[VG] The Current State of Vanguard

[Teclis_Saphery]

Originally Posted by Tred

There's no free trial type deal for Vanguard yet is there? Sure would like to give it a try but really don't want to plunk down cash on a game I might not enjoy for more than half an hour.

Not yet. Only hope is a buddy key.

[Aria]

Originally Posted by Teclis_Saphery

Your specs should be fine with settings adjusted, and shouldn't have anything do to with the chunks when stationary. But the harddrive statement makes me wonder. Can you tell me if the harddrive is IDE or SATA, on same partition or disk as Windows installation. If IDE is it on the same ide cable as windows (%systemroot%), and what motherboard?

Sorry for derail, delete post if needed.

It's IDE and windows is installed on the same partition. The harddrive is obviously making some noise when playing, but when the lag happens there isn't a noticable change is all I meant.

[Ashes Emberblade]

The Vanguard tweak guides don't really apply anymore because they added all of the options available in the .ini to the in-game settings menu.

As far as the problem you're describing it's called "hitching" and the game is notorious for it. Adding vgclient.exe to the list of programs not covered by Windows Data Execution Prevention may help.

[Froofy-D]

Originally Posted by Aria

Running a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz processor with 2gb ram. For video card I'm running a Geforce 7900GS.

I'm not sure what else you need to know. I'm sure I could upgrade the card and add another 2gb of ram, but just don't feel like upgrading at the moment.

Neither of those will help. The 'hitching' is caused by the seamless world engine constantly loading data. The performance bottleneck isn't RAM, it isn't CPU, it isn't GPU, it's the data buses on your motherboard. Apparently, VG pushes too much data for the majority of mainstream buses to handle gracefully. The only fix would be to buy a new, faster motherboard.

BTW, is there such a system that VG doesn't hitch on ever, even in towns or raids? If so, what are the specs? Including MB and HD.

[Aria]

Originally Posted by Froofy-D

Neither of those will help. The 'hitching' is caused by the seamless world engine constantly loading data. The performance bottleneck isn't RAM, it isn't CPU, it isn't GPU, it's the data buses on your motherboard. Apparently, VG pushes too much data for the majority of mainstream buses to handle gracefully. The only fix would be to buy a new, faster motherboard.

BTW, is there such a system that VG doesn't hitch on ever, even in towns or raids? If so, what are the specs? Including MB and HD.

Yeah figured my bus had something to do with it, oh well. The hitching is definitely annoying though.

[Fizil]

Originally Posted by Aamina

Both the Bard class and the Blood Mage class are two of the most interesting things to come to MMOs in a long time. The Bards (my main when I played VG) are just awesome. But too much of what made them cool, the customizable buffs, was completely broken. And Blood Mages need to come to some other game...gah they are awesome.

Agreed, I don't know the state of Blood Mages now, but back in beta, my Blood Mage was all that kept me playing, I loved the class mechanics, and the class concept. Even though performance was horrible, and content was by and large boring as hell, I played just because I enjoyed that class.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Aria

Yeah figured my bus had something to do with it, oh well. The hitching is definitely annoying though.

May want to hold out a little while. One of the dev's on the forums said they are going to put a code on test that they have basically been writing since SOE took over about how the game loads everything around you. Something abou I/O something. Someone may know more about all that tech stuff. Its supposed to help alot with the hitching. So we will see.

[Screamfeeder]

I hopped back on today to see the deal.

My 50 shaman is still pretty awesome and I totally forgot I had a mid 30's necro.

Question.

What are these "veteran" things people keep talking about?

[Bobleclair]

/claim
It will give you acces to the veteran rewards (xp potion, house stuff, pets,...).

[shadowed]

Originally Posted by kcxiv

May want to hold out a little while. One of the dev's on the forums said they are going to put a code on test that they have basically been writing since SOE took over about how the game loads everything around you. Something abou I/O something. Someone may know more about all that tech stuff. Its supposed to help alot with the hitching. So we will see.

Yeah they said in a recent interview that on internal tests they have pretty much eliminated the hitching entirely. They are going to be patching in the near future in an optimization patch to fix it.

Source:

Question: dafuzzle asks, "what are your plans for the future in Vanguard?"

Gebron: Well we’ve sort of answered the question from a gameplay standpoint, but I can speak to the technical side of the fence.

