I played open beta of this, and had some technical issues (the graphics on the UI would disappear and all I could see was black text on black backgrounds until I relogged, things like that), I imagine some a lot of those things have been worked out, since it was beta and all.
I actually rather enjoyed the game, but opted to not play because most of my friends were either not interested in it, or more commonly their computers couldn't run it.
However WoW is getting boring again. I'd like to give it another shot, trying to get my hands on a free trial key currently. Thinking of trying out a ranger or rogue. 8-)
Possibly even a necromancer, as I think their pets are pretty interesting with the grafts and all. Any suggestions?
This has only been a problem for me once (the Lieutenants quest on Thestra).
I've got that one sitting there, staring at me in my quest journal. I want to make it go away, but I don't like deleting quests .
I killed two of them, but for the life of me could not find the third one. I may have to pop down there and try again.
And as I mentioned a little bit ago, I've got one of the Trial Key things if anyone wants it. Just shoot me a PM and you're welcome to it .
It's at home, and I'm at work, so don't expect a prompt response though, heh.
Sigh, ok I've downloaded all the .cab files, and when I do the installation, it gets all the way to the end, and then wants me to insert disk 0, even though its at 100%. It won't let me past that option to finish the installation.
I'm honestly shifting between thinking the final version of EQ might end up cool, and morbid curosity.
And as for #4... I'm of the opinion that you should never just implement whatever flavor of the month the players want. It's much, much better to have a great game designer with strong ideas than trying to build a game piecemeal based on the vocal minorities of message boards.
Brad was simply an arrogant asshole when he ran EQ. It is not screaming for FOTM when you point out that Alchemy is 100% broken, because it is literally impossible to do it. Only to have the devs call you clueless idiots and that alchemy works perfectly. Only to have them notice months later that they had failed to itemize any alchemy componets whatsoever.
There is a big diffrence between an arrogant prick who refuses to consider that they might be wrong, and someone who readily accepts that they could be wrong, double checks their thinking and implementation and concludes that everything appears to be as intended. Especially when you have many people telling you point blank that reality is not mapping up to what your claiming.
If its the old Brad running Sigil, stick a fork in Vanguard, because its done. But it seems like he might have learned his lesson, so it might turn out decent.
I've had some problems over guild chat the last few times I've logged in recently but usually logging helps (but it's still annoying).
Has anyone done much with diplomacy? The background stories have been relatively interesting so far. Is there anyway to save certain groups of cards? It's been relatively fun but I'm more into it due to the stories. Hopefully the game gets a bit deeper because so far it seems like all you have to do is figure out how the npc acts and capitalize it (if you have the right cards).
Has anyone done much with diplomacy? The background stories have been relatively interesting so far. Is there anyway to save certain groups of cards? It's been relatively fun but I'm more into it due to the stories. Hopefully the game gets a bit deeper because so far it seems like all you have to do is figure out how the npc acts and capitalize it (if you have the right cards).
That's pretty much where my grind has been lately. Sadly, it is a bit of a grind, but lately coming home from work and doing something relatively mindless is exactly what I'm looking for.
As far as I know there is no way to save card sets, although that would be extremely useful.
Right now I don't think there's much more you can do besides apply buffs to the city. The higher the presence, the more levers you pull at once, meaning once you break 500 (I think) presence you can increase the standings by 7 instead of 1. Supposedly diplomacy is at best 50% implemented though. Somehow we're supposed to be able to affect trade routes and grant access to certain dungeons eventually. Plus probably more stuff I'm unaware of.
At any rate, it's an interesting look into the lore of Talon.
Right now I don't think there's much more you can do besides apply buffs to the city.
As someone who has been crafting a bit recently, I have enjoyed the city-wide buffs . Even a 5% boost to a crafting stat is nice.
Sadly, it is a bit of a grind, but lately coming home from work and doing something relatively mindless is exactly what I'm looking for.
Agreement here. This is where my fun in Vanguard is, in just the mindlessness of some of the grindy aspects. I can pop on, craft through a level or go do a solo quest or two.
I don't always have a lot of time to play, but grinding through crafting isn't a large time commitment.
The game has atmosphere, too. You're never in bizarre, alien terrain, it feels like Earth in a way, everything's very natural, and it's all absolutely gorgeous. The River Valley in Qalia is a real goddamn rainforest, complete with oversized plants and bizarre insect life.
