Vanguard: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Jallis]

Hi folks,

I have had a post idea kicking around in my head for the past two weeks and I release it may have been said before in a number of way but I just wanted to put my 2 cents out there concerning Vanguard. I have played through the free month then taken some time to think about the game and have spoken to others who either hate or love it.

The Good...
- Graphics (Love the look of the game)
- The Music (A soundtrack I would actually listen to in or outside of a game.)
- The Classes (Everyone I have spoken with loves how the classes are diverse and they like the idea of the 3 spheres)

The Bad...
- Crafting (Fustrating, I have done very little with the crafting system, I have however at least tried it, as I have not wanted the game to turn into a chore. From the several crafters I have spoken too and the boards I have read the main complaint seems to be complications. They seem to crop up continually while crafting even one item. Once or twice seems to be to most people acceptable but many are reporting the numbers being between 4 and 6 per item made.)
- The Story/Hook (Diplomacy is great, but for players level 1 through 20 there doesn't seem to be enough of a overlying story to tug on their imagination while out adventuring and I am not referring to the chain quests here and there, if a player doesn't want the story then they don't need read or listen to it. Other games have this, you do get a hint in Vanguard here and there but nothing that carries you along or directs you to diplomacy other than the intro quest from what I can tell. I realize that diplomacy is meant to impart much of the background story and history for the world but encouraging people to get involved with diplomacy in the first 20 levels by giving more of the story to them through adventuring quests and then leading them to diplomacy around mid teens to low 20ies might help keep more players in the game since they have already invested alot of time into their characters at that point.)

The Ulgy...

- XP rates (I am not going much into this for the simple fact no one will be satified in the end. In my personal opinion the rate of adventuring xp at this time is decent, not great but I can live with it. Upping the quest rewards in the lastest patch does seem to be a step in the right direction but I do agree with many that it may have been increased by to large an amount. Again this is just my opinion and nothing more.)

Why am I posting all this. It is simple, I want to absolutely love playing Vanguard. I like the people who have made it, I like the concept and I want to be a part of an online community again for a long term. I think they have done a great job at creating the world of Vanguard. At this time however I am having more fun with other SOE products since I have an active station pass. When I play an online game I know I will not be the ultimate hero but I do find it nice to have the illusion that I am taking part in a story where I am making a difference and am not just a cog in some giant machine or playing a game which is meant to be a leisure activity and finding it turning into a chore.

But hey it could be just me,

Please discuss I am not seeking to start any agruments with this post I just wanted to put out there my feelings concerning a game I have had so many high hopes for over the past few years.

The Vanguard forum is meant, primarily, for questions/discussion with the Sigil Staff not a product review. So, the thread has been moved to a move accurate forum.

[bigdogchris]

The only part about VG that I wasn't happy with was the ease of solo and lack of downtime. Yes, the XP rates take awhile but I don't like being able to mow down mobs in a chain fashion, regardless of XP reward. I'd rather kill less, with more downtime but with greater XP reward.

[deathjack]

I agree, I want to love vanguard but I beleive it needs work. I too played for a few weeks and found myself wanting. There were some frustrating issues I had, including a few bugs that made the game unplayable. I understand they have been fixed but I'm going to wait a few months before I look into this title again.

Nice review. Not to biased.

[zwildstar]

Anyone want to update a Vanguard Review?

I hear it has made drastic improvements since its craptastic launch...or is it another Horizons?

[Woody]

I'd heard similar news about game improvements. But have been unable to take on the subscription fee. I'd say, if it's an option, give a trial run a go.

[TVs Frank]

Anyone want to update a Vanguard Review?

I hear it has made drastic improvements since its craptastic launch...or is it another Horizons?
I imagine it's improved drastically since SOE took the reigns from Brad seeing as how Brad barely even paid attention to it the last year of developement.

[Darkov]

It has improved.

Performance is up, although not great in crowded chunks, the world still isn't seamless and we believe they've given up on that goal.

The next update due in a few days will add the first raid zone, which had rave reviews from the test server and I can believe it's as good as testers have said. It also adds weather to the game, you can see storm clouds on the horizon and they will move with the wind, when one enters the zone you are in depending on the location you get stronger wind which makes trees sway more, rain or snow. It's not perfect, but it's a good start.

Class balance remains an issue, they keep buffing/improving classes but due to the strange order they are doing it in it just makes said classes overpowered until someone else catches up. The game is thus incredibly easy for a handful of classes and not so easy for the ones still waiting. Though pretty much all group orientated content in the game is trivial from 1 to 50.

I'm sure someone else has more to say, I'm on the verge of leaving myself though as I'm tired of seeing all the classes improved except the Necro, which has nothing by nerfs since release, mainly from them adding snare and fear immunities to mobs, and the fact that an average group mob dies in like 15 seconds, making our dots useless in group situations.

Support is up to the usual low SOE standards, the developer team is now in house but much smaller than before, though the devs talk to the community a lot. In the case of items and classes player feedback is heard and acted on, in the case of everything else, it's partially heard.