text:
June 2, 2007
Well, it sure is good to be back! I was moving last week, finally got my Internet up (I won't go into details on how bloody long it took…) but regardless. A world without Internet is an odd one though, I can't just Google a problem, I really had to use my head. I've only been playing old RPGs that I found on my system (Well, they aren't ANCIENT but old nonetheless.) Arcanum, Fallout, Bauldr's Gate, etc. It has been fun, but now I need to get back into my online games (Woop!)
To my surprise, two betas were ready for me upon my return, Fury and Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn. I'm going to be playing Fury this weekend and will report my findings. As for UO, I always wanted to play this game as a child, but no card = no fun and I couldn't find a pay to play card (Did they even have these?) Now, after all these years, UO is finally getting a paint job, and I welcome it. I never got to play the game of old; this should be a great time to start.
I am amazed it is already done though; it seems like only a few months ago they announced their plan to revamp it, and now it's already in beta, time sure flies….
A Post Full of FUN!
February 25, 2007
Lots to talk about today:
Not word yet, expecting it to go out next week.
Granado Espada:
Having problems getting it running, so I am yet to play it.
Dungeon Runners:
Just got into the beta, yet to play it.
I made an entery for a Gaming World event called ALEX. Its a short rpg featurning the works of 29 extremely talented individuals. Well, words from the event organizer himself:
ALEX : A Two Days Collaborative Game, ALEX, or A.L.E.X for short from now on, since the full title is a hell of a mouthful, is a lot of things. (download at the bottom)
It is the final part of a collaborative epic that at its' conclusion will be at least 2 days in the making. It is GW's magnum opus, our greatest achievement as game makers and is a farewell letter to the game making community. It is the product of the hard work of not just myself, but a team of 29 extremely talented individuals. It will also, I hope, be the first truly great RM2K3 game, the first 'killer app' for the engine. My hopes for the project are obscenely high, my ambitions huge. It is the culmination of all what we've been working for in 2 days. And with any luck, it'll be a lot of fun!
Check it out:
NOTE: In my entry I had a small math error, use 8648 insted of what it really is.
I've been enjoying my time back with WoW. Currently a level 22 BE mage on the Blood Furnace server.
Haha, I'm an Idiot (And Other Things)
February 17, 2007
I decided to write this article for the sole purpose of showing off my stupidity. It's a bit of a long story I'll start from the top!
I was talking to my mother yesterday about money, my lack of it actually. I was trying to come up with ways to earn some fast cash without getting a job (Trying to focus 100% on school at the moment.) We got to talking and then my mom said "Wait, what about all that money you inherited?"….. Yeah. You see, a few years ago my grandmother passes away. I, being her only grandson, got a little something left for me. I came to visit her quite a lot and she always gave me little gifts, but this was a reasonably large amount of cash, and I totally forgot I had it. I don't actually have my own personal bank account, every time I think of getting one my mother talks me out of it, as any money I make is generally pissed away within the week, it'd be a waste. She kept the money in her bank account until I really need a bank account. So naturally I forgot about it being there. So now I have cash, and life is good.
My first purchase was an Xbox 360, I've been thinking about purchasing one for quite some time, and not that I have I can safely say they are worth the money if you plan on splurging for a Live gold account. I also plan on getting back on the World of WarCrack. Yeah, I know I sold my account but that also have a very interesting story attached to it.
My buddy who bought the account's grades have been dropping as of late. He obsesses over WoW, its just not healthy. After a bit of an intervention with his parents he decided to give it all up. His parents said they wanted him to get rid of the game, so he passes the game back to me, expansion and all. I did give him the money he payed for the account back, plus what he paid for the expansion, I'm a good person =).
Ayup… that's about it. on to Beta News!
Recently Granado Espada closed beta invites recently went out, I'd guess to anyone who signed up. I mean, I never really posed on the site and I only registered in like, December. So I don't think they were all that picky.
for those who don't know Granado Espada is…. some Korean game with alot of hype. It's one of the top hyped games at mmorpg.com, which is no easy task for any game! It looks a bit like Final Fantasy 12, and you play as 3 characters or something… I don't really remember. It you want to know check out their site:
Anyways, no word on the stalker beta, I'm guessing it'll start next week, no official word though.
Vanguard: New Patch (and other stuff)
January 20, 2007
Well, my old layout was causing me some problems, so I switched it up. New VG banner and everything!
Speaking of Vanguard, the latest 140ish mb patch dorpped last night, here are the notes:
Vanguard Build 01694 Patch Notes 1/19/2006
– NPCs that you have very low faction with (Kill on Sight) will no longer respond to hails, and will not act as merchants, trainers, or recipe trainers.
– Items on merchants will now display their true damage numbers.
– Balance: Fast weapons (daggers, hand wraps, etc) have had a significant damage increase.
– Balance: PC damage of time spells (DoTs) have had a significant boost in damage and cost.
– Balance: Direct damage spells have had their damage significantly increased across the board. This applies to all cast times.
– Balance: Challenge level 2 NPCs have had their damage growth rate slightly increased from level 10 upwards.
– Balance: NPC hit points have been adjust down for the different level blocks as part of combat speed tuning. All level ranges above 10 were affected by varying degrees.
– Staves – Many staff items have been updated to work now.
– NPC leashing has been modified to allow more flexibility to those fighting. When you are actively fighting an NPC it will have a much larger hard leash radius.
– Characters:
The races in Vanguard have new attribute bonuses!
Starting at level 10 characters start to gain racial attributes. The following table illustrates the attribute bonus attribute points that a character will receive. All characters receive one point in every attribute each level in addition to the bonus points.
Race STR CON DEX VIT WIS INT
Varanjar 1 2 0 0 1 0
Varanthari 2 1 0 0 1 0
Dwarf 0 3 0 0 1 0
Dark Elf 0 0 1 0 1 2
High Elf 0 0 0 0 3 1
Wood Elf 0 0 2 2 0 0
Gnome 0 1 0 0 0 3
Goblin 0 0 0 3 0 1
Half Elf 0 0 2 1 1 0
Lesser Giant 3 1 0 0 0 0
Halfling 0 0 3 0 1 0
Kojani 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mordebi 0 0 0 0 0 0
Qaliathari 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thestran 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kurashasa 0 2 0 0 0 2
Orc 2 2 0 0 0 0
Raki 0 0 1 2 0 1
Vulmane 1 0 1 0 2 0
In addition to the bonus points each race with the exception of the four human races (Kokani, Mordebi, Qaliathari and Thestran) earns 10 attribute customization points per level. The non-human races may spend up to 4 attribute points in each attribute per level. They do not all have to be spent at the same time. At level 11 a character could have spent 8 points total in any one attribute. The human races gain 14 attribute customization points per level and may spend 5 points in a single attribute per level.
There is no longer attribute gain associated with your class.
– Druid, Psionicists and Sorcerer damage over time spells (DoTs) have had their strength increased. The primary factor between class damage over time potential remains the number of Dots they have to stack and pets.
– Paladin, Warrior, Dread Knight, Ranger, Cleric, Sorcerer, Shaman – New particles and animations have been added.
– Bard – Cirel's Counterpoint of Clarity is now available at level 50
– Bard – Energizing Embellishment is now available at level 18
– Bard – Cirel's Soothing Substitution is now available at level 9
– Bard – Cirel's Healing Harmony is now available at level 36
– Bard – Suann's Entrancing Trill now lasts 9 seconds.
– Blood Mage – The Blood Mage has had the strength of his damage of time spells slightly increased.
– Blood Mage – Serak's Mantle should now have the correct energy cost.
– Blood Mage – Recovering Burst should now be healing for the correct amount.
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Reanimate at level 22
– Blood Mage – Summon Sanguine Shard now costs a little less health to cast
– Blood Mage – Mortal Calling now costs a little less health to cast
– Disciple – Chains should now require crits to happen.
– Dread Knight – Shadowy Veil now grants a run speed buff as well as invisibility
– Dread Knight – Moved weaknesses from Wrack to Malice.
– Dread Knight – Increased the flanking bonus from Malice.
– Disciple – Wisdom of the Grasshopper should work now, no matter what level you are.
– Disciple – Bonds now all have different icons
– Disciple – Adjusted the Resurrection spells. You should now get them at the correct levels and there is a difference between them.
– Monk – Aums should now teach you abilities as intended
– Monk – The North Wind chain should now actually trigger
– Monk – Storm Stride now has a 15 second refresh.
– Necromancer – While in undead form, most undead will ignore you as you are invisible to them. Undead that can see invisibility will see you and recognize that you do indeed have brains that they can eat. Brains, it's what's for dinner.
– Necromancer – Entomb is now called Soul Trap. It works exactly as it did, but no longer transforms its target into a spectral zombie.
– Paladin – Added the ability to exploit weaknesses to several of your abilities.
– Paladin – Increased the damage on both Hammer of Valus and Blade of Vol Anari since both are finishing attacks.
– Psionicist – Mirage now works correctly. Invis away!
– Psionicist – Psychic Schism will now deal damage as intended.
– Psionicist – New particles and animations have been added for many powers
– Ranger – Nature's Guise has been moved to level 1
– Ranger – Lowered the cast time of Entangling Webs to 1 second, down from 2
– Ranger – Increased duration of Poison Shot
– Ranger – Cripple now lasts 15 seconds, up from 3 to 4 attacks.
– Ranger – Converted Barbshroud to the new damage system, you should notice damage and feedback changes
– Ranger – Lowered refresh time on Blade of Summer to 10 seconds, down from 30 seconds.
– Ranger – Lowered damage on Windsong
– Ranger – Added 60 second refresh to Windsong
– Ranger – Increased the chance consecutive hits will occur with Windsong
– Ranger – Added new ability line Fleetblade at level 22, it upgrades from there
– Ranger – Lowered the cost of Windsong to 10, down from 24
– Ranger – Grasp of Earth now has a solid duration with a % chance to break on hit.
– Ranger – Added new ability line Envenomed Blade at level 26
– Ranger – Added a flanking bonus to Blade of Summer.
– Ranger – Added Freeze. Please experiment with your abilities to find it.
– Ranger – Changed the icon for Cripple
– Ranger – Added Swelter. Please experiment with your abilities to find it.
– Ranger – Added Whisper of the Wind. Please experiment with your abilities to find it.
– Ranger – Removed refresh from Regress
– Shaman – Added the ability to exploit weaknesses to several of your abilities.
– Shaman – The Patron Spirit quest lines have been revamped for Tuurgin and Rakurr and are ready to go for all patrons. Any player who is having problems with their patron should reset their progress and start again. It even works now!
– Shaman – All Patron Spirit abilities including spiritwalk will now be stripped from your character when you complete the reset process.
– Warrior – Power Attack's energy cost over time has increased.
– Warrior – All of your counter attacks are now free.
– Warrior – No versions of Brutal Strike can be used in Defensive form any longer.
– Warrior – Leap Attack now has proper costing
– Warrior – Fixed a naming conflict with Smash III and Smash IV. Previously Smash IV was named Smash III which conflicted with the name of Smash III which is Smash III. Smash III is still Smash III and the old Smash III that was actually Smash IV is no longer Smash III and has been renamed Smash IV. Now when you execute Smash III it will not try to launch Smash IV (because it used to be named Smash III).
– Added Ranged Accuracy, Damage, and Critical dusts to artificer work orders between 10 and 20 for new Bow/Crossbow
– Leth Nurae taskmasters pause longer while they're walking around.
– A smelter has been added near the forge in Three Rivers.
