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Post by Fechak on Nov 13, 2006 20:13:38 GMT -5
I'm going to start putting the reviews and such about the betas and pre-builds here. Beta preview
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Post by Kalmorith on Nov 17, 2006 16:47:04 GMT -5
Okay, Fechak, I am gonna trust you on this one. Is this game gonna replace WoW on our schedules? What's your take?
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Post by Fechak on Nov 17, 2006 17:17:37 GMT -5
I'm not going to say for sure until I play the damn thing, but people that have played the alphas and the in-house beta are drooling to get it. So that's at least a good sign. I refuse to be swept up into the hype machine for an in-development MMO again... it's happened to me too many times. Regardless, I'll own it day one and give you front-line reviews as soon as the dust settles.
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Post by Celera on Nov 17, 2006 17:43:22 GMT -5
From what I've read, it will be somewhat harder to play -- you will have to actually aim your bow, and plan the angle of melee attacks. Which will be a lot more fun for most of you, but may not work well for people like me who are old and slow and have poor depth perception. (Did I sound pathetic enough? God.)
But, there are some very cool-sounding things about it. I'm looking forward to hearing more.
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Post by Celera on Jan 23, 2007 16:56:02 GMT -5
OK, this is really about Vanguard, but I know Conan is coming down the road, and I know the expansion isn't going to hold my interest forever, and I'm probably not the only one who is starting to wonder what to waste my time on next.
Anyway, for some reason I was let into a beta test of Vanguard, so I've had it for a couple of weeks and played it some. I had heard some negative reviews, so I sort of expected to hate it, but it actually seemed kind of fun.
Keep in mind that I haven't really played any MMO before WOW.
Also, being me, I started three or four characters and got them all to level four, instead of sticking with one character and getting further along. So my experience is limited. Anyway, for what it's worth, here's my feedback:
It took most of three days to download the damn thing. No idea why. According to the forums I was not the only one to have this problem, although it was not universal. No explanation or solution was offered by the Sigil people on the forums as to why this was happening.
However, once I got the initial install done, future updates went smoothly.
The graphics are much more realistic than WOW. In the sense that chili is much spicier than oatmeal. There are still elves, and wolf-people and orcs, but it is like being in an oil painting instead of a cartoon. Bit of a strain on the performance -- they offered five graphics settings to balance performance and detail -- I did ok on the middle setting.
Everything is much more complicated (which I like). There are more races, and subdivisions of races. There are something like 15 different classes. Crafting seems a bit more complex -- I didn't get into it much. There is a whole diplomacy feature that looks sort of like a cribbage board, and is a bit tricky but it is cool when you figure it out. You can customize your character's appearance a LOT more, and get more wardrobe choices in addition to your armor. There are more different types of weapons, and each class seems to have more types of weapons and spells to choose from.
The game play itself isn't really more complicated, though. you get quests, kill stuff or collect stuff or talk to people, get xp, get new skills. The mechanics of how you use your weapons seems about the same -- misses, hits and crits seem based on some internal formula, not your skill with the mouse or something. I think that might be different in Conan (which is why I'm afraid I won't be able to play it.)
I didn't do any instances or group stuff, but it's all there. People, seemed mostly ok. There were no endless arguments about the definition of rp, no MILF jokes, no calling everything "gay" -- it almost seemed like people I wouldn't mind hanging out with. I never once felt the need to figure out how to turn off the chat channels.
The beta ends tonight, haven't decided yet whether to buy it. It looks about the same price as WOW. I might wait until they work out a few more of the kinks -- there was still a lot of work going on with fixing bugs and adjusting balance issues, for a game that is going to be in the store next week.
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Post by Kielon on Jan 23, 2007 17:32:19 GMT -5
Vanguard constantly crashed my computer when I was beta testing it. The graphics were incomplete on the highest setting and there were a lot of bugs. I find it hard to believe the game that I played no more than two weeks ago is going gold and ready to ship. The good news is that I have a Sony Station account, so it will take me little/no money to play along with this game.
