About Vanguard

Everyone talks about Vanguard and that there is something there but they are never really sure what it is. So I started thinking about it. It isn’t really any of the features in the game. Not to say the game doesn’t have some great features but because it really does. The LFG options and encounter window are both great features. Especially now that they got the LFG function working.  But I don’t want to get off my topic.

So I think it really comes down to the content. The fact that the game was an open slat for lore has to be what everyone is holding on to. In today’s world of IP licensing there isn’t any real room for creativity. The devs cannot really get to far off the path or the fans will start screaming. Whereas in Vanguard the world is an open slate. You can really see in your travels all the work that went into the design of each dungeon.  No two places really look alike and each dungeon has its own lore behind it. Heck even each city has its own history. 

It is a game that needs to be saved not because of its failures and that there are plenty of. But because it really show what talented developers can do when they are given a free ran to do it in. So many places in Vanguard are there because designers and programmers worked on it in their spare time.  That also leads to the fact that the lore is incomplete and that some dungeons seem to stop short. It will be a hard task for SOE to save the game because most of what makes the game worth saving isn’t on paper but in the minds of the many talented people that worked on the game.

Gaming Week 4

Well no Vanguard group again this week. Not really a good excuse behind it this time. A lot of it has to do with the fact I don’t really feel a drive to play it. The fact the SOE has scaled the staff so far back is the real culprit. Including the time in beta I have been playing for more then a year now. Outside of APW the only new group area that has been added is Tricksters Hideout. There are areas in the game that could be great but need a lot of attention to get them up and working.  Now I haven’t wrote it off my list or anything but I think I am going to sit back and wait maybe six to nine months before I start to comet any serious time to it.

On to a little FPS action I did a little stop in CoD4 multiplayer. Needless to say I wasn’t impressed with that part of the game. I have never really cared for an experience system in a shooter game. I also got in some Counter Strike Source also and that was great. I have a few servers on my favorites list and all in all had a blast. I did learn that I do need to work on my skills a lot. Even though I had more deaths then frags I still had a good time.

The big MMO for me right now is Everquest 2. I have just been having a great time since I came back to the game. With the 2 expansion that I missed it is like a whole new game. After several hours of searching to day I found the commands I needed to turn off some of the titles and tags people have in there name. In Vanguard I can hit N and turn off peoples names it seems that you can not do that in EQ2. It is possible to turn of titles and guild tags. I guess that will have to do. I just really want to clean up the clutter on my screen during raids.

The raid Tuesday went well. We did guild raids one and two again. The second raid didn’t go as well as the first. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was getting late, we where one short and are level was a lot lower. The level difference probably had the biggest effect. I think last week where mentored in the 30’s and this week we where at 27 and 28.

I do have a rant this week and I just have to get it off my chest. Why is it that with Kingdome of Sky every teleport is a time sink. I mean really the dock bells are instant the carpet to Burning Sands is instant. Why is it that with KoS I have to wait at the alters and at docks for boats all the time. I have to get on a boat and ride it to from TS to BB but I can just warp to NF that makes no freaking sense at all. I could keep going with this rant but I think I will stop it here. Something tells me that this is going to be the one thing that just always drives me crazy in the game.

Gaming Week #3

Well it was another good week. To start off with I did manage to complete Half-Life2 Episode 2 and Portal this weekend and both are great. The way the story line continues in Episode 2 was just amazing. It was a much longer expansion then Episode 1 and I have to say a lot better. The game play of Portal was just incredible I would recommend Portal as a must have game for anyone. Then add on the excitement that the story arc adds to Half-Life and it just makes you wanting Episode 3 even more. I also played the Lost Coast part also. I was a little surprised that the recommend proc speed is a 2.9 for it but my dual core seemed to handle it just fine.

I also went on my first raid in EQ2 with Revelry and Honor this weekend. This was the first time I had really grouped with a lot of the RnH folks and it went really well. We managed to knock out the first two guild raids in just a few hours time. I have to say I was really impressed with the group as a whole. The fact that they want to mentor down and feel the experience of the raid and not just gray it out is rather refreshing. One just has to remember that you can not mentor when already mentoring some one. I did get another one of my heritage quest done, knock out 2 levels and burn all my rest exp.

