Harvesting and Crafting
Vanguard has a very sophisticated crafting system which you advance through independently of the Adventuring side of the game. You have equipment sets that are specific to harvesting and crafting, so, for example, you might find gloves that give you a metalworking bonus. Switching between these equipment sets is handled automatically depending on which activity you've undertaken. Harvesting can be done in groups as well as solo.
The crafting process itself is a sort of turn-based mini-game where you try to create the highest quality product possible with a limited number of Action Points. There are various supplemental ingredients which can be using to improve the outcome, and you have options to deal with complications when they arise. Work Orders are provided as a convenient way to build up your crafting skill without having to make heaps of worthless items. It's a complex affair, so if you want to get into this aspect of the game, be prepared to tackle a fairly lengthy tutorial. There's a lot to like about the crafting system, and it's substantially deeper than what you will find in most MMORPGs.
Diplomacy
The Diplomacy system in Vanguard is a unique way of interacting with NPCs reminiscent of a collectible card game. This verbal dueling can influence entire towns, bringing about area-wide buffs and a variety of other benefits, which make it a nice diversion from combat, at least for a while. Again, being something completely new, the tutorial is a necessity.
Player vs. Player
The majority of Vanguard servers offer no PvP combat, but there are 2 servers set aside for this purpose. One uses a free-for-all ruleset where anyone can attack anyone else within their level range. As there are currently no guards or safe zones, this is a brutal world where you can expect to get backstabbed while crafting. The other PvP server offers factional combat between 3 teams.
Are We There Yet?
While Vanguard brings an enormous world and a few novel features to table, the early levels fail miserably to draw you into the game. After 10 slow levels of mundane quests that seem far too spread out, in a starting area where you rarely come across other players, about all you've seen is some imaginative architecture and a couple long tutorials. Buying a horse at level 10 was the first really cool moment I had in the game, mostly because I was thoroughly sick of running around on foot by then.
Having attained my trusty steed, I decided I was going to ride around until I saw something that would make me want to keep grinding, be it a player-controlled boat, a high-level character in awesome armor, a breath-taking outpost on a mountain top, a player-built house, or whatever. After finding the teleport system connecting the major continents, which wasn't easy, I beamed to numerous different points hoping to find the equivalent of a Qeynos or an Orgrimmar. Perhaps this was premature, because I didn't get far before being killed several times by hostile level 40 city guards. Corpse recoveries were nearly impossible because they were within the guard's aggro range and the guards don't move. Shortly after that I gave up on "exploring" and went back to the questing routine.
You need to at least give new players a glimpse of your game's best features or great things to come at later levels to get them interested, even if it amounts to nothing more than inspecting a high-level character. Progress in Vanguard is excruciating at times, so without something to look forward to a lot people will quit before seeing what the game has to offer.
Bottom Line
Vanguard has been rather harshly judged by the MMORPG community, because it's really not a bad game, it's just a game that's difficult to appreciate. Unfortunately, when you are trying to win subscribers in a highly competitive market, these amount to almost the same thing. The crafting and diplomacy elements are in many ways a step forward, but it takes a considerable amount of fortitude to learn how to use them. While a buggy launch never helps, it's not something a game of this kind can't recover from. A bigger problem for Vanguard will be finding an audience. I can't see it appealing to people who are new to the genre, or the millions who enjoy the World of Warcraft approach. It's not a particularly good recommendation for PvPers, and EverQuest 2 fans probably won't be swayed from their raiding guilds. Presumably that leaves former EverQuest players who aren't happy with the current crop of fantasy MMORPGs. A small niche to be sure, and one that is very difficult to satisfy, but if you're among them, Vanguard has potential. Just wait for another patch or two to come out before giving it a try.
