[VG] Producer's Letter

[ismaris]

Originally Posted by Istros

are you prepared to be interrogated by tad about your VG credentials?

Well if anyone is going to try and label me as misinformed, then that's laughable. If there is anything I am, relating to VG, it's informed.

He could very well disagree with me, though. For him it may be fun.

[Bongk]

Originally Posted by ismaris

Meh, I recently quit VG (as in the last week) after playing it for a year. My guild hardcore raids APW and is furthest in progression on Sartok(PvP). I honestly thought that APW would "turn it around," but it didn't. Don't get me wrong, it's a well-made dungeon with really tough encounters, but I came to the realization that APW alone doesn't do it for me.

The game is teeming with bugs. There's just no way around that fact. The experience of PvPing in VG and then going to WoW is absolutely a 180. In VG, a fucking necro macros dropping 80% of my HP instantly (I'm a preservation cleric mind you, the most survival-oriented class there is), crashing me with their pet then farming infamy, random hackers running around (and lots of them), buggy warping mobs, and the coup de grace, fucking HUGE landscapes with hardly anyone in them. Honestly....it just became too much. I tried, and I tried, and I tried to give the game a chance. I paid a year's worth of subscription and played it hardcore, had all the best gear, PvP'ed as much as I could, and even raided APW, but the game just doesn't measure up to what else is out there.

I would not advise anyone to invest their time into this game. You'll only be disappointed.

did you finish every quest in teh game, read every piece of lore and max diplomacy and your tradeskills?

Did you sit up at nights writing a thesis on VG and how it is the whole grail of gaming?

Did you acquire every piece of gear ever to drop and research who made it and why?

If not you are not qualified to have a opinion on VG.

But, if your opinion is positive, 5 mins of gameplay is more than adequete.

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by Bongk

did you finish every quest in teh game, read every piece of lore and max diplomacy and your tradeskills?

Did you sit up at nights writing a thesis on VG and how it is the whole grail of gaming?

Did you acquire every piece of gear ever to drop and research who made it and why?

If not you are not qualified to have a opinion on VG.

But, if your opinion is positive, 5 mins of gameplay is more than adequete.

hahahaha thats good stuff...

[Arrr]

Well if anyone is going to try and label me as misinformed, then that's laughable. If there is anything I am, relating to VG, it's informed.

He could very well disagree with me, though. For him it may be fun.

I can definitely see how PVP would be no fun in Vanguard. I don't think you could pay me to play that part of the game.

For me, it's just fun because there's a fairly close-knit EQ1-style top end raiding community. There are a bunch of good guilds at the top, and you get the usual drama and competition and stuff like that, but it's not quite as faceless as wow. When something gets world-firsted, you don't ask yourself "so wait, what server are they on?"

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Bongk

But, if your opinion is positive, 5 mins of gameplay is more than adequete.

This is funny because it's 100% true. I've seen people point to a positive post on mmorpg.com and say "see! people do like it! this guy got to level 9 and says its awesome!" then turn around and claim any post on mmorpg.com is irrelevant because it's supposedly a cess-pool... which it is.

[Hatorade]

I will reup this game every 6 months or so and see how it is. Mainly because Bloodmage rocks and deep down I really want this game to be good. In the end though Its a game to play when nothing else is good. Jan has been a REALLY dry month for PC games. Thankgod there has been some long standing fun ones like Orange box, CoD4, the witcher...etc etc. If I didn't have those I would prolly be playing vanguard this month...maybe in april.

Tad can you pleae post the latest patch notes that you have memorized...thanks.


Oh wait in april I may be bitching about AoC....or WAR..hrmm. Is this so long to my bloodmage?

[ismaris]

Originally Posted by Arrr

I can definitely see how PVP would be no fun in Vanguard. I don't think you could pay me to play that part of the game.

For me, it's just fun because there's a fairly close-knit EQ1-style top end raiding community. There are a bunch of good guilds at the top, and you get the usual drama and competition and stuff like that, but it's not quite as faceless as wow. When something gets world-firsted, you don't ask yourself "so wait, what server are they on?"

