Journeys with Jaye

Setting Myself Free!

Today on my walk with the kids, we were being followed by a circling turkey vulture. Vanguard immediately came to mind. This game has had to endure the circling vultures for quite some time now, and the saga took a new twist last week with the announcement of a new direction for the game.

Last week, Vanguard’s new lead producer, Thom Terrazas, put out a letter that outlined the new vision for Vanguard. And yes, I know I just said the “v” word. There’s a lot there, and a lot to react to. It would be easy to pull out snippets, dwell on the less-than-rosy state of the game, and speculate on the prospects that it could get worse. But one thing that stuck out for me was that the current Vanguard dev team is seeking input and suggestions from the playerbase – so much so that they intend to add a new forum dedicated to just that.

So, here are my ideas for Vanguard’s future.

Provide more goals for guilds, rather than groups. There is no real benefit to being in a guild right now, other than pleasant chat and a guild hall. I’ve said several times that this is a great game for those who have a steady group, but that’s actually problematic, because it means that guilds are largely fragmented now into groups of no more than 6, and that’s only under the best case scenario of having guild members around the same level range and content.

Give us overland and dungeon raid bosses, give us content that requires more than one group, and please do that throughout the level spectrum, not just level 50 end game raid content. Longterm, give us content that demands a collective effort, and rewards the entire guild – perhaps housing/guild hall items with special abilities (buffs, ports, etc), or special guild talismans or charms that grow stronger with each defeated dungeon or boss mob. Make it something collaborative, and allow for even the lowest members of the guild to be able to take part in it. (Just don’t make it a massive timesink)

Take out the stuff that’s needlessly difficult and unintuitive, and make sure there is a purpose to anything in game that is hard to understand or not easily seen. No, I’m not saying slap a big red easy button on the game. What I’m talking about are game features that are the equivalent of the EQ blind barbarian. It may be a quaint memory to look back at how horribly all those newbie barbarians suffered, but let’s face it, stuff like that is fun for about 5 minutes, and then it heads right into hair-pulling territory.

There is a lot in Vanguard that is needlessly difficult to learn. The Riftway system, with its multiple networks, one way rifts, and vendor bought shards, is a great example of something that isn’t intuitive. Keep the system in place, but smooth it out. The Weakness combat system is another. It’s a subtle layer of combat where players can coordinate their attacks and exploit a weakness on the mob, ranging from stuns, to extra damage, to special attacks. The problem is, it’s so subtle, I bet 99% of the players either don’t know about it, don’t use it, or both. I’m not asking for a huge bell to go off whenever someone in the group starts a weakness exploit on a mob, but there has to be a way to make stuff like that a little clearer.

Also, take out the stuff that is extraneous and unused. The caravan system is a great example of that. The game has changed so much that it really has no purpose, yet there’s the tab for it in the social window, with little explanation about what it is or what it does. Stuff like that will only muddle the newbie experience, and makes the learning curve unnecessarily steep.

Lore – give it to us already! Please, give us a purpose for our time in Telon. We want to know why we’re here. We want to know how certain events from ages past are playing a role in the world that we’re adventuring in. We want to know more about the “Heroes” of Vanguard, and see evidence of their legacy. We want to know who the really really bad guys are in the game, and why they are so bad, so we can relish in their demise when we finally take them down. We want to see how the storylines we come across as newbs in the starting areas continue on as we travel and level. We want to know the story about quirky, interesting, little pockets of content, that we stumble on while exploring. (What *is* the deal with the Jux Brownie refuge anyway!)

I’ve read a couple of times on threads that the lore is written up, and just needs to be organized and presented in a better way. There was also a plan to get a lore forum up and running. Even if we can’t get the lore put in game right away, at least give it to us in the forum. There are so many gaps in the timeline right now – so many questions about what is going on in game. Heck, if you are seeking volunteers to do the grunt work of sorting and posting it, sign me up! We need lore!

Mentoring – I haven’t heard a word about mentoring since the first transition from Sigil to Sony, so I have less hope now that it’s on the horizon. I’ll say it again and again though. Mentoring is huge, and if there is any way to get it in game, it should be done.

Meaningful Travel! – Make it easy to reach popular content, and make the harder to reach content contain nice, unique, rewards. Populate caves, tombs, nooks and crannies with mobs that have interesting items. It doesn’t have to be anything epic or game changing, just stuff that helps make your character improve and be unique. (clickies, consumables, fun pets, house items, illusion masks, mount upgrades, etc).

Fix the AES content – The Advanced Encounter System has been a bugaboo from day one. Over time, though, it seems like the AES curse has crept into content that had been working ok. Pantheon is the saddest example of that. Here’s a fantastic dungeon, and for months now, it’s been broken. Temple of Xennumet, The Arena, and some parts of the CIS quest have all been affected by the wonkiness of the AES system. And while we’re on the subject, fix the Hegnerian event so that it isn’t a cutthroat, 2007 version of the Highpass Hold orcs. Put a shorter timer on it if nothing else, and adjust the loot table so that it’s not a farm mob. Yes, the rewards are great, but for many groups that do it, the level of difficulty isn’t with the content but with the enormous amount of competition gunning for it every night.

Housing Revamp – Put one way Rifts at all housing locations. Yes, it’s petty, but why should I have to shell out 20 silver every time I want to get off Keejay Cove, while Joe Deebs can click a riftstone and be off for free. Putting in one way riftstones to all housing areas doesn’t make the game easier, but it provides a travel benefit to those that have spent the time and money setting up a house. That seems like a fairly reasonable benefit! In addition, add more plots, and if it’s being tracked, give updates on where plots are still available. Also, allow people to move their house to another plot, and/or upgrade existing ones without having to abandon.

Plot costs need a revamp too. Many of the outlying islands that were originally intended to be the the most valuable because of their location to high end content, are now the least popular, because of the way travel has changed, and the fact that they’re basically not near anything. Lastly, make it easier to know where the mount vendors/crafting stations/banker/broker/mailboxes are. These POIs should all be on the default game map.

Add content for the early 20s and 40-50. These are the only two level areas where I’d log in and have a hard time coming up with a good idea of where to hunt. From level 20-25, it’s hard to find good quest hubs for solo and small group players. There are a couple out there, but some of them are in remote areas, and there just aren’t enough of them to get you through those levels.

From level 40 on, the content is also lacking. Again, there are a few quest areas, and the addition of Trickster’s Haven was great, but there needs to be more, particularly from 45-50. Put in a couple of Cragwind type quest hubs that gives you 40 different quests, each of which asks you to kill 15 of a particular mob. Something like that can be done fairly quickly, and can serve as a stopgap until some more creative and unique content can be fleshed out and put in game. In addition, having a consistent amount of content available at all level ranges, with ample numbers of quests to turn in for exp, will help smooth out leveling, and help avoid increasing overall experience, which most players don’t want.

Make the game “fit.” There has been a band-aid effect on this game going way back to beta. There was an original design, and original plan, and it didn’t pan out. The result has been layer upon layer of slapped on fixes and bandaids, and the overall game is suffering. Every time a hasty change is made, it has a ripple effect on everything else involving it, and leads to disjointed gameplay, confusion, and frustration. I could probably devote an entire rambly blog entry just to this point alone, but it’s something that really needs to be looked at.

These are just a few ideas, and I know mine or no better than the dozens and dozens of posted suggestions. But it’s fun to play armchair quarterback, especially when it’s actually sought out by the dev team. Half the battle will be just wading through the input!

Posted by jayernh under Archive,Vanguard General | Comments (7)