Yesterday was quite progressive in Vanguard, though I did also log into EQ2 to check out my sales (lots of potions sold, that’s always a good thing, but little of anything else). I had started a Vulmane druid a few days ago – and druids in Vanguard are unique in the fact that they are cloth wearing casters (nukers) that use the elements rather then the typical healer (such as in EQ1, EQ2, and WoW). It gives them a very different play style. One also rare known fact about Vanguard is you can actually cast spells while you’re walking. All of your spells in fact. The pace that you walk is slowed as you’re casting, but the spells will still go off. It makes kiting possible for every single class. Especially those who have snares and roots (most cloth wearers have one of some sort though they do tend to break easily).
The Vulmane starter area was quite well done, it was one I’d not been to before. There’s a story line about the Spiritrager clan who were once proud and led by Gulgresh and Dangar. They were both feared and respected, but Dangar grew corrupted over time, and sacrificed the daughter of Silvermane to gain more powers. When you move out of the small camp to the city, you’re faced with figuring out who betrayed who as you wander through the town, and I had a lot of fun working on these.
I added a page on the blog where you can see my VG characters in case anyone was coming to play and wondered who I was on as. I am so used to having alts, why would it be any different in VG eh? Last night I formed up a brotherhood with my EQ2 friend, so that we don’t out level one another. It’s a great feature, as long as you don’t mind splitting your exp between people. Since I enjoy so many aspects of the game, it doesn’t bother me at all. We played last night and I hit level 14 (warrior) while he managed to get most of the way through 13 (disciple). Together we can take down blue 4 dots (2 at a time) which was pretty fun considering we’re not twinked out or anything like that. For the first time ever I was able to complete the Ra’jin Stronghold quests and got a new face piece, and the named also dropped a yellow sword for me (gear goes white – green – blue – yellow and so forth). After exping for a short while I decided to get some crafter levels, and on that aspect of the game it still eludes me some what. I’ll have to check out some guides. I did hit level 8 blacksmith though, which was great. I haven’t decided if I’m going to make armor or weapons yet. In Vanguard, if you want to make your own weapons and gear, you want to idealy be a few levels ahead of your adventure level – so I’m going to try to aim for that over the next few days. We’ll see how it goes.
In the back of my mind, I’m still deciding what to do come the 20th. I’m enjoying the game – but is it worth paying a monthly fee for? Last night some chunks (those are the squares of map and the nick name they’ve picked up basically representing the “seamless” zoning of VG) were experiencing rounds of 4,000-10,000 latency, which was horrible. I still have to /flush and /flush all for graphic glitches. On the other hand I am having a blast playing. So do I shut down one of my EQ2 accounts (and then comes the hard choice of which one) and get station access? Or do I just return fully to EQ2 once the 20th of January rolls around? As of yet I don’t have the faintest idea. I suppose if I find a community in VG before the 20th, then I’d get station access. For now I’m still just wandering around on my own the majority of the time.
I’m not resubscribing to Vanguard until their animal races come at least up to par with those of EQ2, appearance and animation-wise (and that includes having tails!) It’s all about the appearance of my toons for me, and Vanguard’s in general are stiff and shoddy.
Lishian, bags are sold like hotcakes yet. The problem is that now there are more tailors and outfitters at level 50, so there are more bags being sold at the market.
However, with the item nerf that the game had, now the BETTER gear come from crafting. And the crafters have more items for make, including some items are consumed when used.
Currently, the second better way to be rich is be a haverster and sell materials to crafters. The first better way to be rich is be a haverster and a crafter and sell crafted high quality items.
Haha, my character Barkscratch is a Vulmane Druid too – min maxing for the win ! I agree with you, the starting story was very well done for them and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
When I played Vanguard, it seemed better to craft an actual items when you were a few levels higher than that item. It seemed to be the only way to craft a pristine piece. BTW: Unless it has changed since I played, bags sold like hotcakes.
Someday they will ra-launch the game with the Trial Island. Problably they will make the performance better before that. They will revamp some the cities like they make to Khal and they will change the models and textures.
If you aren’t confident enough to play Vanguard after 20th you can wait the re-launch.