Tour of Telon

---

I remember getting very excited back in the day when news about EverQuest II first started to break. Say what you want about Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), but you can’t say that they fail to pack a punch in the marketing department. SOE pushed out a tremendous deal of hype when SOE was in its pre-launch stages. Although the game has grown and improved vastly since the days when it was launched to much fanfare and noise about innovative features and celebrity voice-overs, EQ2 may have missed its chance to really shine due to over-hype and initial under-delivery.

Enter Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, a game poised for publication by SOE in the first quarter of 2007. SOE has just begun to fire its heavy-duty marketing engines where Vanguard is concerned, but the fact that the game is being published by SOE begs the question: will Vanguard be all flash and no substance?  

Here’s the essential difference: while EQ2 was both published and developed by SOE, Vanguard has a slightly different pedigree. The development team, those in complete creative control of Vanguard, is Sigil Games Online, a company founded by two of the driving forces behind EverQuest Live, Brad McQuaid (CEO of Sigil Games Online and Vanguard’s executive producer), and Jeff Butler (President). And while SOE may be driving the hype machine, it’s very evident that Sigil is firmly holding the reins when it comes to building the game they envision. Here’s how I know...

I attended a press event for Vanguard in San Diego on October 6, 2006. Jeff Butler and Brad McQuaid led a press tour. Butler explained about the three continents that make up the vast area that is Vanguard’s world of Telon. There’s the Eastern European and Arthurian-themed Thestra; the Middle Eastern, Arabian Nights-themed Qalia (pronounced KAY-lee-uh); and the Asian-inspired archipelago of Kojan (pronounced KOH-jan).

“Now remember,” said McQuaid, “This world is completely seamless--it’s massive; it’s not zoned. It goes back to the days of Ultima Online where you can sail anywhere...you can fly anywhere. Just about anywhere you can see you can go. The only reason we would stop you would be for gameplay, like if you had to quest to gain access to a certain area.”

A Tour of Kojan

“This is a new area that we’re going to show,” said Butler. “It’s something our beta testers haven’t seen yet, and some of our people internally haven’t even seen. People have been asking a lot about Kojan and how it’s going to look, and we’re pretty enthused about showing it today.”

We began our fly-over with Butler’s character atop a griffon, sailing through the skies above the wood elf city of Youngtree Harbor; one of the starting areas in the archipelago of Kojan. The city was lush and beautiful, like a picture straight out of Oriental art. The landscape was framed by mountains (although not the sort of mountains that would have boxed players into a zone back in the EverQuest days), and decorated with buildings and temples featuring Oriental-style architecture. When we saw Kojan there were no NPCs lurking just yet. “When this is populated,” said Butler with a grin, “I’m not sure what will be here, but I’m sure it’ll start killing the players.”

The wood elf city should feel somewhat familiar to those who played EverQuest back in the day. Once again, it’s a city in the trees. “But there are rails,” said McQuaid, noting the railings running along the city’s many ramps. “No newbies falling to their deaths.”

“Yeah, but for the advanced player, you can still jump off,” mused Butler.

Other areas of Kojan were just as mesmerizing as Youngtree Harbor. We saw floating islands in the sky, glorious temples, lush vegetation, and even a shimmering waterfall. "That's the wood elf Jacuzzi," quipped Butler.

Ships in Vanguard

Butler showed us his ship, docked in Youngtree Harbor. The sailing vessel was huge and ornate. Butler told us that it would require an entire guild to work together to build a ship of that size. The first ships are available to players at around level 20.

“Can a ship be hijacked by another guild?” asked one journalist.

“In PvP that would be pretty cool, wouldn’t it?” said Butler, answering with a question.

I suspect we’ll have to wait to see guilds attacking one another at sea. At this time, although Sigil is committed to bringing ship-to-ship combat to the game, it’s going to be the stuff of expansions and won’t be available at launch. However, there will be combat on board ships. You will be able to be attacked on the high seas.

We got a peek at the map that helps players navigate their way around Telon. Light colored trails on the ocean areas indicate travel corridors on which adventurers can sail their ships from continent to continent. There will also be teleporters to transport ships from one continent to another. “Otherwise it would literally take you an hour on a ship to get from Qalia to Kojan,” said McQuaid.

Let me just add a word here about the map in Vanguard. At this time, it doesn’t appear to be highly detailed. While it will help you navigate from area to area, and may even point you to some cities or important NPCs, don’t expect to be able to find your way around Telon easily just by viewing the map. There’s much you’re apparently going to have to discover and explore on your own.

Continue...