Vanguard: Something About Heroes and Sagas

beta.lyrae

Ravager wrote:

Quick question: Is the first month included in the box or do I have to pay right away?

First 30 days are included.

Thanks for the replies guys. Can't wait to get home

Tremor

Fartacus_the_Mighty wrote:

Tremor wrote:

So, I was really enjoying the Diplomacy game at first, then I started the Vulmane Diplomacy tutorial. I am up to the part where I talk to the Spirit guardians. I have beat one, but after over an hour I have resigned to the fact that the second one is completely impossible. I don't know if I chose the wrong cards for quest rewards or what, but I have tried ever combination of card and order of play I can think of. I thought this was suppose to be an introduction to Diplomacy.

Heh, you an' everyone else. Just in case the bug has resurfaced, there's actually three you have to beat, though the second/middle one is by far the hardest. It took me, no shit, about 50 tries to beat him. Here was my strategy:

Hand:
Flurry of Arguments
Snippet of Wisdom
Blunt Evaluation
Itemized Comparison
Enticing Whisper

Now, the order the NPC plays things in seems fixed by both the cards in your hand and the order you play them in (i.e. have ABCDE in your hand, play B, NPC willl always play G on first turn). However, it may vary from player to player, so my exact play order might not work.

On the first turn, play Snippet. He should play something to even the count to zero. Next turn, just listen. If you're lucky, he'll play something that'll give you 1 demand expression. Play Blunt Eval, then Flurry. Snippet again. By this time, hopefully, he will have played stuff that gives you reason and flattery, so you can play those two cards. You should be able to take it from there, assuming he doesn't do something unexpected.

It's not really fair that the NPC can see the cards in your hand before you play them, but usually their own decks aren't strong enough for them to take advantage of it. In the strategy above, if you play Blunt on your second turn instead of listening, the NPC will refuse to play the card which gives you 1 Demand IF you have Flurry in your hand (it requires 3 Dem). However, it will play that card if you instead have Aggressive Statement in your hand, since that only requires 2 Dem and it giving you 1 won't help you much.

Edit: This is bullshit, the game's supposed to have been live for more than 24 hours now, and their account servers are *still* down and not letting me log in.

I just tryed this and couldn't get it to work, however, if you substitute Loud Critisism for Itemized Comparison it works.

jothki

Nion wrote:

Quite literally a few days before I got in, they decided that the non-twitch requires-a-brain combat that they'd told the community about for a year wasn't going to work, so they made a bullshit generic system instead.

I've heard that they were right about that, but that was just a single post on our previous thread, though.

Ravager

I have a quick question. I have a fairly crappy PC but I REALLY want to play Vanguard. I played a bit during beta 4 but it was really laggy and frustrating but I hear that it runs much better now. My specs are:

amd 2800+
geforce 6800
512mb ram

Now, I believe these meet the system requirements but will the game run smoothly on the highest performance setting? And please dont tell me to upgrade because I cant afford it. Its either buy Vanguard or buy ram.

GimpyBoy

On the highest perfomance setting? I doubt it man. You'd probably be seeing a slideshow. That RAM is really gonna kill you.

lowlylowlycook

GimpyBoy wrote:

On the highest perfomance setting? I doubt it man. You'd probably be seeing a slideshow. That RAM is really gonna kill you.

I think he is using performance as an antinym of graphics. As in "To increase your performance lower some of the gaphics detail settings."

GimpyBoy

Duh, I probably should have realized that. Good call.

Well the release is much much better than the beta was. I still think the RAM is gonna be what hits ya though. If you have everything on it's lowest settings and get 512 more RAM it might not look pretty but it should run pretty smooth I would think.

Morninglord

So, this game is fascinating me because I crave some pick up and play questing gameplay in a medieval world again.
I have some questions.
The dark elf pet racial thing. Is that a joke or is it useful? Will picking it make being a solo sorcerer slightly easier?
All the racials look fucking amazing, but the dark elf one intrigues me most.

