I'm thinking of getting back into WoW.  Would anyone be interested in joining a static group that plays a few nights a week?  I think it would be fun to start new characters to play only with the group.

I prefer roleplaying, but I understand it isn't really popular in WoW moreso than most other mmos, but a static RP group would be great.  Anyone interested send me an E-mail.  I am waiting for a new realm to open.

Originally posted by Zorvan

What drove me away from DDO is that it tries to emulate the pen and paper game TOO closely. It's fine to sit and play with your friends in a dungeon  on the weekend or something ( like a pen and paper DnD game ), but in an mmorpg I want a WORLD to explore, not just dungeons.

I agree.  I really liked DDO, and played with a static group for a few months, but in time, I wanted to explore more of the world.  It wasn't a lack of content as much as it was a lack of variation and scope in the games setting.

Excellent decision to delay the launch for 8 more weeks of polish.  I remember playing Anarchy Online back in the day and was totally frustrated and felt let down by the game because of the many bugs it had at release.  Funcom does not want this, and neither do we.

I have learned not to get my hopes up for mmorpg releases and I don't expect them to launch ln their posted release dates.  I am looking forward to AOC and other games coming in 2008.  Some have been delayed many times and I used to get frustrated like the OP, but now I just shift my attention to another game currently out and keep waiting on the future games.

For whatever reason, Funcom pushed the date.  I don't think they lied about it, I think they just want to achieve a very high standard with their final product, which is something I give them alot of credit for.  The level of polish at release is a big factor for me when I try a new mmo.  LotRO isn't the greatest mmo, but it was polished right from launch thanks to a very long development and testing period.  We mmo gamers just need a little more patience.

I think that pretty much sums up how I would review my first day of playing PotBS.  I would add to the positives the excellent character customization and details.  I love it when your characters face turns sour when battle starts, instead of having the same old expression.  I remember EQ2 did this, and I can't really enjoy combat in any mmo unless I see my character angry when fighting!

A negative I would add has been mentioned here repeatedly - the sea.  It looks alright on a calm day, but the weather and waves are way too static.  The ocean should be dynamic and weather dependent.  I would love to see that added in the future, maybe even to a point where it affects gameplay and not just cosmetic.

Originally posted by Hrica

ya, I picked up a old issue of PC gamer out of my closet..almost a year  old to put in my recycle box and just flipped through it and the firtst thing it came to was a fold out advertising "Set yourself free" , " build the house of you dreams" and all that beatifull art work of the port city of Khal filled with peps and boats, also other nice art work

 I will never believe the hype again, I really wanted this game to be what it said it was going to be.

the concept was the game of my dreams.

I've got the same types of expectations for Fallen Earth and Hero's Journey.

I'm currently playing Vanguard again and I see the improvements, but I also can't help thinking about the concepts of the game that never were realized, and probably never will be.  SOE may take the game in a new direction, and it may be great, but it's not the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes I dreamed of years ago.

I got on with no problem.  Of course, I already had the game updated for the most part because I had the beta client.  I got right into character creation and completed that but had to go back to work.  I plan on getting a lot of time in-game tonight.  For those who'd like come company on the Blackbeard server, I am Lucinde Devaux, French Freetrader.

Originally posted by WeaponX

If you guys beleave any of this I have swamp land for sale at a really good price...

Hey, if you don't like it, there are plenty of others.  If others happen to like it, why not just leave them be and move on? 

My favorite right now is track 17.  They are all so short though!

Some of the tracks give me that feeling like I'm on a ship in rough seas.  How was the soundtrack recorded and does anyone know by whom?

Music is a very important part of the games I play, especially mmorpgs.  Ever since Everquest , I've always listened to the music.

PotBS has very good pieces.  Overall it is one the better soundtracks, but I don't think it ranks up there with Jeremy Soule's music.  If the music fits with the game and helps set the mood and create immersion, it can only make the game better.  This soundtrack for PotBS does that.

ITs funny, and maybe a little frustrating, how there are many good mmos and all have at least something that is really amazing, but not a single one has everything you'd want.  I really love Vanguard for the huge, seemless world, but I wish it had the detail of PotBS, like the last poster wrote.

Then again, an instanced game like that could be a lot easier to develop the little details to bring out the atmosphere.

Atmosphere is a big part of mmos for me.  It the little details that make me really appreciate the game (as long as the fundamental things are in order, of course).

I find that in some cases, Vanguard is great with the details, and in others, it is very lacking.  The world is just so large that perhaps it hasn't been fully detailed yet?  I also hope that more of this sort of thing is added in the next update, with more necessary fixes to the game with it.

