Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

It may be the 7 screwdrivers in me, but i decided to buy the game off ebay. Ended up paying $20 for it which i think is fairly cheap anyways.

I spend alot of time reading up on games, especially games like V:SoH that had alot of potential but fell short. My main questions are, right now at this current state, how are the animations and combat lag? I hear 50/50 opinions. Some say they are complete crap while others say they are greatly improved etc..

Also, are there any "stay away" classes? I know alot will say "play what you like" but i have no intention of starting out with a completely unviable class. In most games i played, i either played the assasin types or the huge direct damage types. I like high DPS, however i prefer "escape" abilities. Like say a Zerker in DAoC back in the day, could deal an incredible amount of damage, but died extremely quickly, while i would have preferred a caster that died even faster (taking more damage per hit) but stayed in the back dealing damage.

Also, In the next month school starts (im actually going to school for game design and development lol) So between school, socialization and work, I may have 10 hours a week to play start january.

What are the best class suggestions based on this criteria?

I think the animations are generally ok.  I'm certainly not thinking they are anything special.  Running and jumping still look bad to me.  But honestly things like this are really cosmetic and could easily be changed...

The combat doesn't lag at all.  So that's something you don't need to worry about.  That would be a disaster which fortunately hasn't happened.

You might like a monk.  Monks have good dps and can play dead which is kinda like escaping.  Or you could play a rogue.  Rogues get an ability to make a scroll with evac spell at some point.

Honestly I think all the classes in VG are pretty playable.  And when you add that the game is still going to have lots of tweeking as they add class specializations I don't think you can judge anything to specifically today.

All I hear in game is how rogues are very hard to play solo. I don't know if that is true or not. I play a bard and when we get a rogue in the group the DPS goes through the roof it is pretty crazy. I love having rogues in the group.

Their sneak from what I understand is a little different than being invisible, meaning I don't think you can sneak into areas undetected. I'm not sure on this, someone correct me if I am wrong. I know we had a rogue one night try to get our tombstones and they saw her while sneaking and she died and I was able to get them using bard invis without any problems.

Maybe someone that plays a rogue can better tell you but if you like to group rogues are pretty sought after over the OOC when people want a DPS. They just so damn rare!

But you like a challenge right? 

In its current state, its great, not so much at launch though. But a lot of past problems have been corrected, and the game is finally realizing its potential. They have gotten the lag down to a minimum, and many bugs have been wiped clean. Just be forewarned: Do not play this game if you do not have a half-way decent gaming rig. At least a 2ghz processor, 2gb's of DDR2 ram, and a Geforce 6800gt or higher(x1600 or higher for radeon) with 256 mb of v-ram. If you play it on specs lower than this, you will likely be soured to this game, as it looks utterly craptastic (EQ1 circa 1999) on high performance settings, not to mention it runs like crap also if your system doesn't have the proverbial "Balls" to run it as it was intended. If you have these specs or higher, prepare for a visual treat my friend. This game looks absolutely amazing in balanced or higher graphics settings. Also it is interesting to note that this game is purely "persistent", meaning there is no "instancing", or "zoning".  The amount of classes and races and their sheer variety and uniqeness, add tremendously to the "choice factor", which is an important part of hooking players, especially "alt-a-holics" and pvp'ers who want a great variety of "builds" to design. The world of Vanguard is called Telon, and I must say this is one of the most massive virtual worlds I have ever seen, especially since it hasn't even had an expansion released yet. The combat is lively and pretty much lag-free, and it requires more of your attention than most other games of this genre's combat systems. You get special abilities that can only be triggered, say if you get a critical hit or a suceesful parry, the corresponding skill will light up, and give a little timer bar that runs out pretty quickly, so you must be on your toes, and paying attention to what's going on, in order to click it or hit the corresponding hotkey you have set up, in time. This game has an abundance of quests also, if that is your gig, almost too much, in fact lol. A user-friendly LFG(looking for group) menu is in there to make finding a party a snap. If you want my opinion about classes (my opinion mind you), I believe Bards and Sorcerers to be two of the most powerful classes, even though I don't play 'em. I'm a Warrior or Paladin type of guy. Bards are a hot commodity for group as well, as they have kick-ass buffs, and are great melee fighters to boot. Sorcerers are the most powerful casters in the game (once again in my opinion), so if you like magic users a Sorcerer is not a bad choice. I know of no "stay away classes" as you put it, as there is no actual "gimped class" to my knowledge. I have heard complaints about Bards and Rangers being too strong and such, but never one that was too weak. Also on another note, If you are not a person who can commit a decent amount of time to this game, in other words a "casual player" , and only 10 hours a week is definately casual. I am hesitant to reccomend this game to someone like that, because it tends to lean towards the "hardcore" side of the mmorpg genre. If you only play ten hours a week expect it to take months to cap one character. Also don't expect to solo too much after lvl 30+ as this game pretty much requires you to group in order to survive the nasty challenges that await you in the game's numerous high lvl. dungeons. The crafting system is topnotch and intuitive (after the bugs were fixed of course), and Diplomacy is an innovative new feature unique to this game, that lets you interact with NPC's on a whole new level. What I mean by this, is you can actually change how certain NPC's and Factions in the world feel about you, and can bring benefits to you and your race/continent for political achievements. In essence, the Player can directly affect the world they play in through their actions. Granted, its not as fleshed out or as complex as Oblivion's "Radiant A.I.", but it is a step in the right direction, and can only be improved and added to in the future, the foundation is there for this. The animations, as stated above, are a little on the rough side, but that is about to change soon with the new update, as SOE is updating character models and animations with this new patch. I hope this info helps, Welcome to Vanguard!

