I cannot seem to find any reviews on the current state of Vanguard. Is it dead? Are they ever going to do an expansion? Should I new player consider buying the game or is the population diminished?

No expansions, but they are raising the level cap and adding an AA system (ala Everquest). There always seems to be something new coming, but it takes a while since the dev team is small.

Population is small... fluctuates quite a bit. I haven't played in a few months so I'm not sure where they are after the RMT announcement.

Definitely a great game though and a good spiritual successor to EQ1.

The poulation is low, but the game is not dead.  Well, actually the population is reasonably high on the Isle of Dawn trial area, but it's very low once you get past that.

People are way, way too quick to declare a game dead.  Tabula Rasa is dead.  Asheron's Call 2 is dead.  But few MMORPGs ever completely die.  And SOE will keep an MMORPG alive and on the Station Pass until the end of time if they can.

Originally posted by ionscorp

I cannot seem to find any reviews on the current state of Vanguard. Is it dead? Are they ever going to do an expansion? Should I new player consider buying the game or is the population diminished?

No Vanguard isnt dead and it still has a number of people playing it.

Have you tried Chronicles of Spellborn yet? Its a much better game which is currently in the final stages of beta although its completely functional. You can download the client for free from the main website and can play it for free as well up until Level 8. If you want to progress further than that then you will need to subscribe. Of course you dont have to pay if you dont want to and can keep trying out new characters forever if you want to as there is no time limit on the F2P part of the game......and no you arent limited to a "trial" part of the game. You can play alongside paying members just like everyone else.

Its worth checking out as it wont cost you anything except the small amount of time it takes to download and install the game. I have been playing it for a few hours and my initial impression is that its much better than any of the other mmos. The character creation process is "different" and the comabt system is also "different". I havent played any other mmos quite like it actually.

http://spellborn.acclaim.com/

Well the RMT shot my account But the game was still there last i looked. Still has people. lots of LFGing But no mentoring system and Beta Old Bugs are still pissing people off.

Im with Neonwire tho Give SpellBorn a try. Its Odd But in a good way. And the world fells more alive than vanguards does. lots of Bears and Wolves Chaseing Squearls and stuff. and Way more Npc's walk around than any other MMO ive seen.

Originally posted by Ekibiogami

Well the RMT shot my account But the game was still there last i looked. Still has people. lots of LFGing But no mentoring system and Beta Old Bugs are still pissing people off.

Im with Neonwire tho Give SpellBorn a try. Its Odd But in a good way. And the world fells more alive than vanguards does. lots of Bears and Wolves Chaseing Squearls and stuff. and Way more Npc's walk around than any other MMO ive seen.

Actually I found the AI of the those bears, wolves and other animals to be rather advanced. Seeing them interact with each other isnt just window dressing. The wolves hunt in packs and will sometimes break away from an attack they have started on you if they feel threatened by something else. The aggro range seems different as well. In most mmos the creatures you encounter are virtually blind and wont go for you unless you stand within a few meters of them. In this game when I first saw a pack of wolves I stopped to look at them from a reasonable distance and one of them seemed to "sniff" me. He turned and went for me and the whole pack followed and chased me down. I didnt last too long. I've also noticed creatures trying to back away from me when they are close to death. It all reminds me a bit of Saga of Ryzom except this game has decent content and is a lot better.

The visuals on this game are also pretty stunning and perhaps better than most modern single player games. They are definately the best I have seen in any mmo and that includes AoC in my opinion. Some people might not like the odd Tim Burton style graphics but I think they are extremely good and lend themselves perfectly to a computer game. On top of that you get some really interesting and varied character customisation options (including your voice) due to the way you can mix and match clothing and armour on each individual body location. Wave goodbye to the days when a starting character begins the game in generic rags with no armour.

The combat is also handled very differently too. There is no auto attack and the game actually has real gameplay in it where you have to target your opponent (gasp!). Add to that extremely atmospheric music and sound effects and a very surreal and original fantasy world and you have a pretty top notch game. I havent encountered any bugs yet although I hear there are some in there as its still in beta afterall. Also the interface is a bit clunky in some areas and could do with some work.

This review written by the mighty wordsmith Vesavius pretty much nails the game in my opinion based on the small amount I have seen so far. It worth a read.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/207/view/forums/thread/229694/A-L10-review-Loving-the-game-.html

I don't really see it as ever being alive.  :)  It crashed and burned on release day and will likely never recover.

Originally posted by ionscorp

Are they ever going to do an expansion?

www.massively.com/2009/01/20/vanguard-to-get-expansion-sized-serving-of-free-content-in-comin/

Vanguard is far from dead. The 2 US PVE servers are have healthy populations that are steadily growing. The PvP server pop is kinda hurtin', but this is a PVE game.

Don't listen to the people who say the "VG is dead" nonsense. Most of them have never actually played the damn game.

Oh come now.

