September 13th, 2007

Weekly Hot Topics

Collected by Dalmarus

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It's that time of the week again everyone, where I bring you the Weekly Hot Topics featuring both the TTH Vanguard forums and the official Vanguard forums. Psionicists, worms, AA systems, and death XP penalties. What do all these and other topics have in common? Why they're features of this week's WHT of course so let's get to it!

Have you come across a thread you'd like to see featured? Send it off (with a subject of "Weekly Hot Topics"). Or if you want to be featured, start an engaging thread on our forums here.

TTH Vanguard Forums

Enough Is Enough - By Leeches

The seemingly unending reign of the gold spammers in Vanguard has recently come into the light even more than before with the recent server merge. A good portion of the player community that used to get a few spam messages in the course of an hour are now being bombarded in cycles by them. It's pretty sad when I think the getting a few messages an hour "isn't that bad". Yeah... it's kind of like being happy that gas is "only" $2.80 around here these days. What happened to the times of going weeks in between these types of messages?

How Would You Rate Vanguard? - by Ralsu

Before you start ranting that I'm plugging one of our articles in here, hear me out first. The new poll has generated a lot of interest and a multitude of opinions that are worth checking out. To me, it's amazing to see the various ways different people see the same game. Some feel that Vanguard's gameplay is superb, while others think it's simply average. The same goes for sound, graphics, etc. Hop over there and make your own opinions known right now!

Paladin DPS - By Penfold

It's interesting to see how some threads keep coming up over time. This thread from our class forums was originally started this past May, but has gotten a few pages worth of heated debatein the last week. The main question recently revolves around Paladins vs. Warriors for the position of main tank - who holds up longer, who does more dps, etc. With the varied approaches to playing any class within the game, make sure your style is represented in the discussion by getting in there and sounding off!

1 Wis and 1 Con - By Illusive

I find it odd that for the second time in less than a month, I'm recommending you check out a thread that has either been closed (not this time) or has at least had to get a warning. Odd that! Despite these minor things though, the topic is actually very interesting once you figure out the reasoning for it. How are your items' points being spent during creation? Take a look at some of the numbers in here and it quickly seems to be apparent that equipment with high effect numbers (HP, Energy) may be less effective than items with low to moderate attribute points (Int, Wis). If you'd like to add your data to the discussion, get to it!

How are the Psi's doin? - by Suul

Although a seemingly simple questions posed by Suul, I'm amazed to find out that Psionicists are still having trouble with their crowd control skills (or lack there of). With issues going on for months without resolve, other classes being able to handle the CC of mobs more effectively than the main CC class, and some mana regen issues, things aren't sounding very good for the Psi community. If you agree, or if you have a differing opinion, get in there and let people know!

Official Vanguard Forums

SOE are developing an AA system right now. Can we please have input into it? - By Shade_Maelstrom

While I can't possibly stress how big a grain of salt you should take this with, it's an intriguing topic none the less. For the sake of argument, if Sony were working on some type of AA system for Vanguard, what types of things would you like to see? Would you want it to resemble EQ1, EQII, or something else entirely its own? The discussion is a bit heated, so be sure to put on some flame resist gear before heading in there.

Crafting a Can of Worms... Dropped Recipes - By Zarrae

Here's a person that was prepared by setting a fire extinguisher next to their desk as they typed this thread starter. Although everyone has a differnt view on what the right thing to do for rare crafting recipes is, the Zarrae has some very valid points. I think the biggest contention is with the dropped recipes being regulated at specific levels. If this is true and that once a character passes level X they'll never be able to acquire recipe Y, that's an issue that really needs some looking into. What do you crafters out there think?

You have got to get rid of the XP Death Penalty! - By Menculagno

Ah. One of my favorite topics raises its ugly head again to begin the battle anew! I think as long as there are MMO's, this will be a constant battle. To be fair, Menculagno wants this removed due to a number of his deaths being to do crashes, chunking, etc. Personally, I like the concept of the death penalty, despite the fact that if I hit a bit of a string, I'm cursing at my screen just like everyone else. I think that rather than remove the death XP penalty, they should instead fix the crashing/chunking death causing issues, but that's just me. What do you think about htis whole thing?

Conclusion

Although I didn't post any specific thread related to it, I feel it's also important to note that this week there were quite a few "New Player Here" or "Returning Player" threads over a number of forums, not just our own. Signs like this give me some encouragement that people are finally starting to see the joys in Vanguard that keep us playing. Given the server mergers, new players coming in, and the Ancient Warehouse Port coming soon, it's an exciting time to watch the path the Vanguard is travelling. Perhaps we're not too far away from that path potentially becoming the red carpet we all know it can.