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zarley

macrumors member
Original poster
May 14, 2008
55
0
San Diego, CA
Not impressed with AoC and sick of WOW. Have heard some real slid stuff on theur website regarding huge improvements since game came out. How does it play? Is it smooth like WOW? How is the variety of characters, weapons, gear, quests, etc? Thanks!
 
Not impressed with AoC and sick of WOW. Have heard some real slid stuff on theur website regarding huge improvements since game came out. How does it play? Is it smooth like WOW? How is the variety of characters, weapons, gear, quests, etc? Thanks!

I'm interested in this as well. I've just ordered Windows so I can use bootcamp and play MMOs other than WoW. (Ok, I have a PC version of Photoshop to run on it too but gaming is the main motivating factor) I'm thinking either Vanguard or AoC. Vanguard sounds less instanced than AoC and much improved from its shambolic launch. It sounds very open-world and a bit more mature.

I'm also thinking of trying out Entropia Universe, as it's free. And I did enjoy Second Life until I realised I wasn't going to become a tycoon. EU sounds like a gaming version of SL.
 
I'm interested in this as well. I've just ordered Windows so I can use bootcamp and play MMOs other than WoW. (Ok, I have a PC version of Photoshop to run on it too but gaming is the main motivating factor) I'm thinking either Vanguard or AoC. Vanguard sounds less instanced than AoC and much improved from its shambolic launch. It sounds very open-world and a bit more mature.

I'm also thinking of trying out Entropia Universe, as it's free. And I did enjoy Second Life until I realised I wasn't going to become a tycoon. EU sounds like a gaming version of SL.

I have been reading up on Vanguard and apparently it is MUCH improved since its original release. I ordered it via Ebay and am very excited to get into it. Bigger world than WoW, more classes, races and its a TRUE RPG. I played AoC and was not impressed. Great graphics and combat animations but just couldn't fully get into it. If you want, we can quest together on Vanguard...email me if interested. I get my new 24" 3.06 iMac later this week so I'll be playing Vanguard by Friday evening :)

sacha_ferrandi@yahoo.com
 
Not impressed with AoC and sick of WOW. Have heard some real slid stuff on theur website regarding huge improvements since game came out. How does it play? Is it smooth like WOW? How is the variety of characters, weapons, gear, quests, etc? Thanks!

I just decided to give Vanguard a shot and loving it. The wide openness and complex crafting have been awesome to me. Although the crafting can be very frustrating, especially when you lose your stuff because you messed up the process, but it feels rewarding when you do it right and at a high quality. The classes are very fun, especially the Necromancer. I am currently at level 16 Necro. Makes a great solo class. I haven't done diplomacy yet so I can't comment on that.

There are little things that also make the game cool. Actually being able to see the sun rise and set, seeing a storm off in the distance, a rented flying mount that you control so you aren't taken on a 10 minute trip when it should only take 3 minutes as the bird flies ala WoW.

Does it run smooth? Well no. It is much better than it was at release, and after some tweaking runs decently and still looking good on my 2 Ghz iMac with 2 gigs ram under Boot Camp/XP. (My FPS gows from 35 down to under 10 depending on weather, location, and time of day. Night gets a bit choppier for some reason.)

Gear? Well the stuff I have seen is pretty boring visually, but maybe that changes at higher levels.

Quests? Tons of quests all over the place. And you dont feel like you are on rails. Don't want to level up at a particular quest 'hub'? Look around for another. Although gear rewards for quests seems pretty few and far between currently at my level of quests. Seems to be about 99% monetary rewards.

Travel. There are plenty of ways to get around. A riftway system that can get you to areas quickly. You get your first mount at level 10. And as I mentioned before, controllable rented flying mounts. There is a permanent flying mount you can get at the end game.

Hopefully the trial island stuff will be done soon and it brings in more players. If you do go ahead and pick up a copy, which you can probably find cheap, go to the Seradon server. The others are ghost towns.

My .02.
 
I just decided to give Vanguard a shot and loving it. The wide openness and complex crafting have been awesome to me. Although the crafting can be very frustrating, especially when you lose your stuff because you messed up the process, but it feels rewarding when you do it right and at a high quality. The classes are very fun, especially the Necromancer. I am currently at level 16 Necro. Makes a great solo class. I haven't done diplomacy yet so I can't comment on that.