Class balance is a strange thing. As a sorcerer, I destroy things. Fast. I solo things others can't, just because I can put up 4-digit damage numbers all throughout a fight. In a group, I am the DPS, everyone else is just a wannabe. What else do I bring to the group. I.... uh, I can evac? I can mez one mob at a time? Yeah, that's about it, nothing that 2 or 3 other classes can't do at least as well. So my class does one thing, does it exceptionally well, but if you have 2 sorcs in a group you're hurting yourself because you'll lack some other vital class. You can't say the same for a cleric, which does good damage along with great healing and buffs. Or two psionicists, with good damage and double the crowd control. Or two warriors, one for holding aggro and one for offtanking adds and doing damage. Everyone else can contribute more than just one thing to a group, while I am a true one-trick pony. Other damage classes bring buffs, or debuffs, or backup healing. I bring none of the above.
And I love it. There's nothing like joining a group and five minutes later the tank remarks that everything seems to be dying three times as fast as before. In every other MMO I've played a healer/utility type (EQ druid, EQ2 warden) or a damage/debuff/utility type (WoW warlock, EQ necro, EQ2 necro) and it's refreshing to be able to say that there is one thing in a game that I do better than anyone else.
well, it seems im on vacation from internet gaming for the for seeable future. no clue when i will be back. the girl is going good, and im getting back into my tabletop effliction. so sorry to say but im obviously done for the forseeable future. take it easy.
Draeven on
Morskitter wrote "Spikes, choppas, tentacles, magic? Can't hold a candle to Sergeant Pimp here."
well, it seems im on vacation from internet gaming for the for seeable future. no clue when i will be back. the girl is going good, and im getting back into my tabletop effliction. so sorry to say but im obviously done for the forseeable future. take it easy.
well, it seems im on vacation from internet gaming for the for seeable future. no clue when i will be back. the girl is going good, and im getting back into my tabletop effliction. so sorry to say but im obviously done for the forseeable future. take it easy.
I think I am as well.
yep. sorry i was only on for one night with you guys, but my IRL friend who plays quit, and i just dont have the desire to play anymore. nothing against the game, i love it, but i've simply lost the drive.
Kemal86 on
i used to test games now i sit on my couch and am lazy all day
PKMN White FC: 0046 2138 1298
Another lurker here, planning on getting into Vanguard. Have been a long time Warcraft player, which i left as it was quite boring end-game (imo), and still a regular eve player. I'm about to get broadband again, so i'm thinking of trying a few new MMO's.
Overall, it seems people are enjoying Vanguard so far. And i have to admit the idea of a bigger, more indepth game is definatly appealing. Also a good crafting system is a great bonus. A few questions though...
1. Is the combat similar to Warcraft? I enjoyed combat in Warcraft, even if it was a little repitive and basic. And what about PvP? This is a major point for me, as i really like good PvP in a game (even if its getting ganked my a level60 hunter in darkshire )
2. How many different professions are there in the crafting system? I've heard people talking about blacksmithing, but not much else.
3. Can you solo? I know its more focused on group play, and i'm happy with that, but there are times when you just want to play on your own. Can you do same level quests on your own, throughout the game? Is it similar to the Group/Elite quest way Warcraft does it?
4. How indepth is the character customisation? I dont mean the specific races, but face shaping and stuff like that. I got sick of seeing the same long haired blonde palladin in Warcraft.
5. Is there an overall story? And is the Diplomacy feature the only way of seeing the story?
6. Finally (for now), what is the movement system like? Is it as easy as Warcraft (which i quite liked)? Will things like circle-straffing be common? And what about the mounts? Are they much faster?
I know there are some sites that answer these, but i'm in work and alot of them are blocked...i'm actually surprised this one isnt...
Kiith on
The very existense of flame throwers proves that at sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves "I want to set those people over there on fire, but i'm just not close enough to get the job done."
I wanna try this out myself, but I see no free trial options or anything of the sort. How would I go about sampling this game?
There is no free trial at the moment, except the buddy trial you get when you buy the game. Most people have given theirs out already though. I think i'd prefer to spend the €30 to get this, rather then try get a buddy trial, and download over 6gigs of data...but thats just me.
Kiith on
The very existense of flame throwers proves that at sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves "I want to set those people over there on fire, but i'm just not close enough to get the job done."
Combat is more similar to DAoC than WoW, in that everyone has an endurance bar and a mana bar. Sorcerers use up mana primarily with some spells using endurance. Warriors use endurance primarily with some abilities using mana. Otherwise combat is the same as RPG combat in WoW, stand in front and fight or run and kite (spell casting is not interrupted by moving, but does snare you)
Crafting is broken down into outfitting (tailoring & leatherworking in one), blacksmithing (which specializes into armor smith / weapon smith), artificer (creates jewelry and all things stone), woodworking (chop down trees and make stuff)
The game from what i've seen is fairly in depth. There are definately solo and group quests. Soloing is however significantly slower unless you pick a solo friendly class.
