Originally posted by flatline29 I had some good flashbacks after reading this article, thank you. I have been wanting to resubscribe but then I remember all my characters were merged on that god forsaken Sartok server. I played at launch on the server Varking(Team PVP), with I think was the greatest guild that ever existed until the server merge. I was absent for a while during the merges so I didn't seem to have a choice but to be merged in with Sartok. After the merge I really didn't feel like playing the game anymore, I never liked the "FFA" aspect. I'm more of a "Light vs. Dark" "Human vs Orc" type of player. During my time on Varking was my greatest MMO experiences except for SWG of course. Yes, it had its frustrating bugs and constant crashing but it didn't stop me from loving the game. I miss cruising on my small swoop around in the ocean and through the little rivers taking in all the beauty that was Telon. I was becoming a high level artificer remembering wanting to break my keyboard when i got a bunch of failures in a row, ah how I miss those times. Do they offer transfer services for free or for a low fee? I might be interested in trying this game again.
I feel ya man. The team pvp server was so much fun, that's probably the one and only aspect I miss in vanguard. For anyone wondering about the transfer service, it's free and I think it can take up to a week for it to go through.
Vanguard lacked the polish I want in a MMO. It had awful animations and a clunky UI. I was REALLY looking forward to playing Vanguard. When it finally came out and I played it, I was very disappointed. I later went back to see if things had changed and it still lacks polish. I refuse to deal with antiquated game design. If it isn't polished, it's a waste of my time.
Vanguard lacked the polish I want in a MMO. It had awful animations and a clunky UI. I was REALLY looking forward to playing Vanguard. When it finally came out and I played it, I was very disappointed. I later went back to see if things had changed and it still lacks polish. I refuse to deal with antiquated game design. If it isn't polished, it's a waste of my time.
Well, I think I may do the Station Access thing. I'm in the middle of EQ2 and loving it, but like I said in an earlier post, I have this nagging feeling every day that I should be playing Vanguard, so hell, why not, I'll give it a whirl for a month and see how it goes.
Last night, while running through IoD for a few minutes, I saw a ton of people there. It gives me hope that a decent amount of them will enjoy their IoD experience and stick with it, at least for a few months.
So many people post here, nearly daily, saying how they want to come back to Vanguard, but that the population is to low. I implore you to give it a month and see how it goes. If everyone who wanted to come back so bad, gave it a month, give it May, then maybe they would see the game is awesome and there would be people to do stuff with and SOE would see their numbers improve. The more people, the more money, the more money, well hopefully the more SOE. :P
If you're interested in the game, give it a month folks.
Great way to polish a turd. This writer is quite good, and this game does seem very good at first glance, but the first poster nailed it on the head. It's the late game that leaves a person mad... which is the worst point to let a player down (for the player at least)
but after NGE and everything i read about SOE after that...
simply never again
You choice but a poor one. I hope you never get any set backs in real life with your attitude. Burning bridges may be honourable but isn't always the best approach.
hahah yeah dont you think that is kinda harsh... i am actually in RL quite reasonable
have you seen all the post in this thread about how SOE is treating the game.
i have nothing against Vanguard and i actually would really like to try it out. but as it is SOE is a company that wants money rather than making good games. for them the ones that actually call the shots ( not talking about Dev's) the game is an means to an end .money money!
and now i am totally guessing... but i think there is a strong possibility that they care nothing about the game it self but would rather want to see some nice graph with revenews that the game produces. meaning the game could change dramaticly in a heart beat into something terrable. due to the fact test groups think it should be like this rather than that. hence the Dev´s loose controle over the game and become less passionaet about the game. which gives us a crappy game or a game full of bugs and other nazty stuff.
blizzard for example started out small with "Lost Vikings" was it ?.... anyways... and moved up from there to the mega corporation that they are to day becouse the heads of the firm have always had a strong passion for gaming and that has shined trough out all of there games. (not the only reason why blizz is successful i know... due to number of other factors.. just making a point here)
now with that in mind and knowing before hand that they destroyed the best game i have ever played ( SWG) you can see how i would rather skip something that i could loose/give all my spare time too... rather than having to go through all that crapp again.
its for the same reason i have stoped eating at macdonalds... its easy to acces fast and cheep.. but its always kinda good. but i at least always whish that they where a little bit better,warmer or what ever. then every once in a while you hit like this Mac that is well "a good mac" but in the mean time you have spent so much money and time it would have been cheeper and better to go someplace nicer where you know there is awesome food. (i was not a Mac¨¨aholic btw went there like 4-6 times a month)
but that is why i boycott all SOE products.
