I've been to busy leveling my undead warrior to pay attention to Vanguard.

All I heard was that it was buggy, but that really doesn't say much about a MMO near launch. Also I was hearing that alot of people couldn't enter some of the major cities and that the damage numbers that were coming out of combat weren't correct. Though not sure if the players were taking more damage or less, but that was a few weeks ago.

If I was as obsessed with MMOs as I used to I'd head to the store right now and pick it up, and give you all the answers you can ever want! Sadly I'm poor an have a life, that and I forgot it was coming out this month.


But be sure to let us know if you find anything out about it, and if the horror stories I heard from beta are but footnotes in history.

I think in the main gaming forum i posted a post asking about it and like 1 person had some answers.

http://www.destructoid.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2933&highlight=vanguard

Link to the post I mentioned. Some info... though *shrugs*

The game has some pretty ambitious features, cool character customization, and the graphics are notch above EQ2 ... but I don't know if that's enough to carry it. I have a few friends that were in the beta and enjoyed it.

Personally I do not play MMOs anymore because my personality type coupled with MMOs pretty much reduces my social function to the level of toothpaste. I'm one year rehabilitated so far

Summa, you know sure as hell you and I dont care about these games...

I'm only doing WoW because my Gamestop buddy hooked me up with a free copy and it included one month of free play. After that month is up, goodbye WoW. I'm just not the type of person to pay $15/month for a game.

Sorry, waiting for Warhammer's MMO and playing City of Villians in the meantime. Probably still play both later - City has excellent PVE content but is not really set up for PVP, and the Warhammer MMO is built around PVP.

From what I've heard though, vanguard is a daikatanaesque failure.

sq2 = eq2*

Its EQ1.5

-looks terrible
-runs terrible
-plays terrible

But hardcores love it. Definently not for the crowd that complains about paying subscription fees. /lawl Dtoid

I think its an incredibly beautiful game.
I'm only level 10 but am enjoying it and from the looks of it there already appears to be tons of content in the game.
If you don't like it because it runs terrible then I think you might need a better computer. Diplomacy is fun and they can do a lot with that. Apparently SoE wants high level diplomats to eventually go to political meetings and their diplomacy will decide if wars are to be waged,where to place troops, etc. The crafting system is also incredibly different from anything I've ever seen in an MMO.

To be completely honest though its release day of an MMO and anyone thats ever seriously played an MMO knows that you cannot fully judge every aspect of the game on release day.

I agree it was a horrid idea to release the game around the same time as the WoW expansion but that doesn't mean this game should be completely brushed aside.

What makes a solid MMO is the community and I believe (so far that is) that SoE has provided their players with everything they need to make....... a WoW killer...

is Raph even SOE's MMO brainchild anymore?

Community alone isn't going to sell the game and I agree. I assume a large amount of people that play MMOs don't want much of a community. Like you said WoW has no community and I believe I can safely say is by far the easier MMO to play out there right now. You hit the max lvl and then go pvp till your ears bleed and GG. Not much there to keep the hardcore MMO player interested for very long after he's accomplished everything.

But I believe those that play WoW and are in the major guilds and do raids and care a lot about character progression and having an impact on the environment they are in will probably find their way to Vanguard.

I view WoW as more of a casual MMO game (like heroine) and Vanguard to be a true hardcore MMO type of game (the Meth of MMOs) where you can immerse yourself in a digital world and make a name for yourself. I guess sort of like a second life for nerds that love to pew pew dragons.

Although the true nerd in me feels that if myself and fellow nerds can make an interesting community in the world of Fuzzletuff or whatever the hell the Vanguard world is then Vanguard could easily kill WoW in terms of a real quality MMO. In terms of straight up subscriptions I think WoW will be hard to beat because its so mainstream and user friendly.

I'm playing vanguard, and loving it. A MMO that is a challenge(I.E. Not WoW), with classes that haven't been done before, and a huge world that I'll probably never see all of.

I'll admit, it was pushed out the door a bit too early, but Sigil was running out of money, and there is already a huge community who wanted to play.

Sony has nothing to do with the game, let me make that perfectly clear. They host it through their SOE service, that's IT. That is why Sony is pissed about the game, and not doing alot. They can't put their game ruining paws on it. They tried, and Sigil (at a great monetary cost to them) WOULD NOT LET THEM.

Give it 2 months, and it will rock. It rocks already.

Oh, and anyone bitching about performance issues needs to, y'know, play something that wasn't a BETA. The game released, and it runs fine. It runs better than EQ2. Much better. Just don't expect your FX5200 to be able to do shit, because, well, it couldn't run anything well today.

I predict in 2 years there will be 2 main MMOs. Vanguard, and WoW. Vanguard for the "hardcore" oldschool mmo players, and WoW for the casual players. What you forget is that when the 2nd gen mmos came out alot of people stayed with EQ, because they didn't like the feel of WoW or EQ2, or any of the others. Alot have taken to calling themselves "EQ refugees." That is a huge population, and most are moving to Vanguard. It has an EQ feel, and that's a good thing.

From the press release, Eschatos:

The North American subscription fee for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is $14.99 a month, with discounts offered for longer subscription commitments. For players who purchase Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and have an SOE Station Access subscription, the subscription to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will be included in the $24.99 monthly fee.

I've played WOW, EQ, EQ2, and FFXI. I will tell you now that if you want a true gaming experience, one with an amazing community and awesome graphics, you should play Final Fantasy XI. The people that play that game are great players. They really pay attention to other people, and noobs are not ridiculed for the simple fact that they are new to the game. Also, the partying in FFXI is on a different scale of fun in comparison to WOW. Another plus side is that WOW is in fact getting way more attention then FFXI, and that means you don't have to worry about the A-Holes who flood that generic MMO bothering you. The quests in FFXI are all completely different, whereas the quests in WOW are basically the same, just shorter or longer in length. So... BUY FFXI...

FFXI does have probably the best community ever. That game, however, is HARD. It was also severely hampered by the PS2 version, as they didn't want to make the game the same for both it and the PC. FFXI will always be on the top of my list, just because of how nice everyone was when they learned this was my first MMO.

In WoW, oh man, the ridicule. I've never met such a fucking bunch of noobs in my life. I hate 14 year olds, and the game is full of 'em.

Vanguard is much the same as FFXI. It's hard, the quests are fulfilling, (not run this letter to my neighbor, like in WoW) and the community is great.

And best of all, it isn't hampered by the goddamn PS2.

better the EQ? yes.
Better then WoW? no.
Most likely to die a quick death? for sure.