Tag: VG

Lots of people spend time writing about what games don’t have. What’s wrong with them, what doesn’t work for them, I do it myself too. Before WAR released, most of my posts were about what games DO have, as opposed to what they do not have and I’d like to pick up on that again. There’s lots of negative vibes out there and like a bad accident, it’s hard to look away as you’re driving past. 

There’s one aspect to Vanguard that is probably key in keeping me coming back for more since release and that is the feeling that Telon is a world. An entire world. 

If you’re not used to the world, or you’re unsure of where to go I can see how the shear size of Telon would seem daunting – but. Is that not how it works in real life as well? The rifts allow for easier movement between hubs and quest areas, but a mount is really needed to get from point A to point B. Each ‘chunk’ covers a significant amount of land, and I absolutely love that you can explore every inch of it. 

In so many worlds it feels like the scenery is tacked on, that if you saw a glimmer off in the distance you’d be unable to reach it because it’s not really there, it’s just part of the background. However, enter Telon and when you see something way off in the distance, it’s actually there. I realize I’m doing a pretty poor job of explaining this concept and just how profoundly it affects me and my game play, but I’m trying. 

Each one of the three continents has a distinct feeling to it. Each one (minus Kojani which lacks content) lets adventurers travel from 1-50 with no trouble. Whether you’re battling undead in Thestra, or taking on tribes of cyclops in Qalia, it feels like you are a part of an entire world. The fact that Vanguard has ‘seamless’ zoning is fantastic. I realize it’s not quite as seamless as we’d all like. You still tend to hiccup as you cross over into another chunk, but it doesn’t distort the feeling of a world quite so much as having ‘zones’ to go everywhere does. I truly hope this is a feature that Vanguard is going to keep up with in the future, I’d hate for the game to lose that feeling. 

Owning an actual house, a plot of land that I pay ‘rent’ on in game is fantastic. I can see how it would not exactly be practical for popular games, after all you’d run out of land (maybe). Since plots of land are limited by account and not character, it makes things a little easier. Each character has a global ‘recall to house’ button if you own a home. Being able to walk down the hill from my house on Kojani and into the backyard of someone else’ house is just neat. Looking across little towns and collections of homes (remember, if you don’t pay your rent on your house it WILL get repossessed and you’ll lose the plot) and finding other people wandering through these areas is something I really enjoy. 

Kanad and I finally waved goodbye to the Isle of Dawn and took our adventurers elsewhere. I’m not sure what’s next, There are chains of quests for armor in both Thestra and Qalia, but I’ve done them a few times now so I’m thinking perhaps a change of pace may be nice. Then there’s working on crafting and getting faction up for recipes… and diplomacy.

The craft channel and dip(lomacy) channel are typically filled with chatter and people helping one another, while the continental channels are filled with.. well, what every other game has on their channels. The subjects don’t differ between games. It’s still a shame that the launch was absolutely horrible, and then spiraled for a time before finally at least slowly rising. The changes that have been implemented over the past few months have been fantastic. Character models, flying mounts, racial mounts, broken quests fixed, etc. At least there’s progress being made and for me, that’s enough.

How many people these days actually end up reading the story lines that cross their screens when they play. I do know of a few, they write about their adventures in depth so that the reader feels almost a part of the adventure, and it’s a great thing to be a part of. They make their games seem exciting – not only because of the player content (ie: pvp, instances, dungeons) but because of the actual base story behind the game.

When we play these games we all like feeling as though our characters are some how making a difference. That we’re affecting (and perhaps changing) the world. That we’re heroes. For myself it depends on who I’m playing with and what game I’m playing. Obviously if I’m by myself (which happens quite a bit, I’ll admit now I like my alone time) I have a lot more time to read the text, to enjoy the story and appreciate what work the developers must have put into it. If I’m in a group, I don’t exactly have the time – though I do try to go back later and read what I’ve missed if possible, or go through my logs to read it. I don’t enjoy being dragged through a game because even though the quests may not differ from one I’ve already played – the story typically does. It’s so easy to just clicklclickclick your way through the speech bubbles or text windows or whatever and get to the end of the game realizing that you know NOTHING about the world you’re playing in. 

There are an incredible amount of books that players can read in EQ2 as house items. Over 300 actually, I believe the last count was some where over or just under 400. Each one has a story, that someone took the time to write. Some are of course better then others, that can’t really be helped. 

So what was the point of that long ramble? I’ve been doing diplomacy in Vanguard off and on, trying to reach level 10 in the last sphere so that Kasul and I can head to greener pastures (and perhaps meet up with Tipa for some adventures). Each quest is filled with a story line that I actually feel a part of. That the actions I take through the quests actually mean something to the little village. Of course, I realize the story doesn’t really change and that every player out there is experiencing the exact same story – but it’s still very involving for me and I love it.

I love the diplomacy game in Vanguard. Sure, it could have been implimented better, but I think this sphere is often over looked because at times it can be quite a grind. If you’re working on presence you some times need to parle with a particular faction for hours on end just to raise it. Their stories don’t change, so it becomes a random clicking of cards, you already know what you need to play to win, just like the time before that and the time before that. 

When you’re working on the quest lines however and progressing down them, the stories are always changing, your interaction with the npc is changing, the rewards are changing. You see progress, not only in the story being revealed to you but in your experience, gear, and little trinkets to sell along the way. 

