Vanguard Saga Of Heroes - Player made screenshots released

[Harovan]

Originally posted by DrSpike
I'd be scared you'd beat me up for my trolling.

Shame on you! Wannabe leet powergamer and turning tail to a roleplayer.

[DrSpike]

Just because I own you at games doesn't mean anything. You might be a 7ft tall German powerhouse for all I know.

[Harovan]

6 foot 3 inches. And ~230 pounds. Not too trained at the moment, though. And whether you own me at games or not remains to be seen somewhere in a game both of us like.

[DrSpike]

Well you don't play any proper competitive games so I automatically own you.

[conmcb25]

So whats the latest on this one Sir Ralph? Are you still looking forward to it.

Can Brad give you a good game without the mindless grinding like the original EQ?

[Harovan]

I surely am. But it's not that it'll be released soon. I hope in the first half of 2007, but I don't hold my breath. It's up to Sigil and only Sigil. I bet if Microsoft still were publisher, they would have pushed it out unfinished this year.

Mindless grinding is in the eye of the beholder, though. If it is in the sense "Kill the same group of mobs again, and again, and again until you level because you have little choice", it is surely boring and deserves to be called grind. If you have enough choice to travel and to get diversity, if there are quests that send you around, if you have many places to explore and many dungeons to do, you may even get the feeling you level too fast, before you have seen it all.

One example: Take EQ2 (I know you've played it). As good level 10..20 you had only one outland zone (except the Qeynos sewers), Antonica, with Blackburrow as dungeon for level 15-ish and Stormhold for level 20-ish. As level 20..30 you had the Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest, the latter even stolen from the evil side. That's not a lot of choice.

Vanguard will be a huge world. Three continents with many full fledged starting locations (EQ2 had 2 and will get a third in the third expansion, meh). Full fledged in the meaning of containing mobs and quests for adventuring, harvesting, crafting and diplomacy. I bet you'll have to level many characters before you have "seen it all". Even if leveling is slow (which still remains to be proven!), you have a lot to see and to do, so it won't get boring.

[DrSpike]

Con, be careful to take Ralph's comments with a pinch of salt. He loves nothing more than slow levelling, long and realistic travel, and permadeath.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Even if leveling is slow (which still remains to be proven!)

Hang on, this seems an about turn given your earlier posts about VG.

[conmcb25]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Con, be careful to take Ralph's comments with a pinch of salt. He loves nothing more than slow levelling, long and realistic travel, and permadeath.

I always do Doc

[Jon Miller]

I like the idea of permadeath..

Especially for fighting rarebosses.

JM

[Harovan]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Hang on, this seems an about turn given your earlier posts about VG.

Nobody knows yet how exactly VG will be released. This includes the developers. You can get a grip about that when you follow the forums. The Vision (TM) still stands, but it's talking about an interesting, challenging and rewarding group-oriented game. It doesn't say anything about annoying the players. Keep that in mind.

[DrSpike]

Come on, the early vibe was slow levelling, and that was one of the features you were touting.

[Harovan]

I'm still touting it. But "slow" is a relative term. It can read "slow opposed to reaching the level cap in a month" (which I still stand for) and "slow, that gaining a level is a painful grind" (which is what I mean by annoying players). Read my post above about mindless grinding and you'll see what I mean. As long as there's enough content to explore, slow leveling doesn't matter much.

Leveling is announced to be slow compared to present games on the market, you know the usual suspects. But nobody knows yet how slow it will be. There has to be found a balance between too fast (which I define as "player doesn't have the chance to go through the whole content designed for his level in his region") and annoyingly slow.

[DrSpike]

Hehe ok. Looks like you now realise that annoying the playerbase is not the same as being challenging.

[Harovan]

Oh. Did I ever say Sigil will annoy the playerbase? Sorry, if that is the case, I was wrong.