Vanguard shutting down in July

[Markbnj]

I played Vanguard for a few months at release, and just started messing with it again last week under the F2P model, basically because I was bored. Anyway, it's buggy, unstable, and very old school, but it has still been fun... and free.

Sony just announced that they are flipping the switch on July 31, so if you had any ideas about messing around with it, better have at it .

https://www.vanguardthegame.com/news/vanguard-sunset-announcement

 

[DefDC]

That's a bummer. I always wanted to check it out, but I never had the time to put into an MMO anymore... I'll have to take a peek before it's gone.

 

[Anteaus]

Lol I'm surprised it stayed around as long as it did. I was a Day 1 player and tried to stick with it as long as I could. In the beginning the game was in such bad shape that Sony took control from Sigil (the original developer). If that was a clue about what shape the game was in, Sony gave everyone who had accounts in the early days free keys for the entire EQ2 lineup at that time.

I applaud Sony for trying to make it work but the numbers just never worked.

 

[lupi]

remember that as the first big dud post wow.

 

[Worthington]

Day 1 player here as well. So much potential and yet such a disaster.

 

[Arkadrel]

Day 1 player here as well. So much potential and yet such a disaster.

^ same.

I also gave F2P of it a try, because I kinda missed some of the old school aspects to mmos and loved the deplomacy questing system ect.

That said for all the cool stuff in the game, its F2P implimentation was done really badly.

What I loved most about the game, was the unique combat mechanics.
I loved the idea of a "dreadknight" who was a vampyric type tank, that would teleport behinde a target + backstab drain HP, and debuff targets (vs himself), so as to be able to tank.

I also loved how you could get weird stuff from the story line.
Like you could become a "vampire" ingame, or a "warewolf" and gain extra abilities beyound your normal class type abilities (and drawbacks too), from haveing become say a vampire.



Sony's day1 launch of the game was just to buggy and coded horribly.
It didnt really do multi-threading and the game ran like crap when it was released for all PC users (even high end systems back then).

Now years later on when everyone has the uuumf to play this horribly coded game, its too old, and it shows. The F2P implimentation sucked....

It was bound to die, im surprised it lasted this long.

 

[KMFJD]

1st couple of months were fantastic until you realized all the bugs...had a lot of fun in those 2-3 months though

 

[Nebor]

Day 1 player here. I played on a PvP server and worked hard and diligently through the brutal crafting system to become a high level weaponsmith. That included getting chain-ganked regularly by PKs at the forge who would kill me 10 times in a row just for fun. It was still worth it because I was rich as a result of my skills. Then the gold duping began, and they let it ride for a full month before fixing the bug. The economy was irreparably damaged.

I'll echo what another poster said, so much potential wasted.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I should try this before it disappears. Any want to group up?

 

[Bateluer]

I was a beta player for Vanguard. Never seen an MMO go downhill that fast. Massive bugs, weeks and months without patches, no vision of where they wanted to take the game. Not sure if I should blame Sigil or SOE for the game's failure.

 

[Markbnj]

I was a beta player for Vanguard. Never seen an MMO go downhill that fast. Massive bugs, weeks and months without patches, no vision of where they wanted to take the game. Not sure if I should blame Sigil or SOE for the game's failure.

It's amazing how many of those original day 1 bugs are still there... like crashing or dismounting when chunking, mobs taking damage before you execute your attack, lots of rubber banding. In the sunset announcement Sony reference the game's age and the difficulty of making any changes or updates to it, and I'm sure that was accurate.

 

[Craig234]

While I predicted in 1999 that the future of MMO gaming was primarily towards 'easier' for competitive reasons, Vanguard set out to keep a harder design.

I bought it but never played. Wonder if there are any game bonuses if I bother to install that now. I'll give it a try as well, sorry to see it close.

 

[Bateluer]

Vanguard set out to keep a harder design.

In the last 6 to 8 months of Vanguard's development, they basically stripped all that and went full WoW clone.

