To be fair, this is the best I've seen VG. There are generally people everywhere, not just the most populated cities. Now granted its not perfect, there are bugs and lag spikes. All I am sayin is just TRY it, if ya dont like it,cool but I am betting if you give it a legit shot you will enjoy the game.  Hell hit me up in game if you see me on Ill give ya a few pointers. Name is Visn.

The thing about vanguard is, there is enough content. Maybe even too much, already. The thing is if you are looking for instant gratification, logging in, leveling to end game, and continuously grinding new content like a proverbeal kid in a basement, vanguard won't hold your interest past a certain point.

What you can do is explore numerous dungeons many of which are not dungeons but ruined cities or islands that are not instanced. You can complete epic quest lines at level 20. Questlines which involve parts you simply can't solo. You can craft for days and days. You can explore diplomacy (which admittedly is especially not for everyone).

Vanguard isn't exactly a sandbox game, especially because sandbox has been tagged as a pvp word by a lot of people (ffa loot etc .. ) but it as close to a pve sandbox game as you will find I believe. Vanguard is much more a casual game you play with other people. Where the rewards (while there even as you level) are not the main reason you do things. You do them because they actually are quite challenging and fun to complete.

There is an area called CiS (im going to butcher this spelling but .. here goes) : Coterie Infinium. Its a mining area with Infinium ore and bad guys mining it. The quest line takes you through numerous almost soloable by most classes parts, on to a few tough boss fights (not really too tough with a full group). Further on there is a small grind involved. These mobs are all pretty much soloable. It isn't a huge grind though, and generally you end up meeting people you will group with to do the final parts of the questline while grinding .. if you didn't start grinding with them in the first place.

Then you have to climb a tower, kill some guardians and finally a big boss fight.

You pick up a decent amount of good armor along the way, and at the end you have a legendary weapon that will carry you for about 10 levels I would guess.

The main point is it is a zone, akin to something like the desert in wow for example, but it can span upwards of 12 levels. The story is all intertwined and you really have to explore and guess .. fail to succeed. When you are done you really feel accomplished to the likes of which no other game I have played can provide. Like getting keyed for Onyxia .. only it's FUN!

There is an area before this with a similar setup and an area directly after this with a similar setup.

There are also a bunch of other areas that are a little less intense, a little more solo friendly with the same kinds of setup. Hillsbury Manor is one .. has a very resident evil feel to it.

The great thing is you can play this game at your own pace. While that is true of any game in theory .. this game lends itself much more to alts than other games. While most people with high level characters will do many of the same areas simply because of the awesome rewards, there are litteraly dozens of options for you to take while leveling.

Finally, the best thing that anyone can say about vanguard I think is that the classes are amoung the best classes in any mmo around. They may seem standard. Warrior, rogue, ranger, sorc .. but they all play different enough both from each other and other games to make the task of filling 12 character slots provided a fun thing. The psionicist and bloodmage I highly recommend. The discipline is cool too. They share some aspects with other classes in other games but I have never played more enjoyable classes. The ranger even, can be melee or ranged. The cleric has 3 different "paths" it can use, though I havent played cleric much. The dreadknight is what the deathknight should have been and more!

Anyway. This game is not for everyone, but I honestly don't see it going anywhere. I have played on and off since release and still love the game. If you are looking for a game that you can play 60 hours a week and you are all about showing off your awesomeness .. this game probably isnt for you. If you are into hard-core end game raiding, I would still recommend this game, but it will only hold your attention to a certain point. The niche this game fills is the sandbox style - fun loving adventurers who battle for fun (or good) not for glory. It is the kind of game that feels like puzzle solving without actually having some cheesy puzzle solving mechanics to weigh it down.

I think a lot of people get overwhelmed by Vanguard. They get lost, and the small player base makes it hard for them to get what they need to the point that they understand how the game plays. Granted anyone should be able to solo to endgame .. but that really is not the point of the game and people that start out doing this, and never make the transition I bet are the ones that come to forums like this and predict doom and gloom. This is all despite a bunch of avid players who go out of their way to try and help. The reality is there is so much content in this game, you can get overwhelmed and lost in it all.

Well .. that's my 32 cents.

Originally posted by NovaKayne

 MxO is still playable and so is all of the other games on the station pass or as an individual account. 

I would kiss you if what you said were true.

  One thing I give the game is, its community rocks. The same can be said of a lot of smaller population games. I'm actually playing Fallen Earth right now and was overwhelmed by how welcome I was. Although Fallen Earth is growing lately. 

