It breaks down to…

… things to expect immediately:
More performance fixes
Fellowships (in test - release next patch?)
Better LFG functionality
More solo content
More small group content

…and things to expect in the near future (few months..?)
Raid content

…and things to come (an expansion - the next expansion..?)
Player cities

Now that fixes are in place, farmers are having to actually work to get their money and secondary ,arket prices are soaring.

This crack-down has prompted the (dirty, rotton, filthy, low down, good for nothing) /tell spammers to increase their efforts in order to keep traffic returning to the secondary market sites and buying the virtual goods.

While I’m getting sick and tired of Arghysx, Goifytfds and Sxcdfyudii sending me tells every five minutes I continue to patiently and trustingly /report Arghysx, /report Goifytfds and /report Sxcdfyudii.

…and Despite the frustration of rushing to the mailbox hoping the recently recieved mail is money pouring in from items posted at the Exchange Brokers only to discover that some (dirty, rotton, filthy, low down, good for nothing) mail spammer will “…do all the work for you…” - sitll, I faithfully and dutifully /petition the offender who is promptly (sorta) dealt with.

I encourage other players to do the same  - don’t just ignore these guys, take a few seconds and and /report & /petition them.

[RANT]
Why the heck would anyone want someone ELSE to PLAY for them…?! What is the point of playing a game that you pay someone else to play it for you…!? Oh..and DON’T buy g0ld, it hurts the player driven economy and it’s just plain weak - if you can’t enjoy the game with-out spending real $$ on virtual g0ld or having someone else play the game for you the you belong back at WoW. - Gah!!
[/ENDRANT]

 Feel free to discuss this in the forums >>

Well..if you live under a rock this may come as a surprise, but SOE has aquired Sigil Online Games - the development company led by Brad McQuaid that created Vanguard : SOH. If you’re already a fan of SOE games (such as EQ, EQII, SWG etc) then you’ll be glad to hear it. If you’re one of the many SOE detractors out there, I’m sure you have plenty to say about it. Either way join the SOE Buys Sigil/Vanguard discussion in the forum.

Vanguard Patches:
See the Latest Game Update & Patch Notes section of the forum for details, but we’ve seen several patches over the past few weeks. Lots of improvement to performance, albeit not to the level that many had hoped for. Individual classes continue to recieve adjustements to their abilities. Weapon/Armor/Items have had a bit of an overhaul including changes to the way accuracy/spell power etc is displayed - raw numbers rather than %’s as before - and more effective weapons at higher levels.

VanguardMMORPG.com changes:

Vanguard Class & Race Overviews:
Find a low level class overviews for Rogues, Shaman, Druids, Psionicists in the Class forums. Take few minutes and write your own - help newcomers to Vanguard understand each classes strengths, weaknesses, solo ability and group role.

Vanguard Combat Exploits & Weaknesses:
Vanguard designers have included a unique element with-in group combat where attacks by players of one class can ’set up’ the target for fellow group members to do more than their normal damage. Through creating and exploiting these weaknesses a group can dish out incementally more damage - making synergistic group combat possible for the first time in an MMORPG. Check out the post regarding Vanguard Combat Exploits & Weaknesses and then download the Vanguard Combat Exploits & Weaknesses Chart for quick reference!

Vanguard Fans - Stay informed!
Sign up for our free update service and reciee email notification whenever we post news - don’t miss a thing! (Subscribe to Vanguard MMORPG email updates)

We want to hear from you!
Drop us an email (admin–at–vanguardmmorpg.com) or post in the Vanguard SOH Fan Forums - your input is what makes VanguardMMORPG.com helpful to your fellow fans!

I’m a big fan of many of the elements of gameplay with-in Vanguard and I’m looking forward to the result of getting the unique creative ideas of the Sigil team connected to the much needed resources - hoping that this will get the games development on track and allow VG to fulfill its massive potential.

The coming months will tell the tale. We will be watching closely to see if SOE will empower the Sigil team to continue developing the VG they had envisioned, or if SOE will try to heavily to put their own fingerprints on the game. SOE detractors complain that SOE makes significant and often disliked changes to games they become involved in.

Again, I choose to be hopeful.

SOE Strengthens Portfolio with State-of-the-Art Development Studio & its Marquee Game Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

Source: http://www.soepress.com/release.asp?i=111

May 15, 2007 San Diego, CA – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry, today announced that it has completed a transaction to purchase key assets of Sigil Games Online, Inc. Through the deal, SOE now owns Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Sigil’s tentpole property, a highly-successful massively multiplayer online game. The Sigil acquisition also builds on SOE’s successful strategy of cultivating game development studios around the world to further boost the company’s capabilities. The announcement was made by John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment.

As part of the acquisition, a majority of the Sigil team will join SOE, integrating into SOE’s worldwide group of studios which includes offices in San Diego, Seattle, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles and Taiwan. The acquisition will strengthen SOE’s position as a leader in the online gaming space by expanding the company’s portfolio of gaming offerings.

“With an unparalleled team and exceptional product, Sigil has been a creative force in the online games space. We look forward to continuing the vision for Vanguard and to continue to deliver some groundbreaking game play,” said Smedley.

In May 2006, SOE acquired the title’s rights and the two companies agreed to co-publish Vanguard. The MMO launched in late January of this year and has sold nearly 200,000 retail and digital units worldwide. Sigil CEO and Vanguard creator, Brad McQuaid will become a consultant with SOE as Vanguard Creative Advisor.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes takes place in the fantasy setting of Telon, a vast and ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure where thousands of players from around the world have formed a steadfast community exploring the grandeur of a world crafted by the seminal fantasy artist Keith Parkinson. The game introduced many groundbreaking new features and an art direction second to none.

You can read his whole post here but it can be summed up (as can most of Brad’s verbose posts) in a few sentences.

• SOE may or may not buy out Sigil
• Sigil needs more time and more money to make the game work right
• Brad admits the game requires a top rate system (not just video upgrades), but by end of 2007 people should be buying new PCs anyways (huh…?)
• the game needs a “re-launch once its finished (a soft admittance that it is incomplete in its current state…still)
• Brad has lots of ideas about what could possibly one day, maybe eventually be in the game (definately take those with a grain of salt)
  (this next one is my favorite)
• “…both Sigil and SOE see the potential of a mind blowing game by the end of the year”
  [summary of http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=8569]

This comes as longtime fans are becoming more and more vocal about their concerns and dissappointments. From what I hear from friends and fellow fans it sounds like more and more VG players are starting to speak with their $$ by suspending or not renewing their subscriptions. Many of these players are diehard VG fans and aren’t necesarrily leaving the game for good - but I hear a lot of ‘I’m taking a break while they finish the game’. 

At any rate over the next 6 months expect…

• SOE to aquire Sigil and/or Vanguard
• patches and bug fixes to continue to trickle into the game, although perhaps more significant progress on performance & bug fixes
• to buy a new PC (or upgrade your current system…alot)
• a re-launch of the game [first launch of the completed game] (probably in time for the 2007 Holiday season - thats just a guess)

In my ongoing effort to try out each of the classes post release/patch changes I rolled Halfling Rogue and was not disappointed. As always I played the toon to level 10, played a bit solo, and some grouped to check out the classes strengths, weaknesses and overall group role.

Rogues are a lot of fun and I am incredibly impressed with the Vanguards version including their DPS and game play. Soloing Rogues can do some fantastic damage - togather wityh a tank to hold the mob in place, rogues destroy mobs. Dual wield from the start (another thing I like about Vanguard) blads are whirring and blood is flying from the opening attack to the satifying thud of the mobs carcass falling dead at your feet.

