Vanguard Beta Leaks Like a Russian Pipeline
Vanguard Beta has been plagued by a number of NDA breaches, most of them distinctly negative. Some of the juicier details that have leaked in the past are the low beta attendance numbers (100-200 players at peak times, out of several thousand testers) and word of a huge 130+ questions survey that Sigil sent out to inquire why nobody wants to play their game. Ouch.
The most recent NDA breach, to my knowledge, was the posting of a number of screenshots on the FOH Forums. The screenshots were taken on a mid-range PC and are probably indicative of the level of visual quality most players who don’t have high-end hardware can expect.
What I found most disheartening about these screenshots is the apparent blandness of the landscape. It’s all rolling hills as far as the eye can see, there are very little distinguishing features. The landscape looks like it has been created with the help of some sort of middleware for algorithmic terrain generation. It all looks rather sterile and objects like trees and structures look oddly out of place. The most horrible part of it is the combination of low-res landscape textures and bump mapping, which can best be seen on this screenshot. Apparently, the bump-maps are supposed to make up for the fact that the textures lack in detail and diversity. It doesn’t work. The result looks like a moon landscape.
Bump Mapping everything doesn’t magically make a game look good. There are good uses for bump maps and then there are cases in which the technology doesn’t really offer anything in terms of visual quality. I feel that someone at Sigil called some really bad shots with regard to technology, artwork and visuals. Besides the ugliness of the terrain when viewed from a distance, Vanguard’s bump mapping approach also breaks down horribly when viewed from up close. This screenshot is a good example. The road textures look OK when viewed from a steep angle but as the angle of view gets flatter it all turns into one distusting grey/brown low-res mess. Bump Mapping is no substitute for good texturing.
I find Vanguard’s graphics rather unappealing but that’s something I could live with if the game had kick-ass gameplay and great content. Problem is, the information from the beta leaks doesn’t really reinforce my confidence in Vanguard’s gameplay or the quality of its content. I’ve compiled some of the more interesting postings by beta testers that can be found in public forums. The comments are predominantly slanted towards the negative, probably because beta testers who actually like the game won’t risk getting kicked out of beta for breaching the NDA. Keeping that in mind, I still think these postings offer an interesting insight on the current state of Vanguard’s beta.
I’m on a 7800 GTX, 3.7 AMD 64 bit with 2 gigs of ram – the game runs consistently at under 20fps. I don’t mind that, it’s in beta and I’m sure it’ll be optimized, but a prerequisite for me not minding about shitty frame rate is if the game has jaw dropping visuals, it doesn’t.
The characters are ugly, they’re not especially detailed, totally bland with terrible hair – these characters are sub par to Galaxies, and in fairness Galaxies had a better customization system.
The environment is bland, the tree’s jut out awkwardly from the landscape, none of it really blends together, sure it’s big but there’s nothing of any interest, and lets not mention the water. NPC’s, enemies, armor, weapons – there’s no imagination here [...]
Having played this game I would definitely put my money on Microsft being able to see how big a stinker this game is [...]
They just recently sent out a survey to beta testers asking why they don’t play the game and what they should do to improve it and make it fun. 9 months into beta. They don’t know how to make their game enjoyable.
The truth is they have had no direction or concept beyond “make Everquest again” and not only did they fail in doing that, even if they manage to succeed through some divine miracle it will still suck because it’s a horrible idea to simply copy one of the first generation MMOs with gameplay that no one in their right mind enjoys anymore.
They touted it as a next generation MMORPG when it is a step backwards in every single aspect.
I think Vanguard is shit. I don’t want you thinking I am a whiner who hates difficult gameplay. The problem with Vanguard is that it tries to keep things like horrible travel times and unforgiving difficulty but DOESN’T keep the charm of Everquest.
The art style is horribly generic, so nothing feels special or interesting. When my Gnome Wizard in Everquest returned to Ak’Anon, it felt like home. There was a certain joy in meeting friends at Kelethin bank. When I played a dark elf, I loved looking at the corpses of idiot ‘good guys’ that got wrecked by Dragoons. Similarly, I loved the danger of trying to sneak through Guk, or finally taking down some great evil like Venril Sathir or Trakanon. I felt GOOD about these things. [...]
