f13.net

February newsletter (http://www.vanguardsoh.com/Newsletters/Feb2006/main/betapage.html)

March newsletter (http://www.vanguardsoh.com/Newsletters/Mar2006/main/betapagemarch.html)

Interesting stuff. Of course, at this stage of the game its a bit scary to hear that they're revamping both the front and back end of the gui, but hey, at least they have to balls to pull out before the pooch is screwed.



...

ok, no more posts at this hour for me!

They seem to be doing a lot and explaining the reasons behind it.  Screenshots look good, I'm assuming it's zoned based, lacking pvp and grindy though, it still under a NDA?

It's not.

Vanguard is all streamed, no loading screens. I think there aren't transitions eveni in/outside dungeons and the mobs should be able to path through everything.

No loading? Mobs can path through everything? Oh god yes, I'm preordering.

Name: Schild
Level: Who cares.
Class: Train Conductor.
Slogan: Choo, Choo, Motherfuckers. All Aboard the Vision Express.

(http://www.anatol.org/images/taiwan/hualien/images/train-conductor.jpg)

Don't look at me the wrong way, I take my job very seriously.

Lots and lots and lots of whining, do I predict on this one.  One thing is guaranteed about Vanguard, and that is the endgame will be raiding in large groups and leveling-up will be almost mandatory grouping.  They already have 12 classes listed, so unless they're upping the group cap to 12 and have 50-60 person raids, the amount of "my class is useless!1!" posts on the intraweb is about to increase exponentally.

-Oh, and Schild hit the mark.  I remember crushbone trains, and splitpaw trains, and guck trains.  Those were nothing compared to the glory that will be Vanguard noob trains.  I don't expect the kind of aggro management WoW uses to avoid outdoor trains to make it into VS.

Oh, I just read the other day a Brad post (http://www.vanguardsaga.com/forums/showthread.php?p=883116#post883116) about how much he loves trains.

You would stalk a treestump if it said it was making an MMOG.

Trains or AoE powers will be nerfed in Vanguard -- they will not be like the EQ trains of yore.

Proof:

• Trains in MMORPGs are fun if you know how to handle them
• Trains are by far the fastest way to get experience in MMORPGs that alllow them -- i.e. AoE groups
• Combine the above two and AoE groups were all the rage in EQ when I left. They were also the powerlevellers dream come true
• Trains had to be nerfed 3 times in CoH because people wanted to, you know, have fun, fight things, and feel like superheroes, instead of slogging through the same repetitive missions all the time killing mobs ones and twos at a time
• Okay maybe Tanks and Controllers needed to be toned down a bit in CoH but why nerf trains? Because people were levelling too fast for Jack
• Brad is even more into the grind than Jack

Ergo there will be no trains or AoE powers of any significance in Vanguard

Every time I read gushy "oh joy" responses to shitty game mechanics I'm forced to remind myself that there are men in this world who pay to get their nuts stepped on and women who pay so men will cut them, so paying to 'enjoy' a shitty game shouldn't surprise me.

The NDA is still in place AFAIK but they sent out emails to the beta testers with the above "non secure" links so obviously word got out and they didn't bother to move the pages to a secure location.

Link please, I am getting a new car this weekend and need to make some extra cash.

Those comments gave me a more optimism about VG than I've had in a while.  It sounds like they are moving away from a lot of their shitty EQ2* 2.0 mechanics.  And changing the xp system from "everyone gets full xp" to a traditional "split xp * group xp bonus" system means that soloing and small grouping should be a lot more viable.

A grindier WoW I can handle.  A grindier EQ2 I cannot.


*I mean release day EQ2.  I hear it's gotten better and don't want to fight the WoW v EQ2 battle with the legions of recently converted smedbois here  :-D

Brad sayeth Vanguard is a "a seamless world"?  How's that going to work?  Or does he mean WoW-seamless?  If so, whaddabout instances?  which I though he did not enjoy one bit

Dear God, I felt like I was reading an EQ2 update.

Strangely enough, I imagine playing Vanguard will feel like playing EQ2 as well. EQ2 at release, that is.

There won't be any instances (well, not like WoW anyway) in Vanguard.

I'm trying to summon "teh hate", but can only manage "teh meh".  :oops:

'Teh hate' will be supplied in abundance a few months after launch by the idiots Vanguard fans - either because it's not what they expected 9i.e. it's not a slow, tedious and masochistic as they desire) or because it is as slow, tedious and masochistic as they desire, and they have the dawning realisation that they were looking back on Early EQ with glasses not so much rose-tinted as actively projecting pink light.

