The MMO Notebook

I grew tired of Comcast’s high prices and lack of HD channels so I decided to make the switch to DirecTV. DirecTV has some great deals going on, including $20/month off your monthly bill for 12 months and free installation. I pulled the trigger on it a little over a month ago, and overall, I’m glad that I made the switch.

I went with the Choice Xtra with HD & DVR package that gives me over 200 channels with about 40 of them being in high definition. That is 40 HD channels compared to the 10 that Comcast offered in my area, and the DirecTV package is less expensive. I also got a bunch of premium movie channels free for three months. Being a true geek, I am very happy to finally watch the Sci-Fi channel in glorious HD.

Installation went just fine and no issues were encountered. I had the HD DVR installed in the living room and a standard box placed in the bedroom. Since I didn’t want to pay for a third box just to watch television in the office, I had the installer “mirror” the signal from the bedroom to the office. Whatever channel is on in the bedroom is on the office. This, of course, makes changing channels a pain, since I would have to walk across the house to the bedroom to change it. I got around this issue by purchasing a “remote control extender” made my Terk. You place one little receiver next to the satellite box, and put the other in the office. I point the satellite remote control at the Terk receiver in the office and it magically sends the remote control signal into the bedroom and changes the channel for me. Brilliant.

I only had one problem with the DirecTV service but it was a big pain. The first HD DVR that I received had a very loud hard drive. It would make these “clink” and “clunk” sounds that I could hear three rooms away. They sent me a new one at no charge but the replacement had a problem as well. The hard drive was silent but the box kept losing my HD channels. I had to reset the box several times a day to get them back. Thankfully, it seems the third time is the charm, as the latest box is both quiet and I have had no channel problems with it.

The picture quality is excellent and I am really enjoying the large number of HD channels as compared to Comcast. As I said, I get about 40 HD channels, but they offer many more if you get the higher packages. In my opinion, if you have a high definition television, you owe it to yourself to get a service that offers you the most HD channels. DirecTV turned out to be a perfect match for me.

–Wolfen

My Vanguard: Saga of Heroes adventuring continues with plenty of quests in the log. One of the quest lines is called The Final Tests of Jin. It led me to a man in the hills outside of Tanvu who wants to test me and see if I am ready to become a Lao’Jin Knight. He set me out to kill some neato looking yeti’s and bears. After completing those tasks he gave me a horn and told me to blow on it when I was ready to complete the last of his three tasks. That started some excitement.

I blew on the horn when I was in the Jin Master’s room and that was a mistake. A large creature popped into the small room and started beating me down. Since I am a squishy druid, I didn’t last long. I died, released my spirit, and returned to claim my body.

For the next try, I made sure that I was outside with plenty of room to run around. My root spell didn’t want to stick on him, so I had to run, cast a damage spell, get hit, run some more, heal, run, damage spell, etc. It was still touch and go and I won by the slimmest of margins. I would post a screenshot of it but the fight kept me so busy I didn’t have a chance to take one. So, for the first picture, I give you a shot of Vanguard’s version of a Bind Stone.

After completing the first three steps of the Final Tests of Jin, I was sent off to find four more people who will test my skills further to see if I am worthy of Lao’Jin. Their names are Taien, Kalen, Nyrasir, and a Water Serpent. If I complete their tasks, I will be given the Blessing of Faith. I found three of these people near a pool hidden away in a grotto. The Water Serpent was some distance away and down at the edge of the beach.

All the quests centered around the same theme. I had to go out and kill a certain number of this and a certain number of that. Too many of the quests I have completed so far have followed this formula. A little more imagination could have been used with these quests. But, considering the rush this game was in to get launched, I suppose the designers didn’t have much time for creativity.

Be that as it may, some of the tasks were interesting. The Water Serpent had its eggs stolen by some evil lizards and needed them returned to her. I had to work my way into a cave full of the lizards to liberate the eggs. It was easily done solo, I just needed to be patient and clear the way back into the cave (for the record, every quest I have complete up to this point was done solo).

Another quest involved eliminating some creatures known as Sanctorum. I had to slay some of them and also a creature that roamed around their area. It looked like the cave troll from the Lord of the Rings movies and it was accompanied by two pets. I only saw one pet when I pulled it, so when the second pet showed up I wasn’t prepared and they took me down, but not before I killed big momma. When I revived and went back, the dead creature was still there, so I looted the required item and moved on.

I completed all the tasks and turned in everything. The quest experience rewards were huge and it really made me feel like I was adequately rewarded for all my effort. I do wish that quest rewards would give out more armor pieces. Most of them give experience and cash. Very rarely will I get an armor item I can use. I have many armor slots still empty.