Vanguard has no such feeling. Locations serve only as a place to click on people for quests, or click on people to kill. There’s no feeling of accomplishment, just annoyance. Nothing has any personality. The gameplay is nothing special, so it isn’t even fun. I can’t go into specifics for the same reason that others can’t, but I can say that I see no reason to play Vanguard. I’d love for a game to capture the feeling of Pre-Luclin Everquest, but Vanguard is not it.
Vanguard doesn’t have the art style or the humor of WoW. It’s not nearly as optimized (which is fair since Vanguard is in beta), and while it’s much harder, it somehow manages to be less rewarding. WoW may be very close to instant gratification, but sometimes it seems like Vanguard has zero gratification. [...]
It’s not the fun kind of difficult, its the tedious and irritating kind of difficult. [...]
With no personality, no enjoyment, and seemingly no fanbase, this isn’t EQ. This is just a bad game.
It doesn’t attempt anything new, infact it disregards any and every improvement made to the genre since original EQ. It runs like pure shit on every computer, and it’s a mystery why, because it’s ugly, bland and unimaginative. It’s like someone gave a bunch of retards the ability to bump map high resolution textures and let them have at the world.
The models are ridiculously bad. You’d think since they recycled 1 model for every single race in the entire game that 1 model would atleast be decent, it’s not.
This game has no direction whatsoever, if someone told me the developers had been locked away in a basement somewhere since the release of EQ I would believe it. These people simply don’t have it in them to make an entertaining, current mmorpg.
If you pine for the days of sitting with a group killing things over and over in some random, barren location, and wish not only that you could revisit your days of killing wildlife in the karanas, but do it with sub 15 fps, then Vanguard is the game for you.
I really can’t go into depth beyond that because this game is that vapid, it has absolutely no depth to it. I can’t tell you gameplay element x doesn’t work nearly as well in this game it does in WoW, because this game doesn’t have it. It has running around killing things and it has sitting around complaining about how shitty it is.
the most generic korean mmo has more going for it than Vanguard. I can’t think of anything else to say beyond that.
Combat is just reaction not planning. As a melee tank most of my time in combat is spent waiting for certain icons and refresh timers to pop up so I can hit a skill. My skills just seem to do a little more dmg and nothing else. I’ve yet to see the big deal about all the talk of targeting a certain part of an enemy(like an arm or leg) to take advantage of a weakness. [...]
The story arc of the main starting town is help protect the world from the undead forces behind a wall. The wall is about 80 feet long and has less then 10 guards. Your main contribution to this effort is to bring them a sack of food. In 3 quest, including one that just tells you to run up the road alittle further, you cover this whole story arc. The other starting town I tried doesn’t seem to have any type of story. [...]
Most dungeons just have one path through them and no good camp spots. Mobs respawn so fast that you just have to burn through the place as fast as you can. Get 3 groups in a dungeon and it becomes over crowded.
CR’s still suck. If I want to spend an extra hour of my time playing a game its not to recover my body from a dungeon with a super fast respawn rate.
Character creation involves stretching your character out like putty to make it taller or larger. It lookes horrible. [...]
I can’t say strongly enough though that this game just feels wrong and that the design philosphy just seems to be out of touch. Its like something I should have tried in 2000 not 2006. Besides rethinking the whole game I don’t see how they can save it. After putting a week into when I first got into beta and then a few more when the fileplanet relaese hit I just can’t get myself to log on. It just makes me sad after all the hopes I had for this game.
There’s alot of shit in the game that makes no sense, specifically the complete lack of direction at low levels, the terribly bugged animations and…god, lots else. The most amazing thing is the game somehow manages to be so complicated and so mind numbingly simple at the same time. I have 6 buttons to push in a fight, and combined theres something like 30 different effects I can push out as a ranger. Holy shit, that is the most pointless shit I’ve ever seen, and I don’t even want to go into it. [...]
With that said, I STILL have faith in the game for some reason. If made concise the combat system has the potential to be pretty fun, and the non cookie cutter dungeons are pretty good. Of course there’s something like 3? non CC dungeons.
On a related note: Russia plans to build a new pipeline; Poland is pissed.
