Decided to give VG another whirl this week and thought I would post my thoughts for any interested.

I am not a vet by any means, I played for a couple of months about 3 years ago.  I liked the game a lot at the time, but couldn't put up with the performance issues I was having.

My system is a 2.7 I5 overclocked to 3.66, 8 gb ram, and a gtx 470, running on win7 64 bit.  I have a little 60bg SSD that I installed VG on.

I have to say the game is running great on my setup.  No hitching so far and excellent frames running in 1920x1200 with AA and AS on.  Have settings fairly high but have shadows to low.

You still see the oddball graphical glitches, but the game is running smooth and it is beautiful.

VG has the best class selection of any MMO out there right now.  There are a ton of races and each one has their own starter area, which is something I really miss.

This game is the true spiritual successor to old time EQ1. 

Also, the game has the best crafting system I have seen.

Here is the bad.

Pop is low...which is a shame because there is so much group content.  Hopefully with f2p on the horizon, this won't be a problem down the road.

There are some weird graphical glitches I hope they iron out before f2p launch.

Anyway those are my thoughts.  Anyone thinking about giving it a go or dusting off their account, I encourage you to do so.  I dropped the 15 bucks for a month and am glad I did.

Just curious -- did you start on that starter island or did you go to one of the original starting areas?

 

 

I completely agree with you, OP. I originally tried the VG trial just to have some characters ready-made for the upcoming F2P conversion and started with a guildmate from previous games just to get a feel for it. I was so impressed by what this game has become that I subscribed as soon as I knew I'd be able to dedicate time to play and I usually only play freemium or F2P games because of how disappointed I am with the P2P market atm.

 

Having adventuring, crafting, and diplomacy as their own paths without being hindered by not engaging in all three is fantastic. When my friend is on we duo and have a good time of it, otherwise I craft or do diplomacy solo. Finally another game that rewards players that wish to play as a control class, or a buffing/debuffing class rather than just tank/heals/dps! While there are some things that I'm disappointed with, like the awkward UI and very hit or miss ability to macro this is the only MMO currently released that's worth my money. I can only imagine how much better it will be with more players.

Originally posted by TROLL_HARD

Just curious -- did you start on that starter island or did you go to one of the original starting areas?

 

I made a trial account just to check out the performance, when that was looking good, I reupped my old account and made a toon in the original starting area.

Actually fooled around and made several toons of different races and classes before I decided on Thestran Bard.

Love the variety and feel of the different original starter areas.  Like I said, that is something I truly miss in a lot of modern mmos where every race starts at the same point.

 

 

 

I agree, very great game. Such an immense world need more players. When is F2P supposed to be coming?

They say mid summer or the end of summer. I know they better hurry lol, but if i was them i would wait until the GW12 hype goes away and TSW. 

Just an FYI to he OP ... if the graphical glitches you're seeing are flickering trees/rocks, turn off Hardware Occulsion under the Performance tab, that will fix that problem. I've never noticed any peformance improvement having it on anyway.

Glad you are enjoying the game,

I second the opinion that if you are considering playing it jump in with both feet, you will be impressed by this game.

It still needs a little work, but the game is very playable now.

The game is now also receiving weekly maintenance and the dev teamm has requested players to post all 1-50 content bugs for some content overhauls that will be coming with the F2P patches.

The game is beginning to get the attention it deserves and anyone who likes the older template of MMO's (EQ1, DAoC) will enjoy this game immensely. I really wish I would have found this one sooner and not wasted so much time on these newer MMOs.

I played d@mn near every MMO that has come out since EQ1 and I have to say that since EQ1, nothing has grabbed my attention as much as Vanguard except possibly release WoW.

Do it.

Originally posted by trouser03

Just an FYI to he OP ... if the graphical glitches you're seeing are flickering trees/rocks, turn off Hardware Occulsion under the Performance tab, that will fix that problem. I've never noticed any peformance improvement having it on anyway.

Thanks for the tip, I will try that out. 

Originally posted by TROLL_HARD

Just curious -- did you start on that starter island or did you go to one of the original starting areas?

 

 

i played on launch and enjoyed the diplomacy / lore in the starting areas, i then did a trial a few years later when i was really bored, but saw that the individual areas were removed.  Maybe i mixed somethign up, do the invidiual starting areas still exist?

The character startup areas still exist. You choose at character select if you would prefer to start at the Isle of Dawn or your original racial start area.

There are benefits to starting at the Isle of Dawn, gear and in particular the Bracelet of Lucky Charms which gives bonuses to all spheres and is upgradeable every 10 levels. At 20 or 30 it begins giving you an added experience bonus as well.

I've been considering returning. I've been wanting to try out an MMO but there really isn't any that I've checked into lately. I used to play WoW, GW, EQ2, and recently Rift (but I never got into it). I have a level 30'ish Rogue in this game but I'll probably end up resubbing tonight and starting a new character.

Originally posted by Nuriyan

I've been considering returning. I've been wanting to try out an MMO but there really isn't any that I've checked into lately. I used to play WoW, GW, EQ2, and recently Rift (but I never got into it). I have a level 30'ish Rogue in this game but I'll probably end up resubbing tonight and starting a new character.

Welcome back, hope you have as much fun as I am.  Been fooling around for a week trying to find a class haha.  See you in game.

Originally posted by arieste

Originally posted by TROLL_HARD

Just curious -- did you start on that starter island or did you go to one of the original starting areas?

 

 

i played on launch and enjoyed the diplomacy / lore in the starting areas, i then did a trial a few years later when i was really bored, but saw that the individual areas were removed.  Maybe i mixed somethign up, do the invidiual starting areas still exist?

Yes they do,on my trial i used a dwarf on the island,when I subbed I made my way to Bordinar's Cleft and also did the noob quests there.

Vanguard's issue in creating a free trial was that the game was huge at launch (file size) and the trial island was created so everyone could download quickly and get into the trial without having to have the entire game downloaded.

 

It's great to get someone in quickly, but I still enjoy the original starting areas.

I tried for the second time to get into it. On paper it sounds like a game I would enjoy playing. I just have a hard time getting past the dated combat. It's like a step above Ryzom, but below WoW and Rift. After playing GW2 I cannot get past the gameplay. I'll forgive graphics but slow combat I cannot do. It was like playing WoW for the first time and trying to go back and play the legend of mir.

I've been back for a few days now and am really enjoying the game. The combat is fun, the world is really huge, and the community is pretty good. Sure, it's not really populated, but the game is still fun. The music is really good too. I'm still trying to decide which class to play - I currently have a Kojani Dread Knight which seems to be pretty fun. I've messed around with other classes like Bard, Rogue, and Monk, but didn't really enjoy them too much (especially the monk). If anyone wants to play, feel free to add me.

I've been playing now for a bit and I really enjoy the game. I ended up re-rolling a character and am playing a Kojani Disciple. I really enjoy the class because of heals and damage output. I am level 10 and questing in the Ra'Jin Stronghold and around Qa Riverbank. Really enjoying the game and hope to play with others on here.

I think I finally settled on playing a Druid after trying a ton of different classes.  Amazing how much content there is.  Glad to hear your positive experiences.

Originally posted by punkrock

They say mid summer or the end of summer. I know they better hurry lol, but if i was them i would wait until the GW12 hype goes away and TSW. 

 

They haven't been any more specific than "summer." My guess is late august, early september, but that's just my guess.