State of the Game letter issued for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Vanguard
The development team for Vanguard: Sage of Heroes has released a brand new Producer's Letter offering up a state of the game. Despite the long history of problems and pitfalls plaguing the game, the team seems optimistic about their near-future projects. They've opened up a new win-back program, allowing canceled and closed accounts to come back and check on the game's progress. They're working on a brand new Game Update, GU6, which will offer up another large swath of content. They're also making plans to finally introduce the free trial Vanguard players have long asked for. The Isle of Dawn will be a brand new starting zone for new players, a new hub city for existing players, and the central element of the trial. Finally, the already-impressive graphical presentation in the game is going to receive some modifications. You may recall that back in Update 4 some customization options were removed to make way for helmets and future improvements. Those improvements are apparently now on the way, and they plan to stagger the new character models as they come to the players. According to the letter, "Vanguard is a game about heroes. It's right there in the title even – Saga of Heroes. We're making it so players' character models look more heroic than they have in the past. This means that characters will have more definition and will just be able to look not only cooler but tougher in general."
Head over to the site to see the future of this innovative, if marred, game.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-04-2008 @ 4:01PM
Nostraphex said...
Very nice indeed. After a rough start, Vanguard seems more and more like an interesting, rich and high-concept game. Now I feel like I need to find a trial key somewhere...
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7-04-2008 @ 4:26PM
faded515 said...
I am loving Vanguard at the moment. I keep trying to play other mmorpg's but keep finding myself on Vanguard.
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7-04-2008 @ 10:22PM
The Claw said...
I would definitely hit up a free trial of Vanguard. The game interests me, but I'm not really ready to drop $AUS53.00 on it just out of curiosity.
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7-05-2008 @ 12:05AM
wowresentment said...
I honestly hope the trial ends soon. The chat channels have been filled with warcraft crossovers. I've never seen the chat and auction channels this bad before. Blatantly rude individuals looking for a flame war (Topics regarding Religion, ethnicity, Hitler, etc) mixed with horribly stupid people who need help and ask for it constantly instead of trying to figure things out on their own. (Number one reason being that "Its a game, I want to play and relax not think!" hmmm... go watch TV then, fool.)
Vanguard had (Hopefully, has still) a great community, but this trial is putting a LOT of strain on civil behavior. I gave up on my low level alt for now. The game is currently over-run with inconsiderate individuals who will let you clear a path of monsters so THEY can A. steal the boss at the end, or B. can tap the metal/mineral nodes you were trying to get, or C. Steal the quest items and leave. It was never this bad before.
Don't even get me started on the auction house. Ok... fine The auction house economy has crashed. It was off and on before, but now everyone is trying to undercut everyone else and its almost not worth listing basic crafting resources anymore. Here's a question for the kiddies. If you try to undercut Bob, who is trying to undercut Jill who is trying to undercut McJones... what are you left with?
Thats right. Stuff that barely sells past its vendor cost. Often less than vendor (yep, I do profit from some of these fools by simply winning their auctions and vendoring their stuff.)
I've created a bunch of alts to hold anything valuable till this whole "trial" period is over. Hopefully the AH will be back to normal then.
I was hoping Vanguard would get new life, but this new surge is really... just... wow.
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7-09-2008 @ 4:55PM
tswest11 said...
wowresentment,
I am one of those returning. I am definitely not one of those you are talking about, but you should really be careful what you wish for. The main reason I left was the fact that the game was deserted. This was just before all the server mergers, so that probably fixed a few things, but the fact remains that the game was barren, which last time I checked defeats the purpose of "Massively Multiplayer". As far as the AH goes, its called an economy. If there is an over supply of something, then the price goes down. Over time, prices tend to filter back to where they should be. If prices are so low, then why don't you buy all that stuff and sell it at the price you think people will pay. You will make a killing. Or make finished goods with it and sell them. Certainly with all the new players finished armor and weapons should be selling like crazy.
If you want this game to truly be successful, then it needs to be at least partially a sell out. You can't have a tiny close knit community and still have the game survive. That means, for better or worse, you need to deal with idiots in chat. If they bother you that much turn them off or ignore them. As far as Kill Stealing goes, its been part of every MMO ever made. The alternative is instancing, if that appeals to you then you are in the wrong game. By your nametag, I assume you understand that.
In order to survive, the game needs more players, lots more. That means by definition, more idiots. Idiots still pay their 15 a month, which is what it takes to stay around for any game these days.
7-05-2008 @ 7:16AM
Petter said...
The Claw - I did pay for it out of pure curiosity last week and I must say that I am glad I did. Vanguard is a lot better than it used to be, innovative and different while still being a quite traditional MMO. But I am enjoying myself immensely and brings back memories of the "good old days" of WoW. It still needs a lot of work, but hopefully it will get there and get the recognition it deserves at the same time.
Here's hoping Massively will report more on it in the future so more people will hear about it. I do understand wowresentment's comment, I've seen the flamewars in the general channels, but hey - more players mean a more living world, that kind of behaviour would probably disappear naturally once the idiots gets a feel for the game.
Adventuring is fun, crafting is very well made and exciting, I still get a certain rush when I cut down a tree and I am completely taken by diplomacy. All in all, Vanguard is a lot of fun. Give it a go.
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7-07-2008 @ 2:08PM
Nick said...
I'm glad I decided to give this a try again especially since upgrading my computer. Best textures and visuals in any mmo so far. This is probably the deepest mmo out there. Tons of content now. Yeah, it's still got some lumps but I've found my game I think. No instancing at all and loving it.
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7-10-2008 @ 5:46PM
Ellyra said...
It's great to see so many people giving Vanguard another look. We're excited about the influx of players, adding to our already wonderful community.
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