Is Camping Season Here?

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June 2nd, 2008 - By Dalmarus

It seems any game that evolves has highs and lows, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes has certainly not been any exception in this regard. Fortunately for both the players and the developers of the game, this appears to be a high point in the life of the game. Last week, the community had a double shot of goodness injected into its blood in the form of Game Update #5 and a great podcast with Vanguard's Lead Designer, Silius.

Major game updates tend to be a lot like the flip of a coin. Sometimes they're great and other times, not quite so great. As I said earlier, it seems the gaming gods have smiled upon the developers and given us a great update. There will be people that will argue with this statement, some more legitimately than others, but the general feedback from the community as a whole has been impressively positive. Between the massive improvement in Vanguard's hitching issue, the addition of racial (or more accurately described, city) mounts, class updates, and a number of general coding fixes, this update is shaping up to be one of the best to date.

There was initially a problem where the hitching code didn't get completely added to the patch that was pushed out, but this was resolved very quickly that morning to the delight of many. For myself, I've been one of the lucky players that while certainly not immune to the hitching beast, I didn't seem to get bitten as often as other friends of mine were.

After running the compiler the game requested, I hopped back into the world of Telon to give the fixes a look though and have to admit I couldn't believe the difference. After taking the initial 15-20 seconds or so turning in a circle to load my area, I was off and witnessed only a tiny fraction of the hitching I had before. The change was so drastic for me that it wasn't until after this fix that I realized I'd been hitching a lot more than I had initially noticed. That single thought alone is what makes this such an impressive feat to me and I'm glad it's finally here.

Some people have reported they are still having problems, or that it has gotten worse. Some may have run the compiler, some may not have. In either case, hopefully a fix will be out for them soon. There's also a known hitching issue in the Ancient Port Warehouse that is being investigated. Silius stated here they're aware of the problem though, so hopefully this too will be resolved quickly.

There currently appears to be a pretty big debate going on in the official forums over the racial mounts and the method of obtaining platinum coins. The majority of the discussion is revolving around the idea that since platinum coins drop off of various boss mobs in the game, camping has become an issue of contention on the servers again. The topic of camping for coins devolves further when players that are just trying to kill a boss mob to finish off a quest are either having to wait an inordinate amount of time before it's "their turn" or Kill-Steal (KS) a target. Last September there was a huge debate about camp etiquette on the official forums. Perhaps it's time to start that debate up again?

While hopes are high this pattern of behavior will begin to wane as more players get enough coins for their mount, there is the worry that what's being seen now is just the beginning. As a quick reminder for players that may not be aware, the gold coins you can receive from any mob (that you receive experience from) can be converted into platinum coins, so there are other methods aside from having to hunt boss mobs.

The Psionicist finally received a long overdue heaping of developer love and I for one am glad to see it. I still maintain they should have been one of the very first classes to receive they're class review, but I'm happy for them that it has come to pass now. So happy in fact that the Level 1 to 25 Psionicist spell list will be updated next week, with the level 26 to 50 list being updated the week after.

While the Psionicists appear happy with the love they've received, there have been some rumblings from the Blood Mages on the servers in regards to the changes made to their class this week. Some issues were resolved, some appear to have been pushed back until Game Update #6 perhaps, while others appear to still be unsatisfactory to the Blood Mage community as a whole. Since I don't play one, I really can't say one way or the other. Are they legitimate complaints, or simple whining? Tell me what you think and I'll be happy to listen. In any case, I hope the Blood Mages can soon come to love their class once again.

Not only did we get Game Update #5 last week, but the fine folks at Voyages of Vanguard sat down with Vanguard Lead Designer, Silius, in a 90+ minute podcast. There were far too many things discussed to rattle them all of here, so you'll need to get over there and listen to it yourself. I will say this though. Many people seem to feel that Silius comes across as uncaring or even rude in some of his forum posts. Silius discusses this and talks about how he is simply trying to get information out in the quickest and most efficient way he can because every minute he's on the forums is a minute he's not working on the game directly. I point this out for one reason and one reason only. Listen to the podcast and listen to the emotion in Silius' voice as he talks about the game's current state, mistakes made in the past, and the exciting things to come in the future. I always knew Silius cares deeply about Vanguard, but I challenge anyone to listen to that podcast and still doubt his passion for the game.

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Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff.

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