Weekly Newsletter 10_07_08: Come Out and Play

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Updated Fri, Jan 02, 2009 by Dalmarus

Come Out and Play

October 6th, 2008 - By Dalmarus

To say this was one of the more interesting weeks for me in terms of my Vanguard: Saga of Heroes gameplay time would be a bit of an understatement to say the least. In one way, it was actually pretty awesome because I had more time to play this past week than I have in almost a year. Nothing in life is free of course and The Piper always (and I do mean always) gets paid. What was the cost for me, you ask? A week's worth of a horrible flu, cold, or whatever else you want to call it. All I know is that it was less than pleasant and I had to use more sick days from work last week than I've used in the last 2 years combined. While I certainly wouldn't want to go through that again, it really was nice having a good chunk of time to finally play.

During my playtime, I noticed a couple of things I think are worth mentioning. First off, while I'm not sure the population levels have risen as fast as I would have hoped, there did appear to be more people on than there have been for some time, including during odd hours of the night. For those that play during peak server times anyway, this wouldn't really affect them in any way except forcing them perhaps to fight a little more over any contested content they were after. Personally, I doubt that's the case simply because the land of Telon is so massive, the population would have to have a very significant increase to make the world feel crowded.

"Flawless victory!"

For those like myself that normally only play in the wee hours of the night or very early hours of the morning, getting a group can normally be a much more difficult endeavor than I found it to be this past week. For those that work the night shift (and there are more of us out there than I imagine many people ever realize), it's sometimes discouraging to hop on your favorite game and not have anyone to play with or at least pester. Hopefully, the upward trend in population continues.

The other item that caught my eye was how helpful everyone was being. There was one night last week where I admittedly wanted to strangle a handful of asshats. I'm sure they know who they are, or at the very least, I certainly hope they know how moronic they were being. Gods save them if they don't and decide to act like that in the real world. Other than those few though, the regional chat channels were filled with general chatter, honest questions, and helpful answers.

Some people were so helpful in fact that I'm tossing around the idea of adding a small section to my weekly Chronicles here, entitled, "[Insert Server Name]'s Most Helpful Player of the Week". It would be little more than letting the community know who I thought was the most helpful in the regional chat channels. Not only do I think it would be nice for nice players to be recognized, it may also encourage others to be nicer as well. Who knows, you could be in next week's edition. You never know what server I'll show up on, what character names I'll be under, and what simple or bizarre questions I'll be tossing out there.

To be fair, I was also debating whether or not to have a "[Insert Server Name]'s Biggest Tool of the Week" highlight as well, but I won't. There are some players that just do their best to poison whatever chat channel they find themselves in. While it's a funny thought to entertain, it just wouldn't be right. Aside from the fact that even my Chronicles should follow the rules of our forums, I would also hate to just catch someone on a really bad day. We've all been there, we've all had them, and at some point or other, we've all said something we've regretted later. Keep that in mind when someone is acting like a jerk in the game and maybe, just maybe, they won't seem like such a big one.

What do you think? Leave a comment here!

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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.