The most popular ingame map hands down is www.soresha.net. 

Regarding dungeons, when you're in game you can find what dungeons are close and there respective lvl by hitting O > Find > Preferred Dungeons.

Enjoy.

As a VG player, my perception of the population/activity before the merge and after the merge is huge.  OOC is busy, people are chatting, PUGs are creatable and enjoyable.  Lots of newbie questions tossing about and respectful answers.  I am surprised.  Sure, there was a horrid lag every 90 seconds right after the merge but the database is fixed and the lag as well.

People are enjoying the game and each other in it.

Go to the bottom of this link and read the alternate method.  Hope this helps.

http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=20316

Lately as in this week, the devs have been responding to bug posts in the forums stating that they fixed bug such and such.  Also adjusting stats on item directly responding to the communities forum post.  Taking a step back, the overall game plan of the VG devs this year is the following.

1. Magi Hold Chapter 1 (Lvl 55 Solo/Small Group Content) - Done

2. Magi Hold Chapter 2 (Lvl 55 Solo to Group Content) - Done

3. Magi Hold Chapter 3 (Lvl 55 Solo to 24 man Raid Content) - Done

4. Anniversary Patch - Done

5. Shadow Hilsbury (Solo to 12 man Content) - Done

6. Focused Bug Fixing Patch Part 1 - In process

7. Focused Bug Fixing Patch Part 2 - Next

8. Diplomacy Sage Quest - Not started

9. Old Targonor Chapters 1-5 (More Level 55 Content)

Looks like there are devs working on VG to me.

Imo, one reason for the resurgence of people is due to the solo/small group/group content they have pushed out lately.

Yes, there are things for you to do at 55.  There is the huge POTA grind which has great armor and epic weapons.

There is Magi Hold Chapters 1, 2 and 3.  All with rewarding content and loot.  It received praise from the community when it was launched earlier this year.  Additionally, Magi Hold Chapter 3 also released raid content.  The raid content was released with a lot of test server testing done prior.  The final launched product was a lot of fun and quite enjoyable.  Very minor bugs existed and were squashed by Ikik rather quickly.  The raid loot is really nice and the encounter are creative and fun.

Shadow Hilsbury has been released and it has 4 named and a boss.  Takes a little while to go through it but the loot is nice and the final 12 man raid boss drops sweet loot and it is comparable to the Xenn encounter but vampire style.  We enjoy it a lot and its a big change from the rest of the content.

There's plenty to do at 55 and we're enjoying it.

/petition

I wouldn't put any faith in the ETA number but I would look at your fold size.  The game is 19.3Gigs.  If it hangs on d/ling files, restart the patcher.  Trial is 2Gigs.

This year the devs added Magi Hold Chapter 1, 2 and 3 which is solo/small group/group/raid content.  They also added Shadow Hilsbury which is solo/small group/group/12 man content.  Shimmer shallows and Sea of Kojan is also solo/group content.  All this is level 50+ content.

I suspect this is one factor causing many of my in game friends to return.  Its surprising but we're turning away new apps b/c we have more than we need.  Our guild is full and its cascading down to the other guilds.  Lot of new people and returning people in game.

You try running it as an Admin?

You can do /petition and request a free server transfer.

No, smeared quest text is abnormal.  You may check your video driver or try a /flush command or /flushall.

Bards are really quite powerful.  They have a breakable mez on mobs.  Meaning a group member can hit it and break the mez.  Unlike the PSI mez which you can't break until the PSI releases it or it wears off.

Bards are super welcome in groups and I've seen them do really strong dps and even tank in a pinch.  Plus they are quite fast.

Trial is about 2.6G and the game is about 19G.

You are correct.  You can reach level 10 anywhere.  But for Free on the Isle of Dawn you can experience 30 levels of fun content.  10 levels of adventuring, 10 levels of diplomacy and 10 levels of crafting.  Quite a lot of content for free.  By then you'll know if you want to sub or not.

