I've tried this game as well and played it for a few months.  I was pleasantly suprised.  It is old-school in some ways, but has some character classes and mechanics that you just dont find anywhere else.  It's nice to go into an oldschool type open world with flying mounts and non-zoned dungeons. 

It should be noted that the 50+ game is completely different than the game 1-50.   The 1-50 game shines with some great content and promise.  The 50+ game is reportedly a complete grind fest.   But there's no reason why you have to play 50+...

If you’re only interested in vertical progression, or taking your character to the level cap and then raiding or doing PvP, it’ll take you a good long while to reach level 55, but you won’t have much to do after that.  As we’ve mentioned, there are several dungeons and raids, but not much to do for hardcore raiders and really nothing at all for PvPers.

The article is a good read, but I wanted to weigh in on a little of what you wrote up there. How can someone justify a 8/10 score with that comment following? Nothing to do for pvp is not good for longevity, what I got from that comment was, "You can grind until cap, then start a new character and grind until cap, because there is really no endgame content (and no one to do it with.)"

I gave Vanguard a month and 2 weeks of time to enthrall me and it had a real problem in keeping my interest. My problem wasn't the graphics, I can get over the fact it is really outdated. What I wasn't happy with was the outdated mechanics and the lacking of current MMORPG tools that are being built in to most of the newer games.

If I may recommend a better game that a person would get more of their moneys worth if they are looking for a Wow-like game with decent pve and pvp, would be Rift. Yes, Rft has its issues, but the game is more up to date than Vanguard, has the full support of the developers and warrants your subscription.

Originally posted by Hyrim

And all these dungeons are spread across all levels, because in Vanguard I think the goal is having fun while you play, and not play to have fun some day when you're all maxed out.

I'm currently playing with a dedicated group of friends and, I must say, we're all just having a lot of fun.

This is how I approach all games regardless of it being Vanguard, AOC, WOW, etc... Have fun while you play and don't worry about the end-game. I recently returned to an MMO that everyone says is only endgame focused and I am having a blast leveling. And by the way, this is where I think Mythic messed up with DAOC - all the focus was on the RVR endgame and they ignored the PVE leveling experience.

And any MMO is better when it is experienced with a group of friends. Vanguard moreso since so much does require a group.

I wish more people approached MMO's as you do.

Originally posted by Inktomi

If you’re only interested in vertical progression, or taking your character to the level cap and then raiding or doing PvP, it’ll take you a good long while to reach level 55, but you won’t have much to do after that.  As we’ve mentioned, there are several dungeons and raids, but not much to do for hardcore raiders and really nothing at all for PvPers.

The article is a good read, but I wanted to weigh in on a little of what you wrote up there. How can someone justify a 8/10 score with that comment following? Nothing to do for pvp is not good for longevity, what I got from that comment was, "You can grind until cap, then start a new character and grind until cap, because there is really no endgame content (and no one to do it with.)"

I gave Vanguard a month and 2 weeks of time to enthrall me and it had a real problem in keeping my interest. My problem wasn't the graphics, I can get over the fact it is really outdated. What I wasn't happy with was the outdated mechanics and the lacking of current MMORPG tools that are being built in to most of the newer games.

If I may recommend a better game that a person would get more of their moneys worth if they are looking for a Wow-like game with decent pve and pvp, would be Rift. Yes, Rft has its issues, but the game is more up to date than Vanguard, has the full support of the developers and warrants your subscription.

 

for someone who gave it a month and a half it appears you never really came to understand the basis of the is *not* grind to cap then the game begins. while someone can do either with any game, Vanguard is terrific because it encourages slow, long play, enjoy while you play, not enjoy only once youre done grinding.

those kinds of games rule the market right now. which is fine, people seem to enjoy them.

and clearly no game w/o pvp can have longevity, i mean look at FFXI ... oh wait.

and i wholeheartedly support your reccomendation that folks looking for a WoW experience, look elsewhere, particularly at Rift. you'll find Rift to be a great game for you. and you'll stay away from crying about Vanguard not being what you were looking for ~ a grindtocapandthenthefunbegins kind of game.

i play Vanguard because my ideas of fun do not include waiting in queues to grind the same battlefield over and over, or pugging the same raid over and over, hoping to gahd someone doesn't act like a complete jerkoff and ruin the run. because if we kick them, we then have to wait even longer for someone to fill the whole they left.

as for the graphics the only thing i hear ingame is people being amazed. i dont know what youre settings were at or what youre standards are but seeing as most forums are mostly for complainers, i'm sure youll agree having played WoW and Rift as i have, its unusual that no one says this.

either there is a gfx hard/software issue going on here or what would be even more fascinating for me a psychological mindset that attributes certain turns of movement, or curves of features which alerts someone to say, OMG that sux! or OMG thats awesome!

and geez, maybe someday i'll learn how to type in proper English ... =)

I stopped reading when the reviewer said Vanguard wasn't as pretty as Rift, AoC, or LotRO.  I mean, AoC is debatable, and Rift might have better lighting in some cases.  LotRO though? lmao, this site really plugs that game.

Sad thing is that SOE never advertised it nor really finished the game...

It would have been the summum of hardcore MMO's if it ever could have been finished by the orriginal crew.

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Sad thing is that SOE never advertised it nor really finished the game...

 

It would have been the summum of hardcore MMO's if it ever could have been finished by the orriginal crew.

