They want me to prove myself to my new clan, so I am sent to find a Vulmane named Gnakel, who is under the influence of a Bloodhowler.  I am to slay him and wash my hands in his blood.  Gnakel is under guard at the campfire near the center of town.  It was an easy fight, which is good, because his guards didn’t help me.  My reward from this quest was 60 copper and 1459 experience points.

Next up was the Okhnom’s Supplies quest.  My suggestion is to save this quest until you have finished all of the other Dahknarg quests.  You’ll need the levels and it leads you to your next city and quest hub which is Halgarad.  I had to take some supplies to Shalen who is out on the road some ways east of the gnoll cave.  I found her standing next to a large boulder cowering in fear.  Turns out there is a band of bloodhowlers up ahead and she is too scared to go on.  She wants me to kill a bunch of them and then go find a guy named Armol Furth who should be further up the road.

The bloodhowler’s are 3-dot mobs, so they are a little tougher than the standard ones.  You can pull singles if you are careful.  I knocked off the required amount and then went past their camp in search for Furth.

I found Furth a good ways up the road.  He had fallen on tough times because the bloodhowler’s invaded him, tore up his wagon and stole his supplies.  He wants me to go slay the bloodhowler’s that did this and get back his supplies.  I found them just up the road from him in a camp on the right-hand side of the road.  The very first gnoll that I pulled dropped the supplies.

After recovering the stolen supplies, I was tasked with taking them on to the city of Halgarad.

–Wolfen

The Vulmane starting area is called Spirit’s Rest and it definitely has the feel of a wilderness outpost.  The surrounding land is beautiful to look at and I instantly preferred this area over the Kojani style.

The first questgiver I see is Swiftfang Kover.  He gives a couple quests that have me kill some whelps located right outside the camp and to steal food from the Broken Fang gnoll camps.  They each gave a few copper and experience points.  There is also a general goods vendor that gives a quest called Young Bear Pelts.  The title says it all.  I killed a few bears and brought back the pelts for a few copper and experience.

Ghostclaw Grimaw has a couple quests as well.  He is too old to harvest the spirit blossom herbs anymore, so he sends me out to harvest some for him.  Once that is completed he sends me to see my spellcaster trainer who is located inside a tent.  She tells me the basics of being a spellcaster and gives me my level 2 spell Piercing Roots I.

I am then sent off to a cave northwest of camp to assist the Spiritragers found within.  Spiritrager Volsar tells me the history of the Vulmane and gives me The Essence of Souls quest.  I had to kill some Seething Souls and collect a Seething Essence.  I thought the essence would be found on the corpses of the souls, but it turned out that I had to click on a wooden stake leaning out from a wooden wall to get it.  Doing this gave 40 copper and 78 experience points.

Spiritrager Jalgresh wants me to do the Hunt The Soul Eater quest.  The Soul Eater is a big crab found in various spots within the cave.  This quest gives 10 copper 78 experience and Ghostclaw Boots.

The last quest in the cave is given by Spiritrager Jurkar, which is Soul Suffering.  This required me to kill Splintering Souls, which are little balls of light that are found throughout the cave.  I got 40 copper and 78 expererience for doing it.

Back at the camp, Nighthunter Karnor gives the Broken Fang Alpha quest.  After killing an Alpha Gnoll the quest gave 80 copper and 158 experience.  It also had a selectable reward and I chose the Ghostclaw Greatstaff.

There were many other quests in the area that I completed, but I won’t go into detail on them here.  They were all easy to do solo and gave various quest rewards.  One quest of importance, however, came from a piece of parchment that dropped off of the Alpha gnoll.  It is named Bloodhowler Plans and I have to take the parchment to a Vulmane in the next town I am to visit – Dahknarg.  This is another quest hub for the low level adventurer.  I will detail some of the happenings there in another post.

I personally prefer the Vulmane starting area over the Kojani area.  I like the look and feel much more.  It could be because it is more of a wooded, country-type area instead of the open, island area of Kojan.  I also liked the quests better and I think the quest rewards were much better, especially for quests giving armor.

–Wolfen

I frequent a very popular gaming message board.  Many of the members there decided to start up a Vanguard guild on the Xeth server.  I was asked several times to make the switch so I finally gave in and jumped from Seradon to Xeth.  Since Vanguard doesn’t have a character transfer service, I had no choice but to start over from scratch.  I decided to do things a little differently this time around.