Also, clerics look like fun, and rogues look awesome.

Whats the cooldown on the racial abilites.

Finally, I have an amd 2.1ghz with 2 gig of ram and a 9600xt with 128mb memory. I don't mind if I cant run all the details, because my gf computer is a 4200 dual core with 3 gigs of ram and a nividia gt something or other with 512mb texture memory and runs dark messiah maxed with no problems.
I just want to know if I'll be able to play this game 25+ fps on max performance setting at 1024X768 for when I can't use her computer.

Oh, and anyone got a ce buddy key? I really want to try this out before I buy. Is asking about that naughty? I'll edit it out if it is.

Tremor

I was just wondering, for those that have finished the Vulmane diplomacy quest line. Does it ever fucking end? I have been working on it for 2 days now, though yesterday I only put an hour into it before CoH night. I am at the point where I am being pointed to the second town, am I at least getting close?

Fartacus_the_Mighty

Tremor wrote:

I was just wondering, for those that have finished the Vulmane diplomacy quest line. Does it ever fucking end? I have been working on it for 2 days now, though yesterday I only put an hour into it before CoH night. I am at the point where I am being pointed to the second town, am I at least getting close?

You should be getting close, yes. Also, once you finish, you'll be able to get another dip quest for a horse from your trainer. You need to be Adventure level 10 for it to appear, though.

Tremor

Fartacus_the_Mighty wrote:

Tremor wrote:

I was just wondering, for those that have finished the Vulmane diplomacy quest line. Does it ever fucking end? I have been working on it for 2 days now, though yesterday I only put an hour into it before CoH night. I am at the point where I am being pointed to the second town, am I at least getting close?

You should be getting close, yes. Also, once you finish, you'll be able to get another dip quest for a horse from your trainer. You need to be Adventure level 10 for it to appear, though.

I guess I have to get to stabbin some fools. Those of us on Firehammer, has anyone got together yet? I really like grouping alot more then soloing.

Shogun

I'm dying to play this. Level with me here, will I be able to run it and enjoy it?

ATi Radeon x1600 Pro
1 GB Ram
AMD Athlon XP 2GHZ

I know, I know. It was awesome when I built it my senior year of high school. Back with the good ol radeon 9700 Pro.

Rivulent

I played it for about 5 hours yesterday, got to level 9, and went through some diplomacy. Diplomacy IS fun, and is a refresher from the grind of leveling. This is in no way comparable to wow, and although I never played it, I can understand the references to everquest, because it plays more like what I had always thought everquest played like. But more than anything, the gameplay and the harvesting/crafting reminds me so very much of HORIZONS, if anyone has played that. It was an mmo that pretty much fell flat on its face, but had a lot of good ideas.

All in all, I like it, but the community definately is not there yet. Hardly any fansites, everyone has old data, and most people have no idea wtf is going on lol. I have a monk on one of the pvp servers, but after reading what pvp rewards are, I'm not sure if its even worth the bother of getting ganked. I need to read more into it, but there is hardly anything good out there to read.

Fellhand

I bought this tonight and I can't play till my new machine gets here tomorrow.

To me this game looks like EQ and DAoC fucked and had a cool baby.

I plan on rolling up on the PVP server.

Shortass

I have a psionicist on Flamehammer name Frindor (level 5 thus far, working on diplomacy). Send me a tell and I'll be down to party.

Envy

Before I go out there to buy this game, is Flamehammer a PVP server? Because PVP servers are where it's at.

LockeCole

Envy wrote:

Before I go out there to buy this game, is Flamehammer a PVP server? Because PVP servers are where it's at.

Nope, while there are PvP servers, I'd rather wait out the inevitable balance changes before doing pvp (although honestly, unless its very well done, I usually prefer PvE anyway)

Fellhand

LockeCole wrote:

Envy wrote:

Before I go out there to buy this game, is Flamehammer a PVP server? Because PVP servers are where it's at.

