Funny, I was in the same boat a couple of months ago.  Swore off WoW for good and none of the newer MMOs that I tried appealed to me.  Thought I was going to be off them for good.  Took a month off wtih no gaming at all then tried Vanguard for the hell of it.  Really enjoying the game and am actually really wanting to give Eve a shot at some point.

Take a little time off and who knows what might catch your eye.

I was in the same boat and am about 40.  Burned out on WoW (I mean for good) and couldn't find another mmo that I wanted to play.  Have been playing Vanguard for about the last month.  The game has technical issues in that engine runs a lot like EQ2.  Aside from that it is fantastic....the game play and game world are amazing.  Community is also top notch.

Highly recommend checking it out.

EQ2 hands down.  I was never more excited about a game then EQ2.  Awful memory leak at launch, horribly coded graphics engine.  Heavily instanced, sterile and unengaging game world.  Absolutely retarded combat mechanics and lackluster spell effects.  Watered down and non-distinct classes...which was good because $$$ Smedley only allowed you 4 character slots and charged for extras.  And last but not least shallow game play with 0 fun factor.  In case you can't tell, I really hated EQ2.

People forget in 2004 EQ - SOE was like GM in the 1960s.  EQ2 = GM in the 70s and beyond, WoW =Toyota and Honda.

This really is a great thread....it is good to hear so many different people's opinions.  All the positive comments I have read about Eve makes me want to try it.  Right now I'm hooked on Vanguard but will probably give Eve a shot sometime this year.  The pve in Vanguard reminds me a lot of EQ1 and is awesome....downside is that the game is a bit shaky technically.  Also, I wish I would have tried CoH at some point...so many people seem to think that was a really excellent game also. 

Keep them coming and cheers.

Best PvE = EQ1

Best PvP = DAoC

Best combination of pve and pvp in one game = WoW (pre-BC, pre-arena)

Side note, most disappointing MMO in history, EQ2.

Was in the same boat, beginning to wonder if they still made MMOs with depth to them.  All the new games seem to get simpler and simpler.  VG has the deepest game play of any mmo I have tried and I have played a lot of them.

Regarding pop...obviously it is small.  That being said, I have had no problems finding groups do to stuff up to level 28.  An advantage to a smaller community is that people seem a lot nicer and and willing to help.  Best community I have been a part of in a long time.

Originally posted by Goronian

 So... I was thinking of trying EQI, since the new batch of MMOs couldn't hold my interest, but I was actually told, that VG is worth playing, if I'm into group-oriented game, with some older-style gameplay. Is VG worth a shot then? Are there any people actually playing it now, can I get into a group? Things like that.

Then you definitely need to try VG.  It is the game I was hoping EQ2 was going to be.  It reminds me so much of EQ1..I have been playing for a couple of weeks now and am just continually blown away by the game world, the depth of play and the interesting and well designed classes.

I was at a point where I really thought I was going to give up mmos...I have been playing them since UO launch.  WoW had me totally burned out and I just didn't find anything I thought was worth playing after trying WAR and AoC.  But I am into VG now and can't remember the last time I was hooked this bad.

WoW has the edge on polish...you just can't argue with Blizzard quality, but as far as core gameplay goes VG is the best game out there right now, nothing even close.

And to answer your other question....can't remember the last time I enjoyed a community like this one...perhaps a side affect of a small community but generally people are much nicer than in other mmos these days.  I have had no problem getting groups up to level 22 so far.

There are a lot of insightful comments in this thread.  The game runs very well on my system but I'm not saying that means that others can't have problems with it on their machine. 

I have found turning down settings helps...the game looks awesome on balanced settings.  I have my particle effects on full but the rest of my settings are pretty close to balanced.  The world does load chunks when you move from one large geograhical area to another, its almost like zoning in EQ1 except there is no LOADING....PLEASE WAIT message and on my box it only takes 2-3 seconds, but it is noticeable. 

With these settings I am able to get a smooth 45-60 fps (vsync on) everywhere, maybe dropping into mid 30s in the big cities with people around.  HItching has not been a problem for me at all except when I first load the game up.  I have a 2.66 ghz dual core oc'ed to 3.4 ghz, 4gb ram, 260 gtx video card and a 10,000 rpm harddrive.  

If you have an older/slower machine, the game still looks really good on high performance settings..you lose a bit of detail on armor and such...but it is totally accpetable.

VG has some rough edges..my main complaints are no rain effects in vista (solved this by dual booting xp), a little graphic glitch where a caster's weapon will flicker while they are casting spells that have a long cast time.  (trying to figure out a fix for this) And lastly, the attack animations while having a spear equipped look retarded.