Sometimes the quest will tell you outright that its a group quest, other times you wont really notice until you see the mobs you need to kill.
Its actually pretty neat. In wow there were 3 levels of con, regular mobs, rare, and elite. With elite being anything from dungeon trash, to boss mobs, to raid trash.
In vanguard each mob is given a level and a difficulty rating, from 1 dot to 4 dots (or more possibly). For each dot you have roughly double the HP for same mob level. The extra HP isnt so bad since the DPS classes truly DPS, and the tank classes are truly tanks.
Characters are extremely customizable, from skin color to brow slope and eye color to eye slant, cheeck and chin bones etc. The number of hairstyles is however sadly lacking (roughly 4 or 5 per race including bald)
There is a basic story line for each race that you will have learned by lvl 10 or so if you follow the diplomacy quests to skill 50.
I'm sure circle strafing is possible, however it is pointless in pve and there are no battlegrounds or seperated factions for pvp (yet, there was no pvp in WoW at first either, though they did say they had it in development with vanguard has not), since any character race can build up the faction to be welcome into any other race's city.
Initial mount speed is 35% faster than running. That is with a free mount you get for doing the 50 diplomacy skill quest.
I'm sure circle strafing is possible, however it is pointless in pve and there are no battlegrounds or seperated factions for pvp (yet, there was no pvp in WoW at first either, though they did say they had it in development with vanguard has not), since any character race can build up the faction to be welcome into any other race's city.
Initial mount speed is 35% faster than running. That is with a free mount you get for doing the 50 diplomacy skill quest.
So how does PvP occur? Is it a good versus evil type thing? And do players have to be PvP enabled (like on a PvE server) for someone to attack them? I really hope this isnt the case, as i've always found PvE servers horribly boring.
Kiith on
The very existense of flame throwers proves that at sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves "I want to set those people over there on fire, but i'm just not close enough to get the job done."
1. Combat is well general sorta fantasy mmo combat, you have health,endurance, and energy bars, health is straight forward, endurance is a set pool of 100 points and is mostly used by melee classes, it regens fairly quickly so it's mostly just there to control the pace of combat and keep you from spamming moves like crazy. Than there energy, energy's basically just mana. Than some other classes have extra things for theres class, bloodmages have blood union points on a mob there fighting that add bonuses, Bards get dance points, Disiciples and monks get jin as they do moves and some moves than take a certain amount of jin to use.
Moba can have a rating of 1-6 dots,
1 = easy trash mob, like a baby usually takes at most 2 hits to kill, these usually come in groups though.
2 = is your standard solo mob, all classes can easily handle one or even two of these at a time
3 = these are hard solo, but mostly small group mobs so 2-3 people
4 = these are hard small group, but usually you take a full group for these
5 = these would hard group mobs, such ass bosses for single group dungeons, they can be a challange and take a good while to kill
6 = Never actually seen one yet, but these are susposed to be raid mobs oince raiding is added in.
2. There are 3 main professions in the game, outfitter which can than specialize in tailor (bags,light armor), or leathworker (medium armor).
Blacksmith which breaks down into weaponsmith and armorsmith
and than Artificer which breaks down innto minerologist (houses,hammers,trinkety things,jewerlry) and Wookworker (boats,staffs,bows)
Crafting is very easy in this game as you do work orders to grind your skill, there like normal recipees only you don't have to supply any starting ingrediants, and you get a bit of cash and some items when you complete them.
3. I solo a bunch personally, and you do find a lot of solo quests around, but than there are also a ton of quests for small group (2-3 people) and than full group dungeons,caves,other things around. For solo theres also the missive system, there repeatable quests given out by a missive board, that give you a ticket,some cash, and a good amount of exp when you complete them, tickets can be redemed in groups for ok rewards once you get ten, letting a solo players get some ok gear, missives are almost always soloable, and usually quite quick to grind out again and again.
4. Character customization is simmilar to a system like oblivion, you select hegith,weights,porportions,colors,etc. Another good thing is that if you ever really hate your look you can go back into the character select screen and change the way you look at any time.
5. Theres a bit of an overall story, more it just has to do with the large problems in the world, undead invasion of thestra, kaons, other invaders from another land coming to telon to kill us all, you get some of the story through quests and dungeons, but a lot more of it is available through diplomacy.