and that was way to long
but on a final note.. i am semi retarded with out spell check ( Dyslexic ) which is for some odd reason not working on this computer. so i appolgize if this was a mess to read trough just too lazy to sit here and proof read for an hour :
Sorry for typos... dyslexic and just too damn lazy to proof read every post for 30 min (yes i am aware of spell check but it does not help that much
Well, I think I may do the Station Access thing. I'm in the middle of EQ2 and loving it, but like I said in an earlier post, I have this nagging feeling every day that I should be playing Vanguard, so hell, why not, I'll give it a whirl for a month and see how it goes.
Last night, while running through IoD for a few minutes, I saw a ton of people there. It gives me hope that a decent amount of them will enjoy their IoD experience and stick with it, at least for a few months.
So many people post here, nearly daily, saying how they want to come back to Vanguard, but that the population is to low. I implore you to give it a month and see how it goes. If everyone who wanted to come back so bad, gave it a month, give it May, then maybe they would see the game is awesome and there would be people to do stuff with and SOE would see their numbers improve. The more people, the more money, the more money, well hopefully the more SOE. :P
If you're interested in the game, give it a month folks.
Thanks for your update.
I will probably be checking into this again shortly...
Also... if anyone is going to give the game a shot, try to find out when the peak-times for a server's population are.
I just retuned to VG after a lengthy period away...I have always loved this Game...I've yet to do much since I've been back...
BTW...Does anyone know a trick using Vent with VG? I use the Ctrl key for P2T and if I stop moving I can't move at all with the Ctrl key down...If I'm moving before I push Ctrl it's fine...But I have not figured out a way, ouside of changing My P2T Key, which of coarse is out of the question...lol
For those wondering about good play times,i'm on Xeth,on at 1:30pm pst,did a who all and list was cut too short,so quite a few people on at this time.This is not a normal time for me though,i happen to have the day off.
If i passed this over i appologize,i have'nt seen it yet,but found out today that server transfer is free.
I'd really just like to say to everyone doggin the game and have'nt checked it out lately,you really should.We(my husband and i) have played pretty much every game out there EQ for 7 years(It became a second job,to be on top in the game have to be in a big raiding guild,we raided 5 out of 7 days in 5 hour blocks,was too much and they kinda screwed up when they introduced mercs),EQ2 on and off for about 3 years,(when they began simplifying the games it did'nt hold the same shine any more),WoW(we never made it through the trial)EVE(too time consuming,but still great game if you like all pvp and it has a great economy),Final Fantasy which has really good story lines,very cute),Lotr ,Coh/CoV and on and on.
I'm not knockin any one of these games,they all have their fans,but none for me has ever held the depth in game play or just the fun that VG does.
As for Sony,yea they piss me off,in pretty much every game i've played(with the exception of CCP,EVE) i've had issues within every game customer support ,devs etc.
I actually made a post on the VG forums and besides many welcomes back and nothing but kind words heres the respone i got."VG is better than it's ever been and within the last 2 months the population of all servers have been steadily increasing.I can assure you that there are a team of quality devs that put forth great effort every day to ensure the best ingame experience possible,and again welcome back!"..Is is bs? i don't think so but even if it was at least someone took the time answer.
For those just pissed off at Sony,your really missing out=/
For those just wanting a great gaming experience and happen to be on Xeth,give me a holler,i'll be around somewhere on Shara .
I loved Vangaurd, even at release, but grew tired as it started to feel more and more like an unfinished MMO where they were only giving us 60% of the content. That, and the addition of new grinding system (put this city banner on to get tokens for a special mount), SOEs in ability to tie their vangaurd, EQ, and other MMOs package deal (30 bucks a month at the time) with a 6 month package deal, the uselessness of all but a certain amount of powder and crafting material, the gimping of most of the dragon monk path, and the lack of information/new/details on patches or changes; I left it. I have checked in recent monthes to see if there were any changes using their website: http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/ and even now you can see the last time they had a patch/hotfix was supposedly in January. Has this changed? Have the opend up areas that previous mobs would one shot you, or fixed the Xennu (I think that was the name?) instance that they shut down? is curse of the vampire still spamming procs when you fight undead in certain zones, with no associated quest with it since they turned it off? They might have fixed this, but a lot of this they simply turned off rather then fixed it in the past. good potential, but a lot seems missing especially in the communication department.
raystantzFinal Fantasy XI CorrespondentMemberUncommonPosts: 1,237
everyone complains that the reason why they don't play vanguard is the low pop.. by not playing your part of the problem. Someone has to "Start" it to get more people on the servers.
www.facebook.com/themarksmovierules
Currently playing:
FFXIV on Behemoth, FFXI on Eden, and Gloria Victis on NA.