On balance, and as I stated originally, these complaints are balanced aginst the deepest and most compelling game play I have enjoyed in a very long time.  For depth of play, really well developed classes, (do your self a favor anc check out  the spell and ability lists in the class guides at ten ton hammer) and immersive world, there is nothing out there that touches VG.

There seems to be a trend toward shallow game play in mmo's...VG is old school.

Wow is a great game no doubt.....it has Blizzard quality and what else can you say.  I was in the same boat...get sick of anything after so long.

Vanguard is awesome...other than WoW, the best game out there right now, period.

I have been playing mmos since launch of UO.  UO two years and was hookd, EQ1 2years loved it, DAoC 2years loved it, WoW on and off since launch, loved it but burned out and will most likely never play again.   Tried AoC, got a toon to 80, it is much better than at launch but to me feels like a console game, EQ2, extremely disappointed, WAR....meh,.  Have tried others as well don't feel strongly enough about them to comment one way or the other.

I mention the above to give you an idea of my taste in games.

I tried VG on a buddy pass last year and bought the game but never installed it.  Seemed good but got into doing something else.  Last week I gave the free trial a whirl and ended up installing my copy and subscribing.

Other than WoW, VG is hands down the best mmo on the market right now!  If you like the old school, deep mmo experience harkening back to EQ1, you have to try this game.

I am completely blown away by how beautiful the game world is and how deep the game play is.  There is so much to see and so many areas it is just unreal.  Crafting system is the best I have seen in any game.  The classes are some of most varied and interesting I have seen in any game ( I cannot decide what to play or where to start...you can start on the trial island, but every race gets there own starting area like in EQ1, which I love).

A couple of notes, even though VG is a couple of years old, it is resource intensive.  It is not a game where you can set everything to max and expect 40+ fps everywhere you go.  The game really likes mhz...the faster the clock rating on your cpu, the better the experience you will have.  I overclocked my processor and saw a massive jump in fps. After playing around I have the game looking and running great.  You need to play with your settings, but once you get them balanced between eye candy and fps it is really something.

Population is small, but I have had no problems getting groups at all.  I would wager the pop on my server is about the same on Cimmeria, one of AoC's busiest servers.  This is not entirely a guess, because I have spent a lot of time with the search function in both AoC and VG.  A larger pop would be nice though because the world is so damn enormous, people can be much more spread out than in a game like AoC. 

Community is excellent....best I have been a part of in a loooong time.

TLDR version....have played most of the major mmos out there, VG is the best mmo on the market right now, (excluding WoW).  Give it a good try and you will fall in love with the game.

Vanguard is the best mmo out there right now other than WoW.  If it it had the developer support that WoW gets it could be just as good.  Completely diffferent game style, reminds me of EQ1. 

High clock speed cpu, singe or dual core doesn't matter, will really improve your gaming experience.  Game world is incredible but needs a lot of mhz to look its best.

Originally posted by Reanim

Sony will do what sony has always done. Make bad business decisions. Lets see...

Chase off all the SWG users.... check... Completed!!!
Release EQ2 in a horrible state giving blizzard the market.... check... completed!!!
Blowing a huge chance to regain the market with vanguard.... check... Completed!!!

Have they learned yet... I doubt it.
 

ding ding ding.....we have a winner.

Vanguard for sure.  To me EQ2 was the biggest disappointment of any game I ever played.  Loved EQ1 and was completely psyched about EQ2 coming out.

It released wtih a poorly coded graphics engine, a huge memory leak and what I consider to be awful combat mechanics and a sterile and unengaging world.  Looking back I am guessing they rushed it out the door to beat WoW to market.

I played for a month and got sick of reloading my os, reinstaling the game and tweaking til my eyes bled to get it to run half way decent on my brand new gaming rig I built specifically for EQ2. 

At the time SOE's line was the engine is just so advanced that it is designed to run on hardware that will be coming out in 5 years.  I always suspected that was crap and it was just poor coding....and recently confirmed my suspicion.

Recently I tried their free trial and sure enough the game still runs like shit with a 3 ghz dual core, 4 gbs of ram, and a 260 gtx video card.  I mean it plays, but not smoothly.  Also I noticed the same sloppy problems like tons of plane clipping issues that should have been sorted out in beta.

Tried Vanguard and am loving it....it is a diamond in the rough and one of the best mmos out there right now.  Kind of anit-WoW (which I also loved, but am just burned out on....anything gets old after so many years), it is an old school mmo like EQ1.  It is everything EQ2 should have been.

