It wasn’t a surprise when I heard tonight that Vanguard would be closing its doors, but that doesn’t mean that I was any less surprised, and maybe even a bit hurt. Still, 7 years is nothing to sneeze at, most companies probably would have closed the door long ago. I wanted to share a few of my favorite Vanguard memories, I’ve been playing off and on since beta, and this game has been one of my favorite for MANY different reasons.
– I was a volunteer guide with the SOE program for approximately two years in Vanguard. I met amazing players through the program and was able to interact and RP with them in ways I always wished I could. This was one of my favorite things to do in game.
– Vanguard was the first game I ever played where I quite literally built my house from scratch, brick by brick. I still own the house.
– Vanguard was the first game I ever played that attempted a ‘seamless’ open world without instances. It didn’t exactly work out the way it was intended, but it was always beautiful.
– I ran a lot of events in game, including a scavenger hunt for my guild ‘Safe Haven’. I eventually joined the EQ2 branch of the guild because they were just that amazing.
As I sit here and think about everything I’ve done in game and browse through the thousands of screenshots I’ve taken I can’t help but get a bit teary eyed. I doubt any but those closest to me know just how much of myself I poured into this game and how much it has given back to me over the years, helping to keep me sane when the world around me was a disaster. I’m so very thankful and grateful that it was allowed to run for as long as it did and I will miss this game very much.
Sad to see it go, will login and take more shots of my unicorn I think :-)
Did they ever put tails on the Vanguard furry races?
Wow, Vanguard is ending. That’s really sad, Vanguard was a very important game to me because of the people I met and the experiences I had that will stay with me always. It was a really great game and I have so many fond memories of my times there. I will be sure to log in and have some adventures, check in on my old characters, and maybe start a new toon to play through the starter areas one last time before they close the doors forever.
I never got into VG like that, but I did in SWG, so I know about the teary-eyed nostalgia bit. I’m glad you were able to take so much enjoyment from it!