January 30th marked the 3rd anniversary of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. For those who are playing the game or perhaps have an active account (I realize some may be active with station access but not actually playing currently) you’ll want to make sure you jump into game and head to NT, Aghram, or Tower Galan and speak with a Telon Historian for a bag of goodies (pictured to the right). I logged in all seven of my characters in order to claim them – for one reason. See that Special Anniversary Bag listed There? Well. It’s 36 slots of pure awesomeness, with stats on top of it. Unlike the special bag that came from the first anniversary this one is able to be claimed on every character so long as you log in and find yourself that Historian.
There were also events in game – including a Ustream event. The downside is that this was only on the test server, which I didn’t have patched. VG is large enough on its own without me patching the extra server right now. I would have never made it in time either. *sighs* With only four servers in the game to begin with I can see why having one ‘local’ server may have been the best bet, but I would have still rather seen the event moved to the live servers. Show players who may not have been ‘in the know’ what is going on with their game. That’s right, people DO still play!
I wish I had unlimited time to play unlimited games. Vanguard has always been really high on my list of games I adore, but I just can’t devote as much time to it as I’d like. I still belong to my very active guild, and I still own my home that I built from scratch. I’m not THAT far from the current level cap of 55 (I’m sitting at 44 on my Bloodmage) and I’m a level 50 crafter. I haven’t touched diplomacy as much as I’d like (my highest level diplomat is still only 10 or so) and there are so many places in the world of Telon I’ve yet to explore fully. That’s one thing Vanguard really has going for it. It’s an entire world, and it FEELS like a world.
Happy 3rd Anniversary Vanguard – and whether the road is rocky or not, I’m hoping for many more.
I played VG the first few months. I thought the game was pretty fun except the grind was EQ1, and Aion style. The game was just a little ahead of its time for everyones computers at the time. If the game came out today they probably would have had a better launch. Instead they launched it 3 years ago, and most people were getting less than 10 fps. The other big mistake they made was trying to launch the same time as the first expansion from WoW.
Wow, I can’t believe it’s already been three years. From what I have read the game has come along way since release.
The thought of losing Vanguard really saddens me. There is just something about its art direction that really appeals to me. Wonderful scenery and some of the best music I have ever heard in an MMO. Still, we vote with our dollars and the only way I ever play it is through Station Access. That being said though, Vanguard IS a major factor in convincing me to go with station access. It usually goes like this: I miss EQ2 and re-subscribe. The lore gets to me and I begin having nostalgic flashbacks of EQ1. However, I usually decide to stick with EQ2 and focus on it. Then eventually I catch a glance of that Vanguard button and I remember how much I haven’t seen in the game and this is when my resolve cracks. I drop the $30 telling myself that I can also see how SWG or EQOA are doing.
If SoE dropped Vanguard I don’t know if I would be nearly as quick to go with station access. They are adding The Agency and DCUO eventually, but the jury is still out on whether or not they will pull me in enough to make that leap.
They’ve had 4 servers for so long now, I don’t even figure that into the equation of lifespan – Realistically? I’d give it another year or two at max. For no other reason then I think SOE has moved on to their other games. They keep spreading developers around, pulling them off of “old” projects and moving them to newer prospects. A game can’t survive that way, when even the developers can’t hold onto it, let alone the players.
Wow, it’s only 3 years old? It feels older somehow. But here’s hoping for a great future for Vanguard and that it will somehow – be it through great content, new marketing, word-of-mouth or going F2P DDO:U-style – pick up the pace again. It’s a great game and people should give it a shot if they haven’t already. Telon is a really cool place, the crafting is cool, diplomacy is awesome and the world, as you say, feels like a world.
Happy birthday, Vanguard! Good luck and a lot of love to the team.
How much time would you actually give Vanguard before they close up shop? 4 servers doesn’t sound too promising, lifespan wise.