Stalking/In-Combat Stealth
The stalking element is a fantastic idea that has been well implemented. Essentially, you approach an enemy cloaked, and begin your attacks, if the mob is focused on another attacker (IE a tank) you continue to remain cloaked and build up higher damage attacks - on the other hand if you are ‘percieved’ you break stealth and continue to attack normally.

Backstab/Ravage
As one would expect when playing a Rogue, they do a lot more damage in surprise open attacks and in-combat attacks on mob flanks. As a level 8-9 Rogue I was often able to stealth behind same-level (or higher) 2 dot mobs and one shot them (using the Keen Eye buff and Ravage attack) - Tremendous!

The Rogue & Solo Combat
Through-out my 1-9 leveling last night if the mood struck me, I was able to rush headlong into combat and take out same-level mobs (or even 2-3 levels higher) pretty quickly with no real problems. Preferably using Stealth > Stalk > Ravage > Attack tactics made battles almost instantaniuous with mobs of the same level and still really quick for mobs 2-3 levels higher. I was able to solo same-level or 1-2 levels lower 3 dots mobs, with some difficulty and it took a bit long (as it should).

The Rogue & Small Group Combat
With a Paladin tank as my comrade I was able to  annihilate same-level range mobs (+1-3 levels) as quickly as we could pull them in. Against same-level (and even 1-2 levels higher) 3 dot mobs staying in the in-combat stealth/Stalking mode augmented my damage -  the longer we battled, the higher my damage output, and being able to fit in multiple backstabs brought down the normally problematic 3 dots fairly quickly.

All in all I was extremely impressed with the Rogue class and look forward to playing this alt more than my others…what can I say - I’m addicted now 

Discuss Vanguard’s Rogue class and this review in the forum

In my ongoing effort to review each of the classes post release/patch changes I took a stab at the Psionicist class. As I haven’t had a Mordebi character since Beta I thought it was time to give one a run - besides I thought the racial ability would come in handy (8sec mex + 100% deaggro)

The Psionicist turned out to be a lot of fun - as always I played him up to level 10, soloed and grouped for a bit to get a better idea of the classes strengths, weaknesses and overall group role. Although the Psi can punch out some decent DOT and direct damage, I’d say his best trait is some great CC. looking ahead to the spells available a few levels higher it becomes even more appearant.

Psionicist DPS
Soloing - You start out with a weak, but effective mental lance - its a quick cast that does direct damage and can be spammed on enemies as they close in on you - it has a suffecient range to make kiting a good idea, you’re definately not built for a fist fight. Grouping - Soon you’re equipped with a nice DOT which is quite effective once you have something/someone to hold the mob in place

Psionicist CC
Soloing - you’re never solo as long as you’re a Psi - your enemy becomes your best friend since you can replicate any mob and create a copy capable of holding aggro for a time - pleanty of time for you to take out the first of most 2 pulls. As you level up you can hold enough aggro in this mirror to get off a DOT with-out pulling aggro to you.
Group - the Psi is a must have in dungeons and heavy mob fighting - controlling the flow of mobs is the difference between a tough pull and a complete wipe. Even at lower levels the Psi seem perfectly adept at CCing one mob and delivering decent DPS to the others - at higher levels you can begin to control even more mobs through mind control (suggestion), mirrors, mezzes, timeshifts etc.

Psionicist Buffs & Debuffs
As a Psi you share a connection with other Psi’s around the world increasing yourmana/energy regen mana/energy rate, additionally you expand your mind and the minds of your companions adding a decent amount of intel & wisdom increasing the casters damage output and manapool.

As a Psi you should be able to solo fairly well, and be a great add to any dungeon bound group. As alwasy this is just a review of my expierience (short) with the Psi class, share your experiences with us - strengths, weaknesses, likes dislikes etc.

Discuss Vanguard’s Psionicist class and this review in the forum

In an ongoing effort to check out all the classes (again post release/patch changes) I rolled myself a Lesser Giant Shaman and I’ve had myself a blast so far. For the record I know a Vulmane has better racial stats for a shaman, but my wife was trying out new races/classes and wanted to start in a new starting area so we hit up Halgarad and made a pair of Lesser Giants, complete with matching last names 

As with all my class reviews, I played my Lesser Giant Shaman up to level 10 to get an idea of the classes strengths, weaknesses and central group role.

I’ve started a number of class/race combos and first impressions of the Shaman class were a bit mixed. I was trying to wrap my mind around what the shaman’s central purpose/strength might be in a group, but it seemed rather vague. My shammy did decent (but not overly impressive) in all areas - melee dmg, DOT & direct spell dmg, CC, buffs and healing- and has a resurrect. I came to realize they are purposefully versitile - jack of all trades, master of none it seems - which makes them a decent add to any group or guild.

Shaman Healing
The first heal you get is a realitivly short cast (1.5 secs) heal that ‘does the job’ in self healing or when healing your newb Dread Knight tank/wife   
Soloing - multi-pull mobs can become challenging since the bigger heals take a bit of time to cast and can be interupted multiple times (3.0 secs). (thankfully one of your early buffs is a 20% reduction in casting time)
Grouping - if called on to do so shaman can be decent main-healer in grinding groups (not certain about dungeons/instances), but energy consumption seems to be less effecient than other healing classes, so you’ll want to give them plenty of time to regen after each altercation.

Shaman Melee
Although at early levels it’s nothing to write home about, shaman can deliver a bit of melee damage - in fact one of your level 4 spells is an insta-cast melee attack. 
Soloing - never being one to like being hit, I prefer to get close enough to use my melee only as a finisher, or a low-on-mana option
Grouping - you wear leather armor so you don’t have to worry about casting from the outfield, with a tank holding aggro you can get in the middle of it all and drop some melee damage while you watch your group for healing needs.

Shaman CC
Soloing - the 2 roots and one ’slow’ you get by level 10 are suffecient to keep many single pulls at bay long enough to destroy them with-out getting a scratch and with-out needing to kite too much.
Grouping - Shaman won’t take the place of a Psi but can help mitigate the chaos of adds, healers getting aggro, or ‘oopsie’ 4-5 pulls.

Again, as always, this is just a look at Shaman up to level 10 - most classes really start to shine post level 10, so I’d love to hear about your Shaman, or shaman that you’ve grouped with.

Discuss Vanguard’s Shaman class and this review in the forum

In my effort to try out all the classes again post release/patch changes I rolled a Half Elf Druid (played him up to level 10) when my wife tried out a new Kojani Bard (< <...meh )

My first impression was - “Wow, I stomp mobs before they ever touch me”, my Second impression was “a mob touched me and I crumbled into a million pieces”

I’d gotten used to playing Melee & Tank classes who can take a few hits. Turns out newb casters cannot. I’m sure that after a while with some decent gear you can take a few hits, but early on it seems casters are paper missle launchers - delivering heavy firepower, but quickly going down in a blaze of glory.

Then I got in the caster groove and started to kite (you’ve GOTTA love Vanguards ‘cast and walk at the same time’ situation) thats the ticket - once you start to kite a bit, you’re unstoppable.

By level 10 you have a decent root/DOT, a DOT, a timed cast direct damage, an instant direct damage, a DPS/Aggro ‘pet’, a weak HOT and a decent insta heal

I saved my pennies from quests and mob trash until I got to Tanvu and hit the Exchange Broker where I spent 4 silver on some decent cloth gear (nothing fancy).  On my main, I crafted 2 basic low level focus items for my alt Druid (Usually available for 1-5s each at the exchange broker) these made a decent difference.