 

SoE DID 'finish' it.  They put a tremendous amount of effort into the game, fixing it from the awful mess that sigil left it on to what it is today.  It was ALL SoE.  And all a gigantic money sink.

Originally posted by Meltdown

Originally posted by Hyrim

I'm currently playing with a dedicated group of friends and, I must say, we're all just having a lot of fun.

From what I hear this is the best way, if not the only way to play this game anymore. It's tempting in this respect. If VG ever goes F2P with cash shop they probably could make more money off group oriented, friends leveling together types of things like summoning scrolls, group bonuses (dmg, exp, regen), group mobility (mounts or whatever), or anything else around this concept. It's still gotta be one of the best group-oriented games out there with EQ.  

I second the posts above; VG could be a great small group/small guild game. If they took a drastic change in their operational model, I think they could breathe some life into the game, but SoE just doesn't appear to be willing to invest into the game. I hate to even write this, but perhaps sending the game to one of the larger F2P vendors to integrate a cash shop model would pay off.

 

 but SoE just doesn't appear to be willing to invest into the game. I hate 

 

you mean re-invest.

After the amount of money SoE lost (granted Im assuming this, but that 18 months of fairly heavy bug squashing, optimizing, and adding content could not have been cheap) why should they invest again?  

Put yourself in SoE's shoes on this one.  They read post after post after post of 'great potential, too many bugs and performance issues.  Fix that and Ill come back'.  So they fixed it and no one came back.  They added the end game content people wanted.  People didnt come back.   Nothing that has been done has brought people back.  If you are SoE, what makes this batch of 'people will come/come back' any different than any other?  Why should you believe it this time?

Originally posted by Ultramar

needs f2p and pvp server

+1 and then they wouldnt be talking about population issues **being low** and pvp makes everything better ...sortta like bacon

They had pvp FFA servers..

Trust me ,you don't want a Bard kiting your ass.

Originally posted by SuperXero89

I stopped reading when the reviewer said Vanguard wasn't as pretty as Rift, AoC, or LotRO.  I mean, AoC is debatable, and Rift might have better lighting in some cases.  LotRO though? lmao, this site really plugs that game.

 The lotro environment is about as photorealitic as you can get. The animations are horrible. The environment is probably the best you can get.

Originally posted by mCalvert

Originally posted by SuperXero89

I stopped reading when the reviewer said Vanguard wasn't as pretty as Rift, AoC, or LotRO.  I mean, AoC is debatable, and Rift might have better lighting in some cases.  LotRO though? lmao, this site really plugs that game.

 The lotro environment is about as photorealitic as you can get. The animations are horrible. The environment is probably the best you can get.

 Lotro, photorealistic...? For me it looks rather like a cartoon, the scenery is unrealistic, not even close to VG landscape.

My response to Vanguard over the years has always been the same: Refund me the box price from buying it the day it launched and give me an entire month free and I might check it out. Since that is not going to happen, I will never set foot in that world again.

I played the day it launched and it was literally the worst launch I have ever seen. The world crashed every hour and reset the saved data (both character and the landmarks that were supposed to be marked forever by the first person to find them). There were bugs all over the place. And, even though it was brand new, there wasn't a big population which was likely due to people trying to log in, seeing the game crashing a couple times and saying the hell with it.

You can't do a launch like that and expect all of those people you burned on the box price to ever come back and give you another shot. Even Final Fantasy gets that and gave people months worth of free time for how awful and unfinished their game was. But Vanguard? No, they just took everyon'e money and didn't give out and compensation for the massive unfinished, bug filled, crashing mess they released.

Originally posted by mCalvert

Originally posted by SuperXero89

I stopped reading when the reviewer said Vanguard wasn't as pretty as Rift, AoC, or LotRO.  I mean, AoC is debatable, and Rift might have better lighting in some cases.  LotRO though? lmao, this site really plugs that game.

 The lotro environment is about as photorealitic as you can get. The animations are horrible. The environment is probably the best you can get.

When was the last time you looked at a photo of a real landscape? You should maybe go out and have a quick look, LotrO is far from beeing anything but an upgraded WoW.

Originally posted by odinsrath

Originally posted by Ultramar

needs f2p and pvp server

+1 and then they wouldnt be talking about population issues **being low** and pvp makes everything better ...sortta like bacon

They had a full world PvP server at launch. I played it for a little while. The rules were silly (you could be in town next to guards doing the mini-game crafting and someone could kill you with no response from the guards or anything else). They also didn't add any PvP goals and essentially said they didn't plan on supporting it or tweaking the system/rules for it.

Also, due to the rule system, the game bugs, and the crashing no one played it. After the first week or two it was empty (of course so were most of the other servers).

In other words, I don't think that readding the PvP server will bring people back.

Originally posted by taus01

Originally posted by mCalvert

Originally posted by SuperXero89

I stopped reading when the reviewer said Vanguard wasn't as pretty as Rift, AoC, or LotRO.  I mean, AoC is debatable, and Rift might have better lighting in some cases.  LotRO though? lmao, this site really plugs that game.

 The lotro environment is about as photorealitic as you can get. The animations are horrible. The environment is probably the best you can get.

When was the last time you looked at a photo of a real landscape? You should maybe go out and have a quick look, LotrO is far from beeing anything but an upgraded WoW.

 Im confidant that anyone playing the game would see Im right.