Cutting through the doom and gloom about VG. What most of the players want you to know is the game is not bad.

Yes SOE is going to end it at some point, ALL MMO's end at some point (you are deceiving your self if you thing otherwise).

But Yes it is a fun game, even if your are going to play something else in a few months.

If you are all doom and gloom about SOE, Riddle me this gamers: What computer gaming company as NEVER pissed off or even rubbed someone the wrong way (if you come up with one, I bet that someone will say "You are wrong!")

I am just playing tell I fined something better (I've been looking at Rifts and Secret World my self) I was going to be in LotRO with my GF but this is more of what I like so far.

Bottom line if you are one of the old school players that is looking for that feeling again or someone that is feed-up with "easy mode pro" games where all or most of the fun is "by there design" at the end not or no longer along the way (I swear, game company must think we are all ADHD now,....maybe we are) it is a good game to try. 14 day free, what do you looses (time sitting in a city tell the next PUG......ooooo, now that is really playing a MMORPG, jk lol).

Originally posted by Arkain

Cutting through the doom and gloom about VG. What most of the players want you to know is the game is not bad.

Yes SOE is going to end it at some point, ALL MMO's end at some point (you are deceiving your self if you thing otherwise).

But Yes it is a fun game, even if your are going to play something else in a few months.

If you are all doom and gloom about SOE, Riddle me this gamers: What computer gaming company as NEVER pissed off or even rubbed someone the wrong way (if you come up with one, I bet that someone will say "You are wrong!")

I am just playing tell I fined something better (I've been looking at Rifts and Secret World my self) I was going to be in LotRO with my GF but this is more of what I like so far.

Bottom line if you are one of the old school players that is looking for that feeling again or someone that is feed-up with "easy mode pro" games where all or most of the fun is "by there design" at the end not or no longer along the way (I swear, game company must think we are all ADHD now,....maybe we are) it is a good game to try. 14 day free, what do you looses (time sitting in a city tell the next PUG......ooooo, now that is really playing a MMORPG, jk lol).

I guess I'm just a different kind of gamer than you all.  My number one concern with MMO's is "Are they going to shut it down before I can experience most of the game?"

If the answer is no to that question we can talk about game design and if I like that.  But if a game is looking like it's gonna close ( I didn't say fail ) then it's a waste of my time to even attempt to play it.  Nothing worse than trying an MMO, loving it, then having it stripped from you.  Tabula Rasa did that to me, and I won't ever have that happen again.

Originally posted by thosewhoharp

First off, I will say that I love vanguard and wish that people still played it (if they ever really did). I want to actually play it again, esp. if I find a good guild that can run someone that's virtually a newbie through it. But that doesnt mean I dont have doubts.

The last patch for this game was in January. Have you ever seen a mmo that's indie, f2p, or otherwise that goes a whole 6-7 months without at least a hotfix? And no, that doesnt meant the game is bug free. Just ask all the Vanguard players out there that know what the bugs are.

I'm crossing my fingers that this game will go free 2 play because if you look at all the other f2p options out there, this one was designed for it, yet does just about everything better.

 Actually there were updates in Feb and March and april for the merge so least check things out before you post. And i wouldn't say there is anymore bugs in it compared to any other MMO. I do understand the bad rep it had for a very long time with bugs but i think its about time to leastto be rid of that label. I personally *kinda aslo wish it could go f2p just so more ppl could experience it and maybe give it more life. But would be nice if it would be seperate like what eq2 is trying since it could piss off the population if added to current servers.

Also from other comments the doom talk does indeed get old. Yes it doesn't have alot of devs left but content does get released slowly and hotfixs. And least the main server we have is very nicely populated with lots of things to do and options not available in other games. I'd just say if you want to give it a try just do it and have fun with the ppl alrdy playing it and if you've written VG off i understand but just let others try if they want.

Sony put the game on life support the moment they "obtained" it. Pretty unfortunate, because I really liked the game, but with no future prospects of it ever getting better I didn't really want to invest money into a sinking ship.

Population and subscribers could have made this game flourish. Being on the "don't give a crap" list of SOE doesn't help either.

  Vanguard hands down is the best mmorpg out there, There ton of thing to do tons or flying ,riding mounts. U miss eq feel well vanguards your game, Go to vanguard and kill the ancient cyclops so u can get thoughs boots again hehe.  Well anyways nothing better than taking down a giant or slaying a dragon  or just crafting some new gear or a BOAT  well whatever it is they have it. Try it u have nothing to lose cause i know u have wasted time playing crappy mmos. 

