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[Vanguard] SNEAK IS GONE SO THIS GAME IS DEAD.
The Sneak!
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
HOLY FUCK WE HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE PLAYING NOW, ALSO WE HAVE A GUILD, THE PENNY ARCADIANS, SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ROSTER, ALSO PLEASE NOTE HOW GAY MY PALADIN'S SHIELD IS:
Frequently Non-Asked Questions You're Probably Thinking Anyhow
1. wait, what
what
2. no really, what the fuck, vanguard is shit
I know! It was shit! But it isn't now! I can hardly believe it myself!
3. how is it not shit now
For one thing... it functions. It works. It doesn't crash every ten minutes, you don't have to /flush the textures every five minutes, the framerate has dramatically improved, and there is no more hitching (at least to me). There have been optimizations to the lighting and graphics that make the game gorgeous to behold, on top of running like a champ. In essence, this is how it should have been at launch.
4. so wait, people actually still play this
Yes. It's not the most populated game in the world since, you know, the game was a festering pile of shit ass before, but it has quite a few core players that stuck it out throughout the bad times, and has been experiencing one hell of a population rush since (surprisingly) Age of Conan came out. The ironic thing is that, since there are less players than, say, WoW, the community is very close, to the point where finding a group is easier for me than it ever was in ANY MMO. On top of that, it is, hands down, the best community I've ever immersed myself with outside of the early UO/EQ days.
5. ok so is there a free trial or what
Not yet. SOE plans to "re-launch" the game once every remaining bug is ironed out, on top of adding some kind of trial island thing so that people that want to try out the game don't have to download about 18 gigs of data. However, if you've never owned the game, you can find the collector's edition online these days for about $10, which includes quite a few guest passes for people to check the game out. And no, I don't have any, but if I ever do, I will hook you all up.
Information and general shit
Races:
Classes:
HUGE... TRACTS OF LAND
A few quick screenshots
Will post more later, if this thread even gets anywhere off the ground because, lol, Vanguard.[/spoiler]
Who's Playing
WE ARE ON THE SAREDON SERVER, PM ME YOUR CHARACTER NAME AND CLASS. List goes by forum name/character name/class.
1. The Sneak! - Dyneir, Paladin and Eldian, Cleric
2. Ciani - Ciani, Druid and Celestialsky, Bard
3. Fooms - Fooms, Bard
4. Draeven - Forgot his name, Dread Knight
5. AresProphet - Lyna, Sorcerer
6. chrpnk - Quelin, Cleric
7. Axen - Snog, Blood Mage
8. Toxic Pickle - Xianxu Xoh, Bard
9. Yathrin - Ayamaro, Monk and Kochin, Disciple
10. Arkainn - Nakaz, Dread Knight
11. Yukira - Yukira, Dread Knight
12. Dachish - Dachish, Psionist
13. Sidhaethe - Hasufet, Sorcerer
14. Vae - Tristerian, Druid
15. MiSTieOtaku - Katalmach, Dread Knight
16. Skayel - Skayel, Warrior
17. Corran - Mirrax, Non-denominational, not gonna let the man bring him down and decide his role
18. captaink - Nute, Sorcerer
19. lostcawz - Ridger, Ranger
20. stympy - Carom, Rogue
21 FightTest - Gnerg, Unknown
22. eelektrik - Jarenden, Blood Mage
23. killerkabuto - Tymbel, Dread Knight
24. Fandyien - Sinedan, Shaman
25. Tekko - Ketto, Dread Knight
26. exoplasm - Halbar, Bard
27. GigaWang - Drazool, Bard
28. DiscoZombie - Jendra, Weak Sissy Necromancer
29. flammiebc - Rukana, Disciple
30. Xzean - Xzean, Necromancer and Maluth, Dread Knight
31. Karrmer - Karmerr, the Shadiest of Rogues
32. Sapien Prime - The Legendary Vaeldron Morningsword of Leth Nurae, Paladin
33. Dyvion - Kaidrin, Blood Mage
34. AfroJ - Vasu, Disciple
To get an invite to the guild, you can send a /tell to the following people:
Fooms
Eldian
Foomiest
Skayel
Rukana
Rukane
Xzean
Leyara
Fychan
Roweland
Sindarin
So let me take this opportunity, before I pass out, to show those that are unfamiliar with Vanguard's bard system why it is made of puppy dogs and rainbows and bees that shit out ice cream flavored titties:
SO BASICALLY
Yes, I'm aware the OP sucks. I don't care. Hell, I haven't even made a game on thread in eons, but I was so absolutely fucking impressed with how this game is turning out that I wanted to make a thread about it.
