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Vanguard Updates
Vanguard has come a long way in the past few months. To those who have not played lately, we have made a lot of changes in recent weeks. Character customization is in and loaded with dozens of options you can create a truly unique character with. We’ve sped up combat and added new classes, as well as increased overall game performance and stability. Come check it out!
Character Customization
Character customization is in. You are now able to customize the height, weight, facial structure and dozens of other options to create a truly unique avatar.
Combat Speed
We have adjusted the speed of player combat. Where battles seemed a bit slow and tended to drag on before, they should now be faster paced and much more exciting.
Game Stability/Optimization
Overall stability and frame rate has increased tremendous in the past few months. There are still a few issues surrounding Brennan’s Stead but they should be resolved shortly, and in the time please feel free to explore the areas surrounding the rest of the Thestran starting cities.
Crafting
Crafting implementation has taken giant steps forward in recent weeks. There are many more recipes and work orders to finish as well as a few new interesting mechanics.
UI/Font
The user interface continues to be tweaked for usability and the in-game fonts have been made much easier to read.
More GMs
We now have five full time Game Masters devoted to the Vanguard beta. You can contact them in game or through e-mail, by sending a message to customersupport@sigilgames.com.
Brennan’s Stead
Brennan’s Stead has been revamped. There are new NPCs, new adventuring quests and new crafting quests. Brennan’s Stead should be much more newbie friendly now and easier to navigate.
Music
Much more music has been added in a variety of areas. It should seem more dynamic now as it adapts depending on the location you happen to be in.
Animations
We have added more animations, specifically related to combat. The variety of attacks and defenses your character performs should now be greatly increased.
Character Classes
We have added more character classes for players to choose from. Players can now choose from warriors, rogues, sorcerers, shamans, druids, dread knights, paladins, clerics, psionicists and more.
Crimson Fellowship
The Knights of the Crimson Fellowship have landed on Thestra. They can be found roaming the lands and will help you should you be in need.
Miscellaneous
- Water now works and has currents.
- You can now create your own guilds.
- The size of the map has nearly doubled.
- Customizable chat channels have been added.
Fanguard
The San Diego Fanguard is over, but we all had a great time!
Check out some of the write-ups here:
JerleMinara's write up
The Safehouse
The Safehouse (pictures)
The Safehouse (video)
Scrapper's Den
Strokke's write up
Silky Venom
Silky Venom (pictures)
Vanguard Fighters
Vanguard RP Union
Vanguard Spheres
Vanguard Spheres (pictures)
Vanguard Ten Ton Hammer
Vanguard WarCry
In the Works
Quests
Sreamlined version of questing in Vanguard will soon be introduced. The interface art will be a bit rough for a while but internally we have been quite pleased with the rate of content production. Over three hundred and fifty quests will be turned on in the upcoming weeks in the following areas: Brennan’s Stead, Tursh Village, Rindol Field, Leth Nurae, and Bordinar’s Cleft.
Area Upgrades
Several areas are receiving art and design facelifts! These changes are being worked on by the art team and the design team and should be expected over the course of the next month.
Overland Content Tweaks
Many overland areas are having their population addressed. A greater variety of creatures will be found in some sections of Thestra than were previously found.
Additional overland camps are being added throughout the world.
Combat and Classes
We will soon begin addressing issues with previously implemented classes. Based upon beta player feedback and our own internal testing many classes will have their focus more finely tuned. As each class is addressed expect that some abilities be tweaked and removed.
We are taking a hard look at the system and altering it to make it less reactive and more engaging. We want the players to have more choices and have the ability to execute on those choices at will. Much of the 'feel' stems from coding and UI issues that are also getting resolved. Expect good things in the months to come!
Experience Distribution Method
The current experience distribution method that has been tested in beta will be changed shortly. Beta is a time for testing new ideas and experimenting and we have chosen to test and experiment with a different system. The soon to be implemented system is a more traditional approach of bonus experience per group member and experience division.
When this change is made the experience curve itself will be adjusted. A script will be run on all player characters insuring that they maintain their level. Because we are making a sweeping change to the curve all characters will be set to one experience point from their next level.
Item System Changes
The item scaling system will soon be changing to not take affect unless the item is at least five levels higher than the player. Items that are dramatically higher level than the player 15+ may actually cause the players to incur penalties. This change will be tested throughout beta and is, like everything else, subject to change.
All items in the game will have their previously "inflated" level dropped by five levels. In the previous system players would kill a level 35 monster, and gain an item that was actually from a developer standpoint level 40. The player would then grow fully into the item as they level up. This change is being made hand in hand with the item scaling changes such that players receive a major boost of power immediately upon gaining a new item.
The relative power of common, uncommon, rare, ultra rare, mythical and legendary items will be changing. Some items will be nerfed in this process, while others will be increased in power.
User Interface
A new streamlined skin for the user interface is under development. Expect to see elements of this transitioned in over the next several months. Additional Item Icons are being made almost daily and attached to items in the game.
Harvesting System Tuning
In its current form harvesting is far too convoluted and restrictive. The entire system is getting streamlined and made much simpler and much more rewarding. Aside from simply garnering resources, harvesting will supply the players with rare expendable items that can add bonuses to skills, hit points, mana, and regeneration rates. This will also have the added benefit of bringing more people into crafting which has almost endless diversity. The code is being worked on now so expect to see the new system in by March.
Diplomacy System Tuning
Much like harvesting, parley is being streamlined and made much more accessible to the players. Parley will serve as a questing and adventuring subsystem to help engage the player in the storyline. (Yes we have lore for the entire world; most of it is not in yet) Those who choose to pursue diplomacy will be rewarded with expanded story and quest lines, factional bonuses, and unique appearance items that will set you apart from the pack. Coding for this begins at the end of the month and you should start seeing the changes around March as well.
Fantasy Elements
We’ve put together an entire team that is currently going through Thestra chunk by chunk and updating the art. As we speak we have people working on: unique rooms for dungeons and mini dungeons throughout the continent, new overland dungeons for low and mid level players including the Rindol Storeroom, The Abandoned Elven Magic Academy, Hillsbury Estate at Orrin's Folly, and the Dark Citadel at the Ruins of Trengal Keep. We are also adding regional outposts and content hubs to help facilitate the function of nudging players to various locations. We've begun adding wisps, sprites, fairies, dryads, and more fantastical creatures throughout the world; even for the lowest level players. We want to entice players early, and we simply aren't doing that yet.
City Functions
We are reorganizing and repurposing cities to make navigating them and finding people and places intuitive and easy. When you enter the world we want there to be NO question as to where you are, who you need to speak with, and what your purpose is. Brennan's Stead is kind of our test village for this if you are interested in how we plan to approach this; and no, it isn't done yet. We are finalizing our designs for regional signs, signposts, and location markers. You should begin seeing these popping up in the next few weeks making all of our lives much easier.
Miscellaneous
Coming soon:
a. Weather Systems
b. Fog
c. Indoor World Lighting
d. Audio Optimizations
e. Sea Travel
f. Hue/Saturation/Color revisiting
g. New Classes: Necromancer, Bard, and others
h. The entire continent of Qalia
i. Armored Mounts
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