I loved playing the druid, so that stayed the same.  What changed was the race I played and the continent that I started on. This time I chose to play a Vulmane druid.  Vulmane’s are wolf-like creatures that basically look like humans with wolf heads.  I have to say that the Asian “spirit” theme on Kojan was starting to wear a bit thin, so I felt that switching races and continents would be a nice change. As you will see in forthcoming posts, I greatly enjoy  Thestra over Kojan.  That surprised me because I always hear great things about the lands of Kojan. For me personally, however, I enjoy the quests and the scenery much better in the Vulmane starting areas.

Some things will obviously be a re-hash of what my druid did before.  The spells will be the same, but the quests and the lands I do them in will be vastly different.  This will allow me to report on the differences between the two starting areas so that others have a better idea of where they might want to start.  I thought about trying a different class, but I was having too much fun with the druid.

So a new chapter begins.  Let’s see how well it goes.

I first played Vanguard when it was still in beta.  The game was so rough and unfinished that I could immediately tell that it would not be anywhere near finished before it launched to the public. History shows that I couldn’t have been more correct.  The game ran so poorly and had such a great number of game-breaking bugs that it is a wonder that it is still available on the market today.  I quickly cancelled my account with the thought of never turning to the world of Telon.

Time moves on and it has now been about a year since Vanguard launched.  I began to hear some good things about a game that couldn’t pay anyone to give it a good review when it was new.  Intrigued (and because I had the Station Pass), I decided to check it out again and see what all the talk was about.  Turns out that a near miracle has been performed.

The game runs about 200% better than it did at launch.  Where it was barely playable then, it now runs acceptably well on my computer (AMD X2 6000+, 3GB, Nvidia 8800GT).  Make no mistake, however, that Sony still needs to do a ton of enhancements to the game engine in order for it to run as it should.  The game still hitches and there is still a delay when you move from one land chunk to another.  The developers say they have found a fix for that and it should be coming soon, so keep an eye out for it.  I still can’t come close to running it on maximum settings. I keep it at the High setting and customize things from there.

The game world is incredibly huge.  The sheer landmass of this game can be a bit overwhelming and this started to become a problem with most players.  If you wanted to adventure with friends, chances are that you would have to run for half an hour or more to get where they were.  But, Sony listened, and this is another area that they improved upon.  The riftway system was expanded, allowing immediate travel to most major areas, which allowed people to group up much more quickly.

The game world is also a sight to behold.  In my experience, it is beyond a doubt the most beautiful looking game world I have ever played in.  Granted, it takes a high-end computer to get the most out of it, but I’m always in awe of the graphics.  I am constantly stopping to take a screenshot of the scenery for use as my desktop wallpaper.

The game play is where Vanguard gets a mixed review from me.  The character animations really need some work.  They are jerky and not fluid at all and it breaks the immersion factor.  Sometimes game textures will not render correctly, making things look strange and out of place.  When I first used my Wolfshape spell, I thought that I was turning into a cool looking white wolf.  Instead, the texture wasn’t showing and the next time I used that spell I was the normal shade of brown.  I also found an infamous old Everquest bug that seems to have found its way here. It seems fish have no problem swimming onto land and attacking you.

As a Druid, my combat usually starts with rooting the creature I want to kill.  For some reason, even though I am standing a good distance away, the creature will sometimes hit me with its fist or weapon.  I am not sure what causes this.  Is the game client not catching up fast enough to accurately show me what is happening?  Sometimes I will root a moving target.  I get the text message that it is rooted but the creature still walks up to me and starts whacking on my head.  My in-game network meter always shows green, so I don’t know what the problem is.

I have only played a Druid, so I can’t speak to how well the other classes play.  I do know that I hear nothing but great things about all the classes and I think it is almost unanimous that all the classes are designed very well.  Each class steps out of the standard mold and offers something unique that you may not have seen before.  That said, there are some problems that need ironed out and a few classes are slated to see revamps.

As for the Druid, it can hardly be compared to the Everquest druid of old.  Yes, I can heal a little bit, and yes, I have some damage over time spells, but what makes it interesting is that some spells can do two different things. Some spells have a direct damage component mixed with an additional damage over time feature.  Doing two different types of damage at once is nice.