Once again I didn’t make it into Vanguard. Half-Life just really seemed to draw me in to it. I was a little disappointed to find out that they only have two devs working on all 16 classes. I think I am with most people there really is something in Vanguard. It could really become something given the right resources. Unfortunately I feel that it has entered gray mode in the world of SOE.

I am going to try and get back to my topic on content and groups later this week. I have been bouncing my thoughts off a few people and getting some great feedback.  

A New Year Week 1

I have decided to go to more of a weekly updated about my gaming experience for the week. I don’t really have the time to stay up to date on all the great blogs that are out there. When I am at my computer I tend to want to spend more time in the games I play and talking to my friends on voice. Unless something happens in the industry that I feel really strongly about I am just going to talk about the games I play.

I did get Call of Duty 4 for Christmas. Now the last FPS that I played was Fry Cry so it had been a while. I really enjoyed the game while I was playing it. I was a little disappointed that the single player campaign was so short. So right after I bet it I went out and got Half Life 2. Once I fired up Half Life 2 all the flaws of CoD4 came out.

First off it only took me maybe 10 hours to bet CoD4 now I started playing Half Life 2 on Sunday and after three days of very heavy game play I think I am a little over half way through it. Now every thing I have played over the past few years even MMO’s has a map and a pointer telling my where to go. So here I am right at the beginning of the game I get off the train and wait there is now map. Ok so where is my compass and pointer telling my where to go. Nope nothing you mean I have to really think here. I feel in love with the game after 30 minutes. Here is a game that is making my think not just run in a certain direction and kill every thing in my way. I enjoyed CoD4 while I was playing it but something tells me it will be collecting dust on the shelf now. About the only thing that drives me crazy in the game is the weapon switching the Valve uses. It does take a while to get use to the treed weapon system.

I did play a little Vanguard and EQ2 this weekend also.  Sunday’s content group in Vanguard was great. We finished up are CIS quest lines and got are Ageless One weapons. That’s three glow weapons for me now. We also started work on are Wardship faction also. We still have a lot of work to do there but we will get it done. My content group on Sunday’s is about the only grouping I do all week so I have really started to look forward to it. We are all on the same page with what we are doing and exploring the content in the game.

In EQ2 I didn’t do much. I did get a few levels and am up to 30 on my Illusionist. That is about all I can say about that.

I also listened to VirginWorlds Podcast #98. While I don’t agree with everything they had to say over all it was another good podcast by Brent. Until next time.

Telon Update #2

I missed my content group Sunday night. So I think this Sunday we will be hitting Wardship of the Sleeping Moon. It is nice to see that they have been fixing some of the bugs from GU3.2 and not making up wait until GU4.  I think GU4 will really tell use the direction that Thom wants the game to go. I am hoping to see a more casual game with more group content .

Telon Update #1

Well I got to play Vanguard last night with my content group. They really added some nice things in the 3.2 patch. The game is running even better. I am a little confused with the QA department at SOE. Why is it they cannot seem to get the LFG working? Now they got it fixed to turn off when you log out and when you join a group but YOU CAN NOT BE SOLO AND LFM. If you are looking for more than logic dictates that you must be LOOKING FOR GROUP.  Maybe I am being too picky on this but I really bothers me and shows a level of sloppy design. Maybe GU4 they will get it right.

A few things not in the patch notes

1.       Group Buffs

2.       Wardship changes

Now group buffs should have been mentioned. So many people in game have been waiting for that and it might get a few people to come back. The faction changes in Wardship really show that PhanTom is serious about taking some of the grinds out of the game. I should make it over there this weekend.

I didn’t go into APW it must sound strange but the raid zone really hasn’t got me going yet. I hope that  GU4 will address some other things in game. The Khal revamp looks great and let’s see another city done in GU4.  How about looking into the group content for 50’s? Also they need to look into some of the areas that are broken. Minds Crown would be a good start.

I would recommend that anyone that left the game earlier this year for performance reasons should start to follow it again. GU4 should tell us a lot about PhanToms plans for the game it will be his entire baby.