– Issue with WOs giving wrong enhancements
– Removed utilities from tables that were not used by the trade
– Fixed description issue with some outfitter work orders
– Removed legacy toosl from work order reward tables
– Joining a crafting organization now gives you the proper title.
– Empty bag bug should be fixed now please post if you find anymore
– Inability to get work orders for some people we believe has been resolved please try a new character and see if you can reproduce the issue
– The Qalian Apprentice Outfitter recipe now takes stiff bundles.
– All basic and outpost recipe instructors have had their recipe listings cleaned up and polished with new recipes added to all.
– Added bow recipes to artificer instructors. Additional elemental choices can be obtained through quests.
– Reduced power of progress complications a bit
– Reduced hit points of complications a bit
– Should be able to fit all refined items in utility pouch
– Initiate Quest for Blacksmiths have the proper ingredient action in the recipe now.
– Crafting tutorial rewards have been updated.
– Lower level work order rewards have been increased in cash value.
– New Targonor and Bordinar's Cleft taskmasters pause more often in their routes.
– Crafters above level 10 can rent horses for free from finishing taskmasters at cities and outposts to travel between them.
– Failing certain crafting faction quests now incurs a faction penalty.
Known Crafting Issues:
There is a known issue with Crafting Tutorial quests in all cities during the first time assembly phase. When you get to that part using a crafting table, the assembly recipe drop down is not populated. Logging out and back in will fix this issue. This affects all crafting spheres and should only happen to brand new crafters doing the tutorial.
– Wrap Up with the Heartsworn should now finish properly.
– Implemented quests in the following areas with cards as quest rewards. All require 40 skill and a variety of presence values: Martok, Tursh, Khal, and Ca'ial Brael
– The second half of "Undermine the Port Authority" in Khal should now be available with Rahebjah Sabet
– Renton Keep now has Civic Diplomacy levers. Enjoy.
– Renton Keep's Civic levers have been adjusted to the proper Presence levels. Oh, and we gave them names, too.
– Bordinar's Cleft Civic Lever – "Clergy Incite" is now working properly.
– Theindal, god of Beauty, found the cries of noobs who can't do the horse quests to be ugly, so he has prevailed upon Kaerellun the Silver-Tongued to ease up on the difficulty. In other words, horse quests now have much easier decks to defeat.
– Tanvu human newbie line now has a wider selection of evaluations available to players.
– Tanvu half-elf line is ready for testing! Speak with Aran Riverbend in the house next to the House of Whispers.
– The Civic Diplomacy benefit "Lost Arcana" no longer spams casting and injury messages. It just quietly exists like the other cards you get through Civic.
– The tutorial has gotten another revamp, and should be complete-able by the vast majority of players. Please give it a shot and feedback to us.
– "Rallying the Students" in the Tursh newbie line can now be completed.
– Varanjar Newbie Line: Fixed quest that was open to everyone that shouldn't be.
– Varanjar Newbie Line: End of the line reward now includes a prefix title!
– There are now more brokers available on all continents. And they will now buy both Crude and Significant information. Look for Plot Brokers in Bordinar's Cleft, Khal, and Tanvu; Arcana Brokers in Ca'ial Brael, Mekalia, Hathor Zhi (and Leth Nurae of course); Blackmail Brokers in Halgarad, Hathor Zhi, and Martok; and Trends Brokers in Tawar Galan, Lomshir, Mekalia, and Rindol Field.
– Noble Gossip and Crafter Gossip now each grant a new Diplomacy card when they are activated in a city. These cards are "Grace and Courtesy" and "Crucible of Words." Clever players will have to determine which card goes with which lever.
– A number of minor bug fixes with decks.
– There is now at least one Blackmail, Plots, Trends, and Arcana broker on each continent. They should all now take Crude Hearsay and Significant Hearsay.
– The first Civic Diplomacy Tutorial quest is now available in Tursh – speak with Stevvan Remniol in the center of the village. The only requirement for this tutorial is 40 Diplomacy skill. Most cities with a Diplomacy newbie experience will have this quest series soon!
– Icho Sho has awoken (again!) from his slumber and will agree to fight the Ulvari Dream Infiltrators in Harmonious Action.
– Players should no longer find hundreds of unattackable Vaelwyn Runners outside of Whitefawn Retreat.
– All of the Martok Islands have seen an itemization pass, excluding the Sacellum of Ghalnn.
– The following Thestran areas have seen an itemization pass: Vault of Heroes dungeon, all overland and dungeons within Veskal's Exchange and some Kaon's Rush overland NPCs
– Most Kojanese Weapons and Shields should be sporting new models now; as a result, the forums will now be sporting arguments as to whether size really does matter.
– Right-click abilities on Greatstaffs and Wands should all be fixed; Focus items, which do not have the dmg/dly that Wands do, are still in flux. Yes, it is confusing, which is why they are "in flux."
– World Loot drop percentages have been slightly increased in the level 11-25 range.
– The following areas have seen an itemization pass: Leth Nurae, Dahknarg, Cave of the Urugog and Broken Fang Slave Camp
– Podlings and Toxitors in Caverns of Noztgha have had their difficulty adjusted.
– The missive quests that require you to kill a set number of NPCs, but were not allowing players to turn in, should now automatically complete the quest when you kill the last required NPC. If you are already on one of these quests, you will need to abandon and restart it.
– Hafeez al'Azzimat is looking for brave adventurers to enter the Haekemish Excavation mines and face the source of the caravan attackers. He is not looking for anyone but those who prove capable. Are you worthy enough? Note: The Haekemish Excavation mines is a full group dungeon for levels 10-15. Speak to Hafeez in Temple of Dailuk at the Beacon of Hafeez al'Azzimat.
– The following areas have received an itemization pass: Ra'Jin Stronghold, Magi Hold, Wailing Wind Asylum, Tomb of Lord Tsang and the overland content in those chunks.
– Additional delivery quests have been added throughout Qalia and Thestra.
– The Razing Beetle Carapace should now sell for a nice chunk of change.
– Adjusted the location at which you port into the 'Utaalk' portal (Ouellette of Ulvari Master Xaoxin) in Riftseeker's Torrent. Please bug it if you are still ported into Maplelynn Wood.
– General: Fixed over 125 stuck NPCs in Leth Nurae, Dahknarg and Halgarad
– Dahknarg: Prove Your Strength – This quest will no longer complete automatically.
– Dahknarg: Proving Clan Devotion – You should now get credit for killing Gnakel
– Dahnkarg: Proving Clan Devotion – Corrected the Journal location of the Bloodhowler Prisoner (Gnakel)
– Dahknarg: Paint – Increased the number of Kalou plant spawns
– Halgarad: Fixed directions in quest: Defensive Stance: The Runt of the Litter" and the travel journal entry that wasn't showing up
– Halgarad: The bug causing Hillshadow to never respawn after being killed has been fixed. He will now respawn fairly rapidly after being killed.
– Halgarad: King Rotham in the quest, "Trial of Courage" had been incorrectly flagged as a non-attackable Town NPC. This has been corrected and you can now kill him.
– Halgarad: King Rotham in the quest, "Trial of Courage" has been set to spawn for the individual/group that spawns him ONLY. This is to prevent griefing.
– Jharru Flats: A new level 12-15 mini-dungeon: Karrus Fahrel is open in Jharru Flats
– Karibasa Village: Nahina Sabbari of Karibasa Village should no longer appear on the top of the canopy.
– Khal: Nillia Janeth in Khal (Wayfarer's Embassy) should no longer appear without forearms or feet. The surgery was a success!
– Leth Nurae: Fixed several broken travel journal entries and cleaned up some newer quests in the area.
– Leth Nurae: The quest, "Dance of Lights" is now fixed so that you actually get to keep the lantern when she says "Keep it".
– Leth Nurae: Fixed drop of "Intact Bear Femur" on quest "Making Beautiful Music" – should only get 1 now.
– Leth Nurae: Fixed broken TJE for "Malatuar the Cannibal"
– Leth Nurae: Removed the Quest "Quickfinger" from Ranger Shyath since Quickfinger has no quests to give and he wants to complete Shyath's quests
– Leth Nurae: Fixed broken TJE for "Into the Den"
– Leth Nurae: Fixed the appearance of the "Corrupted Elf Sorcerer". He's no longer a disembodied head with arms
– Leth Nurae: Seriously retooled the spawn times on numerous intro-level NPCs in Leth Nurae (needed to be drastically reduced). Getting through quests in the starting areas should be a lot smoother now
– Leth Nurae: Added TJE and brought quest directions/instructions up to standards for a number of quests in Leth Nurae
– Martok: All quests within Martok have been appropriately itemized.
– Martok: Leash range for denizens within the Gardens of Xia'Liu has been increased.
– Martok: Respawn time for denizens within the Gardens of Xia'Liu has been increased.
– Martok: Added Laxx Harbixk, a ranged weapon vendor to the main city of Martok.
– Martok: Zelka Harbixk at Grimsea Watch decided to hang up her weapon vendor hat and sell general goods once again
– Martok: Mailboxes have been added to Veenax Garrison, Gaxston Village, Gwarn's Boundary, Khenvor, and Gulkar's Encampment
– Tanvu: Fixed Quest: "The Sick Recruit" in Kojan. Now Elder Berry bushes should drop Elder Berries and not Infected Blood.
– Tanvu: The quest, "The Sick Recruit" has been re-tooled. In order to clarify what needs to be done, the quest has been split in to three parts. This means that if you are attempting to finish this quest, you will need to abandon it and re-take it after this patch. If you don't abandon it and re-take it, it will appear to be broken when it is, in fact, working just fine.
– Temple of Dailuk: Overland population in Temple of Dailuk has been adjusted so it does not look like a warzone. Certain NPCs will now fight back if attacked by other NPCs.
– Temple of Dailuk: The missives board in Temple of Dailuk should now be working properly. You will find this missive board just out front of the tower at the Beacon of Hafeez al'Azzimat. Note: These tasks are for players level 8 to 16 for the Temple of Dailuk chunk, though players over level 16 may still receive the higher end tasks.
– Temple of Dailuk: A few more quests have been added to the low end tasks on the Temple of Dailuk missives board.
– Temple of Dailuk: Added sign posts to the crossroads in Temple of Dailuk chunk
– Ulvari: The final stage of the quest, "Weapons of Tsang: Unlocking the Power Within" has been fixed. Apparently players were unable to interact with the final object required to enable the last upgrade of their weapon. This has been corrected.
– The following areas have received a faction pass:
– Dargun's Tomb
– Leth Nurae, all surrounding camps, all surrounding dungeons
– Veskals Exchange, all surrounding camps, all surrounding dungeons
– Fallen Lyceum, all surrounding outposts, all surrounding camps
– Vault of Heroes, outposts, all surrounding camps
– KoS to player race factions are still not turned on for these, but you can begin earning faction now. Please report any strange NPC behavior
– Light Armor rewards on the following quests have been tweaked
– Infiltrating the Rats
– Port Authority Documentation
– Soldier Rescue
– Ksaravi Kidnappers
– Goods of Raia
– Village Scouting
– Aukfruit Shamblers
– Aukfruit Lure
Bug Fixes:
– Players should now get quest credit for killing exhausted brilliant oasis wisps.
– Players should no longer have trouble figuring out which skeletons to kill in Trengal Keep.
– Deli Jahanpur should now have something to say.
– Players should now be able to find Rusten's Locket and Soul's Essences in the Rindol Storehouse.
– 'C' should now open/close the character sheet even if you changed to a different tab.