8-21-2006 @ 15:06
“The most recent NDA breach, to my knowledge, was the posting of a number of screenshots on the FOH Forums. The screenshots were taken on a mid-range PC and are probably indicative of the level of visual quality most players who don’t have high-end hardware can expect.”
Umm…the screenshots that were posted on the FOH forums were by Brad McQuaid (the president of Sigil) being that he’s been a member of Fires of Heaven since EQ1. This makes your statement ignorant and you didnt research it enough.
The rest of your review tells me that:
1 – You obviously review games that are under beta all the time and have no earthly clue what you are talking about.
2 – You sound like another WoW fanboi that has the “my WoW game is holier than thou” ring to it. Do you WoW players bash every game you come across that isn’t “easy mode” that WoW is? Truely predictable.
8-25-2006 @ 04:05
The screenshots I was referring to (back in May) were not posted by Brad McQuaid. The link doesn’t seem to work anymore, anyway they were not posted under Brad’s forum nick and it did spark quite a discussion about beta leaks. Plus, Brad has never been a member of FoH, at least not to my knowledge.
I’d also like to point out that this Blog entry isn’t a “review” of beta Vanguard, it is a collection and a comment on the information that leaked to the public via various beta breaches in May of this year.
With regard to your “WoW fanboi” comment, I’d like to refer you to the “About” page linked on the left, where you can check out my “MMORPG credentials”, if you must.
9-5-2006 @ 23:17
Oh please let me set this record straight. I have been in Beta 3 since it started and your so full of shit it aint even funny. The dungeons are amazing. Best I have seen in ANY game ever. Yes Better than EQ1. Next the graphics are better than ANY MMO out now and most that are coming out. The music is superb . The quests are way better than WOW’s and there are tons. Folks dont believe the naysayers they are not playing the same game I am. lol
9-28-2006 @ 18:04
KK, the quotes you’ve posted are pretty much dead on.
I am a beta tester, but unlike most others I’m not gushing at the gills to praise or damn the game. Vanguard is what it is, for better or for worse. Every game has it’s strengths and weaknesses and V:SOH’s strength is that for everyone out there who said “I’d just love to play EverQuest Live again if only it had updated graphics..” .. well, V:SOH is for you.
For the rest of us.. probably should be looking elsewhere. Age of Conan looks promising, but I am so tired of fantasy MMO’s.I feel like a man sitting at a bus station waiting on a bus that never comes: a SciFi MMO since AO that is worth playing.
10-19-2006 @ 16:29
Vanguard is a huge dissapointment and I see it do more or less thesame route as DDO. It’s Everquest 2 with WoWish interface. The game still crashes every 10 minutes, it runs *HORRID* and is a pig on resources. I don’t know who did coding on most of this but it is a mess and there is no way that they will fix this by release, or anytime soon afterwards. I played Beta for 1 day and logged in few times since, it is that bad. Everquest 2 is a *much* better game if you are into this kind of stuff. Personally I think that the only mmos with any hope comeing up are Tabula Rasa / Age of COnan / Warhammer with Warhammer obviously being the new 900 lbs gorilla on the market.
11-2-2006 @ 06:10
This blog entry was posted in May. It is now November and the game seems to be 2-3 years from completion. It is a lifeless, awkward, mess of a game.
Even considering it’s beta status this game is simply a disaster. Vanguard plays like a High School computer class project.
11-14-2006 @ 20:16
I was thrilled when I got a beta invite to this game a few weeks ago. But I was absolutely shocked the first time I logged in and played. I concur with most of the criticisms up above, and as far as EtKiller and his glowing comments, he’s either playing a version of the game none of us have seen before or he’s got a serious drug problem.
11-15-2006 @ 17:00
There just can’t be enough bad things said about this game…
I myself was in beta, and it was like a time machine to 2001 with graphics from 2003/4…
Now that SOE is in the mix it won’t even keep its core market: people who want to play EQ again without SOE around…
And Brad being involved in FOH tell you something: the days of GM’s and Devs being founding members of uberguilds that get all the perks and game support are back! Join them or miss out on all the good content!