Right now, you won't find a better MMO for the following reasons -
There's tons of quests and two other spheres (crafting and diplomacy) to keep you busy, as well as the existing plethora of dungeons and areas to explore. There is quite a bit of new endgame content coming out of development from the developers who are improving this game every week. If you enjoy an elder scrolls type world where you basically have a seamless world without barriers or boundaries, you will probably enjoy this game a lot like most people who try it. Compared to EQ2 and WOW you have much more freedom.
One thing to caution is trying this game out by yourself - you may want to start up with a friend or two at first because since the world is so huge and the population is low (even though it seems to be increasing every day with people coming back, see the forums) you may find yourself lonely or overwhelmed if you go at it alone. Because of that the game is currently very guildcentric, so joining a guild really helps and the community is great.
You will not get a good feel for the game from the trial alone, it has more of a sandbox feel something like you would get from EQ2 where you are confined to a certain area that is cookiecutter in appearance, but the actual world and continents quickly strike a contrast to that if you go further than the Isle of dawn.
I have been playing VG since launch. I have yet to find a game that can keep me involved like VG in diversity. There is a load of quest content from low level range to high end including a lot of newly released quest lines. Not just adventuring quest lines but also diplomacy and crafting. I am in a high end casual raiding guild and we never seem to have a shortage of players for grouping. Mentoring is in the game which allows a higher level toon to drop down to a lower level to help others. As a officer and recruiter of TPO I am seeing returning players as well as people new to VG on a regular basis. Yes to some it seems a empty world, but keep in mind that world is very large, with huge amounts of land mass.
So VG has a load of new content, multiple spheres to get involved in, multiple classes and races, 12 toon slots, a nice amount of questing, wonderful graphics, ways to help your friends of lower level, a huge world with 3 continents to explore, flying mount questlines, helpful people on each server and loads more. Find me another game that compares...
Take a look, go through Isle of Dawn ( do yourself a favor and follow all 3 lines to level 10 for gear before leaving the isle) .. give Sionix / Dionyx a shout on Seradon and I'll be happy to show you some neat stuff!
Vanguard lacked the polish I want in a MMO. It had awful animations and a clunky UI. I was REALLY looking forward to playing Vanguard. When it finally came out and I played it, I was very disappointed. I later went back to see if things had changed and it still lacks polish. I refuse to deal with antiquated game design. If it isn't polished, it's a waste of my time.
Because depth and fun mean nothing?
To para phrase much of todays generation; "If you ain't got the flash, you don't get the cash"... ^^ Depth, lore, and fun mean little compared to the mentality that's caught up in Gogogogogogogo!... ^^ Most people don't bother reading the text any more. They just rush off in what ever direction, and rush to get to the end game. Then they rush through raiding. Then, of course, they complain that they are bored... <rolls eyes> ^^
I believe also at the same time why some aren't giving Vanguard another shot is simply enough people want to hit games and well...not having to worry about the future. People join mmos to play for years down the line, and to be quite frank, even I'm not so sure about that and Vanguard. I played for 3 years, I have nothing against Vanguard. Sure if you mention Silius then I might fire off but other than that you can understand both sides of the ball.
Calling ANY mmo the "Best MMO" just doesn't sell when its supposedly the best but has the weakest population around. Its all subjective. Like I said, VG is a game to play for the moment. How I would recommend the game? If someone is looking for that quick burst of fantasy fix, yes. If someone is looking for a game that will flourish down the line and he can talk to his friends about it and not get laughed at., no.
Plain and simple I don't believe SOE deserves to have such a title under its belt. I know that's my opinion and the realism is that its there so...yeah.
But from what has been read is that VG is becoming more of a "play it for a little bit to get fixed, then quit" because of...well population. I know someone has to start but you can't put customers up to that.
3 years after release and they still haven't properly fleshed out character animations. Jumping and casting animations are sub-vanilla EQ1 (hell even bows in EQ1 curved when they were drawn! Why not in vanguard?!). Though, some of Vanguard's melee animations are among the best I've seen in any video game.
