Hey guys, I was wondering... Whats the state of Vanguard at the moment? I went into my local gamestation to pick up a copy of lord of the rings online to try it out, and I saw Vanguard for £0.98p, one fucking pound! 

When I took LOTRO and Vanguard to the counter the clerk was mockingly tell me both games were pants, thats why they were both such a low price, and how WoW was superior. Surely enough I took none of his shit and put him in his place.

But regardless, why is Vanguard so cheap? On the internet I've seen it for around £10-£20 but never so cheap as a pound! 

Note: I couldn't purchase vanguard as the Clerk couldn't find a disc for it. The stupid twat

VG is amazing. I played WoW and LoTRO since beta, and missed all drama when VG released. Now when they fixed crucial bugs and performance, it is a dream game for PvE fans. I just wish it had more support from SOE

I don't doubt for a second that it's not a great game. I really want to play it, but why was it so cheap? The clerk said that the servers were shutting down  ( I didn't believe him )

I dont know why its so cheap, but you're lucky I guess. It costs far more in Russia. Anyway, servers wont go down any time soon. Devs have alot of plans for 2009 in terms of content

Can also try out the free trial (Isle of Dawn).  I think it's the best PvE game available.  It'll keep you occupied for a long while.

Originally posted by Kodgemmo

Hey guys, I was wondering... Whats the state of Vanguard at the moment? I went into my local gamestation to pick up a copy of lord of the rings online to try it out, and I saw Vanguard for £0.98p, one fucking pound! 

When I took LOTRO and Vanguard to the counter the clerk was mockingly tell me both games were pants, thats why they were both such a low price, and how WoW was superior. Surely enough I took none of his shit and put him in his place.

But regardless, why is Vanguard so cheap? On the internet I've seen it for around £10-£20 but never so cheap as a pound! 

 

 

Note: I couldn't purchase vanguard as the Clerk couldn't find a disc for it. The stupid twat

Retailers stopped ordering boxes for Vanguard sometime in 2007, so soe stopped making boxes to sell.  Any retail box that you might find has undergone some sort of liquidation pricing.  That is why you can find boxes for as low as $1.  I picked up several copies for 99 cents each over a year ago since there was no trials back then.  

I doubt the vanguard servers will be shut down since that is not something that soe seems to do to games even when most companies would have closed the doors on the game a long time ago.  It still boosts offerings of the station pass so it has value to the company. 

However it cannot be financially viable to keep developing a game that has an active online playerbase of maybe 3,000 people spread over 4 servers.

Lotro and vanguard are both fine pve games.  Lotro is selling for such a low price as a strategy, because turbine wants subscribers, not money from box sales.  Much the same way as you can now buy wow for 10-20 bucks for the original game. 

I assume the clerk was saying both games are bad when he said they were "pants"? 

SOE now distributtes the game via download.  

Free Isle of Dawn Trial Download (no subscription)

http://vanguard.station.sony.com/isleofdawn/

Digital Download of complete game (requires subscrioptin, not sure if the actual game costs anything to download)

http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=8

  I have maxxed lvl toons in all those games and would recomend Vanguard 1st to anyone that asks...

I don't have first hand experience, but I was told that if you upgrade the trial you just pay the monthly fee of 15 bucks.

Can anyone confirm this?

Out of curisoity I createrd a new station pass and went to download vanguard

I get the following screen:

Select Game Package
Select a game package for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™:

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes for $19.99

Journey through Telon - a vast and ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure. A next generation MMO that combines the beauty of classical oil paintings in a 3D world, three spheres of advancement, including the ground breaking feature diplomacy, and dynamic combat. 30 days of game time and 30 days of Station Players premium features included with purchase (new accounts only; excludes existing game and Station Access accounts).

So it looks as if it costs $20.00 which includes 30 days free which is a $15.00 value.  Not sure what the Station Player pass is.  (access to other games?)

So I would say the game costs $5.00 to download if you consider the 30 days free.

I have also seen the upgrade free from trial thing, but I could not verify that.