– Racial attributes are now visible as part of character creation.
– A profanity filter has been added. It defaults to ON. You can turn it off via the Settings window, Interface tab.
– Fix for incorrect class abbreviations coloring green in item examine popups. For example, BER will no longer light up for Psionicists.
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard: HUGE POST!
January 20, 2007
Well, lots of stuff going on for me as of late, some nice stuff to show you all though:
Friday Patch:
The patch is going to be about 140 mb according to a dev . Currently the notes are on the down-low check back later I guess.
Vanguard Interface:
Looking to mod your Vanguard interface? http://www.vgsohinterface.com/
Vanguard Avaliable for Digital Download:
I, personally don't feel like dropping a pre-order down at the local EB to get any game really, thus Sony provided me with a solution. (I hear D2D is a bit iffy and I expect Sony will be much better at providing a digital download, go with them)
Beta Will End on Jan. 23:
The Vanguard beta is set to end on Jan. 23, it plans to launch on Jan. 30. Pre-Orders will be given access to the game 3 days earlier, better hurry if you plan on pre-ordering!
Sony Online Entertainment and Sigil Games Online announced today that the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes open beta will close on January 23 at 11:59 p.m. PST. In anticipation of the January 30th launch of the fantasy-themed MMORPG, the servers will be shut down, and all beta character profiles will be transferred to a test server. The test server will open after launch with timing to be determined. For those who have pre-ordered Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, early access will be granted to the live servers before the official release date. More information regarding the early access will be released shortly.Players can now pre-order Vanguard: Saga of Heroes digitally and at retail. Additionally, gamers that pre-order retail versions will receive an exclusive endurance buff scroll that will allow their character to sprint for longer periods of time (one per account).For more information or to order Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, visit http://www.joinvanguard.com/buy/.About Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
The only limits are your own in Telon. The adventurous can choose from multiple paths of exploration within the three spheres of advancement: adventuring; crafting; and diplomacy. Players can delve into the mysteries of Telon, and embark upon quests to slay monstrous beasts locked deep inside rugged mountain ranges. Those with a quick mind can use diplomacy to convince kings to move armies and change the course of history. With player-crafted boats, flying mounts, and customizable player housing, "Vanguard" offers players a world of their own choosing.
For more information about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes please visit: http://www.vanguardsoh.com and http://www.joinvanguard.comVanguard Beta Event:Tonight, testers were given access to the flying mounts, everyone got one and we were set loose to go cause trouble or something like that.
Beta Event:
Today all testers were given the oppertunity to get a free flying mount to enjoy, it was an awesome experience, it's still going on after todays patch, so it would be worthwhile to check.
Vanguard: PATCH!! Man….
January 18, 2007
Daily patch update:
Vanguard Build 01689 Patch Notes 1/17/2007
– Experience has been made approximately 20% easier across the board. The experience gained from 2 dot and 3 dot (challenge level 2 & 3) NPCs has been slightly increased relative to higher dot value (challenge level) NPCs.
– Attributes caps for all things that they effect have been raised from 11*Level to 18*Level. The majority of factors that they modify have been scaled up in effective by a factor relative to the increase in range from average value to the increased cap value. This change will allow players to be much more specialized in their gear selection and still reap full rewards. Many players were hitting the old caps early in their careers.
– There has been a general migration in all the adventuring gameplay logic too soft caps. There were a few soft caps before, there were a few hard caps and a few uncapped lose ends. These are now all soft caps and those related to attributes start at the new cap amount of 18*Level.
– Energy has had some significant enhancements. The vitality attribute now directly controls energy regeneration and is much more substantial than in the past. Your base regeneration from vitality (as displayed in the vitality tool tip) is your in combat energy regeneration. When in combat using an ability will halt regeneration vitality similar to endurance, however the delay before restarting is slightly longer. Out of combat energy regeneration is now also based on your vitality and is approximately 150% of in combat regeneration. For out of combat regeneration speed increases more option will be available in the near future.
– The new energy regeneration is still clamped to the old out of combat regeneration times as a maximum down time.
– Endurance regeneration is now only halted by use of a melee type attack.
– Energy regeneration is now only halted by use of a spell or tactical maneuver and only during cast time. While in global you still gain full energy regeneration, this makes instant spells VERY exciting.
– Endurance regeneration pacing has changed. You now earn a regeneration tick after wait slightly longer than 2 seconds. This time interval restart with each attack or when some regeneration occurs. This should resolve the issue with melee gameplay revolving around waiting for the endurance bar to fill all the way up.
– Energy regeneration delay has been shortened.
– Current work orders will no longer have their difficulty rating calculated off of your adventuring level.
– NPC spell and melee special attacks have been reduced in damage for NPCs that are greater than 2 dots (above challenge level 2).
– Gnome and Dark Elf Racial abilities are now active.
– Gnomes:
Chrysol Distillers will be available for purchase in Mekalia. New gnome characters will start with a Class D Distiller, Gnomes currently past level 10, up through 30+ will want to check out the Class C, B, A, also for purchase in Mekalia.
– Dark Elves:
Dark Elf racial pets will be available to dark elves who are level 8+. Your pet and its abilities will be based upon your level and arch-type.
– All Classes – Abilities that Mesmerize now have a delay before they will begin to heal their targets.
– Staff Users – Staff nukes have had their damage upgraded, please look into these and report any bugs you find.
– Pet Classes – Pet damage has been reworked significantly.
– Bard – Irion's Tune of Safety now actually increases block, dodge and parry.
– Bard – Irion's Tune of Safety is now a voice song.
– Bard – Irion's Tune of Warding is now available at level 50
– Bard – Emboldening Embellishment now buffs Dexterity instead of constitution.
– Bard – Mellarian's Anthem of War now mods damage by 10% instead of a straight amount.
– Bard – Mellarian's Anthem of War is now a Voice song.
– Bard – The maximum number of Embellishments is now 3. Each embellishment will now be more powerful individually.
– Bard – The maximum number of Lyrics is now 3. Each lyric will now be more powerful individually.
– Bard – The maximum number of Coda is now 1. Each coda will now be more powerful individually.
– Bard – Ariezel's Assonance of Pain is now a chorus.
– Bard – Increased the attack slow portion Tynen's March of the Mire to 15%.
– Bard – Hazoc's Rhythm of Rapidity is now called Hazoc's Harmony of Haste and has been changed to an embellishment.
– Bard – Mellarian's Harmony of War is now a voice song and its damage mod has been doubled.
– Blood Mage – Steal Mortality no longer has a chance to kill your opponent – or do any damage for that matter
– Blood Mage – Steal Mortality has been renamed to Grim Harvest
– Blood Mage – Grim Harvest is now given at level 14
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Cleansing Symbiote at level 14
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Controlling Symbiote at level 14
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Plated Symbiote at level 18
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Hollow Symbiote at level 22
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Frenzied Symbiote at level 26
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Renewing Symbiote at level 30
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Quickening Symbiote at level 34
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Vitalizing Symbiote at level 38
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Conducive Symbiote at level 42
– Blood Mage – Removed old Symbiote ability lines
– Blood Mage – Transfusion of Serak no longer heals your opponent when cast.
– Cleric – Rout should now be doing proper damage.
– Disciple – Your revamp is live. Please train your new abilities
– Monk – The new Fighting Style quests are now in place. Additionally, there are lead-in quests to put you on the path at every location where monks can currently train skills.
– Ranger – Added snare to Nature's Guise
– Rogue – stalking time requirements have been dramatically reduced. It now takes only 45 seconds to reach maximum stalking down from several minutes. This is one step to increase rogue DPS.
– Paladin – Blessing of Vothdar and Champion's Might now stack
– Paladin – Your auras should now allow you to use your special abilities.
– Shaman – Flesh Rot and Hoarfrost will now stack properly.
– Shaman – Wings of Hayatet now increase the critical chance of fire spells
– Shaman – Ignite now adds a spell accuracy debuff
– Shaman – Damage for all spells has been increased
– Shaman – The damage shield portion of Burning Mantle should now be working
– Warrior – Fixed the agro mod on defensive form and made the results clear in the description.
– Warrior – Chains have been fixed and should not open all the time
– Hathor Zhi Taskmasters should have WOs for everyone now
– Tables for Smith and Artificer should have gear on them now
– Fixed issues that was allowing decon of mundane items
– The not enough room in inventory issue should be resolved
– Empty bag issue should hopefully be resolved
– The dyemaker in Lomshir now asks for the proper continental club.
– Thestran Amateur Quest blacksmith recipe for armor now takes sheets and has the proper ingredient action.
– Amateur Quest artificer recipes now all function properly.
– A number of quest recipes were not showing up under the proper Unique heading. This has been fixed.
– Added some more items to the rare tables for 5 item work orders
– Blacksmith Initiate quest recipe has been fixed.
– Tanvu outfitter recipe introduction from Mias now directs you to Oranku as intended.
– Dien Hatelt will now offer a trade change.
– Dien Hatelt of Halgarad will now direct 10+ outfitters to the amateur quest giver.
– Deconstruction of crafted items has been turned off as it was only there for beta purposes
– Thestran Amateur Artificer quest recipes have more accurate names.
– Apprentice Outfitter quest recipes have been fixed.
– Multiple finishing item options for apprentice tier quest recipes should now work.
– Multiple finishing item options for journeyman tier quest recipes should now work.
– Harvesting tools and clothes are now craftable.
– Wrap Up with the Heartsworn should now finish properly.
– Implemented quests in the following areas with cards as quest rewards. All require 40 skill and a variety of presence values: Martok, Tursh, Khal, and Ca'ial Brael.
– Glossaries and Instructional NPCs may now be found in all starting cities and cities currently supporting Civic Diplomacy. They carry the title "Voice of Kaerellun."
– Preceptor Indradi now can be defeated by mere mortals.
– C'estari Erenai is now willing to talk to players.
– The invincible dream infiltrators are no longer invincible – Icho Sho can now defeat them!
– "Facts and Evidence" card can now be used properly.
– Bordinar's Cleft has temporarily had its Civic Diplomacy lever thresholds turned down to 20. Please test Civic Diplomacy in that city to determine if multiple buffs are causing any problems. The levers will be turned back up in the next patch.
– Icons have been added to parley options showing you which Expressions (colors) are allowed for that conversation. Pre-planners rejoice! These icons are also used in the tutorial to show the relationship between the colors and Expression names.
– Diplomacy clothing is now beginning to filter into the world in the form of quests and brokers. First and second tier clothing (intended for players with 0-200 skill) are here… with tier 3 (intended for players 201-300) not far behind!
– Blackmail Broker is now in Halgarad. Look for the Lesser Giant with the attitude. He only takes Crude Hearsay Blackmail right now.
– Plots Broker is now in Bordinar's Cleft. Look for Khagin Ironheart in Merchant's Hold. He only takes Crude Hearsay Plots right now.
– Cost to turn in Crude Hearsay has been reduced to 10.
– Trends Broker is now in Rindol Field. Look for Jarry Summermead there. He only takes Crude Hearsay Trends right now.
– Diplomacy tutorial has been slightly altered for ease of play. Please feedback!
– Adjusted the difficulty level of certain NPCs inside The Riftseeker's Torrent.
– The Redcap Beastmaster should now spawn randomly every 4-10 minutes.
– The Aeokor Betrayers are more reasonable to solo now.
– Travel Journal Locations have been fixed for quests Death to the Betrayers, Dark Weapons, Cleansing the Wretched, Undead Investigation, and Final Rest.
