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Vanguard... is suprisingly fun.
kitsunegirl
Member Posts: 525
A bit of history first.
I loved the idea of this game back before it came out, I followed it closely. I wasnt hyped about it or anything, wasnt a fangirl. My comp wasnt spectacular like it is now, but it did its job well enough. So when I spent the 40$ on it and got it installed. I was hugely disappointed that the game was flawed, didnt run, crashed and was full of bugs and lagged so bad it wasnt even playable. To this day Vanguard was the only game I regretted wasting 40$ on, and wished I could have the money back.
Until recently...
I got a better comp put together, and whatever SOE did to Vanguard, they did well. It runs! its fun! Its actually quite pretty once you can take the settings off of "amorphous blob" lol.
Crafting blows EQ2's crafting out of the water, I liked EQ2's crafting and until this I thought it was the best, EQ2's crafting always made me sleepy... this is more interactive, youre not just spamming buttons. Although Im not sure I how I made wood with just solvent. hehe
Bards in this game are awesome! The singing spells are composable, and the attack animations are pretty cool. I'm loving my wood elf bard.
Low server populations mean not much lag, GMs arent harried to get everyone answered, obnoxious trolls arent lurking everywhere. Im sure there are some there still, but they arent as noticeable (yet).
My few complaints are: Theres no dressing room, theres no maps for the towns, and Caial Brael makes the Undercity and Kelethin look like a walk in the park.... I NEED a map! lol I also wish I could make my elf's face not look like it was hit with an ugly-stick. She's cute, but she looks a bit inbred. >.>
Edit: There doesnt appear to be any "town clothes" either... theres robes and such, but no dresses like in other mmos. So thats a point off as well. 
If Vanguard had been released in the condition it is now, and my comp had been able to play it, I would have never left the game. It's just that good.
And that's my new opinion of Vanguard. ^.^
Comments
You said it yourself "...low server populations..."
That is why V:SoH is not going to be much fun for long.
At least not as an MMO.
That depends on your expectations. If you want raiding or want to do tons of instances, good luck. I doubt they are thay low on people that you couldnt get an instance done though.
Im not a raider, so that doesnt affect me.
Plus that's one of the things,
if people are put off by low pop, then they are only hindering the problem by not giving it a go for that exact reason. If they want something done about it, then join up. It's a knock on affect.
Personally I haven't seen huge amounts of people, but I've seen enough in the starting areas, which I was surprised about, and in the first gnome town it felt like there were plenty of people around, although I don't really use /s much anyway.
If you do the search for people, I always see plenty of 50s on, which I guess is the most important thing, although I think any game would be better with more people.
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Hello!
If you are into crafting this is an interesting place:
http://www.vanguardcrafters.com/
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~Ernest Gaines
There is a reason VG has a low population. That reason is what hinders the game. But on a personal note: I've been watching and taking pokes at this game since it's release. But recently purchased a copy for $3.99 on ebay. I'm waiting for my new computer to arrive before I give it a try. Keeping my expectations low, I'm confident that at least the free month will be worth the $3.99 investment. It goes against all my principles to play another SoE game though. So this isn't easy for me.
Welcome to the game. I recently rejoined and am enjoying it too. Not to any addictive levels but it does keep me interested.
Just wanted to note there is a sort of dressing room system. When you move over an armor item's symbol you'll see how it looks 'live' on your charactermodel.
Vanguard has instances????
You don't really need a group to do the dungeons I have seen, though they certainly do help. As as side note, I've run across other groups in ever dungeon I've ever been in.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Benjamin Franklin
Server pops seem low in the newbie areas, because there are so many starting areas and people level out of them in a few days. In other areas, mid to high-level, they are getting pretty crowded.... Khal alone was pushing 150 people a few days ago.
When they introduce the new player models and put full character customization back in and think we'll all find we can do a lot more with our avatars.
There is a reason VG has a low population. That reason is what hinders the game. But on a personal note: I've been watching and taking pokes at this game since it's release. But recently purchased a copy for $3.99 on ebay. I'm waiting for my new computer to arrive before I give it a try. Keeping my expectations low, I'm confident that at least the free month will be worth the $3.99 investment. It goes against all my principles to play another SoE game though. So this isn't easy for me.