I bought a new system because my old one was getting up there in age, and I could barely run Age of Conan even on the lowest of settings. So ever since I got this thing, most of my time spent on it is installing old games I used to play, just to see how well they run on the new rig at maximum settings. One of those games was Vanguard, a game that not only ran like shit on my system, but ran like shit on everyone's system, and was so full of bugs and broken content that I hated the game. Despite that, I couldn't help the curiosity from taking over, and begrudingly reinstalled the game and reactivated my account, after unsuccessfully trying to score a buddy pass.
And holy shit. Not only did the game look gorgeous at max settings, but it was PLAYABLE. No hitching, no ridiculous texture flushing every fucking minute, nothing. And what really once began as something to play while age of Conan was down, became something I cannot tear myself away from to play Age of Conan. It's that good. Characters still run like they have a peg up their ass, but otherwise, absolutely gorgeous game.
What I was amazed with more is the community. There was no idiot inane babbling in the OOC chatroom, just nothing but friendly conversations, and a lot of people seemed to know one another. The community is small because of the trainwreck that was their launch, but as a result, it has created one of the best online communities in a game since the days of yore, if not better than even that. And the hilarious thing is that I have a much easier time finding a group in this game as a direct result of that than any other MMO I've ever played, and when I'm grouped with people, they're friendly, they talk, and it just makes the experience so much more worthwhile.
Another favorite of mine about this game is that nothing is instanced. I don't know who the shit decided that instances were the way to go in MASSIVELY ONLINE GAMES, but he should be shot. Nothing here is instanced.
Speaking of MASSIVE, my cock is erect.
Oh, and the lands are gigantic. It was a huge pain in the ass to travel from Point A to Point B before in Vanguard as a result, but in one of the game updates, Rift Stones were added, that can portal you from one place to the other, including on other continents. And it works. Traveling is still a huge part of the game, but it is roughly 300x easier to meet other players to group with now, and to hit up all those hot dungeons. There are also standard mounts, which you get starting at Level 10, up to flying mounts later on, and in the meantime, you can rent a flying mount for 5 minutes for a measly handful of copper.
I cannot gush about the game enough right now, I'm that impressed with how it has turned out. The majority of people that play Vanguard say that this is the way EverQuest II should have been, and I'm inclined to agree with them. If you played the abysmal beta, or the even more horrid launch, you owe it to yourself to give this game another fair shot, whether now, with a guest pass, or by waiting for the free trial to come out. If you want an MMO with a surprising amount of depth, a solid community, a challenge, a penalty for death (but not too strict; you can't level down), you're more than likely going to love being back here.
Oh, and here's some dude's random review about how the game is now, it's pretty much spot on: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/147/view/forums/thread/182705
HOLY FUCK WE HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE PLAYING NOW, ALSO WE HAVE A GUILD, THE PENNY ARCADIANS, SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ROSTER, ALSO PLEASE NOTE HOW GAY MY PALADIN'S SHIELD IS:
Frequently Non-Asked Questions You're Probably Thinking Anyhow
1. wait, what
what
2. no really, what the fuck, vanguard is shit
I know! It was shit! But it isn't now! I can hardly believe it myself!
3. how is it not shit now
For one thing... it functions. It works. It doesn't crash every ten minutes, you don't have to /flush the textures every five minutes, the framerate has dramatically improved, and there is no more hitching (at least to me). There have been optimizations to the lighting and graphics that make the game gorgeous to behold, on top of running like a champ. In essence, this is how it should have been at launch.
