Vangaurd: Saga of Heroes

[Zelzubub]

Hey all!

Just wondering if anyone out there has tried Vangaurd since it was released. It had to be one of the worst launches in mmo history (if not, close too) due to performance issues and game bugs, but now almost a year and half later its come a lot closer to a polished state both performace-wise and content-wise. Full raid dungeon/progression was added last december, and the "trial-island" is on the test server as we speak and will be released next month. Trial Island is a new starter island that people can download for free and give Vangaurd a try which I highly recommend. The visuals are what impress me the most, even after a year of playing I come to parts of the world that make me stop and take a screenshot. Even after such a horrible launch and through the release of AoC VG's truckin on, with nothing less then a bright future.

For the month of July, SOE reactivated every cancelled account for free so theres still 10 days to come back and try out the game in its new state. I love VG personally, great game for those that loved the good ole days in Everquest 1

[encorp]

I thought they gave up on it? LOL

[Grollie]

I tried and tried to get into the VG beta and then once launch hit realized my system just wouldn't play it. I came across VG:SoH for $19 so I picked it up just so I could give it a go when I get my new system completed. Whenever that will be Apparently once they have the Newbie isle (Isle of Dawn) finished they will be doing a free trial, just like most of the other mmo's out there.

[Zelzubub]

Originally Posted by encorp

I thought they gave up on it? LOL

Hells no!

Not long after the rough release Sigil, the original company that made the game, was bought out by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). Since then, theyve consistently patched and polished the game in between theyre larger Game Updates. Each game update consists of class revamps, new content, performance increases, quest fixes, ect.

New content since release includes a fully implemented progressive raid dungeon with over 20 major encounters, as well 4 overland raid encounters. They revamped the faction system and now every race (15 races) has its own racial mount, which are very cool, as well as racial armor. They introduced the griffon, wyvern, and pegasus quest, which are incrediably challenging, so that players can own theyre own flying mounts. These are just a few things I can remember out of the 6 major game updates so far.

Vangaurd still has an active playerbase too, and although SOE wont release subscription numbers Id guess realistically theres around 20,000 active people playing accross 4 servers. Vangaurd is a great game with some really great potential, and really great graphics. One of the features of VG that hold a lot of players the massive "seamless" world... no loading times, no instances. You can see a city off in the distance from the top of a mountain and can actually run there. Vg really is a great game, if you dont go check it out now while its free keep your eyes open for the re-release after the Isle of Dawn comes out.

[Evilyeti]

Originally Posted by Zelzubub

For the month of July, SOE reactivated every cancelled account for free so theres still 10 days to come back and try out the game in its new state.

I just tried logging into my account and it says "You do not have a Vanguard Subscription" Its good to see somebody with so much positive enthusiasm about Vanguard.

But the biggest flaw with Vanguard is its still mostly a group oriented game, and finding a group can be difficult during certain hours of the day.

My subscription ended in May, and the reason i did not renew was the fact that it was almost impossible to find groups to progress. I don't like being forced to join guilds to play through a game, i prefer grouping with friends and progressing together. But due to the lack of a player base guess what? My friends also canceled.

The racial mounts was a great idea, but a huge failure in my eyes. Some of them look terrible, and do not suite the character race's at all. Riding a lobster? Common.

The original vision for Vanguard was great and would have been an awesome game, but that Vanguard is dead.

I wanted Vanguard to be the next Everquest just as much as the next Everquest 1 nerd did. But its not going to happen.

I don't mean to come off negatively, I think its great that your positive about a game that had potential to be great.

My biggest gripe with Vanguard was the fact that over half the area's i would go to, to try and gain experience were empty. Which is not worth paying $14.95/month for.

If they do another free month, I will see how Vanguard has changed. But it does not matter how much they fix the game, if they cannot fix the player base.

EDIT: Just wanted to add, I played during the Vanguard Closed Beta, and Retail Launch, the performance changes to Vanguard are greatly improved since than.

[Zelzubub]

Quote by Evilyeti: "I just tried logging into my account and it says "You do not have a Vanguard Subscription"

Thats odd, Ive several friends and guildies that came back this month while its free. Like I mentioned before the player base is only about 20k strong, so if your not part of a guild, ya you may have problems finding a group at all times of the day. But thats why theres a veritable butt-load of solo things to do, like 50 levels of crafting, and 50 levels of diplomacy, and a ton of solo content to do while you cant find a group.


"I don't like being forced to join guilds to play through a game, i prefer grouping with friends and progressing together."

Sorry Evil, I find this statement a little contradictory. What is a guild if it is not a collection of players who get to know each other and become friends? You make a guild sound like a cold tool used in game, hehe. A guild is a collection of friends that progress together, just friends you havent met yet. And If you find a guild that fits your playstyle then you wont have a problem finding groups. Theres guilds for every playstyle be it casual, hardcore raiding, roleplying, whatever!

If anyone logs on during the free period or after the starter isle comes out and needs some advise, a little gold to start out or someone to play with I go by Atreau or Zelzubub and I play on the Xeth server.

[Evilyeti]

Originally Posted by Zelzubub

Thats odd, Ive several friends and guildies that came back this month while its free.