Nope, while there are PvP servers, I'd rather wait out the inevitable balance changes before doing pvp (although honestly, unless its very well done, I usually prefer PvE anyway)

If you ever think you'll want to roll up on a pvp server it's best to do it from release so you don't get ganked constantly.

You also get the benefit of possibly gimping yourself too.

LockeCole

Fellhand wrote:

LockeCole wrote:

Envy wrote:

Before I go out there to buy this game, is Flamehammer a PVP server? Because PVP servers are where it's at.

Nope, while there are PvP servers, I'd rather wait out the inevitable balance changes before doing pvp (although honestly, unless its very well done, I usually prefer PvE anyway)

If you ever think you'll want to roll up on a pvp server it's best to do it from release so you don't get ganked constantly.

You also get the benefit of possibly gimping yourself too.

I'm not nearly hardcore enough to keep up with the leveling of people likely to gank the hell out of me :twisted: So I just assume that I'm going to take it up the ass for the first 30-40 levels or so when I start on a PvP server.

Dashui

I just picked up this game because I'm weak. Usually I'm all, "Grr! MMOs suck!" I'm on Woefeather, and a friend of mine and two other guys from the G&T IRC channel are on there, too. Any other Woefeather love? It seemed to be the most populated non-PvP/non-EU server.

Jacoby

I don't think my laptop would be able to play this, but this Diplomacy game that's been mentioned intrigues me. Could someone explain some of the basics of it?

s3rial one

Jacoby wrote:

I don't think my laptop would be able to play this, but this Diplomacy game that's been mentioned intrigues me. Could someone explain some of the basics of it?

It's actually really cool, and I hate card games.

You have a deck of cards; these cards have names like "blanket accusation" and other things you may think of as debating tactics. The name's pretty much irrelevant. Each card has a number of stats, though: activation cost (you get activation points that regenerate at a fixed rate over the match), point value when played, as well as the dots.

There are four kinds of dots. They represent things like aggression, wisdom, or something like that. The important part is that there are four: red, blue, yellow, and green. Playing any given card will adjust the numbers of dots each player has. These dots can then be used to play more powerful cards (which require a number of certain dots). So, while you may be able to rack up quick points using a card with low activation cost that gains you points, a card like that will usually have the side effect of giving your opponent various dots.

It's a really cool mini-game.

Honestly, their crafting system is pretty sweet, too.

Dashui

Anyone have a suggestion for a good class? The other people I'll be grouping with are a Paladin, Necromancer, and full-on Healer. I want to be something else that compliments the group. What about Monk or Ranger?

Jacoby

s3rial one wrote:

Jacoby wrote:

I don't think my laptop would be able to play this, but this Diplomacy game that's been mentioned intrigues me. Could someone explain some of the basics of it?

It's actually really cool, and I hate card games.

You have a deck of cards; these cards have names like "blanket accusation" and other things you may think of as debating tactics. The name's pretty much irrelevant. Each card has a number of stats, though: activation cost (you get activation points that regenerate at a fixed rate over the match), point value when played, as well as the dots.

There are four kinds of dots. They represent things like aggression, wisdom, or something like that. The important part is that there are four: red, blue, yellow, and green. Playing any given card will adjust the numbers of dots each player has. These dots can then be used to play more powerful cards (which require a number of certain dots). So, while you may be able to rack up quick points using a card with low activation cost that gains you points, a card like that will usually have the side effect of giving your opponent various dots.

It's a really cool mini-game.

Honestly, their crafting system is pretty sweet, too.

Wow. That's... brilliant! You know, I've always wanted to see something like that as the basis for a skill-based MMO, something where all conflict, be it physical, magical or social, would be resolved in a similar way. Well done, Vanguard folks!

Rivulent

Dashui wrote:

Anyone have a suggestion for a good class? The other people I'll be grouping with are a Paladin, Necromancer, and full-on Healer. I want to be something else that compliments the group. What about Monk or Ranger?

