Getting Crafty in Vanguard

Beta Crafting Preview

by Zinn

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Introduction

A few Fridays ago I was lucky enough to receive my beta invite to Vanguard Saga of Heroes. After many minutes of wondering if this was a hoax or some cruel joke it dawned on me that at long last I had actually gotten into beta. I immediately registered the key and began the download. While downloading I became quite afraid that Vanguard would not live up to my hopes and that maybe all the angry posters claiming beta leaks were right. By the time the download was finished it I was quite scared to start the game. It was also getting late and almost time for me to go to sleep. I thought for all of about 5 seconds about going to sleep and starting on Saturday. Nervously, I made a character and entered the world with the intention of doing some crafting tonight and then adventuring the next day.

Let me start by saying the critics were very wrong. Vanguard is much more than I could ever have hoped. It’s an amazing game. It’s really hard to compare it to anything else because it’s so huge, complex and has such an epic feeling to it. Most games can’t compare to Vanguard. Sigil is actually building a living breathing world while most MMOGs are building small amusement parks,

The crafting in Vanguard is very good; much better than I could have hoped for. It’s easy to get started in crafting, but at the same time it is complicated. I have been in beta a few weeks now and I still feel I know very little about crafting. But my lack of knowledge does not stop me from crafting (although I suspect it stops me crafting as well as I should). But the little I do know, I have been allowed to tell you. Just be aware that I am still a noob and my information is far from complete.

Getting Started

I started as a Gnome Blood Mage, named Zinn. In Vanguard crafting is performed in the crafting areas of cities and towns. To become a crafter I had to first get to the Gnome city of Mekalia. After reaching adventuring level four and finishing a number of starter quests I entered the city of Mekalia. It is an amazing and stunning looking city. Like the Gnome city in EQ1, Mekalia is a maze but much easier to get around. I spent a good deal of time being wowed by the beauty of the city. Once I looked around a bit I went looking for the crafting master a quest NPC had sent me to see.

Upon meeting the crafting master I started the crafting tutorial quests. My first choice was to select one of three crafting classes: Artificer, Blacksmith, or Outfitter. I chose Outfitter. (One can change crafting classes later by speaking with a crafting instructor, but you will lose all crafting experience gained.)

The crafting tutorial took me on a journey through the basics of crafting. It taught me what to bring with me to a crafting encounter, the basics of making an item, the tools and items needed in crafting, work orders and more.

Crafting is done at crafting stations. There are 3 types of stations: refining, finishing and assembly.

The first thing the tutorials taught me is what materials I needed to make an item. Every crafted item has a recipe indicating what tools and ingredients are required. One cannot add tools or items once a crafting encounter has begun so it’s important to bring the correct tools to the crafting encounter. Let’s first take a look at what I learned about these items.

User Interface (UI)

One of the nicest features of the Vanguard UI is that players have a separate inventory screen for adventuring, diplomacy, crafting and harvesting gear. Players wear all 4 sets of gear at once so there is no unnecessary tedium involved in changing out crafting and adventuring gear and weapons. The UI also changes your gear and your avatar’s look depending on what action you are performing. Attack a mob and you’ll find yourself automatically wearing your adventure clothes. Begin harvesting some copper and you automatically change into your harvesting clothes.

Tools

I was given a three slot tool belt in one of the crafting tutorial quests. Each recipe requires 3 tools to make. Finishing tools needed are different from those needed for refining work. Upon completing the tutorial quests I immediately bought a six slot tool belt from the crafting supply vendor to avoid having to switch out tools. Tools, like adventuring items, come with statistics which can make one tool preferable over another.

There are slots for three tool belts. You can equip all the tool belts at once in your inventory and decide which to bring with you to a crafting encounter. Some non-standard tools are needed to perform complication remedies.

Ingredients

There are four types of ingredients:

Raw Materials

Every recipe requires a raw material to start. To make mangled leather one has to have mangled hides (obtained by harvesting animals) as raw materials. When you’re completing work orders (which are issued by NPCs) the raw material is always provided.

Necessary Fuel Ingredients

Each recipe requires one fuel ingredient. For outfitting that ingredient can be either solution cleaners or corrosive solvents. This ingredient is used in one of the crafting actions. Fuel can be purchased from one of the crafting supply vendors.

Special Fuel Ingredients

These are non-standard ingredients that can also be purchased from the crafting vendor. These ingredients are not required to make the product but are listed on the recipe list. You can use these ingredients to perform special actions during the crafting process, but it is not necessary to use these to make items.

Enhancements

Enhancements are used for making player items but not on work orders. One can bring enhancement powders into the crafting process and use them during the refining process. These enhancements will add statistics or abilities to the final product.

The crafting process is not as complicated as it may look. Actually it is very easy. All one is trying to do is make the best quality product without running out of action points. But more on that later. Now that we know what we can bring with us in the crafting process let’s look at how the process works.