http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ten-level-test-everquest-ii-vs-vanguard-article?page=1

Vangaurd is a clear winner.

EverQuest II, you are uninstalled.
 

I didn't expect that but in the end why play any of them when you could play WOW? lol.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ten-level-test-everquest-ii-vs-vanguard-article?page=1

Vangaurd is a clear winner.

EverQuest II, you are uninstalled.
 

 

I didn't expect that but in the end why play any of them when you could play WOW? lol.

Is that not a stupid question?  Why post here when you can preach to the dog next door?
 

Well, there is one big problem with the test: EQ2 big strenght is it's many (and extremly well made) dungeons and RAIDs. You won't see them until you are over lvl 10.

Both games have their good and bad points but totaly judging a game on just 10 levels are unfair.

If you plan to solo a lot you should certanly go for Vanguard but if you are a dungeon fan that loves to RAID then go for EQ2.

Of course Vanguard looks a lot better and have flying mounts also.

I think judging a game by its first ten levels is completely fair. If you don't have enough fun in the first ten levels, what's the point in suffering through more just to raid?

I've always thought the game should be fun from beginning to...well, I hate the "endgame" formula (Sandbox freak), but you get what I mean.

Originally posted by MangoXII

I think judging a game by its first ten levels is completely fair. If you don't have enough fun in the first ten levels, what's the point in suffering through more just to raid?

I've always thought the game should be fun from beginning to...well, I hate the "endgame" formula (Sandbox freak), but you get what I mean.

The first 10 levels in most games are just a tutorial and usually just take a few hours.

In EQ2 you don't do any dungeons at all until you are at least 12+. Judging a game before you played a single group dungeon is not fair, EQ2 is not a solo game and it's soloing sucks. It is the group actions that are the games strenght.

And RAIDing in EQ2 is not about endgame, there are RAIDs from about lvl 35-80. And it also have more regular group dungeons than any other game I played, a lot more.

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by MangoXII

I think judging a game by its first ten levels is completely fair. If you don't have enough fun in the first ten levels, what's the point in suffering through more just to raid?

I've always thought the game should be fun from beginning to...well, I hate the "endgame" formula (Sandbox freak), but you get what I mean.

 

The first 10 levels in most games are just a tutorial and usually just take a few hours.

In EQ2 you don't do any dungeons at all until you are at least 12+. Judging a game before you played a single group dungeon is not fair, EQ2 is not a solo game and it's soloing sucks. It is the group actions that are the games strenght.

And RAIDing in EQ2 is not about endgame, there are RAIDs from about lvl 35-80. And it also have more regular group dungeons than any other game I played, a lot more.

The first 10 levels are basically the first day of playing the game...... if I'm not having fun in my first 10 mins I will quit the game because why would I carry on when I already don't like the game? I have better things to do. In the first 10 mins you see alot of the basic mechanics and art and combat etc etc. So if I think the combat sucks or the art sucks or I hate the character models, then they're GIANT issues that arn't gonna get better.

My Vanguard experience...

Character creation, character models suck.... Uninstall the game sucks and I can tell just from the poor models.

My EQ2 experience...

Loading screen after loading screen, game is too zoned up.. Uninstall game sucks.

It has to capture me from the start like most other people or we wont continue to play.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by MangoXII

I think judging a game by its first ten levels is completely fair. If you don't have enough fun in the first ten levels, what's the point in suffering through more just to raid?

I've always thought the game should be fun from beginning to...well, I hate the "endgame" formula (Sandbox freak), but you get what I mean.

 

The first 10 levels in most games are just a tutorial and usually just take a few hours.

In EQ2 you don't do any dungeons at all until you are at least 12+. Judging a game before you played a single group dungeon is not fair, EQ2 is not a solo game and it's soloing sucks. It is the group actions that are the games strenght.

And RAIDing in EQ2 is not about endgame, there are RAIDs from about lvl 35-80. And it also have more regular group dungeons than any other game I played, a lot more.

