I'd guess that VG has between 25-50K subs given that they have probably got 3-5k people online on all servers combined at the same time and figuring 5-10x that number in total subs...

Just out of curiosity I looked up WoWs US server sub online player ratio and it looks like it is around 6-7x so maybe the vanguard sub range would be 20-30k assuming a similar ratio of players online at peak compared to sub count, or I guess assuming that the average VG player plays the same amount of time that a Wow player does. 

 

It was nice to see a fair number of people running around and the new lfg tool is pretty good.  I think it will help quite a lot for getting groups.  Also seemed to be a very linear spread of people from lvl 1-45 with each increment of 5 levels showing around 100+ people.  Then at lvl 50 there were 172. 

That said with all the improvements the game is far closer to where it should have been day one but as we know NO game is really complete at day one so they still have lots to do.  They need to finish the upper game and get raiding in.  There is still quite a bit of polish needed till the game is really competitive with current tier one games like eq2 and wow.   

I think the best time to return to vanguard is still a few months away.  I'd recommend waiting till they do the relaunch in 2-3 months.  I think at that point it will finally be a complete and reasonably stable game. 

It does seem to have improved immensely for me in terms of stability and performance which is really good news.

anyway thats just my opinion and what I'm doing :)

 

Last night on Xeth there were over 2000 people logged on when I logged off.  Most people believe Saradon will have more people.

At almost 11pm pst there were 1180 people on Saradon

Or just wait till the release date and get the release dvd I'm sure that will have the full game on it rather then the prerelease that makes you basically download the entire game....

One of the nice things about Vanguard is you have a lot more choice about how you want to play then most games. 

After level 10 or so you can solo and do quests.  Some are simple kill quests typical of every mmorpg out there but there are also a good number of deeper quests with a good bit of story.  Some of the quests will lead you to small group or group encounters but you can choose to do them or not.

So you can easily solo and make good xp doing quests.  You can also just explore and solo random stuff and you still make steady xp.  I was able to do most of lvl 28 soloing over 3-4 nights of play time when I was mostly trying to farm to raise money to buy a boat. 

I also spent some time with a couple other people in another zone doing quests and killing some small group type mobs.  Made a bit better xp and had a great time. 

Then another night I wanted to do some camping and I joined a group camping infinium armor and gems.  Pretty standard EQ style gaming with a group, pulling mobs and fighting.  Was a good time.

So in any game you can grind but vanguard gives you lots of options.  Just explore and kill solo mobs, kill solo mobs to make some money, do some solo quests, get a couple friends and do some more group oriented quests or look for named at a number of overland camps, get a solid group together and camp some mobs, or take a group deep into a dungeon looking for named or doing some larger group oriented quests..

And if you don't feel like running around and just want to hang out in the city and chat in ooc or to your guild go work on some diplomacy and experience some great lore and fun gameplay variation.  Or maybe you feel like doing some crafting and playing a more strategic game where you are constantly challenged to try to get your workorders to max quality without running out of action points and maybe getting some cool new loot for diplomacy or crafting work orders.

Or maybe you like to run around and harvest stuff so you can take an put it on the broker and make some money so you can eventually buy that dream boat.

How long it takes will vary depending on how you play... If you got a knowledgable group and grind working at max xp doing group dungeons non stop...  You can probably hit 30 in less than a week.   My guild recently restarted with new characters playing pretty tight on average probably 5-6 hours a night and weekends.  Most of them are around 28-33 or so after about 5-6 weeks.  However it gets slower as you progress so it might take more than twice that time to max level.

However I'm 30 and I'm playing, exploring, questing, soloing, doing some dip, and crafting and I've got 19days time played on my character.  I'm having a great time and I'm not in a rush...

Welcome to the Game!! Nice to see another person who can see past the end of their nose.

The weakness system is really very nice and is still being added.  Another system called Sympathetics was in awhile back and I'm hoping to see it return post launch, same with counterattacks. 

Anyway another great system is counterspelling which lets your magic casters stop an enemy from casting a spell.  Very cool system that can definitely turn the tide in a battle when a caster stops a mob from casting complete heal or stops it from some massive AE damage spell. 

Oh and rescues and intercepts are other good group abilities mostly with melees that lets them prevent damage to party members or intercept damage and pull agro.

Lots of good flavor and added strategy in the combat system now...  And now we even got some cool new racial abilities.

They were up for a few minutes then the GM just announced they are coming down. 

They are down a couple times a day now for patching.  They have been doing 1 or 2 patchs a day.  You can click the URL below to go look at the patch messages and the status the past week.

www.vanguardsoh.com/status.php

I've been testing it since Nov 2005.  Just because it has been in development for a long time doesn't mean that it has had a lot of development.  When I started in beta there were a small fraction of the developers they have added over the last year.  In addition to that the game now bares little sembelence to the game when I started.  But what I can see very clearly is what they have done and where they are going.

They are gonna ship the game soon and I'm in complete agreement it could use a quite a bit more development time.  That said I'm glad it is finally shipping.  I've been playing it for over a year with two character wipes.  This is the only game out that I'm playing since all the others have pretty much become boring.  Ironically I've played this game twice as long as Wow and I can hardly wait till it releases so I can really start developing my character.