The game has far too many drawbacks - ridiculously long quest lines that take hours to complete with full groups, small player base, insane grinding of the same damn 4 quests over and over and over and over and over... and over and over and over... Ridiculously tedious crafting.
Kudos to Sony in making the graphics smoother, but sorry, this game just isn't fun for so many other reasons and never will be. In the end it is still the same Vanguard, and always will be.
Vanguard is an amazing game but it has worked hard to get there. I picture Vanguard as a bumbling, spastic ugly little girl who put up with name calling, tomatoes tossed at her, and birds trying to nest in her hair. This little girl got older, wiser and stronger. Now she's a lady who is well muscled, has beautiful long hair and fair skin, extremely nice curves and the ability to kick your axx if you don't treat her right.
Exotic mounts acquired through questing.... check. (Some of the best mounts I've ever seen)
A huge world.... check. (I mean a really huge world. No joke. Three of them actually)
Housing... check. (Hard as hell to get one built unless you know someone who makes bricks)
Varied Armor and weapons... check. (You do NOT have to look like everyone else)
Diplomacy via a card game... check. (This is a ton of fun. Make your deck and then reap benefits, items, etc..)
Ships... check. (Travel the world and make believe you are Sinbad. hahaha. True)
Quests out the yingyang.... check. (No making fun of Ever Quest... but Vanguard has a billion quests)
Quests you've never seen before... check. (One of my favorites involves grinding up a victim into feed)
Components for days... check. (Think AO inventory was hard to manage? hahahah. Yea, right)
Crafting... check, check, check. (Multiple fields, hundreds of recipes, a collector's dream)
If there were more players this game would give WOW a run for its money. It's that good.
Vanguard is an amazing game but it has worked hard to get there. I picture Vanguard as a bumbling, spastic ugly little girl who put up with name calling, tomatoes tossed at her, and birds trying to nest in her hair. This little girl got older, wiser and stronger. Now she's a lady who is well muscled, has beautiful long hair and fair skin, extremely nice curves and the ability to kick your axx if you don't treat her right.
Exotic mounts acquired through questing.... check. (Some of the best mounts I've ever seen)
A huge world.... check. (I mean a really huge world. No joke. Three of them actually)
Housing... check. (Hard as hell to get one built unless you know someone who makes bricks)
Varied Armor and weapons... check. (You do NOT have to look like everyone else)
Diplomacy via a card game... check. (This is a ton of fun. Make your deck and then reap benefits, items, etc..)
Ships... check. (Travel the world and make believe you are Sinbad. hahaha. True)
Quests out the yingyang.... check. (No making fun of Ever Quest... but Vanguard has a billion quests)
Quests you've never seen before... check. (One of my favorites involves grinding up a victim into feed)
Components for days... check. (Think AO inventory was hard to manage? hahahah. Yea, right)
Crafting... check, check, check. (Multiple fields, hundreds of recipes, a collector's dream)
If there were more players this game would give WOW a run for its money. It's that good.
Give WoW a run for its money? Ok yeah now I want some of what you're smoking
I would quote each of your bullet points but...*shrugs* I dunno.
I've been playing it recently, and having some fun. It is running smoothly for me for the first time heh. The only problem is I can't seem to get into any of the classes. I don't know what it is, but there is something missing for me. The 2 that seem to be working for me somewhat are rogue and sorc. I was a little surprised I was liking the rogue since I usually don't like the positional play.
The necro was a little disappointing for me, but I think it has to do with the pet. I just don't like the use of pets in vanguard. I was kind of sad that I found monk to be a bit boring. I usually love monks. Maybe I just don't feel immersed. Going to keep trying various classes and level up the ones I like for the rest of my month, hopefully something sticks, heh.
Vanguard is an amazing game but it has worked hard to get there. I picture Vanguard as a bumbling, spastic ugly little girl who put up with name calling, tomatoes tossed at her, and birds trying to nest in her hair. This little girl got older, wiser and stronger. Now she's a lady who is well muscled, has beautiful long hair and fair skin, extremely nice curves and the ability to kick your axx if you don't treat her right.
Exotic mounts acquired through questing.... check. (Some of the best mounts I've ever seen)
A huge world.... check. (I mean a really huge world. No joke. Three of them actually)
Housing... check. (Hard as hell to get one built unless you know someone who makes bricks)
Varied Armor and weapons... check. (You do NOT have to look like everyone else)
Diplomacy via a card game... check. (This is a ton of fun. Make your deck and then reap benefits, items, etc..)
