[Vanguard] Questions on starting again - class, race, group size, starting areas etc.

[pox67]

Well despite what I said in the F2P thread I was looking around on the Vanguard website last night and remembered that I really enjoyed my first month of the game. I think I'll give it a whirl now that it is F2P.

Can anyone answer a few questions for me:
1. What is the optimum group size? I would like to be able to do most content but don't really want to run 6 characters. I find with that many chars I end up a manager rather than enjoying the game. I would prefer 3 to 4 chars if they can do most content.

2. Class suggestions - I am not much of a finger wiggler. I was thinking Warrior or Paladin, ranger/bard/monk and either Cleric or Disciple for healer.

3. Does race matter for classes?

4. Starting area - is it better to start in the new Isle area or in each races home town?

5. Can any race quest anywhere or are they confined to their own continent?

I am looking forward to a game with macros after playing SWToR.

[Alge]

1. What is the optimum group size? I would like to be able to do most content but don't really want to run 6 characters. I find with that many chars I end up a manager rather than enjoying the game. I would prefer 3 to 4 chars if they can do most content.

If you want to do group content beyond about level 25 you'll need a full group. I 3-boxed a Dread Knight, Bard and Disciple through all of the Hunter's League quests but needed help on the final boss fight. Beyond that there may be content you can do with 4 if you outgear/level the content. My 6-box team (DRK, SHM, BRD, PSI, SOR, NEC) is currently 38 and finding at-level content sometimes challenging.

2. Class suggestions - I am not much of a finger wiggler. I was thinking Warrior or Paladin, ranger/bard/monk and either Cleric or Disciple for healer.

Cleric or Disciple are both good choices for healers. You may need to go DSC for a bit more DPS if you only have a group of 3. The benefit of the cleric is a much wider range of buffs. Paladin or Dread Knight would be my choices for a tank. A bard is invaluable for both runspeed and group invis. Unless they fixed the issue with /follow and the z-axis you may find yourself running rather than flying.

3. Does race matter for classes?

Yes, ideally you want synergy between the attribute bonuses when levelling and the class. Some of the racial abilities are much better for boxing than the others.

4. Starting area - is it better to start in the new Isle area or in each races home town?

It depends on the mix of races. You are no longer at a gear disadvantage by starting in the home town. The benefit of the Isle is the ease with which you can assemble a group of races from different continents.

5. Can any race quest anywhere or are they confined to their own continent?

You are no longer KoS anywhere unless you ruin your faction, so yes, any race can quest anywhere, at least beyond level 10. I have not tested whether a Kojani Human will be able to obtain to starting quests in Qalia though.

[pox67]

Thanks Alge.

I'll try out 4 boxing. It will be a shame to have trouble around 25 but I rarely get above mid level in a MMORPG anyway.
Maybe Paladin, Bard, Ranger, Disciple.

Or should I got for all melee and make the Ranger a Monk?
Also how is the Shaman at healing?

I was thinking of making a full cat team but think now I should mix up the races to fit the classes better.

[Alge]

I would go with a melee team and therefore a monk.

Shaman healing is good but DPS is on the low side. I mostly chose the shaman because the bear shaman has endurance regen.

[pox67]

Thanks for the advice Alge.
I got 4 chars loaded up and on the island for testing but ran into a big problem - performance. I figured the comp in my sig would play a game this old easily.
I am playing a big resolution - 3600x1920. That is three 24" monitor in portrait. I can't run 4 instances od Vanguard at medium settings and that res though. The Sli GTX 670's are getting hammered and the cpu is coping it as well. Problem with the CPU is that it has 6 cores but I am running 4 instances - running 3 instances of the game with 2 cores each would help.
I'll try dropping down the res of the Surround screen to see if I get better performance.
If that is no good I can split the monitors and go with the three in Landscape - have the tank and healer on a monitor each and the two DPS on the third monitor.
How are you running 6 instances Alge?

[Alge]

I run 6 x 1920x1200 (a stacked window layout) with my main on good settings and my slaves on the absolute minimum. My processor is only a 2600K and I have a 6990 video card. Main is capped at 30 FPS and slaves at 12 FPS. I sometimes get lower frames in crowded areas but I am prepared to put up with that occasionally because the game looks so good.

[pox67]

Cool, Vanguard might hate Sli as well. I will try 1920x1200, this computer should be able to do 4 instances at that res. How are you running different settings? My ISBoxer didn't virtualize the ini files for me so each game gets the same settings.

[Alge]

The Virtual File Wizard doesn't know about Vanguard. You can, however, add Virtual Files manually. You'll need to do that for VGClient.ini and User.ini.

[Oatboat]

Think you could get a video up of multiboxing Vanguard? I played back when it was first released and I cant remember why I quit other than none of my friends played.

[Alge]

Maybe. What do you want to see?