There are little things that also make the game cool. Actually being able to see the sun rise and set, seeing a storm off in the distance, a rented flying mount that you control so you aren't taken on a 10 minute trip when it should only take 3 minutes as the bird flies ala WoW.

Does it run smooth? Well no. It is much better than it was at release, and after some tweaking runs decently and still looking good on my 2 Ghz iMac with 2 gigs ram under Boot Camp/XP. (My FPS gows from 35 down to under 10 depending on weather, location, and time of day. Night gets a bit choppier for some reason.)

Gear? Well the stuff I have seen is pretty boring visually, but maybe that changes at higher levels.

Quests? Tons of quests all over the place. And you dont feel like you are on rails. Don't want to level up at a particular quest 'hub'? Look around for another. Although gear rewards for quests seems pretty few and far between currently at my level of quests. Seems to be about 99% monetary rewards.

Travel. There are plenty of ways to get around. A riftway system that can get you to areas quickly. You get your first mount at level 10. And as I mentioned before, controllable rented flying mounts. There is a permanent flying mount you can get at the end game.

Hopefully the trial island stuff will be done soon and it brings in more players. If you do go ahead and pick up a copy, which you can probably find cheap, go to the Seradon server. The others are ghost towns.

My .02.

That's more than .02! That's at least a silver dollar! Seriously though, solid input. I absolutley cannot wait to play!
 
That's more than .02! That's at least a silver dollar! Seriously though, solid input. I absolutley cannot wait to play!

Thanks. And here is my vgclient.ini I use. Might be a good starting point to get a decent framerate then work from there adding some higher quality back in if you have a faster Mac than me. Just back up your original and change the extension of the attached one back to .ini.

Good luck. :)
 

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I've played it since beta 3. If you have any questions about it feel free to ask. I play on Halgar which is the euro server.

Basically the game has changed alot since release. Most of the performance problems are gone but you still need a powerful computer to get the most out of the game. Still the crafting, diplomacy and adventuring really work well together. Well worth trying to see if you like it. It beats the pants off WoW anyway.
 
I have been reading up on Vanguard and apparently it is MUCH improved since its original release. I ordered it via Ebay and am very excited to get into it. Bigger world than WoW, more classes, races and its a TRUE RPG. I played AoC and was not impressed. Great graphics and combat animations but just couldn't fully get into it. If you want, we can quest together on Vanguard...email me if interested. I get my new 24" 3.06 iMac later this week so I'll be playing Vanguard by Friday evening :)

sacha_ferrandi@yahoo.com

I'm might get it. I have taken advantage of the EQ2 offer of two free months, plus free expansion, and am playing that again. First morning back I was unable to log-in for about two hours though!

It sounds like Vanguard is another MMO with localised servers, which means I'll probably be on a Euro one. Is there just the one? Is it quiet? Even though I solo a lot, I find empty servers off-putting.
 
I installed Vanguard and it took about 8 hours to install and patch. This morning I loaded it up just to have a quick look and it just endlessly says "attempting to connect to world server". Note that the launcher says ALL SERVERS UP. I'll try it one more time when I get home and then cancel. Maybe EQ2 is worth another look, my account is still active.
 
I installed Vanguard and it took about 8 hours to install and patch. This morning I loaded it up just to have a quick look and it just endlessly says "attempting to connect to world server". Note that the launcher says ALL SERVERS UP. I'll try it one more time when I get home and then cancel. Maybe EQ2 is worth another look, my account is still active.

They are pushing a new patch today so the servers are down.
 
I played Vanguard in beta and just coming off of WoW was not impressed. That's not to imply the game has not improved since then or that I'm not jaded on MMOs in general.

I don't know if anyone else has run into this but I've found when I burned out on WoW, I no longer find static MMO worlds to be satisfactory. This is after participating in several betas such as Vanguard and LOTRO.

As I mentioned in another thread, I currently have an unopened copy of AoC sitting on my desk staring at me. It has not yet called me to open it. :)
 
What is dynamic about World of Warcraft? Instancing ruins community and the feel of the game if you ask me.

I think you misunderstand what he was saying. I believe he is saying that WoW has burned him out on static MMOs, as in WoW is static. That is how I read it.
 
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