Ships... check. (Travel the world and make believe you are Sinbad. hahaha. True)
Quests out the yingyang.... check. (No making fun of Ever Quest... but Vanguard has a billion quests)
Quests you've never seen before... check. (One of my favorites involves grinding up a victim into feed)
Components for days... check. (Think AO inventory was hard to manage? hahahah. Yea, right)
Crafting... check, check, check. (Multiple fields, hundreds of recipes, a collector's dream)
If there were more players this game would give WOW a run for its money. It's that good.
Give WoW a run for its money? Ok yeah now I want some of what you're smoking
I would quote each of your bullet points but...*shrugs* I dunno.
Take the easy way out when you have nothing to disprove his points, why don't ya? I know the "give wow a run for its money" is pushing it, but still everything else he said is correct.
Vanguard is an amazing game but it has worked hard to get there. I picture Vanguard as a bumbling, spastic ugly little girl who put up with name calling, tomatoes tossed at her, and birds trying to nest in her hair. This little girl got older, wiser and stronger. Now she's a lady who is well muscled, has beautiful long hair and fair skin, extremely nice curves and the ability to kick your axx if you don't treat her right.
Exotic mounts acquired through questing.... check. (Some of the best mounts I've ever seen)
A huge world.... check. (I mean a really huge world. No joke. Three of them actually)
Housing... check. (Hard as hell to get one built unless you know someone who makes bricks)
Varied Armor and weapons... check. (You do NOT have to look like everyone else)
Diplomacy via a card game... check. (This is a ton of fun. Make your deck and then reap benefits, items, etc..)
Ships... check. (Travel the world and make believe you are Sinbad. hahaha. True)
Quests out the yingyang.... check. (No making fun of Ever Quest... but Vanguard has a billion quests)
Quests you've never seen before... check. (One of my favorites involves grinding up a victim into feed)
Components for days... check. (Think AO inventory was hard to manage? hahahah. Yea, right)
Crafting... check, check, check. (Multiple fields, hundreds of recipes, a collector's dream)
If there were more players this game would give WOW a run for its money. It's that good.
Give WoW a run for its money? Ok yeah now I want some of what you're smoking
I would quote each of your bullet points but...*shrugs* I dunno.
Take the easy way out when you have nothing to disprove his points, why don't ya? I know the "give wow a run for its money" is pushing it, but still everything else he said is correct.
Don't mind Raive. He was the guild leader for one of the most successful raiding guilds on Seradon till he got really jaded and left the game. Most of what he writes now adays is emotionally charged and not necessarily factually correct. Just bring up Silius and you can watch his head explode.
After reading every single one of these replies, I think Guyra's is pretty dead on. My personal opinion is Vanguard is the best PvE game on the market but a horrible launch and unclear development path has dwindled the population down. It hasn't been until recently that things have started making a change for the better and the original article that all this discussion is stemming from is very accurate if not a tad bit indulgent. If you play Vanguard again, BRING A FRIEND! It will make each of your gaming experiences that much more enjoyable!!
Comments
That's not true,every single class can reach top level solo.how fast you do it depends on what class you choose.
Furious Fighters
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/13trindx.htm
<iframe src="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-model-embed.xml?r=Malorne&cn=Ashkin&rhtml=true"; scrolling="no" height="588" width="321" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Vanguard lacked the polish I want in a MMO. It had awful animations and a clunky UI. I was REALLY looking forward to playing Vanguard. When it finally came out and I played it, I was very disappointed. I later went back to see if things had changed and it still lacks polish. I refuse to deal with antiquated game design. If it isn't polished, it's a waste of my time.
so...
Because depth and fun mean nothing?
-Computer specs no one cares about: check.
-MMOs played no one cares about: check.
-Xfire stats no one cares about: check.
-Signature no one cares about: check.
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-Narcissism: check.
Well, I think I may do the Station Access thing. I'm in the middle of EQ2 and loving it, but like I said in an earlier post, I have this nagging feeling every day that I should be playing Vanguard, so hell, why not, I'll give it a whirl for a month and see how it goes.
Last night, while running through IoD for a few minutes, I saw a ton of people there. It gives me hope that a decent amount of them will enjoy their IoD experience and stick with it, at least for a few months.
So many people post here, nearly daily, saying how they want to come back to Vanguard, but that the population is to low. I implore you to give it a month and see how it goes. If everyone who wanted to come back so bad, gave it a month, give it May, then maybe they would see the game is awesome and there would be people to do stuff with and SOE would see their numbers improve. The more people, the more money, the more money, well hopefully the more SOE. :P
If you're interested in the game, give it a month folks.