I also have two group quests that I came across the other night. With such a low population on the newbie areas, I’m not sure if I will get them done or not.

I end this post with a screenshot that shows the game map. I think this map needs serious work. It looks like a low quality JPG that was put in as a placeholder and was never fixed. Take a page from World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online and correct this please.

–Wolfen

A large portion of my second night playing Vanguard involved riding a flying reindeer. As part of the holiday festivities, players were given access to Randolph, the red-nosed reindeer. I tracked him down in the city of Tanvu and tested him out. I flew him around for a bit just for the fun of it, but the real reason I got him was because of the Riftways.

Riftways are portals to other areas of the game world. Vanguard’s massive size makes travel long and tedious, so they put in the riftways to help. In order to travel from one riftway to another, you must first unlock them by visiting each one. Normally, that would be a pain, since you would have to travel on foot to each one. Ol’ Randolph helps out by flying over the land and well away from any danger. Even so, it still took a very long time to get from one riftway to another. I can’t say it enough – Vanguard’s landmass is huge. Each riftway is marked on your map, so you don’t have to search for them. I grew weary of riding Randolph after about an hour and a half, so I flew back to Tanvu and let him go. Once in Tanvu, I checked my quest log and got back to work becoming a hero.

I had a few interesting quests. One led me to a house that I needed to search for a missing villager. I looked over both floors of the house but didn’t find any clue. Back upstairs I noticed some poles leaning against a wall. The poles led up to a window. I slowly scaled the poles and emerged onto the roof where I was quickly attacked by two foes. Taken by surprise, it was a touch and go fight for a few seconds, but I was victorious. I soon found the body I was looking for and completed the quest.

Another quest involved a task given to me by a Jin master. He wanted me to find four Essence of Jin and absorb them. This took me around the surrounding area, slaying creatures as I went. The Essence’s were floating “glowies” that were dispersed across the countryside. Most of them never moved, but one of them roamed the beaches and I had to track it down.

One quest that I really liked, even though it was rather easy, wanted to test how well I was following the path of Jin. To test my agility I had to find a mushroom located atop a high boulder. Once I found the boulder, I noticed that it was actually several boulders spaced slightly apart. I had to nimbly jump from one boulder to the next until I reached the mushroom. I tried eating the mushroom, but to no avail.

Other quests involved trading a man crab for fish, saving a Lao’Jin house from Ra’Jin attack, slaying X number of komodo dragons, and slaying X number of boars. On a side note, where is it written that every MMO must have their own version of boar that we must kill? It gave me Lord of the Rings Online flashbacks.

All the quests kept me busy throughout my first couple nights of play. Quest experience is big, so it is well worth doing them, even though the Jin theme begins to wear thin after awhile.

–Wolfen

My last post detailed a few of my first night’s experiences in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. After the initial graphical and crash to desktop problems, things went surprisingly smooth. Before I make further posts on my gaming adventures, I want to go into a little more detail about how the game runs, plays, and looks.

Even though I consider my first night playing the game smoother than anticipated, the game does have some glaring flaws and glitches. The first of which is unless you have a decent gaming computer with a good video card, you will not get the best gaming experience out of Vanguard. The game has been greatly optimized since beta, but it still has a long way to go.

The game still stutters and hitches, even with my Nvidia 8800GT card with 512mb of video RAM. It is very smooth when I’m out in the country by myself, but it really slows down when you get nearer the cities. This is with the base options set to High. Vanguard’s graphic design is based on realism, and you pay a heavy price for making things look as real as possible. I prefer this style of graphics, so the occasional hitch or stutter doesn’t bother me at all. There is a wide range of graphical options, so it would be easy to lower the settings to make it play better on slower machines.

My half-elf druid started on the Kojan continent, which is a series of islands. The culture is Asian-based and leans heavily towards a Samurai style. The inhabitants worship a way of life known as “Jin” that permeates everything they do. There is a “good” Jin known as Lao’Jin, and an “evil” Jin known as Ra’jin. The two Jins are at war with one another, each trying to become the dominant way of life.

Most quests during these early levels almost always have something to do with Jin. In fact, as I continued to gain levels, the Jin quest line became more and more heavy-handed. I am now level 11 and I can say that I am completely tired of the subject of Jin. I hope a new type of quest line starts soon, because I need a new subject to keep my attention.

With that said about the long Jin quest line, the bad also comes with some good. There is a wealth of quests and I never lacked for something to do. I still have many quests in my quest log at level 11. I just wish they all didn’t have something to do with Jin.

My druid plays like a cross between a wizard and a standard druid. I have big nukes and powerful damage over time spells. I can root and snare, which allows for solo kiting. Small heals help if I get beat on. So far, I really enjoy this style of character. It seems to have the best of both worlds. Time will tell if it stays this way as I level up.