So maybe I'm a freak that I like this and think there isn't anything out that is comparable.  Who knows :)  What I do know is that this game is good now and will only become far better in time.  It is designed with a scale that no other game comes close to and I'm not saying scale refering to the size of the world I'm refering to the wide array of things you can do, experiences, differences in dungeons, and the complexity designed into the systems.  I can't think of any part of this game that isn't at least a little above any other game out there.  And taken as a whole this game exceeds in a single game the best of all games in the area's I care about.  IE I could care less about PvP :P

So anyway have a nice day :)

I haven't heard anything about campfires.  That might be kinda cool I hope they do.

They have been patching daily and stability and performance is improving with every patch.  Thestra and Kojan are in my opinion the best starting areas.

Maybe before dising the game on the lack of life you should let them finish it eh??

Many of the cities are far from done and a lot of environmental stuff is also still coming. 

The game system is solid and the quest system has shown some great scripting capabilities.  Some other story lines in the intro parts of the game are great.  The game is big, seamless and has a wide variety of innovations.  However it is still a fantasy MMORPG.  If you can't see why it is unique and better then other games because it will have a rocky start being more beta at release then it should be, well then it would really be best I think to move on... 

That said many points are good but have some faith the sigil devs are trying to create a world and have but little time left to finish.  I'd suggest checking out some of the newer starting areas and seeing them as the model of things to come. 

Anyway I think the game is a lot more then just reinventing the wheel.   They build a car around the wheel

Right out of the latest patch notes. 

RACIAL ABILITIES:
These are the first pass at racial abilities (Minus Dark Elves and Gnomes, which will be soon to follow) We have done some internal testing, but as always, there are sure to be bugs and unintended side effects.

We will definitely appreciate feedback on the specific following issues:

- Display Descriptions (Although some of these are not final): Was it clear? Do they add enough racial flavor without being too wordy?
- Particle effects / animations (Some these are placeholder as well): Are the effects appropriate?
- Reuse timers: Do you feel the reuse timers are appropriate? Are they short enough to warrant a hotkey slot?
- Ability Effects: Do the abilities do what they’re described to do? Are the effects negligible or noticeable? Are the abilities particularly more or less useful based on your class selection?
- Racial Flavor: Do the abilities feel unique? Do they make sense given the lore/background of the race?

Qalian Barbarians: Desert Skin
- For the next 15 seconds after this ability is activated, you will mitigate 25% of all damage, and every mob that attacks you has a 50% chance of being stunned for 2 seconds.

Thestra Barbarians: Endless Fortitude
- For the next 30 seconds, this ability will double your endurance and energy pool while increasing your spell and melee damage by 25%.

Dwarf: Earthen Embrace
- For 60 seconds, this ability will turn your body to stone. Along with removing all poison effects, you will mitigate 10% damage and become immune to movement impairing spells such as knock back, stun, and snare.

Goblin: Hex of Ghalnn
- Whoever is afflicted by this hex will return 3% of the mana and hit points for every hit that is made on them. The effect lasts for 60 seconds.

Half Elf: Symbol of Jin
- This ability will apply a rune to every member of the group for 60 seconds, which will mitigate damage as well as apply an un-resistible damage shield.

Halfling: Quick Escape
- This ability allows Halflings to immediately remove themselves from combat. For the next 10 seconds afterwards they will also be invisible.

High Elf: Arcane Balance
- This ability will take the cumulative amount of mana in a group, add 25% to that number, and evenly redistribute it to all members.

Kojani Human: Spirit of Jin
- This ability will immediately restore 45% of energy and hit points to the target.

Mordebi: Curse of the Ancients
- This ability will immediately remove a targeted NPC from combat, wiping their agro and reducing their agro range to 0. During this time the creature can not be healed, attack, or be attacked.

Qaliathari Humans: Swiftness of the Sands
- For this next 10 seconds, when this ability is activated your ability to evade all melee attacks and spells will be greatly increased.

Thestran Humans: Inspirational Commands
- You will have 3 inspirational commands at your disposal: Inspirational Presence, Inspirational Wisdom, and Inspirational Tactics. Each command is a group buff that will add either 2% to mitigation, a 3% reduction to mana cost of all spells, or a 2% increase in damage. You may only maintain one command at a time, however you may have all 3 effects active at the same time.

Kurashasa: Symbiotic Armor
- When this armor is active you will be consumed by a symbiotic presence. In addition to regening 2% of your health every 3 seconds, you will apply an effect to all enemies within a 20 meter point-blank radius. Anyone affected by this debuff will become snared and slowed.

Lesser Giant: Strength of Torsheim
- For the next 30 seconds after this ability is activated, you will increase your max hit points by 50%.

Orc: Fury of Ghalnn
- For the next 5 attacks after this ability is activated, you will receive a 10% increase to damage and all the damage you do will return to you in the form of hit points.

Raki: Planar Shift
- While this ability is active, you will gain a 25% mitigation to all spell damage but will slowly lose health. This ability may be toggled.

Vulmane: Spiritual Bond
- This ability will apply an effect to every member in your group, allowing 35% of all damage done by them to return to you in the form of health for 20 seconds.