Originally posted by morpin

Out of curisoity I createrd a new station pass and went to download vanguard

I get the following screen:

Select Game Package
Select a game package for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™:

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes for $19.99

Journey through Telon - a vast and ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure. A next generation MMO that combines the beauty of classical oil paintings in a 3D world, three spheres of advancement, including the ground breaking feature diplomacy, and dynamic combat. 30 days of game time and 30 days of Station Players premium features included with purchase (new accounts only; excludes existing game and Station Access accounts).

So it looks as if it costs $20.00 which includes 30 days free which is a $15.00 value.  Not sure what the Station Player pass is.  (access to other games?)

So I would say the game costs $5.00 to download if you consider the 30 days free.

I have also seen the upgrade free from trial thing, but I could not verify that.

That was odd. I get that aswell on another account.

But after activationg the trial on that account I had the option to subscribe for $15.
 

I tried to come back to the game about 7-9 months ago and lvled up a bit however the game world was rather scarse on the player population side, seemed a bit more polished though since release, but it was just somewhat boring to run around alone and not be able to acquaint with other players if you know what I mean... Has the population increased?

There are still 3-5 second hitches between area grids, performance will go down to it's knees in most cities on any machine. No fun to be found for me.

Only positive is the seamless world if you can call it that with the hitches.

Originally posted by NeokiNaomi

I tried to come back to the game about 7-9 months ago and lvled up a bit however the game world was rather scarse on the player population side, seemed a bit more polished though since release, but it was just somewhat boring to run around alone and not be able to acquaint with other players if you know what I mean... Has the population increased?

Guess I'l just Re-Post my previous post>>>

Originally posted by daeandor

VG:SoH has been a decent game for quite some time. Sadly it was completely borked in the beginning and subsequent movement over to SOE that the fanbase has dwindled to nothing. I personally loved the game from an immersion and graphics perspective. The combat was decent, the crafting I found enjoyable if grindy and annoying at times. The diplomacy was, so-so in my opinion. But anyway, my point is that if I had actually found a core group of friends to play VG, I would still be playing today. There lies the problem though, like so many other games now, the population does not help the game. If you have some friends in VG though, it is a good game.

 Originally posted by Wrender

I have made more friends in Vanguard the last month than I have in any game I have played in the last 10 years. And only after a month! I'm grouped constantly and have been introducing all my new friends to all my other new friends and thinking about starting my own guild now. The community here is the best that I have seen! Hands down. ANd the population is growing steadly as everyone whom I have talked to are amazed and are getting thier real life friends to play as well and everyone is loving it! SOE had better wake up and pull thier heads out of thier asses cause the sleeping dragon is awakening!

Originally posted by jusomdude

There are still 3-5 second hitches between area grids, performance will go down to it's knees in most cities on any machine. No fun to be found for me.

Only positive is the seamless world if you can call it that with the hitches.

You're one lucky guy to own so many computers and to have the time to test out Vanguard on all of them.

This blanket statement is false.

My FPS about halves when I enter a city, but once it's all loaded up it goes back up to what it normally is.

I did the Banishers crafting questline yesterday (lots of fun with awesome rewards) and it takes place mostly in New Targonor. I was running all over NT with FPS of 30+ quite happily. My computer isn't exactly state of the art and up to date (I've posted my specs in previous posts).

Originally posted by Joppari

Originally posted by jusomdude

There are still 3-5 second hitches between area grids, performance will go down to it's knees in most cities on any machine. No fun to be found for me.

Only positive is the seamless world if you can call it that with the hitches.

 

You're one lucky guy to own so many computers and to have the time to test out Vanguard on all of them.

 

This blanket statement is false.

 

My FPS about halves when I enter a city, but once it's all loaded up it goes back up to what it normally is.

 

I did the Banishers crafting questline yesterday (lots of fun with awesome rewards) and it takes place mostly in New Targonor. I was running all over NT with FPS of 30+ quite happily. My computer isn't exactly state of the art and up to date (I've posted my specs in previous posts).