I haven't read much of the earlier post,  but since sony is making EQII F2P: vanguard saga is done. If you continue to pay SOE your 15 dollars per month,  you might as well get on your knees at the same time.

Originally posted by gauge2k3

Originally posted by Arkain

Cutting through the doom and gloom about VG. What most of the players want you to know is the game is not bad.

Yes SOE is going to end it at some point, ALL MMO's end at some point (you are deceiving your self if you thing otherwise).

But Yes it is a fun game, even if your are going to play something else in a few months.

If you are all doom and gloom about SOE, Riddle me this gamers: What computer gaming company as NEVER pissed off or even rubbed someone the wrong way (if you come up with one, I bet that someone will say "You are wrong!")

I am just playing tell I fined something better (I've been looking at Rifts and Secret World my self) I was going to be in LotRO with my GF but this is more of what I like so far.

Bottom line if you are one of the old school players that is looking for that feeling again or someone that is feed-up with "easy mode pro" games where all or most of the fun is "by there design" at the end not or no longer along the way (I swear, game company must think we are all ADHD now,....maybe we are) it is a good game to try. 14 day free, what do you looses (time sitting in a city tell the next PUG......ooooo, now that is really playing a MMORPG, jk lol).

 

I guess I'm just a different kind of gamer than you all.  My number one concern with MMO's is "Are they going to shut it down before I can experience most of the game?"

If the answer is no to that question we can talk about game design and if I like that.  But if a game is looking like it's gonna close ( I didn't say fail ) then it's a waste of my time to even attempt to play it.  Nothing worse than trying an MMO, loving it, then having it stripped from you.  Tabula Rasa did that to me, and I won't ever have that happen again.

 Lol, friend I understand that, for me it was WoW you see they moved away from what I like about the game to be less of a MMORPG to be more like a Xbox game (you sit in the city/ waiting room tell your map/ dungeon is ready). I just like playing in a big nice world and I do not worry about finishing the game (if I can finish the MMORPG in less then a year or two as a casual player, then there is no reason for me to play, lol).

Originally posted by ViperHoundz

I haven't read much of the earlier post,  but since sony is making EQII F2P: vanguard saga is done. If you continue to pay SOE your 15 dollars per month,  you might as well get on your knees at the same time.

 You really don't know a thing about F2P do you? Hears the info that you need: Most of the time "Joe Average" will spend more on a F2P then a Sub. The F2P is smoke and mirrors, lol

I used to think about returns and investments too. Having poured time,energy,hopes and money into a game only to have it shut down seemed an awful waste. This is true however good experiences are far and few to simply just penny pinch your way through them. The value in a game is not just the the amount of time it lasts or even how long you play it. It is actually to me anyway the experience itself that is the essence of enjoyment, if you do not at all venture into a game because you fear it might shut down then you are denying yourself an experience and that to me is really sad because in the many years that I have played I treasure the memories of the games and not the length of time I devoted to it.

Originally posted by cheyane

I used to think about returns and investments too. Having poured time,energy,hopes and money into a game only to have it shut down seemed an awful waste. This is true however good experiences are far and few to simply just penny pinch your way through them. The value in a game is not just the the amount of time it lasts or even how long you play it. It is actually to me anyway the experience itself that is the essence of enjoyment, if you do not at all venture into a game because you fear it might shut down then you are denying yourself an experience and that to me is really sad because in the many years that I have played I treasure the memories of the games and not the length of time I devoted to it.

 Well said.

Originally posted by Arkain

Originally posted by ViperHoundz

I haven't read much of the earlier post,  but since sony is making EQII F2P: vanguard saga is done. If you continue to pay SOE your 15 dollars per month,  you might as well get on your knees at the same time.

 You really don't know a thing about F2P do you? Hears the info that you need: Most of the time "Joe Average" will spend more on a F2P then a Sub. The F2P is smoke and mirrors, lol

Well Actually I do, I'm tinkering with DDO as we speak, but that wasn't my point. I love vanguard played it since they had team- PVP servers:  I think if SOE even cared about Vanguard there would have been updates or at Least a F2p model.  Since SOE baby is going F2p now, TO ME it proves its over for Vanguard. I'm thinking SOE believes it will suck the remailing subs from vanguard: and those subscribers will pay more playing EQ2.  While in the corner Vanguard is dying slowly from 9 stab wounds to the back.

 

Actually there have been a few studies that are even posted on this site that show that approximately 90% of the player base never pays a thing in ftp games.  Just those last 10% pay a lot.

So average joe pays nothing.

Venge Sunsoar

Bump!

Excellent thread!