Why now? Vanguard launches 14 days free trial.

[apop]

In the world series of bad timing this might just be a homerun.

Launching a 14 day trial for Vanguard  the day after WAR was released isnt really bright now is it?  Anyway, if the offchance somebody (unlikely as that might be) didnt like WAR and need to try something to get theire mmo-fix before Wotlk hits the streets I just tought I should mention it.

http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/newsArchive.vm?id=717&section=News

[Grimwell]

It wasn't a strategic move to attack the WAR audience and poach sales. It's been a long term goal for that team to have a trial so people can see the game for what it currently is and experience it first hand. It went out because it was done and ready to go live. Simple as that.

Yes, I'm a shill. Get over it. :)

[Mrbloodworth]

They have been working on the trial of the isle 14 day trial island for a while now.

[Yegolev]

Ah, so 14-day trial required a Newbie Island.  That makes some sense.

Do they have tails yet?

[schild]

It wasn't a strategic move to attack the WAR audience and poach sales. It's been a long term goal for that team to have a trial so people can see the game for what it currently is and experience it first hand. It went out because it was done and ready to go live. Simple as that.

Yes, I'm a shill. Get over it. :)

You work on Vanguard now?

I'm so, so sorry.

[Cylus]

You work on Vanguard now?

I'm so, so sorry.

LOL, dick.

[Triforcer]

It wasn't a strategic move to attack the WAR audience and poach sales. It's been a long term goal for that team to have a trial so people can see the game for what it currently is and experience it first hand. It went out because it was done and ready to go live. Simple as that.

Yes, I'm a shill. Get over it. :)

You work on Vanguard now?

I'm so, so sorry.

Wouldn't having a father associated with Vanguard be even MORE devastating than than that time Grimwell's son saw naughty words on SND/player2player?  Just sayin'. 

[Mrbloodworth]

Ah, so 14-day trial required a Newbie Island.  That makes some sense.

Do they have tails yet?

specifically, because that would be all you have to download for the trial.

[Ghambit]

So is this newbie island anything like Tortage?   

[Mrbloodworth]

So is this newbie island anything like Tortage?   

I would assume more like eq2, as that was the model.

[Yegolev]

So is this newbie island anything like Tortage?   

I would assume more like eq2, as that was the model.

So the newbie quests are buggy?

[Grimwell]

Fun Trivia:

• They went with an island to avoid a full client download. When you consider the size of the full client... that's a good decision.
• I don't work on Vanguard, one of my employees does
• I'm not paid to worry about what my kid sees on these forums. Context is meaningful -- but good one for the sake of memories
• My kid raids now. He is pure awesome. 

[Venkman]

EQ2 model. Worked then too. It's just poor timing to launch it now. Anything that doesn't have the words "Blizzard" or "Bioware" next to "MMO" has no business even considering major activity in Q4. Yea, technically another week, but the big ass hype has already begun. VG could pay people to play and still nobody would hear them under the glare from the lights of Spore, much less WAR, much less the other adjacent-to-MMO-player distractions coming through the end of the gift card purchase cycle in January.

So here's hoping the VG team has plans for another one of these come, say, February

[Ratman_tf]

My POTBS account got 14 day trials for almost everything SOE has.

I played some SWG for old times sake. Rant Rant they broke it, move on.

I reloaded Everquest just for shits and giggles. Burning Hatred for the UI. Didn't make it out of the newbie caves. Plus the client won't save any changes I make in the options. I have to reset my graphics settings and it has a tendency to fuck with my settings when the game closes as well.  Necessitating a complete reboot. And to add a cherry to the bannana split of suck, there's no way to uninstall EQ. You have to manually delete the folder. 

So now I'm looking at EQ2 and Vanguard and thinking... More DIKU fantasy? Why?

[Slyfeind]

And to add a cherry to the bannana split of suck, there's no way to uninstall EQ. You have to manually delete the folder. 

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs works for me....

[Ratman_tf]

And to add a cherry to the bannana split of suck, there's no way to uninstall EQ. You have to manually delete the folder. 

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs works for me....

Tried that. No entry in Add/Remove programs, no uninstall utility on the Start menu.

It might be because I downloaded the program through Station Launcher intead of using CDs.

[UnSub]

And to add a cherry to the bannana split of suck, there's no way to uninstall EQ. You have to manually delete the folder. 

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs works for me....

Tried that. No entry in Add/Remove programs, no uninstall utility on the Start menu.

It might be because I downloaded the program through Station Launcher intead of using CDs.

I had the same issue with the MxO trial I dl'd through the Launcher. Not even sure if I've uninstalled MxO, now that you mention it...