What makes the druid most unique is how the class uses what is called Phenomena points.  Certain spells can use these points instead of using mana.  The neatest one I have seen so far is called Starfall.  If I have enough phenomena points available, the spell calls a star down from the sky and smites my enemy.  This does massive amounts of direct damage.  I can easily kill same-level creatures in one shot with this spell and it doesn’t use a drop of mana.  The number of phenomena points is limited and they regenerate back over time, so you can’t chain cast these things, but it sure makes you feel powerful at a low level.

Questing is a very large part of Vanguard.  My quest book has never been empty and there is always something interesting to do.  Sure, many quests are of the “go kill X number of Y,” but there are also many that have neat stories attached to them.  Also, as a new player starting out, I like how the quests move you from area to area.  I am only level 17 and I have already travelled a very long way from my starting spot.  It helps keep me interested in the game because I am always seeing new things.

Vanguard has always had a reputation of being a group-oriented game.  This may be true at higher levels (I don’t know), but I have been able to solo every step of the way with my druid so far. In fact, it has been almost too easy to solo.  As I said above, some of the mechanics of the druid class really make me feel powerful, and that is a great draw for me.  I am told that the druid is one of the least played classes and I was shocked to hear that.  I haven’t played a more fun class in ages.  I think it may suffer from the druid’s reputation from Everquest and that keeps people away.

Despite its flaws, Vanguard has come a very long way.  I wish things would get fixed more quickly, but Sony has decided to put only a small development team on it.  Be that as it may, they have worked wonders on what was once a completely awful game.  I can now honestly say that Vanguard is worth a try.  If you played it at launch and hated it, come back and see what has changed.  You might be surprised at what you find.  The game is far from perfect, but it’s not a complete stinker anymore, either.

–Wolfen

Mito says I need to prove myself before he will let me take care of some “special situations.” He sends me off to get him a new tiger pelt covering, which apparently takes 10 tiger pelts to make. Killing 10 tigers sound easy enough until you find out that they are not very plentiful. The tigers share spawn points with other creatures and it took a very long time for me to find enough tigers to acquire the 10 pelts. Had this been a busy area, it would have taken many hours to get this done.

After returning the pelts to Mito and completing the “Prove My Worth” quest, he still thinks I am next to useless, so he sends me off to find Lieutenant Oda, who may have something for me to do. Oda gives me the “Cleaning Up” quest that requires me to go out and kill 10 goretusk boars and 10 fleet ostra birds. The boar and birds are found in the same area as the tigers, so I didn’t have far to go in order to find them. Upon completing this quest I received 1 silver, 20 copper, and 2431 experience points.

Oda next gave me the “Pride of the Army” quest. He wants me to visit four different patrol points and slay any orcs I find along the way. He suggests that I take a friend along because the orcs seem to travel in pairs. I saved this quest for another time.

I made level 14 while completing the “Cleaning Up” quest, so I needed to train up my new spells. Nakai Dojo has a building that contains all the class trainers inside, which was very handy indeed. It also has a general goods vendor to sell your loot to. My level 14 Druid spells are: Barkskin 1, Speed of the Wolf (30% run speed increase), Stormcallers Fury II, Nature’s Calm 1, and Soothe II (288-298 heal). Nature’s Calm looks to be useful for my next quest because it keeps a creature from attacking. If the orcs roam in pairs, I can cast Soothe on one and pull the other singly. We shall see.

–Wolfen

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

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

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

Vanguard has many races and classes, so the decision of what to play has been on my mind. I played a ranger almost exclusively during my main Everquest days. In fact, I have played a ranger/hunter style character in every MMO I have tried. The one exception is Lord of the Rings Online where I played a Champion, although I did dabble with the ranger a bit. So I naturally lean towards playing a ranger in Vanguard.

The thing is, I wouldn’t mind trying an MMO from a different perspective. The sorcerer and blood mage intrigue me. There’s something about a sorcerer simply sitting back and hitting the “BOOM” button every now and then that pulls at me. On the other hand, one of the roles of the blood mage is being a healer. As the byline of this blog states, I’m a hardened veteran noob and I’m not sure I can trust myself with healing duties. It is, however, a very interesting take on the typical mage class.

I suppose that I will have to try a few of them and see what sticks. I want some solo ability, which points to something like a sorcerer or druid. Necromancers are not my style. I do have a few days to ponder on this since my new computer won’t be here until sometime next week. Until then, I will keep posting my thoughts on various MMO things.

–Wolfen