Great way to polish a turd. This writer is quite good, and this game does seem very good at first glance, but the first poster nailed it on the head. It's the late game that leaves a person mad... which is the worst point to let a player down (for the player at least)
Elite poster by 82
hahah yeah dont you think that is kinda harsh... i am actually in RL quite reasonable
have you seen all the post in this thread about how SOE is treating the game.
i have nothing against Vanguard and i actually would really like to try it out. but as it is SOE is a company that wants money rather than making good games. for them the ones that actually call the shots ( not talking about Dev's) the game is an means to an end .money money!
and now i am totally guessing... but i think there is a strong possibility that they care nothing about the game it self but would rather want to see some nice graph with revenews that the game produces. meaning the game could change dramaticly in a heart beat into something terrable. due to the fact test groups think it should be like this rather than that. hence the Dev´s loose controle over the game and become less passionaet about the game. which gives us a crappy game or a game full of bugs and other nazty stuff.
blizzard for example started out small with "Lost Vikings" was it ?.... anyways... and moved up from there to the mega corporation that they are to day becouse the heads of the firm have always had a strong passion for gaming and that has shined trough out all of there games. (not the only reason why blizz is successful i know... due to number of other factors.. just making a point here)
now with that in mind and knowing before hand that they destroyed the best game i have ever played ( SWG) you can see how i would rather skip something that i could loose/give all my spare time too... rather than having to go through all that crapp again.
its for the same reason i have stoped eating at macdonalds... its easy to acces fast and cheep.. but its always kinda good. but i at least always whish that they where a little bit better,warmer or what ever. then every once in a while you hit like this Mac that is well "a good mac" but in the mean time you have spent so much money and time it would have been cheeper and better to go someplace nicer where you know there is awesome food. (i was not a Mac¨¨aholic btw went there like 4-6 times a month)
but that is why i boycott all SOE products.
and that was way to long
but on a final note.. i am semi retarded with out spell check ( Dyslexic ) which is for some odd reason not working on this computer. so i appolgize if this was a mess to read trough just too lazy to sit here and proof read for an hour :
Sorry for typos... dyslexic and just too damn lazy to proof read every post for 30 min
(yes i am aware of spell check but it does not help that much
Thanks for your update.
I will probably be checking into this again shortly...
Also... if anyone is going to give the game a shot, try to find out when the peak-times for a server's population are.
I just retuned to VG after a lengthy period away...I have always loved this Game...I've yet to do much since I've been back...
BTW...Does anyone know a trick using Vent with VG? I use the Ctrl key for P2T and if I stop moving I can't move at all with the Ctrl key down...If I'm moving before I push Ctrl it's fine...But I have not figured out a way, ouside of changing My P2T Key, which of coarse is out of the question...lol
Even though I am one of those who have kept playing since beta, I won't scoff at you !
It's an excellent review of the current state of the game.
There are still bugs, and class issues, but every game has those and it's an ongoing work in progress.
Vanguard is the best MMO on the market right now, and it's also the best kept secret...
For those wondering about good play times,i'm on Xeth,on at 1:30pm pst,did a who all and list was cut too short,so quite a few people on at this time.This is not a normal time for me though,i happen to have the day off.
If i passed this over i appologize,i have'nt seen it yet,but found out today that server transfer is free.
I'd really just like to say to everyone doggin the game and have'nt checked it out lately,you really should.We(my husband and i) have played pretty much every game out there EQ for 7 years(It became a second job,to be on top in the game have to be in a big raiding guild,we raided 5 out of 7 days in 5 hour blocks,was too much and they kinda screwed up when they introduced mercs),EQ2 on and off for about 3 years,(when they began simplifying the games it did'nt hold the same shine any more),WoW(we never made it through the trial)EVE(too time consuming,but still great game if you like all pvp and it has a great economy),Final Fantasy which has really good story lines,very cute),Lotr ,Coh/CoV and on and on.
I'm not knockin any one of these games,they all have their fans,but none for me has ever held the depth in game play or just the fun that VG does.
As for Sony,yea they piss me off,in pretty much every game i've played(with the exception of CCP,EVE) i've had issues within every game customer support ,devs etc.
