I wanted to post my thoughts on VG since there's a lot of obviously biased opinions (on both sides of the fence) it's obvious a lot of people are just instigating flames or "vanbois".  I've played since launch.

Graphics: 7.5/10
    The major problem people are going to have with graphics is that their system most likely won't run at full detail (how many can?) I think  this is one of Sigil's major flaws with VG is because of the steep requirements, and obviously it's not because of the engine as Brad has stated that they didn't optimize the engine properly.  I do enjoy the graphics even though I usually play on low settings, if however the average person was able to play at ultra high the score would be 8.5 or so.  There's a lot of complaints about the world being dull, unfilled etc.  I'm kind of in the middle on this I like the vastness of the world it's very realistic to me, and while some of it is average there's many hidden treasure by treasures I mean places etc that draw me in.  The combat animation is decent enough, I think the engine handles itself well in large group quests considering how bulky the engine feels.  All in all if the game was more accessible graphically this would be a much more popular game or at least is the engine was more optimized (I'm assuming they are working on this because the game is being updated/patched constantly).

Sound: 9/10
    This one is pretty simple the game sounds amazing.  The ambient music, the combat music is all spectacular.  Even the vocals in towns like CB etc I find amazing even after the thousandth loop.  Each continent has it's own feel, i.e. Kojan has asian styled music, lots of variety.  Only thing stopping me from giving a 10/10 is the vocal/operatic style I can see could be annoying after a year or so of playing.

Spheres: 8/10
   VG has three major spheres Adventuring (Quests, Grinding, etc) Crafting and Diplomacy (Card type skill game).  There's a ton of things to do in VG regardless if you find one sphere too complicated, boring etc.  I myself tend to stick to Adventuring but I do harvest/craft from time to time.  Adventuring is pretty straight forward, similar to previous games but I find it more polished that some, on par with EQ2.  Crafting can be a bit overwhelming  and personally I think is a separate  game in itself, it takes a lot of skill unlike crafting in WoW/Lotr etc.  Anyone that tells you the crafting is just click this and that hasn't played the crafting sphere fully, I chose to stick to Adventuring because of the time involved with Crafting and will probably play an alt down the line for that.  This brings up a good point I've been playing since launch and still have plenty of things to do down the line.  Diplomacy is something I can honestly say I do not have experience in, a friend online plays it religiously  and has told me about his time doing so.  On the surface it seems like a MTG type card game, but the Diplomacy can affect Town Factions, and also give you continent buffs when Diplomats have been doing great jobs.   Diplomacy also has quests for free Mounts etc.  Again this is just from overhearing or my friend telling me.  Diplomacy also seems like a sphere that could be played along with Adventuring from time to time and less time consuming than crafting.

Gameplay: 8.5/10
  This I believe is where the game shines.  Instead of being thrown through cinematic starter quests etc, your pretty much thrown into the game, although you start in a starting town/camp area you are free to do what you which.  I was pretty overwhelmed when I first started playing, I admit I didn't follow the game pre-release or did I buy into all the flaming / comments of the game (good or bad) what drew me to the game was the comments of the game itself had steep requirements, the game was labeled as "hardcore" and the fact that arguments of the game were so heated what was all the fuss about?  I had played numerous MMO's, actually I try just about every fantasy style MMO at least a month anyways why not try this?  There's no real concrete backbone storyline that I can tell (there are story based quests but they seem more like local lore to me) and that's one of my favorite aspects, I can travel pop some quests in that area and sink myself into that for a bit or move on.  Most story line quests/instanced in other MMo's really take you out of the experience.  While I wouldn't call VG a sandbox game I think it's in the right direction.  I feel this is the best game out there for dedicated RP MMO players for a few reasons.  You can pretty much go/do whatever you want and because the game is so large and the servers aren't overloaded you can group RP as you please.  Unlike WoW and Lotr, and the main reason I don't play them, there is very little OOC talk in the game, or at least when there is it's civilized and mature, at least on my server.  When I play more popular games all I hear is 10-15 year olds talking about there WoW chars, I played Lotr for one night and while I thought the game was ok, the WoW players ruined whatever was left, and I'm not a WoW hater, I respect the game and Blizzard  but a couple of months of WoW I was bored and annoyed with the playesr.  Combat compared to the rest "normal" click / number type combat is excellent.  There are bridges/combos/racial traits/abilities etc that keep the combat interesting.  I think we can all agree we are waiting on AoC type combat to be the next generation of realistic combat in MMO's but VG's current gen combat has enough bells and whistles to keep my satisfied. Leveling is pretty straightforward, after the 10th lvl you can attribute points before you lvl so you can upgrade stats 2/3 times a lvl, this is actually a good thing because the game takes a long time to lvl.  I've been playing since launch I'm only lvl 17, admitted I do alot of exploring and I don't rush things, I solo half the time and group half the time.  If you are looking for a game where you don't lvl cap in your free month look no further.  One of my favorite aspects of this game is exploring an area and finding these little mini type quests or clues etc, I won't go deep into to it, but if you decide to try the game out there's actually alot of cool clues/weird quests out in the middle of nowhere, and some after 2 months since launch most people don't know about. 

