January 31, 2007
I did some really fun stuff last night in Thestra, and had so much fun that I think this will be my hangout spot for the near future.
Above: Killing Trolls in the Cave of the Urugog
I did a whirlwind tour of a few areas that are good for levels 9-15, thanks to Faunis. We did several quests near the Vault of Heroes (The Lost Yeti was my favorite, they’re so cool!). The highlight was crawling around the Cave of the Urugog, where I knocked out a couple of quests and picked up several upgrades in the process. Then we met up with Andaraiel and headed over to Veskel’s Exchange, where we bumped into Orkoh and Trismegustus, to go spider killing and reach the Kaon Portal. In a nutshell, it was an awesome night. As you can tell, I think Curse-gaming’s database is awesome too!
Above: Really wishing I had brought that Star of Elendil right about now!
The cool part is that many guildmates are in that area, and I’m planning to set up a caravan for any others that want to get here. It’s interesting, because so often, when the subject of Vanguard comes, you always see the question, “Is it like EQ?” It dawned on me last night that it most certainly is not, but for it to be like Everquest, you’d have to turn the clock back about 7 years.
I thought back to when I first formed Revelry and Honor in Everquest. For many players, the whole concept of guilds was new, as was the idea of a gaming community. There were some guilds that had some pre-planning and organization, but for the most part, it was Everquest where most players cut their teeth on things like DKP, raiding, FCFS, calendars, rotations, etc. Heck, just getting to know the server community you played on was a game within a game, and finding reliable friends to group with took some time. There was a kind of “social learning curve” that was new to everyone, and that took time to master (some still haven’t mastered it!)
During the beta phase of Vanguard, there were dozens and dozens of guilds that had already formed and were organizing for the game! In Revelry and Honor, people have known each other long enough that members are past the social pleasantries, and already focused on organizing groups, doling out upgrades to members, coordinating travel, and sharing information about chunks. I’m guessing that many other guilds have already been doing the same, with great efficiency.
I think the online gaming community as a whole is wiser, more organized, and more jaded when it comes to guilds and server communities. The social grey area of EQ has long since been explored, and you can’t put that geenie back in the bottle. While that means that future games have a harder time delivering that sense of freshness and mystery that EQ did, for me it’s actually more fun to know that on day one, I’m able to tackle the game’s content with friends and guildmates that I know and trust.
Above: Safely out of the spider cave, in front of the Kaon Portal exit.
….Now if only my guild would trust me more on pulling! I swear I won’t bring more than 12!
Posted by jayernh under Archive,Vanguard Level 10-15 | Comments (1)
January 30, 2007
Last night I knocked out a few more quests in Qalia with Faunis, but towards the end of the night, the plan was to head over to Tursh, so that we could do some dungeon work there and hopefully link up with even more guildies.
Above: New Targonor! Here’s where I camped last night. When I logged in today, I was at an altar near the Vault of Heroes.
By the time we reached Khal, though, I had long since turned into a pumpkin, and was heading into zombie territory. The trip to Tursh would be at least another 30 minutes, maybe even more with deaths. What to do?!
Caravan!
If you aren’t familiar with the caravan function, or don’t know how it works, here’s the rundown. The caravan is designed for situations where a group of friends wants to stay together in the same spot, but not everyone has the time to make the trip. Up to 5 people can join a caravan, and then when they log back into the game, they have the option of entering near the caravan leader’s most current location.
Above: Running through New Targonor. This reminded me of ToV. Where’s Sontalak?!
There are a few parameters though. The first is that if you join a caravan, you must log out within 10 minutes after joining for it to work. At that point, you must remain offline for at least 2-3 hours (some say two, others say three, so I’ll update when I can verify the correct time) in order to be able to get the option of entering at the caravan leader’s bind point. This is not meant as a ghetto Call of Hero, it’s for people who need a hand with a long trip, but aren’t in any rush to get there. My situation last night was exactly what the caravan system was designed for. It could also be handy for arranging guild travel to a raid destination. Just have the members join a caravan at the end of one evening, and when they log in the next night, they are at the new bind point, close to the raid target.
