Tag: VG

The blood mage is sitting at level 43, and I’m eager to begin the trek to 50. I’ve never been end game in Vanguard before although I did make it a goal of mine some time back. Now that I’m back in an active guild (7-20 people on throughout the day and evening at any given time) I’m excited to see what I can get done. My partner in crime (Growlius, plays a DeathKnight) has not returned (yet) but I have my fingers crossed. A tank would be nice. 

I’ve been looking for places to level. I found a few posts and forums mentioning areas, and I plan on checking them out. I have a few 50% potions left to save up for quest turn ins, even though I don’t have any 100% ones. I used those ones for crafting, of course. Plains of Anquish is where I was to start I believe, but I didn’t finish all of the quests there, so I’ll have to head back. 

Level 40-50 

Thestra: 

—Plains of Anguish – A good place to quest & level for early 40’s. There’s also a cool skeleton illusion quest that provides a nice piece of armor for your class, and it would lead you back into Graystone to finish one part of the skeleton illusion quest. So before going in to Graystone, it’s a good idea to get this quest started in Plains of Anguish. 

—Lost Canyon – You’ll find quite a few quests here in your early 40’s. You should at least have a partner to do these with. 

—Ruin Falls – Once you hit level 41, you can do the quests available here. These quests will eventually lead you on down south to do the faction armors. 

—The Fallen Cove – There are quests here you can do to pad some levels, since you need level 44 to start doing the faction armor quests. 

—Vsurog Moor / Floridiel / Ichtakhta – These 3 zones contain some quests you can do at around level 43, and once you hit level 44 you can start doing the faction armor quests. They provide you with some really nice endgame armor, it’s worth doing and will require a group for many parts. Many players do these faction armor farming all the way until level 50. 

—Swamp of Rumog – Once you hit level 46 you can head to the outpost in Swamp of Rumog and quest there. Right here you will encounter high level 40’s mobs, but many are soloable if you can kite. There’s also a dungeon with high level mobs for group play, with quest npc’s outside so make sure you grab them before entering. The famous single group Hegnerian encounter is located in this swamp dungeon, and the encounter is on a 2 hour respawn timer. Hegnerian drops nice items, and is needed to finish your faction chest armor since it drops the Core of Ezigoth. It’s a fun encounter, definately take a group in there and check it out. 

Qalia: 

—Razad – Lots of new quests were added to Razad for the early 40’s. There’s also a new Trickster’s Haven dungeon in this zone that you can take a group in to. It’s a fun and rewarding dungeon. 

—Sunset Pointe – You should be able to find a few quests here in your early 40’s. 

—Stranglewater Shore – You will find the Xenn dungeon here, a great dungeon for the early 40’s to take a group to. It’s a fun and interesting dungeon, definately worth checking out. 

—Rhaz Inkur – You can do quests here starting in your mid-40’s, and you can head inside once you get level 46+ with a group. Be aware mobs are mostly immune to movement debuffs and mezzes here, so don’t try things solo. 

—Afrit – You can quest here starting in your mid-40’s, it has armor quests here, you should grab at least a partner to do these quests. 

—Tehatamani Harbor/Temple – Lots of quests here you can do starting at level 40. There’s a lot of faction farming you need to do, and many things require a group here. You can get really nice epic items by questing here. 

The leveling guide is a little out dated, but I’m thinking that most of the places will still work. Razad is about the only place I’ve been to in any depth, remember I stuck to a mid-high 30’s area for my last level and a bit, using potions to enhance the experience gain. It worked out great, after turning in 20 quests or so I managed to ding 42, even though none of the actually mob encounters gave any experience. I’m also getting close to 50 artificer (mineralogist). It will be nice to hit 50 in both spheres at almost the same time. I’m 10% away from 47, which is a huge accomplishment for me. Still trying to decide which crafter I’ll level next (yes, I do plan on leveling another one). There are some fantastic changes coming to Vanguard (including fishing and Galleons) in December, a week or two away. Looking forward to experiencing these first hand, and I should have some more write ups soon.

Having fun in Vanguard yesterday, I have been trying to decide where I should be for my level. I checked my quest journal and found a lot of old grey quests in there. Cleared those out, and at the bottom were some ‘heros are needed’ type quests. Basically these quests just send you to the Rift Seekers, who port you to the appropriate level area. Then you can wander around the quest hubs picking up new things to do. 

I had a quest that sent me to Razad, in Qalia. I’ve never been overly fond of this continent because the bright blinding snow er, sand, looks horrible for some reason on my screen. Everything else looks just fine, but the sand is literally blinding. Walking through Aghram during the day I have to wear sunglasses. Since I really do have no idea where I should be, that’s where I headed to. I’m not sure how everyone else in Vanguard levels so fast, there’s people talking about having multiple level 50’s while I seem to trudge along. Not complaining in the least bit, Telon is a very beautiful and large world that I enjoy exploring. I was 70% through level 41, and by the end of my adventures (and a LOT of deaths) I finally hit 42.