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6...bscribeqf2.jpg

Originally Posted by Zelzubub

Like I mentioned before the player base is only about 20k strong, so if your not part of a guild, ya you may have problems finding a group at all times of the day. But thats why theres a veritable butt-load of solo things to do, like 50 levels of crafting, and 50 levels of diplomacy, and a ton of solo content to do while you cant find a group.

Not everyone wants to do Crafting, and as far as I know Diplomacy is still broken. I doubt that in the 2 months I've been gone they fixed all the problems with it. And again. Not everybody wants to do Diplomacy either.

Whatever solo content your speaking of, I'm unaware of. I went to several different area's my level only to find 2 or 3 quests I could do alone, and 3 or 4 more quests I had to wait for my friends to come online to finish. Leaving me with grinding for XP as the only option to progress if nobody was online to form a group with. And more often than not, there would be nobody in the area to group with. This lead to both my friends quitting shortly after, and than me.

Originally Posted by Zelzubub

Sorry Evil, I find this statement a little contradictory. What is a guild if it is not a collection of players who get to know each other and become friends? You make a guild sound like a cold tool used in game, hehe. A guild is a collection of friends that progress together, just friends you havent met yet. And If you find a guild that fits your playstyle then you wont have a problem finding groups. Theres guilds for every playstyle be it casual, hardcore raiding, roleplying, whatever!

I'm quite aware of what guilds are, what they're for and what they can do together. My point is nobody should be forced to seek out one in order to progress there character in levels. Not everybody wants to be in a guild during the beginning of a game, or midway through there characters development.

[Zelzubub]

Well, if your not into crafting and not interested in Diplomacy thats 2 out of 3 spheres of Vangaurds gameplay (adventuring/crafting/diplo) then yes, youll probably lose interest if you get frustrated with adventuring.

Diplomacy itself has actually never been broken, its the first part of the diplomacy tutorial thats broken and untill the next patch a GM has to help you with the first part. Looks bad aye, but as I just started diplo myself recently and had to go through this myself the GM told me itll be fixed in the next update. Diplomacy is actually a card game thats a lot of fun, reminds me of the card game in FF8 (I think it was 8..). VG uses Diplomacy as its main source of Lore, you learn of the stories of the lands of Telon, going to each city to diplo with all the different races governments and whatnot. Im lvl 15 now and its been quite interesting, but its not everyones cup of tea... more for someone who would like to play cards or read a book then someone whos just logged on for some hack-n-slash.

The great thing about Vangaurd that most people overlook, because almost all people want to rush to the endgame, is all the mid-level content. Vangaurd is designed so that you cant do all the content with 1 charectar. Theres 3 continents loaded with quests and several areas for every level range. Each city has a missives board, with 12+ repeatable solo missive quests, that you trade in for nice rewards. Its possible to solo to 50, my wife has soloed to 43. She never groups with people shes never met, never joined a guild and she doesnt grind xp a la EQ just does quests and takes her time to enjoy all the areas. Of course, this style of gameplay isnt for everyone.

Evil - I can understand why some dont want to join a guild right away, whether theyre shy or dont want to commit to one until there ready thats quite understandable and I can respect that. However, Id strongly recommend joining a newbie guild when you get started theyd undoubtly be able to help with many of widely known bugs and problems. You would'nt have such a problem finding people to play with, theyd be able to give you advice on where the best spots are for quests, they could tell how to get past the diplo bug hehe j/k. Once your charectar has developed and you know what you want to accomplish in the game, whether its hard core raiding or just a casual experiance, you can leave a newbie guild to join another that more your playstyle. Lots of newbie guilds are happy to have you play with them and value the time they have you at all. Again, I do understand and respect your reasons for not wanting to join a guild but your doing yourself a slight disservice by doing so.

As to the free month this month, I searched the forums and couldnt find evidence posted by sony, but heres several links posted by players... as I understand it, old subscribers got an email saying they could come back this month. Maybe check your email or just go on the live chat help on the SOE site if your interested at all.

Well is the free game play bringing you back?

Giving "Return" free Month a try and I have a question

Returning players planning to resub after free month?

In closing, Im not saying that anyone should cancell theyre WoW or AoC accounts to come play Vangaurd quite the opposite in fact. I wouldnt return until game update 6 which is mid-august, when another batch of the major bugs will be worked out. I just saying when its free, hit it up, its free till the end of july and I pretty sure itll be free for another month after Isle of Dawn comes out. Vanguard is not dead!! And still has potential, youll see

[Evilyeti]

Here's a question, since i cannot login and you can, is there anyway to see if my House is still built?

I put about 3 platinum on it before i let my subscription run out. I was on Seradon btw.

[Zelzubub]

Well, if your house was on a 10g plot (most likely) then your upkeep should be 60 silver a week. If you dropped 3 plat in your upkeep, technically you should be good for something like 9.6 years. Assuming they dont take your house away if your account expires. Im not sure what they do there, they might dismantle your house after a certain time and all your housing fixtures and upkeep would be in escrow when you returned Im not 100% sure, they may not.

If you had a good idea of where your house was I could go look for you, but unless you had a /loc itd be pretty hard to be exact. I raid on Xeth but have chars on Seradon too so I could try and look for ya! Would need to know the name of the charectar that bought the plot, what continent and name of the housing island and roughly what part of the island.