Category: Gaming

A few people have spoken to me now about how they’d like to play Vanguard – but are weary of playing a game that may not last all that long. Or rather, are not keen on the idea of getting emotionally involved in a game that may or may not be on its last legs. I’ve always had an issue understanding this perspective because when you look at things long term, ALL games are on their last legs. Nothing lasts forever. We either move on, the games close down, or real life happens, or the next shiny comes along. To be reluctant of trying a game because this process may be quicker then we had expected just doesn’t compute in my mind. If you see it as a ‘waste of time’ to play a game that may shut down – why do you not see playing video games in general as a waste of time. Eventually, they all will shut down in one manor or another. There is an upside! You’ll be left with the great memories of that particular game, and they will always last. Do I spend time thinking about the state of the game when I play Vanguard? Nope. I don’t. I’m too busy having fun. It is not until afterward, when talking to others that I give it some thought. Will I be sad if the game shuts down? Of course I will. I’ll also be incredibly happy that I played it while it was around, and got to enjoy some wonderful memories of a game that is (in my opinion) one of the best out there. Even with the bugs. Besides, no one but the developers and folks actually working on the game know whether or not it’s close to shutting down. It’s all just speculation on the players side.

Anyhow!

I didn’t do any adventuring yesterday, I worked on the banisher series of Artisan’s quests. I’ve done about 10 quests so far, and they’ve just hit the level 15-20 crafter range. Being a level 47 crafter means the combines are quite easy for me and the rewards are a little under what I’m already wearing for crafting gear. I’ve also gotten a lot of other useful items though while I work on the chain. I’ve gotten a few clickies (one being a gate to New Targonor), some diplomacy gear (all of it upgrades since I never had the luxury of starting on the Isle of Dawn), I’ve gotten a title (“Banisher”) and a lot of coin. My last quest rewarded 1g which is a LOT of money in Vanguard. As an indication, I’m sitting on roughly 1p 63g which is the most money I’ve ever had in game. The quests are all fun and have a unique story behind them. They reward a lot of experience despite my higher level in crafting (200,000 for the last one) and they’ve sent me from New Targonor over to Qalia. Yesterday I spoke with the Sultan and met his 12 wives. Now I’m doing missions for his engineer.

I do plan on creating a post just about the crafting aspect of Vanguard, since it’s complex and would make this post a lot longer then I had intended, so look for that later today. There’s also a large patch going in today. It’s to help resolve some of the lag that the server has been experiencing since the merge, as well as implement LiveGamer back on the server (remember, all servers started allowing RMT a year or so ago). Some people have asked if RMT has affected the game negatively. If you’re someone who pays more attention to what everyone else is doing, as opposed to what you are doing yourself, you may find a change. However, in all my time playing I have not. Guild mates openly talk about spending $20 for 20 plat in game, and since it’s not breaking any rules I have no issues with it. They’re entitled to play as they wish, just as I am. I haven’t purchased anything myself from LiveGamer, nor do I see myself doing so. That’s a personal choice, and not one I really have any strong feelings over one way or another.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself. Lately, I’ll see you in Telon!

Pictured above, the blood mage just after she hit level 47. Now, the old cap in Vanguard was level 50, and when I think about it that way I’m pretty close, which is great. However the new cap is now 55 in Vanguard and so by that number and the amount of experience it takes I’m quite far away. Not in a rush, but still far. In order to level through 46 I decided to do repeatable quests in Afrit. This is quite a popular area for a number of reasons. The main quests have you collecting these little gems in stacks of 50. Once you gather 50 you combine them into a bag. These bags of gems can be turned in to NPC in Afrit for any number of rewards ranging from gear to jewelery to food and drink. You can even purchase a merchant to summon who will repair your gear and act as a vendor when your bags are full and you don’t want to gate out of your quest area. All very handy items.

The quests are great because once you’ve completed one you’re automatically given the second one in the series, and the locations of each quest are quite close together. On the down side this means the areas are popular – and it’s common to see a level 55 sorcerer (or other aoe class) “helping” a friend by rounding up every single mob in the area and aoe’ing them down. Not a bad thing if they’re the only one at that particular quest area but when others are around it makes sharing quite frustrating (as I found out last night). One of the quest areas also has a great collection of stone mobs that you can quarry for granite and obsidian, something I can never have enough of.

