2010

Crafting my Own Gear

stargrace August 4, 2010 0Comment

Taking a break from leveling yesterday, I decided that a leatherworker would be far more valuable to me right now then a tailor (both are branched off of the outfitter in crafting). I have a bard and a shaman that I’m leveling up, they each use medium (leather) armor. Everyone has the ability to change not only their entire crafting procession in Vanguard (this reduces your level down to 1 and removes any crafting recipes you have earned) but also change their crafting arch type if you’d rather do that instead. Doing this leaves you with the levels you’ve already obtained – but – you have to ‘fix’ your skills.You also lose your recipes.

What exactly does this mean? Well at level 11 you chose a subclass. In most cases that means you also click on the negative sign next to the opposite subclass. You go to the skills tab under crafting and click on the plus sign next to your own. Then when you do work orders you make sure they’re for the right subclass. For me in particular, that means switching from 198 points in tailoring (I’m level 19) to 198 points in leatherworking. That meant failing work order after work order and watching the points slowly decrease from tailoring and increase in leatherworking. It took the better part of an afternoon, and I’m glad I wasn’t too much higher then level 19 or it would have taken even longer.

Once that was FINALLY done, I decided it was time to make a set of gear for the bard to wear. She’s been wearing stuff from the isle of dawn, which is great until 15 or so and then you’ll want to wear something else. I had completed the URT quests for both boots and gloves, but am reluctant to get caught in that ‘loop’ where all I do are those quests again. So I crafted myself a set of rare gear, and imbued it with a healing bonus. The joys of the massive crafting system in Vanguard, you can customize your gear pretty well.

Since crafting in Vanguard is so complicated, it really makes you take a lot of pride in what you’re creating. Now that I’m wearing four pieces of gear, with a fifth piece on the way as soon as I hit 20 I’m quite pleased. I just need to get some more tailoring levels so that I can continue to make my own gear.

The guild is doing very well, we had another recruit join us last night and while we’re not the largest guild out there it’s still nice to see new players in the game. Fan Faire starts tomorrow, and while I’m not holding my breath at any Vanguard news I am tentatively waiting to see if we learn anything new about the game. We’ll just have to see!

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, I’ll see you in Telon!

Where to Level (15-18)

stargrace August 3, 2010 0Comment

You may remember that I posted not that long ago on where to level from 10-15 (right after you leave the Isle of Dawn). Well, now my shaman is inching closer to 19, and I’ve got a whole selection of new areas to quest in. For those who are concerned, there is LOTS of solo content in Vanguard. Plus, the population really is doing quite well right now, and there are groups everywhere. The two main quest chains people always seem to be are URT (United Races of Thestra) and HL (Hunter’s League) which I also mentioned in the previous post. These quests will give you amazing armor upgrades, and URT can be done mostly solo. HL requires a group. I have decided this time around to stay away from these two quests, as I always do them. Even though I’m in a brotherhood with a total of four characters, my shaman has still been leveling at a nice steady rate. I expect this to decrease after today with the bonus experience wrapping up, but it sure has been nice.

Where do you go from here? Once again the Rift Keepers show me a plethora of options:

• Kaon’s Rush – In Thestra
• Evendusk Fortress – (Never been here, no idea where it is)
• Ksaravi Gulch – (Again never been here)
• Misthaven Crossing – (In Thestra, this area is full of vampires, and dark spooky forests, I love this area)
• Renton Keep – (Thestra, where you’ll find URT missions)
• Silverlake – (Thestra, and around the area where you will find a mount quest for a unicorn)
• Skrawla Point – (Qalia, this is where HL quests can be found)

Not to mention the fact that I’m still w0rking on quests from the previous mentioned areas. In specific the Jin’Ka Forest, which is where the Tomb of Lord Tsang is located. There’s a few awesome quests in this area and one rewards a really neat weapon. I’m not sure if I’ll actually manage to finish it, but I hope so. Tomb of Lord Tsang is the first open dungeon I ever did in Vanguard, way back at release. I obviously have some pretty nostalgic views of it and can’t wait to go back.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Tuesday. Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, and I’ll see you in Telon!

Enjoying The Bonus Experience

stargrace August 2, 2010 3Comments

This weekend has been bonus experience weekend and WOW what a great time in Vanguard I’ve had. First of all, the guild is growing quite a bit more then I had thought it would – which is great. For those who are reading and may be interested, the guild is recruiting but you should be aware that we are more of a social gathering place then a guild that actually does anything together. Chatter? Yes, lots of it. But as far as grouping and organizing things, I’ll leave it to other guilds. If that still doesn’t scared you away then by all means feel free to track me down in game and talk about an invite. We don’t bite. Well, most of us.

