Yep… Nothing

Well, it’s been awhile guys. No, I haven’t been getting lazy; I just have nothing to talk about. Currently, I’m not participating in any betas, so yeah, nothing much for me to report on.

There is going to be a S.T.A.L.K.E.R beta later this month, seeing as I am a Fileplanet member, I’ll be participating and reporting on that.

-Radical

Vanguard: Still Going

All the patches since launch:

Game Updates January 30,2007Vanguard Patch Notes 1/30/2007

Welcome to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes!

Congratulations! You are now one of the first to witness the exciting, dangerous, and ever-changing world of Telon. Telon is a living world, and like any world its early days is going to be fraught with turbulence. Expect us to have to “patch” any cracks as they appear for the first days.

We know you are excited to explore the world we created for you, and we are equally excited to have you here. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the landscape… enjoy the freedom… of Vanguard.

GAMEPLAY NOTES

– Abilities with a harmful component will no longer put other group members in a PvP contest.

– Spells that change form will no longer allow you to switch PvP teams.

– Quest items can no longer be sold to a merchant

ADVENTURING

– Shaman – Fixed an issue where you could receive your Patron Spirit quests too early causing you to not learn your Spirit Walk ability if completed before level 15. Those shaman who have finished the quests before level 15 should visit any shaman trainer to get their Spirit Walk ability upon reaching level 15. Followers of Tuurgin who have completed the quest line will need to speak to any Shaman Instructor and say “patronfix” to receive the Spirit Walk ability. NOTE: This only applies to those shaman who have completed the Patron Spirit questlines prior to this patch OR who were not yet level 15 when completed.

CRAFTING NOTES

– The Thestran amateur blacksmith quest now requires only three pairs of sabatons, not four.

– The quest the Artist’s Supplies will now ask for a specific type of quartz jewel.

DIPLOMACY NOTES

– The travel journal for “Stop the Calamity” has been updated with the correct location for Norrie Bilstro.

– Fixed issue with “Obtaining the Documents” in which you could speak with the quest targets in the wrong order, requiring you to start over again.

– Telyn Boarmaul will no longer try to kill orcs and goblins who try to take the horse quest from him. Caution in Ca’ail Brael is still advised for greenskin visitors…

– Martok now has Civic Diplomacy for Soldiers and Crafters. Greenskins rejoice!

– Mekalia now has Civic Diplomacy for Crafters. Bring Low the Underking!

– Martok and Mekalia’s Civic Diplomacy Trainers are now turned on and ready to train YOU!

– Graag has been made to heel quite a bit more in the newbie varanthari line. He should be easier to beat.

– The Spiritragers got the hint from Graag and have fallen in line with the others. They should be easier to beat.

– Hubert Ringsworth is no longer a terrifying opponent for young halfling diplomats. And he tells me he loves pumpkin and potato compote.

– Other decks here and there were also altered to make them a little more reasonable to play against. This will be an ongoing process.

– Kev Wematmani has remembered he is of noble blood, and not just a bookworm. He is now a Noble and you can proceed with the Civic Diplomacy Training quest in Khal.

– Increase the Watch now gives out the proper Accuracy buff.

– You should no longer receive double credit for Civic Diplomacy in Hathor Zhi.

– C’estari Erenai as well as many other NPCs have had their decks altered to make them more appropriate opponents. This will be an ongoing process.

– Civic Diplomacy Domestic levers removed from Ca’ail Brael. No Domestics in the city means no need for Domestic levers!

– Greatly decreased the decay rate of Civic Diplomacy levers in all Civic Diplomacy locations. Buffs will remain for a longer period of time as a result.

– There is now a Blackmail, Plots, Trends, and Arcana Informant in Three Rivers/Themnwar’s Shield and Veskal’s Exchange for your information trading needs!

– Apprentice Dalenax no longer does whatever it is gnomes do to not be in line of sight when you are looking right at them.

WORLD POPULATION NOTES

– Niyuturr’s Scaled Greaves should now be appropriately named.

– Added a bindstone just outside of Tanvu city (PvP’ers rejoice!).

– Moved the altar in Jalen’s Crossing to an area with no NPC’s (and so ended the era of infinite death loops).

GUI NOTES

– Updated the trade window to color item names and a few other minor fixes.

– Items in a player trade will now show the correct stats and other data.

CODING

– Your characters’ server names are now shown in the character select list.

– Items in a bank will now show the correct stats.

– The market brokers will now give proper information about why you can’t place an item on the market.

~The Vanguard Team

Game Updates January 31,2007

Vanguard Patch Notes 1/31/2007

Welcome to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes!

You are now one of the first to witness the exciting, dangerous, and ever-changing world of Telon. Telon is a living world, and like any world its early days are going to be fraught with turbulence. Expect us to have to “patch” any cracks as they appear for the first days.

We know you are excited to explore the world we created for you, and we are equally excited to have you here. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the landscape… enjoy the freedom… of Vanguard.

GAMEPLAY NOTES

– A level component has been added to your chance to stealth, sneak and hide. This makes gaining skill much easier.

– The stealth, sneak and hide skill gain rate has been significantly increased.

– Melee AE attacks have had their costs slightly increase.

ADVENTURING

– The Druid, Necromancer and Psionicist have had there nuke damage increased.

– Bard – Invisibility song components are no longer maintained.

– Bard – Slightly lowered the movement increase for Tynen’s Components.

– Psionicist – Thought Pulse now has a 4 second refresh timer.

– Psionicist – Mirage is no longer a maintained ability.

– Shaman – Removed two abilities from the Rakurr (wolf) pet that were not intended.

– Shaman – Skin of Rakurr now grants 8% chance to crit instead of 108%.

– Shaman – Skin of Rakurr should now modify chance to crit for auto attack, too.

– Shaman – Skin of Rakurr’s movement speed bonus should no longer stack with other movement speed buffs.

– Shaman – Skin of Tuurgin now properly raises auto attack damage.

– Shaman – You should no longer be able to be in patron form while you have a summoned attendant.

– Shaman – Removed the + spell damage from Skin of Rakurr and lowered the melee damage mod by 2%.

CRAFTING NOTES

– Added harvesting tools to the General Goods Vendors.

– The outpost locations for the level ten crafting outpost quests have been changed for most starting cities.

– A few artificer and outfitter recipes that were missing from certain Thestran basic trainers have been added.

– Attuning dusts have been added to utility vendors.

– Outposts now give double the continental artisans faction of regular cities and towns.

– Outposts now give artisan faction for the city they trade heavily with (if any).

– Outposts now give normal city faction for doing work orders in an outpost that city trades heavily with. If you do enough work orders and gain enough faction with them, hostile cities may become more tolerant of you, allowing access to content inside the city.

– The outpost quest in each city now has directions to get there safely in addition to the already present waypoint.

– Some obsolete recipes have been removed from game.

– Erron in Leth Nurae will now properly switch your trade if asked.

DIPLOMACY NOTES

– Players should find much less frustration parleying with Sylwen, Prince Dargand, Keyvan Minoo, Getzin the Gnome, and Hubert Ringsworth.

– “Dreamspeaker” now fails correctly when the timer runs out.

– Deck transmogrification continues.

– Some alterations to the Civic Diplomacy levers in many cities.

– There is now an alternate source of Diplomacy experience in the form of a group of soldiers that need your diplomatic skills! Speak with your local racial trainer to get the lowdown. This content is available only for players below 40 skill.

WORLD POPULATION

– Uvela should now properly direct players to the various shrines.

– Altered a roaming (potentially) KOS npc who would sometimes path near the corpse altar in Qa Riverbank.

– Fixed several NPCs that erroneously had Khal faction assigned to them

– Added increase to Upside Alliance for slaying Ksaravi Rat Men

– Decreased the amount of faction required to gain to become “Not Killed On Sight” in various starting areas and the few outposts that are hostile

– NPCs that drop coin will no longer do so at a 100% rate its still quite a high rate, but it was out of whack with other forms of money making

– Many outpost NPCs in Jalen’s Crossing are now on the Students of Lao’Jin faction, the students are much more understanding than other inhabitants of the continent

– Challenge Rating on many NPCs in the Ksaravi Gulch dungeon have been modified allowing more diverse groups of players to experience the content

– Entrepreneur Nargix setup his General Goods shop at the Tracker Camp within the Wildgrowth Forest.

– Increased the number of spawn points of Pod Tree Sprouts within the Wildgrowth Forest associated with the quest “What’s in the Pods?”

– Uvela now knows about how many wisp corpses are needed to repair the shrines

– Foruil Gladesworn now knows the location of the Imperial Poacher

– wildlife in the northern plains of Thestra is generaly slightly less dangerous now

– Verdant Lurkers are less likely to notice when their friends are being killed

– Verdant Lurkers are generally less dangerous people than they used to be

– the quest “Breaking The Mindbreaker” is now properly listed as Group

– Mihdi Khadim is now (appropriately) female.

– Martok – Put dot on the map for Port of Martok.

– Rindol Field – Some quests in Rindol Field were incorrectly marked as ‘Solo.’ They are now correctly marked as ‘Group.’

– The Ksaravi Hostage should no longer aggro surrounding mobs.

– Rindol Field – In the quest, “Take Back the Mill,” the waypoint to the Storehouse Mill has been updated.

– Tursh – Added a waypoint to Shimmerleaf Lake for the quest, “No Fish for Tursh.”

– Bind Stone Additions

– Additional bindstones added to the continent of Martok.

– Additional bindstones added to areas surrounding the Village of Three Rivers

– Bindstone added in the general vicinity of the Upside Defense Garrison on Skrilien Point

– Atlar added in the general vicinity of the Upside Defense Garrison on Skrilien Point

– The entrance to Kalendra’s Coven should no longer have bunched up mobs.

– Bindstones added to

– Hathor Zhi

– Tanvu

– outpost on side of island

– blighted land outpost

– Leth Nurae

– Northern Plains

– Hilsbury/Misthaven

– River Valley

– camp/tents outside the valley

– small village inside the valley

– Kurashasa area

– arena

– Qa Riverbank

CODING

– Fixed a bug causing the value of max expertise from one item to not show up in the Equipment Expertise tooltip.

~The Vanguard Team

Game Updates Febuary 01,2007

Welcome to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes!

You are now one of the first to witness the exciting, dangerous, and ever-changing world of Telon. Telon is a living world, and like any world its early days are going to be fraught with turbulence. Expect us to have to “patch” any cracks as they appear for the first days.

We know you are excited to explore the world we created for you, and we are equally excited to have you here. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the landscape… enjoy the freedom… of Vanguard.

Vanguard Patch Notes 2/1//2007 for build 1728

GAMEPLAY NOTES

– The automatic defensive target self setting now saves.

– After death you will be immune to aggro. A 30 second timer will begin once you have moved. Beneficial skills will not cancel this effect.

– Updated multiple travel journal entries for Tursh.

– The Tursh bindstone has been moved to a more convenient location.

– Raian Vases no longer occur in mysterious pairs.

– A new quest is available at the north Neamsog bunker.

– The beginning of the Infineum quest line has seen significant alterations and polish; this should not break the quest for anyone that is currently on it.

– The runic consoles in the Ark of Harmony now port the group of the person that uses them, as originally intended.

– Numerous items have had their icon and descriptions corrected.

– Several Vendors that did not have their merchant list now have their items for sale!

– Bindstones have been added near: Tahean’s Vengeance; Veskal’s Exchange; Arlinora’s Retreat; Dark Horse Track; The Beacon of Hafeez al’Azzimat; and the Refugee Camp in Jharru Flats.

– Camels can now be purchased form the camel merchant starting at rank 2

ADVENTURING

– Bard – Song components will no longer automatically be added to the hotbar when you learn them, as you can’t use them from there anyway.

– Bard – The Bard Trainer in Tursh should now sell instruments like other bard trainers

– Bard – Swirl of the Tempest (all ranks) now display their floating damage numbers correctly.

– Dread Knight – Increased the aggro modifiers of your special attacks. They are now similar to the other tanks.

– Druid – Increased the damage of the earthen brute’s attacks.

