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EverQuest Nostalgia? Try Vanguard.
You may have tried Vanguard when it first launched and thought it was terrible, and am probably thinking I'm an idiot for recommending it, but hear me out.
I recently tried the trial for Vanguard because I was utterly bored, and I was really surprised at how well the game is made. It feels, literally, like EverQuest one souped up with better graphics, and retains EverQuest's MASSIVE, explorative world with a sandbox feel to it.
If you've played EQ2 and felt it was too streamlined, closed in and instanced, then try Vanguard. Really - the trial is free, and you may just find what you're looking for if you're missing EverQuest. It feels just like it, to me.
Comments
I think Vanguard could have really been a great game if it had more resources and time to develop.
If it were true, though, that Vanguard is like EQ, I would have a Vanguard subscription right now and, in all likelihood, be playing Vanguard right now.
It has a great, really great foundation and ideas, but the foundation needs to be developed and ideas implemented. The last time I played my performance was also up-and-down: good, great, terrible, bad, laggy, fine, glitchy, etc. Might have been my computer, dunno.
Have you tried it recently, though?
The quality has gone up drastically since launch - DRASTICALLY. It's like a whole different game.
And don't think I'm a fanboy either, I'm usually very cynical about MMOs and I only JUST started playing Vanguard, but it feels so much like EQ1 to me that I felt I had to at least inform you guys, because it has kind of gone off the map in recent times.
I played Vanguard at launch for about 6 months and I lost interest. Maxed my Necro to the highest level and explored a great deal, finished a lot of qeusts, did a lot of diplomacy, etc. It is propably the closest thing to EQ than any other game but it is really missing something. I can't really say but it feels souless. The graphics are better but I just don't like the gameplay for some reason. I'm back to EQ after playing VG, EQ2, EVE and I am enjoying it a lot. I really wished VG was for me and I felt I gave it a really good shot. I just got really bored. However, I will try it one more time after I get a new PC so I can crank the graphics which hopefully cranks my interest. I was unable to play it at launch or even late 2008 without lag issues and I am assuming that it's my PC but who knows.
Title needs to be changed to Don't Try Vanguard. The game is sadly still pathetic as it was at release. If you loved EQ1 Vanguard has its similarities but ultimately is a crappy game.
I tried Vanguard again a month ago - still laggy, even with lowered graphic settings.
Note - my PC runs EQ2 just fine, despite EQ2 being quite graphics-intensive.
Guess it comes down to your rig but I find VG runs better than EQ2 by a long shot... but EQ2 is very CPU heavy while VG is GPU heavy. That said VG does feel a lot like EQ but as mentioned... its missing about 350 zones content wise. I played a Disciple to the low 30s and had been everywhere in two of three continents. Meanwhile in EQ you could cap out in only 5% of the content. Really kind of a who cares for SOE though since one way or the other... you're paying their dev teams.
True but I and many others already played the crap out of WoW
Can only do the same content over so many times before I get bored. I bore easy though, I never run a raid or dungeon more than 1-3 times on a character. That's what I have 13 MMO boxes on the shelf I can go to. Would be more but AC2 and TR closed and I tossed my AC and UO boxes long ago.
I raided Hate 100 times for full Indocolite, you should play a warrior in either game for the "joy" of being solely equipment based, well at least WoW isn't quite as bad. Then you need some tool developer who plays a necromancer tell you your class is balanced on top of it when his 49 pet owns you with the Necro watching, EQ1 sucked for class balanced and they should all rot for it.
I played EQ for 5 years and Vanguard for about 2 months in beta.....For some reason the game never clicked for me....With EQ I had totall immersion the second I logged into the world....With Vanguard I never felt any connection whatsoever...... When you factor in issues like terrible lag, hitching, empty zones, little or no signs of life, then the immersion factor goes way down..... Also the first couple of dungeons I did crashed and my group died deep inside with no chance of corpse recovery......There were just way too many issues with the game for it to ever be anything like EQ1.......
I have highlighted it ==> total immersion.
My theory is that we will achieve immersion through innovation. Vanguard's developers, in my view, made a crucial mistake: they revered techonology (awesome, amazing graphics) at the cost and expense of innovation. Too much emphasis was placed on technology and not new and different ways of experiencing an MMORPG. Vanguard does have many innovative features, and it does have many immersion features. It is a shame, though, it also had so many techological problems.
Many people used to, and some continue to, discuss Vanguard's "potential." I think what they mean is that there is, one could detect, some genius, innovation, and immersion to the game . . . but it has many and varied problems.
I gave Vanguard a good run, played it from open beta for 1 full year before I gave up on it. I watched my friends come & go, while I was the only one left playing the game, hoping for things to get better. I then realized I stayed in Vanguard that long because I missed EQ. So in a way, the thread is kinda valid, Vanguard does bring back that good 'ol nostalgia for a bit. But what EQ1 has, Vanguard just can't compare.
1. Lore - I missed EQ1 lore, I wanted so bad to get to know Vanguard's lore, its Gods, and how things came about. But VG just couldn't deliver. Since day 1 the game felt like it was 5 different departments working on 5 separate projects put together, combined what they had, and said voila here's Vanguard. Things were about to get better when the "lore guy" said he was working on some good lore stuff, and that he was trying to inject lore into adventuring. Unfortunately like many good things, he got let go when they cut staff so that never came about.
2. Depth - This is hard to explain, but any seasoned MMO vet knows the difference between a game with depth and a game that's fun for awhile but just lacks *something*. You get that feeling with Vanguard once you cap out in level, there's something missing. There isn't enough things to keep you occupied and going.
3. Content / Slow development - It took them a year to get a new dungeon out, maybe longer. For a long time the game lost raiders and people that capped out in level. People have to wait a long time for content releases and patches. The game is 2 years old and no expansion planned on the horizon. The small dev team has really crippled the development of Vanguard, and there's no slight indication that SOE is going to boost Vanguard's resources.
4. Performance - Vanguard's engine is still a pig, it's a resource hog. Yes the game looks great, but it still comes down to playability and gameplay. This has been VG's Achilles' heel since day 1.
I think Vanguard is worthy of a try, it's a good game, it may last you for quite awhile depending on your playstyle. But Vanguard is not EQ. I do agree Vanguard is more of a successor to EQ1 than EQ2 is, because VG was developed with EQ1 in mind. But due to the name, and the company that developed it, it can never be an Everquest.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
QFT
After barreling through the limited (though fun) content in TCoS (there really is only enough to do for one play through), and SOE announcing that the new server will be a 50/51 for EQ (no thanks) I went back and tried VG.
I'm very glad I did.
VG is running just fine for me, has enough content (as a social small group non raid player) to keep me going for a long long time yet, and has a simply stunning world. Sure, it isnt perfect (no mmorpg is) and it needs some love in certain parts (all mmorpgs do), but for fans of traditional co-op play fantasy mmorpgs Vanguard is a gift.
No, VG isnt classic EQ, but it shares the same play/ system design philosophies and vibes enough to appeal to dissatisfied old school players. Much more then anything else on the market right now does anyhow.
VG is nice, I'm playing it now, but it is nothing compared to old EQ, nothing is.
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."