Tag: VG

Right where I Left It

If your Vanguard account has been closed for two months or more, you may find yourself with a free month currently. Until July 1st all VG accounts (that have been closed for 2+ months) have been re-activated, allowing players to experience some of the wonderful changes in game. If you were at maximum level, you’ll find that they’ve been extended by 5, with new places to explore, new loot, and new spells. If you’re of a lower level and never had the opportunity to explore the Isle of Dawn (which is a very pretty beginner zone) why not take the chance.

I met up with Growlius in game, a good friend and guildmate of mine. We didn’t go exploring but hung out in one of the major cities of Qalia which was just as much fun. Getting used to keys and controls is pretty simple because it follows EQ2 in many regards (at least my personal keybindings do) and the main difference is that you keep both offensive and defensive targets at the same time.

The guild I belong to on Vanguard is huge, I’ve spoken about them before (they have an EQ2 branch as well on Antonia Bayle) called Safe Haven. Yesterday was no exception to the rule as 10-20 people were around leveling, crafting, questing and just talking. It was great to see. They’ve picked up quite a few new applicants over the last weeks as well which is always wonderful to hear.

I spent some time wandering around the city marveling at performance since I’ve gotten the new video card. I had no issues whatso ever, no crashes, no lag. It was very nice. I’ve always been a big supporter of VG even during the rough times, and I doubt that will change any time soon.

I haven’t noticed the RMT that was implemented in game at all. From what I understand the majority of players do not even use it, preferring to do things ‘the good ‘ol way’ which is through a lot of hard work. The craft channel was bustling, and people seemed to be in a general good mood. I still think the community atmosphere of VG is the best out there, right along side EQ’s community. I quickly glanced through my quest journal getting familiar with the tasks that I had been on so long ago. Maybe I’ll finally inch my way to level 45 so I can begin working on some swam armor. We’ll see!

Feel the Love (again)

So much has gone on over the last few days, I figured I’d jumble it all into this one post. To start, I know I’ve been quiet on the Twitter front (and in general) lately, but real life has been slightly difficult, and will probably continue to be so for the next few weeks. Nothing much I can do about that. As I’ve watched all the wonderful and amazing blogs and fan sites for various games crop up over the past three years I’m wondering if I want to keep up with my own. While I do make it a fairly good habit to write every day (and I just crossed the 1200 post mark not too long ago) there doesn’t seem to be much desire for ‘hey I love the games I play’ posts as opposed to everything else. Now, I know these moods of mine come and go (in regards to writing) and it’s spring (almost summer) so I’m feeling the itch of change, I’m sure this mood too will pass and I will indeed continue writing. I need some new avenue to venture down.

In other news, by now most people have heard that Alan “Brenlo” Crosby is moving over to a new position on the EQ2 team. It’s not so different then his current position, and Greeblen will be taking over his job. Congratulations to both of them for the promotions. I had a blast interviewing Brenlo (as well as other members of the Community Team) in San Diego when I was down earlier this year, and I’m sure he’ll do a fantastic job. That being said, Bruce Ferguson (who I also interviewed) will be moving to a new project. Wonder what it could be.

If you enjoy playing EverQuest, or (like me) play off and on remember that this weekend is a bonus experience weekend from Friday May 22nd until the morning of Tuesday May 26th! I will be in game on Drinal, probably working on that hand augment quest. I intend on dragging Wpus and Ultann with me because both of their characters are just inches away from level 85 which is the current cap. We’ll see how that goes.

Vanguard had some pretty big changes happen this week, including a level cap increase to 55, new zones, new quests and all sorts of other goodies. I do still play my bloodmage on Seradon (as well as other characters) but just never seem to find the proper time in between everything else. I’m going to try to find some time to explore the new content, as my bloodmage is pretty close to the old level cap of 50. We’ll see how that goes. I also saw that you can now do spell crafting which would be pretty nice.

In EverQuestII we’re all eagerly awaiting GU52, and there’s a preview out for one of the new Kurn’s Tower zones. I’m not sure if it sounds exciting or just frustrating. If you remember The Crucible (which it makes reference to) there’s puzzles to be solved and books to be burned that require more then my little trio (most of the time). We’ll just have to wait and see.