– Druid-“Lighting Strike” (rank 3-5) and “Call Lighting” (all ranks) no longer display “Resisted” when they are actually hitting and doing damage. The abilities were functioning correctly, just the over the head combat text was incorrect.

– Rogue – You can no longer pickpocket any race.

– Sorcerer – Summoned rings are now unique, no drop, and no rent as intended

– Warrior – Fixed an issue with the Defensive Form quest in Lomshir. You should now be able to complete the quest and get your defensive form.

– Counter spells have had their refresh times reduced.

– Hit points have been increased for the Sorcerer, Druid, Necromancer, Psioncist and Bloodmage.

– Upper damage melee attacks and percent attacks have had their endurance costs reduced.

– Upper damage ranged (bow) attacks, percent attacks and AE attacks have had their endurance costs reduced.

CRAFTING NOTES

– The outpost quest and outpost horse renting have been moved to crafting level 11 to match the changes to the tier quests and specialization quests.

– The amateur tier-directing quest now is granted at 11, not 10, to reflect the updated amateur tier quest.

– You now need to actually assemble the needle to finish the Ca’ial Brael outfitter training.

– Kef Jortul has been moved to a more accessible spot in the general area of Martok.

– Updated descriptions on 1 and 3 item work orders that said they gave a chance at a rare item.

– Made all crafted items bindable

– Fixed equip issues with crafted rings

– Fixed unrecognizable tool issues

– Ornate crossbow can no longer be equipped

– Work order supply pack reward values have been adjusted to give a little less cash items

– Repair Tools and the remedies that love them have finally decided on a name

– Modified XP progression some

– Mangled Tool is fixed

– Uneven Modification is fixed

– Weak Product’s description is fixed

– Stretched Fabric description is fixed

– Skipped Detail description is fixed

– Loose clamp description is fixed

– Odd shape description is fixed

– Careful Sculpting description is fixed

– Rindol Field Medal has been removed from work order reward tables

DIPLOMACY NOTES

– Quest “Thinkers of the Thinkery” is available from Wizard Malkavar in Three River’s.

– There are now more brokers available who will accept crude and significant information. Arcana, Blackmail, Trends, and Plots brokers have been added to Namsoong and Dark Horse Down’s Racetrack. Arcana, Blackmail, and Trends brokers have been added to Tawar Galan. And a Blackmail Broker has been added to Tursh.

WORLD POPULATION

– Several NPCs in the Tainted Lands have had their spawn rate corrected.

CODING

-You will no longer need to confirm looting No Drop items on your own corpse.

GUI

– Rarities in the “Random for Magical” group loot option will now be colored and the names will match usage everywhere else.

– Item stats now display properly in the Loot Roll window.

– NPC attacks and spells will now display descriptions.

~The Vanguard Team

Game Updates Febuary 02,2007

Welcome to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes!

You are now one of the first to witness the exciting, dangerous, and ever-changing world of Telon. Telon is a living world, and like any world its early days are going to be fraught with turbulence. Expect us to have to “patch” any cracks as they appear for the first days.

We know you are excited to explore the world we created for you, and we are equally excited to have you here. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the landscape… enjoy the freedom… of Vanguard.

Vanguard Patch Notes 2/2/2007 for build 1733

GAMEPLAY NOTES

– Enemies will no longer be tagged by damage over time spells and attacks after you have died.

– Enemies will no longer show as “aggro” as the result of damage over time spells and attacks after you have died.

– You will no longer gain or lose faction from an NPC your group killed if you’re not involved in the kill.

– You now receive an alert message each time you progress in ability learning for an ability, instead of only at the start and the end.

– Fixed a bug that was causing inflated PvP spell damage.

– Reenabled coin storage for banks. You can now drag and drop coin from your inventory into your bank. Note: Coin storage in banks is global, you may access your banked coin from any bank, not just the bank you deposited it in.

ADVENTURING

– Bard – Increased the movement modifier on Tynen’s Melody of Acceleration to 28%

– Bard – Decreased the movement modifier on Tynen’s Coda of Velocity to 3% from 5%

– Bard – Decreased the movement modifier on Tynen’s Strain of the Swift to 2% from 3%

– Druid – Star Mantle should now last three hits.

– Druid – Summon Ancient Colossus is now obtained at level 50

– Druid – Retooled the abilities on the Ancient and Elder Colossi.

– Necromancer – Adjusted the level at which Necromancers can obtain the Art of Death quest (Rest of the Dead) from Level 16 to Level 20. If you have previously completed this quest line and did not automatically learn Rest of the Dead, check your trainer and it should be available at level 20.

– Necromancer – Removed Claw of Stunning, Face of Fright and Face of Cowering from the game. If you had these items they will now show up as red circles with red strikes through them. Please delete these from your inventories. Sorry for the inconvenience.

– Necromancer – Renamed Poison Claw to be Poisonous Claw.

– Necromancer – Poisonous Claw should now be functioning

– Necromancer – Adjusted Poisonous Claw to the correct levels.

– Necromancer – Renamed Gouging Claw to Diseased Claw.

– Necromancer – Adjusted Diseased Claw to the correct levels.

– Necromancer – Diseased Claw should now be functioning

– Necromancer – Adjusted Sapping Claw to the correct levels.

– Necromancer – Sapping Claw should now be functioning

– Warrior – Most commands now have seconds durations rather than number of attacks or hits.

CRAFTING NOTES

– Crafting Advisors have more information! If you need information on crafting, visit your local crafting advisor.

– Fixed issue with tin rune of strength that was preventing it from working properly

– Updated etching knives to be flagged as the proper tool type

– Updated improved saws to be flagged as proper tool type

– Fixed issue with some bags that were not allowing you to put certain items in them

– Reduced drop rate on orbs drastically

– Removed Ladle from tables as it is not used

– Fixed issue with some repair tools not being recognized

– Updated all adventuring light armor base AC values

– Improved saw now acts like a saw, not a chisel.

– Khal trainers should now have the novice grip recipe.

– Kojan and Ahgram now also have merchants that sell unusual or special crafting items.

– Sharon Whelson will now properly change your trade if you are not an outfitter.

– Increased crafting skill gain.

– Added crafting gear upgrade recipes to Outfitter instructors.

– Adding raw resources to work orders now give quality increase.

– Leth Nurae taskmasters now pause much longer in their routes around the crafting area.

– Boosted faction rewards for the following crafting quests: Arming the Shaletooth Tower, Shaletooth Armor, and Shaletooth Weaponry.

DIPLOMACY NOTES

– “Sidestepping” is now a timed quest of ten minutes.

– Increase the Watch now gives an even better correct Accuracy buff.

– There are now Blackmail, Plots, Trends, and Arcana Informants in Tawar Galan, Qa Riverbank, and Dark Horse Downs for your Information trading needs!

– Ongoing deck fixes.

– Graag, Sassti, and Cassus now have a short leash – they want to kill varanthari, but not to the point that they’ll actually chase you across Lomshir.

– New Diplomacy quests added to Three Rivers.

– Janus Thunderaxe no longer thinks he has anything to do with newbie diplomats and should no longer offer any quests.

– The comedic troop, Three and a Half Fools, has made a stop in Three Rivers and has a few quests for curious diplomats.

– The Messenger Boots will now give the card “Well-Traveled Wisdom.” To get this card, right click the boots to put them on, and then right click them again to get the card. From then on, you can drag the item to and from your bag and retain the card. The card “Well-Traveled Wisdom” can only be played if you are wearing the boots.

– Coin values of Diplomacy clothing adjusted.

– Rarity values of Diplomacy clothing adjusted.

– There is now a safe path from the docks of New Targonor to the continent of Thestra. King Targonor Furth has agreed to open a corridor from the docks to the bridge to the mainland. Watchmen and Enforcers will allow ALL players to proceed. All House guards, and the King’s guard, will attack KOS races on sight.

– Martok – The bar fights and war drums have faded just enough for people to start talking again in the city of Martok. The civic diplomacy trainer is hooked up and ready to go in Martok as are the soldiers and crafters in the city. This will hit the Friday morning patch.

– Mekalia – The Gnomes have finally figured out what the upsiders call “Diplomacy” and have readily adopted the custom of doing what other people tell them to do. On Friday’s patch Civic Diplomacy will be ready in Mekalia for soldiers and crafters.

– Consequently, some gnome constables have grown confused as to what they should be doing: practicing swordplay, or talking about their feelings. The Downside is getting almost as confusing as the Upside these days.

– Information Brokers should now be asking for, and taking, the correct amount of information.

– The Civic Diplomacy Benefit “Right of Way” now is giving the right percentage of benefit.

– Clergy Civic Diplomacy now active in Tanvu.

– Academic Civic Diplomacy now active in Tanvu.

– Info loot drop rates adjusted.

WORLD POPULATION NOTES

– Rendjaw should now have the correct model

– Ants in the quest “Ants Underfoot” should correctly assist each other

– Luc Beou should now have a body (everyone needs one, after all)

– Dracosnap Hunters should now have the correct model

– Faction changes in the Coast of Ahgramun should now show the correct names

– Death text has been fixed for all Cult of Tauth supporters

– The Angoer Bunkers have had a speed tunnel installed.

– Pyromaw Cubs should now release their spiritual essence when defeated

– Bordinar’s Cleft – The Ridge Prowlers of Bordinar’s Cleft have had population adjustment to be much more in-line with player progression.

– Bordinar’s Cleft – Miner Youngsteel no longer speaks as if he is Miner Yulas in the quest “Ale For Grandir”

– Dahknarg – Adjusted aggro radii for several mobs on the road between Dahknarg and Halgarad.

– Dahknarg – Modified the Blood Howler Runner in Dahknarg. He’s now more focused on getting his messages to the Bloodhowler camp and less focused on chasing people down–that is unless you have lots of negative faction with the Bloodhowlers!

– Evendusk Fortress – Moved the death location for the area around Evendusk Fortress closer to Evendusk Fortress itself.

– House of Fallen Leaves – Mailbox added to House of Fallen Leaves

– Mekalia – Ranged Weapon Vendor added within the gates of Mekalia

– Mekalia – Quests missing coin reward have been corrected to award appropriate amounts of coin

– Missive Boards – Missives are now selectable by the player and players are able to accept multiple missives at a time for the level range

– Missive Boards – Missives are now affected by a minimum level and a maximum level, players outside the scope in either direction are inable to partake in them

– Missive Boards – The Missive Task, “Task for Three Rivers: Road to Bordinar’s Cleft” now completes in the field upon meeting the requirements

– Missive Boards – The Missive Task, “Task for Three Rivers: Greater Stonesmashers” is now working as intended

– New Targonor – The New Targonor guard plowed the road from their great castle through to Three Rivers… much, much safer to travel on now for players of all levels!

– Temple of Dailuk – Overland population layout has been redone and thinned out some to make it easier to take more than two steps.

– Temple of Dailuk – The missive boards now lets you choose which and how many missives you want, according to your level. This change will soon be coming to all missive boards.

– Temple of Dailuk – The Caverns of Noztgha population has been adjusted to be more suitable for trio groups, rather than requiring a full group.

– Temple of Dailuk – Several quests have been added to the residents of the beacons. Look for those quest bangs!

– Temple of Dailuk – Quest: Deciphering the Journal no longer requires you to return to Archaeologist Palpe Rengoa and now only requires one writing sample. Once you have the sample, you must right-click it in your inventory to complete the quest for further progression. If you are currently on this quest, you will need to abandon it and accept it again from Archaeologist Palpe Rengoa at the Beacon of Hafeez al’Azzimat.

– Temple of Dailuk – Adjusted the loot rewards for finishing quest line in Caverns of Noztgha.

– Temple of Dailuk – Nerksawl has even less depth perception with his one eye and will aggro players at a much lesser distance.

– Themnwar’s Shield – Greatly reduced the spawn rate of “Stonebane” at Themnwar’s Shield

– Tursh – Additional delivery quest added in Tursh to help direct solo players.