Computer Games Magazine Gives Readers World Exclusive Advanced Access To Upcoming Massively Multiplayer PC Game; June Issue Offers Access Codes to Beta Version of Upcoming Online Game Vanguard (http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=BW&Date=20060425&ID=5667497)


Not something I'm interested in, but thought someone else might be, this is new info, right?

First I've heard of it.

Here's April's newsletter (http://www.vanguardsoh.com/Newsletters/Apr2006/main/april.html) as well.

The top of that newsletter has a tree you need to debuff.

Wow. Even archery is a timesink.

Why do people think Brad likes trains from that quote?
You can do that in WoW, SWG and EQ2 too. In outdoor zones, mobs give up. In WoW indoors, I don't think they do. Nothing inventive. Nothing innovative. Just run-of-the-mill stuff.

Otherwise, resounding meh. Not for me maybe, but hopefully for enough, particularly on the 360, where it'll be unique. I can't see huge cheers on the PC in this age of WoW/GW.

I... I... (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=6702.msg180272#msg180272)

I...link to closed / deleted / sooper sekrit threads?

I sense Vanguard is growing in appeal, if only as people getting pissed with Blizzard's lack of availability increases.  It may not be good (or it may), but I bet they will meet their numbers at launch from pissed off PVP'eers alone.

yesterday it linked to the UO thread where it's essentially "it feels like 1999 in here"

Why? Vanguard won't have PVP.

...Forgot that salient point.  Forgiveness, please.

Didn't Brad say somewhere he had something PvP wise up his sleeve? I read that somewhere. About how he is going to amaze us all with his awesome pvp ideas.

It'll probably be something akin to Lineage 2 where you lose experience and levels to PvP deaths as well. After all, what would the grind be without a harsh death penalty?

Brad's idea of PVP is who can reach the rare, once-a-year-epic-widget-carrying spawn fastest, and then whine, bitch and complain when you lose out to the Euro guild who got their hours earlier.

I played on a Zek.
Forgive me if I seem to be a little sceptical about Verant, er Sigil's grand plans for PvP.

You can already tell that PVP would be completely awful in Vanguard just by looking at the Warrior class summary in the April newsletter.

15% chance to stun a target for 15 seconds? 20% chance to interrupt the target's casting?

Even the dice roll dice!

I smell a WoW price increase. They should bump it to $19.99. Lose half a million subs but still have higher revenues and shorter queues.

I just got another copy of Computer Games Magazine (shitty game rag, but I got the subscription for free) and it has an "exclusive Access Code Inside" for the Vanguard beta.

Considering the source, I expected these newsletters to contain more about testers that died while playing. 

You realize now that you are tainted right?  We're going to have to put you down, for the good of the internet and all...

That's actually a very good idea.  Well struck.  /hi5

Should I try it? Or should I give the code away?

Somebody needs to suffer so the rest of us don't have to but if you don't want to play I will.

Give it to me. I'll give it the proper attention.

Give it to Corp.  It'll be amusing to see someone over there stumble from DDO straight into Vanguard. 

I'd volunteer. I've never actually had my soul crushed before.

By the way, the code doesn't give access to the beta, it merely puts you in a queue for beta.
Yes, even Sigil's beta giveaways are centred around cockblocking and timesinks.

You have to EARN YOUR BETA, GODDAMNIT. YOU'RE IN HIS WORLD NOW!

In lieu of actually playing the Vanguard beta, those who want their souls crushed should spend a few minutes reading threads at www.fohguild.org.

I do look forward to reading a review on the Vanguard beta. Maybe we can have another flame war when the corp guys love it.

What's this corp guys stuff?  Who do you mean?  Poppin's place?  The military?  Some corporation?   I'm confused.

I wonder if you have to debuff the login server before playing the game.

[EDIT] Post number 6666.

I don't get it. What does 6666 symbolize?

/chortle

No idea either, google gave me this ...

NSFW (http://www.bazooka.ne.jp/~teisuken/itacg/6666.jpg)

-schild

Are you really schild?  or just a tribute?

Oops, sorry about that.  :oops:

I keep forgeting how sensitive superiors are ...

Comic boobies do not get much attention over here.

Or real boobies.

It is a shame, really.