3:50 PM on 01.30.2007
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I know we briefly mentioned Vanguard: Saga of Heroes in our rundown of games coming out this week, but when I saw the alert in my inbox today I was suddenly reminded that this game actually is coming out and that I hardly knew about it. Now, I don't want to brag or anything, but I'm pretty connected with the gaming world -- going to events and previews and such -- and the amount of press and coverage SOE has been giving Vanguard has been piss poor at best. Sure we saw it at CES, but beyond that, there hasn't really been much action as far as a Vanguard push from Sony -- you see, when most high-profile games are at or near launch, there's usually a big to do about it from the publisher. So, what gives? Is this thing such a complete bomb that Sony just wants to push it out and forget it ever happened? Has anyone here tried it yet? If so, what are your impressions? Wasn't this game supposed to be the ultimate WoW killer?
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133 comments + 163700 views
It supposedly is going to be more like EQ, but I really don't know, other than flying mounts and taking forever to get someplace.. I really don't know all that much about it. Oh and there is some sort of diplomacy leveling system to gain respect around a city or country or something...
I don't know from what I heard about the beta it was buggy as hell and the servers kept crashing, so beyond that I know about as much as you, the great Summa.
The great Summa demands answers.
Oh and I justed I really don't know a million times, so I must be intelligent.
But really, I don't know! Haha! Alright I'll stop and attempt to reclaim what little respect from the community that I had.
I've been to busy leveling my undead warrior to pay attention to Vanguard.
I've just been too busy making my way through Oblivion as a Vampire to give this a look.
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.
I feel bad for any MMO that isn't WoW. That game is a steamroller.
http://www.destructoid.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2933&highlight=vanguard
Link to the post I mentioned. Some info... though *shrugs*
Boo everquest! BOOOOOOOO! Ever Grace... now THERES a game!
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
5 months rehabilitated here..... What was the big rush to get Vanguard out? WoW's expansion has pretty much re-scooped all the potential customers from Vanguard, all my friends who play wow and quit have re-upped for the expansion (not me). Sheesh, has everyone at Sony gone bat-shit-crazy? Or are they that desperate that they just want to get as much money to help pad the losses in the PS3 department?
Summa, you know sure as hell you and I dont care about these games...
I tried to get out of the MMO thing and was sucked back in by this, the game to replace what was original EQ's awesome beginning. This is not a WoW killer. In fact it's pretty much for your hater of instanced content and lover of a huge world with only natural boundaries instead of artificial ones. Really, if you didn't like original EQ1 up to Luclin, let's say, then it's probably not for you. I'm having a blast, however, I hated Warcraft.
Also, cocks.
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 Conan.
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.
Being a WoWer, a former SWG player (launch till jedi infestation), i was looking foward to the hype that was offered us by the Vanguard Beta Testers back in the early summer of '06.
However when i got into beta a few months back, i was very disappointed. Sigil seemed to be revisting old methods of niche gameplay. Rather than opening the game up as something for ALOT of people to enjoy, they are leaving it in the typical Career MMO playerbase.
I thought this was going to be a WoW killer a half year ago, until i got to play the game, then i realized it's a spit shined sq2+swg hybrid. Boring.
sq2 = eq2*
Vanguard does look better than some MMO's. I would rather play it than WoW. Still, a crappy release, coupled with monthly fees, makes me say no.
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
Ah, Guild Wars. How i love thee. <3
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...
Sorry to say Wil, but community isn't enough.
WoW has no community, anyone that knows the game will tell you that, the only type of social recognition you get on your server is your guildtag (for the most part, unless you're a forum drama whore).
SWG great community, shared alot of Vanguard's game mechanics, and had one of the best harvesting systems in an MMO. FAILED
The Matrix Online, nearly the most robust online community i've ever seen for an mmo, some neat gameplay mechanics. FAILED MISERABLY (also a game i bought into the hype on in the beginning)
EQ2, not sure about it's community, but it's a mediocre success. Also has a most robust single player gamestyle than WoW. Yet can't even come close to 1/12th of WoW's playerbase.
community is important don't get me wrong, but if you want subscriptions, you can't be exlusive in gameplay mechanics.
Raph Koster while a great thinker, isn't so great at gameplay implementation.
is Raph even SOE's MMO brainchild anymore?
Yeah, it is Everquest Service Pack 1... looked okay, played like shit. Lord of the Rings Online has WAYYY more going for it.
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.
Keep in mind I'm only level 10 and the beta servers were so shitty I couldn't really get a good grasp on the game.
And no matter how good Vanguard is when Warhammer Online comes out I'm fricking gone.
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.
Just how much are the monthly fees anyway?
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 just want to throw this out there for the "not going to get WoW's numbers" thing and just say that will probably never be repeated. WoW was a marketing success. Now all of those people will move on to other games but not in those numbers. Also, games like VG probably aren't catering to the asian game center population, therefor, no inflated subscription numbers.
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...
I hated FFXI. The interface was horrid and there was very little character customization. A level 10 monk will be the same as any other level 10 monk, besides what items, race, and other classes they might be. The quests in WoW do get much more interesting, and have better directions than the garbage that FFXI throws at you. The community isn't all that terrible either. When I play, if I want to talk to other people, I type in the general chat and as long as I don't act like a jack ass people are nice.
So yeah.... burn 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.
Bllistic90, you obviously did not get very far in FFXI. If you had, you would know that the quests and missions that are provided for high level, and high class characters get extremely fun and interesting. Also, the BCNM hunts were outrageous and even the raids in FFXI were more fun that those in WOW. It's true that there is less customization in FFXI than in WOW, but there is far more direction with the character. I hated the talent system in WOW, because it was always difficult to tell which talents would best suite the of the character that I wanted. Also, in FFXI you can be completely different from other players with the same jobs and levels. There a sub jobs, and now there are new special jobs. There is also a countless amount of accessories you can obtain through mob kills, so, I really don't know what your talking about. Anyways, I might check Vanguard out.
(monk is a bland job, only suited for boring people)
better the EQ? yes.
Better then WoW? no.
Most likely to die a quick death? for sure.
all i have to say is: when you die you lose xp...
LOL!!!!11
have fun