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What sets this apart from other MMORPGS?
Lashley
Member UncommonPosts: 587
I see alot of people talking about this game in a good light, but what seperates it from other MMORPGS?
Comments
Nothing extremely special....However :
- It's one of the only Vanilla mmo's left. It's hard, it's group orientated, It's open world ( do what you like, make your own history ).
- Classes are unique.
- It's one of the only games that are full and complete. It would take two years to see everything. My opinion is that there are less than ten games that are full.
- The game slowly got fixed. Sure there are some bugs but nothing game breaking. YES it will run on most any computer, but people refuse to change from default " Balanced " to " High Performance ", because they insist on great graphics even if they have a $400 Bust Buy laptop.
- they added a Trial Island that is well done and is a good example of what the real world is like after level 10.
MMO's are to be just that " Multi Player ", play with others. Some would say how do you do that, with a low population........Easy use the Social Panel and search out others, ask nice and do there stuff. Make a friend !.........Many would say Bull, I should not have to do that, friends should be handed to me on a silver platter. If that's the case, then find a solo mmo like Rift or WoW, and pay $15 a month to play by yourself or use a " Dungeon finder " with a " Kick a buddy feature " !!!
It has a vast open world you can explore, with lots of non-instanted dungeons.
I think that is Vanguard's strongest point. That you can just wander around across the landscape and and unwaringly run into a dungeon.
That is what's so dissapointing with so many MMO's these days. Everything is chopped up in small zones and heavily instanced.
Something SOE is finally and hopefully going to change with EQ:Next.
All the different outfits and items (adventure, harvesting, crafting, diplomacy) is also quite unique and makes the game more interesting.
Diplomacy is quite a fun cardgame when you get the hang of it and you can get some nice rewards out of it.
A couple of the things I like are:
The diplomacy aspect. I haven't really seen that in most MMOs. Its pretty neat and fun
The crafting. Nothing new about MMOs having crafting, but VG has a neat system which is a mini game unto itself
The combat. Pretty standard
Graphics. Good, if dated
Classes. Good range of choices
Quests. Nice variety, but nothing revolutionary
PvP. The last I checked, they only had one server with PvP, although I don't think its there anymore
PvE. Fun, varied
Exploration. A lot of it.
Just my assessment of the game. I haven't gotten that far, but its my take so far.
I self identify as a monkey.
It has a good patch amount to playerbase ratio
I enjoyed the game a bit, back when it had players
This is pretty much why I hold my subscription.
Today games seem to be determined to use every ounce of space or else just lead you to where they want to go. There are very few instances of discovering something hidden.
I also have to say that I like that not very acre of vanguad is covered with mobs. I have seen people write "it's an empty world". But I disagree.
It's a world. It's so refreshing to just ride across the world and not get aggro every second only THEN to see something at the horizon that is worth exploring.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Agreed completely with the blue text. That's my biggest grip with EQ2. The zones are small to medium sized, and literally filled to the brim with monsters, and the linear quest hubs will send you to every space in the zone at some point. There is no immersion at all. You are on handrails.
I want a healthy mix of empty world plus plenty of places which logically are filled with monsters. I'm going to resub to Vanguard and give it another go.
VG has an epic feeling to it that no other MMO has right now. Every other MMO out there is pretty much the same pile of shite, different smell...pardon my french lol. Exceptions might be EvE and DFO imo. The world is huge and seamless. It has aton of unique features. The fishing alone is enough to keep me subbed for along time :-) Any PVEer is missing out if they dont give this game at least a try.
Pay the $15 for a month (no box price required) and give it a shot. If you enjoy Isle of Dawn, you'll love the game for sure. Unfortionately its also very addictive which can be considered a con I suppose lol
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
There is gr8 adventoering, crafting , diplomacy(gr8 card game if u develop a taste for that), than u can work on faction n get gr8 unique racial mounts and gears ...this itself takes a long time and there are multiple ways to gain factions.
Then there are MEST collection quests which u get at lvl 10 in Mekalia and the quests are to collect a lot of different items all over Telon...completing them gives you faction plat coins which can be used to but racial mounts n gears...
Boats, Houses, Fishing are some of the other things...
VG is pretty immersive and if you go play it without any preconceived notion, u will enjoy it a lot. There are so many tings to do in VG that people who play it for 1-2 yrs...don't know about it.
The key is to have patience, ther eis no instant gratification in this game...give it time, join a good guidl..this game grows on you and satisfaction is guranteed
Yes I would certainly try it, and yes you should prob join a guild because despite what some say the game can appear a little "empty" I would say if you enjoyed Oblivion you will enjoy VG. it certainly is not a one dimensional mmo like AOC or vindictus. The trial of Isle is a bit different from the mainland, it may pay to build 2 characters one for each. You very well may see hitching and lag as Sony has not really worked on optimizing the game for awhile,but the game is still very playable. Again you should join a Guild, I joined a guild awhile back and enjoyed it so much I wrote a story about it. Have fun.
Also Vanguard does feel more like a real world than other MMO's it is less linier and does not have a connect the dots feel to it
don't try if you like the whole multiplayer thing, multiplayer for vanguard is a thing of the past, on average there's like 200 people online and most of them are already maxed, until they go f2p and add new content don't expect that to change, if you like grinding your butt off without a party to 50 go for it tho
please do not mislead... Vanguard is a game most fun to play if you play in group...it has one of the best dungeon designs in mmos and there are so many of them at all levels.
I don;t know if you play or just saying from experience from last year but there is a dedicated dev team for VG now and they just made an update 2 days back (bug fixes) and content coming soon...they are also commenting on offical forums and replying to player feedback..
Population is lot better from last two months and on the rise...on weekdays evenings also around 350 people are online most of the time and in weekends it moves up to around 500..