Comments:
  The community on my server, Woefeather is great if your on there give me a PM.  I have never had an argument, or had to report anything since launch.  One of my best nights of VG I had:
    I keep all the non-rare gear from drops in my bank, the NPC dealers only give you a few copper worth even though it's decent stuff and the auction is usually flooded with the same items so I  bank them all and from time to time I hand them out to lower lvl characters (if your on Woefeather and lvl 1-15 pm me I have tons of stuff) and meet alot of great people doing that, I friend them and later as they level up I group with them (kind like Karma heh).  The last  night I played I was giving out alot of stuff because my bank was getting full and I was talking to 3 different lower lvl players at once about the game answering there questions etc.  A "Weaponsmaster" character probably lvl 35 or so was in the area and overheard, he asked me if I needed any gear myself, I told him I was pretty good except my sword was in need of replaced,  he told me he could make a lvl 21/22 sword which I could wear and could be upgraded after he made the sword, he left for the blacksmith I was still speaking to my friends about 5 minutes later he messages me the sword pre-upgrade and it was amazing probably a 1.2g sword.  So then he upgrades it and it's a lvl 23 sword with even more stats and hooks me up with it.
  My main complaint with VG is the economy, especially lower levels it's very hard to make money even later in the game, and with all the gear slots, bags, mounts etc it's very tough keep up.  Although I'm not condoning it, I can imagine why people would be 5 real dollars for 5g if they are say lvl 15, but that's a whole different discussion.
 Although personally I do not have any gameplay issues or crashes to desktop I do hear people that have them, obviously the game was released early, but they patch/update it constantly and I never feel like I'm playing an unfinished game, again that's just me no need to flame, this review is based on my experiences so far.  If you average my score it's 8.25/10, it's not perfect or legendary or even next gen, but there's so much to do, so much that impresses me that I can see myself playing it for a while, especially if they continue to improve it and I think if there was a free trial they would pick up a lot of new players, although they might want to work on the system requirements before doing that.

Good example of a flamer, you posted that 1 minute after I posted my review you didn't even read my post before you started flaming.

"I've been playing since launch I'm only lvl 17, admitted I do alot of exploring and I don't rush things, I solo half the time and group half the time. "

So you haven't quite got there yet.  But you're almost level 20-21...and you'll find this ratio is about to change to about 20/80% in favor of grouping... (at a minimum duos)

Will be interesting what you think about the game once you reach the 20's...that's where it sort of all fell apart for me....

Did they open up an Exchange Server for VG yet?

That's what I'm waiting for before I go back.

 

How much is Brad paying you?

Originally posted by CaesarsGhost
Did they open up an Exchange Server for VG yet?

That's what I'm waiting for before I go back.

As long as Sigil still owns the game there won't be one.

Originally posted by Amathe

I don't recall ever seeing a post more obviously a viral ad.

