it and had to uninistall. Now, with a modern Core 2 Duo/8800 rig, with graphics on max it looks great, with a "'realistic' High Fantasy" look that no other game has at the moment, and that gives me a reason to stick with it, and the more I stick with it the more I find the actual gameplay blossoming. The animations and animation lag are still terrible, but enough of the other boxes are now ticked for me to stick with it and appreciate what's there, which is a nice, deep MMORPG with a particular look and feel that I find congenial (i.e. "realistic" high fantasy, as opposed to cartooney or over-stylised).
Vanguard is definitely a viable alternative for people who have the rig to play it and who want to venture in that kind of setting, and who want a game with lots of things to do and places to explore - and a lot of freedom to take it at their own pace.
I'll jump in with my 2 cents, too.
I've been playing Vanguard since early beta. As it's been said a couple of times already, Vanguard now is a vastly different game than it was in beta. Around beta 2 a bunch of players started whining, and whole chunks of the game were removed, and it was made easier. This downward trend has continued, unfortunately.
But that said, I am still enjoying the game a great deal. Sure it has problems. Sure I'd love it to be the difficult, challenging game that was promised pre-beta. But it still has a lot going for it. The dungeons are simply.. amazing. Many of them are tiny (I would, for example, recommend skipping the hive. It's miniscule, and pretty much a single tunnel. But there are other amazing dungeons to explore. As I've said, I've been playing since late beta 1/early beta 2ish, and I still haven't seen all of the game. THere's /still/ a ton of ton of content that I would love to explore, I continue to make new characters, each time hoping to see different things. To get back to the dungeons... I will mention one in particular - the necropolis. WOW this is an awesome dungeon. Sure, it's later on in the game, but seriously. WOW. We explored it long before it was actually populated (we had a bard in the group and managed to get up to it, hehe), and even without monsters, it kept us busy exploring and looking around for hours. Seriously. With monsters... well. How could it be anything but even better when it has a population of things to fight as you look around? It's huge, it's gorgeous, it's great fun. THere's also a ton of dungeons scattered around, so you're never really hurting for a place to delve into. Some of them can even be soloed, if you know what you're doing.
And the classes. Vanguard has my favorite classes, bar none, of any MMO I have ever played. They all play vastly differently than each other, also, so I'd add my recommendation to the list that you try out a whole bunch. I was lucky enough to get into early beta, so I managed to try them all out up until at least 20 before launch, so when the game went live I knew exactly what I wanted to play as a main. SO, yeah. The classes, I recommend trying all of them.
One thing I will note is that player skill is actually very apparent when it comes to difficult/challenging content. The game is significantly easier than it used to be - but you can still tell a good cleric from a bad one, a good bard from a bad one, a good rogue, etc etc, and that will often make or break a deep dungeon group.
If you are concerned about graphics, I would also say that when you have a system that can actually display them, they rock. I recently upgraded my computer, and can now actually handle Vanguard on high graphical settings, and it's like a whole new world. I used to hate Hathor Zhi, for example, but now it's gorgeous. I started a new character just to experience the game again from the ground up with the new look.
I will probably be accused of being nothing more than a fanboy, but I would say Vanguard certainly has it warts, but every game does. ANd even despite them it's a fun game if you take the time to actually play Vanguard, rather than trying to force the mode of another game onto it like so many do.
Oh - if you do play, and get high level - avoid Tehatmani. It's super boring.
Go elsewhere at that level. lol
edit to say: If you're starting out, feel free to send me a PM. I am happy to help you out, answer questions, etc.
If you are after new exciting features unfortunately there is nothing on the market at present. Most MMO's have the same features just implemented in different ways. What I have seen is different MMO's focus on different playstyle's. WoW is fast paced action focused on end game raiding and PvP and it guides the player quickly to these goals. Vanguard IMO takes a more slow approach and is focused on group play through dungeon exploring and VG has some of the most amazing dungeons I have seen in a MMO. Maybe this is the problem, switching from a fast paced to a slower paced MMO.
Can I ask what server you are playing on. If it's Sartok (PvP), this may effect your enjoyment due to the low population. I would suggest Seradon or Xeth due to the higher populations or if PvP is a must have feature to try a different game. Unfortunately PvP is near the bottom of the VG's devs to do list.
Due to the large open world, when you first step into the world the low level population is spread out among all the different starter areas which may cause a negative experience if you are used to being one among many. Population gets better around the mid teens, you come across your first group dungeons. You get to enjoy popular quests the Hunter's League and United Races of Threstra Quests which offer great rewards and the opportunatey to get some good loot from the named mobs you encounter. To experience the game in it's fullest you need to group and explore the dungeons, join a guild etc.
I would also suggest like a previous poster to try out the different classes, Most of them play differently from each other and are not as limited to a set role i.e healers have to muck in with the damage to be more effective in combat, not just stand at the back just watching health bars. Tanks can dish out decent damage some better than others and depending which tank you play you are not restricted to a sword and board.
If you are playing VG at the lower spectrum of the settings I can understand your concern reagarding the graphics and if it's having a negative effect on your fun maybe try again at a later date. I've enclosed some screenies from the high quality setting (one below the highest).