The world is massive, beautiful, and fun. It is also very under-populated. Even with just four servers, it is obvious that most players gave this game a wide berth. I also average two crashes to the desktop each night, so the developers still have much to do.

My next postings will get back to my gaming adventures. I will detail the good along with the bad, of which I have encountered plenty of both. You will get the true opinion of a so-called “veteran noob,” so that the average player can get an idea of what to expect when playing this game.

–Wolfen

I have finally found my way into the world of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. My first impression in a nutshell: not as bad as I thought it would be.

My new computer, video card, and power supply all arrived, so I got all of them put together and running smoothly. My computer specifications are: AMD X2 6000+ processor, 3gigs RAM, and Nvidia 8800GT 512mb video card. Screen resolution is 1680×1050. I tested everything to make sure all was working and then I launched myself into Vanguard.

The first few minutes into the game was disconcerting. My frame rate was horrible and it didn’t get better no matter how I changed the game settings. The game then crashed to the desktop and I began to get a bit worried. My concerns didn’t last for long. Once I got back into the game, everything worked just fine. Everything was smooth and looked great. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued on. On a side note, the name Wolfen was already taken, so I had to use Wolfenn.

I created a half-elf druid and started in the Tanvu area. When my character’s eyes opened, I was standing on the beach near the Shang Village. These first two pictures show what was in front and behind me. (Click on the thumbnails for a larger view)

The object in the distance of the first picture is of a man riding a dragon. He is the first person to give me a quest. He told me that the soldiers on the beach were low on morale and needed a cheering up. So, I talked to a few of the soldiers and raised their morale. I wondered why their morale was low.

It turns out that these are troops of a powerful emperor and they were in the middle of attacking the Shang Village. My next quest was to go kill some of the villagers. This made me pause a moment. I know that half elfs are not an evil race, so why was I being told to kill villagers? There was nothing for it but to see it through, so I ran up to the village and killed the required number. Several of the houses were on fire, which was neat to look at. I returned to the dragon-riding commander and got more quests.

One of the village quests did amuse me. Some of the soldiers were not attacking the villagers, so I was tasked with setting them straight. I found one of the “pathetic” soldiers and clicked on him. A status bar appeared on my screen and it said “Laying down the law.” My character was slapping the soldier. When the deed was done, the soldier started attacking a villager - and lost. So here are more soldiers not wanting to do what they were told. Interesting, indeed.

In the end, I was tasked with assaulting a fortress house where a Master Fhungusu lived and kill him. None of the monks surrounding the house attacked me. I entered the house and found the room that Master Fhungusu occupied. As you can see by the screenshot below, something was wrong with this.

What was the problem? I am level 3 and he is level 50. He didn’t attack, however, so I clicked on him, and what he told me cleared up some of the mystery. He said that the emperor is an evil man and that I shouldn’t follow him. I was chided for killing innocent villagers and getting their blood on my weapons. He wants to change my ways for the good. My weapons were taken from me, and I was sent to Dallerjuba Village to begin my reclamation.

More to come in later posts.

–Wolfen

Well, after listing my thoughts on what class to play when I start up Vanguard, I have completely changed track and I have decided to start off with a druid. I am told that druids are rarely played but in high demand, so we’ll see how accurate the grapevine is.

The Vanguard druid varies from the standard druid mold. Unlike the EQ-esque druid, the Vanguard version does not have a heavy focus on direct or heal over time spells. Instead, it is an arcane caster, blasting enemies in a higher dps role. In a neat little twist on the class, the druid can call down some potent spells called Calamities. These are powerful spells that can only be used every so often, but when used, can dish out the damage. The Vangaurd druid isn’t all about dps, either. It can benefit groups as well with its dps increasing spells and other utility spells.

So, the druid might just make for an interesting time. Add the above skills with the ability to solo well and it sounds like a good choice for me. Only time will tell.

–Wolfen

The upcoming MMO Stargate Worlds will be releasing a trailer soon. When Stargate Atlantis returns this Friday, January 4th, they will air a trailer sometime during the show. I doubt that it will reveal much, but at least it demonstrates that they are making progress on the game.

If you go to the site I linked, you can also enter a contest to have your “likeness” incorporated into the game world. I wouldn’t mind having my face on one of the banker NPC’s. Each time you need money, you would see my face.

–Wolfen

Every now and then I will post some old screen shot of when Everquest was young. This picture is of my old grouping buddies as we explore the Rathe Mountains for the very first time. This was back in 1999.  I felt so uber in the Banded armor. We had a ton of fun that night.