September 2008

Newbie Island? Sounds like FUN

stargrace September 17, 2008 1Comment

I’ve always been a fan of Vanguard – even though there are lots of people who are not, who have had horrible experiences with the game. I tend to play it for a bit and then take a break and then play it again for a bit, remembering why I love it. It’s not quite enough to draw me away from EQ2, but it’s certainly got aspects to it that I enjoy a great deal. When the release of GU6 implemented the ‘newbie island’ where all characters had the option (or not) of starting out, I decided to head back to the game and see what it was all about. 

I decided to ask if Kanad (who also plays Eq1 Nostalgia as Kanad, and EQ2 Nostalgia as Kasul) wanted to test out his station access and give Vanguard a try. Now, Kanad has never played Vanguard before. He’s only got blog posts to go by so I wasn’t sure what he was expecting as far as the game goes. He’ll have to write about that himself. He played EQ1 quite heavily, and just got into EQ2 for the first time in April (and got his crafter epic yesterday, congratulations!) anyhow, he didn’t have a lot of game stuff to go on already.

So he made a barbarian type shaman, and I decided to try out a druid (which is a mage like nuker who uses the forces of the environment to smite their foes) and we had a LOT of fun losing ourselves in Telon for a few hours. I actually lost track of time.

I don’t consider myself a newb to the game. I’ve got a level 41 adventurer (close to 42!) and she’s also a 45 crafter. Only level 10 as far as diplomacy goes, but I know how it works and I’ve got enough gear to move the levers and put up crafter buffs of my choosing. I do use a mod for maps, because it shows the harvest node areas on them. We ran around killing hobgoblins and saving villagers, closing down portals and adventuring through caves. We didn’t run into a single problem – though we’ve only played up to level 6 so far. Everything ran smooth and compared to starting out in the regular cities – WOW do you ever get some nice gear! 

There were over 100 people in the one chunk running around, channels were popular, and areas were packed. Thankfully quick respawns take care of any major issues with over camping. It was great to see and I can only hope that at least some of those players will continue on through the levels and make Vanguard their new home. A few times throughout the night I’d hear a shout or a chunk message that exclaimed “how had I not heard about this awesome game before”. Of course now it’s a LOT more stable then when I played at release. 

Kanad had no issue using the default map once he figured out that clicking on the empty circles in the description of the quest would like up on the map where to walk to for quest objectives. He did comment that the spell refresh feels slightly different then EQ2, but other then that, no real incidents. 

I had not delved into the diplomacy aspect of the newbie island yet, nor the crafting. Maybe I’ll get a chance to today though – I wanted to check out the story lines. Since the diplomacy line should be brand new I’m interested to see what it is. I noticed that the chunk had buffs up, so it’s nice that you can move the city levers even there. 

For now, the zone gets a thumbs up from me. We’ll see how the last four levels go in the newb experience. I tend to think that this game is almost more like EQ1 in the respect that if you just simply pick it up and expect how to play right off the bat, you’re going to grow frustrated. But if you team up with someone else who has played, and have them show you the way, you can grow to enjoy it a lot more. Not exactly newb friendly (either game). That is one of the major winning points in Vanguard though for those who do play constantly, the complexity of it. More ramblings later!

More Vanguard – Bringing Sexy.. Where?

stargrace September 15, 2008 0Comment

The screen shot above is what happens if you click “view body” from the character creation screen. That’s right, of course that view right there is the most important body view, right? It must be. When I first logged my characters in I didn’t bother creating anything new. I just wanted to see where everything was, and make sure my house was still standing. It was, thankfully. It wasn’t until I noticed Ishbel’s HORRIBLE default ears, that I noticed a few other things that had changed. 

Yeah, they were pretty bad. I was mad – at first. Then once I entered the edit mode for my characters I realized that they gave back all of the sliders (almost all) that made character customization a little more interesting. I didn’t want ears that were so large they could not only hear all of Telon but half of Norrath as well. The torpedo breasts that Minxes recieved were plesant the first time she went swimming, but then quickly became an annoyance. 

So I was blissfully happy to see these sliders returned to us, and I set to downgrading everyones ears, and chests. At least now my characters are looking half normal. I’m still not to keen on the new clothing – some of it is great, I’ve seen some people wandering around in what looks like very nice stuff. I myself sport no such thing, but maybe in time I’ll be able to look as good as they do. I saw some interesting weapon graphics with a few particle effects. Game ran as smooth for me as it did before I stopped playing last time, I’ve never really had any huge issues. I play on balanced settings, no shadows which is fine for me.

Channels were busy again tonight, lots of people asking for help, wondering if various quests were broken, etc. I saw one or two new people talking in channels asking about what to do once they were dropped out of the newbie island experience. Kasul may be giving VG a test tomorrow, so I’m holding off on the island until he’s ready to play. These experiences are always a lot more fun with a friend around.

A Peek at Vanguard Changes

stargrace September 15, 2008 0Comment

After reading other people’s impressions and ideas on the new changes in Vanguard after the latest game update, I decided it was time to delve back in myself for a bit. My characters don’t look especially different from last time – except the ones who wear a dress. They’re supposed to be ‘sexy’ and I’m not sure if it’s my settings (I know the screen shot quality is horrible there) or what, but their clothes just sort of.. were there. They didn’t look like they were actually wearing them. I suppose showing off some skin now is sexy though. Oh, and how come they still look like they’re all wearing their helms in the character selection screen when I have them turned off in game. Just a little thing I know, but a thing none the less.

My house is still there, with 6g in the escrow. I’ll have to stick more coin in eventually, it’s 60s a week in upkeep and I worked too hard to make that house to give it up any time soon – even if I don’t play a great deal. 

There were people chattering in channels, both in the lower level area of Tanvu, and on the crafter channel that I belong to. Maps and UI all worked fine which surprised me because I’ve been gone for a little bit now. It was nice to see some life. I don’t belong to a guild in Vanguard, so things are slightly quiet. If I play any amount at all I’ll see about finding one. No, I’m not giving up EQ2, and no I’m not picking up any other games, readers by know should know my habits and where I wander, hehe. 

Items in my bag don’t make sense to me any more, and I forget where I was questing or what I should be doing at level 41, but I’m sure I can figure it out before too long.