I love these ideas, the little bits of ‘busy work’ that players are offered in between whatever their ‘main’ goal for a game is. I think they’re also important. Very few people want to do ONE thing ALL of the time that they game. Especially if they’re serious about that game and invest a lot of hours into it. I don’t want to quest ALL the time, I don’t want to pvp ALL the time, I don’t want to craft ALL the time. So enabling your players to have alternative means of progressing their characters – even if it’s just through a story line card game – is really nice to have and something that I think is at times not given enough credit. Not that I want to have to progress my character in 50 ways just to be considered ‘end game’ or consider the game ‘compelted’ for me, but one or two alternative things to do is great.

Once upon a time, way back when, in the days when Vanguard first released I decided I would try a paladin. I actually enjoyed it – my first tank ever. I can’t remember why I deleted, it was probably something silly like I needed to cut down the number of alts I had. I never leveled very far and it was well before the paladin revamp took place and I still loved it. In fact I loved it so much I wrote about it on this site, here. 

I was feeling restless late last night, even after doing a little art work. It was around 10pm and I simply was not tired. Every so often I have to remind myself I’m not 60 years old, and stay up past midnight (I’m up around 5:30-6am every single day) so that’s what I did last night.

I didn’t want to out level Kanad, and I wasn’t in the mood for diplomacy nor was I in the mood to craft. So I decided to create another character (of course) and have free reign of the Isle of Dawn. 

I quickly lost track of time and my little raki paladin went from level 1-9 before I’d blinked. I looked at the clock and noticed it was 2am and I was getting cranky and tired (especially since I’d been dying in that blasted temple a few times). I can not for the life of me seem to figure out what the heck to do in order to pass a certain wall of flame that stands in front of me and the next portions of my quests. I’m sure one of the quests I have on me must be the access one. Probably the one that requires me to kill a handful of named in locations I have no idea about and collect little bits of poems from them.

I walked towards the temple ‘elevator’ wary – I’d read Tipa’s post on this beast. I DID get stuck – but only when I had the buff from the Pegasus on, so I quickly learned to click that off before ever stepping foot onto the floating mass of air. I’d seen these elevators before, in a 30’s zone and I hate them. They’re hard to maneuver around and just plain annoying. Not that the elevator did me any good since I couldn’t get past the barrier of flames on the bottom floor.

I had so much fun though it surprised me. I have a quest for a cloak that I really want to complete. A class specific cloak with a nifty little graphic on it. It’s my goal to hit level 10 in all three spheres before leaving the island and I’m thinking that the paladin may be a better fit to play with Kanad (he’s a shaman, healer) and maybe we should form up a brother hood so that neither of us out levels the other. An idea to contemplate at least. 

At 6:30am yesterday it was the quietest I’d seen the new starter zone, with 35 people in it. Every single other time I’ve been there lately there have been no less then 40, and probably a great deal more. It’s fantastic to see. 

Now if only I could find my way to the named I need..

Yesterday was time for a little more diplomacy as I wandered through the Isle of Dawn in Vanguard. I again didn’t want to out level my partner in crime, and wanted to continue to explore the quests I had been working on. By the end, I hit level 9 and part way into it (in diplomacy) – once I hit 10 I’ll switch to crafting I think. Anyhow. 

The Magistrate wanted me to interview some hobgoblins (who were supporting him) on the docks of the village – they were having a tea party. That is to say, they were dumping all the tea into the water in support of the magistrate. Go figure. I had to laugh as I interviewed the last ‘hobgoblin’ who was not one at all, but a farmer down the street dressed in the skin of a hobgoblin. While I interviewed them their appearance changed and they wandered back to their farm. 

The quests got harder (understandably) but I managed without having to buy any of the expensive 1s cards that the diplomacy vendor sells. I’ve lost a few parles but nothing important. Of course I’ve played diplomacy before so that comes in handy. 

One thing I’ve noticed is that the rewards are just amazing – and I’m a little sad that my other diplomates who are off of this island (and I don’t believe there’s a method to get back to it?) will be unable to get these benefits. I’ve gotten a cloak (last time I played there were no diplomacy cloaks with stats), a bracelet (there were only one of these), a full set of gear and some other bits and pieces. I’ve built my deck heavy with flattery, and it seems to be working out well (at least on the island). 

Eventually I was sent to a little burnt down village, being invaded by floating eyes (you’ve probably seen them before in Kojani) and what not. The npc there told me they needed a special type of hunter to deal with the problem, and that they had tried to convince her to come help – with no success. 

So of course that leaves it up to you. It’s always up to you after all. The person’s name is Ki The Fiend Hunter – and the problem is that although the quest says she has a particular affinity for the evil badies, it does not tell you where she is. 

So I spent 30 minutes or so running all over the place looking for her. Then I asked in the main channels – and someone replied (woot) that I should rent a Pegasus, and fly to the temple. 

Temple? Hrms. They must mean that dark ominous looking building just North of where I was standing. I had actually created a macro that was /targetauto Ki  and as I ran around spamming it, the only thing it picked up was a King Crab from the nearby river. 

I decided what the heck, grabbed a Pegasus, flew over to the dark building with purple swirls (remember, I’m of a low adventure level so these places still scare me) and hit my macro. 

Well what do ya know, there tucked away on the left hand side in a little alcove was Ki The Fiend Hunter. Only problem is that whole little landing was swarming with level 7-9 mobs. So I hung around a little, until a few more brave adventurers went to clear their way into the temple, and then made the little trek across to talk Ki into helping the Magistrate. 

Back to the npc afterwards – where a 15 minute warning sounded that servers were coming down. I was so close to finishing my quest too! Just had to talk to the five brave adventurers who were going to help deal with this ‘problem’ they had been having, along with Ki. Dang it. 

Oh well, I guess it’s time to see if servers are back up today so I can finish off the chain! Great story so far.