Love At First Sight?

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The Vanguard lauch for those that pre-ordered went relatively well. There were issues with the European launch which was unfortunate and caused many a ruffled feather, but those aside things went relatively glitch-free. Shayalyn, our Vanguard Community Manager sent me this link to a picture that sums it up well. Shout-out to Caria, one of our forum members for finding it.

Here are my first impressions of Vanguard. Take them with a grain of salt as I haven't played enough to give a truly educated impression of the game.

The Good

You can have two simultaneous targets, one offensive and one defensive.
The starter quests that I have attempted are interesting and for the most part logical and well described.
Grouping is not required, but it is forcefully encouraged. For some players this will be a "Not-So-Good", but I'm of the opinion that it builds community and that is what gives a game longevity.
You can ride a horse at level 10.
Many race and class choices.
Sigil is reacting to problems and patching quickly.
The "epic" feel of the original EverQuest has been captured well. You feel as if you are in a large world where anything could be around the corner.

The Not-So-Good

Characters get stuck in the environment. I've been stuck at least three times in my limited play. Typing /stuck yes will get you out of your predicament, but it isn't fun to have to run back to where you want to be.
I find the night/day cycle too short. I much prefer the 24 hour cycle in World of Warcraft. Your mileage may vary. I'm sure some players love the short cycle.
Mobs continually fall into the enviroment where you can no longer attack them. Stepping back a few paces usually fixes this, but it shouldn't happen.
I can't see what buffs other players or even my groupmates have.
Soloing becomes increasingly difficult as you level up. (This is also a "Good")
The U.I. isn't as responsive as in most current MMOGs. For instance, switching targets to heal results in a pause while the health bar of your new target fills in the U.I. You get used to it, but you shouldn't have to.

Do yourself a favour and try out a few starter areas before you lock yourself into a main character. After playing a Gnome through 10 levels (on two different classes) I was ready to pull out my hair and embed my skull in my desk. My son wanted to try the game and decided that the Raki (fox-like humanoids) looked cool. We tried them out and I was much happier in that starting zone.

If I can impress anything at all on you about my first hours in the game it is that you will be doing yourself a disservice if you try to rush through the levels. Vanguard is a complex game. It won't be for everyone, but for those that enjoy the game mechanic that it employs will truly love it.

Questions? Our Vanguard community and forums await you. If you are especially interested in what the Sigil developers are posting on our forums just click for the Dev Tracker.

Our Vanguard community is receiving a well deserved graphical revamp today. If you login and things look "wonky", just keep going, you are witnessing the metamorphosis of an ugly duckling into a swan.

Talk to me, either in the comments section of the blog or in our forums!
--
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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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