[taolurker]

I think anything you download through the Statio Launcher needs to be un-installed through it as well... I never really used it though.

Also PotBS had a free trial now too, but since I finally got fed up and cancelled my subscription (after they screwed PvP AGAIN and made the entire population flee) I can't even recommend that anymore.

[SuperPopTart]

I think anything you download through the Statio Launcher needs to be un-installed through it as well... I never really used it though.

Also PotBS had a free trial now too, but since I finally got fed up and cancelled my subscription (after they screwed PvP AGAIN and made the entire population flee) I can't even recommend that anymore.

It doesn't. I just uninstalled and quit EQ after many years. I uninstalled the way nature intended, through the control panel.

[Koyasha]

Good to hear.  I've been wanting to try Vanguard for a while but there was no way they're getting any of my money unless I could see something decent enough to play for a few weeks at least.  Now, maybe next time I'm bored with other things and think of it I can actually try it.  Of course, the timing is poor, but unless this is gonna be some kind of limited-time offer, who cares when they start offering free trials, as long as from now on there's always one available.

[Ubvman]

Frankly I think these isolated "noobler" island / cave trials are more than a little deceptive.

I've played the EQ1 noob caves - You know, I could have sworn that i was playing a distorted copy of WoW but with even worse graphics if its at all possible. The hallmark of EQ1 is enforced grouping and hardcore NON-quest grinds; every aspect of it was absent in the trial. Everything was soloable and involved quests - the very anti-thesis of "NEVERQUEST" (you know what I mean). And going deeper into the trial caves, you encounter gameplay that just does not exist in the game (no downtime? for a game thats FULL of downtime?)  Its essentially shilling for a game that does not exist.

I don't know about the new Vanguard and EQ2 trials but the standard SOE bait and switch tactics would apply to them as well.

On the other hand, If you actually fall for this trial crap and end up with a game you hate, the newbie will realize that SOE IS EVIL! (just spelt wrong...) and run away screaming.

[Count Nerfedalot]

Frankly I think these isolated "noobler" island / cave trials are more than a little deceptive.

I've played the EQ1 noob caves - You know, I could have sworn that i was playing a distorted copy of WoW but with even worse graphics if its at all possible. The hallmark of EQ1 is enforced grouping and hardcore NON-quest grinds; every aspect of it was absent in the trial. Everything was soloable and involved quests - the very anti-thesis of "NEVERQUEST" (you know what I mean). And going deeper into the trial caves, you encounter gameplay that just does not exist in the game (no downtime? for a game thats FULL of downtime?)  Its essentially shilling for a game that does not exist.

I don't know about the new Vanguard and EQ2 trials but the standard SOE bait and switch tactics would apply to them as well.

On the other hand, If you actually fall for this trial crap and end up with a game you hate, the newbie will realize that SOE IS EVIL! (just spelt wrong...) and run away screaming.

Actually, both the old EQ2 newbie island and the newer Play the Fay(?) trial are fairly well representative of much of the rest of the game, excluding dungeons and raids.  But in EQ2 you can easily level to max without ever doing either of those.  For the rest, EQ2 is full of quests, some better than others, and grouping is an optional bonus except maybe for 1 or 2 of the bazillion classes.  So the majority of play really is well represented in the trials.

I avoided EQ2 at release like it was bubonic plague coated with anthrax, but I gave it a try after much good report after the Fay expansion.  With the hard-earned cynicism and resentment of Sony gained from playing the original EQ from beta through several years after release, I am constantly amazed at just how different EQ2 plays and feels, and especially at how different the attitude of the developers towards the game and their customers is. 

EQ2 is not without its faults, but the old hate-the-player failure-is-fun original EQ it most definitely is not.

[Lantyssa]

EQ2 works.  Play the Fay especially if you start an Arasai, as it's a newbie experience but connected to the world.  I've yet to try Feydawyr.  The Freeport newbie isle wasn't bad.

[Murgos]

EQ2 works.  Play the Fay especially if you start an Arasai, as it's a newbie experience but connected to the world.  I've yet to try Feydawyr.  The Freeport newbie isle wasn't bad.

If you start a fay with Play the Fay and then exit back to the character creator all the rest of the races are unlocked.  So you can start an evil race in Neriak if you want, in which case you will be experiencing 100% of the same content as the full game.

[Grimwell]

That's gone now too. The Play the Fae trial. Now there is a general trial that is unrestricted. You should be able to play any race you want up front.

