Bugs, bugs, fun, more bugs, fun - fun bugs? Hmm.
No, Vanguard is not finished in the sense that quests will tell you to go North East when the objective is to the South East. Not finished in the sense that there are no official forums because if there were official forums, they'd be full of whines. Not finished in the sense that classes are still getting major changes in their abilities that change their role significantly. Not finished in the sense that you get server wide messages telling you not to petition missing gear, lost xp and death to bugs due to GMs being swamped with petitions.
But, we already knew that Vanguard was not finished. Sigil stated that they needed another 6 months to finish the game but were out of money. So the concept of paying for a Beta is far truer with Vanguard than it has been with any other major MMO to date. But hey, at least you won't have to sit in 4 hour queues.
Despite its state Vanguard is an amazing game and given time will become one of the top MMOs on the market. (No, it won't ever surpass WoW subscription wise - but that’s not the goal.) Game World:
The game is quite atmospheric and the world is very well designed and seamless. But just like everything else in the game, it too isn't finished. The areas have very good architecture but little actual 'life', yes there are patrols, there are shop keepers - but WoW cities had far more NPCs that were there to add to the atmosphere and they were animated rather than nailed to the ground. Of course it does not help that there are fairly few players which adds to the world looking empty.
Quests:
For the most part, quests are straight forward and enjoyable. To an extent, I would say that the story behind most quests is somewhat better than WoW. That is to say they are more immersive with the quests trying to tell you the back-story of the world rather than humor you with RL references etc.
Just like everything else, they are not finished, many give unclear directions, wrong directions, do not provide a map marking, or all of the above - which is not fun when there are few people around to ask for help.
Combat:
It's a step above Everquest's button mashing, and pretty much on par with WoW and to an extent more involving - but really only because of the massive fear of death. Yes, death in Vanguard sucks, not as much as in EQ, but far more than WoW. Which I think is fantastic, except when you die due to bugs. In the end, the death penalty is fairly well adjusted and you won't be throwing your life away pointlessly like you did in WoW.
Gear:
For the most part, the game spoon feeds you decent equipment early on and you will not be running around in rags like you did in your early EQ career. What items you can and cannot equip depends on your class, and sometimes your skill and level, but above all, all items uses a certain amount of 'equipment %’ and no single item can use more than 20%. Thus it's a novel idea of handling twinking.
Inventory:
The game goes out of its way to make inventory space a non issue. Items stack up to 99, harvested recourses stack up to 99, and every 20 can be combined into 1 unit of higher quality and back. Meaning you will not need to carry 3 bags full of copper ore. Yes, there is a mail system, yes you can send items.
Crafting:
Sorry, no comment. Never tried it.
Diplomacy:
Yes. It's just a card game, but it's very well tied into the game, and it is fun and challenging at times. I've probably spent about 25% of my time in Vanguard running around doing diplomacy instead of leveling up.
Level Progression:
It's slow. Oh it's very slow. But it's not an issue. I've never felt an urge to level up in Vanguard like I did in WoW. There are no quests rushing me on, no "new zone" to get to. The pacing seems more relaxed and there is less focus on leveling in getting to 50. Expect it to take at least 3 months, possibly closer to 6 to hit 50. But as long as you are kept entertained during those months, what’s the problem? Don't compare this to Lineage 2 as that game had no plot and nothing more than 24/7 grinds as means of progression. If 20-50 is anything like 1-20, then you will be kept busy all along and will not be bothered by the pacing at all.
Of course this assumes that people keep playing the game and getting groups will not become the main roadblock.
Graphics, Hardware and Bugs:
The graphics are average by today’s standards. The spell effects are passable, as are the animations which are actually in the game. But really, they are nothing to brag about. I am playing Vanguard on a laptop - yes a laptop, 2 gigs ram and 6800 at the default settings with no performance issues past the initial slow area load. In fact, it really runs about the same as WoW did. If there are crash bugs, I've yet to experience them. If there are memory leaks, then I don't know how I could have had the game running for 10 hours without a restart. So while I'm sure that Vanguard engine has plenty of bugs and leaks, I've simply not experienced them at all.
Overall:
If you are willing to give a game that has fantastic potential a shot despite the lack of polish, go pick it up today. If it manages to stay alive for a year, it might very well become a fantastic game - then again, it might not.
If you expect a bug free, smooth ride with finished content and perfect class balance, then this game is not for you - at least not for the next year. If you absolutely must hit the highest level as fast as you can, don't try Vanguard, you'll burn yourself out in a week.
I see this game going much like EVE Online, AO, and EQ2 did; horrific at release but fantastic once they managed to fix most of the bugs. Of course for that to happen it has to survive long enough...