At this point I can pull and crush any near level 2 dot mob with-out ever getting touched.  I can chain pull (pull1 kill1 > pull1 kill1) 4-5 single mobs or a couple sets of 2 pull mobs before I run low on mana. Some ‘energy’ gear would help tremendously, but I wasn’t prepared to twink this alt just yet.

If you’re coming to VG from WoW, you’re sure to notice the distinctly different focus of the Druid class - while you can heal a bit, your primary role (unlike a WoW Druid) is pouring on DPS

Druid Healing
HOT - The first heal you get is a pretty weak HOT (heal over time), and not much help if you’re already struggling in a fight - it heals about 12-20 HP every 2-3 seconds (guess) so generally it won’t save you if you’re already below half health against a decent melee combatant. It is however a great post combat heal getting you back in battle ready by the time you find another mob to pull.
Insta-cast Heal - The second heal is decent insta-cast hitting you up with 150-200+ HP - enough to save you from doom in a pinch, or to back up a tank partner (or a Bard who thinks she’s a tank), but it’s not going to make you main Tank Healer in a raid. (leave that to the heal Spec Rangers  

Druid CC
By level 10 you have some decent soloing CC - a DOT/root, a solid/slow root, and an aggro/damage dealing pet of sorts. The pet is really more of a quick cast DOT that keeps a bit of aggro and does a bit of damage nice for those 2 pulls against melee mobs that otherwise interupt casting. The DOT root you get early on is decent and allows for a nice long 2nd cast before you start getting interupted by melee attacks - it gets the mob with-in looting distance just before you unleash the insta-cast beam o’ death

Druid DPS
At level 10 I’m doing some decent DPS, but then again I’m double fisting 2 focus items now   - 
Grouping - be careful about over aggroing in a group, make sure the tank has suffecient aggro then unleash the elements & burn ‘em down
Soloing - I have a developed a decent little system for combat that generally keeps me unscathed. I open just inside casting range with the long cast DOT, followed immediately by the short cast root/DOT which generally holds long enough for me to lay down at least one lighting strike (sometimes 2) before the mob is released (very angry at me) just in time for me to pierce him head to toe by a beam. Again, generally a same level 2dot mob (or even 1-2 higher) is dead before making it to me, falling politely at my feet to be looted and or skinned.

Kiting - Solo Casters Best Friend
For heavy hitters (guys who interupt long casts) or most 3 dots I prefer to kite them since it generally takes a few extra casts to lay them out. Again for former WoW casters you’ve GOT to love the cast AND move system of Vanguard - you movement is slowed, but you don’t stop casting. I find myselfs constantly moving as a caster, staying engaged with my surroundings and always looking out for mobs I might otherwise aggro. With a Root that also slows attacker movement speed for a time you can generally kite mobs for quite a while before they make it with-in reach. If you run low on health and mana early on re-rooting & kiting is generally more effective than your HOT. with decent armor at higher levels this may not be the case.

Again, as always, this is only a look at my experience with a Druid up to level 10. Generally the classes really srtart to shine post level 10, so tell us about your Druid, or Druids you’ve grouped with. Strengths weaknesses etc

Discuss Vanguard’s Druid Class and this review in the forum

 SilkyVenom.com discussion  -  Original FoH post and discussion

Q. Who exactly made Vanguard ship early? Was it Brad that made that decision? Or was it Smed and SOE telling him to launch or else?If SOE ordered him to release it early, I’d have to give Brad a small break. If not, then he’s getting what he deserves.

A. Had I had the financial resources, ability to place the product later, etc. I would have given us about 3 more months to get more polish in, more high level content in, and to distance ourselves from the WoW expansion.That said, we knew the launch date for many months before we released. And we made a promise and we stuck to it. I understand why that date was given and why we had to stick to it and I don’t blame anyone.

We made our own share of mistakes that took up time that in 20/20 hindsight would have made up for those 3 months perhaps. I do believe, again in hindsight, that we entered beta too early because of the release date we had with MSFT — otherwise it would have been held off quite a while and a lot of time getting things working first operationally with MSFT and then again with SOE could have been avoided (e.g. would have only had to do all that once). Much of the roughness of our systems would have been worked out before people from outside Sigil and our publisher would have been able to have been addressed under that scenario as well. I’ve mentioned the pain in learning the hard way how different it is to manage a company of 100 people vs. a team of 23 was. We had a very experienced team, arguably the most, but it was still a team, from the designer all the way up to me, that had only made MMOGs that had lasted 3 years and taken 23 people, or expansions that had lasted one year.

Had I a time machine, I would go back and do a LOT of things differently, but then life doesn’t work that way. We didn’t repeat a lot of mistakes we’d already made, but made a lot of new ones given the team size, how ambitious the game was, and the fact that it took 5 years, not 3. Switching publishers, while necessary, also took a lot of time. It also took a lot more effort running the company from a non-creative standpoint than I had thought it would. With EQ, Smed and others handled the business side of things and I, my managers, and my team were able to focus on the game.

As Kendrick posted, we did scale back several times and significantly, but again looking back I probably would have scaled things back more so.

I do take issue with the assertion that I promised a bunch of stuff we didn’t deliver. I do fully admit my writing style is verbose and I made a significant effort to hype the game, but at the same time I also made a huge effort to manage expectations and let people know what might not make it in release, what was an expansion idea, etc. Sure, that changed as we got farther along with development. You can look up my posts and look at old copies of the FAQ and see the scaling back that took place (both what Kendrick mentioned and other stuff). And thinking back on it, while I posted a lot of these changes, the FAQ should have been kept more up to date.

I will say I think we did a pretty darn good job overall. We released a game that is probably 80% of what we’d originally planned outside of sheer landmass. We did not completely re-design major systems in beta other than diplomacy — we revised crafting and harvesting and made some tweaks to combat in terms of pace, how complex it became at what level, etc. But the notion that we threw a bunch of stuff out just isn’t accurate — again, some of the perception likely comes from starting beta when the game was really still in alpha. Probably the biggest features that didn’t make it in that I think would have been very cool (or some variant thereof): AES fully realized, fellowships, caravans.

Again, had we a few more months I think the game would have been more polished. That is one of the biggest things WoW taught us, the importance of polish, AI, general accessibility, etc. Launching near TBC was nuts, but again something that couldn’t be avoided. Switching publishers also took time, but we would have had a LOT less time to make the game had we not done so. MSFT underwent a lot of internal changes and had to focus on getting out the Xbox 360 — switching to SOE was simply another change that reality dictated during this long 5 years.

I think the biggest things that are hurting the game right now are:

1. Performance. We simply asked too much of the engine. Tech becoming faster and cheaper will help us with this issue over the next 6 months, but that’s 6 month’s that *might* have been avoided. That, and we would have had more time to polish and fix bugs and get better and more complete high level content in (and maybe even a more workable AES). We did run into this a bit with EQ 1 being one of the first hardware only games, but not to this extent. Ideally, you launch with both a flexible engine that grows with you and also in a tech window that doesn’t mean that a lot of your players feel the need to upgrade their machines significantly. Failing that ideal, however, I’ll take the more flexible, planned for the long term tech, and bite the bullet for overshooting in terms of tech than the former (undershooting and/or launching with inflexible MMOG tech that isn’t easily upgraded over the years to come).

