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The Undead Are Rising

October 27th, 2008 - By
Dalmarus

Halloween festivals are getting ready to kick off
throughout the country, so it's no surprise to see such an event going
on in target="_blank">Vanguard:
Saga of Heroes this week. Aside from the excitement of
the Halloween festival going on, there are a number of new 6-dot
monsters roaming the land as well. Rangers got
some love this week in the form of a new pet along with the ability to
finally
specialize in melee or ranged combat. As if this weren't enough, new
content has been added to the Shores of Darkness in the form of new
quests, monsters, and more.



I would love to tell you all about the new content to be found on the
Shores of Darkness, but there's just one tiny little problem I didn't
foresee when I heard this was coming down the pipe. The content appears
to be all
for level 50 characters, and level 50
only. Even though I've played since release, I still don't have a level
50 character. I know, I know. Take a deep breath and try to contain
your shock. I have a 46 Necromancer, but that's apparently not quite
high enough to get in the area since the mobs are level 53. One day,
I'll have my level 50, but since that day hasn't arrived, if you'd like
to see anything from the Shores posted here on href="http://tentonhammer.com" target="_blank">Ten
Ton Hammer,
feel
free to send me an email.



Rather than go off on some rant about the new content being made for
only level 50 characters, I'm actually happy about it, even though I'm
as of yet unable to see it. With the addition of repeatable quests,
this may mark a small beginning to fixing the problem of player
retention. Level 50's really need more to do, plain and simple. href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=1043"
target="_blank">Last
week, I talked about the game's desperate need for the
addition of an
AA (Alternate Advancement) system. I still think it should be an item
put near the top of the development team's list of priorities, but in
the meantime, I think this is a reasonable interim idea. Since I can't
give
you descriptions of it though, let's move on.

The original "Vision" of Vanguard, Brad
McQuaid was a bit of a Ranger freak among other things we won't go into
here. As such, some surmised that he
wanted the class to be able to do it all. The problem in this approach
is that you'd end up with one of two scenarios. Either the class would
be overpowered in both ranged and melee combat, or they'd be
too
weak in both to make the class truly viable. The success or failure of
the end result could be argued either way, but thanks to the recent
changes by the development team, it looks like Rangers may finally be
able to play the class they always wanted to.



The easiest way to explain the new change to the Ranger class is to
look to movies/books for the type of Ranger players want to be. Do they
want to be a master of melee combat in touch with nature, such as R.A.
Salvatore’s Drizzt Do'Urden dark elf character from the
Forgotten Realms series of books? Maybe they see themselves as a master
of the bow, such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Legolas character from the Lord of
the Rings books, brought to life in a recent set of movies? For the
longest time, they were unable to be either, but now, Rangers can
finally choose a specialization and play the character they felt they
were always meant to.



What's the big news of the week though (for those of us under level
50)? The Halloween festival has started! Just across the road from the
New Targanor riftway lies a tent filled with various representatives of
the undead. Fortunately for you, they appear to be friendly enough so
get into the tent to begin your quests. The first quest will grant you
a miniature vampire bat for a pet along with 3 Ancient Platinum Coins
which can be used to get yourself that racial mount you've been after
for awhile now. It's a nice alternative to camping named mobs for
eternity on end. It won't get you all the way, but anything certainly
helps. What other holiday events does the team have in mind for this
year? Personally, I'm hoping for a live event such as the one we had
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=807"
target="_blank">last
year. I'm still hoping for a little more advanced notice on
this
one.



While you're out running around in the next week or so, be sure to keep
your eyes open for some new 6-dot mobs roaming around out there. Even
if you're used to a particular chunk being filled with mobs that have
no chance to touch you, you may be in for a surprise. While I was out
running around in Silverlake this afternoon, I stumbled up the Acolyte
of Terror. Check back later this week for a Monster Project on this bad
boy. Needless to say, I have no idea what he drops, but I did get a
great screenshot before he killed my level 40 Dreadknight with one blow.





What do you think? Leave a comment href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=37624"
target="_blank">here!




Have you missed any of Dalmarus' Vanguard Chronicles? Check out href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=969"
target="_blank">The
Archives to get caught up!

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Newsletter:

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  Undead Are Rising

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