4. so wait, people actually still play this
Yes. It's not the most populated game in the world since, you know, the game was a festering pile of shit ass before, but it has quite a few core players that stuck it out throughout the bad times, and has been experiencing one hell of a population rush since (surprisingly) Age of Conan came out. The ironic thing is that, since there are less players than, say, WoW, the community is very close, to the point where finding a group is easier for me than it ever was in ANY MMO. On top of that, it is, hands down, the best community I've ever immersed myself with outside of the early UO/EQ days.
5. ok so is there a free trial or what
Not yet. SOE plans to "re-launch" the game once every remaining bug is ironed out, on top of adding some kind of trial island thing so that people that want to try out the game don't have to download about 18 gigs of data. However, if you've never owned the game, you can find the collector's edition online these days for about $10, which includes quite a few guest passes for people to check the game out. And no, I don't have any, but if I ever do, I will hook you all up.
Information and general shit
Races:
You know what, I was going to type them all out, along with a long description and screenshots, but fuck it, just click here: http://vanguard.gameamp.com/info/showRaces . The cliffnotes version: standard fantasy characters, like humans, elves, dark elves, half-elves, halings, gnomes, etc. etc., on top of a few races for the furry community in the world.
Classes:
Oh man, another link from me: http://vanguard.gameamp.com/info/showClasses . I'll also list them here, though:
Protective Fighters:
Warrior - Meat shield. Standard fare, but they are so fun.
Paladin - Meat shield that can heal. Neat spells and buffs.
Dread Knight - Don't know much about them, but think EQ, I guess.
Offensive Fighters:
Ranger - You use a bow. You dual-wield. You can track.
Rogue - lol, stab
Monk - Martial arts, feigning death, bunch of fags
Bard - Sing songs for beneficial effects and attack for victory!
Healers:
Cleric - Whatever happened to clerics in other MMOs? They've been replaced with fucking cloth-wearing priests. How gay. Clerics rule.
Shaman - I don't know much about them, but I don't think they're like the WoW version.
Disciple - Actually pretty cool, a martial-artist healer. Some zen shit right there.
Blood Mage - USE YOUR BLOOD TO HEAL ME
Casters:
Sorcerer - Deal damage while being careful that a twig doesn't fall on you or else you'll die
Druid - Summons forth the power of nature to destroy foes and heal damage.
Psionicist - Dark Sun is awesome, just so everyone knows.
Necromancer - You get a pet, and you kill things with your pet. Great soloers.
Protective Fighters:
Warrior - Meat shield. Standard fare, but they are so fun.
Paladin - Meat shield that can heal. Neat spells and buffs.
Dread Knight - Don't know much about them, but think EQ, I guess.
Offensive Fighters:
Ranger - You use a bow. You dual-wield. You can track.
Rogue - lol, stab
Monk - Martial arts, feigning death, bunch of fags
Bard - Sing songs for beneficial effects and attack for victory!
Healers:
Cleric - Whatever happened to clerics in other MMOs? They've been replaced with fucking cloth-wearing priests. How gay. Clerics rule.
Shaman - I don't know much about them, but I don't think they're like the WoW version.
Disciple - Actually pretty cool, a martial-artist healer. Some zen shit right there.
Blood Mage - USE YOUR BLOOD TO HEAL ME
Casters:
Sorcerer - Deal damage while being careful that a twig doesn't fall on you or else you'll die
Druid - Summons forth the power of nature to destroy foes and heal damage.
Psionicist - Dark Sun is awesome, just so everyone knows.
Necromancer - You get a pet, and you kill things with your pet. Great soloers.
HUGE... TRACTS OF LAND
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes has three continents to explore: Thestra, Qalia, and Kojan. When you create your character, you start on one of these continents. The cool thing is that each continent has its own unique culture. Also, they're HUGE.
Thestra: The traditional fantasy continent. Thees and thous, damsels in distress, retarded wizards, and constipated dragons ahoy.
Kojan: The asian-themed continent. Cool place. Looks like a lot like the places in Guild Wars: Factions.
Qalia: Totally arabian. I loved it here, too; kind of reminds me of playing Quest for Glory III.
What race you choose at character creation determines what continent you start out on. Luckily, while travel is a huge part of this game, the addition of Rift Stones make traveling between continents a bit easier.