– Three Rivers – Signs added to the path from Three Rivers to New Targonor

– Three Rivers – Removed grotesque means of accomplishing the “Arms” quests in Three Rivers

– Three Rivers – The quest “Outlaws: Rewarding Our Heroes” has been fixed

– Three Rivers – Saps associated with Barsagal’s quest lines now stack in amounts equivalent (or greater) to amount required for completion

– Three Rivers – Chickens and Sheep no longer appear with white names within Three Rivers

– Three Rivers – Clusters of Draven’s Outlaws have been adjusted to be more solo / duo friendly

– Quests – “Corrupt Cyclopes” has had some minor changes primarily to help lead players to the correct completion NPC

– Quests – Minor text changes and Travel Journal Entries added to the following quests:

– Talons of Telon

– Dissention

– Stifling Supply Lines

– Assist the Primalist

– Prisoners of the Coven

– A Solemn Request

– What Are They Looking For

Bind Stones

– Added a bind stone near Jalen’s Crossing

– Added a bind stone near Autumnglow Outpost

GUI NOTES

– You will now be able to abandon a timed quest.

CODING

– You will now see a message when a VanguardPlayers image is taken.

– 22 new socials have been added. Type “/listcommands emote” for a list of all socials.

– Half Elf NPCs will now play half elf sounds instead of Kojani human sounds.

– Item links should now always show the correct stats and equipment expertise for the person viewing the item.

– Auto Coin Split now defaults to on for groups.

– You should now no longer be able to mail items and coin to yourself. This was always the intent. You can still mail items and coin to alts.

– Items can now be sent as cash on delivery through the mail system. On the receiving end, players will get a confirmation for the total amount to take the item that includes the cash on delivery cost and the shipping cost.

~The Vanguard Team-Radical

LotR Online vs. Vanguard: SoH

Well, it’s been coming for a long time, and here it is. Vanguard vs. LotR the final showdown. Which one should you buy, well; they both have their merits, let me break it down:

Sound:

Sound has never mattered that much to me in an mmo, I usually play with the radio on and never really experience the sound, but I played with natural sound for the time I spent testing.

Vanguard:

Vanguard has my personal preference for music. The music in Vanguard was well done. The music fit the region you were in, and fit very well. Sound really isn’t my area of expertise, but Vanguard, in my opinion, had the upper hand.

LotR:

Not much I can say about LotR online. The music just wasn’t that strong, though I think it had a slight advantage in the combat effects but overall I wasn’t as impressed with LotR’s sound.

OVERALL:

Overall I have to say that Vanguard pulls out a win here, LotR just didn’t feel all that strong in the sound department.

Graphics:

Both of these games went in completely different directions in terms of graphics.

Vanguard:

Vanguard went big. With perhaps the best graphics ever seen in an mmo Vanguard did stand out, though without a good computer you may never see them. Vanguard did lack a bit of the visual punch and style that games like WoW has, but I still found the environments to be detailed and beautiful. The animations for the graphics all fall apart here unfortunately. The animations felt very 1.0 in terms of mmos. They didn’t feel as realistic as I had hoped for, the animations arn’t BAD, just not GOOD.

LotR:

When people said LotR would be just like WoW, it actually was pretty spot on. Not exactly, but still there is resemblance, with just enough changed to feel new, yet still familiar. The graphics are a step up from WoW and I did find the regions to have a fair amount of personality. When I visited the hobbit starting town, the world did have a feeling of life. The animations were also a lot more charming then in Vangaurd. LotR can be played on less then top of the line pc’s, unlike Vanguard.

Overall:

Its a tie. Vanguard is realistic yet stiff, while LotR is charming but perhaps a bit too WoW like graphics wise. If its down to graphics and you need to pick a game, unless you have a good graphics card (I think a GeForce 7800GT would be able to handle the game no problem, maybe something a little lower then that) I’d say go for LotR. If you care about game play, read on.

Game Play:

Game play is the last category, and the most important:

Vanguard:

Vanguard has a lot of thing to do, not to mention see. Want to explore a vast world? Go for it. Want to build boats or something stupid like that? Whatever! The deep crafting, fun combat, fast-paced and challenging group experiences and the simple yet engaging diplomacy card game, Vanguard just has it all.

LotR:

LotR lacks a lot of things. I don’t believe crafting is in, nor is monster play (monster play sounds interesting, but I don’t have high hopes) the combat is pretty much WoW’s combat, but the classes didn’t feel all that different at lower levels, that may have just been me. Regardless, LotR is average at best.

Vanguard wins. I just had a better experience overall with Vanguard, theres nothing else to be said.

Summary:

If you like WoW but have just grown tired of it’s setting LotR is for you. It enhances many of WoW’s features, but still has a ways to go to offer anywhere near the content, I’d say just wait for a trial and see if its the game for you.

If you want something familiar, but loads of fun, Vanguard may just be for you. You need a good pc, but it is a fun game, and worth playing. I’d expect to see a trial of this soon, so you may want to wait for that to see if your pc will be up to the challenge. In a couple months the game should be polished, I plan on waiting till then.

-Radical

Broke

Well, today I was getting ready to place my pre-order on Vanguard, when something occured to me, I’m broke. I just don’t have the scratch currently to be paying for a game, monthly at that. Perhaps soon I’ll get back into the swing and earn some cash, but till then I guess Iwill go mmo-less.

On to more pressing matter:

I got a LoTR online stress-test invitation today! Thus, I plan on writing a small article on it this weekend.

-Radical

Vanguard: New Patch (and other stuff)

Well, my old layout was causing me some problems, so I switched it up. New VG banner and everything!

Speaking of Vanguard, the latest 140ish mb patch dorpped last night, here are the notes:
Vanguard Build 01694 Patch Notes 1/19/2006

GAMEPLAY
– NPCs that you have very low faction with (Kill on Sight) will no longer respond to hails, and will not act as merchants, trainers, or recipe trainers.
– Items on merchants will now display their true damage numbers.
– Balance: Fast weapons (daggers, hand wraps, etc) have had a significant damage increase.
– Balance: PC damage of time spells (DoTs) have had a significant boost in damage and cost.
– Balance: Direct damage spells have had their damage significantly increased across the board. This applies to all cast times.
– Balance: Challenge level 2 NPCs have had their damage growth rate slightly increased from level 10 upwards.
– Balance: NPC hit points have been adjust down for the different level blocks as part of combat speed tuning. All level ranges above 10 were affected by varying degrees.
– Staves – Many staff items have been updated to work now.
– NPC leashing has been modified to allow more flexibility to those fighting. When you are actively fighting an NPC it will have a much larger hard leash radius.

– Characters:

The races in Vanguard have new attribute bonuses!

Starting at level 10 characters start to gain racial attributes. The following table illustrates the attribute bonus attribute points that a character will receive. All characters receive one point in every attribute each level in addition to the bonus points.

Race STR CON DEX VIT WIS INT
Varanjar 1 2 0 0 1 0
Varanthari 2 1 0 0 1 0
Dwarf 0 3 0 0 1 0
Dark Elf 0 0 1 0 1 2
High Elf 0 0 0 0 3 1
Wood Elf 0 0 2 2 0 0
Gnome 0 1 0 0 0 3
Goblin 0 0 0 3 0 1
Half Elf 0 0 2 1 1 0
Lesser Giant 3 1 0 0 0 0
Halfling 0 0 3 0 1 0
Kojani 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mordebi 0 0 0 0 0 0
Qaliathari 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thestran 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kurashasa 0 2 0 0 0 2
Orc 2 2 0 0 0 0
Raki 0 0 1 2 0 1
Vulmane 1 0 1 0 2 0

In addition to the bonus points each race with the exception of the four human races (Kokani, Mordebi, Qaliathari and Thestran) earns 10 attribute customization points per level. The non-human races may spend up to 4 attribute points in each attribute per level. They do not all have to be spent at the same time. At level 11 a character could have spent 8 points total in any one attribute. The human races gain 14 attribute customization points per level and may spend 5 points in a single attribute per level.

There is no longer attribute gain associated with your class.

ADVENTURING
– Druid, Psionicists and Sorcerer damage over time spells (DoTs) have had their strength increased. The primary factor between class damage over time potential remains the number of Dots they have to stack and pets.
– Paladin, Warrior, Dread Knight, Ranger, Cleric, Sorcerer, Shaman – New particles and animations have been added.
– Bard – Cirel’s Counterpoint of Clarity is now available at level 50
– Bard – Energizing Embellishment is now available at level 18
– Bard – Cirel’s Soothing Substitution is now available at level 9
– Bard – Cirel’s Healing Harmony is now available at level 36
– Bard – Suann’s Entrancing Trill now lasts 9 seconds.
– Blood Mage – The Blood Mage has had the strength of his damage of time spells slightly increased.
– Blood Mage – Serak’s Mantle should now have the correct energy cost.
– Blood Mage – Recovering Burst should now be healing for the correct amount.
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Reanimate at level 22
– Blood Mage – Summon Sanguine Shard now costs a little less health to cast
– Blood Mage – Mortal Calling now costs a little less health to cast
– Disciple – Chains should now require crits to happen.
– Dread Knight – Shadowy Veil now grants a run speed buff as well as invisibility
– Dread Knight – Moved weaknesses from Wrack to Malice.
– Dread Knight – Increased the flanking bonus from Malice.
– Disciple – Wisdom of the Grasshopper should work now, no matter what level you are.
– Disciple – Bonds now all have different icons
– Disciple – Adjusted the Resurrection spells. You should now get them at the correct levels and there is a difference between them.
– Monk – Aums should now teach you abilities as intended
– Monk – The North Wind chain should now actually trigger
– Monk – Storm Stride now has a 15 second refresh.
– Necromancer – While in undead form, most undead will ignore you as you are invisible to them. Undead that can see invisibility will see you and recognize that you do indeed have brains that they can eat. Brains, it’s what’s for dinner.
– Necromancer – Entomb is now called Soul Trap. It works exactly as it did, but no longer transforms its target into a spectral zombie.
– Paladin – Added the ability to exploit weaknesses to several of your abilities.
– Paladin – Increased the damage on both Hammer of Valus and Blade of Vol Anari since both are finishing attacks.
– Psionicist – Mirage now works correctly. Invis away!
– Psionicist – Psychic Schism will now deal damage as intended.
– Psionicist – New particles and animations have been added for many powers
– Ranger – Nature’s Guise has been moved to level 1
– Ranger – Lowered the cast time of Entangling Webs to 1 second, down from 2
– Ranger – Increased duration of Poison Shot
– Ranger – Cripple now lasts 15 seconds, up from 3 to 4 attacks.
– Ranger – Converted Barbshroud to the new damage system, you should notice damage and feedback changes
– Ranger – Lowered refresh time on Blade of Summer to 10 seconds, down from 30 seconds.
– Ranger – Lowered damage on Windsong
– Ranger – Added 60 second refresh to Windsong
– Ranger – Increased the chance consecutive hits will occur with Windsong
– Ranger – Added new ability line Fleetblade at level 22, it upgrades from there
– Ranger – Lowered the cost of Windsong to 10, down from 24
– Ranger – Grasp of Earth now has a solid duration with a % chance to break on hit.
– Ranger – Added new ability line Envenomed Blade at level 26
– Ranger – Added a flanking bonus to Blade of Summer.
– Ranger – Added Freeze. Please experiment with your abilities to find it.
– Ranger – Changed the icon for Cripple
– Ranger – Added Swelter. Please experiment with your abilities to find it.
– Ranger – Added Whisper of the Wind. Please experiment with your abilities to find it.
– Ranger – Removed refresh from Regress
– Shaman – Added the ability to exploit weaknesses to several of your abilities.
– Shaman – The Patron Spirit quest lines have been revamped for Tuurgin and Rakurr and are ready to go for all patrons. Any player who is having problems with their patron should reset their progress and start again. It even works now!
– Shaman – All Patron Spirit abilities including spiritwalk will now be stripped from your character when you complete the reset process.
– Warrior – Power Attack’s energy cost over time has increased.
– Warrior – All of your counter attacks are now free.
– Warrior – No versions of Brutal Strike can be used in Defensive form any longer.
– Warrior – Leap Attack now has proper costing
– Warrior – Fixed a naming conflict with Smash III and Smash IV. Previously Smash IV was named Smash III which conflicted with the name of Smash III which is Smash III. Smash III is still Smash III and the old Smash III that was actually Smash IV is no longer Smash III and has been renamed Smash IV. Now when you execute Smash III it will not try to launch Smash IV (because it used to be named Smash III).