There was only one ‘incident’ to speak of, and it’s one I know happens on every game. I was killing level 43 three dot (small group but can be solo’d by most) beetles outside of a cave when a 45 paladin happened to wander by. Noting that he was killing the same mobs as I, I asked if he’d like to join up. He sent me a tell back saying no thanks, that he wasn’t sure when he’d be leaving and didn’t want to. I told him it didn’t matter if he had to leave soon, I’d be ok with that, just thought maybe it would be easier then competing for the same creatures. 

10 minutes later he brought a 45 druid (remember these are nukers in VG, not healers) with him, and they proceeded to clear out all of the mobs that I was killing. They made their way into the caves, and I decided for safety sake I’d stay outside. 41 vs. 43 tripple dot is still a challenge, and I didn’t want to get killed (again, some stray crazed wandering men had already killed me a few times). 

Turns out I shouldn’t have worried so much about dying, because it was in the cards for me no matter what. The paladin came rushing out of the caves with at least 20-30 massive beetles trailing after him. Now, if you’re not aware of how combat in VG works – the instant a mob PASSES within proximity of you, while you are in combat with another mob, you instantly also incur agro from that new mob (if they’re not dealt with by whoever is running from them). You don’t even have to look at the mob, and the instant their target vanishes from their sight, they’ll come after you. Thus was my untimely death. Again. 

Thank you Mr. Paladin, what holy ways you have!

I was frustrated, having already died of my own accord and decided to move on to an easier quest that didn’t require me hanging around ungrateful plate wearers. Searching through my quest journal I had a few solo quests that required me to kill creatures wandering around the desert, place some clues and frame someone, and other random sand-y things. It was actually a lot of fun and once I stopped dying I managed to ding level 42.

Level 42 means one step closer to the current cap of 50. It’s also a level where I obtained a bunch of new spells. I’m still searching for an active guild, and I’ve heard a few recruitment messages now, so I’m hoping to get into one before too long. My 42 bloodmage is also a 45 artificer (mineralogist to be specific) and I’m close to 46. I’d like to finish that up and then decide who I’ll be leveling next. I’m torn between leveling my psionicist (fun class, much like the enchanters of EQ1/EQ2) or my disciple (melee healer) and then deciding which crafter to level (which will probably be a combination, or at least a heavy focus on the crafter who makes house items and boats). 

Speaking of houses. My T5 home is still standing! I was worried after my absense that I may have forgotten to put any coin into escrow, but it’s there. I added another 36 weeks worth of payments, and that should take care of it for a bit. I do need to get decorating it some more! The christmas tree, bed, and fire place are starting to look dreary with my harvest boxes.

I decided yesterday to get station access. I seem to switch my subscriptions around every month, so I wasn’t surprised when I began feeling the twinge to play Vanguard (not to mention EQ1) again. I wish SoE offered some sort of family plan along with station access. In my house there are three EQ2 accounts, although now it’s two EQ2 accounts and one station access account. It would be nice to see more variety for billing options. Anyhow, Kasul and Gozad were both in game as well. I wasn’t feeling all that social (hey, it happens, I like to talk but don’t always like to group) and so I hung around trying to get used to my keys again. I’ve always enjoyed Vanguard to quite a large degree, but the population coupled with lack of a guild to call home prevents me from making it my ‘main’ game (that and sinking 4+ years into EQ2 now). Anyhow. I noticed I had a new /claim item. Opened it up excitedly, and found resting inside a new camel mount for each of my characters. I named this one Spit, pictured above with my Raki paladin sitting proudly. It’s 30% speed, which is pretty good for a low level mount. My level 41 blood mage is riding the quested mount that gives 70% speed. Of course when you add horse shoes it’s faster, but I’m not complaining. I also got 25 experience potions (in Vanguard potions count for tradeskill, adventure, and diplomacy as well as quest experience. I’d love to see this implemented into EQ2) for a 50% bonus (for an hour) to all spheres. 

Nestled deep into the package was also a wand that let me changed my shape into something ‘cool’. Randomly. Always being an avid lover of clickies, I transformed into the wyvern in the screen shot. Giggling, because they’re very tiny, I ran around Khal causing issues for guards. The raki turned into a pile of ooze. Figures.

A LOT has changed and been added to Vanguard since the last time I played, and I played not all that long ago. In fact as I browsed through the patch notes trying to see what had been added since I played last, it was practically enough content to count as an expansion. There have been pages upon pages of fixes for everything in every sphere, there have been quest areas opened up with over 700 items added, new camps, new factions, new raids. 

I also got an email about the new harvest quests added to Telon. An explanation on the thanksgiving holiday (more or less). While the forums didn’t speak very highly of the quests, it’s nice to see that the game is still going strong with added content.

The channels were busy as always. Again I always stress to join the /craft channel (on Seradon at least, it may be called something else on the other servers) and /dip. I also highly suggest getting the very simple to install map mod at Sorsha. 

Kasul and I explored around the Three Rivers area with our level 11’s before calling it a night. For anyone out there reading who does play Vanguard, if you know of a friendly family type guild on Seradon (active of course) let me know! I’ll more then likely add more Vanguard posts (along with EQ1) over the next little bit, though EQ2 is of course still my main game of choice.