2. Underpopulated servers. The reason we are enhancing the LFG system (other than it’s always a good idea in general) is because it’s too hard to find a group. One of the biggest reasons it’s too hard to find a group is that we were overly worried the newbie yards would be over populated the first couple of weeks post-launch that we opened with too many servers. That’s why we are working on better LFG tools, having to seriously consider overland teleports, etc. If a world at peak hours had 4-5k people on it, this wouldn’t be nearly the problem it is.

3. Launching so close to TBC. I never thought we were going to, but Blizzard’s launch date was a moving target and things could have worked out better there. Again, though, I think a decent percentage of WoW players are going to want a game like Vanguard (or any other MMOG this year) once they are burned out on the WoW expansion, so I think in the next 4-6 months this issue will become less and less as painful.

4. Marketing. There are two groups of ex-EQ 1, UO, DAoC, etc. players out there: the ones that look back fondly on the years they put into EQ 1 and those who don’t — either they’re upset or, more often, they simply have had their lives change and they don’t have the time to play another EQ 1. So when they heard about Vanguard and all of the EQ 1 people working on it they didn’t even give it a chance — they simply assumed Vanguard would be as hard core as EQ 1 (when it absolutely isn’t). We totally underestimated that second group, and I think if we had got the message out that Vanguard was not just another EQ with all of its time sinks, tedium, leveling times, necessary raiding, need for contiguous time commitments, and somehow got that message clearly and strongly through to that second group we would have launched more strongly. This is another issue, however, we will survive, not just by changing the marketing message, but mainly through viral marketing. Those ex-EQ 1 players who *do* buy Vanguard, and enjoy it, *will* slowly but surely let that second group of people know that Vanguard does *not* equal EQ 1 with better graphics in the ways some people look back, sigh, and mutter ‘never again’, but that it *does* have the elements in it that made EQ 1 a great game (as well as many of the cooler UO/SWG elements, new systems like Diplomacy, greater immersion, etc.)

So a lot happened in the almost 5 years it took to make Vanguard. We made our share of new mistakes, we were a bit too ambitious in terms of world size and feature set, we were definitely too ambitious in terms of performance, we lost some time switching publishers, we still could have used another 3+ months of dev time, the market changed in general, we did lose some time learning how to organize and manage a 100 man team, and it would have been damn nice to have not launched almost right on top of the juggernaut that is WoW’s expansion.

Certainly none of the above mistakes were planned for. Many/most were unexpected. Some of the mistakes were directly our fault, and some more indirectly and some totally beyond our control. I could write another one of my missives going into a lot more detail and maybe one day I will, but I will spare you my verbosity tonight. No matter what ,however, I was CEO and the buck stops here. None of the above do I use as an excuse as if life was unfair to us. We made some bad calls and were put into some bad situations. But I should have known better, planned better, and reacted better, so I take full responsibility. Most assuredly I cannot stress how proud I am of the Vanguard team, past and present, and all of the hard work, sweat, and tears that were put into the game. The team was and is incredible and it was an honor working with them. So regardless of screw-up or mistake, I take responsibility and apologize. The team should feel nothing but pride and a great sense of accomplishment.

That said, I still believe very strongly that we planned many or even most things correctly and that we launched a game that was 80+% the game we had planned to launch (again, other than totally reworking Diplomacy, tweaking some systems later in beta than I would have liked, and shrinking the world a LOT). And again I humbly but strongly stress all of the hooks and stubs that are in the engine, gameplay code, tools, etc — they *will* pay off. While Vanguard stands on its own as a fun game, despite the bugs and performance issues that we all know exist and have been talked about in this thread and others, it’s also set up such that we have years and years of cool features, content, land masses, etc. planned out in detail that will make the Vanguard of 2007, as cool as it is, pale in comparison to the Vanguard of 2008, 2009, etc. Relatively quickly, player run towns with an RTS element, ship and mounted combat, Diplomacy expanding to become more integral with factions, organizations, etc., user generated content, and so much more are really going to make this game shine. That, and even though it does require a lot of horsepower in terms of tech today, those issues will become less and less relevant as time goes by, with PCs getting so much faster and cheaper, RAM and bus speeds getting so much faster, graphics cards getting faster, physics cards, DX 10, utilizing Unreal 3.0 tech more and more, going into expansions with tools and tech that while still could use a lot of improvement are finally at a point where a lot of R&D won’t be necessary and that time will be much more efficiently spent putting in content, features, etc.

And finally I still feel very strongly that going seamless will really pay off as the live team adds efficiently to the existing world, databases of items and such can be updated en masse to slow MUDflation and at the same time refresh the world and make it feel more dynamic, ship travel and exploring vast archipelagoes becomes more integral, planes with unique physics models appear miles up into the sky, non-Euclidean Portal technology is used to build unheard of dungeon layouts, Underdark-style ‘chunks under chunks’ are added, the ability to load any art asset anywhere is more fully realized, and yes even the controversial ‘unibody’ system allows us to create *that* many more item & armor sets, adding even stronger visual variety to player characters in such an item-centric economy… I still feel firmly that even if we were early and our system specs initially high that all of this tech will pay off big time, especially in the mid to long term, given a genre that thrives on newness and patching, that demands a game world that remains interesting and compelling for year after year.

Anyway, the pages and pages that I posted promoting Vanguard, to get the word out, was the truth as best as I knew it at the time and I updated it as soon as it was obvious something would work differently or not make it in by release. And anything I did miss was unintentional, but the buck still stops here. Where I wasn’t clear, or where I failed to manage expectations — all of that was my responsibility. So while apologetic wherever and however we failed, overall I have no regrets looking back at the 5 years Sigil has been around and look to the next 5 years with even more anticipation. A lot of new mistakes were made, but we took notes and have long memories.

In summary, had a lot of the above not occurred then I think Vanguard would be nearing 300k or 400k and not 200k. A lot of the above caused the game to start out more slowly than I had hoped, anticipated and planned for. But still looking at both sales and retention, the game is doing well, even if in a more ideal world it could be doing even better. The team continues to work their butts off, fixing bugs, optimizing, putting in content, tweaking and balancing, and we have our first expansion and where we want new live content to go planned out for when the timing is right to begin that endeavor. So while all of the above, this post-mortem of sorts, may come across as critical and looking back negatively (and not by accident — much of this thread is doing just that, so this post is certainly not off topic), Vanguard is still far, far from a failure by any means. Few PC games, MMOGs or otherwise, do more than 100k units, and we surpassed that in a couple of weeks. So even with regrets, some kicking myself, and a lot of ‘dammit, if only…’ coming out of part of me, the rest of me is damn proud of what we have accomplished, and what we will and are accomplishing, and most importantly extremely honored to have worked with such a team and that so much of that team continues to march onward. Ultimately I am very grateful to God, MSFT, SOE, EQ, and so many other people and products for the opportunity to have been able to do this again. Few get to make even one successful MMOG, much less two. And fewer still given $8M to make the first one and over $30M to make the second.

*humbly bows*

Check out the complete VG Weaknesses & Exploits chart

Each class has moves that subject their target to a lasting effect such as a Monks ‘Ashen Hand’ ability which can render the target ‘vulnerable’. This is creates a weakness that other classes can exploit. Once the target is effected by a weakness, certain abilities can exploit the weakness - some players can exploit the weaknesses they create, sometimes a weakness can be exploited by another player of a different class. If you have a move that you don’t use very often because it seems to output nominal damage, you may want to review the VG Weakness & Exploits chart carefully, chances are it creates a weakness that a well picked partner can exploit. What would normally be 2 nominally effective moves, by two seperate fighters, now becomes a deadly combination dealing significant damage (set > spike!)