CRAFTING
– Added Ranged Accuracy, Damage, and Critical dusts to artificer work orders between 10 and 20 for new Bow/Crossbow
– Leth Nurae taskmasters pause longer while they’re walking around.
– A smelter has been added near the forge in Three Rivers.
– Issue with WOs giving wrong enhancements
– Removed utilities from tables that were not used by the trade
– Fixed description issue with some outfitter work orders
– Removed legacy toosl from work order reward tables
– Joining a crafting organization now gives you the proper title.
– Empty bag bug should be fixed now please post if you find anymore
– Inability to get work orders for some people we believe has been resolved please try a new character and see if you can reproduce the issue
– The Qalian Apprentice Outfitter recipe now takes stiff bundles.
– All basic and outpost recipe instructors have had their recipe listings cleaned up and polished with new recipes added to all.
– Added bow recipes to artificer instructors. Additional elemental choices can be obtained through quests.
– Reduced power of progress complications a bit
– Reduced hit points of complications a bit
– Should be able to fit all refined items in utility pouch
– Initiate Quest for Blacksmiths have the proper ingredient action in the recipe now.
– Crafting tutorial rewards have been updated.
– Lower level work order rewards have been increased in cash value.
– New Targonor and Bordinar’s Cleft taskmasters pause more often in their routes.
– Crafters above level 10 can rent horses for free from finishing taskmasters at cities and outposts to travel between them.
– Failing certain crafting faction quests now incurs a faction penalty.

Known Crafting Issues:
There is a known issue with Crafting Tutorial quests in all cities during the first time assembly phase. When you get to that part using a crafting table, the assembly recipe drop down is not populated. Logging out and back in will fix this issue. This affects all crafting spheres and should only happen to brand new crafters doing the tutorial.

DIPLOMACY
– Wrap Up with the Heartsworn should now finish properly.
– Implemented quests in the following areas with cards as quest rewards. All require 40 skill and a variety of presence values: Martok, Tursh, Khal, and Ca’ial Brael
– The second half of “Undermine the Port Authority” in Khal should now be available with Rahebjah Sabet
– Renton Keep now has Civic Diplomacy levers. Enjoy.
– Renton Keep’s Civic levers have been adjusted to the proper Presence levels. Oh, and we gave them names, too.
– Bordinar’s Cleft Civic Lever – “Clergy Incite” is now working properly.
– Theindal, god of Beauty, found the cries of noobs who can’t do the horse quests to be ugly, so he has prevailed upon Kaerellun the Silver-Tongued to ease up on the difficulty. In other words, horse quests now have much easier decks to defeat.
– Tanvu human newbie line now has a wider selection of evaluations available to players.
– Tanvu half-elf line is ready for testing! Speak with Aran Riverbend in the house next to the House of Whispers.
– The Civic Diplomacy benefit “Lost Arcana” no longer spams casting and injury messages. It just quietly exists like the other cards you get through Civic.
– The tutorial has gotten another revamp, and should be complete-able by the vast majority of players. Please give it a shot and feedback to us.
– “Rallying the Students” in the Tursh newbie line can now be completed.
– Varanjar Newbie Line: Fixed quest that was open to everyone that shouldn’t be.
– Varanjar Newbie Line: End of the line reward now includes a prefix title!
– There are now more brokers available on all continents. And they will now buy both Crude and Significant information. Look for Plot Brokers in Bordinar’s Cleft, Khal, and Tanvu; Arcana Brokers in Ca’ial Brael, Mekalia, Hathor Zhi (and Leth Nurae of course); Blackmail Brokers in Halgarad, Hathor Zhi, and Martok; and Trends Brokers in Tawar Galan, Lomshir, Mekalia, and Rindol Field.
– Noble Gossip and Crafter Gossip now each grant a new Diplomacy card when they are activated in a city. These cards are “Grace and Courtesy” and “Crucible of Words.” Clever players will have to determine which card goes with which lever.
– A number of minor bug fixes with decks.
– There is now at least one Blackmail, Plots, Trends, and Arcana broker on each continent. They should all now take Crude Hearsay and Significant Hearsay.
– The first Civic Diplomacy Tutorial quest is now available in Tursh – speak with Stevvan Remniol in the center of the village. The only requirement for this tutorial is 40 Diplomacy skill. Most cities with a Diplomacy newbie experience will have this quest series soon!
– Icho Sho has awoken (again!) from his slumber and will agree to fight the Ulvari Dream Infiltrators in Harmonious Action.

WORLD POPULATION
– Players should no longer find hundreds of unattackable Vaelwyn Runners outside of Whitefawn Retreat.
– All of the Martok Islands have seen an itemization pass, excluding the Sacellum of Ghalnn.
– The following Thestran areas have seen an itemization pass: Vault of Heroes dungeon, all overland and dungeons within Veskal’s Exchange and some Kaon’s Rush overland NPCs
– Most Kojanese Weapons and Shields should be sporting new models now; as a result, the forums will now be sporting arguments as to whether size really does matter.
– Right-click abilities on Greatstaffs and Wands should all be fixed; Focus items, which do not have the dmg/dly that Wands do, are still in flux. Yes, it is confusing, which is why they are “in flux.”
– World Loot drop percentages have been slightly increased in the level 11-25 range.
– The following areas have seen an itemization pass: Leth Nurae, Dahknarg, Cave of the Urugog and Broken Fang Slave Camp
– Podlings and Toxitors in Caverns of Noztgha have had their difficulty adjusted.
– The missive quests that require you to kill a set number of NPCs, but were not allowing players to turn in, should now automatically complete the quest when you kill the last required NPC. If you are already on one of these quests, you will need to abandon and restart it.
– Hafeez al’Azzimat is looking for brave adventurers to enter the Haekemish Excavation mines and face the source of the caravan attackers. He is not looking for anyone but those who prove capable. Are you worthy enough? Note: The Haekemish Excavation mines is a full group dungeon for levels 10-15. Speak to Hafeez in Temple of Dailuk at the Beacon of Hafeez al’Azzimat.
– The following areas have received an itemization pass: Ra’Jin Stronghold, Magi Hold, Wailing Wind Asylum, Tomb of Lord Tsang and the overland content in those chunks.
– Additional delivery quests have been added throughout Qalia and Thestra.
– The Razing Beetle Carapace should now sell for a nice chunk of change.
– Adjusted the location at which you port into the ‘Utaalk’ portal (Ouellette of Ulvari Master Xaoxin) in Riftseeker’s Torrent. Please bug it if you are still ported into Maplelynn Wood.
– General: Fixed over 125 stuck NPCs in Leth Nurae, Dahknarg and Halgarad
– Dahknarg: Prove Your Strength – This quest will no longer complete automatically.
– Dahknarg: Proving Clan Devotion – You should now get credit for killing Gnakel
– Dahnkarg: Proving Clan Devotion – Corrected the Journal location of the Bloodhowler Prisoner (Gnakel)
– Dahknarg: Paint – Increased the number of Kalou plant spawns
– Halgarad: Fixed directions in quest: Defensive Stance: The Runt of the Litter” and the travel journal entry that wasn’t showing up
– Halgarad: The bug causing Hillshadow to never respawn after being killed has been fixed. He will now respawn fairly rapidly after being killed.
– Halgarad: King Rotham in the quest, “Trial of Courage” had been incorrectly flagged as a non-attackable Town NPC. This has been corrected and you can now kill him.
– Halgarad: King Rotham in the quest, “Trial of Courage” has been set to spawn for the individual/group that spawns him ONLY. This is to prevent griefing.
– Jharru Flats: A new level 12-15 mini-dungeon: Karrus Fahrel is open in Jharru Flats
– Karibasa Village: Nahina Sabbari of Karibasa Village should no longer appear on the top of the canopy.
– Khal: Nillia Janeth in Khal (Wayfarer’s Embassy) should no longer appear without forearms or feet. The surgery was a success!
– Leth Nurae: Fixed several broken travel journal entries and cleaned up some newer quests in the area.
– Leth Nurae: The quest, “Dance of Lights” is now fixed so that you actually get to keep the lantern when she says “Keep it”.
– Leth Nurae: Fixed drop of “Intact Bear Femur” on quest “Making Beautiful Music” – should only get 1 now.
– Leth Nurae: Fixed broken TJE for “Malatuar the Cannibal”
– Leth Nurae: Removed the Quest “Quickfinger” from Ranger Shyath since Quickfinger has no quests to give and he wants to complete Shyath’s quests
– Leth Nurae: Fixed broken TJE for “Into the Den”
– Leth Nurae: Fixed the appearance of the “Corrupted Elf Sorcerer”. He’s no longer a disembodied head with arms
– Leth Nurae: Seriously retooled the spawn times on numerous intro-level NPCs in Leth Nurae (needed to be drastically reduced). Getting through quests in the starting areas should be a lot smoother now
– Leth Nurae: Added TJE and brought quest directions/instructions up to standards for a number of quests in Leth Nurae
– Martok: All quests within Martok have been appropriately itemized.
– Martok: Leash range for denizens within the Gardens of Xia’Liu has been increased.
– Martok: Respawn time for denizens within the Gardens of Xia’Liu has been increased.
– Martok: Added Laxx Harbixk, a ranged weapon vendor to the main city of Martok.
– Martok: Zelka Harbixk at Grimsea Watch decided to hang up her weapon vendor hat and sell general goods once again
– Martok: Mailboxes have been added to Veenax Garrison, Gaxston Village, Gwarn’s Boundary, Khenvor, and Gulkar’s Encampment
– Tanvu: Fixed Quest: “The Sick Recruit” in Kojan. Now Elder Berry bushes should drop Elder Berries and not Infected Blood.
– Tanvu: The quest, “The Sick Recruit” has been re-tooled. In order to clarify what needs to be done, the quest has been split in to three parts. This means that if you are attempting to finish this quest, you will need to abandon it and re-take it after this patch. If you don’t abandon it and re-take it, it will appear to be broken when it is, in fact, working just fine.
– Temple of Dailuk: Overland population in Temple of Dailuk has been adjusted so it does not look like a warzone. Certain NPCs will now fight back if attacked by other NPCs.
– Temple of Dailuk: The missives board in Temple of Dailuk should now be working properly. You will find this missive board just out front of the tower at the Beacon of Hafeez al’Azzimat. Note: These tasks are for players level 8 to 16 for the Temple of Dailuk chunk, though players over level 16 may still receive the higher end tasks.
– Temple of Dailuk: A few more quests have been added to the low end tasks on the Temple of Dailuk missives board.
– Temple of Dailuk: Added sign posts to the crossroads in Temple of Dailuk chunk
– Ulvari: The final stage of the quest, “Weapons of Tsang: Unlocking the Power Within” has been fixed. Apparently players were unable to interact with the final object required to enable the last upgrade of their weapon. This has been corrected.

– The following areas have received a faction pass:
– Dargun’s Tomb
– Leth Nurae, all surrounding camps, all surrounding dungeons
– Veskals Exchange, all surrounding camps, all surrounding dungeons
– Fallen Lyceum, all surrounding outposts, all surrounding camps
– Vault of Heroes, outposts, all surrounding camps
– KoS to player race factions are still not turned on for these, but you can begin earning faction now. Please report any strange NPC behavior

– Light Armor rewards on the following quests have been tweaked
– Infiltrating the Rats
– Port Authority Documentation
– Soldier Rescue
– Ksaravi Kidnappers
– Goods of Raia
– Village Scouting
– Aukfruit Shamblers
– Aukfruit Lure

Bug Fixes:
– Players should now get quest credit for killing exhausted brilliant oasis wisps.
– Players should no longer have trouble figuring out which skeletons to kill in Trengal Keep.
– Deli Jahanpur should now have something to say.
– Players should now be able to find Rusten’s Locket and Soul’s Essences in the Rindol Storehouse.