Thestra: The traditional fantasy continent. Thees and thous, damsels in distress, retarded wizards, and constipated dragons ahoy.
Kojan: The asian-themed continent. Cool place. Looks like a lot like the places in Guild Wars: Factions.
lol no screenshot here
Qalia: Totally arabian. I loved it here, too; kind of reminds me of playing Quest for Glory III.
What race you choose at character creation determines what continent you start out on. Luckily, while travel is a huge part of this game, the addition of Rift Stones make traveling between continents a bit easier.
A few quick screenshots
Will post more later, if this thread even gets anywhere off the ground because, lol, Vanguard.[/spoiler]
Who's Playing
WE ARE ON THE SAREDON SERVER, PM ME YOUR CHARACTER NAME AND CLASS. List goes by forum name/character name/class.
1. The Sneak! - Dyneir, Paladin and Eldian, Cleric
2. Ciani - Ciani, Druid and Celestialsky, Bard
3. Fooms - Fooms, Bard
4. Draeven - Forgot his name, Dread Knight
5. AresProphet - Lyna, Sorcerer
6. chrpnk - Quelin, Cleric
7. Axen - Snog, Blood Mage
8. Toxic Pickle - Xianxu Xoh, Bard
9. Yathrin - Ayamaro, Monk and Kochin, Disciple
10. Arkainn - Nakaz, Dread Knight
11. Yukira - Yukira, Dread Knight
12. Dachish - Dachish, Psionist
13. Sidhaethe - Hasufet, Sorcerer
14. Vae - Tristerian, Druid
15. MiSTieOtaku - Katalmach, Dread Knight
16. Skayel - Skayel, Warrior
17. Corran - Mirrax, Non-denominational, not gonna let the man bring him down and decide his role
18. captaink - Nute, Sorcerer
19. lostcawz - Ridger, Ranger
20. stympy - Carom, Rogue
21 FightTest - Gnerg, Unknown
22. eelektrik - Jarenden, Blood Mage
23. killerkabuto - Tymbel, Dread Knight
24. Fandyien - Sinedan, Shaman
25. Tekko - Ketto, Dread Knight
26. exoplasm - Halbar, Bard
27. GigaWang - Drazool, Bard
28. DiscoZombie - Jendra, Weak Sissy Necromancer
29. flammiebc - Rukana, Disciple
30. Xzean - Xzean, Necromancer and Maluth, Dread Knight
31. Karrmer - Karmerr, the Shadiest of Rogues
32. Sapien Prime - The Legendary Vaeldron Morningsword of Leth Nurae, Paladin
33. Dyvion - Kaidrin, Blood Mage
34. AfroJ - Vasu, Disciple
To get an invite to the guild, you can send a /tell to the following people:
Fooms
Eldian
Foomiest
Skayel
Rukana
Rukane
Xzean
Leyara
Fychan
Roweland
Sindarin
So let me take this opportunity, before I pass out, to show those that are unfamiliar with Vanguard's bard system why it is made of puppy dogs and rainbows and bees that shit out ice cream flavored titties:
SO BASICALLY
Yes, I'm aware the OP sucks. I don't care. Hell, I haven't even made a game on thread in eons, but I was so absolutely fucking impressed with how this game is turning out that I wanted to make a thread about it.
I bought a new system because my old one was getting up there in age, and I could barely run Age of Conan even on the lowest of settings. So ever since I got this thing, most of my time spent on it is installing old games I used to play, just to see how well they run on the new rig at maximum settings. One of those games was Vanguard, a game that not only ran like shit on my system, but ran like shit on everyone's system, and was so full of bugs and broken content that I hated the game. Despite that, I couldn't help the curiosity from taking over, and begrudingly reinstalled the game and reactivated my account, after unsuccessfully trying to score a buddy pass.
And holy shit. Not only did the game look gorgeous at max settings, but it was PLAYABLE. No hitching, no ridiculous texture flushing every fucking minute, nothing. And what really once began as something to play while age of Conan was down, became something I cannot tear myself away from to play Age of Conan. It's that good. Characters still run like they have a peg up their ass, but otherwise, absolutely gorgeous game.