12-28-2006 @ 09:31
Gotto agree with the articles, it’s a terrible game. It’s a disenchanted, ugly game that is groping for a part of the WoW pie but they do not know how to do it. This is no smooth, artfull, colorfull and easy to get into game like WoW, yet it misses all the enchantment of EQ too, like an intriguing political and racial landscape, alive dungeons and the many twists and turns that a well designed EQ-zone could give you. I can cover the starter areas of Elves, Humans, Halflings and Dwarves in a single evening, on foot as a level 6. Not once did I get the feeling that the political or racial landscape changed, that I was arriving in strange lands. No Sense of Wonder.
NPC’s in VG are quest automatons, lifeless, everything goes through popup screens and clicks(no NPC dialogue in your chat box or for others to hear) making interaction with NPC’s even more lifeless and hands off, a gazillion small RPG details have simply been scrapped, the UI is the most generic and boring I have ever seen, there is TLC and other terrible mechanisms all to failsafe and foolproof their game: but without the fun gameplay of WoW and EQ. Fishing? Never heard of that in VG. Faction, KoS? Implemented in the most hands off way so that it completely fails to spice up the world or your gameplay experience. It’s too much too mention.
VG misses the mark on so many things, small and large, that it is almost embarassing.
12-28-2006 @ 09:33
Im in beta as well…and i love the game its realy fun, its not OVERLY addicting but its good…its like having a realy nice fishing rod and a uber shiny cool real and a nice expensive line…but no hook…it has no hook..WHERE IS THE HOOK!!?!?! nope dont have one lol , so a lot of ppl are not gonna get caught by this game..but for the ones that do stick w/ it…you will have fun ^^. btw its in Beta 4 now and they are working on a lot of stuff and it is inproving.
~HappyGaming
12-28-2006 @ 09:40
I was looking forward to Vanguard and had followed it for 1 and 1/2 years. There were so many promises and ideas that sounded exciting and revolutionary… yet when I entered beta with my CGM beta code, the game was nothing like I read. So much is lacking and there is no zazz like WoW has. And this is coming from an Everquest fanatic who desperately seeks a game like EQ. They’ve revamped zones, classes, systems so many freaking times that there seems to be no sense of gameplay… as odd as it sounds.
This game is NOT ready for release at all! No MMO ships complete, but they shouldn’t ship as a piece of shit either. Vanguard is just about to do that, and take it from a beta tester.
12-28-2006 @ 10:52
I am in beta 4 of game testing in Vangaurd. I was given a beta key at a point in this beta that is considered to be nearing the end of this cycle. The truth is this game is not ready for a open beta. I want Vanguard to do well but this game is not ready for the public to view it in a beta form yet. A bad open beta launch is almost as bad as a bad retail launch. There are still performance issues, servers which crash, problems with database errors not saving character information, npc models which show up with missing textures or screwed up textures, a questing system that needs work…ie if you abandon a chain quest you have no chance to start over from the last point you were at previous to the last quest you did in that quest chain.
There are a ton of game mechanics, performance issues, and quality issues that needs to be fixed to consider beta 4 done and ready for beta 5. If they have a open beta within the next month they are going to shoot themselves in the foot if they do not address the current issues found in BETA 4 of the game. I do not have anything against this game. I actually like the game play mechanics being pushed by Sigil but for god’s sake fix the problems in beta 4 and optimize the performance before going to beta 5.
12-28-2006 @ 17:04
Try to review a Game that is released and graphics is not a good thing to make 3 paragraphs about its not what makes a game. look at wow for example. You have nothing to say about the gameplay ? please go back to fps you fools
12-28-2006 @ 22:35
In all fairness you could probably find an equal amount of positive reviews and comments from beta testers quite easily. Oh, and yea, it’s *beta*.
1-3-2007 @ 01:44
“I played Beta for 1 day and logged in few times since”
Clearly most beta testers who don’t enjoy this game walked away as I did at the inception of our invitations.
If you havn’t logged in now, during beta 4, and played at least to level 11, your opinions are not responsible and clearly lacking in substnace.
Most of the claims made on here are an absolute uneducated mockery of the truth behind Sigil’s piece. But then again, we’ll have to wait until open beta for general opinion to be clearly defined.