GUI
– ‘C’ should now open/close the character sheet even if you changed to a different tab.
– Racial attributes are now visible as part of character creation.

CODING
– A profanity filter has been added. It defaults to ON. You can turn it off via the Settings window, Interface tab.
– Fix for incorrect class abbreviations coloring green in item examine popups. For example, BER will no longer light up for Psionicists.

~The Vanguard Team

-Radical

Vanguard: HUGE POST!

Well, lots of stuff going on for me as of late, some nice stuff to show you all though:

Friday Patch:

The patch is going to be about 140 mb according to a dev . Currently the notes are on the down-low check back later I guess.

Vanguard Interface:

Looking to mod your Vanguard interface? http://www.vgsohinterface.com/

Vanguard Avaliable for Digital Download:

I, personally don’t feel like dropping a pre-order down at the local EB to get any game really, thus Sony provided me with a solution. (I hear D2D is a bit iffy and I expect Sony will be much better at providing a digital download, go with them)

http://www.joinvanguard.com/buy

Beta Will End on Jan. 23:

The Vanguard beta is set to end on Jan. 23, it plans to launch on Jan. 30. Pre-Orders will be given access to the game 3 days earlier, better hurry if you plan on pre-ordering!

Sony Online Entertainment and Sigil Games Online announced today that the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes open beta will close on January 23 at 11:59 p.m. PST. In anticipation of the January 30th launch of the fantasy-themed MMORPG, the servers will be shut down, and all beta character profiles will be transferred to a test server. The test server will open after launch with timing to be determined. For those who have pre-ordered Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, early access will be granted to the live servers before the official release date. More information regarding the early access will be released shortly.Players can now pre-order Vanguard: Saga of Heroes digitally and at retail. Additionally, gamers that pre-order retail versions will receive an exclusive endurance buff scroll that will allow their character to sprint for longer periods of time (one per account).For more information or to order Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, visit http://www.joinvanguard.com/buy/.About Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
The only limits are your own in Telon. The adventurous can choose from multiple paths of exploration within the three spheres of advancement: adventuring; crafting; and diplomacy. Players can delve into the mysteries of Telon, and embark upon quests to slay monstrous beasts locked deep inside rugged mountain ranges. Those with a quick mind can use diplomacy to convince kings to move armies and change the course of history. With player-crafted boats, flying mounts, and customizable player housing, “Vanguard” offers players a world of their own choosing.

For more information about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes please visit: http://www.vanguardsoh.com and http://www.joinvanguard.comVanguard Beta Event:Tonight, testers were given access to the flying mounts, everyone got one and we were set loose to go cause trouble or something like that.

Beta Event: 

Today all testers were given the oppertunity to get a free flying mount to enjoy, it was an awesome experience, it’s still going on after todays patch, so it would be worthwhile to check.

-Radical

Vanguard: PATCH!! Man….

Daily patch update:

Vanguard Build 01689 Patch Notes 1/17/2007

GAMEPLAY

– Experience has been made approximately 20% easier across the board. The experience gained from 2 dot and 3 dot (challenge level 2 & 3) NPCs has been slightly increased relative to higher dot value (challenge level) NPCs.

– Attributes caps for all things that they effect have been raised from 11*Level to 18*Level. The majority of factors that they modify have been scaled up in effective by a factor relative to the increase in range from average value to the increased cap value. This change will allow players to be much more specialized in their gear selection and still reap full rewards. Many players were hitting the old caps early in their careers.

– There has been a general migration in all the adventuring gameplay logic too soft caps. There were a few soft caps before, there were a few hard caps and a few uncapped lose ends. These are now all soft caps and those related to attributes start at the new cap amount of 18*Level.

– Energy has had some significant enhancements. The vitality attribute now directly controls energy regeneration and is much more substantial than in the past. Your base regeneration from vitality (as displayed in the vitality tool tip) is your in combat energy regeneration. When in combat using an ability will halt regeneration vitality similar to endurance, however the delay before restarting is slightly longer. Out of combat energy regeneration is now also based on your vitality and is approximately 150% of in combat regeneration. For out of combat regeneration speed increases more option will be available in the near future.

– The new energy regeneration is still clamped to the old out of combat regeneration times as a maximum down time.

– Endurance regeneration is now only halted by use of a melee type attack.

– Energy regeneration is now only halted by use of a spell or tactical maneuver and only during cast time. While in global you still gain full energy regeneration, this makes instant spells VERY exciting.

– Endurance regeneration pacing has changed. You now earn a regeneration tick after wait slightly longer than 2 seconds. This time interval restart with each attack or when some regeneration occurs. This should resolve the issue with melee gameplay revolving around waiting for the endurance bar to fill all the way up.

– Energy regeneration delay has been shortened.

– Current work orders will no longer have their difficulty rating calculated off of your adventuring level.

– NPC spell and melee special attacks have been reduced in damage for NPCs that are greater than 2 dots (above challenge level 2).

– Gnome and Dark Elf Racial abilities are now active.

– Gnomes:

Chrysol Distillers will be available for purchase in Mekalia. New gnome characters will start with a Class D Distiller, Gnomes currently past level 10, up through 30+ will want to check out the Class C, B, A, also for purchase in Mekalia.

– Dark Elves:

Dark Elf racial pets will be available to dark elves who are level 8+. Your pet and its abilities will be based upon your level and arch-type.

ADVENTURING

– All Classes – Abilities that Mesmerize now have a delay before they will begin to heal their targets.

– Staff Users – Staff nukes have had their damage upgraded, please look into these and report any bugs you find.

– Pet Classes – Pet damage has been reworked significantly.

– Bard – Irion’s Tune of Safety now actually increases block, dodge and parry.

– Bard – Irion’s Tune of Safety is now a voice song.

– Bard – Irion’s Tune of Warding is now available at level 50

– Bard – Emboldening Embellishment now buffs Dexterity instead of constitution.

– Bard – Mellarian’s Anthem of War now mods damage by 10% instead of a straight amount.

– Bard – Mellarian’s Anthem of War is now a Voice song.

– Bard – The maximum number of Embellishments is now 3. Each embellishment will now be more powerful individually.

– Bard – The maximum number of Lyrics is now 3. Each lyric will now be more powerful individually.

– Bard – The maximum number of Coda is now 1. Each coda will now be more powerful individually.

– Bard – Ariezel’s Assonance of Pain is now a chorus.

– Bard – Increased the attack slow portion Tynen’s March of the Mire to 15%.

– Bard – Hazoc’s Rhythm of Rapidity is now called Hazoc’s Harmony of Haste and has been changed to an embellishment.

– Bard – Mellarian’s Harmony of War is now a voice song and its damage mod has been doubled.

– Blood Mage – Steal Mortality no longer has a chance to kill your opponent – or do any damage for that matter

– Blood Mage – Steal Mortality has been renamed to Grim Harvest

– Blood Mage – Grim Harvest is now given at level 14

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Cleansing Symbiote at level 14

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Controlling Symbiote at level 14

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Plated Symbiote at level 18

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Hollow Symbiote at level 22

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Frenzied Symbiote at level 26

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Renewing Symbiote at level 30

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Quickening Symbiote at level 34

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Vitalizing Symbiote at level 38

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Conducive Symbiote at level 42

– Blood Mage – Removed old Symbiote ability lines

– Blood Mage – Transfusion of Serak no longer heals your opponent when cast.

– Cleric – Rout should now be doing proper damage.

– Disciple – Your revamp is live. Please train your new abilities

– Monk – The new Fighting Style quests are now in place. Additionally, there are lead-in quests to put you on the path at every location where monks can currently train skills.

– Ranger – Added snare to Nature’s Guise

– Rogue – stalking time requirements have been dramatically reduced. It now takes only 45 seconds to reach maximum stalking down from several minutes. This is one step to increase rogue DPS.

– Paladin – Blessing of Vothdar and Champion’s Might now stack

– Paladin – Your auras should now allow you to use your special abilities.

– Shaman – Flesh Rot and Hoarfrost will now stack properly.

– Shaman – Wings of Hayatet now increase the critical chance of fire spells

– Shaman – Ignite now adds a spell accuracy debuff

– Shaman – Damage for all spells has been increased

– Shaman – The damage shield portion of Burning Mantle should now be working

– Warrior – Fixed the agro mod on defensive form and made the results clear in the description.

– Warrior – Chains have been fixed and should not open all the time

CRAFTING

– Hathor Zhi Taskmasters should have WOs for everyone now

– Tables for Smith and Artificer should have gear on them now

– Fixed issues that was allowing decon of mundane items

– The not enough room in inventory issue should be resolved

– Empty bag issue should hopefully be resolved

– The dyemaker in Lomshir now asks for the proper continental club.

– Thestran Amateur Quest blacksmith recipe for armor now takes sheets and has the proper ingredient action.

– Amateur Quest artificer recipes now all function properly.

– A number of quest recipes were not showing up under the proper Unique heading. This has been fixed.

– Added some more items to the rare tables for 5 item work orders

– Blacksmith Initiate quest recipe has been fixed.

– Tanvu outfitter recipe introduction from Mias now directs you to Oranku as intended.

– Dien Hatelt will now offer a trade change.

– Dien Hatelt of Halgarad will now direct 10+ outfitters to the amateur quest giver.

– Deconstruction of crafted items has been turned off as it was only there for beta purposes

– Thestran Amateur Artificer quest recipes have more accurate names.

– Apprentice Outfitter quest recipes have been fixed.

– Multiple finishing item options for apprentice tier quest recipes should now work.

– Multiple finishing item options for journeyman tier quest recipes should now work.

– Harvesting tools and clothes are now craftable.

DIPLOMACY

– Wrap Up with the Heartsworn should now finish properly.

– Implemented quests in the following areas with cards as quest rewards. All require 40 skill and a variety of presence values: Martok, Tursh, Khal, and Ca’ial Brael.

– Glossaries and Instructional NPCs may now be found in all starting cities and cities currently supporting Civic Diplomacy. They carry the title “Voice of Kaerellun.”

– Preceptor Indradi now can be defeated by mere mortals.

– C’estari Erenai is now willing to talk to players.

– The invincible dream infiltrators are no longer invincible – Icho Sho can now defeat them!

– “Facts and Evidence” card can now be used properly.

– Bordinar’s Cleft has temporarily had its Civic Diplomacy lever thresholds turned down to 20. Please test Civic Diplomacy in that city to determine if multiple buffs are causing any problems. The levers will be turned back up in the next patch.

– Icons have been added to parley options showing you which Expressions (colors) are allowed for that conversation. Pre-planners rejoice! These icons are also used in the tutorial to show the relationship between the colors and Expression names.

– Diplomacy clothing is now beginning to filter into the world in the form of quests and brokers. First and second tier clothing (intended for players with 0-200 skill) are here… with tier 3 (intended for players 201-300) not far behind!

– Blackmail Broker is now in Halgarad. Look for the Lesser Giant with the attitude. He only takes Crude Hearsay Blackmail right now.

– Plots Broker is now in Bordinar’s Cleft. Look for Khagin Ironheart in Merchant’s Hold. He only takes Crude Hearsay Plots right now.

– Cost to turn in Crude Hearsay has been reduced to 10.

– Trends Broker is now in Rindol Field. Look for Jarry Summermead there. He only takes Crude Hearsay Trends right now.

– Diplomacy tutorial has been slightly altered for ease of play. Please feedback!

WORLD POPULATION

– Adjusted the difficulty level of certain NPCs inside The Riftseeker’s Torrent.

– The Redcap Beastmaster should now spawn randomly every 4-10 minutes.

– The Aeokor Betrayers are more reasonable to solo now.

– Travel Journal Locations have been fixed for quests Death to the Betrayers, Dark Weapons, Cleansing the Wretched, Undead Investigation, and Final Rest.

– Keep a sharp eye out as you travel through the Temple of Dailuk chunk. Rumors have it that Nerksawl the Cyclops has been seen passing through. Note: Nerksawl is a high end full group mob and is a rare spawn. If you see him, it is best to stay away. You have been warned.

– Quivers and Bolt Cases can no longer hold harvested items.