What I was amazed with more is the community. There was no idiot inane babbling in the OOC chatroom, just nothing but friendly conversations, and a lot of people seemed to know one another. The community is small because of the trainwreck that was their launch, but as a result, it has created one of the best online communities in a game since the days of yore, if not better than even that. And the hilarious thing is that I have a much easier time finding a group in this game as a direct result of that than any other MMO I've ever played, and when I'm grouped with people, they're friendly, they talk, and it just makes the experience so much more worthwhile.
Another favorite of mine about this game is that nothing is instanced. I don't know who the shit decided that instances were the way to go in MASSIVELY ONLINE GAMES, but he should be shot. Nothing here is instanced.
Speaking of MASSIVE, my cock is erect.
Oh, and the lands are gigantic. It was a huge pain in the ass to travel from Point A to Point B before in Vanguard as a result, but in one of the game updates, Rift Stones were added, that can portal you from one place to the other, including on other continents. And it works. Traveling is still a huge part of the game, but it is roughly 300x easier to meet other players to group with now, and to hit up all those hot dungeons. There are also standard mounts, which you get starting at Level 10, up to flying mounts later on, and in the meantime, you can rent a flying mount for 5 minutes for a measly handful of copper.
I cannot gush about the game enough right now, I'm that impressed with how it has turned out. The majority of people that play Vanguard say that this is the way EverQuest II should have been, and I'm inclined to agree with them. If you played the abysmal beta, or the even more horrid launch, you owe it to yourself to give this game another fair shot, whether now, with a guest pass, or by waiting for the free trial to come out. If you want an MMO with a surprising amount of depth, a solid community, a challenge, a penalty for death (but not too strict; you can't level down), you're more than likely going to love being back here.
Oh, and here's some dude's random review about how the game is now, it's pretty much spot on: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/147/view/forums/thread/182705
Sterica on
0
Posts
If you played Vanguard at launch, you'd probably know why. At least Matrix can gather fans from name recognition alone.
1.) TOO FUCKING BIG. This was good in some ways, like when you entered dungeons and were like "Oh holy shit, this is enormous" and bad in ways like "Now I get to run 15 minutes to my corpse."
2.) Not enough low-level resource spawns. Maybe that's better with less people whoring them now.
Their bards seemed like an interesting take on the class but I couldn't get past my low teens framerate at ugly-as-shit settings to devote any time really playing it.
I loved my Bloodmage so much.
I'd come back if it got popular. (yes yes, I know that's kinda self defeating)
someone giev guest pass plz
About 5:01 in-game time, and the sun's slowly creeping up over the horizon. Fuck it's pretty.
Now that its supposedly been cleaned up, runs good now, and I have a much better computer as well, I just ordered the collector's edition since I noticed it comes with a 3-month subscription instead of your normal 1-month. I will give this a shot.
Since mine also comes with 10 buddy keys, I could hand those out here when I get them, since none of my friends would be willing to even try this.
Where can I get ahold of it now?
I did the exact same thing. I'd really like to see where this game has gone since beta, if you could hook me up with a key when you get them that'd be grand.
I remember the view over Qalia was exquisite. It reminded me of old-school everquest which of course overwhelms me with unstoppable nostalgia.
This is basically EverQuest 2.0 now, with better dungeons. I was actually considering reactivating EverQuest and just playing in the old zones, when I decided to try this out.
PSN: Dyvion -- Eternal: Dyvion+9393 -- Genshin Impact: Dyvion
XLive: Oronis
Steam: pandas_gota_gun
wonder if my house is still around I stuck a ton of upkeep on it before I quit.
I had a like 6month sub but cancelled it before all that time was up. if it somehow lets me use the remaining time i'll come check it out again, finally finish leveling my bard last I remember it was at 47.
oh last I knew I also had the penny arcade guild leadership, if I still do we can get that going again
That being said, my only concern in these types of games is the racial differences. I was skimming through a bunch of them (ignorantly, I don't know what some of the stats mean and I haven't read up on any classes) and all the races seemed unique, or at least relatively unique, in stat distribution and racial abilities. This makes me a little worried about the min/maxer within me. Does Vanguard become a clone fest because people pick the best race/class distributions?