I don't spend a lot of time in the Taverns, or in settlements.  I like to be out adventuring.  It is out in the wild when I meet players who are generally not roleplayers.  Of course, they very wewll may be in a Tavern.  I'm not saying there aren't RPers on Landroval.  I just haven't been lucky or fortunate enough to meet up with one yet.

Yes, Landroval is the un-official RP server for the U.S. version of the game, but I wish you the best of luck finding roleplayers there.  I haven't :(

When SOE screws up every game in their lineup then I will boycott.  They still have some very good mmos that actually have been improved, not ruined, so I don't see the point to this thread unless you're just an SOE hater.  The reality is that they've destroyed 1 game on their list and they've doen some fixing on one that wasn't theirs originally (but that still doesn't excuse them for SWG).

I've got a 3 year old PC and had a lot of trouble at the release of Vanguard, but I recently tried it out again after SOE did some fixing and it runs much, much better now.  I am actually having fun playing Vanguard  this time around.  Thanks SOE.

If pre-CU SWG server  opened, I would be back in a heart-beat.  Next to Eq, the original SWG was the best experience I've head playing mmorpgs.  EQ2 came close, but nothing has really matched that experience yet.  As far as an open, sandbox style, nothing did it as well as the original SWG.  It was an ideal mmo for roleplayers as well.  I loved it and I get very excited whenever I hear these rumors, but I don't think it'll ever happen.

Originally posted by sepher

I've never felt immersed in Vanguard. Graphic fidelity alone simply doesn't do it for me. I'd even say graphics is a non-factor some of the time, considering I've been more immersed in a zMud client than Vanguard or World of Warcraft.

It's more about gameplay; a culmination of attention to very small details. There can't be any immersion in a world where you wander and wonder, "can I do this?" and then find out you can't. Essentially I believe a world is only as immersive as your ability to interact with objects in your screen.

Example: Sure, Vanguard's sky is pretty. Everyone thinks so, evident through the ten million screenshots of it, but few players miss going without a sky in Ultima Online. Placing a chair in Vanguard though and not being able to sit in it breaks immersion; whereas Ultima Online would've been a completely different game in players' memories without that small detail.

Anyway, I never bought that open, mysterious and dangerous stuff. Nothing mysterious about wondering what'll happen if I were to walk into a dangerous higher level chunk. Its all linear, not open.

As far as long travel times go, if there's nothing interesting to see besides the same sky and ground textures, that's nothing that'll immerse me either. World of Warcraft does a better job, since there's usually interesting details on every new screen encountered.

There's also the fact that Vanguard's storyline and lore is pretty terrible...but I'm spoiled by the many Ultima games, the Warcraft franchise and City of Heroes issues in my mailbox. Brief text in a game manual doesn't quite do it anymore, and Vanguard is too saturated in kill X loot Y quests to have any kind of a consistent interactive story arc.

All things considered...exactly what was I supposed to be immersed with in the first place? Reflectionless water and brownish textures for miles. The world is too static; there has to be more interactivity with it that has nothing to do with advancing levels; and it has to be present all the time.

Nice post Sepher, I agree.  A truely dynamic gameworld is what makes for great immersion.  Dungeons & Dragons Online has a very small gameworld, mostly instanced, which could easily break immersion, but once you get into one of those instances, it's likely that you'll have lots of options to interact with the environment, which was a highlight for me when I played that mmo.

Yes, Spellborn does look like it could be a unique mmo, but I kinda lost interest after so long waiting for it.  I'm sure once it gets released I'll jump in and check it out.

Originally posted by Torak

Originally posted by Tymora

I recently tried it again and was delighted to see some improvement, but I really had no problem running the game at decent frames at release, and I only came across a few really annoying bugs while I first played, but I do agree that there is an underlying aspect of the game that is missing, as Torak mentioned, and that is motivation. 

The gameworld still seems pretty dynamic and is nice to look at and exlore, there are plenty of quests, crafting is deep enough, diplomacy is fun and innovative, but why am I doing it all again?  Just to get to max level?  Without the community, it just seems pointless.  If a resurgence of players returns to play, then so will I, because lately I haven't seen or heard from any other players while I've been running around near Tursh, and this is not a game to play solo.

 

Vanguard is one of the games I would have liked to see work out. I have really been doing some thinking about MMO's these last 6 months and I really have come to the conclusion that the old days of AC are really what I miss and that has not been duplicated in any MMO since the first wave. They just keep getting baser and baser.

Now that it is a little better, I do enjoy it sometimes, for what it is, but for all that is does, I wish it could do so much more.  So what I am really asking for is that game that was slated to be for hardcore gamers . . . a niche mmo, and whatever else it has been labelled but has since developed into another pretty standard, modern day mmo.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Fallen Earth and Hero's Journey to be more unique, but I'm not holding my breath.