/who all count 1 10 ---->60-80
/who all count 11 20----- >40-60
/who all count 21 30----> 30-40
/who all count 31 40------> 20-30
/who all count 41 50-------> 20-30
/who all count 51 55 -------> 100-170
add all the up and it gives the exact number of players in game all the time ..I have tried to give approximate numbers of players online on weekday evenings normally these days...I don;t think thts bad to get groups if one is social and uses the advanced find tool in VG.. I play all the time and can get groups for any levels in 15 min...impatient people have no place in VG so please keep away if u r one
Nonsense. I see people in-game at all levels, and have yet to fail (in the month or two I've been back) to get a group together. What's hard to do, though, is to get into a group if you just wander around waiting for an invite; if you're proactive about it and use the social tool and send out tells, you'll get folks together in a matter of minutes, even without guild support.
Ardwulf's Lair | Ardwulf's YouTube Channel | Ardwulf on Twitter
I agree with all the other points you've made, but not so much with this one. Play off the isle is less linear than it is on the Isle, and for that reason, while the Isle is good content and does a fine job introducing you to the game's systems, it only gives you... oh, 60-70% of the true feel of Vanguard once you're out in the open world.
Plus, for me, exploration is a huge part of Vanguard's appeal - no game compares to it in this regard, in my opinion. The Isle is just one chunk - which is a big place, admittedly, and there are indeed nifty things to find and explore there - but it's missing the sense of vastness present in the open world, because you're walled in at the edges and because the content there is fairly linear.
Ardwulf's Lair | Ardwulf's YouTube Channel | Ardwulf on Twitter
Good one Ardwulf,
I'll go with you on your points about the Trial Island.
I'm more talking on the lines that it's the same as the real world but only condense, and not spread out. Way back when before I ever played Vanguard, I had a gripe against the game for no real reason. Then SOE created the Trial Island. My first thought was that they were pulling a fast one on the public to give the real game a false representation with there trial.
This was not the case at all. Your 100% right on it being linear, but thats only because there is so much to learn. Vanguard has a lot going on. By the time you leave the Trial Island, you should know your class somewhat, how the UI works, all you need to know about harvesting, crafting and maybe even diplomacy ( not sure never even tried it ).
You also get a good understanding of :
- How hard mobs hit. Mobs hit you hard in Vanguard more so than any other mmo. In some cases you can't go it alone. In some cases you will probably need help, like the real game.
- It has two mini Dungeons. One at level 4 and a much better example of how the real game dungeons are at level 10.
- You get a good example of flying. Flying in Vanguard is somewhat hard to master. You get two good tutorials. First is a flying quest, then another one that you have to fly to the level 10 dungeon.
- Graphics are represented well in the Trial. If you can play the trial you can play the real game. The Trial is beautiful, so it the real game ( however in the real game some areas are a little shabby, but not many ).
** For the new player **
1) It's just a suggestion........Looking back, I found it's best to find your best class before doing Harvesting and Crafting. Learning and developing both are time consuming. If I were to start another character I would play it to level 10, then go back and work on my crafting and harvesting before I leave the island. Also max both out before you leave or you will be playing catch up in the real world. Same may go for Diplomacy I'm not sure, I never did it.
As Ardwulf stated the trial seems linear. You will feel that it's important to start crafting and harvesting at around level 6 when they offer it. HOWEVER YOU CAN EASILY GO BACK AT LEVEL 10. Just don't leave the trial.
2) If Vanguard does not play well of your computer, change from " Balanced " to " High Performance ". It may not look great but but you can play it on a crappy computer, and it will run great.
Sony's none support so far, they know it is and it has been a big threat to all there other games. If it were not a threat they would have gotten ride of it or killed it.
MAGA
Uh, no guarantee for being complete:
- It has a huge noninstanced gameworld to explore, and extreme amounts of quest content (sadly you level too fast to see it all on one character, unless you use the XP debuff).
- It has 15 classes (some also have subclasses) which all play very different, are very complex and hard to master, its combat system is refreshingly experimental, and its gameplay is very challenging. It also has 19 races - ok, even if some people complain that the 3 animal races dont have tails.
- It has a seamless world with realistic viewing distances. Granted, I dont know if that is still something special 2011, as it was 2007. Graphic performance is otherwise kind of a weak thing in the game, because it hasnt been fully optimized in this respect, and IMHO the character models could use some optimization in respect to realistic looks as well.
- It has an enormously complex crafting system, and a nice harvest system as well (ok, the later is rather conventional).
- It has diplomacy, a game element unknown to other games like this. Its a mini-game you use for getting special effects and drops and especially also for accessing the lore of the world. It also comes with fishing, albeit I think thats not of much interest.
- It has great dungeon designs, and awesome 18 and 24 man raiding.
In short its the best PvE MMO in existence. All thats lacking for perfection is more devs working on it and a compareably awesome PvP.
To gather wood for crafting, you actually chop down trees. With an axe. Instead of just gathering convenient branches from the ground.
A small thing I know, but I always liked that. It's fairly indicitive of how much the designers actually believed in what they were despite the immense hardships they were working under (no scripting tools etc.)
Oh, and managing to make 16 classes feel unique enough to justifty that number is quite an achievement.
The best selling point IMO is that Vanguard feels like a real world. Vanguard has one of the best virtual worlds I have ever seen in an MMO. It truly feels like it’s alive and breathing. Sometimes I have to just stop and look around to take in its beauty.
Hmm I really am enjoying Lotro atm, but for the reasons people have described above this could well be my next MMO.
Thanks you for the comments.
Playing: Darkfall New Dawn (and planning to play Fallout 76)
Favourite games have included: UO, Lineage2, Darkfall, Lotro, Baldur's Gate, SSX, FF7 and yes the original Wizardry on an Apple IIe