For 5 years WoW had me blindly in love, the thought of looking at another made me feel guilty and ashamed.

After 5 years of love and hate I had enough, so I did what any other self respecting human being would do, I started to see whats out there,testing allot of different types (Don't Worry I firewalled) some one nighters others lasting maybe a week but It got old fast, I was looking to settle down again.

Then at the right moment there she was, Aion.  At first I thought this was it, this is the type that will keep me interested for years to come, so we tangle and man at first things looked great, loads of fun and a bright future...So I thought, well after about a mouth my vision of happiness was different then Aion's not to mention the lies and broken promises, so I called It quits,lol I know I'm a dirty dog I should of given It a better chance but I couldn't, something didn't feel right so I did what I thought was best for me, I still get come back to me emails but I just delete them, Its just to soon. O well live and learn right?

Downloading, Please be Misses right, I don't want to go back to that gold digging Slut called WoW or that two timing Aion.

Tips to help me better prepare for Vanguard from others that have had a have relationship with this beauty?

Be prepared for a finicky broad. VG is known to break the back of some older comps, but it should run well on a modern PC, especially if you tweak your ini file. Do a search on the VG forums (or even here) for ini tweaking.

The game's population is a tiny fraction of WoW's, but they're friendly enough. You'll absolutely need to group for some quests in later levels starting around your mid-20s, especially if you don't want to miss out on everything the game has to offer, which is a metric ass-ton of stuff.

Take your time leveling. Fiddle around with crafting and diplomacy even if you're normally not into that kind of thing. VG's crafting is well-done and diplomacy is an interesting addition to the game.

Also, don't be surprised if you run across some bugs. The game had a HORRIBLE launch and lost a lot of subs, but the devs have slowly but surely fixed most of them. There are some straggler bugs here and there the last time I played.

Originally posted by Warjin

For 5 years WoW had me blindly in love, the thought of looking at another made me feel guilty and ashamed.

After 5 years of love and hate I had enough, so I did what any other self respecting human being would do, I started to see whats out there,testing allot of different types (Don't Worry I firewalled) some one nighters others lasting maybe a week but It got old fast, I was looking to settle down again.

Then at the right moment there she was, Aion.  At first I thought this was it, this is the type that will keep me interested for years to come, so we tangle and man at first things looked great, loads of fun and a bright future...So I thought, well after about a mouth my vision of happiness was different then Aion's not to mention the lies and broken promises, so I called It quits,lol I know I'm a dirty dog I should of given It a better chance but I couldn't, something didn't feel right so I did what I thought was best for me, I still get come back to me emails but I just delete them, Its just to soon. O well live and learn right?

Downloading, Please be Misses right, I don't want to go back to that gold digging Slut called WoW or that two timing Aion.

Tips to help me better prepare for Vanguard from others that have had a have relationship with this beauty?

 

Ok, well first of all you have to HAVE TO!!!! Leave WoW at the door. Do not expect any wowisms.

 Leave it.

I said leave it. Now back away. Slowly. Ok, faster than that.

Vanguard is a huge world and doesn't have the type of population that wow has. It is a bit creaky. But the classes are very interesting and the world is absolutely beautiful if you have a machine that can run the game well.

You have to be proactive about guilds and groups if you are not a natural soloer.

Seradon has a decent populaton, fyi. Not WoW decent. Remember I said to leave it. However the world is so huge that even with a robust population they would probably get swallowed up.

Vanguard is an exploration game. And the world is a bit tougher than wow. I rarely died in wow but I die far more in Vanguard.

The thing is, it's ok. If I'm exploring in an area and I die because it's dangerous I go back. why? Because it's jus so darn interesting.

The cities are huge fyi. And you have to be patient. In manty ways Vanguard will not hold your hand.

none, no hand holding. She might bitch slap you a few times though. Hope you like it rough.

First thing you need to do is get it into your head that this game is not WoW or Aion. There will be a lot of bugs (people who claim most of them have been fixed is deluting themselves and trying to sell the game too hard). There are a lot of bugs that has been there since Beta even.

Quests can be very vague and non descriptive forcing you to ask people or search the web which can be a quest all on it's own since most web sites has discontinued their VG support.

Patch day always ALWAYS introduce new bugs into the game that can make the game downright unplayable at times

Forced grouping is big in this game. You can solo all the way to max level but you will miss out on a lot of content and a lot of great gear. Starting alone is very rough as it's generally recommended to start up with a friend or two. If you join a great and helpful guild this can be offset of course. One of the other is a must since finding pickup groups is harder than other games even if you are active in creating some yourself. It's not impossible ..but harder.

 There are no "Boxed" expansions planned for VG nor will there ever be most likely. The budget they have to work on only allows for a few new features and reworking old content making it 55+ content instead. The game is on life support which is sad considering it's a real gem.

The game has more positives that far outweights the negative but you do need to be aware of the negatives as they do turn unsuspecting potential new customers away.

My advice is look past all of the above and you will find a game like no other that far surpasses the superficial and shallow MMO's that is pumped out today. What VG offers is a good old school experience in the spirit of games like EQ and far from games like WoW. It doesn't have the latest graphics, DX10/11 support and all the trimmings but it's far from ugly either

Originally posted by Fibsdk

First thing you need to do is get it into your head that this game is not WoW or Aion.

This!

There will be a lot of bugs (people who claim most of them have been fixed is deluting themselves and trying to sell the game too hard). There are a lot of bugs that has been there since Beta even.

Might be true but other than a few annoyances I havent' found anything horrid. I've found thigns like a keep whose floors vanished. Had some walls vanish in one of the castle cities once.