6. moving about can be a bit slow at times, there are a few teleporters in place to get between continents, and inter-continental teleporters on Qalia. But overall even with a good mount, or bard speed it can still takes some time to get to where your going, the world is a very large place and you will porbably spend 20-30mins traveling if you want to go to somewhere far off.
PvP. pvp is borken up into the 3 server types, theres pve, team pvp, and ffa pvp servers.
pve is no pvp at all, though you can still duel someone if you want.
team pvp is shadow races vs. order races in the game and your flagged at all times, and can be killed by any of that race at any time.
ffa pvp is just as it sounds, you can kill anyone, anytime, anywhere for wahtever reason you so see, you become flagged once you reach lv.7 and from there on your free game to be raped by a lv.50 over and over again
think that covers it all, enjoy reading my very large block of text
Thanks for the replies there. I think i will definatly start playing this. I like the idea of starting into a new MMO when its still new, unlike when i started Warcraft and everyone already had at least one level60.
I will probably try a team pvp server. Dont like PvE, and i'm not sure about FFA. What is the server that the PA guild is on (Flamehammer)? PvE?
Kiith on
The very existense of flame throwers proves that at sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves "I want to set those people over there on fire, but i'm just not close enough to get the job done."
Hey E, I realized last night after I logged off that the choker is probably going to require a prestige bauble to create. I've got a few, but I don't know if it'll be regular or shiny. Just let me know what you need to make it and I'll mail the mats out to you.
So I'm currently downloading the .cabs and I was wondering if anyone had a trial key left. I've read the thread and it seems the supply is a bit low but figured it can't hurt to ask.
Now to pour over forums and desperately try to decide what class to play.
On that note, does anyone know why clerics are so popular? I played a priest in WoW because I like healing and I like being an uncommon class. Why is the healer so abundant here?
On that note, does anyone know why clerics are so popular? I played a priest in WoW because I like healing and I like being an uncommon class. Why is the healer so abundant here?
It's mostly because they have the best heals, best buffs, can wear plate, and have a few survivability spells. Plus you have to be on the front lines to melee the mobs to use some of the buffs. Think WoW Pally with less dps and better heals. When I last played, I didn't see as much around as I did a few weeks ago. I think people are starting to realize they aren't as over powered as they once were.
On that note, does anyone know why clerics are so popular? I played a priest in WoW because I like healing and I like being an uncommon class. Why is the healer so abundant here?
A big chunk of it is "if I play a healer then people will invite me to groups regardless of my ability", that probably makes up 80% of clerics in Vanguard. The other 20% actually give a damn about being a good cleric.
With all the cool healing classes, Clerics to me seem the most boring, really.
Yeah, I'm in quite a pickle. All of the classes look pretty awesome. Psionicists and Necromancers have some awesome abilities but I generally enjoy healing more than anything in MMOs. So far I've looked over the Blood Mage's skills and am quite interested. If the other classes prove to be as interesting, I don't know what I'll do.
Are the healing classes other than Cleric potent enough to serve as main healers? They all sound interesting but if the neat tricks reduce their overall effectiveness, I might have to reconsider.
Well, i started playing tonight. Seems quite good so far. Picked a Wof man Ranger, which looks pretty cool. Also considering playing a Necromancer, as i loved the class in Diablo. I picked a PvP realm...cant remember the name though.
Looking forward to gaining a few levels, and trying out more of the content.
Kiith on
The very existense of flame throwers proves that at sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves "I want to set those people over there on fire, but i'm just not close enough to get the job done."
Are the healing classes other than Cleric potent enough to serve as main healers? They all sound interesting but if the neat tricks reduce their overall effectiveness, I might have to reconsider.
Clerics are sort of easy mode.
As a Disc, I can main heal, but it takes alot of effort, easily the most intense play experience I've had in an MMO. Clerics are probably easier, but also possibly not as fun/stimulating.
Are the healing classes other than Cleric potent enough to serve as main healers? They all sound interesting but if the neat tricks reduce their overall effectiveness, I might have to reconsider.
Clerics are sort of easy mode.
As a Disc, I can main heal, but it takes alot of effort, easily the most intense play experience I've had in an MMO. Clerics are probably easier, but also possibly not as fun/stimulating.
I'm not surprised by that classification of the Cleric. I looked at the Disciple and, while the praise he is given throughout this thread is appealing, I don't much care for the style. I'm leaning towards the Blood Mage at the moment, if the thought of becoming a Demi-Lich as a Necromancer doesn't steer me away completely, that is. Ugh, the choices.