Below is a great example of a fairly powerful duo - a Monk and a Warrior - they share a number of synergistic weakness/exploit opportunities. One possible scenario could go like this… Monk attacks with ‘Ashen Hand’ (creates weakness Vulnerable) > Warrior exploits with ‘Devastating Blow’ (creates weakness Staggered) > Monk exploits using ‘Deadly Adder Hand’ (creating weakness Afflicted) > Warrior exploits using ‘Savage Cut’

Check out the complete VG Weaknesses & Exploits chart

Effective strategy that includes leveraging the various class abilities, managing aggro and now exploiting weakness can significantly improve your group damage output, and overall combat effectiveness. If you haven’t been giving it much attention to the little icons that pop up under your targets, now you can(and should). Armed with the information from the VG Weakness & Exploits chart and a bit of experimentation & practice you can deal with mobs much more efficently.

Love to hear your comments below, or join the forum discussion

Recent Vanguard SOH changes:

We’ve seen plenty of game patches since the January, 31st release. Most were really the finishing touches on the game that Sigil (under pressure from SOE) released several months earlier than announced/expected.

Nah-sayers have blasted Vanguard as being riddled with problems, from glitches to poor performance, giving the game much undeserved negative press. Still, even die hard fans have admited that its sometimes like playing ‘beta-in-a-box’. Refering to the fact that the game still has the sort of glitches you might expect in a beta release, but usually aren’t required to endure once you’re paying for the game.

Game revisions have included improvements to performance, removal of countless bugs, changes to experience gains, class skills & damage scales, basic crafting mechanics, and a number of other basic game elements from sound & graphics to character animations.

Latest Game Update & Patch Notes

Recent VanguardMMORPG.com changes:

Since around November of 2006 I’ve been working on VanguardMMORPG.com. I’ve added a ton of information from racial & class overviews to detailed dungeon guides. With your help I’ll continue to work on getting posting more guides and information.

Vanguard Dungeon reviews:
We’ve added a whole section of dungeon reviews. We’ve only reviewed a handful of dungeons so far, but have gotten a lot of great response from community members (THANKS!)

Feel free to send us your reviews of dungeons, it helps a lot!

Recent dungeon related content:
Vanguard Dungeon Finder, Reviews - Ksaravi Hollow, Arcanium, Karrus Fahrel, Gardens of Xia Liu, Gulgrethor Fortress, Temple of Dailuk

Vanguard Locations & Maps:
We’ve been to a lot of places through-out Telon since the games release. Wherever we go, we’ve been feverishly making notes so that we can share our findings with fellow fans. We’ve added some basic maps (expect to see more of these as time permits)

Recent locations related content:
Thestra Locations - Thestra Maps
Qalia Locations - Port of Khal, Hathor Zhi, Lomshir (pending), Mekalia, Qalia Maps
Kojan Locations - Tanvu, Ca’ial Brael, Martok, Kojan Maps

Vanguard Class & Race Overviews:
We’ve tried every class in Vanguard, but only up to about level 10, so we’re still relying on you guys out there to help us out. Send us your overviews and we’ll include that information in our reviews of the races & classes. Still, we’ve managed to put quite bit of information together. (Races forum - Classes forum)

Race & Class content:
Vanguard’s Unique Classes
Vanguard’s Diverse Races

Vanguard Crafting & Diplomacy:
We’re excited about the unique and challenging crafting & diplomacy elements of the game. We’ve provided a few basic guides to help new players get started, but our experimentation goes well beyond that. If you have questions about crafting be sure to bring them up in the forum! (Crafting forum - Diplomacy forum)

Crafting & Diplomacy content:
Vanguard Crafting Overview
Vanguard Diplomacy Overview

Vanguard Fans:

Stay informed
Sign up for our free update service and reciee email notification whenever we post news - don’t miss a thing! (Subscribe to Vanguard MMORPG email updates)

We want to hear from you!
Drop us an email (admin–at–vanguardmmorpg.com) or post in the Vanguard SOH Fan Forums - your input is what makes VanguardMMORPG.com helpful to your fellow fans!

Thank you to all of you Vanguard SOH fans who visit the site, share it with friends and participate in the forums and/or drop me emails. Thank you in particular to Cyprus and the members of Sinister for your direct help collecting a good portion of the information shared here at VanguardMMORPG.com

Theres always news about the game, and lots of changes to the site each week/month and many go unannounced. I thought it might help to release a periodic outline of the most recent changes, announcements and toss in some random thoughts.

From time to time (weekly…semi weekly..?) I’ll compile these into a “Raiders Digest” for quick and easy review of recent game changes and site updates.

A Founder’s reward, in the form of an in-game title, will be granted to players who have purchased a copy of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes between launch (January 30, 2007) and March 31, 2007, and successfully registered an account. This title can be applied to each character created on a qualifying account now or in the future. In order to qualify a player will need to have consumed the account key that comes in the box (if purchased at retail), from a Web site (if purchased digitally) or successfully completed a purchase on the Station Store by the March 31st cut off date (11:59pm PST). The title is scheduled to be awarded in early April. More details regarding a full Veteran Rewards program will be announced in the coming months.

Location:
North by Northwest of Ahgram in Central Qalia

Level Range of Mobs:
16-20, 3 and 4 dots. Some quest spawning 5 dot mobs. 

Overview:

1. The town outside has many quest chains, some are done outside the dungeon.  Most of the main quests for inside the dungeon are at the base of the tower, and at the very top. Repairs available at small town a bit E of the quest town.
2. There are a few different types of mobs: hounds, human covenant people, gargoyles.  Most are stationary or have a slow patrol, but there are a few roamers, mostly around the entrance area where there are a lot of humans.
3. Many of the human covenant casters have an AOE rain of fire spell that can really hurt cloth wearers, so stand back on those pulls, and watch agro on double pulls if you can’t handle it.  Counter spell can really help.
4. With a balanced trio or more averaging level 18+, you can grind lots of the 3 dots, but there are so many 4 dots all over that the battles tend to run very long.  DPS is really needed to speed up the encounters, or you’ll need to bring a full group- or just be a little bit higher level. 
5. Re-spawn isn’t much of an issue if you are able to handle double pulls on occasion, but if you are taking major breaks after single pulls, might want to hang outside and grind for a while with the other quests.
6. Because of the large number of 4 dots inside the temples (buildings with basements that have roughly 15-20 gargoyles) this can be a great place to camp with a good group, and grind out some good exp.
7. Loot drops aren’t too great, money drops isn’t great either, but so many quests chains makes it worth it regardless.
8. Many of the quests are kill quests or collection quests that have you killing specific mobs, so be sure to turn in quests whenever possible, and look at the types of mobs you are pulling since they all look similar.
9. This temple can be very crowded since it’s a main leveling area, additional mobs can be pulled from high above- gargoyles are perched on top of the buildings and walls and can be arrowed or spelled down. 

Walk through:

Once inside the Temple of Dailuk, there are lots of Covenant people who are key kills for several of the quests.  There are pockets of hounds all over, with gargoyles in several areas as well.  The temples and houses (just names for the buildings with actual entrances to them) are scattered throughout, but there are only a few of them, each with 15-20 gargoyles inside the basement, all 4 dot.  

Many of the quests are chains, asking you to kill several different types of mobs, but once you finish purifying the temple chain, you will receive a ring that requires you to stand in several locations all around the temple.  Have your group fight around, and stand in the different locations, using your compass to guide you.  None of the locations are difficult to find and most of them are altars outside, or just the very inside doorway of a temple.  