[taolurker]

One thing I did finally see after canceling my Station Pass, was that Planetside now has a trial available through the Station Launcher too... And that's not even on the Planetside homepage.

Oh yah, I did try it, and this was the support ticket I just filed:

I was trying out Planetside on a temporary basis, and created a character "braincells" on Gemini, but I experienced a huge issue which is going to frustrate every trial player, and veteran alike.

I participated in a losing combat for nearly 2 hours, but then decided to take a break so I logged out the very next time I respawned, which was at a AMS vehicle (teleporter vehicle) in Neutral territory. It gave a warning, but I was just wanting to log out, clicked OK and then exited. When I returned some hours later, the spot I was in was on a island completely controlled by the enemy. I was standing where I'd logged out on the map, but there were no troops from my faction on this Island anymore. I ran toward the nearest base, and when I approached it it gave me a message "For dishonorable conduct or illegal activity, you have been suspended for 3 days". HUH?

Ok, whatever... So I create a character on Werner, play and speak to another person that this is a known bug (bug1)? This also likely impacts every new player, and has suspended me for not knowing what I'm doing? I promptly fight on the losing side on Werner for 2 hours and log out, and luckily when I return from this break we still hold territory on that island. There were 4 active people on my side and 20 on the enemies, and our last base was already hacked. I died quickly with all hacked terminals, walked away while the respawn map was up, and when I returned (BUG2) there was no place from my faction to spawn on that island and I could not instant action or quit while dead? Huh? So that character is stuck on that island and will have the same thing happen to him that happened to the first? WTF?

Help, or something, because if I can't connect to either server, why would a trial of this make me want to pay for it.. and here I was thinking subscibing to the Station Pass might be worthwhile again.

[Mrbloodworth]

That's a known issue.

[Grimwell]

Sadly, it is (a known issue).

[Etwynn]

Summary of october 23rd's update (note that this isn't a "game update." it's just a patch)

New level 50 group area: forgotten battlefield/"KDQ"
Healing crit (a new stat) gear can be obtained in this area
new crafting recipes
4 new overland raid mobs
fengrot's loot has been reitimized because it used to be terrible for the (formerly?) hardest raid mob in the game
the core processor now has loot
ranger changes
crafting, diplo changes
bug fixes

And, silius yesterday hinted that there would be a level increase, alternate advancement, and PvP rewards coming soon:

"Greetings all,

Over the next few weeks we will be testing some new systems we are working on. Due to the need to patch live, as much as we can to resolve any problems, this juggling act from internal testing to our test server may result in some of these systems making it to test before we expect them too. So in advance I want to ask you all to submit bug reports if you see any of the following on test server.

 

   1. An existing item with an item enchantment slot on it.
   2. Merchants who are accepting infamy, faction, or other items as payment instead of normal currency.
   3. Item set tooltip details.
   4. Item set abilities.
   5. Leveling past 50 causing any issues.
   6. Alternate advancement ui showing up in place of another UI.
   7. Gaining of AA experience instead of normal experience.
   8. New PVP mods on items
   9. New PVE mods on items

 Thank you in advance for the help. The internal testing of most of these systems/changes has begun and will be gradually released on test server with details. But if you see these things before we make an official word please be sure to report it."

[Joe]

Chiming in with EQ2 love. I played it since about a month out of release, and still have my account active. I'm nowhere near max level, but it's one of the few games I can pick up a week every six months and get completely reabsorbed instantly. On top of that, the gameplay's better than any other MMO, except WAR's PvP. It's a bummer they decided to call it EQ2, though, since it couldn't be further from what makes EQ EQ. Sure, there's a bunch of elves and shit inside the same world, but there's no real grind to speak of, there's a bunch of quests, and everything about it is beautiful, now that modern PCs can crank up the graphics.

I tell this to anyone who will listen: WoW is the real EQ2. EQ2 is a game worth playing.

[shiznitz]

This is a Vanguard discussion, ya know? Or are you implying that EQ2 and Vanguard are very similar which would make you wrong.

[Nerf]

Is it still a massive fucking cockstab grind?  I enjoyed it when I played it, until I stopped, and then I couldn't get back into the grind.

[shiznitz]

1-20 is still fun from what I have heard. Then you really need to group. I loved the group combat mechanics but could never find and join a group in a reasonable amount of time and then the dungeons were deep, requiring yet more time investment. It was also hard to replace a group member that had to leave without starting at the top of the dungeon again.

[JWIV]

Is it still a massive fucking cockstab grind?  I enjoyed it when I played it, until I stopped, and then I couldn't get back into the grind.

If they're adding AA, I don't see how it isn't.  Fuck that concept.