Remember Vanguard?

[brinstar]

yeah it would go a long way for me if i could get "zen" points (that i'd normally have to pay for) just from playing B:R, even if they'd take forever to pile up

you could look at it like "we're basically giving away money" but on the other hand you could look at it like "we're losing a few pennies a day to this guy who constantly grinds to save up enough Zen for a noob gun, and meanwhile he's populating our servers"

[Lyion]

DDO actually did F2P pretty well. There was no loot restriction of any kind, and basically EVERYTHING that was available to a monthly subscriber was also available via micropayments. The two main things that were restricted were a bunch of the dungeon/mini-raid/raid content (though there was always SOME available at any given level range), and the more unusual class/racial setups. (Drow, monks, etc.) Also, if you played regularly and leveled a class up, you earned the same currency that bought you access to closed content just by playing, and could buy a few of the upgrades without having to spend $$$.

DDO had its own issues, including a near-complete lack of soloability, but it definitely did the F2P/Micropayments model VERY well.

DDO had a great design. It's problems were mostly implementation and writing, both which were seriously lacking. The intro quest was reminiscent of the D&D cartoon, and I don't mean that in any sort of positive light. It was awful. Whoever decided on the DM voice should really be blacklisted from ever being in the gaming industry, too.

Their F2P model is the right idea and their game is good. It's just not polished and has a lot of quirks.

I'll login and check out Vanguard, but I probably won't be interested in a gimped game that requires 15/mo to play.

[Zanchief]

Been playing a bit. It's fun but it just seems like more of the same for me. Fetch quests, kill stuff, return to quest giver for reward. I'm guessing it will get a lot harder latter, which was there selling point, but that will likely just turn me off as I like to solo.

Not bad though. Runs pretty smooth on my less then stellar laptop.

[Tossica]

Once you leave the noob island the world becomes overwhelmingly huge. There's no way to see even a large percentage of it with one character. A lot of the quests are your typical "kill 10 X" type things but there are some really interesting ones as well. I like how they handle death as well. When you die, all of your stuff and a percentage of XP is left on your tombstone at the point of death. You can either fight your way back to where you died or opt to summon your tombstone to your bind point, eating the XP.

[Zanchief]

What do you think will be the most difficult thing about the F2P model?

[Tossica]

Looks pretty reasonable to me if you're a casual player. Access to common loot only might be a bummer but other than that, I don't think any of those restrictions will limit the "fun".

[Tossica]

http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts ... c_id=57701

[Tikker]

.

[Kaemon]

I did enjoy the game when I played it. I would give it another shot if they make those changes to FTP.

[Lyion]

Some good changes...

http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts ... c_id=57701

As we continue to progress toward the Free-to-Play transition, we are considering making a few changes to our Free-to-Play matrix. Below are some of the ideas we are discussing internally. We'd love to add your feedback to the mix before we make any decisions! Please note that this thread will be heavily moderated to ensure useful, constructive feedback.

For COIN allowance, we bumped the coin limit from 1 plat to 3 plat for FREE players.
For ITEMS, we included "Uncommon and higher" for FREE players. Some items will still be limited but it will be on a case by case basis.
For In-game Mailing, we give FREE players full access, but at higher mailing rates.
For CHAT, we give FREE players full access.
For the BROKER system, we give FREE players full access, but at higher broker fees for placing items up for sale.

[Zanchief]

I'm still low lvl (I think 10 now) but I'm enjoying it. Feels more EQ then WoW but it's starting to get hard to solo, especially in dungeons. It's fine for a big boy game, but the way I play, about 1 hour a day, it can get frustrating since I'm not looking to make a network of friends to play with. Oh well. Better then I thought. I guess I'll keep at it until it gets too hard.

[Lyion]

Is it free to play already? I'd check it out, but not shelling 15 for it.

[Tossica]

The newbie island is free. You can't leave the island and you can't go over level 10. I'm not sure on the official F2P yet.

Zan, if you want an easier to solo class, try out the Disciple. You get great heal over time spells that trigger when you land different combos. Monk/cleric hybrid.

