September 21st, 2007

Weekly Hot
Topics

Collected by Dalmarus

It's that time of the week again everyone, where I bring you the Weekly
Hot Topics featuring both the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38">TTH
Vanguard forums
and the  href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/forums/list.m">official
Vanguard forums. This week brings a number of different
topics ranging from nerf concerns to the debate of DPK systems with the
new raid content coming in Game Update #3. To top everything off, a
player throws down the gauntlet and makes a list in order of class
usefulness.Considering the fact that I love my necromancer, I disagree
with the order of his list. Of course, I could be biased, so rather
than continue to ramble on, let the Weekly Hot Topics begin!

Have you come across a
thread you'd like to see featured? href="mailto:[email protected]">Send it off
(with a subject of "Weekly Hot Topics"). Or if style="font-weight: bold;">you want to be
featured, start an engaging thread on href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38">our
forums here.

TTH Vanguard Forums

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=19444"> class="maintitle">Camp and Mob stealing Guilds-Seradon- By
Redroostah

It
seems I just can't help listing
topics in which I've either had to remind everyone to play nice, or
lock out of
necessity. I think this thread is a perfect example of why. Although
there is
some turmoil in the beginning, it quickly becomes a genuine discussion
on
group/camp etiquette and suggestions on how to improve (or live with)
the
current system. Now compare the discussion on our forums with the same
topic
(also by Redroostah) that has become a flame fest on the official
forums at
VGPlayers href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=19218">here.
I think this is a great example of why we moderate when we need to. I
think the
TTH Forums have a nice balance of letting people speak their mind, yet
moderating as necessary to help promote these discussions.

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=19394"> class="maintitle">Will there ever be AAs in VG? - By Enscheff

Even
though this thread was started in the
Dreadknight portion of our forums, I thought it important enough to
mention in
here as I feel it affects all players. What kind of system (if any) do
you
think would be implemented? Rather than thinking strictly of specific
class
AA's (Advanced Abilities), what types would you like to see for all
players?
Would you have specific abilities based on race? The possibilities for
discussion on this are endless!

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=19460"> class="maintitle">Healing cost changes - By cas (SOE Shaman
Class Lead)

Before
I say anything about this topic, let me
stress one thing. This information is coming from partial notes on the
TEST
server. That's right, I said Test. The cost of healing has gone up for
all
healers, apparently to be more in line with the original plan for
healers. It's
been suggested that this may also have been done to get healers to
concentrate
more on WIS/VIT rather than the various STR/CON/DEX builds that we've
been
seeing. It may also be a way to make healers more inclined to seek out
healer
gear, rather than tank gear. Others are screaming that this has broken
their
chosen class.

Like I did with the post by Roostah further above, I could link a
number of
threads like this from the official forums. Unfortunately, even I'm not
willing
to put my fire resist gear through a test like that. If you're truly
interested, simply head over there and take a look. They're not hard to
find.

Since you're reading this, here are a couple things I want to point out
to the
community. This is coming (or may be now) on the Test server. First
off, if you
feel strongly about how this affects you, get over on the Test server
and help
them test. Making your voice be heard during testing will be far easier
than it
will be to get something changed after it's gone live. Secondly, while
I'm not
in favor of class nerfing, they may have the right idea in general, but
need
your help to tweak it correctly. If you don't go over to test it, there
will be
little sympathy from many to the cries of "Nerf!” so get over
there and
get testing!

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=19091">

Official Vanguard Forums

href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=18858"> class="maintitle">To DKP... or not to DKP.... by Azzix

Mention
DKP to any MMO gamer and you instantly
get mixed results. Some love it and think it's the greatest thing since
MMO's
themselves. Mention it to others and you may get a pretty
blasé attitude,
topped off with a meager, "Eh." Still others will begin frothing at
the mouth in a fit of rage at even hinting that DKP is a good system
for all
guilds to use when handling their raid loot rules. What system will you
be
using when raid content goes live in Vanguard?

href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?&topic_id=18725"> class="maintitle">All 15 classes ranked in terms of useful
to useless - By Thaldor

Anyone
that thinks a necromancer falls so low on
a chart as Thaldor here, hasn't played with a good necromancer (or at
least
that's my opinion). As I mentioned above though, it's entirely possible
that
I'm a bit biased. I loved playing a necro in both EQ1 and EQ2. I think
my
Vanguard necro wipes the snot out of both of them though, so yeah...
biased?
Could be. What about you though? Where does your favorite class land on
the
list. By the way, I think Disciples might have a bit of an issue with
being
rated dead last, so get over there and defend yourselves!

href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?&topic_id=19093"> class="maintitle">WORST GAME EVER!, and I am never leaving.
- By Mames1701

Not
only do I love the title Mames chose for his
thread, I love the content of it as well. The numerous pages of content
confirm
what I've heard from almost every VG player I know. Yes, the game has a
lot of
issues. Yes, the game can get you a bit irritated. Yes, the game even
has the
ability to have you screaming and cursing at the gods in anger over how
"X" has just screwed you or your computer. Despite any periods of
irritation and/or ranting though, the game has "something" that draws
you in. Some comments in the thread state that it's the realism feel of
the
world. Others claim it's the diverse amount of classes and landmasses
to
explore. Still more state that there are so many different things to
work on
between Adventuring, Crafting, and Diplomacy, that it's impossible to
truly get
bored. Personally, I think it's because I've been playing since a
couple weeks
before launch and there's still a lot of Telon I have left to explore.
It may
be irritating as heck sometimes, but Vanguard certainly has
something magical about it!

Conclusion

While
sifting through the numerous available
threads this week, I was delighted to see there are still a number of
the
"returning (or possible returning) player" posts. While this gives me
a certain level of hope for the game's future, I think it's important
to note
that the newness of the server merges may be finally wearing off. A
number of
posts asking about why we aren't getting any timeline updates for GU#3
or when
the Trial Isle will become available are also starting to creep up in
growing
numbers. All of them have one underlying thread in common... Vanguard
has a bit
of momentum going for it right now, so don't let that die. While I
think things
may be waning on that front, I believe that the introduction of the
Ancient
Port Warehouse will have the same effect GU#2 and the server merges did
-
they'll revitalize the community and draw more new players. So what do
you
think? Let us know href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?p=169701#post169701">here!