Arcken, you may submit a petition and they will transfer your character free of charge to the server of your choice.

Double check your DX9 install.

Check your video driver is the same as the VG recommended driver at this link  http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=16732.

Originally posted by Sebali

is tehre any PvP at all on the PvE servers?

 You can /dual people and there is a PvP arena.

Regarding the XP curve....many have stated it is too fast and you out level content and even quests you're working on.  They boosted the XP curve way back when and now you can even get XP potions.  Imo, since the leveling goes fast especially if you group xp up, its tougher to find people your level to group.  Conversely, they added in Mentoring.  Mentoring allows anyone level 11 and up to "level down" to your level and group with you.  So, you can group with anyone in game.  Just post in in OOC that you're willing to Mentor.

Hope this helps.

Originally posted by crunchyblack

I have some questions.  Mostly in comparison to EQ2.

 

So the population is sparse on the pvp server....how is the pvp?

 Yes, the pvp server population is lean.  I'd join a guild right away and start on the Isle of Dawn.

Is this game, more or less, a more complex EQ2 with less players?

 VG is more complex than EQ2 but it starts solo based and grows to grouping at lvl 18+

How does it run?  CPU heavy and laggy like EQ2 or does this game make great use of your graphics card?

 It really pushes your computer set up.  I recommend hopping on the free trial Island of Dawn and seeing what is does for you.

Race/class setup... i didnt find much info on their site about the diffrent classes and races.  I tend to prefer the glass cannon mage class.  What are my options and how do the mage classes hash out in game?

 Roll a Sorcerer, they are the glass canons in VG.

How is it for a new player?  Lots of alone time untill endgame (what the hell is there to do at endgame btw?)  Is the community new player tolerant?   Is the games population (for lack of a better term) set in stone?  for example little to no random chatting or going out of your way to recruit a new player into a guild (not random invites with no dialoge ect). 

 The VG Community is warm, mature and helpful.  The past year the devs have pushed out end game content.  Good stuff for raiders, groupers and soloers.  They introduced EPICs and I still don't have mine.  Lately we are getting a surge of new players.  OOC is busy with questions and answers and humor.  The world is just huge and the focus of the game is on you.  You are the main character in your adventure.  This differs from other MMO which have a clausterphobic feel to it and teaming with people racing about.  Even if it was packed with people, it is still spaced out and a very open feel.

I kind of just started EQ2, i seem to be bouncing around servers and classes unable to find something that feels right.  I prefer playing in a ffa pvp world, just for the thrill of having to watch my back.  EQ2 is horrible, from what ive seen in the ffa pvp department, its very difficult for me to say this.  Still i cant take the boring life of a pve server.

VG is primarily a PvE game.  PvP server (Sartok) is the leanest population-wise but Piratelords guild is still thriving there and recruiting.

That being said, i would be interesting in trying the vanguard pvp server out, however if im going to get the same experience, pvp and pve, as i am in EQ2, ill just continue with that.

 Play both ;)

Perhaps some links to some game resources will do.

VGtact.com for diplomacy.

Sartok has a lean population.  I strongly recommend joining a guild or form a MMORPG guild on Sartok as well.

I really fun diplomacy quest I enjoyed a lot and really "shows off" the Telon lore are the Diplomacy Web Saga quests.

VGTACT.com has great diplomacy information.

There is a Thestran and a Qalian Web Saga Quests.  They are long and very rewarding with loot and lore.  Look this website over the the Thestran Web Quests.  http://www.vgtact.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Thestran_Web_Quests

And look this Qalian Web Quests at http://www.vgtact.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Web_Quests

Prior to this, I recommend leveling up to 10 on the Isle of Dawn.  Here is a leveling guide too.  http://www.vgtact.com/wiki/index.php/Leveling_Guide

Enjoy.

No wonder I only have half a star :(

Back on topic....Isle of Dawn is booming.  Surprising good news.  You can reach level 10 in adventuring, crafting and diplomacy.