 

The first 10 levels are basically the first day of playing the game...... if I'm not having fun in my first 10 mins I will quit the game because why would I carry on when I already don't like the game? I have better things to do. In the first 10 mins you see alot of the basic mechanics and art and combat etc etc. So if I think the combat sucks or the art sucks or I hate the character models, then they're GIANT issues that arn't gonna get better.

My Vanguard experience...

Character creation, character models suck.... Uninstall the game sucks and I can tell just from the poor models.

My EQ2 experience...

Loading screen after loading screen, game is too zoned up.. Uninstall game sucks.

 

It has to capture me from the start like most other people or we wont continue to play.

Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. There are games with features I like that I just cannot keep myself tied to (EVE, Vanguard). With EVE, the combat is just too dull for me. But with Vanguard, the character models were just not very good looking. I imagine, from reading about it, that the game does offer a nice enough, large, open world, but character models and animations (Not graphics) bother me. Also, I seemed to notice that even with my monster PC the game doesn't run as well as the graphics would have you to believe a good computer should be running it at.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by MangoXII

I think judging a game by its first ten levels is completely fair. If you don't have enough fun in the first ten levels, what's the point in suffering through more just to raid?

I've always thought the game should be fun from beginning to...well, I hate the "endgame" formula (Sandbox freak), but you get what I mean.

 

The first 10 levels in most games are just a tutorial and usually just take a few hours.

In EQ2 you don't do any dungeons at all until you are at least 12+. Judging a game before you played a single group dungeon is not fair, EQ2 is not a solo game and it's soloing sucks. It is the group actions that are the games strenght.

And RAIDing in EQ2 is not about endgame, there are RAIDs from about lvl 35-80. And it also have more regular group dungeons than any other game I played, a lot more.

 

The first 10 levels are basically the first day of playing the game...... if I'm not having fun in my first 10 mins I will quit the game because why would I carry on when I already don't like the game? I have better things to do. In the first 10 mins you see alot of the basic mechanics and art and combat etc etc. So if I think the combat sucks or the art sucks or I hate the character models, then they're GIANT issues that arn't gonna get better.

My Vanguard experience...

Character creation, character models suck.... Uninstall the game sucks and I can tell just from the poor models.

My EQ2 experience...

Loading screen after loading screen, game is too zoned up.. Uninstall game sucks.

 

It has to capture me from the start like most other people or we wont continue to play.

That is very biased.

The first 10 levels cost only a couple hours, and for a new game, there are so much to learn you cannot get the hang of it in the first few hours.

I bought EQ2 during launch, never made it thru first month.  I returned years later and tried the tutorial island, I have no idea what the game is about but somehow I subbed.  Then i begin to learn about the classes, the interesting crafting minigame ... it took me days to figure out the things I never expected.  Then I go back to start another alt, and suddenly the tutorial island makes a lot more sense.

If you think you can get the hang of the entire game in the first few hours of encounter, you are playing a very very shallow game.  It took me like a few months before I fully appreciate what EQ2 was.  I must admit I already moved on, not going back to EQ2 for some time.  But still the months I have spent in EQ2 are sweet memories.

I don't think the first 10 levels need to show the entire scope of the game. I do, however, think that they should offer much more fun than most MMORPGs do with the first 10 levels. Lately, games just want to add in so many levels, it makes the first 10 truly insignificant to the game.

Playing a game for several hours is often enough to tell if a game is awful, but it's not enough to distinguish between a mediocre game and a great one.  Trying to compare games so soon is fundamentally an exercise in rating games without playing them long enough to have a meaningful opinion.  That is, of course, what professional game reviewers specialize in.  It's also the reason why they say so many stupid things in their reviews. 

Originally posted by Quizzical

Playing a game for several hours is often enough to tell if a game is awful, but it's not enough to distinguish between a mediocre game and a great one.  Trying to compare games so soon is fundamentally an exercise in rating games without playing them long enough to have a meaningful opinion.  That is, of course, what professional game reviewers specialize in.  It's also the reason why they say so many stupid things in their reviews. 

Classic.

Originally posted by Orthedos

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by MangoXII

I think judging a game by its first ten levels is completely fair. If you don't have enough fun in the first ten levels, what's the point in suffering through more just to raid?