Either would work nice, or even a bard. Bards do great DPS from what I've played of them. I played a monk to 8 with good success, and am now playing a paladin.

Also good to keep in mind, I was having an issue doing crappy dps against mobs, with my crappy 1.5 dps weapon. Well a 6.5 dps weapon dropped, and man what a difference! Melee are REALLY dependant on weapons in thsi game... at least from my experience.

Dashui

What about Disciples? I hear they're crazy powerful, to the point of being able to solo quite well in the game (not that I am going to solo, but still..).

Shogun

Patching right now. I doubt I can run this bitch well but I'm going to try. I'll be a rogue as I was in EQ. I read some junk at the safe house with the class designers and it really sounded grand to me.

Draeven

from my time with the lvl 16 disciple i had , they do well soloing but ojnly if you can get your heal chain off, your not putting out the type or dmg of a monk though, but some sympathetics lead to better healing , were definatly better off in a group. I found this class opend up much more around lvl 12 to 15.

So whats everyones impressions so far?

Shogun

Draeven wrote:

from my time with the lvl 16 disciple i had , they do well soloing but ojnly if you can get your heal chain off, your not putting out the type or dmg of a monk though, but some sympathetics lead to better healing , were definatly better off in a group. I found this class opend up much more around lvl 12 to 15.

So whats everyones impressions so far?

<3 diplomacy. I'm sort of miffed because all the rogue crap I read said that the longer I stay stealthed and 'stalk' the mob the more accuracy and damage I do. This is not the case. I duoed with another rogue earlier today though and we decimated everything.

I think the game shipped very unpolished and that it will take time to at least get it up to par. Optimization and performance really need to be taken care of though. Part of WoW's appeal is that almost any machine can run it including laptops.

I am disappointed in Sigil in that so many things are blatant copies from WoW. I am not trying to make a direct comparison between them but damn. The GUI. Come on. I have high hopes. I'm a former EQ junkie so I'm obligated to stick this out and see what happens.

Morninglord

Shogun wrote:

Draeven wrote:

from my time with the lvl 16 disciple i had , they do well soloing but ojnly if you can get your heal chain off, your not putting out the type or dmg of a monk though, but some sympathetics lead to better healing , were definatly better off in a group. I found this class opend up much more around lvl 12 to 15.

So whats everyones impressions so far?

<3 diplomacy. I'm sort of miffed because all the rogue crap I read said that the longer I stay stealthed and 'stalk' the mob the more accuracy and damage I do. This is not the case. I duoed with another rogue earlier today though and we decimated everything.

I think the game shipped very unpolished and that it will take time to at least get it up to par. Optimization and performance really need to be taken care of though. Part of WoW's appeal is that almost any machine can run it including laptops.

I am disappointed in Sigil in that so many things are blatant copies from WoW. I am not trying to make a direct comparison between them but damn. The GUI. Come on. I have high hopes. I'm a former EQ junkie so I'm obligated to stick this out and see what happens.

Actually, in the gui respect, I don't see the problem. Many successful rts copied warcraft, starcraft. Similarly, many copied command and conquer. Nobody is yelling at them for their gui.
Many fps have health in the same position, ammo in the same position, map in the same position.
They are copying what is probably the least confusing and easily accessible gui I've ever seen for an mmo. Whats the problem?

Tal

So, I decided to give in and pick this up today. I don't know, there's just something about the Dread Knight that appeals to me, although I'm kind of interested in playing a Bard too.

Anyway.

Run through the first setup disc. Ok, good. Insert disc 2. Ok, here you go.

"Can't find startup file"

Bwah?

Turns out - there's nothing on my disc 2.

We're not off to a good start so far....



Edit: www.joinvanguard.com/install

Also - Does the est time remaining on the patcher really say 4 hours?1

Rydark

So, how does PvP work in this game?

Is it just like WoW, where you don't have any consequences other than losing time, or is it serious business like UO?

I had a beta key, but I didn't join because of the ridiculous download size.