I also have a beta key to LotR and have been playing that. That game, I enjoyed. It shoved you right into the history and backstory (hell, I saw a ringwraith in the newbie area of one of my characters' beginning). The only problem with LotR is that it is a VERY defined story, with little wiggle room to make your character YOUR character, if that makes sense.
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Post by Celera on Jan 23, 2007 18:12:26 GMT -5
I found Vanguard very promising, but I was surprised as well that they are shipping it in a week. They have been making daily changes at least as extensive as any WOW patch we've gotten. The other day there was a change for all quests at lower levels to get 20% more xp. That sounds to me like they aren't nearly as finished as they should be.
I only crashed once, but I do have a pretty new computer. I should look into what it would take to improve the graphics performance, though -- if other new games are as graphics intensive as this, I'm going to want a better ... doohickey. Or a whatsit. Or another gig of something.
I avoided LOTR because usually games based off some other medium are ... well, stupid. Maybe I'll take a look, though. As long as there aren't 5000 people called Legolis and Legolass and what not.
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Post by Fechak on Jan 23, 2007 20:17:53 GMT -5
I've been trying to avoid Vanguard like the plague... SOE must burn.
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Post by Vangelis on Jan 23, 2007 20:51:05 GMT -5
The other day there was a change for all quests at lower levels to get 20% more xp. That is a huge red flag for me. I am really bothered by things like bad game-balance and bad game design, and if they're steering that violently within a week of release I will want no part of it. BC has brought me back to WoW, and I'll remain with Blizzard for a good while yet, for the simple reason that no matter what I'm doing or what character I'm playing, it's always interesting. I never feel like I'm "gimped" or "overpowered", or that the game is "broken". Their support is simply astounding. I always feel like there is a new challenge every time we put together a team and try to do an instance. I fundamentally enjoy the tactical challenge of each battle: what power to use and when, how best to use the tools in my character and/or my group. I needed a break from WoW only because I wanted to finish my other project, and because at that point the only thing left to do was raid (too much time-commitment and too boring) or PvP (broken because of gear disparity). Both of those issues have been fixed: now the 5-man group is king, and with top-tier gear being much more accessible, PvP will be a genuine contest of skill. I have *never* experienced a computer game with this much attention to gameplay, and very much doubt that the new offerings - given what I've seen - will do anything other than have better graphics and more stuff. Mark my words: the players will soon discover the ultimate strategy/build/etc in those games, which will render all other options unplayable. Their devs are likely either to oversteer or deal inadequately with the issues, or simply fold under pressure. Bottom line: by my criteria I expect WoW to be the best game around for at least 2 more years.
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Post by Kielon on Jan 23, 2007 21:04:56 GMT -5
I agree with Van on this one. I think the only WoW killer there will ever be is a World of Starcraft, and that will only take about half of the population of WoW with it. I think WoW is the best, and will remain the best, game out there.
Most of the people who get into betas are fanboys anyway, so you cannot believe the stuff on forums until you actually see the game (I get onto Betas because I have subscribed to a site that offers free beta testing once in awhile, and I have signed in with my guild name, so some of you may be getting offers to get into these betas as well..) .
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Post by Fechak on Jan 30, 2007 20:13:59 GMT -5
Pushed back to Q4 - enough time to get all my alts to 70 hehe
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Post by Fechak on Jul 6, 2007 20:43:04 GMT -5
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Post by Fechak on Aug 10, 2007 10:19:53 GMT -5
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Post by Kielon on Sept 3, 2007 22:29:50 GMT -5
I saw this at DragonCon this weekend and I must say, wow, this looks VERY good. The combat is a little slow, but things look pretty polished and the game more than likely will make its launch in March.
Unfortunately, I did not go to the exhibitor's hall until today, the last day of the Con, and by then I was WAY too tired/hungover/done to even attempt to get in and play a little bit.
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Post by Val on Sept 30, 2007 5:31:40 GMT -5
A little something for the men folk about who are looking for some wicked awesome Barbarian action. And another reason that Celera will never play this game. www.tentonhammer.com/node/11693
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