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[Review] Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: The F2P Review
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
With Vanguard: Saga of Heroes' recent transition from a subscription based title to a hybrid F2P-subscription revenue generator, interest has been renewed in the game. We've put the F2P version of Vanguard to the test to see how it fares. Read our review and then let us know what you think.
The world of Telon is an absolutely beautiful creation, and there is no doubt about that. Every part of the games landscape is explorable. Literally, you can swim, run, climb and fly over every inch of the game world and is an aspect which Vanguard builds upon superbly. Upon release many people became familiar with the /flush command, it was a command which hopefully will never see the light of day again. The command itself was used to re-set the graphic engines whilst playing through the game in order to fix the many graphical problems throughout the game. Thankfully, 5 years on, there is no use for this and graphical bugs are absent. But the same high requirement game engine is still in place, which will become a pain with those who own lower end systems.
Read more of George Dimmock's Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: The F2P Review.
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Comments
Honestly, the biggest thing for me are the draconic restrictions on free players. I have zero incentive to use the cash shop or subscribe, because if I did I'd only be supporting this kind of system, and it's fucking terrible.
It's a wonderful game and I'm trying to jump back into it (played it at launch and when it worked it was great...it just didn't really work -_-) but it's hard to get excited when the class/race I most want to play are locked and I know I'll be locked out of a ton of other stuff.
That being said, the game still does have a DISGUSTING amount of content. It's really impressive how much content there is in the game despite it not really being updated since launch.
This review: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/147/view/reviews/load/156 gives another perspective on Dimplomacy and Crafting.. Unless they have made changes, I'm suprised to see how different the reviewers percieve them. Only goes to show how we are all different
Character models turned me off. The looked chunky, robust and out of place. The F2P restrictions have kept me away, they are simply too much..
Yeah I have to disagree about diplomacy and crafting. These arent meant to be 'side games' they are meant to be standalone professions, and take just as much time and effort as leveling your adventuring class. It is why you can progress to max level in any one of the spheres and not touch the other two. The diplomacy card game is a lot of fun, and crafting is complex and meaningful, which other games are often criticised on here for being too simple or worthless.
As for performance, yeah its still crap, and the game looks aged. A graphics overhaul would do this game a world of good. Some parts of the world look simply amazing, but the character models really got slaughtered when they did the optimisation patches after launch.
And totally agree about the F2P restrictions. SoE just dont get it, if they make it so everyone can play equally and then milk them for sparkly stuff and appearance gaer they will get a lot more money (and a thriving game which attracts more people) than with the current nickle and dime method.
+1
Just shows how some people haven't got a clue about the diplomacy system or crafting.What other mmo has a whole other item base and armour gear for crafting.You could play this games as a total crafter and not touch the other two spheres,it would take you just as long to level as adventuring and diplomacy.
Crafting has it's own quest and items,this isn't some micky mouse GW2 crafting system.
how's vanguards model different than those theme park games that you listed?
Yea I do have to disagree with much of what the op has said with the exception of the game engine. It really does not matter what type of computer you have, (although a low end will not be able to play the game at all) you are going to have hitching and lag(unless you have an SSD which cuts down on the lag), I got used to it although it can be annoying. That being said Diplomacy and Crafting are an intragal part of the game and it is fun to advance all the spheres instead of just combat after combat. The hardcore players who play the game 40 hours a week are going to run against the f2p model as they will have to start spending money (if you like the game spend some money if not stop playing), the rest of us will spend less. The worse f2p model is AOC, Fallen Earth has an excellent model, Sony are you listening?
This is a great chance to come back to a "old school" mmo with a seemless world and a bunch of features, just keep saying to yourself "The game engine will not ruin my experience. the game engine will not ruin my experience" LOL
I'm sorry reviewer, you missed the entire point of Diplomacy and Crafting completely... and of Vanguard.
I tried to read this article but it doesn't make sense. The reviewer seems like an instant gratification player and that is not what Vanguard is.. it's a game from a previous era when you had to work at things.
This review is just.. well. Yeah.
I think the user score is more accurate but it is expected that someone would review it lower after playing GW2 and other new MMOs.
F2P is a pain. Yes...very much. And they haven't done a lot to improve the game engine, graphics, or any serious content update for several years so I wouldn't rated it very high either.
It is just something about that VG is set up as a world to be explored that makes it worth it in the end.
Playing: PO, EVE
Waiting for: WoD
Favourite MMOs: VG, EVE, FE and DDO
Any person who expresses rage and loathing for an MMO is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.
Not sure what you mean by "model"? Please elaborate.
I asume you are not actually referring to the revenue model, since the three games have a different model right now. So I ll guess you are talking about the game itself.
It's different in so many ways... however, the main difference is depth and scope. VG was not created as a quick grab, but as a very long journey with an insane amount of options. It focuses on community and encourages grouping. Even when farming crafting materials it is more profitable if you do it in a group. And is way way deeper and more inmersive than any of those themeparks. Sumarizing, it's way deeper and wider than your average MMO, and is aiming for a more demanding kind of player.
This is why, despite all the rampant bugs and horrendous release, it is still surviving. Agonizing but surviving. I doubt any of these modern games would have managed in a similar situation.
I hope I did not sound like a fanboi, sigh. It's just an honest opinion.
Yeah thats the impression I got. He obviously started playing mmo's in the post-wow-era.
I disagree with what he said on crafting but sort of agree on DIplomacy,but only coz I don't play MMORPGs to play card games but I can see how others enjoy it,jsut meant this game isn't for me.
But he is dead on on the awful F2P model.
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
"Con:
Diplomacy & crafting are a chore"
I agree with remyburke.. I disagree with this awful review.
"You are all going to poop yourselves." BillMurphy
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone."
I still fail to see why the devs of most of the games that lack of population are reluctant to put AI on their side, saying put god damn hierlings!! DDO has proven to be probably one of the most succesful games on history despite the hate, still collects on the top 5 mmos to the date, and this is purely due the synergy between players, but not alone that, it allows the players to play their heart content at their own peace by placing healers, tanks and casters at their dispossal.
Even using the horrid AI that hierlings have DDO has made what others not, the viability of playing on your own or play in group as you please, if this system were to be introduced on Vanguard i assure you the experience would be amazing, the main problem of vanguard is the huge world, is so inmense that you barely see any npc, and aside of Qualia main city you feel totally alone.
Seriously, having another server handling the Hierlings is not expencive if you think there are 2 servers now and one of them is dead, merge them and optimize your resources, and let the devs work on a hierling system that would revive this game.
What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
Incredibly silly article. This must be the worst "review" given by this website so far.
The positives aren't true, and the negatives are just ridiculous. Crafting and diplomacy is a chore? [mod edit]. Why don't you quit reviewing games that require more than a dozen of active brain cells and get back to your usual click-and-wait crafting so common in almost every themepark out there?
REALITY CHECK
I have played Vanguard at release for a while and also came back after a year or so to check if performance had improved. I loved the crafting and diplomacy. It is one of the few MMO's where I think crafting is very well done (SWG and Ryzom are two others).
But despite loving that system, I also thought its progression was a horrible grind. The only reason I put up with it was because it was an alternative progress for my character and the writs didn't need resources that you had to gather yourself (I really don't like nodehunting anymore).
Apart from that I also think that the F2P restrictions are just not competitive enough in the current market.
Still, if I weren't enjoying different games atm, I would revisit Vanguard. I loved the huge explorable world and I am quite curious about the changes.