Thanks to Greth (awesome newtfish) I am also now sporting my swamp armor robe. I haven’t managed to upgrade any of the pieces because they require an item called phytotoxinous which is 50g each on the broker and there’s no way I’m going to pay that much – but even the basics were a huge upgrade to me and eventually I will upgrade them fully.

I learned yesterday that there is a diplomacy saga line that I am just incredibly excited to start. I worked on the artisan’s saga some more (the crafter version) and completed two more quests, granting me a toolbelt upgrade and an awesome necklace that allows me to port to New Targonor. Love those clickies!

Now that my crafting level and adventuring level match up again, it’s time to work on more crafting. The cap for diplomacy is still 50, but crafting was also raised to 55 along with adventuring and I’ve a lot of levels to make up. Excited? Yes, I am. Just a little.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Expect a lot more posts about Vanguard over the next little while. With the layoffs at Sony, and three of them confirmed for working on the Vanguard team, I’m not going to pretend that things are all sunshine and glory. However. I have always loved this game, and I have not given it the proper reception it deserves. I’ve played since release, and things are a billion times better then they ever have been. Sadly, without much of a team working on it some things (bugs) have been neglected. With the recent server merge reducing the player base from four servers to two (one US and one EU) population is probably the highest anyone has seen in quite some time. Channels are bustling, and there are people in the quest hubs around the world of Telon. My blood mage hit level 46 – and started obtaining swamp armor. With the bonus xp weekend last week that was two more levels then I thought I’d get. There are a LOT of things I’ve missed in game, and a lot of areas to quest in. Finding information on all of this is a little more difficult then I’d like, but I’ll get there.

Then there’s the crafting. Vanguard crafting is by far the most complex and rewarding I have ever experienced. Since they allow players to do work orders that use none of the players materials aside from fuel, it’s viable to level as a crafter and not an adventurer. There are long complex quest chains, and it can probably be said that crafters in Vanguard make a lot more money then you’ll see from just adventuring alone.

My crafting is level 47, and I’m an artificer. I make homes and jewelery as well as stone weapons and foci. I’ve done a lot (if not all) of the older craft chains in game – I even printed out a PDF of all that were available at the time. However. A few new chains and new items have made their way into game that I was not aware of. One of which I know only as the ‘banished’ series. It’s a complex series with more quests then I know what to do with. I’ve only done the first few so far. For those who start out on the Isle of Dawn, you’ll be given instructions on where to go once you leave the island. For those who did not start on the island, or who are perhaps older characters created before the newbie experience was brought to the game – you’re in luck.

The basic quests begins from: Ashlyn Blackshield at -28945, 28055, 36542 in Citizen’s Forum, New Targonor, New Targonor (Region) (-27,24), Thestra. (taken from Vanguardcrafters.com).

Several quests can lead you to this quest, but none are required in order to obtain the quest.

Players from the Isle of Dawn will likely find one of these quests in the landing regions:

• Artisan’s Saga: Qalian Problems from Qa Riverbank
• Artisan’s Saga: Shadow over Thestra from Veskal’s Exchange
• Artisan’s Saga: The Kojani Threat from The Tomb of Lord Tsang

Players who began in their home city are more likely to find this quest from the Crafting Advisor in their home town:

• Artisan’s Saga: The Banishers

Either way, those quests will eventually lead here, to Artisan’s Saga: World of the Arcane.

I’m now on the 4th quest in the chain which is called: Artisan’s Saga: Mythos Pressure. The rewards are fantastic, I’ll admit right now. Even more so are the recipes I’ve purchased from doing these quests, including a recipe to create blessed harvesting tools that are just amazing. I wish I had of checked where they came from before I purchased them off of the broker for 3g each. The current quest I’m on rewards a toolbelt that is far better then any of the ones I currently am wearing, as well as saddlebags. Not a big deal since they’re a little smaller then the ones I got from completing my mount quest, but since the crafting quest is level 13 (or there abouts) chances are most players don’t own saddlebags that size yet.

I want to keep working on this quest chain and figure out where it leads me as well as what rewards I’ll gain from it – but it’s 2am and my eyeballs are closing. I did also obtain a really neat diplomacy wrist piece from doing the crafter quests, as well as a necklace. Diplomacy is another sphere to Vanguard that I absolutely adore, and I hope to get into more details about it in the future.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.