I think Vanguard got a really super unfair take too. I upgraded my computer to play it... and when it finally came out I was super excited. I'm pretty sure I had been playing WoW for a bit at this point, and as soon as I was in Vanguard I started having flashbacks from EverQuest.
It was like I was finally "home" after being severely disappointed by EverQuest 2. But then I started to notice major frame-rate issues. This was back in the day, you didn't really shop online, you actually drove around to various "computer" stores trying to find upgrades for your computer. I think I upgraded everything, and the game still ran terribly.
I remember seeing in magazines about how if you had a $6,000 NorthWest computer, the game would run amazing, but I just couldn't bring myself to squeeze the trigger. Apparently everyone had this same problem, so the game was mostly unplayed by the majority of us who tried it at launch.
I asked a friend who actually did get to experience Vanguard if it was similar to EverQuest, or at least as good, and his response was that it was a million times better and that the loot system and dungeons were extremely inspired by EQ 1, but also way more exciting.
I take what he said fairly seriously because he is a YouTuber whose EQ videos regularly get over 5k views. He not really a casual person, and he still stands by those statements.
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