I actually made a post on the VG forums and besides many welcomes back and nothing but kind words heres the respone i got."VG is better than it's ever been and within the last 2 months the population of all servers have been steadily increasing.I can assure you that there are a team of quality devs that put forth great effort every day to ensure the best ingame experience possible,and again welcome back!"..Is is bs? i don't think so but even if it was at least someone took the time answer.
For those just pissed off at Sony,your really missing out=/
For those just wanting a great gaming experience and happen to be on Xeth,give me a holler,i'll be around somewhere on Shara
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I loved Vangaurd, even at release, but grew tired as it started to feel more and more like an unfinished MMO where they were only giving us 60% of the content. That, and the addition of new grinding system (put this city banner on to get tokens for a special mount), SOEs in ability to tie their vangaurd, EQ, and other MMOs package deal (30 bucks a month at the time) with a 6 month package deal, the uselessness of all but a certain amount of powder and crafting material, the gimping of most of the dragon monk path, and the lack of information/new/details on patches or changes; I left it. I have checked in recent monthes to see if there were any changes using their website: http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/ and even now you can see the last time they had a patch/hotfix was supposedly in January. Has this changed? Have the opend up areas that previous mobs would one shot you, or fixed the Xennu (I think that was the name?) instance that they shut down? is curse of the vampire still spamming procs when you fight undead in certain zones, with no associated quest with it since they turned it off? They might have fixed this, but a lot of this they simply turned off rather then fixed it in the past. good potential, but a lot seems missing especially in the communication department.
everyone complains that the reason why they don't play vanguard is the low pop.. by not playing your part of the problem. Someone has to "Start" it to get more people on the servers.
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Currently playing:
FFXIV on Behemoth, FFXI on Eden, and Gloria Victis on NA.
Been playing VG since launch, here's my take:
Right now, you won't find a better MMO for the following reasons -
There's tons of quests and two other spheres (crafting and diplomacy) to keep you busy, as well as the existing plethora of dungeons and areas to explore. There is quite a bit of new endgame content coming out of development from the developers who are improving this game every week. If you enjoy an elder scrolls type world where you basically have a seamless world without barriers or boundaries, you will probably enjoy this game a lot like most people who try it. Compared to EQ2 and WOW you have much more freedom.
One thing to caution is trying this game out by yourself - you may want to start up with a friend or two at first because since the world is so huge and the population is low (even though it seems to be increasing every day with people coming back, see the forums) you may find yourself lonely or overwhelmed if you go at it alone. Because of that the game is currently very guildcentric, so joining a guild really helps and the community is great.
You will not get a good feel for the game from the trial alone, it has more of a sandbox feel something like you would get from EQ2 where you are confined to a certain area that is cookiecutter in appearance, but the actual world and continents quickly strike a contrast to that if you go further than the Isle of dawn.
Give it a shot and see if you like it,.
I have been playing VG since launch. I have yet to find a game that can keep me involved like VG in diversity. There is a load of quest content from low level range to high end including a lot of newly released quest lines. Not just adventuring quest lines but also diplomacy and crafting. I am in a high end casual raiding guild and we never seem to have a shortage of players for grouping. Mentoring is in the game which allows a higher level toon to drop down to a lower level to help others. As a officer and recruiter of TPO I am seeing returning players as well as people new to VG on a regular basis. Yes to some it seems a empty world, but keep in mind that world is very large, with huge amounts of land mass.
So VG has a load of new content, multiple spheres to get involved in, multiple classes and races, 12 toon slots, a nice amount of questing, wonderful graphics, ways to help your friends of lower level, a huge world with 3 continents to explore, flying mount questlines, helpful people on each server and loads more. Find me another game that compares...
Take a look, go through Isle of Dawn ( do yourself a favor and follow all 3 lines to level 10 for gear before leaving the isle) .. give Sionix / Dionyx a shout on Seradon and I'll be happy to show you some neat stuff!
To para phrase much of todays generation; "If you ain't got the flash, you don't get the cash"... ^^ Depth, lore, and fun mean little compared to the mentality that's caught up in Gogogogogogogo!... ^^ Most people don't bother reading the text any more. They just rush off in what ever direction, and rush to get to the end game. Then they rush through raiding. Then, of course, they complain that they are bored... <rolls eyes> ^^
I believe also at the same time why some aren't giving Vanguard another shot is simply enough people want to hit games and well...not having to worry about the future. People join mmos to play for years down the line, and to be quite frank, even I'm not so sure about that and Vanguard. I played for 3 years, I have nothing against Vanguard. Sure if you mention Silius then I might fire off but other than that you can understand both sides of the ball.