– Keep a sharp eye out as you travel through the Temple of Dailuk chunk. Rumors have it that Nerksawl the Cyclops has been seen passing through. Note: Nerksawl is a high end full group mob and is a rare spawn. If you see him, it is best to stay away. You have been warned.
– Quivers and Bolt Cases can no longer hold harvested items.
– Quest: Bandit Bait has been revamped slightly. Players will no longer need the Bandit Map and just have to follow the road from the Beacon south towards Ahgram. If you are already on this quest, you will need to abandon it and restart it.
– Quest: Okhnom's Supplies: Clearing the Way – Killing Bloodhowler Brutes will now update the quest properly.
Bugs Fixed:
– Leddo Savobar will now talk to players.
– Mihdi Khadim only exists in one place now.
– Players should find the Paw of Galanash more easily in Cairnworth Hall.
– Players should find spectral nutmeg more easily.
– Adventuring equipment on vendors has been updated; all vendors should now be standardized now across all continents
– Focus items are in a state of flux at the moment; their overhaul will be complete asap.
– Crossbows should now only be able to fire bolts and Bows should now only be able to fire arrows; it's a crazy world we live in.
– Offensive targets that are aggro, but can't see you (due to stealth or invis) now display their names in light red instead of red on the offensive target window.
– Character sheet combat stats information and ability tool tips have been updated with the new caps and soft caps.
– Added time/gametime to connection meter tooltip.
– You may now drag a song from your song list to a hotbar, which will automatically create a /playsong macro for that song. The default icon will be the melody icon for the song.
– The Bard Song composition window will now show the base cost of the song, the rest reduction of the song, and the final cost of the song.
– Bard song components no longer show up in the normal abilities list and are instead accessibly by clicking the button for each component type in the song window.
– Customization racial limits have been updated. Existing characters will be brought within these new limits.
– Many improvements to NPCs walking backwards and also visually warping away in combat although the game still behaves as if they were in front of you. This particular type of warping should now be fixed.
– Noticable hitch reduction when first entering a new area. No longer as necessary to do a "hitch spin" before you can start moving.
~The Vanguard Team
Well wayways….
I've been sick latley and havn't been able to update, trying to get some shit done though.
Vanguard: More patches
January 16, 2007
Heh, I didn't even notice these last night, started up VG and left to get a drink. When I returned the game had updated itself :o. Anyways:
Vanguard Build 01680 Patch Notes 1/15/2007
– PVP death to a DOT should process the PVP death penalty correctly.
– When a building construction instance is abandoned, the player will be refunded the construction items via the escrow merchants. NOTE: The above will NOT work for existing construction instances with old items. Only new items added will be returned if construction is abandoned.
– When you sell a building plot, you are now refunded the remaining Upkeep balance via the mail system.
– Autorun is fixed
Vanguard Build 01677 Patch Notes 1/15/2007
– Spell mitigation had a low level bug giving player much more mitigation than intended. This has been fixed.
– Hitpoints in the encounter display should now update much more reliably when changing targets.
– Fixed a bug in the PVP factions that was likely causing Raki, Vulmane and Thestran Barbarians to not be able to attack or be attacked by other players.
– Updated block, dodge, and parry tooltip text with info that with level-capped skill, you now get a 2% chance instead of a 5% chance.
– After death, you will not pull aggro from NPC's and you can not be attacked by other players for 30 seconds. Summoning your corpse at an altar, activating an ability, or accepting a resurrection cancels this.
– Group invites will now work across zone boundaries
– Strength now contributes to melee damage as intended, there was a bug causing strength to move damage to only three different ranges. For most people this will increase your DPS in melee combat.
– As NPCs increase challenge level so does how easily they hit players with spells and melee attacks.
– Melee and spell evasion have been adjusted to values that will enable debuffing enemies and buffing allies in these areas to have a more significant impact on combat.
– Block, dodge and parry have been reduced to a more appropriate level with respect to evasion.
– Blood Mage – Bursting Blister is now named Busting Cyst
– Blood Mage – Bursting Cyst now has more upgrades and is a starting ability.
– Blood Mage – At Blood Union 3 Bursting Cyst now adds a DoT effect.
– Blood Mage – Added an effect display description to Bursting Cyst
– Blood Mage – Infuse Health now has more upgrades and the level progression has changed
– Blood Mage – Infuse Health now get 2% increase instead of a 3% increase per level of Blood Union
– Blood Mage – Infuse Health no longer scales
– Blood Mage – Union of Blood now starts at level 2 and gets upgrades
– Blood Mage – Union of Blood is now instant cast, lasts 24 seconds and has an 8 second refresh – damage adjusted accordingly
– Blood Mage – Union of Blood costs have been adjusted.
– Blood Mage – Health Graft has been moved to level 4 and all upgrades have been adjusted accordingly
– Blood Mage – Health Graft no longer scales
– Blood Mage – Health Graft now has an additional upgrade
– Blood Mage – Health Graft no longer stacks with itself, still stacks with other HP buffs
– Blood Mage – Reduced the damage of Despoil but increased the health returned base ratio and growth per level of Blood Union
– Blood Mage – Added an additional upgrade to Despoil
– Blood Mage – Blood Gift now has more upgrades and the level progression has changed
– Blood Mage – Blood Gift now get 2% increase instead of a 3% increase per level of Blood Union
– Blood Mage – Blood Gift no longer scales
– Blood Mage – Constricting Wisps has been renamed to constrict
– Blood Mage – Constrict now lasts longer and has a % chance to break on hit instead of a random chance to break on 1 to 5 hits. Display description updated accordingly.
– Blood Mage – Vitalize no longer scales
– Blood Mage – There is now an additional upgrade for Vitalize
– Blood Mage – Vitalize now starts at level 8 and upgrades from there.
– Blood Mage – Increased the refresh timer of Mental Transmutation to 10 seconds, up from 8 seconds.
– Blood Mage – Siphon Blood has been lowered to level 8.
– Blood Mage – Life Husk now reflects a % of incoming damage and is a 100% rune for 6 seconds.
– Blood Mage – Life Husk has a refresh of 5 minutes, down from 15 minutes.
– Blood Mage – Life Husk now only has 4 total versions, down from 5.
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line, Dissolve. This is a dispersion counter spell at level 10.
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line, Blood Tribute. This ability line starts at level 10 and is a finisher.
– Blood Mage – Allies resurrected with Awaken now come back to life with more health and energy.
– Blood Mage – Added new ability line Flesh Mender's Ritual. This is a ritual ability at level 10.
– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein has been moved down to level 10 and upgraded from there
– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein damage has been decreased.
– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein damage/ heal ratio has been adjusted to return more health per damage
– Blood Mage – Entwining Vein now has more upgrades.
– Blood Mage – Scarring Pact has been moved to level 14
– Blood Mage – Sever Pacts has been moved to level 14
– Blood Mage – Blood Pact has been moved to level 22
– Blood Mage – Serak's Augmentation is no longer scaling
– Blood Mage – Serak's Augmentation now starts at level 14 and upgrades from there
– Blood Mage – Numb now starts at level 18 and upgrades from there.
– Blood Mage – Numb is no longer a % detaunt.
– Blood Mage – Blood Feast now only gains 10% of damage dealt, down from 15%
– Blood Mage – Blood Feast has been moved to level 18
– Cleric – Adjusted the levels and damage of Aegis of Blades and added an upgrade at level 48.
– Cleric – We have added upgrades to several of your ability lines. Check your trainers!
– Disciple and Monk – Unarmed damage is no longer treated like rare weapons at all level ranges. From level 1-9 they are now common strength. From 10-19 they are now uncommon strength. From 20-39 they are rare strength. From 40-49 they are in between rare and ultra rare strength. At level 50 they are the equivalent of an ultra rare weapon in damage modifier. Monk and Disciple unarmed attacks still retain their improved speed and critical hit chance.
– Disciple – Disciple unarmed damage has been increased to make it a usable option similar to Monk unarmed damage.
– Dread Knight – Added more description to Anguish, Dark Bastion and Ruin
– Dread Knight – Vengeance is now free
– Monk – The quests for the various fighting styles are offline briefly while they are being revamped. Those of you who have already chosen a style will be unaffected.
– Necromancer – Power of the Grave now correctly display that it increases Intelligence and Constitution.
– Paladin – We have upgraded several of your ability lines. Check the trainers!
– Psionicist – The healing portion on Time Trick should now break on hit as intended.
– Ranger – Cripple no longer lowers damage by a % amount
– Ranger – Cripple should no longer stack
– Warrior – Commands have received new names.
Command: Attack is now called Press the Attack
Command: Defend is now called Raises Defenses
Group Command: Attack is now called Charge
Group Command: Defend is now called Form a Line
– Warrior – Single target commands now have a 25m range. Apparently you whispered the commands prior to this.
– Warrior – Withdraw, a new command, has been added at level 14.
– Warrior – Upgrades a'plenty where added to the trainer.
– Warrior – Many descriptions have been updated.
– Warrior – Obliterate and Destroy are now trainable. These are second and third step finishes that follow Decimate. NPCs everywhere, beware.
– Warrior – Blade's Bite is now available. This a second finish that follows Stinging Cut.
– Warrior – Barrier of Steel is now called Mountainous Barrier and is available at level 46
– Warrior – Many changes to progression. You may find that some of your older abilities have moved levels and are no longer usable.
– Warrior – Killing Blow added.
– Warrior – Added Blade Storm, a second finish that follows Steel Tempest, at level 50.
– Warrior – Added Cleave, a second finish that follows Defenseless, at level 50.
– Warrior – Added Veteran's Furor, a second finish that follows Battle Frenzy, at level 42
– Warrior – More abilities were tweaked and adjusted. Please visit trainers.
– Warrior – Increased the damage and crit frequency on Leap Attack. Practice your timing on this one.
– Warrior – Added Ironfoe at level 50
– Warrior – Added Myrmidon's Gift at level 18
– Warrior – Added Strike Now, which is a new group command, at level 50
– Warrior – Life Rend is no longer available and has been deleted from your ability book.
– Dahknarg Novice Outfitter quest now returns utilities and a utility pouch instead of one or the other.
– Cayle in New Targonor now has work orders.
– "The Dyemaker's Tests" quest now no longer asks for an old item.
– Quest Rewards in the Vulmane, Varanjar, and Lesser Giant beginning diplomacy lines should now be more consistent. A little more is given out.
– New evaluations, a pair of pants, and gloves are given out in Vulmane, Varanjar, and Lesser Giant beginning diplomacy lines.
– Journal directions should now lead you everywhere you need to go in the Vulmane, Lesser Giant, and Varanjar beginning diplomacy lines.
– Fixed some complication description issues
– Fixed all pre 10 specialization skill work orders so they can be seen (Blame Jansan it always makes us feel better)
– Fixed name issues with some work orders
– Fixed incorrect results with some work order recipes
– Fixed empty supply pack issues
– Fixed problem where recipes were asking for wrong type of resource
– Fixed problem with work orders asking for wrong tools
– Fixed progress issues on some recipes
– Jinx will now be willing to speak with Halflings for "Acquire the Means."
– Starting shirt models in diplomacy will now be based on Adventuring archetype and Continent. Enjoy your new threads.
– The Raki diplomacy quest "Choosing a Warden" can once again be completed and will not allow you to speak with one person over and over again to complete quest objectives.
– The Halgarad horse deliver quest should now allow you to complete it. Be sure to have Starmane in your inventory.
– Pedwin Freawine and Lamli Edson are now playing better decks.