Agreed,  It takes around 2 seconds to chunk.  The big cities do hitch bad when you first go in, but once the textures load (10-20 seconds) it is as smooth as any other area.

Performance has increased significantly with the latest patches. NT and Khal are still stuttering sources in some cases, but nothing game breaking.

VG has probably the biggest seamless world available online today. The graphics are impressive in some areas, less inspired in others. If only gameplay were different; leveling becomes boring after a while...

Somewhere Between Alpha and Post launch... Its a verry Odd Mix but It cant be Denied.

Some parts are Polished and Sweet. Others are Buggie and Barren.

Still Worth a try if your Intrested :)

But with the small A-Word Development team Dont expect anything to be fixed Quickly or added Quickly... that said if you max lvl your char in a month your playing Vanguard WRONG. Even if the Stupid Devs keep makeing it faster its still stupid to miss out on that mutch Content to try and get to the End game.

Originally posted by Ekibiogami

Somewhere Between Alpha and Post launch... Its a verry Odd Mix but It cant be Denied.

Some parts are Polished and Sweet. Others are Buggie and Barren.

Still Worth a try if your Intrested :)

But with the small A-Word Development team Dont expect anything to be fixed Quickly or added Quickly... that said if you max lvl your char in a month your playing Vanguard WRONG. Even if the Stupid Devs keep makeing it faster its still stupid to miss out on that mutch Content to try and get to the End game.

I'm going to agree with this one, Vanguard has an end game, but I'm almost dreading getting there! lol

I've never felt this way in an MMO before - There's so much in the world I don't want to miss a thing, but I also can't possibly do everything!

I'm actually considering using the 'Reduce XP gain to 0%' ability to cover more content.

I've felt like an adventuring hero from the word go and I just keep growing in power!

Vanguard has taken me back to my pen and paper days to some extent, I get that kind of feeling from it although of course nothing can compare to an all nighter rollin' dice!

How the heck could you get a pen and paper feel when there is no encumbrance? That is correct, nothing has weight, and there are no alignments. Pen and Paper? Maybe if I was playing tick tack toe.......

Originally posted by Trueth

How the heck could you get a pen and paper feel when there is no encumbrance? That is correct, nothing has weight, and there are no alignments. Pen and Paper? Maybe if I was playing tick tack toe.......

Yes, because the weight of items was the defining point of imaginary adventuring. I retract my statement and I'll now go off to thrash myself soundly with a broken bottle.

I'm more than sold to try this game! Thank you for your posts guys :) Could someone link me to the EU site? or do I have to go through the US site? :)

If you want the Free 14-Day Trial go here....  http://vanguard.station.sony.com/isleofdawn/

Originally posted by Joppari

Originally posted by Trueth

How the heck could you get a pen and paper feel when there is no encumbrance? That is correct, nothing has weight, and there are no alignments. Pen and Paper? Maybe if I was playing tick tack toe.......

 

Yes, because the weight of items was the defining point of imaginary adventuring. I retract my statement and I'll now go off to thrash myself soundly with a broken bottle.

Oh, you two lovebirds.

It is 15-16 years since I played a pen and paper roleplaygame. I don't even remember anything about encoumbrance, well I have forgot alot of things about it.

Was encoumbrance a big part in the P&P gaming?

(Yeah I notice that one of you is being sarcastic, but let's neglect that for the sake of argument.)

Of course it was!

Our DM would start us with 15gp and the players handbook to buy our crap. I could never spend the full 15gp AND not be over encumbered. We would often have to leave copper coins or semi-valuable (but bulky) items behind in the dungeon. "Did encumberance play a big part in PnP", he says.  Silly goose.

Encumbrance used to be in Vangaurd, but they took out a year or so ago - around the same time alingment/good vs. evil was removed.

As it stands now - My character has stacks upon stacks of ore and gems he carries around, tons of crafting materials, two sets of armor (one for tanking and one for dps) and 4 weapons, a bow, 300 + arrows plus a crap load of quest materials. Do I ever get bogged down? Heck no! It's Vanguard!