Typical. Another person just following the trend to hate SOE. It's a company, it's not as if they exploit there workers, so why the problem with it??? SOE have done great things, what the hell have you done?
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Hello!
Yeah this game is a very good game. Hopefully it continues to pick up steam.
While Xeth has lower population than Serdan, I still find the 7 shards of APW in most case fully occupied, that you'll have to often share shards with other guilds. So worry not that there will be no one to run raids with.
Actually there is kinda a dressing room function. When you mouse over items look at your character. It automatically shows what the item looks like on your character.
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Ethion
Glad to hear you are having fun, I'm having a blast as well
I actually WANT to make alts, the classes in this game kick so much a$$!
I bought VG last week and I love it so far. With free trials coming up I think SOE needs to also do a advertising campaign. As of right now its pretty much word of mouth. Even small things like a users guide, Map guide,etc. Makes people see it on the shelfs as well. Man I should work in marketing.
Kitsune,
Do you play on Seradon? If so, look me up sometime, I have a thing for the hot asian women
. Rurprekt, lvl 26 sorc. Oh, and have you tried diplomacy?
Perception is Reality.
ROFL, lamesauce
She's actually probably a guy.
I like asian woman too. Though I like it in RL. lol.
Actually there is kinda a dressing room function. When you mouse over items look at your character. It automatically shows what the item looks like on your character.
Oooooooh... I didnt know about that, thanks! ^.^
ROFL, lamesauce
She's actually probably a guy.
And youre actually probly not human. Whats it to you, even if I was a guy? Not like youd ever have a chance anyway... or maybe thats why...
Anyway, Im not asian; I wish I was sometimes, asian girls are so cute. Im Irish, Scottish and Mohawk indian... so Im an angry bitter drunk. lol
ROFL, lamesauce
She's actually probably a guy.
It's called RP.
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Hello!
Its not so big problem if you are in a nice guild. For me its even more easy to find party than it was in mid populated WoW server. Thats because classes are more flexible and dungeons difficulty is not linear - they are easy near the enterance and more difficult when you go deeper so you can start with 4 or even 3 ppls. Even if it take you some time to find ppls there are planty things to do like crafting and diplomacy.
Where themepark games try to hide that they are copying WOW, games like Mortal Online and Darkfall make no attempt to hide their inspiration
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LordOfDarkDesire
Its not so big problem if you are in a nice guild. For me its even more easy to find party than it was in mid populated WoW server. Thats because classes are more flexible and dungeons difficulty is not linear - they are easy near the enterance and more difficult when you go deeper so you can start with 4 or even 3 ppls. Even if it take you some time to find ppls there are planty things to do like crafting and diplomacy.
I'll add that people in VG are far more group oriented then other games. In the past week I created a new character and once I got to lvl 8 or so I've been grouping almost non stop till lvl 17. I'm playing a bard which isn't the most group desirable class. After spending a couple days in AoC trying to make a cistern group or join one this game has been a real joy for groups. Last night I got on in Vestals and was gonna do the solo quests. I ran into a guy also doing a solo quest killing the same mobs I was. Rather then compete I sent him a tell to group and we did. We did a couple quests and did some small group ones also. There was another person at that camp and we invited them. Then we decided maybe we should make a real group and in about 5 minutes I had 3 more people and we were off to the athalatan cave near vestals.
It has been like that every time I wanted to group. I watch OOC and see lots of people making groups or wanting groups. Everyone had a great time. We did KE after that first dungeon. Grouping and Doing the great dungeons in VG is where the game REALLY shines.
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Ethion
i think once GU6 comes out the game will be a gem. I really enjoy it. I stopped playing recently because i am alot more involved with EVE atm....but i can definitely see myself coming back and enjoying VG alot more with the new character models
Yeah the first time I needed help in VG I Had someone party me right out of the blue and help out, everytime I had a question to ask, there was 3 or 4 people responding. I had someone help me out with Diplomacy, and then he sent me 5 really nice cards!
Small server sizes arent good for business, but they sure do make for a good tight-knight community in game.
I agree im on my 5th day so far, trying out different classes to see what I like. I really love the community online. Like you said everyone seems to be helpful. My next learning curve is Diplomacy, which I think i'll try to find some doc's on to help me understand.
After AoC I'm skeptical about buying before trying mmorpgs now
They need to add a 7day trial or something
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