Wood Elf: Form of Nature
- When this ability is activated, all movement impairing spells will be stripped from you, and for the next 30 seconds your run speed will be greatly increased. You will also be immune to all movement impairing spells during this time.

NOTE: The following two are not implemented yet:

Gnome: Forge Crystal
- This ability allows you to operate a variety of devices, only available to gnomes, which are able to materialize a energy crystals. Crystals will have several common effects, ranging from percentage based mana, health, and endurance heals to several uncommon, rare, and even ultra rare effects such as prismatic group resist buffs, rune and damage shields, minion summons, and more.

Dark Elf: Spawn of Haelufir
- This ability allows you to summon forth a small drake for a short duration. The type of drake you summon will be based on class and level. Each type of drake will have a variety of effects at their disposal, ranging from group aura’s, to breath attacks. The higher level drakes will also learn spells that are sympathetic with their associated class.

This in addition to the old info

cap adjustment per level
Qalia Barbarian - +2 str, +1 Con
Thestra Barbarian - +1 Str, +1 Con, +1 Vit
Dwarf - +2 Con, +1 Wis
Dark Elf - +2 Wis, +1 Int
High Elf - +2 Wis, +1 Int
Wood Elf - +1 Dex, +2 Vit
Gnome - +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Int
Goblin - +1 Con, +1 Wis, +1 Int
Half Elf - +1 Con, +1 Vit, +1 Wis
Lesser Giant - +1 Str, +2 Con
Halfling - +1 Con, +2 Dex
Kojan Human - +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wis
Mordebi - +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wis
Qalia Human - +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wis
Thestra Human - +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wis
Kurashasa - +1 Vit, +2 Int
Orc - +2 Str, +1 Con
Raki - +2 Vit, +1 Int
Vulmane - +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wis

additions per level by race
Qalia Barbarian - Str, Con
Thestra Barbarian - Str, Con
Dwarf - Con, Con
Dark Elf - Wis, Int
High Elf - Wis, Wis
Wood Elf - Dex, Vit
Gnome - Dex, Vit
Goblin - Con, Wis
Half Elf - Con, Wis
Lesser Giant - Str, Con
Halfling - Dex, Dex
Kojan Human - Dex, Wis
Mordebi - Dex, Vit
Qalia Human - Dex, Vit
Thestra Human - Vit, Wis
Kurashasa - Vit, Int
Orc - Str, Con
Raki - Vit, Vit
Vulmane - Dex, Wis

additions per level by class
Bard - Str, Con
Bloodmage - Int, Wis
Cleric - Con, Wis
Disciple - Str, Wis
DreadKnight - Con, Vit
Druid - Wis, Int
Monk - Str, Dex
Necromancer - Wis, Int
Paladin - Con, Vit
Psionicist - Wis, Int
Ranger - Str, Dex
Rogue - Str, Dex
Shaman - Con, Wis
Sorcerer - Wis, Int
Warrior - Con, Vit

Brad posted the answer to this question on the beta forums several days ago.  Basically it comes down to money.  They are out of money to fund development and they have to ship in order to keep developing the game.  So they are working round the clock right now really pushing to get everything done and get the game shipped.  Brad's also said that once they ship they are going to continue to push hard till the game is where they want it to be.

So what this really comes down to is the game will ship before it is completely ready and we will be paying for a beta game.  Not quite that bad but it will be seriously lacking in polish and rough.  That said I've been in beta for over a year and they have done amazing things.  I'm confident that they will continue what they have begun and this will be an amazing game with a scope unparalleled in any game today.

So I've got my preorder in, I want to be on this ship as it leaves   Fact is I'm looking forward to actually starting a real character

This game to me brings back a lot of the feelings that made eq special.  When I started EQ it was like this amazing new 3d world and it was with a sense of wonder and a need to play.  It was a special experience.

Since then I've played maybe a dozen MMORPGs and they just don't have that same feeling that here is something special.  Well for me Vanguard brings that back.  Maybe it is the wide open world.  Maybe it's the sense that it's bigger and there are things I won't know for months.  All I know is it is compelling and amazing.

So here I sit waiting for the NEW patch!!

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Originally posted by wyzwun

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at Beta 3, your combat engine should be ready for show, you should be able to make a vid that backs up your claim. Bottom line, i dont need to play the game to see it for what it is, i dont need to fork over the 60 bucks to prove to myself that the combat engine is more of the same, your telling me in your vids (or the leaked vids lol). It just bothers me when a dev claims one thing and does another.

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Wouldn't you thing the combat engine might be still undergoing some changes?  It is a long time till beta 5 or the open beta and if eq2 can be a standard they revamped their combat system like 2 weeks before release.

From what I've read vanguard combat has been going through major changes.  It was way slower and as oloh posts did have a lot of advanced characteristics.  Now it is much faster based on new info and has been redune in a major way.  Wouldn't it make sense for some of these advanced features to follow up with a major change in the combat system?  Ie maybe these things are just temporarily not in but coming as beta progresses?

Just seems like common sense to look at the FAQ and some of information posted about the state of the game in various places...