– Quest: Bandit Bait has been revamped slightly. Players will no longer need the Bandit Map and just have to follow the road from the Beacon south towards Ahgram. If you are already on this quest, you will need to abandon it and restart it.

– Quest: Okhnom’s Supplies: Clearing the Way – Killing Bloodhowler Brutes will now update the quest properly.

Bugs Fixed:

– Leddo Savobar will now talk to players.

– Mihdi Khadim only exists in one place now.

– Players should find the Paw of Galanash more easily in Cairnworth Hall.

– Players should find spectral nutmeg more easily.

– Adventuring equipment on vendors has been updated; all vendors should now be standardized now across all continents

– Focus items are in a state of flux at the moment; their overhaul will be complete asap.

– Crossbows should now only be able to fire bolts and Bows should now only be able to fire arrows; it’s a crazy world we live in.

GUI

– Offensive targets that are aggro, but can’t see you (due to stealth or invis) now display their names in light red instead of red on the offensive target window.

– Character sheet combat stats information and ability tool tips have been updated with the new caps and soft caps.

– Added time/gametime to connection meter tooltip.

– You may now drag a song from your song list to a hotbar, which will automatically create a /playsong macro for that song. The default icon will be the melody icon for the song.

– The Bard Song composition window will now show the base cost of the song, the rest reduction of the song, and the final cost of the song.

– Bard song components no longer show up in the normal abilities list and are instead accessibly by clicking the button for each component type in the song window.

CODING

– Customization racial limits have been updated. Existing characters will be brought within these new limits.

– Many improvements to NPCs walking backwards and also visually warping away in combat although the game still behaves as if they were in front of you. This particular type of warping should now be fixed.

– Noticable hitch reduction when first entering a new area. No longer as necessary to do a “hitch spin” before you can start moving.

~The Vanguard Team

Well wayways….

I’ve been sick latley and havn’t been able to update, trying to get some shit done though.

-Radical

Vanguard: More patches

Heh, I didn’t even notice these last night, started up VG and left to get a drink. When I returned the game had updated itself :o. Anyways:

Vanguard Build 01680 Patch Notes 1/15/2007

GAMEPLAY

– PVP death to a DOT should process the PVP death penalty correctly.

– When a building construction instance is abandoned, the player will be refunded the construction items via the escrow merchants. NOTE: The above will NOT work for existing construction instances with old items. Only new items added will be returned if construction is abandoned.

– When you sell a building plot, you are now refunded the remaining Upkeep balance via the mail system.

– Autorun is fixed

Vanguard Build 01677 Patch Notes 1/15/2007

GAMEPLAY

– Spell mitigation had a low level bug giving player much more mitigation than intended. This has been fixed.

– Hitpoints in the encounter display should now update much more reliably when changing targets.

– Fixed a bug in the PVP factions that was likely causing Raki, Vulmane and Thestran Barbarians to not be able to attack or be attacked by other players.

– Updated block, dodge, and parry tooltip text with info that with level-capped skill, you now get a 2% chance instead of a 5% chance.

– After death, you will not pull aggro from NPC’s and you can not be attacked by other players for 30 seconds. Summoning your corpse at an altar, activating an ability, or accepting a resurrection cancels this.

– Group invites will now work across zone boundaries

– Strength now contributes to melee damage as intended, there was a bug causing strength to move damage to only three different ranges. For most people this will increase your DPS in melee combat.

– As NPCs increase challenge level so does how easily they hit players with spells and melee attacks.

– Melee and spell evasion have been adjusted to values that will enable debuffing enemies and buffing allies in these areas to have a more significant impact on combat.

– Block, dodge and parry have been reduced to a more appropriate level with respect to evasion.

ADVENTURING

– Blood Mage – Bursting Blister is now named Busting Cyst

– Blood Mage – Bursting Cyst now has more upgrades and is a starting ability.

– Blood Mage – At Blood Union 3 Bursting Cyst now adds a DoT effect.

– Blood Mage – Added an effect display description to Bursting Cyst

– Blood Mage – Infuse Health now has more upgrades and the level progression has changed

– Blood Mage – Infuse Health now get 2% increase instead of a 3% increase per level of Blood Union

– Blood Mage – Infuse Health no longer scales

– Blood Mage – Union of Blood now starts at level 2 and gets upgrades

– Blood Mage – Union of Blood is now instant cast, lasts 24 seconds and has an 8 second refresh – damage adjusted accordingly

– Blood Mage – Union of Blood costs have been adjusted.

– Blood Mage – Health Graft has been moved to level 4 and all upgrades have been adjusted accordingly

– Blood Mage – Health Graft no longer scales

– Blood Mage – Health Graft now has an additional upgrade

– Blood Mage – Health Graft no longer stacks with itself, still stacks with other HP buffs

– Blood Mage – Reduced the damage of Despoil but increased the health returned base ratio and growth per level of Blood Union

– Blood Mage – Added an additional upgrade to Despoil

– Blood Mage – Blood Gift now has more upgrades and the level progression has changed

– Blood Mage – Blood Gift now get 2% increase instead of a 3% increase per level of Blood Union

– Blood Mage – Blood Gift no longer scales

– Blood Mage – Constricting Wisps has been renamed to constrict

– Blood Mage – Constrict now lasts longer and has a % chance to break on hit instead of a random chance to break on 1 to 5 hits. Display description updated accordingly.

– Blood Mage – Vitalize no longer scales

– Blood Mage – There is now an additional upgrade for Vitalize

– Blood Mage – Vitalize now starts at level 8 and upgrades from there.

– Blood Mage – Increased the refresh timer of Mental Transmutation to 10 seconds, up from 8 seconds.

– Blood Mage – Siphon Blood has been lowered to level 8.

– Blood Mage – Life Husk now reflects a % of incoming damage and is a 100% rune for 6 seconds.

– Blood Mage – Life Husk has a refresh of 5 minutes, down from 15 minutes.

– Blood Mage – Life Husk now only has 4 total versions, down from 5.

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line, Dissolve. This is a dispersion counter spell at level 10.

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line, Blood Tribute. This ability line starts at level 10 and is a finisher.

– Blood Mage – Allies resurrected with Awaken now come back to life with more health and energy.

– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Flesh Mender’s Ritual. This is a ritual ability at level 10.

– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein has been moved down to level 10 and upgraded from there

– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein damage has been decreased.

– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein damage/ heal ratio has been adjusted to return more health per damage

– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein now has more upgrades.

– Blood Mage – Scarring Pact has been moved to level 14

– Blood Mage – Sever Pacts has been moved to level 14

– Blood Mage – Blood Pact has been moved to level 22

– Blood Mage – Serak’s Augmentation is no longer scaling

– Blood Mage – Serak’s Augmentation now starts at level 14 and upgrades from there

– Blood Mage – Numb now starts at level 18 and upgrades from there.

– Blood Mage – Numb is no longer a % detaunt.

– Blood Mage – Blood Feast now only gains 10% of damage dealt, down from 15%

– Blood Mage – Blood Feast has been moved to level 18

– Cleric – Adjusted the levels and damage of Aegis of Blades and added an upgrade at level 48.

– Cleric – We have added upgrades to several of your ability lines. Check your trainers!

– Disciple and Monk – Unarmed damage is no longer treated like rare weapons at all level ranges. From level 1-9 they are now common strength. From 10-19 they are now uncommon strength. From 20-39 they are rare strength. From 40-49 they are in between rare and ultra rare strength. At level 50 they are the equivalent of an ultra rare weapon in damage modifier. Monk and Disciple unarmed attacks still retain their improved speed and critical hit chance.

– Disciple – Disciple unarmed damage has been increased to make it a usable option similar to Monk unarmed damage.

– Dread Knight – Added more description to Anguish, Dark Bastion and Ruin

– Dread Knight – Vengeance is now free

– Monk – The quests for the various fighting styles are offline briefly while they are being revamped. Those of you who have already chosen a style will be unaffected.

– Necromancer – Power of the Grave now correctly display that it increases Intelligence and Constitution.

– Paladin – We have upgraded several of your ability lines. Check the trainers!

– Psionicist – The healing portion on Time Trick should now break on hit as intended.

– Ranger – Cripple no longer lowers damage by a % amount

– Ranger – Cripple should no longer stack

– Warrior – Commands have received new names.

Command: Attack is now called Press the Attack

Command: Defend is now called Raises Defenses

Group Command: Attack is now called Charge

Group Command: Defend is now called Form a Line

– Warrior – Single target commands now have a 25m range. Apparently you whispered the commands prior to this.

– Warrior – Withdraw, a new command, has been added at level 14.

– Warrior – Upgrades a’plenty where added to the trainer.

– Warrior – Many descriptions have been updated.

– Warrior – Obliterate and Destroy are now trainable. These are second and third step finishes that follow Decimate. NPCs everywhere, beware.

– Warrior – Blade’s Bite is now available. This a second finish that follows Stinging Cut.

– Warrior – Barrier of Steel is now called Mountainous Barrier and is available at level 46

– Warrior – Many changes to progression. You may find that some of your older abilities have moved levels and are no longer usable.

– Warrior – Killing Blow added.

– Warrior – Added Blade Storm, a second finish that follows Steel Tempest, at level 50.

– Warrior – Added Cleave, a second finish that follows Defenseless, at level 50.

– Warrior – Added Veteran’s Furor, a second finish that follows Battle Frenzy, at level 42

– Warrior – More abilities were tweaked and adjusted. Please visit trainers.

– Warrior – Increased the damage and crit frequency on Leap Attack. Practice your timing on this one.

– Warrior – Added Ironfoe at level 50

– Warrior – Added Myrmidon’s Gift at level 18

– Warrior – Added Strike Now, which is a new group command, at level 50

– Warrior – Life Rend is no longer available and has been deleted from your ability book.

CRAFTING

– Dahknarg Novice Outfitter quest now returns utilities and a utility pouch instead of one or the other.

– Cayle in New Targonor now has work orders.

– “The Dyemaker’s Tests” quest now no longer asks for an old item.

– Quest Rewards in the Vulmane, Varanjar, and Lesser Giant beginning diplomacy lines should now be more consistent. A little more is given out.

– New evaluations, a pair of pants, and gloves are given out in Vulmane, Varanjar, and Lesser Giant beginning diplomacy lines.

– Journal directions should now lead you everywhere you need to go in the Vulmane, Lesser Giant, and Varanjar beginning diplomacy lines.

– Fixed some complication description issues

– Fixed all pre 10 specialization skill work orders so they can be seen (Blame Jansan it always makes us feel better)

– Fixed name issues with some work orders

– Fixed incorrect results with some work order recipes

– Fixed empty supply pack issues

– Fixed problem where recipes were asking for wrong type of resource

– Fixed problem with work orders asking for wrong tools

– Fixed progress issues on some recipes

DIPLOMACY

– Jinx will now be willing to speak with Halflings for “Acquire the Means.”

– Starting shirt models in diplomacy will now be based on Adventuring archetype and Continent. Enjoy your new threads.

– The Raki diplomacy quest “Choosing a Warden” can once again be completed and will not allow you to speak with one person over and over again to complete quest objectives.

– The Halgarad horse deliver quest should now allow you to complete it. Be sure to have Starmane in your inventory.

– Pedwin Freawine and Lamli Edson are now playing better decks.

– Tursh newbie line should now be giving out a full compliment of cards.

– Bragga Agrud has been called elsewhere on the continent so the Khal horse delivery quest will now end with Iradun Earp.

WORLD POPULATION

– Areas pertaining to and surrounding the Jharru have seen an itemization pass

– Many Qalian weapons and shields have had new models attached; also, some old armor received new models as well

– There exist a few more named NPCs in Lair of the Drake Riders.

– Yalsyl Vonalys in Lair of the Drake Riders should no longer be unbeatable.

– Bordinar’s Cleft – Boulder Wildmen no longer give a faction hit against Bordinar’s Cleft when slain

– Bordinar’s Cleft- Eloren Cloudhammer now requires player assistance out of Boulder Wildmen captivity… yes, it was weird that she rescued herself

– Hathor Zhi

– The number of overland mobs has been greatly increased.