Calling ANY mmo the "Best MMO" just doesn't sell when its supposedly the best but has the weakest population around. Its all subjective. Like I said, VG is a game to play for the moment. How I would recommend the game? If someone is looking for that quick burst of fantasy fix, yes. If someone is looking for a game that will flourish down the line and he can talk to his friends about it and not get laughed at., no.
Plain and simple I don't believe SOE deserves to have such a title under its belt. I know that's my opinion and the realism is that its there so...yeah.
But from what has been read is that VG is becoming more of a "play it for a little bit to get fixed, then quit" because of...well population. I know someone has to start but you can't put customers up to that.
3 years after release and they still haven't properly fleshed out character animations. Jumping and casting animations are sub-vanilla EQ1 (hell even bows in EQ1 curved when they were drawn! Why not in vanguard?!). Though, some of Vanguard's melee animations are among the best I've seen in any video game.
The game has far too many drawbacks - ridiculously long quest lines that take hours to complete with full groups, small player base, insane grinding of the same damn 4 quests over and over and over and over and over... and over and over and over... Ridiculously tedious crafting.
Kudos to Sony in making the graphics smoother, but sorry, this game just isn't fun for so many other reasons and never will be. In the end it is still the same Vanguard, and always will be.
Thank you for this write-up. (applaud)
Vanguard is an amazing game but it has worked hard to get there. I picture Vanguard as a bumbling, spastic ugly little girl who put up with name calling, tomatoes tossed at her, and birds trying to nest in her hair. This little girl got older, wiser and stronger. Now she's a lady who is well muscled, has beautiful long hair and fair skin, extremely nice curves and the ability to kick your axx if you don't treat her right.
Exotic mounts acquired through questing.... check. (Some of the best mounts I've ever seen)
A huge world.... check. (I mean a really huge world. No joke. Three of them actually)
Housing... check. (Hard as hell to get one built unless you know someone who makes bricks)
Varied Armor and weapons... check. (You do NOT have to look like everyone else)
Diplomacy via a card game... check. (This is a ton of fun. Make your deck and then reap benefits, items, etc..)
Ships... check. (Travel the world and make believe you are Sinbad. hahaha. True)
Quests out the yingyang.... check. (No making fun of Ever Quest... but Vanguard has a billion quests)
Quests you've never seen before... check. (One of my favorites involves grinding up a victim into feed)
Components for days... check. (Think AO inventory was hard to manage? hahahah. Yea, right)
Crafting... check, check, check. (Multiple fields, hundreds of recipes, a collector's dream)
If there were more players this game would give WOW a run for its money. It's that good.
Give WoW a run for its money? Ok yeah now I want some of what you're smoking
I would quote each of your bullet points but...*shrugs* I dunno.
I've been playing it recently, and having some fun. It is running smoothly for me for the first time heh. The only problem is I can't seem to get into any of the classes. I don't know what it is, but there is something missing for me. The 2 that seem to be working for me somewhat are rogue and sorc. I was a little surprised I was liking the rogue since I usually don't like the positional play.
The necro was a little disappointing for me, but I think it has to do with the pet. I just don't like the use of pets in vanguard. I was kind of sad that I found monk to be a bit boring. I usually love monks. Maybe I just don't feel immersed. Going to keep trying various classes and level up the ones I like for the rest of my month, hopefully something sticks, heh.
This game has greatly improved. I hope SOE can put some marketing into the game. It is worth giving it a second chance.
Take the easy way out when you have nothing to disprove his points, why don't ya? I know the "give wow a run for its money" is pushing it, but still everything else he said is correct.
-Computer specs no one cares about: check.
-MMOs played no one cares about: check.
-Xfire stats no one cares about: check.
-Signature no one cares about: check.
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-Narcissism: check.
Don't mind Raive. He was the guild leader for one of the most successful raiding guilds on Seradon till he got really jaded and left the game. Most of what he writes now adays is emotionally charged and not necessarily factually correct. Just bring up Silius and you can watch his head explode.
After reading every single one of these replies, I think Guyra's is pretty dead on. My personal opinion is Vanguard is the best PvE game on the market but a horrible launch and unclear development path has dwindled the population down. It hasn't been until recently that things have started making a change for the better and the original article that all this discussion is stemming from is very accurate if not a tad bit indulgent. If you play Vanguard again, BRING A FRIEND! It will make each of your gaming experiences that much more enjoyable!!