Who cares if it was?  Do you know what viral marketing is?  Its simply the passing along of a marketing message, and someone giving their personal ratings of a game hardly a "viral add".  MMORPG.com's site itself has a ton of viral marketing.  Every add banner, game slogan, or link that you see is a form of viral marketing.  Besides that, even if it was a "viral add", you contributed to it's success in passing along to others by replying, and keeping it on the latest topics section.

Originally posted by killer4hire

Originally posted by Amathe

I don't recall ever seeing a post more obviously a viral ad.

Who cares if it was?  Do you know what viral marketing is?  Its simply the passing along of a marketing message, and someone giving their personal ratings of a game hardly a "viral add".  MMORPG.com's site itself has a ton of viral marketing.  Every add banner, game slogan, or link that you see is a form of viral marketing.  Besides that, even if it was a "viral add", you contributed to it's success in passing along to others by replying, and keeping it on the latest topics section.

Umm... no those ads are plain old Marketing.  Viral Marketing is when you get your users to trump the game for you without any money out of your pocket.  Ever been referred to a resteraunt by a friend?  That is is viral marketing.

It's sad that no one can voice there opinion without this mindless replies.  If you actually read my whole post you would realize that all I did was post my opinion, what's sad it's obvious who plays the game and who doesn't by there remarks.  Whats the point of bashing something you don't play?  I could care less if there's a 8.5 million people playing Vanguard really, I'm just sick of all the unbiased opinions/flames on BOTH SIDES of the fence.

Originally posted by cefiro355
It's sad that no one can voice there opinion without this mindless replies.  If you actually read my whole post you would realize that all I did was post my opinion, what's sad it's obvious who plays the game and who doesn't by there remarks.  Whats the point of bashing something you don't play?  I could care less if there's a 8.5 million people playing Vanguard really, I'm just sick of all the unbiased opinions/flames on BOTH SIDES of the fence.

Kudos for expressing your (positive) opinion about the game.

Everyone here has played this game, and quitted into their 30 free days. The most annoying part is that the box sales didn't reflect that.
(And uhm I honestly don't believe the coincidence that the most obvious trolls played it rather then googling info. It should be a mere fraction of those that bougth the box that end up posting here. And a fraction of the fraction...)

Originally posted by Stoneysilenc

Originally posted by killer4hire

Originally posted by Amathe

I don't recall ever seeing a post more obviously a viral ad.

Who cares if it was?  Do you know what viral marketing is?  Its simply the passing along of a marketing message, and someone giving their personal ratings of a game hardly a "viral add".  MMORPG.com's site itself has a ton of viral marketing.  Every add banner, game slogan, or link that you see is a form of viral marketing.  Besides that, even if it was a "viral add", you contributed to it's success in passing along to others by replying, and keeping it on the latest topics section.

Umm... no those ads are plain old Marketing.  Viral Marketing is when you get your users to trump the game for you without any money out of your pocket.  Ever been referred to a resteraunt by a friend?  That is is viral marketing.

Actually, it is a form of viral marketing.  "Marketing"  by itself is very broad.  Thats why it gets broken down into different types.  Telemarketing is also just plain old marketing, but I just broke it down, and got more specific in it's type by adding the prefix "tele". 

By definition, viral markting is simply this:  The passing along of a marketing message from one to another.  A game company places an ad banner on this site, everyone who visits MMORPG.com will get the game's marketing message passed along to them just by visiting this site.  That is a form of viral marketing.  Your example is also a form of viral marketing.  Viral marketing is the most used, and sought out form of marketing there is, and there are many forms of it.  To be considered viral marketing, they just have to meet that simple definition. 

Originally posted by cefiro355
Good example of a flamer, you posted that 1 minute after I posted my review you didn't even read my post before you started flaming.

McQuaided FTW  

Good review and a good read.....I find many of my thoughts to be much like your own.

Don't bother responding to flames...just post what you think / believe. Most of them are lonely and miserable souls attempting to find some company. Many are just teenagers looking for attention...loving the fact they can go around posting uncensored like grown ups do.