Either way, if they ever do a trial I'll be all over it. Heck, if I can really go pick it up for $10 I might just do that instead.
Few good times were shared, mostly because my computer couldn't handle grouping at all and I was turned into a Diplomat. Sounds like it would do a lot better now, but I just don't have the time unfortunately otherwise I'd probably be back. Damn MMO bug has bit me but it'll be at least until the fall before I can do anything about it.
I always liked Vanguard on paper. The deathknight class seems right up my alley since I loved my eq shadowknight so much.
I haven't heard of anyone really going for the min/max thing in Vanguard at all. In the end, I don't think it makes much of a difference.
steam
Damn it Brad McQuaid.
Is the retarded loading zone mechanic still in there?
Also, did they make crafting into less of a grind? Because holy shit, was it even not worth the effort originally.
Ye be warned. . . . :P
Instancing really sucks.
I have a ranger at 11 and a shaman at 14, a 20 necro, a 27 disc and a 31 warrior
Also, helmet graphics are in game finaly, and some look quite goofy they are all still quite nice. They also implmented a shit ton of armor quests. for mid tieens to high 20 = URT in thestra and then low 20's to mid 20's is the Hunters league quests up near Skrillien point. Also they managed to Itemize alot of the dungeans. So many dungeans I really want to go into, but haven't since you generaly need 3 other people to really give them a good shot. They inreased xps abit so its not quite as bad as it used to be. Thgere is alos a veterens reward system and some of them are Xp potions and one of them ins a 36 slot bag.
A to of the classes got revamps, so have skills they didn't have before , and are designed to work differtnly. Like all the tanks , tank differntly, Sk = 2 haneded weapons, warriors = dual wield, and paladins = sword and board. Took me a bit to figure out my warrior again but im enjoying him. I have found its easier to solo 3 dots now then it used to. Having a ton of fun and hope some more poeple join in, would love to join up with the old PA guild if fooms has the lead
sorry long post, was thinking about doing this same thread but am very bad at OP's my skillls are weak so thanks.
-Does the game actually look fuckawesome on max graphics? Those screenshots you showed do not impress my spoiled ass.
-How bad the is the grind?
-Related to that: how much fun is combat? So you sometimes want to go out just to kill some mobs? Or is it like in most MMOs where combat is a means to an end, instead of a goal in and of itself?
@Karrmer: No, nothing in this game is instanced, nor will it ever will be.
@Aldo: 1. Depends on how spoiled you are with graphics. It looks amazing to me, where the only major bitch I have is that the characters still run like a cork is shoved right up their ass, and some character models are realy meh, but the battle animations are top-notch. The textures on max are great, the lighting effect were revamped and looks incredible, and the dungeons... oh God, the dungeons look so nice. If you compare it to, say, Age of Conan, you're going to be disappointed, but if you compare it to most everything else on the market, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
2. Grind isn't bad at all. Experience gain was increased before from what it was at, so everything moves at a steady pace, whether you're soloing or in a group. Also, there's rest XP, which I was surprised to come back to about almost two full days worth. I jumped from 12 to 15 in no time at all.
3. I LOVE the combat. The best way to describe it is like a cross between EverQuest and World of Warcraft. Every class that I've tried plays differently, so it's really varied in play styles. And yes, sometimes, I just want to go off and explore and kill some mobs, in fact that's one of my favorite things to do. Last night, I discovered a bugbear hut, filled with the fuckers, and I slaughtered all of them, just because I could. There is also nothing quite like the intensity of being stupid enough to brave a dungeon by yourself, knowing full well what will happen if you die all the way at the bottom.
Auto-attack will be something to get used to again, I guess. Lunia and Spellborn beta have spoiled me in that respect.
All in all this all does sound very promising and I wish they had a trial available.
Slow line is slow.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/1962/screenshot00030od8.jpg
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9086/screenshot00033fl7.jpg
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2885/screenshot00061md2.jpg
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2980/screenshot00066uh9.jpg
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http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4962/screenshot00077ya6.jpg