Yea, clerics are the easy healing class. The only time I've had trouble healing was either when someone dies faster than you can target them and cast a heal, or when its you, a tank, and 2 dps and everyone gets agro at one point during a fight.
The reason I chose a cleric is that I basicly just try to play the same characters in every MMO I play. Popple was my halfling cleric in EQ1, so I made him again here.
Clerics are also really easy solo class from what I've seen.
I've started a druid alt, I took a few-day hiatus from gaming and just couldn't get back into the same "nuke nuke nuke nuke" mentality of a sorc. It's really only fun to play a sorc when you're in a group and 4k+ damage numbers are flying up all the time. That, or soloing 4dot nameds for mad lewts.
The druid is only level 5 so I have no idea if it plays with more variety, as I expect.
One thing I've got to say about Clerics, is that their buffs are unequaled. When a Cleric drops his load of buffs onto you, it makes such a noticable difference, no other class I've encountered comes anywhere near it.
One thing I've got to say about Clerics, is that their buffs are unequaled. When a Cleric drops his load of buffs onto you, it makes such a noticable difference, no other class I've encountered comes anywhere near it.
PS. Quelin will be missed.
I haven't 100% decided if I'm going to stop playing. Just a lot of stuff is going on right now.
oh, sure miss the healer, the warrior ? eh we can do with out him :0 we got a paladin to tank funk the warrior ! well i see i see..its ok i got me a women and a tabletop gaming addiction so :P
Draeven on
Morskitter wrote "Spikes, choppas, tentacles, magic? Can't hold a candle to Sergeant Pimp here."
The class variety in this game is nothing short of astounding. Only the defensive fighters play similarly (and even then they have their unique aspects), every other archetype's classes play nothing alike. Rogues, bards, rangers, and monks are nothing alike except that they all do decent damage. Defensive casters only share one thing: healing power, other than that they play differently across the board. Offensive casters all have different styles too.
Considering how little class variety there is in a game like EQ2 (warden and fury: 2 druids with... minor flavor differences!), it's refreshing to see 15 classes that all do something unique.
Edit: I still have at least 8 trial keys left, I totally forgot about them. If anyone wants one just PM me.
Just started playing recently with a couple friends on Flamehammer. I'm a bloodmage, they're a dread knight and a psionicist. We're all dark elves.
Pretty good so far, getting a few graphical glitches but it was expected. Only level 5 at the moment. Really dissapointed with animations so far though. I mean - they are just plain awful in most parts. Spell effects are pretty cool but not EQ 2 cool.
Definitely sticking with it though, its damn fun.
Also, just wondering if anyone has had fps problems? I mean not the usual "enter a populated area and it drops" problem, but mine will be steady for ages and then suddenly it will go down to 3/4 fps and stay there for around a minute, no matter what I do. Even changing my settings to max performance makes no difference. I'm running it at pretty much everything max, except HDR and the other light thing turned off cause it seemed to cause a lot of problems.
Just started playing recently with a couple friends on Flamehammer. I'm a bloodmage, they're a dread knight and a psionicist. We're all dark elves.
Pretty good so far, getting a few graphical glitches but it was expected. Only level 5 at the moment. Really dissapointed with animations so far though. I mean - they are just plain awful in most parts. Spell effects are pretty cool but not EQ 2 cool.
Definitely sticking with it though, its damn fun.
Also, just wondering if anyone has had fps problems? I mean not the usual "enter a populated area and it drops" problem, but mine will be steady for ages and then suddenly it will go down to 3/4 fps and stay there for around a minute, no matter what I do. Even changing my settings to max performance makes no difference. I'm running it at pretty much everything max, except HDR and the other light thing turned off cause it seemed to cause a lot of problems.
I had this issue happen while I played. Great FPS, then 1-2 minutes of a standstill, then it would pick back up.
Kemal86 on
i used to test games now i sit on my couch and am lazy all day
PKMN White FC: 0046 2138 1298
Posts
I actually rather enjoyed the game, but opted to not play because most of my friends were either not interested in it, or more commonly their computers couldn't run it.
However WoW is getting boring again. I'd like to give it another shot, trying to get my hands on a free trial key currently. Thinking of trying out a ranger or rogue. 8-)
Possibly even a necromancer, as I think their pets are pretty interesting with the grafts and all. Any suggestions?
I've got that one sitting there, staring at me in my quest journal. I want to make it go away, but I don't like deleting quests
I killed two of them, but for the life of me could not find the third one. I may have to pop down there and try again.