– Fixed overland point values and NPC classes

– Feeble Dark Elves will no longer default hail PCs when attacked, they will instead express their concerns through shouts

– Lowered respawn times across the board (Overland, Rockspine Dungeon, Aeokor Zhi)

– Fixed a lot of NPC point values in Aeokor and Rockspine

– Quests:

– Retrieve the Book of Tactics

Moved the book to a closer location

– Bowling with Skeleton Parts

Augmented directions

– Mercenary Work

Renamed quest item

Reworded some text

Augmented directions

– Find the Missing Sentry

This quest is now called “Kill the Missing Sentry”

Changed to reflect its new display name

– Martok – Warseer Kurbad will, once again, offer players the quest to visit Witch Doctor Ravix even after a player abandons the quest

– Martok – Gulgrethor Soldiers on the beach outside Grimsea Watch have had their damage output slightly reduced

– Martok – The quest “Leather for the Harness” has been fixed so all players within a group have a chance to get the quest item to drop

– Martok – The quest “Heart of a Leader” has been fixed to be much more friendly when multiple people are doing the quest simultaneously

– Martok – The quest “Unwelcome Visitors” has been reworked and quest text revised to make the quest easier to understand and complete

– Martok – The Tanvu Settlers and Sentries on the beach west of Gaxton Village are no longer friendly toward orcs and goblins

– Martok – The quest “Invoking Ghalnn’s Will” has been fixed to support group-play as well as prevent the quest from “breaking”. Please report any problems found!

– Martok – You can, once again, poke the Tamed Ghostfang Okami if you are on the quest “Enraging the Ghostfang”

– Martok – The Haarg Carapace has a much better chance of dropping than it previously did

– Martok – There are many, many more Fresh Mussels along the beach… so players, go collect those Mussels for Muxy!

– Martok – King Gruul of the Rothak Ogres should no longer attack players and his guards have decided to keep watch further away from their king

– Martok – The quest “Test of Will” from King Gruul has been relocated into the caver at the base of the Rothak Ogre Mound

– Martok – The Crushed Bone Powder used in the quest “Test of Strength” increases your damage to 125% rather than reducing it 25%

– Mekalia – Horse and horse equipment vendors have been added to Mekalia

– Qa Riverbank – Additional population has been added to the Qa Riverbank, especially areas that were a bit on the “light” side.

BUG FIXES

– Players should now be able to see more waypoints in their Locations journal.

– The quest, “A Road Less Traveled,” which had been borked for a long time, should now finally work right.

– Players should be able to discover the quest, “Ksaravi Communications” more easily now.

– Players should find Jamshah Nezriar and Asadmat Amerii’s quests more accessible now.

– The quests, “Improper Opinions,” and “Quelling the Riot,” should now be given by Captain Waqid instead of Rahia Jadarri.

– To avoid confusion, the Thestran human starting quests now exclude halflings.

– The quest, “A Fate Worse than Death” in Khal has been given a facelift.

– Minor fixes to a few other quests in Khal.

GUI

– The close box on the Parley Strategy window should be significantly less shy and more willing to hang out with people now.

– Added a “Loot Window Follows Mouse” option. If this option is enabled, the loot window will be repositioned to be under the mouse cursor when it opens, otherwise it will stay wherever you left it.

– You will now receive notification that you looted an item even if you are not in a group.

– You may now sort by the “Location / Last Online” columns in the guild and friends list.

– Cleaned up the Conversion window.

CODING

– Fix for autofollowers not stopping.

– Holding shift while double-clicking or right-clicking on a corpse will now attempt to loot all items on the corpse. This will fail and perform a normal loot window open if any of the items are no-drop and you have no-drop confirmation enabled.

– /lootall will now attempt to auto-loot the targeted corpse if you do not already have a loot session open.

– Guild member data for members who are not currently online should be much more reliable and accurate.

~The Vanguard Team

-Radical

Happy 300 Views!

 

 Well, just a short week ago I started this blog with the intention of reporting on Vanguard beta, and hopefully many more beta tests to come. Today I reached 300 views (woot) and I am feeling pretty proud! Considering I’m no great writer and am only a week or so old, I consider this a great feat, but really I may be doing terrible =). Not much to report as of now, working up a VG tweak guide and a revised crafting guide. There is more in the works though, never fear!

Vanguard: Back with Patch Notes

I’ve had a lot to do as of late, with I could be doing more updates but I have just been swamped with work, not to mention I never do any of it till the last minute. I just thought I should update the patch notes as I have missed quite a few:

 Vanguard Build 01673 Patch Notes 1/13/2007

GAMEPLAY
– The experience curve has been changed. Your levels will not change but your experience within your level may. This was unavoidable. The new curve behaves quite a bit differently than experience rewards previously. Lower level NPCs no longer have an experience fall of other than the nature growth in experience rewards build into the curve. NPCs higher level than you will give significantly more experience reward than an enemy equal to your level, this is also new. There should now be more of a reason to strive for killing those NPCs one or two levels higher. Good luck!
– Fix for some players qualifying for quests that weren’t for their class.
– Fix for characters being unable to group if one player invites another and then logs out before the invite was accepted.

ADVENTURING
– Cleric – Adjusted the levels and damage of Aegis of Blades and added an upgrade at level 48.
– Paladin – Aura of Shielding is now obtained at level 8.
– Paladin – We have upgraded several of your ability lines. Check your trainers!
– Shaman – Hammer of Krigus should no longer permanently lower your opponent’s strength and constitution.
– Warrior – Kick is now level 2, does not incur global recovery and will start chains and crits more.
– Warrior – As your tweaks are on going, you should check the trainer for upgrades to older abilities. Checking today will be good.

CRAFTING
– Fixed taskmasters in Ahgram
– Fixed a bunch of Tanvu work order name issues
– Fixed all blacksmith refining work orders
– Work order items should stack properly now
– Work order items can now go into bags properly
– If you are getting empty supply packs please report the work order that gave you the pack so we can troubleshoot the issue

WORLD POPULATION
– Halgarad – Based on feedback, adjusted the quest “Broken Fang Threat” to be a little more level-appropriate for 6 – 8. You still may need to find a friend to complete it though.
– Halgarad – Re-populated the upper portion of Den of Shadows – there should now be plenty of Reanimated Bears and Wolves to complete all quests required
– Halgarad – Adjusted the spawn times on all Reanimated Bears and Wolves in Den of Shadows so that they no longer take 10 minutes to respawn
– Halgarad – Fixed a bug that allowed you to complete the quest, “Into the Den” just by walking over the top of the cave. Now you actually need to head in to the cave to complete it.
– Halgarad – Adjusted the difficulty on Cottonwings and Hill Cats in the Halgarad starting area
– Halgarad – Reworked the “Trial of Sacrifice” portion of “The Passage to Kortella” to make it more appropriate for its level – you now only have to kill the Raider
– Halgarad – Fixed “Trial of Sacrifice” so as to prevent other players from jumping in and stealing the kill, thereby ruining your chances to complete the quest
– Halgarad – Numerous signposts have been added all over the wonderful land of Halgarad. Enjoy!
– Leth Nurae – Signposts have been added all over Leth Nurae.

Bug Fixes:
– Trainers in Karibasa will no longer claim to give armor to players (since they don’t).
– Players should once again be able to loot Nimat’s chest.
– There should now be enough redcap bonemillers and bonecollectors for players to kill in Tursh.

CODING
– You will no longer jump when swimming along the surface of water.
– Regular players will no longer see “Character Saved.” messages.

~The Vanguard Team

Vanguard Build 01672 Patch Notes 1/12/2007

GAMEPLAY
– For PVP servers, someone attacking you if you do not have an offensive target will become your offensive target. If you do have an offensive target, they’ll get added to the encounter display correctly. They will not be added, however, if they do not actually hit you

BALANCE ISSUES:
Logging in today you will likely notice some significant changes to combat balance. Today’s patch kicks off a series of significant balance patches. The primary focus in this patch is combat difficulty at all NPC dot levels and combat time both solo and in group configurations. We are honing in on our objectives so please be cautious out there! Some things you could solo yesterday may require some help today. The following is an overview of the most significant changes:

NPC damage and hit points have been rescaled at all dot values and levels. In some cases this makes combat harder and in others it makes it easier. Combat times are now closer to our target in most areas. The target audiences have not changed:

– 2 dot NPCs are intended for challenging solo play
– 3 dot NPCs are intended for challenging duo and trio play
– 4 dot NPCs are intended to be challenging for 4 & 5 player groups
– 5 dot NPCs are challenging for a full group
– 6 dot NPCs are very challenging and can require multiple groups

In some areas we did not feel the challenge was quite there and it should be more noticeable now. Remember not all NPCs of the same challenge rating are exactly the same, the dot values represent a category but you still need to experiment to find what you can handle.

Out of combat regeneration: These values have been adjusted this is most noticeable at the early levels. Low level combat cause players to expend more resources however they should be spending much less time waiting for their expendables to return. This faster regeneration begins to scale back significantly around level 4.

In combat regeneration: In combat energy regeneration has been increased. This goes along with an increase in healing costs. We are still striving to find a good balance between energy expended in a long group fight and energy expend when soloing at all level ranges.

Pool size: Caster hit points have been slightly reduced relative to other archetypes and their energy pool has been slightly increased.

Groups: Along with the changes to combat time and NPC damage we have taken steps to allow for more variance in groups at low challenge ratings. This will make forming 2 and 3 man groups easier.

Longer combat times inherently sharpen archetype roles and there is more opportunity to enjoy your class play experience both solo and in groups. This will become most noticeable when fighting against high challenge rating (4 dot+) NPCs. Please have fun experimenting.

Resists: We have introduced non damage spell resists as part of what makes higher dot value enemies more difficult. It is now significantly harder to mesmerize, snare or slow a 5 dot NPC than a 3 dot NPC.

Getting Hit. It is now easier for NPCs to hit players. Players are expected to invest more effort in avoidance (attributes and gear) if they don’t want to get hit.

Damage and ability upgrades: The rate at which player damage increases has been adjusted. Particularly at higher levels you will notice a bigger upgrade in the damage of your abilities. We found that there were some situations where it was not worth the increase in cost to move onto an ability upgrade. This should be the case much less often. Remember, player damage is relative to NPC hit points which has also been rescaled.

Class Balance: We are continue the process of class verses class balance and have made quite a few tweaks at the lower levels. This is an ongoing process so expect more soon.

RACIAL ABILITIES:
These are the first pass at racial abilities (Minus Dark Elves and Gnomes, which will be soon to follow) We have done some internal testing, but as always, there are sure to be bugs and unintended side effects.

We will definitely appreciate feedback on the specific following issues:

– Display Descriptions (Although some of these are not final): Was it clear? Do they add enough racial flavor without being too wordy?
– Particle effects / animations (Some these are placeholder as well): Are the effects appropriate?
– Reuse timers: Do you feel the reuse timers are appropriate? Are they short enough to warrant a hotkey slot?
– Ability Effects: Do the abilities do what they’re described to do? Are the effects negligible or noticeable? Are the abilities particularly more or less useful based on your class selection?
– Racial Flavor: Do the abilities feel unique? Do they make sense given the lore/background of the race?

Qalian Barbarians: Desert Skin
– For the next 15 seconds after this ability is activated, you will mitigate 25% of all damage, and every mob that attacks you has a 50% chance of being stunned for 2 seconds.

Thestra Barbarians: Endless Fortitude
– For the next 30 seconds, this ability will double your endurance and energy pool while increasing your spell and melee damage by 25%.

Dwarf: Earthen Embrace
– For 60 seconds, this ability will turn your body to stone. Along with removing all poison effects, you will mitigate 10% damage and become immune to movement impairing spells such as knock back, stun, and snare.

Goblin: Hex of Ghalnn
– Whoever is afflicted by this hex will return 3% of the mana and hit points for every hit that is made on them. The effect lasts for 60 seconds.

Half Elf: Symbol of Jin
– This ability will apply a rune to every member of the group for 60 seconds, which will mitigate damage as well as apply an un-resistible damage shield.