After finishing this quest, you will be on the quest to kill Kraelix, but the quest is very vague about how to spawn him.  Just inside the temple head to the right, and you will see a group of “summoners of Kraelix” who are all humans that throw fire angled at one another.  They stand in an area called “the altar of Scorn.” That may not be the exact wording but look for the word SCORN, and I say that because the summoners can take 45 minutes to an hour to re-spawn (and I’ve waited, so trust me).  If you can kill all the summoners, you have about 10 seconds before the “Protectors of Kraelix” spawn, there are 4-5 of them, and they are level 20, 4 dots.  You need to take them out to spawn Kraelix. 

He is supposed to spawn where you are located, but has been known to spawn in other areas.  He is also ONLY supposed to be vulnerable to your group, since your group took out the protectors/summoners, but that may very well be bugged also.  Once you kill Kraelix you can take his trinket and go summon the Xarkrafi in his house.  Go to the temple of Xarkrafi (might be the house of Xarkrafi, not sure but only one of the two exists) and go to the basement, clearing all gargoyles, using the trinket to summon Xarkrafi.  

There are other Elite quests for this zone including summoning Dailuk ( a level 21 5 dot mob in the temple of Dailuk) with the dust you can obtain from killing a spirit named Veraguut spawning around the back of the temple of Dailuk.  Go to the basement of the actual temple of Dailuk and clear all the gargoyles, then put the dust on the orb to summon the level 21 5 dot.  He spawns other mobs during the encounter as well, multiple groups needed if you are around level 23 or so.   

Final View:

Visually, this dungeon is average, but gothic.  The gargoyles is a very nice touch, and the overall creativity with the quests chains and difficulty scaling to 5 dot level 21’s is very nice to see.  Leveling in here is monotonous because every pull is the same of 3 types of mobs, and can get very old with little reward.  On the other hand, its easy to get into a rhythm with a good 3 or 4 group, as long as you have the dps to really rock the 4 dot mobs.  If it’s not crowded, you can walk around looking for the names that occasionally spawn on the rocks and pick them off for good loot, but since its usually a hot spot, its rough to find decent mobs. 

With the recent addition of teleporters in Khal and Ahgram, this place is very popular for extremely low levels (15-16 even) so its really easy to get trained with higher mobs.  I suggest getting a good group and going deeper into a temple, and holding it all day for really good 4 dot experience and loot; better loot tables and exp.  There are so many quests, and most are kill/collection quests, you get a ton of exp just grouping up and farming.  I highly recommend this place for any group in the level range, and with so many mobs everywhere- it’s easy to take a small group and farm singles 3 or 4 dots.

Sigil has just released some of the content that wasn’t ready for the early release back in January - 6 new NPC races, 2 new areas, 9 revamped dungeons, a number of new weapons and armor models and more! From the towering Sandgiants to the technologically advanced Xennu, from relit dungeons to revamped adventuring areas - this patch has added enough content to keep adventurers busy for a while

On Tuesday, March 6th 2007, Vanguard Update #1 will go live. It will be a much larger patch than usual as not only will there be new content but a great deal of additional art as well. Update #1 includes:

1. Dozens of new weapon models
2. Six brand new NPC races to battle
3. Two new mid to high level adventuring areas
4. Nine dungeons with revamped art and/or lighting

Details on the Vanguard Game Update #1

LotR Online vs. Vanguard: SoH

 He compares Sound quality (from music to effects), Graphics (including general visuals) and finally (and most importantly) Game Play.

 While I had the highest hopes for LOTRO the ” I told you so” pessimist in me giggles gleefully every time I see anything about LOTRO. I suspected (despite my high hopes) that they would dissapoint lovers of the LOTR franchise by producing an under-impressive MMORPG.

 Radicals review gives LOTRO plenty of credit on the things they got right, but mirrors one of the biggest complaints I have about the game - the lack of class variaty and the too-familiar feeling of the slightly reworked WoW game play.

The review points out some Vanguards ‘flaws’ which I can’t argue with, including high-end PC requirements and the still slightly-stiff combat animations (although I’ve seen many improvements since release)

 All-in-all I think its a fair review and a decent read. Thanks Radical!

3 Standard Work Order Types:
Make an item, make a set, and make a batch. We’ll refer to them as…

1. WO1 - make a… (1 item)
2. WO3 - make a set of… (3 items)
3. WO5 - make a batch of… (5 items)

4 Standard Difficulty Levels:
Very easy, east, moderate and difficult. We’ll refer to them using…

1. VE - Very Easy
2. E - Easy
3. M - Moderate
4. D - Difficult

For example, a MWO5 would be a moderate work order for a batch (5 items). 
When you process a WO, you get experience when you make each item, but you get much more experience when you turn in the completed WO.  For this discussion, a Bonus is the experience gained when you turn in a WO.

Lets talk numbers
[NOTE: see bottom of guide for more information on the numbers; where, what levels, what craft, etc.]

Difficulty changes the experience:
The difficulty of the WO determines how much experience you will receive, but the change is very small. 
VEWO - offer no exp per make, and a negligible bonus
EWO - offer about 100-125 exp per make, and 500-600 exp bonus
MWO - offer about 115-175 exp per make, and 525-675 exp bonus
DWO - offer about 140-200 exp per make, and 575-750 exp bonus
 
WO1-WO3-WO5 differences:
Each item you make in the same WO will give you increased exp.  For example, if you take a WO5 and make all B quality items, your first item would be the lowest exp gained, and each one after would yield more exp. This makes sense, because you have a chance to mess up on every item, meaning the 5th make in a WO5 is the toughest to make. The growth of experience through a WO5 finishes with the 5th item being roughly double the exp of the first make. 

Sample 1: An example of all B quality made items in a MWO5:

1. Item 1 - 115
2. Item 2 - 130
3. Item 3 - 150
4. Item 4 - 175
5. Item 5 - 200

There is only a slight difference between WO1, WO3, and WO5 bonus experience.  So, since the bonus experience is essentially the same for doing a WO1 as it is for doing a WO5, and its much faster and effecient to complete 5 separate WO1’s and cashing in on the 5 separate bonuses, than it is to create 5 items for a single WO5, with only a single bonus - it makes since to focus on completing WO1’s if you’re looking to level up quickly.

Sample 2: Do 1 x MWO5, your XP would go something like this:

1. Item 1 - 115
2. Item 2 - 130
3. Item 3 - 150
4. Item 4 - 175
5. Item 5 - 200
6. Bonus - 700
7. Totaling - 1470

Sample 3: Do 5 x MWO1’s, your XP would go something like this:

1. Item 1 - 120
2. Bonus 1 - 600
     

3. Item 2 - 120
4. Bonus 2 - 600
    

5. Item 3 - 120
6. Bonus 3 - 600
    

7. Item 4 - 120
8. Bonus 4 - 600
    

9. Item 5 - 120
10. Bonus 5 - 600
        

11. Totaling 3600

Quite a bit of difference in time and effort doing 5 x WO1’s rather than 1 x WO5’s. Worse case scenario you find you’re unable to complete a session because of complications - you’ve only wasted the investment into that single item and not potentially 4 other items completed previously.

Exp vs. Reward

My general philosophy is to level up first, then go for reward.  Why spend time doing WO5’s for gear and some extra loot, when you can level quickly and hit up much higher level WO5’s later.  Obviously, if you are in it for loot, then doing WO5’s will get you more, but leveling faster will allow for better rewards and better crafting recipes quicker.

General Strategy for leveling crafting

Each level you gain points within your specific skill sets (view your skills/skill points by opening your character screen selecting the “Crafting” tab on the left, then selecting the “Skills” tab on the bottom). 