– Tursh newbie line should now be giving out a full compliment of cards.
– Bragga Agrud has been called elsewhere on the continent so the Khal horse delivery quest will now end with Iradun Earp.
– Areas pertaining to and surrounding the Jharru have seen an itemization pass
– Many Qalian weapons and shields have had new models attached; also, some old armor received new models as well
– There exist a few more named NPCs in Lair of the Drake Riders.
– Yalsyl Vonalys in Lair of the Drake Riders should no longer be unbeatable.
– Bordinar's Cleft – Boulder Wildmen no longer give a faction hit against Bordinar's Cleft when slain
– Bordinar's Cleft- Eloren Cloudhammer now requires player assistance out of Boulder Wildmen captivity… yes, it was weird that she rescued herself
– Hathor Zhi
– The number of overland mobs has been greatly increased.
– Fixed overland point values and NPC classes
– Feeble Dark Elves will no longer default hail PCs when attacked, they will instead express their concerns through shouts
– Lowered respawn times across the board (Overland, Rockspine Dungeon, Aeokor Zhi)
– Fixed a lot of NPC point values in Aeokor and Rockspine
– Quests:
– Retrieve the Book of Tactics
Moved the book to a closer location
– Bowling with Skeleton Parts
Augmented directions
– Mercenary Work
Renamed quest item
Reworded some text
Augmented directions
– Find the Missing Sentry
This quest is now called "Kill the Missing Sentry"
Changed to reflect its new display name
– Martok – Warseer Kurbad will, once again, offer players the quest to visit Witch Doctor Ravix even after a player abandons the quest
– Martok – Gulgrethor Soldiers on the beach outside Grimsea Watch have had their damage output slightly reduced
– Martok – The quest "Leather for the Harness" has been fixed so all players within a group have a chance to get the quest item to drop
– Martok – The quest "Heart of a Leader" has been fixed to be much more friendly when multiple people are doing the quest simultaneously
– Martok – The quest "Unwelcome Visitors" has been reworked and quest text revised to make the quest easier to understand and complete
– Martok – The Tanvu Settlers and Sentries on the beach west of Gaxton Village are no longer friendly toward orcs and goblins
– Martok – The quest "Invoking Ghalnn's Will" has been fixed to support group-play as well as prevent the quest from "breaking". Please report any problems found!
– Martok – You can, once again, poke the Tamed Ghostfang Okami if you are on the quest "Enraging the Ghostfang"
– Martok – The Haarg Carapace has a much better chance of dropping than it previously did
– Martok – There are many, many more Fresh Mussels along the beach… so players, go collect those Mussels for Muxy!
– Martok – King Gruul of the Rothak Ogres should no longer attack players and his guards have decided to keep watch further away from their king
– Martok – The quest "Test of Will" from King Gruul has been relocated into the caver at the base of the Rothak Ogre Mound
– Martok – The Crushed Bone Powder used in the quest "Test of Strength" increases your damage to 125% rather than reducing it 25%
– Mekalia – Horse and horse equipment vendors have been added to Mekalia
– Qa Riverbank – Additional population has been added to the Qa Riverbank, especially areas that were a bit on the "light" side.
– Players should now be able to see more waypoints in their Locations journal.
– The quest, "A Road Less Traveled," which had been borked for a long time, should now finally work right.
– Players should be able to discover the quest, "Ksaravi Communications" more easily now.
– Players should find Jamshah Nezriar and Asadmat Amerii's quests more accessible now.
– The quests, "Improper Opinions," and "Quelling the Riot," should now be given by Captain Waqid instead of Rahia Jadarri.
– To avoid confusion, the Thestran human starting quests now exclude halflings.
– The quest, "A Fate Worse than Death" in Khal has been given a facelift.
– Minor fixes to a few other quests in Khal.
– The close box on the Parley Strategy window should be significantly less shy and more willing to hang out with people now.
– Added a "Loot Window Follows Mouse" option. If this option is enabled, the loot window will be repositioned to be under the mouse cursor when it opens, otherwise it will stay wherever you left it.
– You will now receive notification that you looted an item even if you are not in a group.
– You may now sort by the "Location / Last Online" columns in the guild and friends list.
– Cleaned up the Conversion window.
– Fix for autofollowers not stopping.
– Holding shift while double-clicking or right-clicking on a corpse will now attempt to loot all items on the corpse. This will fail and perform a normal loot window open if any of the items are no-drop and you have no-drop confirmation enabled.
– /lootall will now attempt to auto-loot the targeted corpse if you do not already have a loot session open.
– Guild member data for members who are not currently online should be much more reliable and accurate.
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard: Back with Patch Notes
January 13, 2007
I've had a lot to do as of late, with I could be doing more updates but I have just been swamped with work, not to mention I never do any of it till the last minute. I just thought I should update the patch notes as I have missed quite a few:
Vanguard Build 01673 Patch Notes 1/13/2007
– The experience curve has been changed. Your levels will not change but your experience within your level may. This was unavoidable. The new curve behaves quite a bit differently than experience rewards previously. Lower level NPCs no longer have an experience fall of other than the nature growth in experience rewards build into the curve. NPCs higher level than you will give significantly more experience reward than an enemy equal to your level, this is also new. There should now be more of a reason to strive for killing those NPCs one or two levels higher. Good luck!
– Fix for some players qualifying for quests that weren't for their class.
– Fix for characters being unable to group if one player invites another and then logs out before the invite was accepted.
– Cleric – Adjusted the levels and damage of Aegis of Blades and added an upgrade at level 48.
– Paladin – Aura of Shielding is now obtained at level 8.
– Paladin – We have upgraded several of your ability lines. Check your trainers!
– Shaman – Hammer of Krigus should no longer permanently lower your opponent's strength and constitution.
– Warrior – Kick is now level 2, does not incur global recovery and will start chains and crits more.
– Warrior – As your tweaks are on going, you should check the trainer for upgrades to older abilities. Checking today will be good.
– Fixed taskmasters in Ahgram
– Fixed a bunch of Tanvu work order name issues
– Fixed all blacksmith refining work orders
– Work order items should stack properly now
– Work order items can now go into bags properly
– If you are getting empty supply packs please report the work order that gave you the pack so we can troubleshoot the issue
– Halgarad – Based on feedback, adjusted the quest "Broken Fang Threat" to be a little more level-appropriate for 6 – 8. You still may need to find a friend to complete it though.
– Halgarad – Re-populated the upper portion of Den of Shadows – there should now be plenty of Reanimated Bears and Wolves to complete all quests required
– Halgarad – Adjusted the spawn times on all Reanimated Bears and Wolves in Den of Shadows so that they no longer take 10 minutes to respawn
– Halgarad – Fixed a bug that allowed you to complete the quest, "Into the Den" just by walking over the top of the cave. Now you actually need to head in to the cave to complete it.
– Halgarad – Adjusted the difficulty on Cottonwings and Hill Cats in the Halgarad starting area
– Halgarad – Reworked the "Trial of Sacrifice" portion of "The Passage to Kortella" to make it more appropriate for its level – you now only have to kill the Raider
– Halgarad – Fixed "Trial of Sacrifice" so as to prevent other players from jumping in and stealing the kill, thereby ruining your chances to complete the quest
– Halgarad – Numerous signposts have been added all over the wonderful land of Halgarad. Enjoy!
– Leth Nurae – Signposts have been added all over Leth Nurae.
Bug Fixes:
– Trainers in Karibasa will no longer claim to give armor to players (since they don't).
– Players should once again be able to loot Nimat's chest.
– There should now be enough redcap bonemillers and bonecollectors for players to kill in Tursh.
– You will no longer jump when swimming along the surface of water.
– Regular players will no longer see "Character Saved." messages.
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard Build 01672 Patch Notes 1/12/2007
– For PVP servers, someone attacking you if you do not have an offensive target will become your offensive target. If you do have an offensive target, they'll get added to the encounter display correctly. They will not be added, however, if they do not actually hit you
Logging in today you will likely notice some significant changes to combat balance. Today's patch kicks off a series of significant balance patches. The primary focus in this patch is combat difficulty at all NPC dot levels and combat time both solo and in group configurations. We are honing in on our objectives so please be cautious out there! Some things you could solo yesterday may require some help today. The following is an overview of the most significant changes:
NPC damage and hit points have been rescaled at all dot values and levels. In some cases this makes combat harder and in others it makes it easier. Combat times are now closer to our target in most areas. The target audiences have not changed:
– 2 dot NPCs are intended for challenging solo play
– 3 dot NPCs are intended for challenging duo and trio play
– 4 dot NPCs are intended to be challenging for 4 & 5 player groups
– 5 dot NPCs are challenging for a full group
– 6 dot NPCs are very challenging and can require multiple groups
In some areas we did not feel the challenge was quite there and it should be more noticeable now. Remember not all NPCs of the same challenge rating are exactly the same, the dot values represent a category but you still need to experiment to find what you can handle.
Out of combat regeneration: These values have been adjusted this is most noticeable at the early levels. Low level combat cause players to expend more resources however they should be spending much less time waiting for their expendables to return. This faster regeneration begins to scale back significantly around level 4.
In combat regeneration: In combat energy regeneration has been increased. This goes along with an increase in healing costs. We are still striving to find a good balance between energy expended in a long group fight and energy expend when soloing at all level ranges.
Pool size: Caster hit points have been slightly reduced relative to other archetypes and their energy pool has been slightly increased.
Groups: Along with the changes to combat time and NPC damage we have taken steps to allow for more variance in groups at low challenge ratings. This will make forming 2 and 3 man groups easier.
Longer combat times inherently sharpen archetype roles and there is more opportunity to enjoy your class play experience both solo and in groups. This will become most noticeable when fighting against high challenge rating (4 dot+) NPCs. Please have fun experimenting.
Resists: We have introduced non damage spell resists as part of what makes higher dot value enemies more difficult. It is now significantly harder to mesmerize, snare or slow a 5 dot NPC than a 3 dot NPC.
Getting Hit. It is now easier for NPCs to hit players. Players are expected to invest more effort in avoidance (attributes and gear) if they don't want to get hit.
Damage and ability upgrades: The rate at which player damage increases has been adjusted. Particularly at higher levels you will notice a bigger upgrade in the damage of your abilities. We found that there were some situations where it was not worth the increase in cost to move onto an ability upgrade. This should be the case much less often. Remember, player damage is relative to NPC hit points which has also been rescaled.
Class Balance: We are continue the process of class verses class balance and have made quite a few tweaks at the lower levels. This is an ongoing process so expect more soon.
These are the first pass at racial abilities (Minus Dark Elves and Gnomes, which will be soon to follow) We have done some internal testing, but as always, there are sure to be bugs and unintended side effects.
We will definitely appreciate feedback on the specific following issues:
– Display Descriptions (Although some of these are not final): Was it clear? Do they add enough racial flavor without being too wordy?
– Particle effects / animations (Some these are placeholder as well): Are the effects appropriate?
– Reuse timers: Do you feel the reuse timers are appropriate? Are they short enough to warrant a hotkey slot?
– Ability Effects: Do the abilities do what they're described to do? Are the effects negligible or noticeable? Are the abilities particularly more or less useful based on your class selection?
– Racial Flavor: Do the abilities feel unique? Do they make sense given the lore/background of the race?
Qalian Barbarians: Desert Skin
– For the next 15 seconds after this ability is activated, you will mitigate 25% of all damage, and every mob that attacks you has a 50% chance of being stunned for 2 seconds.
