Weekly Newsletter 04_21_08: Old Promises Fulfilled

Tags: in

Updated Fri, Jan 02, 2009 by Dalmarus

Old Promises Fulfilled

April 21st, 2008 - By Dalmarus

There's always a great sense of gratitude when a topic for a newsletter (excuse me, "Chronicle") gets dropped into your lap like a gift from the gods themselves. Ellyra's Game Update #5 Preview this past Friday morning is the perfect example. I don't think I could have asked for a better birthday present this week.

First and foremost, there is something I want readers to keep in mind when not only reading this, but also when posting on various message boards - everything in Ellyra's preview is "an outline of the main features included in the final update". That means we do not know everything going into the update. So before anyone starts ranting about, "How can they add these things before fixing any bugs?”, try to have some patience and realize that every patch we've gotten has had various bug fixes in it. It's an on going process and always will be a part of any online game.

As a quick related note I know many people are curious about (myself included), Silius has stated he is currently working Pantheon of the Ancients. Earlier last year, Machail posted a great series of guides for Pantheon of the Ancients and ever since, I've always wanted to go through it. Alright, time to get back on topic!

The first thing that jumps out at you with GU5 is the addition of racial mounts (see Ten Ton Hammer's exclusive shots of the Raki and Kurashasa mounts), so let's talk about them for a bit.

As with any time something gets added or removed from any game, there are going to be people that love it, people that hate it, and an innumerable amount of people falling somewhere in the middle of the road. This time though, I think the majority of players will enjoy this addition to the game a great deal. Before people start hollering about this statement, keep in mind that this is simply my opinion. Yes, I've seen the threads with players up in arms about this but I still think I'm correct.

In any given gaming community, the unhappy players tend to be the most vocal and that's understandable. They see something in the game they want to change, so they talk about it, sometimes incessantly. Players that are happy tend to simply play the game and casually peruse the forums on occasion.

In the majority of postings over the last few days though, I've noticed an interesting occurrence... the number of players posting how happy they are about the change match (or sometimes exceed) the number of unhappy posts. Along with this, there are also a surprising number of players that may have issues with choice of mount for a particular race, but think the idea is a good one overall. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw this type of response in general to a new addition. I have to say this brought a smile to my face.

I will admit the addition of racial mounts is impressive, but the bigger side effect of this (at least to me) is the return of a KOS (kill-on-sight) faction system. It was never something I considered a game breaker, but I've been awaiting the return of this since it was taken out of the game. Some people may think this makes me an outdated relic of the Everquest glory days, but it's something I've been missing in Vanguard.

I love the fact that after I take the time to max out my Hathor Zhi faction (as any self-respecting dark elf should do) there are only two ways I'm going to sit in the heart of Leth Nurae. I either have to take the time to gain favor with the city by defeating their enemies (disgraceful), or defend myself against the city guards (glorious).

Whether an old favorite pastime of mine called "Guard Hunting" is going to be possible still remains to be seen, but one can hope. At the very least I hope players will have the option of defending themselves against rival city guards. One way to avoid potential problems with this would be to remove any xp gain, faction change, or loot from all guards. This doesn't mean you wouldn't lose anything from getting killed by a guard - you should still lose faction, xp, and maybe even get a little message along the lines of, "That will teach vermin such as you to remain outside our walls!" from the guards as well. This way, players would still be able to defend themselves rather than trying to escape an untouchable guard.

On top of racial mounts, the faction system, and multiple class updates coming, the implementation of some new code to reduce hitching in the game is a welcome fix. While I've been fortunate enough to have not had a large problem with this issue, there are still a number of players that have not been so lucky. Issues like this are the types of things that can keep event the most enthusiastic player from being able to enjoy the game. And as we all know, if a player doesn't enjoy the game, they're not going to be able to give a positive review of the game to their friends and family that may be interested in playing. This is just more proof that the game is continually being improved and personally, I can't wait to see where it all goes.

What do you think?