[Tossica]

There are definitely areas that will kick your ass solo but there's always something else to do as well. The world is HUGE.

[Zanchief]

I'm playing a ranger right now and it's easy when I'm far away from mobs, but very difficult in caves and dungeons. When does the F2P go live? I kind of figured that's what I was playing. I guess I'm almost done.

[Tossica]

I don't think they've said when it will go live.

[Lyion]

Greetings Telonians!

The Vanguard Saga of Heroes transition to free-to-play is just around the corner! We are pleased to announce that the official launch date is Tuesday, August 14, 2012! Mark the date on your calendar!

Typical SOE.. Launch their F2P a week before GW2 and a month before the WOW expansion..

[Tossica]

F2P now AND they are adding new content!?!?! First time in over 2-3 years since there has been a content update. Might be a real game after all!

[Menelvir]

I got an email the other day from SOE re: Vanguard going F2P, so I went ahead and started the client download (have not played it yet).

Just out of curiousity, since there's been a fair amount of criticism: what is it about EQ2 that (seemingly) everyone universally despises?

I've enjoyed playing EQ2 off and on over the years, and I really thought (and still think) that some of the design and the (intent behind) some of the mechanics were interesting and fun. Eventually, everything gets old, and that I understand, but I can't really understand the disappointment so many seem to have with it.

[Tossica]

Been putting some time in to this one again.

Best MMO since EQ for sure.

The penalty for death and overall difficulty isn't quite as high as I'd prefer but it's sure come a long way since launch. I guess they finally released a new expansion for it and it's now gone f2p up to level 20 at least.

If anyone gets on, look me up. Klauze on Telon.

[Tossica]

Playing the shit outta this. Lvl 18. Totally immersed.

[Sithos]

Been playing this for a couple days now as a ranger. It certainly does remind me of EQ in many ways. Had some leftover SoE points or whatnot and bought a +20% run speed bag and unlocked my class/race combo so I can level past 20. The world is insanely huge. So many places to go at almost every level. Had some 55 run me through the hunters league quest line and that gear is ridiculous compared to what I have now.Think I'm gonna sub for a month and see. So far it's been quite enjoyable even playing just a few hours here and there.

[Tossica]

Been playing this for a couple days now as a ranger. It certainly does remind me of EQ in many ways. Had some leftover SoE points or whatnot and bought a +20% run speed bag and unlocked my class/race combo so I can level past 20. The world is insanely huge. So many places to go at almost every level. Had some 55 run me through the hunters league quest line and that gear is ridiculous compared to what I have now.Think I'm gonna sub for a month and see. So far it's been quite enjoyable even playing just a few hours here and there.

I'm a part timer but put me on your friends list. I assume you're on Telon? I'm a lvl 18 gnome disciple. Klauze

[Zanchief]

Why not. I'll install it atleast. With my Dark Souls boner right now, I doubt I have time but meh, it was fun.

[Sithos]

Been playing this for a couple days now as a ranger. It certainly does remind me of EQ in many ways. Had some leftover SoE points or whatnot and bought a +20% run speed bag and unlocked my class/race combo so I can level past 20. The world is insanely huge. So many places to go at almost every level. Had some 55 run me through the hunters league quest line and that gear is ridiculous compared to what I have now.Think I'm gonna sub for a month and see. So far it's been quite enjoyable even playing just a few hours here and there.

I'm a part timer but put me on your friends list. I assume you're on Telon? I'm a lvl 18 gnome disciple. Klauze

Ya I'm on Telon,hit 24 earlier today. One thing that is annoying is that on the map it shows certain zones as certain levels. But I've found that each zone will have a few "Solo" quests,working into "Small Group" quests and then 3/4 of the remaining quests are for full groups. Be ok if the server pop wasn't so top heavy. I can solo up to the "Small Group" stuff as a ranger due to being able to kite multiple mobs as needed. Other than that,I am still enjoying it a ton. Just means I hop from zone to zone to get xp once I can't solo anymore. Heard it gets a ton better when you hit 30+ as there's always groups looking to do stuff. I also subbed today for a month mostly so I could equip the gold member only gear that I had from some quests. Solo is alot easier now.