I got sucked over to vanguard with Benny, Fodder and Mythlon. It's a good game if you can get past the fact that you will be paying 15 bucks a month to beta test their game. It was released with more gamebreaking bugs and glitches than I have ever seen in an MMORPG. You also need a very good system to run the game at the minimum quality settings and I still lag down to a halt when in parties or towns.
All of that being said, the game itself is quite fun. Definitely a change of pace from FFXI. The customer service is lightyears beyond that experienced in FFXI. The developers are always posting on public forums and several times have taken player advice in planning or adjusting how the game evolves. They have even had two weekends where all experience gained was doubled to calm the people bitching about how rough the game has been to date. The crafting system as complex, if not more so than the actual adventuring system.
Don't get too excited about the housing aspect yet. It seems to be a giant money sink to me...In my 1.5 months playing I have done pretty well and have amassed a small fortune in gold and still need to multiply my total worth by 25 just to afford a plot let alone a house to put on it. Even when you get a plot and a house you still have to pay weekly fees equal to 1/10th of the purchase price of the plot (i.e. the weekly fees are more per week than I have made total so far). I could buy a boat if I could see a good use for it. They are pretty neat...the ones available now only can be sailed along the coast or in the rivers, but they go very fast and you can put as many people on your boat as can fit.
Anyway, enough rambling. If you have any specific questions just let me know. If you pick the game up come visit us on Woefeather server. My name is Cozmin in game.
Ez