There’s a few tips I’d suggest if you are trying to form a caravan. First, obviously you need to be grouped, and the leader of the group is the caravan leader. To make a caravan, the leader clicks on a member in the group, and then right clicks their name in the offensive target window. That will bring up a menu of options, and one is “invite to caravan.” The member can then accept the invitation and voila, the caravan is made!
You can see your caravan information in the social window (hit “o” on the keyboard) by clicking on the “caravan” tab. That will show you the countdown clock to when you have to camp.
Later, when you log back in (I logged in about 12 hours later but it only takes a couple of hours for the options to work), you get these choices at character select:
Above: Caravan options window at the character select.
Based on where I logged in today, the caravan option is based on the nearest altar (I’m assuming bindstone too) where you caravan leader currently is. You can also just choose to cancel the caravan and enter the world where you had normally camped, so if your caravan leader tries to get you to log into a nasty location, just say no!
I’m really happy this feature is in game, and I know I’ll be using it a lot. It’s perfect for my playstyle and playtime, and I’m loving the fact that I can travel and still get a good night’s sleep. Now if only Sigil could implement this in real life….
Posted by jayernh under Archive,Getting Started in Vanguard,Vanguard General | Comments (3)
January 29, 2007
Last night, I spent a little more time in Tanvu doing quests and getting blessed. But I also played around in in the Khal starting area. And boy did I find trouble!
Kurtz and I did a little gataro hunting last night, and man are they fierce. They live in an area called the Sanctium, and there are a few quests given out by the Water Serpent, a wurm-type creature that stands on the shores nearby. (His quests are needed for the Blessing of the Serpent)
Above: I didn’t have time to check this out more closely but I thought it was a really cool spot. It’s a set of rocks by the shore that spout out water every now and then. I thought it was a volcano till I got closer. Very neat.
If you head to this area, be ready for fast respawn, especially in the pit outside. The other thing we noticed was that when I tried to pull them with a shuriken, they wouldn’t move towards me, so I didn’t bother waiting around and ended up charging them usually.
After wrapping up the quests here, I did a little soloing on Jaye, the wood elf ranger who expatriated to Khal from Ca’ial Brael to Khal. I can’t put my finger on it, but I love hunting in Qalia. Even though my home of Ca’ial is probably the most visually stunning city in Telon, I prefer the sands of the Qa Desert.
I worked on the starting quests — killed a bunch of scorpions, caught a bunch of scorpions, laid a scorpion trap on the Kasavari….the only thing that would have topped it off is if I had been turned into a giant scorpion on my way to Khal, to scare the poo out of the rioting prisoners outside the city.
Besides spending a lot of time around scorpions, I also met up with a manticore. I noticed him circling high above, and eventually tracked him down among some rocks near the Raia outpost. I began to wonder if it would be possible to get him to follow me to Khal, because he might like the hustle and bustle of the city. Even though he’s a level 16, 5 dot mob, and I was only level 6, I figured I had a chance if I used my racial ability. When activated, I turn into an Okami wolf pup, which gives me increased speed an immunity to any movement impairing spells.
Above: I’m in the foreground, in the form of an Okami. I still have the twigs in my hair that I have as a wood elf!
I got about 20 feet before he got me. He’s now on my “to do” list of mean mobs to kill when I get older and stronger.
Above: Dead.
My little tip of the day that I learned last night is the Quest Tracker. I didn’t know this existed, but it’s terrific. If you click on the “Quest Tracker” in your quest journal, or double click the name of the quest, it appears in checklist form on your main screen in the upper right corner. It’s very handy if you have several quests and want to be able to keep track of a few that you are working on simultaneously. I’d like to figure out how to move the text up into the corner a little more, but I’m sure there is a UI that will do that soon, if not already.
Posted by jayernh under Archive,Vanguard Level 1-10 | Comments (2)