The Valhalla of MMORPG
Every MMO has skills, talents, levelling, experience, and specialization, combined with a large game world to explore. What distinguishes Vanguard is simply the quality.
Over a year after release, they have fixed most of the bugs in the game, so now it is very stable and enjoyable. The graphics are absolutely stunning if your PC can handle it, and it actually looks somewhat pleasing to the eye even on lowest settings. The music is top-notch and always appropriate, and there are small geeky jokes hidden inside the game world (aka, glitteractica's cookie, Harry Harbl, etc). The combat is what they call "reactionary", standard point and click attacks, but depending on what set of moves you pull, reactive attacks flare up and you can deal combo damage, so you're never just idly sitting there and mashing numbers on your keyboard.
Crafting, another joy of Vanguard, is so in-depth that you can actually spend the entire game levelling your crafting skills. There are crafting dungeons, crafting guilds, and crafting quests to complete if you choose to go down that path. Simply put, everything is immersive.
So, in referral to the title, i must state one thing about Vanguard. If you are tired of WoW's simplicity, of EQ2's yet ANOTHER expansion pack coming out, of having played every single instance in everquest, or anything else relating to the MMO genre, come to Vanguard for a completely new challenge.
This game is hard, and i dont mean "oh i'll just try again and again" hard, i mean impossible at times.
The game world is also massive. So large in fact that you are able to get a horse at level 10 (out of 50), since most dungeons are far far away.
Basically, this game was developped by the original MMO geniuses behind EQ1, and as such was meant to be A) a new spin on the MMO genre, B) a tribute in some form to past works, and C) an improvement of them therein. The developpers knew what they were doing, and now that the game has been more or less completely fixed, Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes is the epic tale it was meant to be.
So, drop those old games, maxed out characters, and overly-colorful armor, and become a real hero in the MMO world.
The world of Telon is brutal, the land is vast, but if you are up to the challenge, survive, fight, kill, and live in this new world, and prove to everyone that you truly are a god amongst heroes.