Vanguard has gone free to play a week early.

[F9thRet]

I used to play this one, quite a bit , years ago, before I really got into Multiboxing. Anyways, it is just a mention here, in case anyone was looking for something a bit different.
http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=57981

Highlights...

The free to play matrix is now in effect

Anyone should be able to download the game for free from our new site http://www.vanguardthegame.com (http://www.vanguardthegame.com/)
The details of free to play can be found here http://www.vanguardthegame.com/free.vm


Good Gaming all!

Stephen

[Khatovar]

About damned time. Kind of sucks that there's only 2 subscription schemes, but oh well. Maybe I'll check it out tomorrow.

[F9thRet]

No doubt. I always thought it was an pretty good game, But I just got distracted, when I started digging around this place. Needless to say, I blame all my habits now on the friends here. :D

Stephen

[Lyonheart]

For me, i was sooo excited for Vangaurd to come out.., i followed its development from rumor to launch. It was going to be the real "EQ2", but the beta and launch were so horrific that i never went back. It would be the first of many MMOs that were over hyped and failed hard on launch. Much of which are better games today ( AO, Conan etc..), but too little too late. First impressions are vital to MMOs becoming the next big thing, and staying that way..IMO.

[Apatheist]

No SOE game is truly "Free to Play". They heavily restrict access to critical end-game factors like the tier of gear you can equip, how much currency you can carry and player housing. These are not just cosmetic limitations, they effectively stop you from participating in the end-game content if you don't subscribe. If all you want is some free entertainment for a few weeks, they're OK, but unless you plan on paying eventually, you're going to waste a lot of time grinding levels only to find out you can't do anything near level cap because you can't equip the gear, skills or stats required by the content.

What SOE offers is more like an extended trial than a true F2P experience.

PS,

In relation to Vanguard specifically, there population is around 150-250 active players and the map in Vanguard is gigantic. If you do plan on giving it a try, I suggest posting on their forum and looking for a guild to join before you create your character. Otherwise, the game is going to feel very desolate. You can literally level to cap without ever seeing another player.

[Alge]

I played Vanguard solo for over a year at launch and was in a good-sized guild that raided APW. The decline in player numbers drove me away but it and EQ are the MMOs that have given me the fondest memories. I'm glad it is getting some love from SOE finally.

What "free to play" allows me to do is keep track of the bug fixes they are making without paying SOE any money. It is going to take a while before I am convinced it is worth subscribing to again.

[Apatheist]

Yeah, aside from the PvP balance issues, I thought Vanguard was a great game when it came out. They suffered from the same thing so many new games do (aside from the launch bugs), people shot to level cap as quickly as they could and then quit because there was really no end game at the time.

[pox67]

I was excited to check this out again but as Apatheist said the F2P restrictions on SOE games are too much. I just looked over the restrictions and already can't be bothered trying it out.