Gebron: As you’ve no doubt noticed, we’ve made great strides in improving frame rate in the game, and next we’re tackling hitching.

Gebron: We’re about to start testing code which greatly, and I do mean greatly, reduces hitching in the game. We’re not done with it, and we’re excited enough about the result that we may be releasing it in phases rather than make you wait…

Gebron: the inevitable goal is to try and get the game to where it practically never hitches. We’re getting close! The change to how the game feels without hitching is… oh so sweet!

(full interview: VN Boards - MMORPG Vanguard Dev Chat Log)

I'm just wondering how much they really still have invested in Vanguard at this point. I wonder what kind of subscriber numbers they have, and how much money they are still putting into the game to keep improving it...

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by shadowed

I'm just wondering how much they really still have invested in Vanguard at this point. I wonder what kind of subscriber numbers they have, and how much money they are still putting into the game to keep improving it...

i have no clue, but Silus did say they are going to be hiring more dev's very soon. This was a few weeks back so i dunno.

[Guzrog]

As i've done many times I resubbed the other day and couldn't make myself play. So today I looked at the classes and rolled the 1 thing i'd never touched in VG, a paladin.

lol.

Is it GU4 paladin changes or the exp curve changing? Paladins are ridiculous! I didn't twink my paladin at all and managed to get 17 in like 8 hours played. I used a 100% vet pot for 16-17 but thats it. Normally I wouldn't mention it since I don't like nerfs but since I doubt i'll be in it long term i'm curious if paladins were always this good. I don't recall seeing many when I played alot at release and I sure as hell didn't level my 15 DRK or 17 MNK late last year as fast as him either, not even close. The shit I can take on is ridiculous, i'm more godly than a cleric at release was.

Also.. did they really remove river currents?

[AlekseiFL]

Is it GU4 paladin changes or the exp curve changing? Paladins are ridiculous! I didn't twink my paladin at all and managed to get 17 in like 8 hours played. I used a 100% vet pot for 16-17 but thats it. Normally I wouldn't mention it since I don't like nerfs but since I doubt i'll be in it long term i'm curious if paladins were always this good. I don't recall seeing many when I played alot at release and I sure as hell didn't level my 15 DRK or 17 MNK late last year as fast as him either, not even close. The shit I can take on is ridiculous, i'm more godly than a cleric at release was.

they got buffed last Patch Paladins and 2 other classes in GU5 3-4 more classes will get buffed.

Heart Soul of Vanguard like eq 1 was is still grouping and raiding, Seeing the dungeons.

However they are trying to make it so if have career, family, or school or all, can solo really well so if dont have time to look for group and still have fun.

Their are bunch of classes can solo stuff like mad and their are some that cant as much.

But as healer in this game class usally especially paladin or shaman, cleric due to armor and some pet for shaman or plate for cleric, paladin plus paladins can tank groups, add in heals and buffs yah they can do 3 dots or 4 if their geared good or know what their doing.

Their trying to make it , so all classes are fun and dont have few classes that none want to play, due to fact they suck.

Also in past games many of them if were healer or Hybrid were bascially buff bot and healer and soloing was really gimped so alot didnt want to play them.

Necros can solo like Jesus to in game to and alot other classes.

Discs can dps as Monk type class and heal,buff with Jin usally their mana pool for heals and dps never ends.

I have played games since Grad, Law school and 1 thing have learned is even if class gets buffed overpowered while agree they are dont call for nerf bats anymore cause class balance in every game have played is always issue.

Played Ultima Online beta 1 year and 2 monthes, UO catskills for 4 years, eq 1-4 betas eq 1 for 8 years off and on, daoc beta 4 monthes, daoc 3 years in between eq 1 raiding 1st 5 years,eq 2 beat 11 monthes, eq 2 3 years, wow beta 8 monthes, Wow since launch raiding in BT soon to be Sunwell raid guild ,vanguard beta 10 monthes quit 7 monthes after launch and now back for good!.Lotr beta 5 monthes Lotr at launch for 3 monthes around raiding in eq 2 and wow then got bored.

So point im making is over years all of those games have had class balance issues.

Example this class gets buffed then nerfed down line then this new class get buffed is little overpowered its just constant cycle.