Fellhand

When you kill someone in pvp you get teh monies and infamy. I'm not sure what infamy does other then let people know you're a winner.

Getting killed is just an inconvenience because you get sent back to your bindstone, but you don't have to go out and loot your body and there is no xp loss.

firekiun

Does it have a buddy key system, free trial or anything so I can try this game?

I hate restricted beta test, cannot try the game before I buy, I don't want to buy a MMORPG game and quit after 2 days.

btw my system is:
RADEON 9800 PRO AGp 128MB
P4 2.81 GHZ
1GB RAM

Beas Meeply

Shogun wrote:

I'm sort of miffed because all the rogue crap I read said that the longer I stay stealthed and 'stalk' the mob the more accuracy and damage I do. This is not the case. I duoed with another rogue earlier today though and we decimated everything.

"Stalking" isn't quite what it sounds like. Rather than following a monster around, stalking refers to the amount of time you spend fighting it while still stealthed. See, you don't break stealth when you hit something, you break stealth when something hits you. So if you've got a friend holding aggro while you poke away at the monster stealthily, you'll see a little meter fill up in the upper right, increasing your damage as it goes. If you draw aggro for even a second and get hit, you have to start over. It's a really interesting and delicate balance.

Rogues are awesome.

LockeCole

Beas Meeply wrote:

Shogun wrote:

I'm sort of miffed because all the rogue crap I read said that the longer I stay stealthed and 'stalk' the mob the more accuracy and damage I do. This is not the case. I duoed with another rogue earlier today though and we decimated everything.

"Stalking" isn't quite what it sounds like. Rather than following a monster around, stalking refers to the amount of time you spend fighting it while still stealthed. See, you don't break stealth when you hit something, you break stealth when something hits you. So if you've got a friend holding aggro while you poke away at the monster stealthily, you'll see a little meter fill up in the upper right, increasing your damage as it goes. If you draw aggro for even a second and get hit, you have to start over. It's a really interesting and delicate balance.

Rogues are awesome.

Bards have dances which are kind of similar, but less powerful, because they don't reset when you get hit, they just keep increasing as a fight goes on.

Fellhand

firekiun wrote:

Does it have a buddy key system, free trial or anything so I can try this game?

I hate restricted beta test, cannot try the game before I buy, I don't want to buy a MMORPG game and quit after 2 days.

btw my system is:
RADEON 9800 PRO AGp 128MB
P4 2.81 GHZ
1GB RAM

You're going to want more ram and I think a new vid card if you were to play Vanguard.

Fartacus_the_Mighty

Fellhand wrote:

firekiun wrote:

Does it have a buddy key system, free trial or anything so I can try this game?

I hate restricted beta test, cannot try the game before I buy, I don't want to buy a MMORPG game and quit after 2 days.

btw my system is:
RADEON 9800 PRO AGp 128MB
P4 2.81 GHZ
1GB RAM

You're going to want more ram and I think a new vid card if you were to play Vanguard.

What Fellhand said. You might even want to upgrade to XP/Vista 64-bit and get more than 2GB of RAM. Vanguard eats it like candy, and it doesn't help that it's got a fairly significant memory leak (goes from 600mb usage to 1300mb usage within an hour, at which point it crashes).

Shortass

I have a 2500+ and 9800 pro and I can run the game fairly decently at 1024x786. You don't HAVE to upgrade, but it'd definitely run smoother (it's not that bad, but at times I cringe a little)

GimpyBoy

So I've been testing races and classes for the past few days just to see what fits my playstyle. But holey moley do I love that intro for the Half-Elves. Easily my favorite race at this point.

Orcs had a good one too actually.

But yeah, so far Vanguard is amazingly fun. I'm very impressed with the classes and the world so far. And I finally got hooked on diplomacy! Yay! Anyways, the server I was on turned out to be kinda crap and evidently my friends weren't as interested in the game as I am, so I'll be making a new char on Firehammer.

See many of you over there soon hopefully.