Hopefully at some point SOE will pull their heads out and get behind the game at some point.  It needs some polish and support but it is really great none the less.

My 2 cents.

I am an MMO vet going back to the launch of UO. To give you and idea of what I have and haven't liked for perspecitve...loved EQ1.... DAoC and WoW were also favorites, UO was very good at the time, was extremely disappointed in EQ2, and not saying AoC or WAR are bad, just not my kind of games.

Anyway, played the Vanguard Trial and definitely going to give it a good try. Had the game sitting in the closet and never installed it, loading it up right now though. Graphics are very nice and the classes are awesome. If you liked EQ1 you MUST try this game. It reminds me so much of old school eq I can't believe it.

Regarding population, there were 741 people on Seradon server at around 7 PM cst tonight. Don't know if that counted anons. I did my search level by level 1 55 to get that number.

Only complaint about the game is a slight lack of polish. (no weather effects for vista users, spear attack animations look retarded, spell effects could be a bit more impressive) Seems like the depth, immersion, and positive community will more than make up for the warts though.

Highly recommend trying the game to anyone looking for an old school mmo experience
 

I am an MMO vet going back to the launch of UO.  To give you and idea of what I have and haven't liked for perspecitve...loved EQ1.... DAoC and WoW were also favorites, UO was very good at the time, was extremely disappointed in EQ2, and not saying AoC or WAR are bad, just not my kind of games.

Anyway, played the Vanguard Trial and definitely going to give it a good try.  Had the game sitting in the closet and never installed it, loading it up right now though.  Graphics are very nice and the classes are awesome.  If you liked EQ1 you MUST try this game.  It reminds me so much of old school eq I can't believe it.

Regarding population, there were 741 people on Seradon server at around 7 PM cst tonight.  Don't know if that counted anons.  I did my search level by level 1 55 to get that number. 

Only complaint about the game is a slight lack of polish.  (no weather effects for vista users, spear attack animations look retarded, spell effects could be a bit more impressive)  Seems like the depth, immersion, and positive community will more than make up for the warts though.

Highly recommend trying the game to anyone looking for an old school mmo experience.

Going to reinstall AoC and give it a go.  Wondering if some kind folks could rank the classes as most/least played.  Going to be rolling a fresh toon on my old server Cimmeria.  Will probably do a DT, Guardian or Assassin, but definitely melee.  Thanks.

Hey thanks guys.  That is exactly what I was looking for.  Maybe I will give it a go...15 bucks, if I don't like it, oh well.

Recently I have been reading some of the should I come back threads and am thinking of giving AoC another whirl.  I played at early release and quit before my first 30 days were up.  In my opinion the game was an absolute train wreck at that point and wasn't going to pay to play it.

It seems that there are the absolute haters who wouldn't say anything good about AoC if you paid them and the fanboys who were saying the game was fine when it was an absolutely unacceptable mess.

Not looking to hear from them.  I am hoping to get some objective opinions on the state of the game.

My main was a DT on Cimmeria.  The reasons I left were:

1. unstable performance/bugs

2. wild class unbalance ( at the time you were a PoM or a ToS or you were pissing in the wind)

3. lack of content

4. community

It sounds like performance is greatly improved.   Are the classes more balanced now/do abilities work and such?  (How about my poor old Dark Gimplar?)

How is the community?  I know it is quite small, but who stayed, the asshats or the good people?

Have the itch to play an mmo....burned out on WoW, WAR seemed like a good game but wasn't my cup of tea.........what about AoC?

Bottom line....objectively, is it worth playing now?

Thanks for reading my ravings and for any constructive feed back.

I have been checking Vanguard out on a free trial.  Last night I checked how many people were online by doing a search by class and then breaking it down further by level if search limit was reached.

Last night at around 730 PM CST there were about 750 people on line on the Seradon server.  Not too bad.  I post this because I have seen so many posts about VG populations and thought I would put up some hard numbers.

Not a massive population, but not a ghost town either.

If you are thinking about giving VG a whirl, it is defeintely worth checking out.

I have to say I am pretty impressed with the game.  The environments are nice and the class variety and structure is excellent. 

Wow, those frame rates are definitely a lot better than they were.

But, I have to point out....it looks like you are playing in 800 x 600 resolution with all graphics option turned off.

Seriously.... that looks like something that would predate EQ1.

Wow, WAR, Dark Age of Camelot, and EQ1 all look much better graphically than what you are touting in that video.