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.
stargrace 