And as I mentioned a little bit ago, I've got one of the Trial Key things if anyone wants it. Just shoot me a PM and you're welcome to it
It's at home, and I'm at work, so don't expect a prompt response though, heh.
I'm honestly shifting between thinking the final version of EQ might end up cool, and morbid curosity.
As for #4
Brad was simply an arrogant asshole when he ran EQ. It is not screaming for FOTM when you point out that Alchemy is 100% broken, because it is literally impossible to do it. Only to have the devs call you clueless idiots and that alchemy works perfectly. Only to have them notice months later that they had failed to itemize any alchemy componets whatsoever.
There is a big diffrence between an arrogant prick who refuses to consider that they might be wrong, and someone who readily accepts that they could be wrong, double checks their thinking and implementation and concludes that everything appears to be as intended. Especially when you have many people telling you point blank that reality is not mapping up to what your claiming.
If its the old Brad running Sigil, stick a fork in Vanguard, because its done. But it seems like he might have learned his lesson, so it might turn out decent.
Has anyone done much with diplomacy? The background stories have been relatively interesting so far. Is there anyway to save certain groups of cards? It's been relatively fun but I'm more into it due to the stories. Hopefully the game gets a bit deeper because so far it seems like all you have to do is figure out how the npc acts and capitalize it (if you have the right cards).
10 seconds at the most.
That's pretty much where my grind has been lately. Sadly, it is a bit of a grind, but lately coming home from work and doing something relatively mindless is exactly what I'm looking for.
As far as I know there is no way to save card sets, although that would be extremely useful.
Right now I don't think there's much more you can do besides apply buffs to the city. The higher the presence, the more levers you pull at once, meaning once you break 500 (I think) presence you can increase the standings by 7 instead of 1. Supposedly diplomacy is at best 50% implemented though. Somehow we're supposed to be able to affect trade routes and grant access to certain dungeons eventually. Plus probably more stuff I'm unaware of.
At any rate, it's an interesting look into the lore of Talon.
As someone who has been crafting a bit recently, I have enjoyed the city-wide buffs
Agreement here. This is where my fun in Vanguard is, in just the mindlessness of some of the grindy aspects. I can pop on, craft through a level or go do a solo quest or two.
I don't always have a lot of time to play, but grinding through crafting isn't a large time commitment.
Class balance is a strange thing. As a sorcerer, I destroy things. Fast. I solo things others can't, just because I can put up 4-digit damage numbers all throughout a fight. In a group, I am the DPS, everyone else is just a wannabe. What else do I bring to the group. I.... uh, I can evac? I can mez one mob at a time? Yeah, that's about it, nothing that 2 or 3 other classes can't do at least as well. So my class does one thing, does it exceptionally well, but if you have 2 sorcs in a group you're hurting yourself because you'll lack some other vital class. You can't say the same for a cleric, which does good damage along with great healing and buffs. Or two psionicists, with good damage and double the crowd control. Or two warriors, one for holding aggro and one for offtanking adds and doing damage. Everyone else can contribute more than just one thing to a group, while I am a true one-trick pony. Other damage classes bring buffs, or debuffs, or backup healing. I bring none of the above.
And I love it. There's nothing like joining a group and five minutes later the tank remarks that everything seems to be dying three times as fast as before. In every other MMO I've played a healer/utility type (EQ druid, EQ2 warden) or a damage/debuff/utility type (WoW warlock, EQ necro, EQ2 necro) and it's refreshing to be able to say that there is one thing in a game that I do better than anyone else.
I think I am as well.
yep. sorry i was only on for one night with you guys, but my IRL friend who plays quit, and i just dont have the desire to play anymore. nothing against the game, i love it, but i've simply lost the drive.
PKMN White FC: 0046 2138 1298
I'm still around
On as Popple, when I'm not making alts
I'm by no means tired of it, just can't devote the time atm.
Overall, it seems people are enjoying Vanguard so far. And i have to admit the idea of a bigger, more indepth game is definatly appealing. Also a good crafting system is a great bonus. A few questions though...
1. Is the combat similar to Warcraft? I enjoyed combat in Warcraft, even if it was a little repitive and basic. And what about PvP? This is a major point for me, as i really like good PvP in a game (even if its getting ganked my a level60 hunter in darkshire
2. How many different professions are there in the crafting system? I've heard people talking about blacksmithing, but not much else.
3. Can you solo? I know its more focused on group play, and i'm happy with that, but there are times when you just want to play on your own. Can you do same level quests on your own, throughout the game? Is it similar to the Group/Elite quest way Warcraft does it?