Yeah, you'll notice I didn't dog on the raiding. There is that definite sense of knowing the other top-end guilds and what server they're on, how far they've progressed, etc. I really enjoy playing with my guild, and that's the only thing that kept me in VG so long.

APW is a solid dungeon, I stand by that. But it's just not enough to justify playing what in my opinion is an unfinished game.

[Istros]

Originally Posted by Arrr

When something gets world-firsted, you don't ask yourself "so wait, what server are they on?"

Could that just be the case because there are...you know, only four servers!?

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Istros

Could that just be the case because there are...you know, only four servers!?

Yeah, was just going to say the same thing. I mean if they arent on your server you have a 33% chance of even guessing correctly.

[tad10]

Originally Posted by GrobbeeTrull2.0

Apparently, to say just how bad Vanguard sucks, you have to force yourself through 50 levels of bullshit, then raid for a few months (the same zone, over and over), and only then, when every last drop of humanity has been sucked from your soul - can you say it sucks.

Exactly. By way of comparison I loathed leveling in WoW -- but was conviced by a friend that things got better at 60. Which they did (well until things got old with no new BGs and 5-man dungeons until TBC).

So yes -- if you're going to shit on the game at least play it -- in any event Morannon still hasn't replied. There remain too many anonymous vg trolls who really have no clue about the game as she is currently played.

As for PvP -- VG PvP sucks. Of course y'all are going to ignore his APW comments and harp on his PvP comments. That's just par for the course.

[Draegan]

Can you stop calling it "she"? It's really fucking creepy.

[Cowbell]

no shit, lol.

[GrobbeeTrull2.0]

Originally Posted by tad10

Exactly. By way of comparison I loathed leveling in WoW -- but was conviced by a friend that things got better at 60. Which they did (well until things got old with no new BGs and 5-man dungeons until TBC).

So yes -- if you're going to shit on the game at least play it -- in any event Morannon still hasn't replied. There remain too many anonymous vg trolls who really have no clue about the game as she is currently played.

As for PvP -- VG PvP sucks. Of course y'all are going to ignore his APW comments and harp on his PvP comments. That's just par for the course.

You missed this part, in between your "SEE HE SAID ONE PART WAS COOL!"

I paid a year's worth of subscription and played it hardcore, had all the best gear, PvP'ed as much as I could, and even raided APW, but the game just doesn't measure up to what else is out there.

I would not advise anyone to invest their time into this game. You'll only be disappointed.

[Istros]

Originally Posted by Draegan

Can you stop calling it "she"? It's really fucking creepy.

...

[gurgi]

I have to agree re: WoW's grind. I'd take the EQ grind any day over WoW questing. I know I'm in the minority, but something about it just grates, I hate gathering quests at each new encampment, reading quest text for objectives, coordinating quests, turning them in for a worthless green + 20 silver (better in expansion), and worst of all I hate playing alone.

I know some people hate relying on others to advance in a MMO, and that's fine, but I want to play with other people, in fact, it's the entire point for me. Even worse, I hate the fact that I have to spec and gear a dps guy so I can eventually play the support class I rolled to start with.

I tried grinding in instances. While LFG takes half the time of EQ, instead of grinding the evening away, nobody will do an instance more than once. So if you want to instance xp, you actually spend more time LFG than EQ. And if you have to pug, nobody knows what they are doing. On my last mana tombs run, my earth shield wore off the tank twice before its 10 charges were expended. Awesome.

In VG, I had a lot of fun, but there wasn't enough content or players to not do it with. I was on the PvP FFA server, so that was fun for a time, even as a warrior (I started after they took away some jump ability?). I could own if I got in range with my 3s crit ability. I could get a whole combo as full crits.

I did crafting, and even though the grind was just straight punishing, I loved the ability to choose material and a prefix and suffix to make the exact piece I want. Upgrading was neat too.

IMO, it just needed more content and players. I would have stuck around.


Oh, it did wreck my LCD though, the contrast is nuts and I got burn-in where the UI elements were. It would go away if I didn't play for a while, but it took longer than a day, and I dunno about you, but when I play a game, it's usually a daily thing. Sigil just screwed this game up in about every way. I hope SOE has fixed the contrast issue, no other game does that to my monitor.