Thestra Barbarians: Endless Fortitude
– For the next 30 seconds, this ability will double your endurance and energy pool while increasing your spell and melee damage by 25%.
Dwarf: Earthen Embrace
– For 60 seconds, this ability will turn your body to stone. Along with removing all poison effects, you will mitigate 10% damage and become immune to movement impairing spells such as knock back, stun, and snare.
Goblin: Hex of Ghalnn
– Whoever is afflicted by this hex will return 3% of the mana and hit points for every hit that is made on them. The effect lasts for 60 seconds.
Half Elf: Symbol of Jin
– This ability will apply a rune to every member of the group for 60 seconds, which will mitigate damage as well as apply an un-resistible damage shield.
Halfling: Quick Escape
– This ability allows Halflings to immediately remove themselves from combat. For the next 10 seconds afterwards they will also be invisible.
High Elf: Arcane Balance
– This ability will take the cumulative amount of mana in a group, add 25% to that number, and evenly redistribute it to all members.
Kojani Human: Spirit of Jin
– This ability will immediately restore 45% of energy and hit points to the target.
Mordebi: Curse of the Ancients
– This ability will immediately remove a targeted NPC from combat, wiping their agro and reducing their agro range to 0. During this time the creature can not be healed, attack, or be attacked.
Qaliathari Humans: Swiftness of the Sands
– For this next 10 seconds, when this ability is activated your ability to evade all melee attacks and spells will be greatly increased.
Thestran Humans: Inspirational Commands
– You will have 3 inspirational commands at your disposal: Inspirational Presence, Inspirational Wisdom, and Inspirational Tactics. Each command is a group buff that will add either 2% to mitigation, a 3% reduction to mana cost of all spells, or a 2% increase in damage. You may only maintain one command at a time, however you may have all 3 effects active at the same time.
Kurashasa: Symbiotic Armor
– When this armor is active you will be consumed by a symbiotic presence. In addition to regening 2% of your health every 3 seconds, you will apply an effect to all enemies within a 20 meter point-blank radius. Anyone affected by this debuff will become snared and slowed.
Lesser Giant: Strength of Torsheim
– For the next 30 seconds after this ability is activated, you will increase your max hit points by 50%.
Orc: Fury of Ghalnn
– For the next 5 attacks after this ability is activated, you will receive a 10% increase to damage and all the damage you do will return to you in the form of hit points.
Raki: Planar Shift
– While this ability is active, you will gain a 25% mitigation to all spell damage but will slowly lose health. This ability may be toggled.
Vulmane: Spiritual Bond
– This ability will apply an effect to every member in your group, allowing 35% of all damage done by them to return to you in the form of health for 20 seconds.
Wood Elf: Form of Nature
– When this ability is activated, all movement impairing spells will be stripped from you, and for the next 30 seconds your run speed will be greatly increased. You will also be immune to all movement impairing spells during this time.
NOTE: The following two are not implemented yet:
Gnome: Forge Crystal
– This ability allows you to operate a variety of devices, only available to gnomes, which are able to materialize a energy crystals. Crystals will have several common effects, ranging from percentage based mana, health, and endurance heals to several uncommon, rare, and even ultra rare effects such as prismatic group resist buffs, rune and damage shields, minion summons, and more.
Dark Elf: Spawn of Haelufir
– This ability allows you to summon forth a small drake for a short duration. The type of drake you summon will be based on class and level. Each type of drake will have a variety of effects at their disposal, ranging from group aura's, to breath attacks. The higher level drakes will also learn spells that are sympathetic with their associated class.
– The following updates have been made to factions. Please report any NPCs acting weirdly as a result:
– Bordinar's Cleft has received a faction pass
– Three Rivers Village has received a faction pass
– Renton Keep has received a faction pass
– Lakeview has received a faction pass
– The Western Watch faction has been renamed to the Thestran Watch
– Vampire Hunters in Thestra have received a faction pass
– Charbrook Village has received a faction pass
– Dahknarg has received a faction pass
– Halgarad has received a faction pass
– Gnolls in the Vault of Heroes should now grant various faction modifications
– The inhabitants of Hilsbury should now grant various faction modifications
– Bloodfist Ogres now grant various faction modifications
– More Bloodhowlers now grant various faction modifications
– The inhabitants of Falgarholm and the followers of Torkald now grant various faction modifications
– A list of races that will be KOS in these areas by default in the future will be published in the upcoming weeks
– Casters – the cast times of your initial nukes have all been lowered to 2 seconds.
– Clerics, Shaman, Blood Mages, Disciples – Your large heals now have a 3 second cast and your medium heals have a 1.5 second cast. This is down from 4 and 2 respectively.
– Cleric – Improved remedy. It now ticks every 6 seconds.
– Cleric – Remedy is know called Alleviate.
– Cleric – Alleviate how has a different level progression, so may need to revisit a trainer to get the latest version.
– Disciple – Removed energy cost from Blessed Wind
– Disciple – The Focused Bond progression has been reworked for you. Increased the amount maintained by 1 and spread the progression evenly across 50 levels.
– Dread Knight – Added hate numbers to Incite ability line. (missed it last pass)
– Dread Knight – Removed increasing drawbacks on combat forms
– Monk – All of your abilities should be usable while unarmed now.
– Monk – Added 30 second refresh on Nerve Strike.
– Paladin – Dictum of Valus now is 137% less lame. It now does appropriate damage.
– Paladin – Standardized all of the paladin's attacks and buffs. Updated many tooltips to read more clearly. Added upgrades to many paladin abilities. Check the trainers!
– Ranger – Forage is now instant cast
– Ranger – Critical Shot is now instant
– Ranger – Critical Shot should now be able to open a ranged chain
– Ranger – Critical Shot now has a greatly increased critical chance
– Ranger – Debilitating Shot is now instant
– Ranger – Debilitating Shot should now be able to open a ranged chain
– Velt the Knave's expert outfitter work order now requires the outfitting skill instead of the tailoring skill.
– You should no longer get inaccurate faction penalties for abandoning work orders. Most basic work orders no longer impose faction penalties.
– Fixed an issue with gear that was causing its skill bonuses to be very low
– Crafting is available in many places now. Outposts have seen an influx of taskmasters needing assistance.
– Work orders should now take real resources as optional ingredients. This will allow crafters to get a boost of initial grade much like real item recipes
– Work order loot tables have finally had a pass. The tables have been split by a large degree giving work orders more and individual variety as you increase level.
– Horse quests are now available for all races. Use the following list to find who begins your delivery quest: Dwarf – Glanar Scrongold in Bordinar's Cleft Merchant's Hold; High Elf – Princess Kaati in the palace; Halflings/Thestran humans – Lord Thannis Heartsworn atop the hill next to Tursh; Vulmane/Varanjar/Lesser Giants – Grette Tolgar in Halgarad; Gnome – Gaea Permont in the Skyside Bunker; Qaliathari/Mordebi – Getzin the Gnome in the stables of Khal; Dark Elf – Legionnare Ikari in the Hathor Zhi newbie yard; Varanthari/Kurashasa – Aslak Carul in the Lomshir crafting area; Tanvu human/Orc/Goblin/Wood Elf/Raki – Telyn Boarmaul in Ca'ial Brael next to the animal pen.
– All newbie lines have a connector quest at their final NPC that will send you to the horse delivery quests.
– Diplomacy: All races now give a pair of free expression gloves early in their newbie progression, and a pair of pants in the middle of their newbie progression. More loots coming!
– Diplomacy: Horse quests are now active! At the end of your newbie diplomacy line (and you can always come back later), you can accept a horse delivery quest that leads you to a quest for a free horse. To receive the free horse, it does require adventuring OR crafting level 10 to complete.
– Diplomacy: "A Noble House Cause" can now be completed.
– Diplomacy: "A Change of Plans" – you can now talk to Carter Sinclair.
– Diplomacy: "Acquiring Documentation" – quest can now be completed.
– Diplomacy: The Civic Diplomacy buffs "Social Upheaval" and "Whistle While You Work" no longer regenerate many thousands of HP/Energy a tick. Invulnerable mode off!
– Diplomacy: Temporene Orb now is no-drop to reduce the chance of you destroying it.
– Diplomacy: Civic Diplomacy now open in Tursh and Tawar Galan!
– Diplomacy: A bridge quest now leads you from Magistrate Jadedragon to Lan Cho Puregrace in the Kojani human newbie Diplomacy line.
– Diplomacy: "Legends of the Raiders" now has many travel journal entries and a more clear pointer to Ulric's great-great-great-grandkid.
– Diplomacy: A number of fixes to the high elf newbie Diplomacy line.
– Diplomacy: Academic Civic parleys in Halgarad now actually have conversations. Incites now require 5 Presence.
– Diplomacy: Many other parleys did not have proper conversations attached. Please report these! Placeholder text doesn't count for this.
– Diplomacy: Fixed bug with "Unworthy and Unwise."
– Diplomacy: Diplomacy coin rewards now are worth their intended value! No more Jaw Exercisers worth 2 copper!
– Diplomacy: Flag resetter placed at "Death Wears a False Mustache" for testing purposes. ***If you are stuck at "Death Wears a False Mustache" Talk to the Flag resetter FIRST, then abandon the quest and retry it.****
– Diplomacy: Some quests have new Evaluations of different colors added to them. In a future patch, you will receive two Evaluations of different colors so you can generate Expression from 3 different colors.
– Varanjar Diplomacy: Otkatla Beck should now spawn properly so you may complete the quest.
– Varanjar Diplomacy: New evaluations swapped to what they should be.
– Varanjar Diplomacy: Various, and altogether random typo fixes.
– Bug fixes and typo fixes for the Varanjar, Lesser Giant, and Vulmane beginning lines.
– Prince Dargand has been smacked in the head a few times and is not now quite so difficult to beat.
– Lomshir Quest: The Races – Increased the time allotted to 70 seconds.
– The following areas have had an itemization pass: The River Palace, Imanjal Sacellum, Kalendra's Coven, Sacrifice Island, Ra'hazi Jungle, Pantheon of the Ancients and various overland camps in those areas.
– The aggro range of NPCs in the Fallen Lyceum of Ingolas has been increased slightly.
– The named encounters in Fallen Lyceum have had their difficulty increased to a more appropriate level.
– Old Fluur was punished for griefing players at the respawn altar and will stop going there. He is also less likely to be up often.
– If you do the quest 'Finish Her' (located in the Ca'ial Brale area) in a group, the entire group should get credit if one person poisons the Injured High Mudwitch now. Also, her respawn time should be much faster now. This should alleviate much of the pain of waiting around for her to spawn while there are multiple people/groups around her.
– Base NPCs at the Gataro Camp directly north of Ca'ial Brale should now aggro players from a shorter distance. They should now only appear at level 6 rather than level 6 and 7.
– Changed the required number of Egglayer Bites for the quest 'Abdominal Pain' from 7 to 2. Also attempted to make the Egglayer Bites proc more often.
Bug Fixes:
– Multiple broken appearance sets have been fixed in the Tursh and Khal regions.
– Kalendra the Dark Witch once again drops loot
– In Vol Tuniel, ancient elven urns now look like they should.
– In Marsh of Peril, Veraelian weapons should look better now.
– Quest journal waypoints should work correctly now in Marsh of Peril, Karrus and Zossyr Hakrel, Tauthien Delta, Skawlra Rock, Ksaravi Gulch and Qa Riverbank.
– Fixed some bugs that would scramble your group UI.
