Vanguard:SOH personal impressions

[Kromtor]

My wife and I each played 2 chars in EQ, but ever since WoW I've been unable to play happily without having a full group. Grinding in EQ was inexplicably fun when you had a killer group (DAoC was sorta fun grinding too) but in WoW due to the fact that killing anything more than a few above your level was a total waste of time it was boring as shit. I'm really looking forward to playing a modern EQ as you call it.

I'll be starting up in about a week... ping will dictate the server choice but for all I know all the US servers are in the same location. I generally like to play on PvP servers after reading this I'm not so sure:
"Vanguard classes are not balanced with PvP in mind, and some classes are more capable in this regard than others. For example, the maximum damage of a single attack is restricted to 40% of maximum hitpoints of the victim, but certain classes can combine multiple instant attacks, resulting in the possibility to one-shot kill other classes with no chance for the victim to fight back."

If there's one thing I hate its getting 1 shotted but I guess in a group with res's I could live with it. Xeth isn't PvP, what made you choose the carebear route? (I did the same in EQ when playing multiples I must confess)

[Korruptor]

First off, there isn't a "carebear" route in VG: SOH.

To strike a contrast, Warhammer is a PvP focused game with with two settings, medium and hardcore, with PvE being a means to an end: to gain levels. The focus is PvP; in RvR lakes, in scenarios and taking zone/world objectives (enemy city being the final objective). I played Warhammer for the PvP because that was the games' focus. The PvP was the best I've ever seen and balanced in the sense you needed balanced group and work together to win. This is a true PvP game. PvE was the after thought (and it was boring).

Vanguard: SOH is a PvE game with a very, very large world to explore, a faction system for defining your position in that PvE environment, an intense crafting system, and an interesting twist on some "harvesting" skills (you need wood? you literally chop down a tree). All of this leans towards a making it a PvE game. Sure they have a PvP server but that doesn't mean that is what the game was designed for or even good at. It is more of an after thought like it was back in EQ. There was little balance and in my opinion, little point except to grief others.

I don't like, enjoy or get kicks from griefing people. If you want PvP in VG, thats what it is: Griefing. Pointless PvP where Rangers, Sorc's and Rogues clean up because they have stealth and/or invis, roots, snares and great alpha damage. No thanks, thats not what Vanguard is about.

I wanted a challenging PvE game, I got Vanguard. I want PvP, I got Warhammer.

[d0z3rr]

Started a 14 day trial on the weekend. I think the game is pretty good. Not sure when I'll start fulling multiboxing it, still have to see how keyclone works. Not to mention the stupid sony online launcher makes it more of a pita to launch multiple copies on one computer. I only have 2 comps and 3 monitors, so 6boxing will be interesting......

Once I'm done playing Fallout 3, FEAR2, and Street Fighter IV. I'll look into boxing this game. It's gonna be weird healing without Healbot!!

[Jezebel]

i played this during beta with my guild (from shadowbane, the only real PvP game still going =P) and i thought it had a lot of potential, despite the bugs. i didnt box it at the time, because i was limited to one beta account, but the macro system made me think it was very possible.

one of the things that put me off the game (aside from the huge amount of bugs, exploits and dupes that ruined economy) was the extreme squishy-ness of casters. any form of melee or archer type could one-shot/two-shot anything in cloth. soon after that they put a cap on damage.. 40% or so, i think? but that in itself was a pretty sub-par effort to fix blatant imbalances between archetypes. its been a long time since then, though. might have changed? i also remember there was a lack of significant AoE healing at the time, which makes boxing a group hard.

and have they added some sort of end-game content, yet? a the time it was pretty much just hack'n'slash until level cap and then nothing to do.

[Erron]

Does Keyclone work with Vanguard?

My experience was Keyclone worked well. I only played with each copy of VG on it's own machine. I understand others have had luck with two clients on one machine and Keyclone.

[Kromtor]

It sounds like I'll be going to a PvE server then. EQ was the same way which is why the PvP servers got old really quick. The nice thing about a game that doesn't give a shit about PvP balance is that they're less likely to nerf the cool stuff - MOBs dont whine on forums to the devs =)

Hope to see you in game then, I'll be easy to spot.

[Korruptor]

...and have they added some sort of end-game content, yet? a the time it was pretty much just hack'n'slash until level cap and then nothing to do.

There is end game raid content (Ancient Port Warehouse) but I don't know much about it yet.

And the Crafting/Diplomacy spheres add a lot of side content that you can do either as you level or after you cap out. The kind fellow that gave me some coin was a ship builder and others craft everything from weapons to houses.

[heffner]

I played VG when it first came out. I thought it was a game with a lot of potential and it definitely had a more challenging feel to it [honestly, WoW isn't that difficult - but I have a lot of fun with it]. If people have only done tradeskills in WoW, you will be surprised what it's like in other games like VG. I find the tradeskills a bit much for my taste but I know people who love it. Anyway, I stopped playing due to time issues at that point in time. My brother plays regularly and is always trying to get me involved. I almost picked it up at the store many times, but never bought it since I still have so much to accomplish in WoW [and very little time, so it takes me a while to get anywhere].

You've piqued my interest again though. Especially with a free trial! I'd love to try multiboxing it as well.

[Kromtor]

Hard to believe this game has been out for as long as it has and it's still this clunky and buggy. Quests were a nightmare for multiboxing gave up on those - that's ok I like to grind. You have to fly to get to the trial dungeon /follow doesn't work properly while flying, you get no elevation changes... but hey it didnt work on certain mounts in WoW either so no biggie. Then I finally fly each guy individually to the temple destination and i repeatedly fall through the structure and end up underneath it, inside it, stuck. Use /stuck, wait 60 seconds. Back to a safe spot. Buy another pegasus ride. Get there and fall through the ground for the 3rd time and I do my alt F4 special move. What's worse is that these problems are known and discussed on vanguard forums but are not fixed.

And I'm not spoiled by WoW - I'm playing EQ again now and finding it feeling far more advanced and fluid than Vanguard. People say Vanguard is what EQII should have been, I dunno... maybe it's what the prequel to EQ should have been. I'm done.

[Korruptor]

The /follow not working on flying mounts was annoying, true but I never fell through any area around the temple like you did. I did however, one time, fall through the bottom of a river when I decided to swim at the bottom of it skimming the river bed. But that was just one time.

Kromtor, let us know your opinion of the current status of EQ is.