Halfling: Quick Escape
– This ability allows Halflings to immediately remove themselves from combat. For the next 10 seconds afterwards they will also be invisible.

High Elf: Arcane Balance
– This ability will take the cumulative amount of mana in a group, add 25% to that number, and evenly redistribute it to all members.

Kojani Human: Spirit of Jin
– This ability will immediately restore 45% of energy and hit points to the target.

Mordebi: Curse of the Ancients
– This ability will immediately remove a targeted NPC from combat, wiping their agro and reducing their agro range to 0. During this time the creature can not be healed, attack, or be attacked.

Qaliathari Humans: Swiftness of the Sands
– For this next 10 seconds, when this ability is activated your ability to evade all melee attacks and spells will be greatly increased.

Thestran Humans: Inspirational Commands
– You will have 3 inspirational commands at your disposal: Inspirational Presence, Inspirational Wisdom, and Inspirational Tactics. Each command is a group buff that will add either 2% to mitigation, a 3% reduction to mana cost of all spells, or a 2% increase in damage. You may only maintain one command at a time, however you may have all 3 effects active at the same time.

Kurashasa: Symbiotic Armor
– When this armor is active you will be consumed by a symbiotic presence. In addition to regening 2% of your health every 3 seconds, you will apply an effect to all enemies within a 20 meter point-blank radius. Anyone affected by this debuff will become snared and slowed.

Lesser Giant: Strength of Torsheim
– For the next 30 seconds after this ability is activated, you will increase your max hit points by 50%.

Orc: Fury of Ghalnn
– For the next 5 attacks after this ability is activated, you will receive a 10% increase to damage and all the damage you do will return to you in the form of hit points.

Raki: Planar Shift
– While this ability is active, you will gain a 25% mitigation to all spell damage but will slowly lose health. This ability may be toggled.

Vulmane: Spiritual Bond
– This ability will apply an effect to every member in your group, allowing 35% of all damage done by them to return to you in the form of health for 20 seconds.

Wood Elf: Form of Nature
– When this ability is activated, all movement impairing spells will be stripped from you, and for the next 30 seconds your run speed will be greatly increased. You will also be immune to all movement impairing spells during this time.

NOTE: The following two are not implemented yet:

Gnome: Forge Crystal
– This ability allows you to operate a variety of devices, only available to gnomes, which are able to materialize a energy crystals. Crystals will have several common effects, ranging from percentage based mana, health, and endurance heals to several uncommon, rare, and even ultra rare effects such as prismatic group resist buffs, rune and damage shields, minion summons, and more.

Dark Elf: Spawn of Haelufir
– This ability allows you to summon forth a small drake for a short duration. The type of drake you summon will be based on class and level. Each type of drake will have a variety of effects at their disposal, ranging from group aura’s, to breath attacks. The higher level drakes will also learn spells that are sympathetic with their associated class.

FACTION CHANGES:
– The following updates have been made to factions. Please report any NPCs acting weirdly as a result:
– Bordinar’s Cleft has received a faction pass
– Three Rivers Village has received a faction pass
– Renton Keep has received a faction pass
– Lakeview has received a faction pass
– The Western Watch faction has been renamed to the Thestran Watch
– Vampire Hunters in Thestra have received a faction pass
– Charbrook Village has received a faction pass
– Dahknarg has received a faction pass
– Halgarad has received a faction pass
– Gnolls in the Vault of Heroes should now grant various faction modifications
– The inhabitants of Hilsbury should now grant various faction modifications
– Bloodfist Ogres now grant various faction modifications
– More Bloodhowlers now grant various faction modifications
– The inhabitants of Falgarholm and the followers of Torkald now grant various faction modifications
– A list of races that will be KOS in these areas by default in the future will be published in the upcoming weeks

ADVENTURING
– Casters – the cast times of your initial nukes have all been lowered to 2 seconds.
– Clerics, Shaman, Blood Mages, Disciples – Your large heals now have a 3 second cast and your medium heals have a 1.5 second cast. This is down from 4 and 2 respectively.
– Cleric – Improved remedy. It now ticks every 6 seconds.
– Cleric – Remedy is know called Alleviate.
– Cleric – Alleviate how has a different level progression, so may need to revisit a trainer to get the latest version.
– Disciple – Removed energy cost from Blessed Wind
– Disciple – The Focused Bond progression has been reworked for you. Increased the amount maintained by 1 and spread the progression evenly across 50 levels.
– Dread Knight – Added hate numbers to Incite ability line. (missed it last pass)
– Dread Knight – Removed increasing drawbacks on combat forms
– Monk – All of your abilities should be usable while unarmed now.
– Monk – Added 30 second refresh on Nerve Strike.
– Paladin – Dictum of Valus now is 137% less lame. It now does appropriate damage.
– Paladin – Standardized all of the paladin’s attacks and buffs. Updated many tooltips to read more clearly. Added upgrades to many paladin abilities. Check the trainers!
– Ranger – Forage is now instant cast
– Ranger – Critical Shot is now instant
– Ranger – Critical Shot should now be able to open a ranged chain
– Ranger – Critical Shot now has a greatly increased critical chance
– Ranger – Debilitating Shot is now instant
– Ranger – Debilitating Shot should now be able to open a ranged chain

CRAFTING
– Velt the Knave’s expert outfitter work order now requires the outfitting skill instead of the tailoring skill.
– You should no longer get inaccurate faction penalties for abandoning work orders. Most basic work orders no longer impose faction penalties.
– Fixed an issue with gear that was causing its skill bonuses to be very low
– Crafting is available in many places now. Outposts have seen an influx of taskmasters needing assistance.
– Work orders should now take real resources as optional ingredients. This will allow crafters to get a boost of initial grade much like real item recipes
– Work order loot tables have finally had a pass. The tables have been split by a large degree giving work orders more and individual variety as you increase level.

DIPLOMACY
– Horse quests are now available for all races. Use the following list to find who begins your delivery quest: Dwarf – Glanar Scrongold in Bordinar’s Cleft Merchant’s Hold; High Elf – Princess Kaati in the palace; Halflings/Thestran humans – Lord Thannis Heartsworn atop the hill next to Tursh; Vulmane/Varanjar/Lesser Giants – Grette Tolgar in Halgarad; Gnome – Gaea Permont in the Skyside Bunker; Qaliathari/Mordebi – Getzin the Gnome in the stables of Khal; Dark Elf – Legionnare Ikari in the Hathor Zhi newbie yard; Varanthari/Kurashasa – Aslak Carul in the Lomshir crafting area; Tanvu human/Orc/Goblin/Wood Elf/Raki – Telyn Boarmaul in Ca’ial Brael next to the animal pen.
– All newbie lines have a connector quest at their final NPC that will send you to the horse delivery quests.
– Diplomacy: All races now give a pair of free expression gloves early in their newbie progression, and a pair of pants in the middle of their newbie progression. More loots coming!
– Diplomacy: Horse quests are now active! At the end of your newbie diplomacy line (and you can always come back later), you can accept a horse delivery quest that leads you to a quest for a free horse. To receive the free horse, it does require adventuring OR crafting level 10 to complete.
– Diplomacy: “A Noble House Cause” can now be completed.
– Diplomacy: “A Change of Plans” – you can now talk to Carter Sinclair.
– Diplomacy: “Acquiring Documentation” – quest can now be completed.
– Diplomacy: The Civic Diplomacy buffs “Social Upheaval” and “Whistle While You Work” no longer regenerate many thousands of HP/Energy a tick. Invulnerable mode off!
– Diplomacy: Temporene Orb now is no-drop to reduce the chance of you destroying it.
– Diplomacy: Civic Diplomacy now open in Tursh and Tawar Galan!
– Diplomacy: A bridge quest now leads you from Magistrate Jadedragon to Lan Cho Puregrace in the Kojani human newbie Diplomacy line.
– Diplomacy: “Legends of the Raiders” now has many travel journal entries and a more clear pointer to Ulric’s great-great-great-grandkid.
– Diplomacy: A number of fixes to the high elf newbie Diplomacy line.
– Diplomacy: Academic Civic parleys in Halgarad now actually have conversations. Incites now require 5 Presence.
– Diplomacy: Many other parleys did not have proper conversations attached. Please report these! Placeholder text doesn’t count for this.
– Diplomacy: Fixed bug with “Unworthy and Unwise.”
– Diplomacy: Diplomacy coin rewards now are worth their intended value! No more Jaw Exercisers worth 2 copper!
– Diplomacy: Flag resetter placed at “Death Wears a False Mustache” for testing purposes. ***If you are stuck at “Death Wears a False Mustache” Talk to the Flag resetter FIRST, then abandon the quest and retry it.****
– Diplomacy: Some quests have new Evaluations of different colors added to them. In a future patch, you will receive two Evaluations of different colors so you can generate Expression from 3 different colors.
– Varanjar Diplomacy: Otkatla Beck should now spawn properly so you may complete the quest.
– Varanjar Diplomacy: New evaluations swapped to what they should be.
– Varanjar Diplomacy: Various, and altogether random typo fixes.
– Bug fixes and typo fixes for the Varanjar, Lesser Giant, and Vulmane beginning lines.
– Prince Dargand has been smacked in the head a few times and is not now quite so difficult to beat.

WORLD POPULATION
– Lomshir Quest: The Races – Increased the time allotted to 70 seconds.
– The following areas have had an itemization pass: The River Palace, Imanjal Sacellum, Kalendra’s Coven, Sacrifice Island, Ra’hazi Jungle, Pantheon of the Ancients and various overland camps in those areas.
– The aggro range of NPCs in the Fallen Lyceum of Ingolas has been increased slightly.
– The named encounters in Fallen Lyceum have had their difficulty increased to a more appropriate level.
– Old Fluur was punished for griefing players at the respawn altar and will stop going there. He is also less likely to be up often.
– If you do the quest ‘Finish Her’ (located in the Ca’ial Brale area) in a group, the entire group should get credit if one person poisons the Injured High Mudwitch now. Also, her respawn time should be much faster now. This should alleviate much of the pain of waiting around for her to spawn while there are multiple people/groups around her.
– Base NPCs at the Gataro Camp directly north of Ca’ial Brale should now aggro players from a shorter distance. They should now only appear at level 6 rather than level 6 and 7.
– Changed the required number of Egglayer Bites for the quest ‘Abdominal Pain’ from 7 to 2. Also attempted to make the Egglayer Bites proc more often.

Bug Fixes:
– Multiple broken appearance sets have been fixed in the Tursh and Khal regions.
– Kalendra the Dark Witch once again drops loot
– In Vol Tuniel, ancient elven urns now look like they should.
– In Marsh of Peril, Veraelian weapons should look better now.
– Quest journal waypoints should work correctly now in Marsh of Peril, Karrus and Zossyr Hakrel, Tauthien Delta, Skawlra Rock, Ksaravi Gulch and Qa Riverbank.

CODING
– Fixed some bugs that would scramble your group UI.
– Fix for the bug where you lose coin when looting or hitting the merchant

~The Vanguard Team

Vanguard Build 01670 Patch Notes 1/11/2007

GAMEPLAY
– Dual wield attacks now count as a full addition hit at 50% power. This means they now include your strength and level weapon contribution to damage; previously it was only a weapon damage bonus.
– The evasion penalty for dual wielding has been reduced.
– Two handed weapon damage has been significantly increased.

GUI
– Modified the color of various points of interest on the map to improve visibility.
– Abilities will now show their refresh time (if applicable) in the tooltip.
– Class/race descriptions updated for character creation.

CODING
– Changed the ToggleMouseLook keybind to ToggleMouseTurn and changed its behavior to better represent the behavior people seem to want out of it.

~The Vanguard Team

You know, Sigil has really been getting work done on this game, it’s pretty surprising to log on after a few days and see this huge list of changes and patches! I was actually rather surprised to see racial abilities make it in, they may pull this off yet!

On another note:

I received a message from the admin of http://www.vanguardmmorpg.com/   asking for some help with his forums and such. I plan on helping him out, I’ve never been part of a large site or anything, so it’ll be an interesting experience.

-Radical