I've always thought the game should be fun from beginning to...well, I hate the "endgame" formula (Sandbox freak), but you get what I mean.

 

The first 10 levels in most games are just a tutorial and usually just take a few hours.

In EQ2 you don't do any dungeons at all until you are at least 12+. Judging a game before you played a single group dungeon is not fair, EQ2 is not a solo game and it's soloing sucks. It is the group actions that are the games strenght.

And RAIDing in EQ2 is not about endgame, there are RAIDs from about lvl 35-80. And it also have more regular group dungeons than any other game I played, a lot more.

 

The first 10 levels are basically the first day of playing the game...... if I'm not having fun in my first 10 mins I will quit the game because why would I carry on when I already don't like the game? I have better things to do. In the first 10 mins you see alot of the basic mechanics and art and combat etc etc. So if I think the combat sucks or the art sucks or I hate the character models, then they're GIANT issues that arn't gonna get better.

My Vanguard experience...

Character creation, character models suck.... Uninstall the game sucks and I can tell just from the poor models.

My EQ2 experience...

Loading screen after loading screen, game is too zoned up.. Uninstall game sucks.

 

It has to capture me from the start like most other people or we wont continue to play.

 

That is very biased.

The first 10 levels cost only a couple hours, and for a new game, there are so much to learn you cannot get the hang of it in the first few hours.

I bought EQ2 during launch, never made it thru first month.  I returned years later and tried the tutorial island, I have no idea what the game is about but somehow I subbed.  Then i begin to learn about the classes, the interesting crafting minigame ... it took me days to figure out the things I never expected.  Then I go back to start another alt, and suddenly the tutorial island makes a lot more sense.

If you think you can get the hang of the entire game in the first few hours of encounter, you are playing a very very shallow game.  It took me like a few months before I fully appreciate what EQ2 was.  I must admit I already moved on, not going back to EQ2 for some time.  But still the months I have spent in EQ2 are sweet memories.

I don't want to dedicate months of my life on the off chance I might eventually like the game, stockholm syndrome anyone?

I didn't like the way the game was split up into zones and it broke the immersion. I didn't like the combat and all the classes were boring and the world seemed bland and had a dead atmosphere to it.

Fix them things and I'll return to give it another go.

The first 10 levels do indeed usually prove to be the grabbing point in a game. I will usually know if i am willing to continue playing something by then. But a game comparison over just the first 10 levels is rediculous. 10 Levels really shows you nothing and basically just gets  you familiar with how to work the game.
Now back in the good old days this wasnt the case, the first 10 levels actually took a little bit of time.

And i would try either of them, because i hate WoW. But sadly i dont really like either of them much.

Originally posted by MangoXII

Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. There are games with features I like that I just cannot keep myself tied to (EVE, Vanguard). With EVE, the combat is just too dull for me. But with Vanguard, the character models were just not very good looking. I imagine, from reading about it, that the game does offer a nice enough, large, open world, but character models and animations (Not graphics) bother me. Also, I seemed to notice that even with my monster PC the game doesn't run as well as the graphics would have you to believe a good computer should be running it at.

With everything maxed out the models look fine to me. Animation is kinda bad though.

I am running the Vanguard trial isle right now and there is good FPS with everything 100% maxed out. My computer is not a monster PC but I do have a 280GTX card.

Still a game with any depht needs time to get into, as I see it the game must be very simple and shallow for you to be able to judge it just on a few hours play.

If you just don't like the graphics that is fine but as for the rest you should at least spend a couple of days before deciding one thing or another.

EQ2 for one game do have dungeons that most MMOs only can dream about, how can you judge a game without even see them. I agree that you shouldn't play until endgame but more then 3 hours is needed to decide if a game is better than another.

I would play EQ2 over VG because although VG looks better it feels like it's empty while EQ2 is small (compared to the feel of VG) but it has more activity. I like WoW raiding better though. So, if they did EQ2 with WoW raiding and VG graphics then i'd play a game like that.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

I don't want to dedicate months of my life on the off chance I might eventually like the game, stockholm syndrome anyone?

That's why you read up on a game before playing it.  Well, maybe you don't, but I sure do.