I think at this Point in Vanguard can see in few more GU patches with more bug fixes and optmizations, Raid content, class revamps, and newbie isle can see soon after that at some point geting some type free trial system like wow has , so can get subs up will happen, also some type of let old players return free for 7-14 days so can see how game is stable now and fun again so can get subs up.

Later in 1 of the GU future patches their is talk of adding AA points system and 2 classes left out of beta Inquistor and Zerker.

So with Free trials system and some type free trial for new and old players to return and game stable and fun can see alot subs coming back and new slowly.

Then at that point can slowly add to team.

Think then for Full relaunch with some marketing and word of mouth cause game is stable and fun has raid content. tons of classes, and races, so many dungeons could not even list them all.

We will see 1 st expansion its long ways off but wil happen then with free trials for new players and free trials for old players before the 1st expansion and more marketing well again can add to team and slowly add more servers as needed as they get the subs up.

Game is to much like updated eq 1 with bad ass graphics and tons of dungeons and raiding going in more and more now, with some features of eq 2 and wow, loot system etc not to get subs up.

Dont get me wrong cause of shitty launch and running out of cash launching 1 year and to early game had so muhc bad press it will never do Wow like subs or even Conan when it launches but could see game if they follow that Road Map geting subs up atleast 100k to 250k slowly as from old and new players geting Bored of WoW etc and other games.

As Farr as Team size being Small, Subs were bleeding cause of bad launch adn launching 1 year+ to early they had to, also Current Team is much more focused on Goal of geitng Some alot features in But Mostly geting Game coded Stable as they have done and geting game patched up like Crazy as should have been at launch.

Best way can explain that is in Raid guild would rather have small raid guild of 35 to 45 active players that actually know what the hell their doing and are their and all on same page then haveing Huge Team which each part of the Guild or Devlopment Team having their own Agendas.

As Farr as expansions Goes Yah if get game patched up just tad more , and more raid content in and class Revamps and newbie Isle soon so New players dont feel so lost from 1-12 etc can start if they chose in same area, can focus on loish their to get them hooked.

Add in free trials for old and new players like said can get subs up to slowly add more to team at some point be to add few more servers maybe 1 at time as needed.

Then contiue to add more developers team size as subs go up to get differnt areas of game even more polished and new content.

Now a days For expansion alot Compaines go Out of US to Hire Russian Team or Asian to Do Art Assets for expansions cause it is Much Cheaper, also they can have less of the Current Team due to this work On expansion , this way the game Designers and others can just Focus on doing rest of Expansions again it much cheaper.

Like said if get subs up slowly with that system they probally have atleast 10-15 more of team By then.

even know depending on ya numbers at that point would have 20- add in 10-15 so like 30-35 of team which some say is to small, for expansion could have New Team with Art Assets down over seas or new team and some current team etc.

As stated above would rather have smaller Team that know what each part of team does is on same page then this part of team haveing this Vision for Vanguard while this part has this Vision, can focus on game , be much tighter group this way.

Sorry for My Long Ass Post.

[Chaotic]

those random caps made that really hard to read

[Arrr]

This probably won't affect a lot of you, but it's shitty news for those of us doing APW. I've heard from some of the content-testing guilds that they're pretty unhappy with some of the moves the dev team is making behind the scenes, especially in regard to new content.

Word 'round the campfire is no new raid dungeon in sight (4+ months) and just a few more overland mobs each GU for a while. Most of us are already pretty sick of APW, so this is disheartening news.

They're also overtuning a bunch of fights because of the above news. They actually promised they were done screwing with encounters in APW a while ago, but that was likely back when they thought they would have another raid dungeon out soon. so they're beefing up encounters that some guilds have farmed for months in order to cut down on progression through APW. The result? 2 guilds out of 10 have killed the dragon since the change that could kill him before. and it's been a few weeks.

but for these fights, the loot is the same item level as the goddamn entry wing, even on the fucking dragon. It basically just ends up meaning you need to stack certain classes to make your raid more efficient (ie: rogues and monks). or, as most guilds are opting, to not do the fights at all. It's a retarded cockblock, and one of the most blatant I've seen.

If you're just starting APW, it's still going to be pretty enjoyable. but if you've been farming APW, you probably want to gouge your own eyes out.