4. How indepth is the character customisation? I dont mean the specific races, but face shaping and stuff like that. I got sick of seeing the same long haired blonde palladin in Warcraft.
5. Is there an overall story? And is the Diplomacy feature the only way of seeing the story?
6. Finally (for now), what is the movement system like? Is it as easy as Warcraft (which i quite liked)? Will things like circle-straffing be common? And what about the mounts? Are they much faster?
I know there are some sites that answer these, but i'm in work and alot of them are blocked...i'm actually surprised this one isnt...
There is no free trial at the moment, except the buddy trial you get when you buy the game. Most people have given theirs out already though. I think i'd prefer to spend the €30 to get this, rather then try get a buddy trial, and download over 6gigs of data...but thats just me.
Crafting is broken down into outfitting (tailoring & leatherworking in one), blacksmithing (which specializes into armor smith / weapon smith), artificer (creates jewelry and all things stone), woodworking (chop down trees and make stuff)
The game from what i've seen is fairly in depth. There are definately solo and group quests. Soloing is however significantly slower unless you pick a solo friendly class.
Sometimes the quest will tell you outright that its a group quest, other times you wont really notice until you see the mobs you need to kill.
Its actually pretty neat. In wow there were 3 levels of con, regular mobs, rare, and elite. With elite being anything from dungeon trash, to boss mobs, to raid trash.
In vanguard each mob is given a level and a difficulty rating, from 1 dot to 4 dots (or more possibly). For each dot you have roughly double the HP for same mob level. The extra HP isnt so bad since the DPS classes truly DPS, and the tank classes are truly tanks.
Characters are extremely customizable, from skin color to brow slope and eye color to eye slant, cheeck and chin bones etc. The number of hairstyles is however sadly lacking (roughly 4 or 5 per race including bald)
There is a basic story line for each race that you will have learned by lvl 10 or so if you follow the diplomacy quests to skill 50.
I'm sure circle strafing is possible, however it is pointless in pve and there are no battlegrounds or seperated factions for pvp (yet, there was no pvp in WoW at first either, though they did say they had it in development with vanguard has not), since any character race can build up the faction to be welcome into any other race's city.
Initial mount speed is 35% faster than running. That is with a free mount you get for doing the 50 diplomacy skill quest.
MWO: Adamski
So how does PvP occur? Is it a good versus evil type thing? And do players have to be PvP enabled (like on a PvE server) for someone to attack them? I really hope this isnt the case, as i've always found PvE servers horribly boring.
On PVP servers, you are always flagged I believe, and the classes are ambiguously divided up into good versus evil.
1. Combat is well general sorta fantasy mmo combat, you have health,endurance, and energy bars, health is straight forward, endurance is a set pool of 100 points and is mostly used by melee classes, it regens fairly quickly so it's mostly just there to control the pace of combat and keep you from spamming moves like crazy. Than there energy, energy's basically just mana. Than some other classes have extra things for theres class, bloodmages have blood union points on a mob there fighting that add bonuses, Bards get dance points, Disiciples and monks get jin as they do moves and some moves than take a certain amount of jin to use.
Moba can have a rating of 1-6 dots,
1 = easy trash mob, like a baby usually takes at most 2 hits to kill, these usually come in groups though.
2 = is your standard solo mob, all classes can easily handle one or even two of these at a time
3 = these are hard solo, but mostly small group mobs so 2-3 people
4 = these are hard small group, but usually you take a full group for these
5 = these would hard group mobs, such ass bosses for single group dungeons, they can be a challange and take a good while to kill
6 = Never actually seen one yet, but these are susposed to be raid mobs oince raiding is added in.
2. There are 3 main professions in the game, outfitter which can than specialize in tailor (bags,light armor), or leathworker (medium armor).
Blacksmith which breaks down into weaponsmith and armorsmith
and than Artificer which breaks down innto minerologist (houses,hammers,trinkety things,jewerlry) and Wookworker (boats,staffs,bows)
Crafting is very easy in this game as you do work orders to grind your skill, there like normal recipees only you don't have to supply any starting ingrediants, and you get a bit of cash and some items when you complete them.
3. I solo a bunch personally, and you do find a lot of solo quests around, but than there are also a ton of quests for small group (2-3 people) and than full group dungeons,caves,other things around. For solo theres also the missive system, there repeatable quests given out by a missive board, that give you a ticket,some cash, and a good amount of exp when you complete them, tickets can be redemed in groups for ok rewards once you get ten, letting a solo players get some ok gear, missives are almost always soloable, and usually quite quick to grind out again and again.