Quests can be very vague and non descriptive forcing you to ask people or search the web which can be a quest all on it's own since most web sites has discontinued their VG support.

Or just look. I have never really had trouble with finding a quest if Itreated it as a quest. If players expect an x at the exact location (which I really hate I can tell you) then Vanguard will dissapoint. In this game one really has to look which in some ways reminds me of Morrowind. Of course there is a quest tracker but it's sketchy. And doesn't seem to work for all quests. It will get you in the general area or to a cave entrance.

 There are no "Boxed" expansions planned for VG nor will there ever be most likely. The budget they have to work on only allows for a few new features and reworking old content making it 55+ content instead. The game is on life support which is sad considering it's a real gem.

 That's sadly true. A player has to take it for what it is.

 

The game has more positives that far outweights the negative but you do need to be aware of the negatives as they do turn unsuspecting potential new customers away.

So true

 My advice is look past all of the above and you will find a game like no other that far surpasses the superficial and shallow MMO's that is pumped out today. What VG offers is a good old school experience in the spirit of games like EQ and far from games like WoW. It doesn't have the latest graphics, DX10/11 support and all the trimmings but it's farm from ugly either

True true true

I always blanch a bit when I hear that someone is from WoW and wants to try Aion. I find that many WoW players are a bit unforgiving of other games as WoW does have heaps of polish and features.

Just got to take Vanguard for what it is.

Vanguard starts off with more intensity than any game ever released.You see the warring mobs all around the ship.

The game is massive and it is great,the big flaw,lack of players.A game world that massive seems even emptier with no players.

All i can say is i wish you luck in finding some players to hang with on a steady basis.If you do then you can maybe enjoy one of the best created games ever released.

The game has some tedious flaws,all games do,a couple are in crafting and others in gaining faction to be able to continue other venues in the game.Aggro in many places seems fabricated,good thing it's not like that everywhere.FFXI had the best system you had a set design utilizing sound/vision or scent for mob detection,but VG is not a fail in this area,it at the very least matches up against any game.

Man it seems like years since i played VG at launch,it started with a great bang, i had some fun,too bad it died so fast.

Find a group to play with and/or join a guild.

The game suffers from massiveness. As long as you are in a guild, or with a group the world will seem 'right', not overrun with rampaging "adventurers", if you are on your own, you will feel the world is empty.

I personally hate it when you discover some long forgotten ancient ruins deep in the hidden parts of the world and then bump into three separate groups all trying to kill the boss mob - totally breaks the immersion in the fantasy world for me.

YMMV.

meh.

The wife and I are new to the game and loving it.

We haven't gotten far yet, just to level 12, but I recently started playing with crafting and diplomacy. I enjoy those so far as well.

Also recently got a mount, and it really makes the game better. Such a huge world. And speaking of huge, and how everyone calls it seemless. It is true, but there is a kinda load between zones. My character will stop running, and then drop a couple feet from the air as we enter a new area.

The game is awesome for exploring. My only dislike with exploring is that I haven't found a single treasure chest yet. NOT ONE. Doe they exist? Yeh, the mobs drop good stuff, but I want a treasure chest when I reach the bottom of that cave I just explored.

There are some bugs, nothing game breaking, but annoying. I have fallen through the world a couple of times. My wife got stuck in the temple on the starter isle. When she did the /stuck it took a minute to work and teleported her to a rez shrine or something. She couldn't make it back to me so I had to work my way back out. I am use to /stuck moving you over a few feet, not several hundred yards away, in this case.

I for one like the low population, it feels more like a world in ancient times. WoW and Aion have so many players, that it doesn't feel real to me. I see a person or two crating at a worshop, or riding a horse along the road, it just feels more immersive that way.

Can't wait to get a house and a boat!!!

Originally posted by Delusive

My wife got stuck in the temple on the starter isle. When she did the /stuck it took a minute to work and teleported her to a rez shrine or something. She couldn't make it back to me so I had to work my way back out. I am use to /stuck moving you over a few feet, not several hundred yards away, in this case.
 

If you're close and someone is stuck, you can target him/her and type /rope. It should work. You've got to be very close (within 5 metres I think) to make it work.

"My wife got stuck in the temple on the starter isle"

In the levitation 'lift' area that takes you down to the boss bad guy?

Join the club!

The rope trick will get you out of most stuck places.

That pause and stagger is as you go across 'chunk' lines. It's instead of area loading screens. Not exactly seamless, but the alternative would be a loading screen and a world with artificial walls and barriers everywhere.

You can get a horse pretty much as soon as you hit level 10. There are a couple of different places and methods of getting one. The Diplomacy one is best (IMO).

 

If you're close and someone is stuck, you can target him/her and type /rope. It should work. You've got to be very close (within 5 metres I think) to make it work.
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In the levitation 'lift' area that takes you down to the boss bad guy?

Join the club!

The rope trick will get you out of most stuck places.

That pause and stagger is as you go across 'chunk' lines. It's instead of area loading screens. Not exactly seamless, but the alternative would be a loading screen and a world with artificial walls and barriers everywhere.

You can get a horse pretty much as soon as you hit level 10. There are a couple of different places and methods of getting one. The Diplomacy one is best (IMO).

That was exactly the place lol. Will remember the /rope, it is the first I've ever heard of it. Another good example of a helpful community.

Everytime in game that we've had questions, someone has always been friendly enough to answer.

Thanks!

Vanguard is the anti-Wow.

Take full advantage of the Isle of Dawn to learn about all 3 major spheres along with harvesting.  It's a great place to learn the basics and get a feel for what you will like and won't like.  Vanguard takes patience to learn your class and the lore of Telon.