At the beginning of a level, I generally do several EWO1’s for Refining and Finishing to max out my skills.  Don’t forget to use the locks and such, so that you can max out what you want. 

Next, I move on to MWO1’s and produce C quality items.  Why C?  C’s are almost a guarantee and require less time & materials to accomplish, so I do C’s constantly throughout the level.  Sometimes, I’ll notice that I’m getting into C pretty easily and push for B’s, but never at the gamble of losing the item. B quality items will get you higher experience and higher rewards, but getting greedy can cause problems completing a WO which slows you down. Aiming for a C quality will always be a safe bet.

I hope this has been helpful.  At the time of my research, I was around level 10, blacksmith.  I am now a much higher weapon smith, and the pattern is still the same.  Experience has grown quite a bit, and the difference between Easy and Moderates has increased as well.  So, the only change that is worth mentioning so far, is that getting to Moderates quickly is important.

Helpful tips:

1. When you level, you get more points to add to your attributes, so do some easy WO’s to get those points maxed out
2. Complications do NOT have to be tended to, near the end of a make, its common to power through them if their affect is “very low” or “low”
3. Other continents do not allow you to train at their trainers until you are level 11 and have completed the main “style” quest on each continent

NOTES ABOUT ABOVE GUIDE:
The research for the numbers above was done mostly during the levels 9-11, blacksmithing.   The numbers are rough estimates for easier discussion, because the data collected varied slightly. As your level increases, all the experience gains grow as well. 
With my own experience, Difficult WO’s proved to be a big gamble, where a good portion of the WO’s had too many complications to complete even C quality items.  If, by some chance, you are able to complete DWO1’s with a very high success rate, that would probably be the best way to level. 

Location:
Vertically between 3 Rivers and New Targonor but a bit more East
[location 53300, 64500, (-27, 26) ]

There are several outposts around, with this dungeon entrance in the middle of a small crescent cut valley.

Level Range of Mobs:
2 and 3 dot levels 13-19

Overview:

1. All mobs inside the cave give New Targonor faction, including the bears
2. Cave holds a decent amount of Iron and Sandstone spawns
3. Majority of mobs are level 16 and 17, with 3 dots
4. Most pulls are single or double, with a few frightening 4-5 mob pulls scattered about
5. Most pulls are exactly the same, very little variety, and few surprises
6. Respawn rate is relatively fast, and dead ends can have you backtracking through re-pops
7. Wearable loot seemed to drop at a decent rate, but sellable loot was scarce.  Although, most mobs walk upright, which means coin on ever kill
8. Full group of 13’s can handle the dungeon, however, multiple tanks (even 3) is recommended for the scattered 4-5 pulls
9. The last mob was level 19, and had a few double 18 pulls around him. 

Final View:
This is a mining cave, complete with railroad tracks and lots of rock.  If you like caves, then this is heaven, but the general look of it gets old quick.  All mobs are of the same 3 types up to the boss, so variety is lacking here again.  New Targonor faction is very important because of the teleport to other continents, and finding a large spawn of mobs that are around level 16 was a bonus.  The tricky spots are where 4, 5 or 6 mobs are all standing around in a social circle… yep… that can make for a hell of a pull.  The rest of the place is all single or double pulls; which is very easy for a duo or trio to work the entrance for faction or decent experience.

Dungeon:
Gulgrethor Fortress 

Location:
East on the path from Gulkar’s Encampment, a town at the south end of the island with Martok. The path leads right by a holding point for Orcs, and into the Fortress.

Level Range of Mobs:
15-19, 3 and 4 dots

Screenshots:
Gulgrethor Fortress screenshots

Overview:

1. Entrance has 15’s with 3 dots, almost all single pulls.  From there you find increasing levels, double and triple pulls, 4 dots, as well as stealthers all over.
2. Once inside the main cave, several quests are available to your right on a platform, most are chains for more quests.
3. There are lots of different types of mobs: animals, melee’rs, casters, stealthers, flying, wandering guards… very important to look at what you want to attack first on every pull- and expect at least a stealth add every time.
4. With a balanced group averaging level 14, you can get pretty deep and tackle some of the 18 bosses.  But, with a low level group, crowd control strategy is very important to go the distance and save your healers some mana.
5. There are specific undead mobs that die, releasing multiple Cursed Spirits.  These spirits can be devastating with their stacking dots, and because they spawn on top of one another, it’s difficult to grab agro of several quickly.
6. This dungeon is huge compared to the Gardens, so plan to have a way out or recall available.  Getting to the back of the fortress can take about 30-40 minutes, and that is just going around the rim, and avoiding mobs along the way.
7. Re-pop happens at a relatively fast rate.  If you sit around too long, you are going to be popped on, so you have to keep moving forward, or at least staying close together.
8. While it’s great experience for lower levels, it can take a lot of time to kill mobs, so pay close attention to where you stand while fighting exceptionally long battles and avoid the agro from re-pops or roaming guards.

Walk through:

Quests are on your right as you enter the main area of the Fortress.  You can go down the right or left side, both eventually lead down to the ramp allowing ground level access to the dungeon.  Taking the right side is a much shorter distance to the ramp, and also has a shortcut that will be outlined in a minute.  First lets explain how to maneuver around this dungeon.  When you go down the right side you will get to the ramp leading down.  Once on ground level you are facing the main structure, and there are a few directions to go. 

Going inside the structure doesn’t really accomplish much unless you are looking for a lot of the large flying bat eye mobs- there are a bunch in the courtyard.  The ramps to the second level of the structure are all on the outside.  Our group usually headed to the left, avoiding mobs, and staying farther away from the fortress, until we saw a quick path to the ramp.  Once up the ramp, its pretty easy to see how to get around.  Several patrols that spawn regularly can cause additional agro, but other then that its pretty easy double pulls, with the undead and revenants spawning Cursed Spirits (hating these yet?).  The patrols are often named (Soul Seeker and Rampage) which both drop guaranteed loot, so keep looking for them to re-spawn.  Well, now that we know how to get around…

What’s the deal with this big structure in the middle and the 4 corners with orbs, the towers, AND why are there harbringer bosses at every corner… sometimes different bosses— it seems almost random????  Ok, let’s explain the whole ordeal.  First, there are quest chains that you have to go through.  Most are kill quests, some are collection quests.  Eventually you will get to a quest that requires you to go to the 4 orbs, and another quest to gather all 4 harbringer heads.  At each orb there is a harbringer that also has a named rare that can spawn.  The named rare will take a different form (wolf, spider, dragon, etc) and will be able to be pulled alone.  

Each harbringer is different, and some have some nasty abilities like AOE poisons, so be ready with all buffs just incase.  The harbringers will have 2 mobs near them and it’s expected to have a 3 pull, although 2 pulls have been done.  Killing an actual harbringer is the only way to get the head of a harbringer for the quest, but regardless of what is waiting at an orb, you can kill it and finish the orb quest.  Each rare spawn is a guaranteed loot drop, and most of the loot is good for the level.  If the group is good enough, waiting on re-spawns is the worst part about the loot farming or quest completing. 

There is a final quest located in Martok, that asks you to kill a rare form of another harbringer, not 100% sure of his name, possibly Viliconis.  He is the last harbringer boss at the top level of the fortress.  It’s not too difficult to reach him, except for the one mid level room that has several wandering mobs.  When you reach this room, its best to pull as many mobs as you can straight down the middle and when you see a chance- head directly down the middle to the staircase, it’s a safe spot to battle whatever agro you get.  From there you can rest then advance upwards and eventually reach the harbringer.  The last harbringer is supposed to be like the other harbringers, where his rare form has a chance at spawning, but this one is a very low chance at spawning.  For this quest, you need the rare version, so be prepared to camp the room a while.