 

[Arkadrel]

I wouldnt really call it harder, but I loved that there where plenty of group quest hubs.
Where you where forced to group up to go questing

Also alot of "dungeons" wherent instanced, just a cave opening you went into with your group. That made the world feel alot more "real", also the no teleport anywhere you want stuff.

You had to take ships and long rides, or get on a horse to get places.
Makes exploration alot more fun, which this game actually had.

Its not like alot of other mmos, where there is a linar path to walk and your forced to walk it.

 

[MeldarthX]

I was a beta and day 1 player........played for almost a year. Sigil got screwed not once by twice. First by MS - as they wanted it published before it was close to being ready it was still in Alpha stage. *MS didn't learn anything from there MMO*

Then after Brent secured funding and publishing SOE; when Brad said they needed this amount and another 6 months to finish the game before going live......SOE said nope; we're publishing it now.

All those bugs that would of been fixed; never did; and then SOE basically pushed Brent and his team out; that's why there seemed no leadership. It had the best crafting of any mmo to date. The combat was awesome; the questlines and stories were well done along with needed all three traits for raiding which was awesome.

Pisses me off; because it was the first game that felt like home after EQ; and last game that felt like home after EQ lol......Not even EQ2.......why I'm so interested in Brad's kickstarter......

 

[Worthington]

The crafting was fantastic. I remember messing around with it at the very start simply because I was waiting for friends to get the game and I didn't want to get my adventure levels too high w/o them.
I was hooked. Ended up with the the highest level weaponsmith on the server and part of a tight knit crafting group. Even had to pay someone in game to deal with all the questions and requests I got.

 

[Markbnj]

In the last 6 to 8 months of Vanguard's development, they basically stripped all that and went full WoW clone.

I just played to level 16 without getting killed by a mob once, so yeah .

Oddly, as part of my "try every old MMO tour" I created a WoW character the other night, and he's been killed twice by mobs getting to level 10.

The only thing I recall not liking very much about VG at launch was diplomacy. I didn't hate it, but in general I don't feel motivated by mingames. Anyway, they've managed to make it even worse.

 

[Throckmorton]

No! I just started playing it. It has the best world of any MMO by far. No instancing, huge open world, beautiful artwork, great music.

There's even PLAYER HOUSING in the game world, not instanced.

I hope someone figures out how to run a server.

 

[Nebor]

The crafting was fantastic. I remember messing around with it at the very start simply because I was waiting for friends to get the game and I didn't want to get my adventure levels too high w/o them.
I was hooked. Ended up with the the highest level weaponsmith on the server and part of a tight knit crafting group. Even had to pay someone in game to deal with all the questions and requests I got.

The best crafting mini-game of any game ever. *sizzling sound* "A squirrel jumped on your red hot blade and is melting onto it!" "God damnit, my squirrel scraper is in my other tool belt!"

 

[Worthington]

I miss my house. up on a island overlooking the harbor, right next to the mail box. Totally out of the way and only accessible by ship.

 

[soulcougher73]

I was not a day 1 player. Maybe a year after it was released and played for over a year. I really liked the game personally. Thought about trying it again until i read this news. I liked my bard and i thought the Disciple class was very interesting and fun to play.

 

[Markbnj]

I was not a day 1 player. Maybe a year after it was released and played for over a year. I really liked the game personally. Thought about trying it again until i read this news. I liked my bard and i thought the Disciple class was very interesting and fun to play.

Well you still have about 5 months .

 

[clok1966]

The Brains behind it is currently trying to d the Kickstarter thing (see other thread here)
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Though to be fair I don't think Brad has had anything to do with Vanguard in along time.

 

[Dumac]

Is the game any good nowadays? How strict is the F2P model?

 

[Joeydubbs]

Is the game any good nowadays? How strict is the F2P model?

I'm guessing if it was "good" it wouldn't be shutting down

Not a fan of these mmo's just going off line, leaves the consumer with useless software. Is that expensive to keep a single server up and running? My warhammer discs do make for some nice coasters...