For example, if loading screens really bother you, it's easy to find out whether a game has them, without having to spend hours downloading the game to see for yourself.

Most of the things that would lead you to hate a game that you can learn in the first few hours, you can more easily learn before playing the game at all.

I guess there could be a handful of exceptions, such as if the animations are choppy in ways that drive you nuts, if the controls are imprecise enough that it's hard to get your character to do what you want, or if the game has some peculiar pet peeve of yours that few people would comment on because they don't care.

10 levels... in a DAY?    Much less the FIRST DAY???   

I don't know what some of you guys are on, or what you do, but I don't think I've ever gone past level 20 in any MMO.  Hell, I'm pleased if I can level once in a 1-2 hour stretch! 

Well this 10 lvl test certainly opened my eyes again to Vanguard.

I've been a fan of the EQ series since 1999 however I have  moved on and tried out various MMO's since.

I tried Vanguard becuase it was on sale for £5 infact I bought 2 copies, 1 for my teenage son, needless to say that copy remains within its security wrapping due to WoW.

So I found myself inside Vanguard, now personally speaking if an MMO doesn't grab my attention within 10 minutes of playing (Harsh I know but thats me) then it usually means doom for the game and I have to be quite frank the graphics immediately put me off as did the the NPC voices and the oh so irritating background music (I do enjoy keeping the music on in games).

I certainly felt no immersiveness when walking around the starting isle, must have missed that falling tree aswell, infact the whole area looked rather bland.

However after reading the 10 lvl test I think to myself that perhaps I'm treating this game like I do all of the other MMO's out there, as a single player MMO on easy mode, I didn't give the game enough of a chance becuase I had too many hang-ups about graphics/sound/UI etc, basically I have been spoiled by the likes of EQ2 and WoW.

So I'm thinking that perhaps I should dust off my Vanguard account and give this game another chance and ignore my 10 minute rule and really play this game, however that thought will have to wait as I'm currently playing a Witch Elf in WAR and enjoying my time dishing out death to ickle Dwarves . However Vanguard is back on my todo list again.

Oh and yes the reviewer was spot on about guilds in EQ2, lots and lots and lots of mindless "Grats" every 5 mins and then nothing but silence, not what you call an ideal enviroment to nurture a community into a well oiled fighting unit.

Nevermind. i misread the OP.

Originally posted by qbangy32

Well this 10 lvl test certainly opened my eyes again to Vanguard.

I've been a fan of the EQ series since 1999 however I have  moved on and tried out various MMO's since.

I tried Vanguard becuase it was on sale for £5 infact I bought 2 copies, 1 for my teenage son, needless to say that copy remains within its security wrapping due to WoW.

So I found myself inside Vanguard, now personally speaking if an MMO doesn't grab my attention within 10 minutes of playing (Harsh I know but thats me) then it usually means doom for the game and I have to be quite frank the graphics immediately put me off as did the the NPC voices and the oh so irritating background music (I do enjoy keeping the music on in games).

I certainly felt no immersiveness when walking around the starting isle, must have missed that falling tree aswell, infact the whole area looked rather bland.

However after reading the 10 lvl test I think to myself that perhaps I'm treating this game like I do all of the other MMO's out there, as a single player MMO on easy mode, I didn't give the game enough of a chance becuase I had too many hang-ups about graphics/sound/UI etc, basically I have been spoiled by the likes of EQ2 and WoW.

So I'm thinking that perhaps I should dust off my Vanguard account and give this game another chance and ignore my 10 minute rule and really play this game, however that thought will have to wait as I'm currently playing a Witch Elf in WAR and enjoying my time dishing out death to ickle Dwarves . However Vanguard is back on my todo list again.

Oh and yes the reviewer was spot on about guilds in EQ2, lots and lots and lots of mindless "Grats" every 5 mins and then nothing but silence, not what you call an ideal enviroment to nurture a community into a well oiled fighting unit.

 

 

So you feel the graphics of Vanguard are bland compared to the cartoon that is WoW?  The music in Vanguard is annoying compared to that of WoW?

Are you serious?  Really?