Final View:

This dungeon is stunning.  There is so much to look at, and all of it looks great.  Huge chains come from different angles… Large Ziggurat-like structures, some with towers… Several staircases, ramps, walkways, walls- almost labyrinth qualities… Walking around the rim, fighting as you make your way to the back of the fortress- you can see bosses on the ground floor- one looks somewhat like a spider, another more like a dragon, several “Soulseekers” which are huge flying mobs resembling bats.

Once you reach the back of the fortress, its difficult to choose a path because there is so much available to you.  Variety of mobs in this dungeon is at it’s best, eye candy all over, increasing difficulty with bosses scattered with no clear cut paths, and roaming patrols keep you looking over your shoulder… Yes, this is what Vanguard is all about. 

Quick Tips:

Fighting on the Ramps:
The fortress is a big place, with lots of ramps and lots of double, triple pulls, even adds.  Its important to make sure you are fighting in safe areas.  Our group found that when you are running around on the 2nd level farming orbs and harbringer pulls, the safest place to pull and fight was the first long ramp up to the orbs in every corner.  The only mobs you will find are patrols that spawn in intervals, and the mobs at top and bottom of ramp, so pulling harbringers to the middle of the ramp is completely safe.

The Short-Cut:
This saved us a TON of time when we got to farming this place.  When you enter the main fortress/cave area and head down the right side, pass the quest givers on your left, you will see a corner stone below you that you can jump to.  It’s a corner stone that is linked to a ramp going up to an orb, so it’s a quick jump to the 2nd level of the fortress.  Look at where you are jumping to, the left side of the corner stone has 2 mobs (when the walker moves to the right side of the corner stone), and make sure there is no big axe patrolman coming… then have your tank jump first.  Have him jump and run through the mobs, carrying them to the ramp that leads down ward to the main 2nd level of the fortress.  Fight on the safe ramp area, then you are ready to pull the harbringer, or move to another orb.

Dungeon:
Gardens of Xia’Liu

Location:
North of Gulkar’s Encampment, a camp at the south end of the Wildgrowth Forest, south of Martok.

Level Range of Mobs:
3 and many 4 dots, Levels 12-16

Screenshots:
Gardens of Xia’Liu Screenshots

Overview:

1. Even spread of mobs from 12 up to 16, most 3 dots, but several 4 dots.
2. 50/50 mix of single and double pulls, very few triples if you watch and wait, timing can help tremendously.
3. Golems hit hard and stun, so agro can be rough at the first pull, especially with doubles.
4. Stealth canine mobs start showing up a few rooms in, and they roam around their rooms, so look before pulling.
5. Dancers (wisps) have AOE attacks, so keep them away from the low HP party members, or you will go down quick.  Double and triple pulls with 1 wisp seem harder then any other pulls in the dungeon if you are clumped together.
6. Respawn rate was average, nothing to amazing, but there are a few twists and turns that can lead you in a full circle.
7. Many quests available in Gulkar’s Encampment, and one in Martok (from the Shaman trainer).
8. Wearable loot drops were common, lots of armor, seemed to get a lot of +wisdom medium items (Monk/Disciple gear).
9. Sellable loot was not as frequent as other dungeons and was not very valuable.
10. Full group of 6, 2 tanks, 2 dps, 2 healers, mixed in levels but 2 highest were only 13, and there was average difficulty if you kept the pulls to only 2 at a time.
11. The end of the dungeon has a large wooden tower structure that you climb.  Before you reach the top, know there are at least 4-5 high level clay golems at the highest level- and they appeared to be all tied to one pull.  Finish the final quest at the base of the last set of stairs before attempting the last pull, or just finish the quest and leave—- because that’s one epic pull for the average group exp’ing in there.

Walk through:
Once you enter the actual ‘garden’ area, you can go left or right.  The right side has 2 smaller wings, a few mobs, and a named which takes a while to respawn. If you & your group are looking to ‘clear’ the area you’ll want to take a few minutes to sweep through the right wing, otherwise its not required to advance. The quests take you to the left.

Following the left path you come to a clay golem guarded pool at the top of a hill.  This pool is your first pond for the “fill up 3 water bottles” quest, the bottles are in your inventory.
At that pond you can go 2 directions:

A) Pass the pond on your rightside, following a path that veers right.  This leads over a bridge and then to a doorway.  Through the doorway you reach a “T” intersection at a shallow stream.  Both directions take you to the 2nd pool, but going left ensures a nice ramp up to the top.  Once you have reached the 2nd pool and filled another water bottle, backtrack to the 1st pond and take path B.

B) From the enterance of the dungeon, you would take a left when you reach the first pond.  If you were back tracking from the 2nd pond, look to take a path on your right.  The path leads toward a shallow water section of the dungeon.  There are several dead ends in this section. but most can be spotted quickly, allowing you to get back on track right away.

Once out of the water, you approach a hill topped with 2 level 15 & 16 4 dot clay golems. This path leads to the final courtyard with 2 pools (complete the water collection quest) and a wooden tower structure in the middle.  The near pool will work for your 3rd water bottle of the quest, and from there you can get to the wooden tower with a few timely mob pulls.  Get to the tower, climb to the platform, but stop BEFORE the top level, and use your Spiriteye talisman for the big quest.  You do not need to get to the very top, where 4-5 deadly clay golems await. If you clear that top level, let us know about it, looked pretty rough up there.

Final View:
Except for the deadly foes at every turn, this ‘eastern orient’ styled dungeon might be a leisurely stroll through lushly appointed gardens adorned with tidy little ponds, ornate bridges, beautiful flowers and simple open air structures. Pulls were challenging enough to really test full groups averaging under level 12. With a higher level group, timing and basic strategy is still necessary to keep AOE damage away and deal with extra adds. 

1. Keep your group tight to avoid unexpected adds and having to fight on multiple fronts
2. Keep light armor classes away from the Dancer wisps (deadly AOE)
3. Watch out for stealthed mobs - foxes, salamanders
4. Watch out for the 4 dots - a few have insane HP & are harder to take down than others
5. Highly recommend 2 tanks to keep clay golems from aggroing casters
6. Expect respawns when exiting - a bind point lies just south of the dungeon entrance, if you prefer to ‘recall’ out

Location:
South of Khal, across river, almost directly South of the Eastern side of Khal.

Level Range of Mobs:
3 and 4 dots, level 10-15

Overview:

1. Majority of mobs are level 12, 3 dots with a ton of HP.
2. Majority of pulls are double mob pulls, very close together.
3. Most pulls are exactly the same, very little variety, and few surprises.
4. Respawn rate seems pretty fast, so backtracking is rough.
5. Quests right outside the cave.
6. Loot drops in cave were very nice, some wearables, and sellable loot pretty common.
7. Group of 4 level 12’s had a rough time because of the amount of HP per mob, each pull took a long time to finish off.
8. There are level 14 mobs that are 4 dots down the corridors from the main spiral, which 2 shotted our main tank at level 12 with decent gear, so be careful with what you pull.

Final View:
The dungeon was graphically impressive with giant spinning globes and light reflecting from different angles, but it was lacking in variety of mobs.  The level of difficulty was pretty high for anything less then a balanced 4-5 group of level 12’s.  Respawn rate made any mistakes very costly, but the quests and experience were very decent for the level.  If it’s right for your group’s level, there are lots of mobs to kill and little variety if you get into a rhythm.