– Fix for the bug where you lose coin when looting or hitting the merchant
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard Build 01670 Patch Notes 1/11/2007
– Dual wield attacks now count as a full addition hit at 50% power. This means they now include your strength and level weapon contribution to damage; previously it was only a weapon damage bonus.
– The evasion penalty for dual wielding has been reduced.
– Two handed weapon damage has been significantly increased.
– Modified the color of various points of interest on the map to improve visibility.
– Abilities will now show their refresh time (if applicable) in the tooltip.
– Class/race descriptions updated for character creation.
– Changed the ToggleMouseLook keybind to ToggleMouseTurn and changed its behavior to better represent the behavior people seem to want out of it.
~The Vanguard Team
You know, Sigil has really been getting work done on this game, it's pretty surprising to log on after a few days and see this huge list of changes and patches! I was actually rather surprised to see racial abilities make it in, they may pull this off yet!
On another note:
I received a message from the admin of http://www.vanguardmmorpg.com/ asking for some help with his forums and such. I plan on helping him out, I've never been part of a large site or anything, so it'll be an interesting experience.
Vanguard: Patches!?!
January 11, 2007
Seems in my absence Sigil released two more patches, enjoy!
Vanguard Build 01661 Patch Notes 1/10/2007
– You no longer have to close and re-open the task master window to get a list of available work orders after completing one.
– Recipe trainers will now accurately display the level at which you can train a recipe that is red in the list.
– Faction Revamps for various areas have begun – in the upcoming weeks you will see various faction changes present in the game. After the ability to gain a specific faction is set up properly a list of races that are KoS in certain locations will be published. After the list has been published for some amount of time we will turn on the KoS status of the various areas.
– Tursh Village now has its own faction: Tursh Village. In a future patch the following races will be KoS to Tursh Village by default and will have to earn their way into its graces: Dark Elf, Orc, and Goblin.
– Rindol Field now has its own faction: Rindol Field. In a future patch the following races will be KoS to Rindol Field by default and will have to earn their way into its graces: Dark Elf, Orc, and Goblin
– Khal now has its own faction: The City of Khal. In a future patch the following races will be KoS to Khal by default and will have to earn their way into its graces: Dark Elf, Kurashasa, Varanthari, Orc, and Goblin.
– Monk – Ashen Hand no longer requires endurance
– Monk – Stinging Backfist should now display properly
– Monk – Secret of Flames should no longer override the animation of all other abilities
– Monk – Waning Palm should now display its damage correctly
– Monk – Changing stances as a monk should no longer display "You cast…" in the combat text window.
– Shaman – Your revamp is live. Many abilities are the same, but you will need to retrain them. Money will be provided to facilitate retraining.
– Warrior – Bastion of War has been renamed to Warden's Barrier and has been moved to 30. Effect description added. Look for Bastion of War at a later level.
– Changing crafting trades will now reset your crafting level to 1 and wipe learned assembly recipes along with resetting skills and wiping crafting recipes.
– Milakesh in Ca'ial Brael should now offer the Kojani Apprentice Artificer quest.
– Linnike in New Targonor should now offer the Thestran Apprentice Artificer quest.
– Harvesting population is complete
– Treants are now harvestable
– Rock Dervish are now harvestable
– Diplomacy: Bordinar's Cleft is now using the new "Information" loot system for Civic Diplomacy. Note, you cannot spend this loot now. It is coming in a future patch.
– Diplomacy: Bordinar's Cleft now has the full complement of Domestic, Crafter, Academic, and Noble civic diplomacy. Clergy is on the way.
– Diplomacy: Halgarad and Ca'ail Brael are now active for Civic Diplomacy!
– Diplomacy: Abulard Thistle now sends you to Pedric Godfrey to continue the Tursh newbie Diplomacy line. If you're already at that point, Godfrey is in the Baron's house. That's where you continue!
– Most NPCs in Halgarad and Ca'ail Brael are now using more difficult "Civic Diplomacy" decks.
– Several new Civic Buffs active. Rune Mitigation, All Resists Buff, and more!
– Diplomacy: "Death Wears a False Mustache" is now completible. Really this time. No, I mean it.
– Diplomacy: Fixed error in Gwealla Thunderaxe's travel journal entry.
– Diplomacy: Fixed bad item requirement in "Temporene"
– Diplomacy: Fixed bad handoff on quests in Thestran Human line. Should be able to continue now.
– All players with greater than 100 skill have been moved to 100 skill, with the appropriate experience for that skill level. Players between 40-100 skill have been moved to 40 skill with appropriate experience. Players with less than 40 Diplomacy skill will be moved to 40 skill as well. This repairs issues with players having much too high skill levels and false experience totals, and is in conjunction with the coding fix for experience gain in Diplomacy.
– Elven Forest: Kaon's Rush is now open
– Halgarad updates:
– Tweaked Gnoll camps at Halgar's Sword to make them a little more "new-player friendly."
– Reduced aggro/assist radius at the camps around the Den of Shadows so you no longer pull one gnoll and end up with 10 of his (very angry) friends.
– Adjusted Kulut near the Den of Shadows to bring him in line with the quest/reward/risk expectation of a starting area.
– Adjusted all sub-8 gnolls near the Den of Shadows to be more appropriate to the quest/reward/risk expectations of that area.
– Added a travel journal entries to a couple of sub-10 starting quests in the area.
– Adjusted the starting area population around Halgarad in order to facilitate new player growth.
– Fixed more grammatical errors in various sub-10 starting quests and reworked more text to be more "fantasy."
– Fixed a bug in the quest: "Broken Fang Threat" that allowed players to keep kill counters even after abandoning the quest.
– Adjusted the quest: "Broken Fang Threat" by changing the mob types to be killed. Should be less of a pain to complete now (especially when 100 other people are trying to complete it at the same time).
– Clarified the directions for the quest: "Pooch on the Loose". You should be able to find those darn poochies now.
– Adjusted point values for starting mobs so you don't die 100 times at level 1 killing noobie mobs. Now you'll only die if you're not paying attention.
– Balanced the Orc Raider and the Orc Invaders in the "Passage to Kortella" quest series to be more in line with the quest/reward/risk expectation of that level.
– Khal – More signs have been added to the Khal area.
– Khal – Waypoints have been made more visible in many Khal quests.
– Khal – Waypoints have been added to many Khal quests.
– Khegor's End – The aggro radius of bar patrons within Khegor's End has been modified to be more balanced
– Mekalia – Journal locations have been added to all quests within Mekalia… it is now less-easy to get lost!
– Mekalia – All constables within Mekalia should now provide players with proper directions
– Quests – Bugbear Ears for quest completion of "Unexpected Help" now drop as intended
– Quests – Oathbreaker Smith hammers for quest completion of "Breaking Hammers" now drop as intended
– Quests – Miner's Badges for "Bones of the Lost" can now be found within Khegor's End
– Quests – Drell the Blackjack should now be spawning properly within Three Rivers
– Quests – Final Rest – Dread Wind now spawns as a golden mob. He's quite pleased with himself.
– Quests – Tursh, Rindol Field, Leth Nurae, Dahknarg and Halgarad's quest rewards have been overhauled; minor adustments will continue.
– Temple of Dailuk – Overland population in Temple of Dailuk has been increased in numbers. This is still a work in progress.
– Temple of Dailuk – Fixed a bug with Palpenzar where he was not using his abilities during combat.
– Veskal's Exchange – sign added to roads around Vault of Heroes and Veskal's Exchange
– Veskal's Exchange – Both dungeons near Veskal's Exchange can now be summoned inside of
– Tahean's Vengance how has a general goods vendor.
– Deathfang's abilities can no longer be countered, no longer can you avoid his angry stare or foul stench.
– Reordered the Ability book to default to the Adventuring tab.
– Moved the default location of the tooltip window back to the lower-right corner of the screen. Reminder: You may move the default location of this window by moving the "tooltip anchor" in layout mode.
– Fixed a bug preventing right-click unequip from working when you had a full main inventory but empty space in bags.
– Modified the Guild window to allow setting of all of the various guild note fields. You may only edit the personal note if the selected member is you, and you will only see the officer note field if you can see/edit officer notes.
– Added a "ToggleMouseLook" bind. This option is not bound by default, and will not be available for binding unless you delete your User.ini file.
– You can no longer create macros that contain more than 2 of the crafting action execution commands (/craftingselectstep, /craftingselectaction, /craftingselectremedy, /craftingselectremedyaction).
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard Build 01659 Patch Notes 1/9/2007
– Bard – Upgrades of Razor Parts Silk should no longer stack.
– Blood Mage – Your overall damage has been reduced. This will continue to be adjusted. The current numbers are not final.
– Dread Knight – Increased the damage buff portion of Hatred Incarnate
– Dread Knight – Lowered the refresh time of Hatred Incarnate from 1 day to 2 hours.
– Druid – Lowered the Item refresh timer of Mottleberries to 5 minutes, down from 15 minutes.
– Warrior – The Warrior Defensive Stance quest has been added to Martok and Tanvu.
– Adjusted the tutorial complication quest.
– Updated recipe descriptions with new ingredient names.
– Fixed refining recipe complication issues.
– Sho Thu Swansong has been relocated so the Ca'ial Brael horse quest should be finish-able.
– Diplomacy: You should now be able to complete "Death Wears a False Mustache."
– Travel journals have been added or updated on the dwarven newbie line for Orrion Blackbeard, Gwealla Thunderaxe, and Dalligor Agarott.
– Vulmane Diplomacy: Changed last quest involving Grurok, so it is now a timed mission.
– Varanjar Diplomacy: Fixed issue where players couldn't parley with Penney Caberton.
– Varanjar, Lesser Giant, Vulmane: Various Typo fixes.
– Lesser Giant Diplomacy: Bartender Ogrash and the porridge should now work properly. Mmmm, porridge.
– Diplomacy: Rewards have been fixed in Kojan Human newbie diplomacy.
– Diplomacy: A number of experience changes are being made. Your skill may go up or down as we balance the system.
– Diplomacy: New decks on Civic targets in some cities.
– Diplomacy: Bordinar's Cleft Civic Diplomacy (Domestics) switched over to the new Information system.
– All players with greater than 100 skill have been moved to 100 skill, with the appropriate experience for that skill level. Players between 40-100 skill have been moved to 40 skill with appropriate experience. Players with less than 40 Diplomacy skill will be moved to 40 skill as well. This repairs issues with players having much too high skill levels and false experience totals, and is in conjunction with the coding fix for experience gain in Diplomacy.
– Quest: Martok – The Great Escape: The Martok slaves have been changed to normal NPC's rather than interactive objects. The quest also will no longer break if you should happen to die while on it.
– Okami pups at Ca'ial Brael newbie yard may occasionally be unhappy both before and after being cured
– The quest "Vaelwyn Leaves" is now "Crawler Leaves"
– Some Vaelwyn Contaminators have turned into Contaminated Crawlers. No refund available
– Wood Elf and Raki Transcendants are much easier to break out of their trances. They should now attack properly.
– The quest "The Imperial Poacher" should now give a reward.
– Mailboxes added to Autumnglow Outpost and Jalen's Crossing
– General Goods Vendor added to Tahean's Vengeance
– Temple of Dailuk: Something sleeps in the depths of the Caverns of Noztgha. Only the bravest of adventurers dare to pick up the new series of quests at the Beacon of Hafeez al'Azzimat. You may begin these quests once you have completed the series started by Nouro Favah, who sadly has reported his wifes abduction by the local lizardman. Those who have may speak with Archaeologist Palpe Rengoa in the northeast tent.
