Profile: Eiindyin
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• • The Genre Feels Stale (A Veteran's Ramblings)

  • Have you tried Vanguard?  I know it launched as a buggy ass failed attempt of an MMO, but the Devs have really turned the game around.

    1) A wide selection of classes/races, unique appearances/armor styles

    There is a new starting area called Isle of Dawn that by level 11, you have a full set of unique armor.  There are three different continental styles that appear different, and as you level up there are multiple quests that have gear sets like the Hunter's League quest, the Swamps Armor, and the set you can get from collecting coins just to name a few.

    There are a ton of races and clases, 15 classes total, and a LOT of them have different specs you can go.  For example, the ranger can do a quest to become a melee ranger or a ranged ranger, the shaman can become a bird, wolf, or bear shaman and each one is very different than the others in terms of playstyle and capabilities.  There are 19 races as well, and each one has it's own individual racial ability.  As you level up you get attribute points that you can put in various core stats like dex etc., like EQ. 

     

    2) Size/diversity of the world/environments

    The world is HUGE.  Honestly it would take you a long time to run from one side of the continent to the other, and there's 3 continents.  I mean this game is gigantic! The areas all don't look the same either, on each continent there are different archetecture styles, and there are a TON of dungeons in this game.  I mean a ton.  There are no loading screens either, unless you rift or recall to a zone not touching the one you're in, loading across chunk lines is "seamless" although there is a little loading as you hit the line but it takes only a moment.

    There are a lot of overland bosses, and one big 18 man raid dungeon.  The bosses all have different strats, it's not all just tank and spank.  They're coming out with new group content in the next patch, and their second raid dungeon is due out in Jan/Feb-ish.

    The artwork is beautful in this game, and it's the closest thing, gameplay wise to oldschool everquest that I could find.

     

    3) Challenge/complexity of quests/content

    There is a death penalty, you lose XP when you die unless you retrieve your corpse.  You will rez at the nearest altar unless you release to your bind point, so it's a toned down version of EQ's death penalty system.  They're reworking it on Test atm to make it more difficult so you also will revive with a debuff that stacks up to -50% on stats if you keep dying.

    There are TONS of quests, and LOTS to do.  I'm level 50, which is the cap, and I haven't done a lot of adventuring yet.  There are coin collection quests that get you a flying mount, a racial mount, and gear that I've not done.  I've completed the raid dungeon, but there are a lot of group dungeons I'm still experiencing for the first time.  There a lot of quests that are not just kill X and bring me Y quests.  I believe they're adding a new group dungeon geared towards the 50s that's supposed to come out soon, we tested it out with the devs on test, it looks pretty cool :)

    If you rolled on the PVP server, like I have you'll always have the challenge of PVP.  It's very addicting, and the fights are balanced in group v group and raid v raid, but not so much 1v1 so you always have to be leary about who is in your zone and try to keep friends around you.

    There are 3 spheres, diplomacy which is a pretty fun card-like game you play against NPCs and once you get to the higher levels they can give you pretty big buffs.  The crafting sphere is similar to EQ2's crafting and a lot of people enjoy it but crafting is not really my thing.  Point is, there is always something to do, and if you PVP, there's always people to kill.

     

    4) Community

    The community on Sartok, the PVP server, is thin, but I wouldn't trade them for the world.  Everyone is tight-knit and knows who everyone else is and what guilds are good and what guilds RandomPlayerKill.  We have our crafters on the server that everyone goes to to get things made, and we have our elite guilds, our casual guilds, and others that fall inbetween.   As soon as you get involved a little bit in the guild politics on the PVP server you'll find yourself immersed in the game moreso than a PVE server could offer because you get to know everyone on another level and the people they kill or help effects you and your guild.

    It's a great community, and a lot of people are willing to help if asked.  If you rolled on the PVP server, Sartok, look for Eiindyin and I'll be happy to give you a helping hand if you needed some money to get up on your feet or help with some quests.

     

    5) A sense of wonder/non-linear gameplay
     

    There are things in this game that amaze me.  There are multiple kinds of flying mounts, boats of different sizes, mounts of all different kinds. The gameplay is very sandboxy because you can go wherever you want without running on 'tracks' like the modern MMOs do.  There are various areas to level at all times, and the first time you see a race from another continent it's kinda like "whoa." 

    They're adding in AA's, I think exactly like EQ had them from my understanding.  So you can get all of them instead of EQ2ish where you could just get a couple.  This game truly is what EQ2 should have been, but it did not launch that way.  Anyway, here are some awe-inspiring screenshots that I took as I leveled.  There are raid bosses, Kotasoth being the last in the raid dungeon.  There is one of my flying mount, and a few things I thought looked pretty cool. I put alt tags on them if you want to know what they are.

    I know this game has a bad past, but look past it and try it now, you won't be disappointed. http://www.joinvanguard.com/en/ <--- there's a free trial on the link called Isle of Dawn.  I did it for the first time a few weeks ago and it was very fun and showed a lot of what the game has to offer.

    

  • Posted: 11/12/08 11:26 AM
    General Discussion
• • LF Immersion!

  • If you're looking for a game to immerse you, I suggest Vanguard.  Through all it's faults at launch, the game has turned around and although the population is lowish at the moment, there are people always willing to help a new comer. 

    If you decide to pick it up, or want to try it, there's a free trial http://www.joinvanguard.com/en/

    it's called the Isle of Dawn.  You can get to 11 on it, and experience the different spheres of crafting, diplomacy, and adventuring.  I ran through it for the first time a few weeks ago and it was a blast!

    I'm on the PVP server, Sartok, my characters name is Eiindyin if you have any questions or need help with something if you decide to pick up the game.

  • Posted: 11/12/08 10:41 AM
    General Discussion