Game wise for myself personally I spent some time yesterday helping Hamal level, and he inched his way to level 66! We did the Crucible (mentored down to his level) flawlessly, and also managed to do Scion of Ice, and Necrotic Asylum (which happened to be the daily double). He got a few upgrades, and we got a few more discoveries. We also headed to Obelisk of Ahkzul and my mystic gathered together enough shards to get her T2 breastplate which means I only need shards for two more pieces, her hat and shoulders (for tier 2 that is). I played the paladin earlier on in the day and inched her to level 73, and the dirge later in the day who is closing in on 76. I spent far too much money buying adept3 skills for her but they were really needed. Getting resisted on practically everything (I took her to Obelisk, where the mobs were orange) is not fun.

Tomorrow is the start of an early weekend, and I may (hopefully) be feeling well enough to travel to Upper Canada Village to take those pictures I have been talking about forever now. We’ll see how it goes (fingers crossed). I hope everyone has an amazing Thursday, no matter where you spend your time.

Vanguard Patch Notes – Level Cap Raised to 55!

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

Vanguard Build 2427. 0 Patch Notes
Halls of the Pantheon

The Halls of Pantheon is finally here. The first part of the great architect Artera’s story has finally been released and now is your chance to prove to the gods of Telon you are worthy of their blessings. Within the halls you will be asked to do many things as you increase your favor with the gods until finally correcting the imbalance of creation and unlocking the path that leads into the halls of shattered souls and the truth behind the gods of Telon and their years of silence. It is up to you adventurers, crafters, and diplomats to unlock the secrets within the halls and prove once again that the inhabitants of Telon are a force to be reckoned with.

Feature Details:

  • 200 new quests
  • 1000+ new items
  • 2 new flying mounts
  • Choose your alignment and reap the rewards
  • Find out the truth behind the schemes of Kamelott
  • Become a god warrior and unlock the way to the Halls of Shattered Souls
  • Craft enhancements making them more powerful
  • Craft god armor
  • Craft a unique epic weapon for each class
  • New item mods
  • New resistances

Level Increase

  • New level cap is 55
  • 95 new abilities
  • Spell crafting added
  • Item levels increased
  • New crafting related quest series

Items

  • Bow max ranges have been reduced.
  • Fixed an issue where the Kamelott Rucksack had slots when it was not supposed too.
  • Fixed haste buff on panther mask to increase attack speed and not decrease it.
  • KDQ crates can now only be opened in Kamelott’s landing
  • Fixed an issue with fireseed refresh discrepancy

Abilities

  • All counterattacks now have a minimum endurance/mana cost.
  • Stroke of Fervor now has an endurance cost
  • Stroke of Conviction now has an endurance cost
  • All rogue abilities requiring piercing now properly check for the dagger in the main hand.
  • Accuracy buffs should now properly buff spell accuracy
  • Fixed an issue where some abilities that were supposed to only modify the refresh haste of modular attacks were affecting other modular abilities
  • Fixed the Halfling racial (FINALLY!!!)
  • Fixed an issue that prevented minions from assisting properly as intended.
  • Dementia now has a max target limit
  • Hewing the Mountain now buffs your group for 10 seconds or 1 attack
  • The Dark elf racial has been modified.
  • Warrior offensive form should once again have its accuracy bonus
  • Fixed an issue where abilities affected by zeal would not display added attack damage.
  • Time Trick 2 should now work like 1 and 3
  • Fixed an issue with quelling winds it should actually work now.
  • Treeshape will now wipe hate while it is in effect.
  • Many secret chains should now display their icons again.
  • The body enhancement buffs from KDQ should no longer wear off