– The quest "Sensitive Information" is now implemented as it is intended and the beta-only workaround has been removed
– The quest "Outlaws: Rewarding our Heroes" now drops the required quest component as intended
– Halgarad changes:
– Reworded the majority of the starting quests in Halgarad to fix grammatical errors, spelling errors and generally give the quests more in-game flavor. Now it should actually be more interesting that "Hey, you. Yeah, go fetch this."
– Added directions to all of the starting quests. Now you know to head to the northeast instead of "over there".
– Fixed several roaming NPCs that had managed to find their way under the world or stuck on large objects like the altar.
– Added travel journal entries for several quests so when you're out in the middle of nowhere and you look at the dialog that says, "He's in the house behind me," you can actually find that house.
– Completely re-worked and fixed "The Passage to Kortella" quest line. You can actually complete the series now.
– Fixed several appearance sets on various NPCs so when you fight them now, they actually have arms and legs.
Bug Fixes:
– Players can now get the sealed parchment they need from the loose haypile in Tursh.
– More travel journal entries (waypoints) will show up correctly in players' Locations.
– There are now more mailboxes in eastern Qalia, and a couple more in Thestra.
– Signs have been added in Marsh of Peril, fixed in Khal, and added in Qa Riverbank.
– The Natmeg Enos Bunkers are now the Neamsog Bunkers.
– Fixed a bug causing abilities to not show their remaining recast time when logging in.
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard: More Patches
January 10, 2007
Sigil is determined to see this launch go well, here are some of their recent effort notes:
Vanguard Build 01656 Patch Notes 1/8/2007
– Fix for a region server crash related to player to player trade.
– Martial sword now apply their parrying bonus in PVP combat as well.
– Activateable items will now show their refresh timers.
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard Build 01655 Patch Notes 1/8/2007
– You will now receive a notification for discovering new items for a server first time.
– You will now receive a notification for completing a quest for a server first time.
– Fixed a bug that prevented martial swords from giving the parry bonus listed on the item.
– Added the first (of four) components for your defense rating: Melee Evasion. Mouse over this item on your character sheet for more details. Still a work in progress.
– Added the second (of four) components for your defense rating: Spell Evasion.
– Updated the Block, Dodge, and Parry tooltips to contain your block, dodge and parry percentages. Note: With a shield, you get two different chances to block and this number is your actual chance considering both. Example: With a rare shield (25.0% chance to block) and level capped block skill (5% chance to block) you have a 28.75% chance to block (not 30%), because you first have a 5% chance to block on the first check, and then you have a 25% chance to block the second time (which happens 95% of the time block is checked). 5 + 95% of 25 = 28.75. The same calculation applies for people using parrying daggers or martial swords, and parry.
– The vast majority of quests will now show their reward in advance
– The blue particle teleporters have been removed and NPC teleporters have been reenabled with new routes that mimic the ship routes. These should be less temperamental, but still temporary until the ferries are more stable.
– Khal <-> Ca'ial Brael
– Martok <-> Ca'ial Brael
– Tanvu <-> Ca'ial Brael
– New Targonor <-> Ca'ial Brael
– New Targonor <-> Leth Nurae (This one is in until the chunks surrounding New Targonor are open)
– All Classes – Increased the effectiveness of many heal over time spells.
– Dread Knight – Lowered the refresh time on the Incite ability line to 60 seconds, down from 3 – minutes.
– Dread Knight – Changed the resist type of Scythe of Doom to Spiritual from weapon based
– Dread Knight – Changed the resist type of Torture to Physical from Spiritual
– Dread Knight – Increased the duration of Hatred Incarnate to 60 seconds, up from 30 seconds.
– Dread Knight – Vexing Strike should no longer give double combat text.
– Dread Knight – Vexing Strike now increases Dreadful Countenance by a larger amount than it used to
– Dread Knight – Malice increases Dreadful Countenance by a smaller amount now.
– An issue with the artificer Novice assembly quest has been fixed.
– Temporary Crafting Merchant has been removed.
– Fixed some oddness with complications
– Diplomacy: Many cities and towns now have a Diplomacy focus point. The focus point is a set of bulletin boards surrounding a pillar or tree. These focus points have been placed in significant areas in cities, towns, and outposts and are intended to be gathering places for diplomats. Cities that are slated to have Civic Diplomacy active in the next couple of weeks have a whole bulletin board and complete pillar or tree. Cities that will have Civic Diplomacy soon, but not immediately, have a burned down board and broken pillar. Note that all of these focus points are NOT operational at this time!
– Diplomacy: Diplomacy focus points placed in Bordinar's Cleft, Tursh, Rindol Field, Three Rivers, Renton Keep, Leth Nurae, Veskal's Exchange, Misthaven Crossing, Halgarad, Dahknarg, Konarthi Point, Tahean's Vengeance, Lomshir, Hathor Zhi, Pankor Zhi, Khal, Ahgram, Mekalia, Oasis, Afrit, Zarabadi Landing, Tanvu, Ca'ail Brael, and Martok.
– Diplomacy: New decks for newbie line third tier opponents have been made.
– Diplomacy: Varanjar and Lesser Giant line decks should be fixed. Decks should be of the appropriate difficulty at the appropriate time. Apparently impossibly hard to beat is just too hard.
– Diplomacy: Graag the Ripper no longer kills you if you beat him in parley. He will still kill you if you fail against him.
– Diplomacy: Graag and friends will now spawn more efficiently at the fighting pit, and despawn more appropriately.
– Diplomacy: Fai Lin Aurora now correctly tells you she is teleporting you to Mount Fajin.
– Diplomacy: Other fixes for the varanthari newbie Diplomacy progression.
– Diplomacy: Veskal's Exchange Civic Diplomacy is now active. It has one Station: Soldiers.
– Diplomacy: Civic Diplomacy has had its Presence requirements updated in Konarthi Point.
– Diplomacy: High elf newbie Diplomacy is now open in Leth Nurae! Seek out Arianna Lanendril, who will start you on the path toward serving the Eternal Rose, and gaining the love of the queen.
– Diplomacy: All races can now learn Diplomacy.
– Diplomacy: Modified Presence values for all existing Diplomacy Head, Chest, Neck, Held, Back, Hand, Waist, Legs items to intended values.
– Magi Hold has received an itemization pass.
– Bordinar's Cleft: Griffon's now lay griffon eggs instead of eagle eggs… yes, we were weirded out by it too!
– Coastal Graveyard: Deathfang now terrorizes Coastal Graveyard! Deathfang is a new high level encounter for multiple groups.
– Halgarad: Updated all newbie encounter definitions to support a higher volume of players
– Northern Highlands: Torkald Who Mourns and Akaran Dwarfsbane have not yet been tuned and as such offer no item rewards.
– Northern Highlands: The primary quest lines for Falgarholm and Frostshard Lake are not yet implemented, however many quests exist within Dargun's Tomb for those of you that enjoy questing.
– Northern Highlands: The Altar's for these chunks only appear as the small stone tablet at the moment. This will be rectified in the near future.
– Northern Highlands: Several of the ghost models in Dargun's Tomb will receive additional weapon and armor graphics in a future patch
– Martok: Updated appearances for NPCs within Martok… the orcs and goblins bodies should be whole once again!
– Renton Keep: The three tiers of rewards for Renton Keep tasks have been fully itemized.
– Renton Keep: The adventuring classes of NPCs within Tharridon's Scar have been updated
– Renton Keep: Fixed some rogue fairies that were unintentionally aggroing players within the safety of the Keep
– Three Rivers: The adventuring classes of NPCs within Khegor's End have been updated.
– Quest: dragon form quest for the Monk has been fixed
– Quest: Obtaining the supplies for Strongbeard's Supplies has been made noticeably less difficult
– Quest: The quest "Unlikely Supplies" within Gulgrethor Fortress has been fixed and may now be completed
– Quest: Quest text modified for "Baragal's Craving for Ruby Sap" to better describe the rarity of the quest objective
-The Region known as the Northern Highlands is once again open for play
– Falgarholm – Entryway to the Highlands and home to savage lesser giants who wish to have nothing to do with their "weak" brethren in Halgarad. This area offers content for players between levels 28 and 33 primarily.
– Lake Frostshard – Home of the great giant Torkald Who Mourns, the area is filled with his followers – who are not nearly as friendly as Torkald, as well as vile ogres, drakes, trolls and other beasts hidden in the mountains and beneath the waters of Frostshard Lake. This area offers content for players between level 30 and 34 primarily.
– Northern Highlands / Coldbay – North of Falgarholm and reachable only by a hidden mountain pass, this area is rumored to be home to a cult of gnolls that have enslaved trolls to do their bidding. It is said that sirens and other creatures of the depths inhabit the shores of Coldbay below. This area offers content for players between level 31 and 34 primarily.
– Dargun's Tomb – The fallen Halls of Dorrin, a once great city of the dwarven race lies in ruin here. Dwarven Explorers from Bordinar's Cleft grasp for glimpses of the secrets once held by their ancestors while fighting off the horrible Burning Eye Gnolls, Gorlash Ogres, and avoiding Akaran Dwarfsbane the Tyrant of Dargun's Tomb. This area offers content for players between level 33 and 38 primarily. If you are wise, you to will avoid Akaran like the dwarves attempt to.
Bug Fixes:
– Suri Telqo no longer stands inside of a wooden crate.
– Seknon will no longer confuse players with a blank quest.
– Olkur Kinsli's story now makes much more sense.
– Players can now use mounts at the Justice of Khal.
– Players will no longer get trapped inside the Pennstump house by their own jack o' lanterns.
– The quest, "Talons of Telon" no longer thanks players for bringing the wrong items.
– Eplap Zeebli no longer gives quests that don't belong to her.
– Guards in Khal now give correct directions to the warrior, psionicist, dreadknight, and paladin trainers.
– Players should be able to see who to go to now with the quest, "Closer than Expected."
– The quests, "Flame of Brightwood," and "Thieving Rats," have been much improved.
– Relzak Furies and Relzak Wardens should now attack players properly.
– In addition to these, many typos have been fixed, quest directions corrected, and stuck mobs unstuck.
– Added loot to Mastrun's task in Ulvari Portal
– The monk trainer in Khal has abandoned her vow of poverty and bought some decent clothes. – – The previously unhelpful Khal guards Huy, Davood, Nastasen, and Natekhami now give directions.
– In fact, not only do all Khal guards give directions now, but they give _correct_ directions.
– Bojan Yazidi now has something to say, and he is no longer surrounded by "sharks."
– Players can now get a boost over the locked fence at the Neighbor Coast Light-tower in Coastal Graveyard. Try it! It's fun!
– Quests will now show any locations attached to that quest within the quest description.
– Abilities should again correctly gray out when you are out of range.
– Fixed a bug causing the settings window to ignore its own closebox.
– Performing a find on Dread Knights in the social window will now work correctly.
– You no longer need to hold control to offensively target a player on a pvp enabled server. Clicking will set a PC to your offensive target with the exception of people within your faction or group. You can still force someone to your defensive target by holding control.
– On pvp servers, tab will now cycle through PC's as well as NPC's for offensive targets. Added the alias TargetNextPCOffensive (cycles through only PC's) to the default user.ini file which makes the alias available in the controls settings.
~The Vanguard Team
Vanguard Build 01650 Patch Notes 1/6/2007
– Changing group loot options should now work again.
~The Vanguard Team
Well, I spent about 1 minute patching this latest patch. Vangaurd devs mentions how their patching system was improved from EQ2's and I do believe it's true!