4. Character customization is simmilar to a system like oblivion, you select hegith,weights,porportions,colors,etc. Another good thing is that if you ever really hate your look you can go back into the character select screen and change the way you look at any time.
5. Theres a bit of an overall story, more it just has to do with the large problems in the world, undead invasion of thestra, kaons, other invaders from another land coming to telon to kill us all, you get some of the story through quests and dungeons, but a lot more of it is available through diplomacy.
6. moving about can be a bit slow at times, there are a few teleporters in place to get between continents, and inter-continental teleporters on Qalia. But overall even with a good mount, or bard speed it can still takes some time to get to where your going, the world is a very large place and you will porbably spend 20-30mins traveling if you want to go to somewhere far off.
PvP. pvp is borken up into the 3 server types, theres pve, team pvp, and ffa pvp servers.
pve is no pvp at all, though you can still duel someone if you want.
team pvp is shadow races vs. order races in the game and your flagged at all times, and can be killed by any of that race at any time.
ffa pvp is just as it sounds, you can kill anyone, anytime, anywhere for wahtever reason you so see, you become flagged once you reach lv.7 and from there on your free game to be raped by a lv.50 over and over again
think that covers it all, enjoy reading my very large block of text
I will probably try a team pvp server. Dont like PvE, and i'm not sure about FFA. What is the server that the PA guild is on (Flamehammer)? PvE?
Hey E, I realized last night after I logged off that the choker is probably going to require a prestige bauble to create. I've got a few, but I don't know if it'll be regular or shiny. Just let me know what you need to make it and I'll mail the mats out to you.
Now to pour over forums and desperately try to decide what class to play.
On that note, does anyone know why clerics are so popular? I played a priest in WoW because I like healing and I like being an uncommon class. Why is the healer so abundant here?
It's mostly because they have the best heals, best buffs, can wear plate, and have a few survivability spells. Plus you have to be on the front lines to melee the mobs to use some of the buffs. Think WoW Pally with less dps and better heals. When I last played, I didn't see as much around as I did a few weeks ago. I think people are starting to realize they aren't as over powered as they once were.
A big chunk of it is "if I play a healer then people will invite me to groups regardless of my ability", that probably makes up 80% of clerics in Vanguard. The other 20% actually give a damn about being a good cleric.
With all the cool healing classes, Clerics to me seem the most boring, really.
Are the healing classes other than Cleric potent enough to serve as main healers? They all sound interesting but if the neat tricks reduce their overall effectiveness, I might have to reconsider.
Looking forward to gaining a few levels, and trying out more of the content.
Clerics are sort of easy mode.
As a Disc, I can main heal, but it takes alot of effort, easily the most intense play experience I've had in an MMO. Clerics are probably easier, but also possibly not as fun/stimulating.
I'm not surprised by that classification of the Cleric. I looked at the Disciple and, while the praise he is given throughout this thread is appealing, I don't much care for the style. I'm leaning towards the Blood Mage at the moment, if the thought of becoming a Demi-Lich as a Necromancer doesn't steer me away completely, that is. Ugh, the choices.
The reason I chose a cleric is that I basicly just try to play the same characters in every MMO I play. Popple was my halfling cleric in EQ1, so I made him again here.
Clerics are also really easy solo class from what I've seen.
The druid is only level 5 so I have no idea if it plays with more variety, as I expect.
PS. Quelin will be missed.
I haven't 100% decided if I'm going to stop playing. Just a lot of stuff is going on right now.
Considering how little class variety there is in a game like EQ2 (warden and fury: 2 druids with... minor flavor differences!), it's refreshing to see 15 classes that all do something unique.
Edit: I still have at least 8 trial keys left, I totally forgot about them. If anyone wants one just PM me.
Pretty good so far, getting a few graphical glitches but it was expected. Only level 5 at the moment. Really dissapointed with animations so far though. I mean - they are just plain awful in most parts. Spell effects are pretty cool but not EQ 2 cool.
Definitely sticking with it though, its damn fun.
Also, just wondering if anyone has had fps problems? I mean not the usual "enter a populated area and it drops" problem, but mine will be steady for ages and then suddenly it will go down to 3/4 fps and stay there for around a minute, no matter what I do. Even changing my settings to max performance makes no difference. I'm running it at pretty much everything max, except HDR and the other light thing turned off cause it seemed to cause a lot of problems.
I had this issue happen while I played. Great FPS, then 1-2 minutes of a standstill, then it would pick back up.
PKMN White FC: 0046 2138 1298