General

  • All corpses now last 2 hours max
  • Paladins should now have archery skill
  • A camp of KDQ agents has popped up near the Bridge of Destiny.
  • All npcs in KDQ should now drop tier 6 skins
  • Tier 6 metal can now be harvested in SOD
  • Mobile Power suit should work correctly now
  • Fixed an issue with caps that has been around for the past few years. Many items and ability caps should now work properly.
  • Updated the character sheet to show new resist types.
  • Added new hairstyles for most races.
  • Thinned out the density of the bridge NPCs just a little.
  • Fix for escrow items having incorrect prices show up
  • All exp debt has been wiped.
  • All exp into 50 has been reset to 0.
  • All brotherhood exp has been reset.
  • All tombstones have been sent to escrow.
  • Adjusted the loot tables of Yerkj & Rinipin. They will now only drop 1 class specific item per kill.
  • The Ruined Jharuu Sword and Runed Jharuu Sword are now longswords.
  • Synchronize now works with the Summoners Cap of Control version of Time Trick.
  • An altar has been added to IOG
  • Zyxil and omac have had their pathing adjusted
  • Yiminil no longer roams.

Quests

  • KDQ quest rewards have had their monetary amount reduced.
  • Fix for quests not abandoning properly sometimes when expired

Raids

  • Karax is now level 59
  • Karax loot tables have been overhauled due to his level increase.

Crafting

  • Kaius Rufish and his excavation team have work for skilled crafters in the Pantheon.
  • Shajin Graywine is doing research in the Pantheon and is requesting help from talented diplomats.
  • Geoffery Wallsten in New Targonor has a new rumor about an artisan’s treasure from long ago. Interested crafters should seek him out.
  • An informant in the Pantheon named Delroz is willing to trade prestige for lore in the Pantheon to diplomats.
  • Skilled diplomats can parley the avatars of the gods in the Pantheon.

Known issues

  • The last hair selection for those races that received new hairstyle has an issue. Please try not to select this or you may see some funkiness with your avatar’s hair.

Tehatamani Harbor – The Return

To this day, I still think Vanguard:SoH is one of the most amazing looking MMO’s out there, with some of the best looking lands. None of my friends play Vanguard any more but I still keep my account active and last night I was wandering around wondering what to do I decided to peek in game. I’ve always loved Vanguard, even though it has very rarely ever been my game of choice. Mostly due to population and friends, and not so much due to bugs. The game has come an enormous way since launch, and I’ve been playing since beta.

When the decision was made to turn all of the servers (there are four)  into RMT servers, well. Some of the player base decided that it was the final straw. I noticed a significant difference in the game yesterday compared to when I would normally dip back in. This could be for any number of reasons, maybe it was just a slow Friday night and everyone was off watching the new Wolverine movie (I saw it earlier in the afternoon, loved it) or maybe the RMT change actually affected the player base. I’m not sure.

The things I noticed about the servers – my guild was exceptionally quiet. I belong to ‘Safe Haven‘ which is an enormous guild on the Seradon server. They are still quite active, but nothing like their former glory. If you happen to be looking for a guild on Seradon, I highly suggest you check them out, you won’t meet a nicer bunch of people. There were five of us on and normally as people log in there would be hellos tossed all around but such was not the case. It was a different atmosphere then I was used to. Also, the general channels in Vanguard have always been teaming with people talking, so even if you never saw another person you knew they were out there. In the 40 minutes or so I spent in game I saw one other person talking in Qalia. Maybe Thestra chat would have been better, always the more popular location for people to hang out and no doubt there’s new content out that way. I didn’t get a chance to check it out but I plan on it.

The /craft channel was still active, less so then your typical Friday night. People were still friendly, as I have found crafters to be in every game I play (more about that later as I make my EQ2 post). It had been a little while since I had done anything more then log into game, check my house, and maybe craft a bit or two, so I decided to flip through my quest journal and figure out where I was at and what quests I had to work towards next.

I found a rift stone close to my house and headed to Tehatamani Harbor, I have written about this place twice before. In my previous posts I talked about how I had to be level 44 to progress the quest chain, and what do you know that’s the exact level I am standing at now. I spent some time killing beetles and snakes, working up faction and getting small amounts of experience, and remembering why I love the game and why I probably always will.

It was a nice quiet night, which is not always a bad thing. If you happen to be on the Seradon server, let me know!