You may want to try ranger, they are insaine DPS right now, as well as self heals, and some self buffs.  While they do not possess an evac ability, one of their self buffs is a speed boost that will let you run away from pretty much anything.  They solo well too, as long as you keep your gear somewhat descent.

They can also pull off pretty intresting combos, that are done by executing special attacks in a specific order, and they have various affects, like stunning the enemy for 2 seconds, or hitting them with a fire DOT, and remember when you group to take advantage of the weakness system, Rangers can do a TON of damage if you work well with your group to inflict and exploit weaknesses.

Druid may be the class for you. They are a DPS caster class with direct damage and DoTs, limited heal potential, good buffs and an affinity for kiting. They work well both solo and in groups.

Sorcerers would be the DPS king. Damage is their business and business is good. It's "do or die" with direct damage and AoEs. The true glass cannon of VG.

Necros are probably the stongest solo class. They do great DPS with direct damage and DoTs. They have some wicked buffs/debuffs.

Psions are the CC masters. Their damage in OK comparatively, but I'm guessing CC isn't your bag.

Rangers are the strongest DPS of the light fighters. They solo well and are always welcome in groups.

Bard is jack-of-all-trades. The DPS is good, but they bring a LARGE amount of DPS to team mates. If you want an ability for any situation, Bard is for you.

Rogue does tremendous DPS. They are tough to solo, which makes them quite rare. They use poisons and scrolls for utility.

Monk has no clearly defined role as of yet. They do great DPS, but not nearly that of a Sorcerer, Ranger or Rogue and have less peripheral benefit.

There really is no "broken" class in VG. However, some are more developed than others. I wouldn't worry too much about how a class plays now, as they will all certainly change over the future.

Classes

Stay Away Class: Cleric

Clerics are like lawyers:  there are too many of them, yet finding a really good one is rare; and the pay-off is mediocre for the amount of work:  off-tank, heal while engaging in melee combat, cure, buff, keep the group alive, inter alia.

[Btw, I am a 48 Cleric was not able to solo a 4-dot 38 named-mob in Therradon(sp).  The damage-nerf hit us and hit us hard.  I do not think it was my gear or "skills" that prevented me.  I should mention I did solo other named-mobs in the area.]

[I have heard rumors that the Cleric will receive even more nerfs with Update 3.]

Rogue:  From What I Know, Great Class

The Rogue is an extraordinary class.  A good friend of mine played a rogue and told me they were great soloers but required the use of poisons and things like that. The Rogue can also evac, which means you will not get trapped in a dungeon.  The Rogue can evac the entire group, making them quite valuable in addition to their awesome DPS.

Insane Power:  Bear Shaman

Bear Shaman is insanely overpowered.  I have been in a full group in which the bear Shaman soloed TWO mobs in the RI dungeon while our group worked on the others.  The bear shaman can 1) tank, 2) heal, 3) slow, 4) buff, 5) DPS, and even gets 6) utility spells.  It not only gets everything but does everything well.*

*I know this will be controversial to some, so I will avoid the Const. debate on it. 

Tanks, in General

Based on my experiences, I think there is a small shortage of tanks on Seradon.  It surprises me because in my view the Dread Knight is one powerhouse of a class.

What I Suggest:

Melee

Based on what you wrote, I think the Rogue would be a good class for you if you want to play melee because they can 1) escape, 2) insane DPS, and 3) are not overpopulated.

Caster

Based on what you wrote, I think the Phoenix Shaman or Druid would be a good class for you because of the insane 1) DPS in addition to 2) buffs and other 3) utility spells. 

I am happy to hear you are playing, and I hope you have a good system.  All of the classes in Vanguard are 1) fun and 2) useful to (a) solo and (b) group.  I suggest you play the one you enjoy most after experimenting with a few race and class combos.

[I did not realize that making a post on my laptop would be so difficult. LOL]