Character's and animations are being worked on at present and hopefully will be introduced before the end of summer. I do agree VG has it's fair share of bugs and the patch last week broke some of the quests. At present VG is not at it's full potential, but the small team of devs have worked miracles to keep the game a float and to bring it to it's present state compared to launch. I have in the past disagreed with some of there actions and still do, but I know you cannot please everyone.
These are just a few suggestions to hopefully improve your fun, they may not imply to you. I'm not sure due to the info given in your post and not knowing what you want out of a game. Maybe I will see you in game, but if you do decide that VG is not the game for you all the best in your next game you play and I hope you find it a more enjoyable experience.
Peace
Edit: Enclosed system specs as requested.
Windows XP
Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E6600 @ 2.40GHz
2 Gigs of Ram
ATI Radeon X1950 512mb Crossfire Edition
Onboard Soundcard
250 gig bog standard HD (7500rpm)
Thanks for the info, seems like a good game.
-Vladalf
I played for 6 months and the things I enjoyed are:
1. Crafting. I enjoyed the missions that gave you clothing buffs for crafting and some large missions to learn ship building etc. Also its the best crafting system in the sense that you can make basic weapons but by mixing several options you can create some epic weapons. I managed to make 6 unique items and first time ever made on the server. Was pretty special.
2. Diplomacy is kinda addictive but not as involved as Crafting.
3. Graghics on a good PC does look pretty good so not sure what you are running it on.
4. You can work towards some pretty cool mounts.
Even saying the above I did get tired with the game for 2 reasons. Later on you can hardly level unless you have a group so for me being a semi casual gamer it sucked hanging around for people. 2nd I didn't like how the NPC's just stood around waiting to be wacked. I prefer a bit more AI that reacts to the environment. Tabula Rasa is unreal for this and EVE is not bad either, AoC has a grind factor but I appreciate more animations and the fact that guards will attack NPC's if they get to close. I hated being pwned by a skeleton when there were 10 dwarf warriors standing right next to me!!!
After thought...housing is pretty fun to work towards...
Don't worry OP, it's not you. I experienced this when trying the game out for a couple weeks recently:
· A tedious crafting system
· A tedious and unnecessary diplomacy mini-game
· Flickering textures all over the place. Clothing, flickering hay stacks/rocks, etc
· The ONLY MMO where your framerate is much WORSE in a dungeon than outside
· Bugged mining nodes all over the place
· A large world, but mostly empty
· Worst looking lakes ever. Does not fit with the rest of the graphics.
· Dreary, dull, un-colorful graphics, much like EQ2. It's as if someone placed a grey filter over everything.
· Falling through the world multiple times, mostly when swimming
· Bad animations. And if your computer is running at a nice framerate (above 50 FPS) your character looks like he is running at 20-25 FPS, so he looks shaky.
· Opening doors and the first thing you see is your characters eyeballs as you look through his skull.
· The UI can freeze up if you click the map and another icon too quickly.
· Walking up stairs makes the camera shake violently
· Missing objects such as windmills and doors, some appear when you get real close. Others, like windmills, flicker and then NEVER appear. They are completely missing!
it seems most of your problems are graphics based, which I don't think are the main aspect of the game, as long as the scenery is immersive, which I don't think anyone can say that it isn't.
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Hello!
Ergo, vis-a-vis, life is a WoW clone...
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
Sorry man, I quit reading at "wow clone".
LOL yeah if you have a Nvidia 2 series
So did you break your own rule and buy Vanguard, an SOE game? No? So how exactly do you know?
You statement implies you played VG at launch and you have played it since GU5 . Yet according to your tagline, you don't buy SOE games. I think what you know about VG's rate of improvement is actually very little.
I dont really care for Vanguard but its alot better than AOC...just my opinion
OK so I've played this game in beta and tried it again a short bit after release and while yes some really nice concepts got implemented overall the game was a mess. Despite the hype V:SoH never even hit 150K subs and last report I heard it was under 50K (that would mean DAoC and UO have more subs!). I'm not a really big fan of what some people's (and based on numbers that would be a minority) definition of "hard core". To these peeps its about meaningless time sinks, which V:SoH had plenty of.
Anyway I'm going to give V:SoH another shot and I'll try to keep an open mind and be fair. Just to note my PC's should run this game fine (weakest is a dual core 2 at 3.2ghz, 4gb ram, 8800GTS 640mb, 15mb connection).
So did you break your own rule and buy Vanguard, an SOE game? No? So how exactly do you know?
You statement implies you played VG at launch and you have played it since GU5 . Yet according to your tagline, you don't buy SOE games. I think what you know about VG's rate of improvement is actually very little.
maybe vanguard gave me that impression of soe, did you ever stop to think of that..been burned twice by soe in as many years is why i do not play their games..but you were getting too excited in your little head with your little flame attempt to think fo that.
So did you break your own rule and buy Vanguard, an SOE game? No? So how exactly do you know?
You statement implies you played VG at launch and you have played it since GU5 . Yet according to your tagline, you don't buy SOE games. I think what you know about VG's rate of improvement is actually very little.
i played at release and have checked to see how the game has come on in the last year "for free".. i still see the same bugs that were apparent in beta. But if you like paying for a sub-standard game then more power to you.