I managed to inch my shaman to level 18, the bard level 20. Since I haven’t actively been playing the bard in order for her to level (she’s just been off line leveling with the brotherhood) their gear is incredibly poor. Something I’ll need to work on. I also wanted to be able to level the blacksmith, and I got her from 25 to 31 in a few hours. Thankfully Vanguard crafting doesn’t require a whole lot of attention devoted to it, so I watched movies on the laptop while I grinded away at work orders. Level 31 means I begin working on initiate level recipes, something I’ve really been looking forward to. Once the blacksmith hits level 45 or so I’ll switch over to the outfitter and hopefully make my way to 45 on that character. Once all three ‘main’ classes are at 45 they can at least all make parts for one another which means I open up a lot more options as far as crafting rares. I do still have big plans of eventually having all 6 crafting classes at 45+ but whether or not that will actually happen, I’m not sure.

How did everyone else spend their weekend? I hope it was a lot of fun. Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, and I’ll see you in Telon!

Some Good (and Bad) Experiences

stargrace August 1, 2010 2Comments

This weekend (until Tuesday in fact) Vanguard has a bonus experience going on for all three spheres. The game has been incredibly busy, with people everywhere. Most of my experiences with this have been positive, after all Nomadic Gamers (the guild) is now 15 strong, with only 8 of those being my own characters (that’s a feat, trust me). There have been a few negative experiences as well. The lag, for one. Then yesterday there was a player who decided to tell me I should “log off and hang myself” because I politely asked them to please not kill my mobs from outside of my group.

I suppose that may have been a petty thing to request them to stop doing (and I worded it as such, I said please and everything there was no malice intended) but I have a little pet peeve with people who just suddenly jump into my encounter and start “helping” me when I’ve not requested any help. I don’t know if anyone else feels that way, but I certainly do and I have since EQ days. First of course they decided to call me an “ungrateful lout” which amused me more then anything. However, telling a person they should commit suicide outside of the game is not an idea that rests well with me, even if it was in some sort of sick humor.

The encounter was only one of two negative experiences I can remember (from players that is) in the month since I have returned. It’s a reminder that it does not matter what game you play, some times there are still “those” people out there who are bent on making your experience a bad one. I didn’t let it ruin my day after all what would be the point.

With the bonus experience in full swing I managed to get a lot (and I do mean a lot) done. My weaponsmith is sitting mid way through level 27, after grinding out a few levels while I watched LOST last night (I just finished watching season three. This is the first time I’ve ever watched any of the episodes and I find it quite confusing but also interesting to watch). Players are always asking channels if crafting is profitable, if the gear is worth it. To this I have to say yes, yes, yes. I make the majority of my money through crafting. Last night was no different as I put a few weapons up for sale to see how they’d do. The characters in the brotherhood also did incredibly well. My bard managed to hit level 19 without me playing her. The shaman is 16. I chose bear as my ‘spec’ and obtained new spells that align myself towards a ‘tank’ spec. It also helps out my group, so I was pretty excited about that.

I hope everyone else has also had an enjoyable weekend so far. Monday is a holiday here in Canada, and I’m looking forward to doing nothing but riding my bike, and gaming. Tuesday I’ll be off to the newly revamped Museum of Nature, which I’m very excited about. Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, I’ll see you in Telon!

My First Vanguard Raid (Sort Of)

stargrace July 31, 2010 0Comment

My new(ish) little shaman inched her way to level 11, joined a brotherhood with my 16 bard, and then promptly set out to the Tomb of Lord Tsang for no other reason then I absolutely love that particular area of quests. Especially once they get to the group versions. During the evening myself and a guild mate could not help but grow frustrated at the enormous amounts of lag we were experiencing. This one island seemed to have more lag then anywhere else we had been, and we couldn’t understand why.

Now, back when I was first playing this cave was filled with level 12-14 ‘small group’ mobs (three dot) – and as we discovered last night, it is no longer the case. All of that lag we were running into was a direct result of a giant raid force that was inside the cave, with a whole lot of six dot level 57 mobs (raid encounters) that I have never seen before. Forged Souls (I believe was the guild) were working on some encounter that I couldn’t quite see, and I didn’t want to get any closer for fear of 1. getting agro (I was level 13 by that time after all) and 2. interrupting a raid. Remember, nothing in Vanguard is instanced, even the Ancient Port Warehouse has ‘shards’ which multiple guilds can enter but is not instanced in the traditional sense. It was really neat to see, and certainly cleared things up.

Questing for the evening meant I was 50% to level 14, and new spells (every two levels in Vanguard). The bard also got a level (offline) in the brotherhood, and is now 17. I’m debating whether or not I want to make some gear and weapons, or just continue on as I have been. I imagine since it takes me a little longer then normal to level (due to the brotherhood) I may just make a few bits.

Don’t forget this weekend is bonus xp weekend, and it lasts until Tuesday. This goes for all three spheres, so take advantage of it! I know I will be. Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Telon!