The last developer poll in Jan. 2009 yielded a total 483 votes. That is 483 people spread across FOUR servers. You're saying the game isn't dead? Fine. Vanguard is in coma. Pull the plug and move along.

Originally posted by Trueth

Oh come now.

The last developer poll in Jan. 2009 yielded a total 483 votes. That is 483 people spread across FOUR servers. You're saying the game isn't dead? Fine. Vanguard is in coma. Pull the plug and move along.

Righhht. And every single person who plays Vanguard was a part of that poll. 

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by ionscorp

Are they ever going to do an expansion?

www.massively.com/2009/01/20/vanguard-to-get-expansion-sized-serving-of-free-content-in-comin/

I think it is beyond generous to call that expansion sized content.  2 dungeons and the rest of it is nothing more than empty experience bars to fill.  Most of that is normal content patches for most mmos, especially when you consider the time frame it has taken to do this.

To the original poster

The game isn't dead, but it isn't exactly going anywhere either.   It offers some fun gameplay if you are looking for a diversion for a while or looking for a small group of people who are dedicated to one game.  Otherwise you will outpace what vanguard has to offer.  It is a dead end game so to speak.

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Originally posted by Daffid011

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Originally posted by Nadia

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Originally posted by ionscorp

Are they ever going to do an expansion?

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www.massively.com/2009/01/20/vanguard-to-get-expansion-sized-serving-of-free-content-in-comin/

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I think it is beyond generous to call that expansion sized content.  2 dungeons and the rest of it is nothing more than empty experience bars to fill.  Most of that is normal content patches for most mmos, especially when you consider the time frame it has taken to do this.
 
To the original poster
The game isn't dead, but it isn't exactly going anywhere either.   It offers some fun gameplay if you are looking for a diversion for a while or looking for a small group of people who are dedicated to one game.  Otherwise you will outpace what vanguard has to offer.  It is a dead end game so to speak.

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Outpace what vanguard has to offer. I highly doubt it unless you plan on skipping 90% of the content. I guess if you start playing vanguard, join one of the top guilds and get power leveled through end game you could.
Unless you ride the coat tails of other players you wont be out pacing anything.

I didn't say power through the content, I said outpace and I am not talking about rolling alts to see the areas/dungeons you missed the first trip to level 50.

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Originally posted by Daffid011
I didn't say power through the content, I said outpace and I am not talking about rolling alts to see the areas/dungeons you missed the first trip to level 50.
 

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If its a race to max level ya i could outpace the content of any game on the market in a matter of weeks or even days for some of them.

Ok fine, lets be literal with words then and not assume I am talking about 16 hours a day and instead talking about casual play... which is what I am talking about.

6 months to clear the only raid zone in the game.

Lets be really generous and say 6 months to level to 50 and see most of the games dungeons and areas of interest.

The game has been out for over 2 years which would leave you with more than an extra year. 

A year is a very long time and the bulk of the game can be done at a causal rate that will outpace new content.

I'm not saying the game is bad or that you some people can't find things to occupy their time in the game.  I just feel that the games biggest problem is its lack of a real future.  For an average player this game will be a one way ticket or a timed event if you will. 

Ya i know you played vanguard for a long time Daffid. Am sorry the games not turning out like you wanted.

I feel this game has come a long way. Take it from someone like myself that quit playing it soon after launch. Back then the game was darn near broken, ran horribly, and was taking way to long to get fixes for the issues. I have read in a magazine recently that the game is much better so I decided to give it another chance under a free 14 day trial. I'm having a blast with it now, and I probably will sign back  up! To me it feels like a good replacement to EQ. Yes that means I like it more than EQ2! EQ2 was pretty much Everquest Lite with the hand-holding quests and such!

All I can ask of everyone is please don't post negative opinions about the game unless you have actually given it at least a try on the free trial, and please do give it a try if you haven't already. To answer the OP's question if the game is dead...no, but it could use some help. If most of the people here would give the free trial a chance I'm sure quite a few people would end up subscribing to the game. Even if you have tried it early in it's beginning, give it another shot. I would like to see this game succeed.

Originally posted by swede2

Ya i know you played vanguard for a long time Daffid. Am sorry the games not turning out like you wanted.

I'll just take your sarcasm as acknowledgment of what I said.  Thanks.

I play both VG and SWG. Between both these games, its VG that has the least activity. I dont mean just players ingame (VG world is huge, so difficult to determine), but also if you look at the updates from the devs. Frequency and content is much lower then with SWG.

Another important fact are playermade websites. Lot of the stickied websites on the main forum (gameplay discussion) havent been updated for a long time(some dont even mention the new starterisland). Actually the main link to the website that has the usefull website links, hasnt been working for a month now. And what is maybe worse, no one besides the OP (month old post) mentions it.

Ive played this game for long, so my friends and I dont use those links anymore, but for anyone new to this game itll be a problem to learn enough about the specifics (especially crafting and diplomacy).