alt="Newsletter Header"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/Tuesday-Tips/Newsletter.jpg">
Is Camping Season
Here?
<!-- if (!document.phpAds_used) document.phpAds_used = ','; phpAds_random = new String (Math.random()); phpAds_random = phpAds_random.substring(2,11); document.write ("<" + "script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript' src='"); document.write ("http://ads.tentonhammer.com/adjs.php?n=" + phpAds_random); document.write ("&what=zone:81"); document.write ("&exclude=" + document.phpAds_used); if (document.referrer) document.write ("&referer=" + escape(document.referrer)); document.write ("'><" + "/script>"); //-->
href='http://ads.tentonhammer.com/adclick.php?n=ad7a76f2'
target='_blank'>
border='0' alt=''>
June 2nd, 2008 - By
Dalmarus
It seems any game that evolves has highs and lows, and
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/">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
href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?start=0&topic_id=32585񝟝">here they're
aware of the problem though, so
hopefully this too will be resolved quickly.
alt="Orc Warrior"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/Vanguard-Item-Pics/past2.jpg"
hspace="10" vspace="5">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
href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=17968">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
href="http://media.libsyn.com/media/virginworlds2/043-VoVPodcast-5-29-08.mp3">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.
Leave a comment
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=29253">here!
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.
Hot New Content & Updates
Spell List Rebuilds/Updates
- href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=635"> style="font-weight: bold;">Disciple: Levels 1 to 25
SOE Class Lead Interview
-
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=937">Blood
Mage Class Lead, Luper
Create a Caption Rumble: May
- href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=940"> style="text-decoration: underline;">Finalist Showdown
Newsletter:
style="font-weight: bold;">
- href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=941"> style="font-weight: bold;">Is Camping Season Here?
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Game Page.