LFG Update

Great news the 3.2 patch notes say they fixed the LFG options in Vanguard. I will find out for sure when my content group starts up. I really hope it is fixed.

Community Loss

Pidglet from Voyages of Vanguard logged on to game the other night. The first thing I asked was of course when is the next podcast going to be out? He did not say anything I liked. First he is thinking of going to a bi-weekly format.  It also looks as if he is going to lose Jaye form Journeys with Jaye as a co-host.  From the sounds of it she is going to be spending more time in EQ2.

The reason why I say this is bad for Vanguard is that for these two people to very important to the community. Numerous people listen to Voyages of Vanguard and have started to play the game. It has been featured on VGplayers several times as a source for community news.  When people that are active in the community move on it hurts the game. I would triad 50 flamers and haters in game for one Pidglet or Jaye.   It will take an active community for Vanguard to grow.

While I look forward to exploring Norrath with all of the gang from Revelry and Honor I will also miss the active roll Pidglet and Jaye have made in Vanguard.  I still like Vanguard but I hope that PhAtHoM will peruse a more aggressive patch schedule then what he has now. The lack of high level content and not just raid but also group is slowly bleeding the game out.

Vanguard LFG

I play a lot of Vanguard and really like the game. One thing that is just driving me crazy right now is the LFG system. There was a lot of discussion on the forums about this but I just don’t think the dev’s have given it the time it deserves.  For those that don’t play vanguard they have this great LFG system. You can flag yourself for what quest you would like to work on or what dungeon you would like to do. You can also flag you group as LFM and then people can see what groups are out there looking for players. There are a ton of filter you can put in place as to what class you are looking for and what level. It has to be the most advanced LFG tool in any game.

Here is the problem though. It doesn’t work you have to turn you LFG tag on and off manually. When you join a group you still show as LFG. If you log out and back in your LFG tag is still up.  You can be solo and show as a group leader LFM and LFG. It is to the point now that no one really uses it.  The players have asked about it and we seem to be getting a deaf ear from the dev’s. 

I understand that APW is the big project right now. I just hope that after that they will look into the LFG system. While raiding and endgame content is important to the game having well placed player support systems in game is just as important. Being able to group easily is a necessity in any game and should be the foundation of any MMO. LFG tools and player search filters need to be included in the initial design phase of any game.  Vanguard is not the only game to over look this they just seem to be taking the longest to address the issue.   

Vanguard Shards

Will it is done Vanguard will have it first shard with the launch of APW. First people need to realize that a shard is a lot different then an instance. In an instance it is you, your group and the dungeon. You will not see anyone else. With a shard there will be other people there. Shards help servers handle the load when the population gets high. This way the servers will not lag out.

Now some people are completely against any instances or shards in vanguard. I completely agree with this direction in Vanguard. I would like to see them add it to more areas of the game. I like running around and seeing other people. I don’t like hitting a chunk and going form a ping of 100 to 9000. I have two level 50 characters neither of witch I care to play right now. Not because I don’t like the game I do. If it was the game mechanics I would have left a long time ago. It is because I don’t want to play in a slide show. The last time a went up to Rahz Inkur the lag was so bad it was down right unplayable. That was only maybe three weeks ago and there hasn’t been a patch it is just all the people in the chunk. I don’t see why it would be such a bad thing that if a chunk can only handle 90 to 100 people then why not have another instance of that chunk.

Now maybe Rahz isn’t that bad. Maybe it was just the night. Maybe they where having server issues. I don’t know I do know that it happened enough times and was bad enough that I haven’t been back. I am a casual gamer I want content on my terms. I am not going to log in at 2am on a Tuesday just to explore the game because the population will be lower and maybe playable.

Vanguard is a great game lying under all the bugs and problems of the game. The openness of the game is its most attractive quality. I am not saying every chunk should be a zone line where you load in. But every chunk needs to be able to shard itself when it gets to a certain player level. This would be something that you wouldn’t notice very often. People will scream it is against the Vision but if Vanguard is to grow be ready to take a lot of big changes.