Vanguard - Brad speaks about solo content and kiting

[Slick Willey]

Will you be happy with the rate of advancement and downtime associated with soloing as opposed to teaming up with a few other players, especially of classes that compliment the one you've chosen? I don't know -- those are different lines for different people. Some of you may enjoy soloing in Vanguard, and some of you may find it too tedious or slow or not rewarding enough...

That's pretty insightful for me in making my decision if this game is something I'm interested in.

I know I've read Brad say that they want to get away from camping mobs for hours on end, but I think he was referring to things like the cyclops in OOT for the jboots quest, etc.

What I'm wondering is if he's going to take us back to the old "camp check!" days of people setting up camps in dungeons and just grinding mobs. If this were the case, it would pretty much seal the deal on my decision of whether or not to play Vanguard.

[Tripamang]

Originally posted by Slick Willey
That's pretty insightful for me in making my decision if this game is something I'm interested in.

I know I've read Brad say that they want to get away from camping mobs for hours on end, but I think he was referring to things like the cyclops in OOT for the jboots quest, etc.

What I'm wondering is if he's going to take us back to the old "camp check!" days of people setting up camps in dungeons and just grinding mobs. If this were the case, it would pretty much seal the deal on my decision of whether or not to play Vanguard.

Yes because 100+ people packed into a space that holds 20 was such a blast, it completely trivialized the zones. There was no sense of progress, everything was perma fucking dead, you could walk through them without much of a problem at all.

EQ dungeons = poor design. If this game goes that direction I hope he has a life raft, because he's on a sinking ship.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally posted by Metranon
this system will need to reflect the relative change in power of characters over time, and be less restrictive at the high end

Agreed. Better container items for yourself, your horse, upgrading your ship, +strength items, etc. Increasing your character carrying capacity as you level up goes back decades and dems good gameplay mechanics

This can be accomodated by making better items, better 'mobile banks' (e.g. horses, ships, etc.), spells, etc. Lots of ways to address this and it's in the plan.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally posted by Tripamang
Yes because 100+ people packed into a space that holds 20 was such a blast, it completely trivialized the zones. There was no sense of progress, everything was perma fucking dead, you could walk through them without much of a problem at all.

EQ dungeons = poor design. If this game goes that direction I hope he has a life raft, because he's on a sinking ship.

Having enough servers and making a big world with huge dungeons and lots of content works.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally posted by Kaxmax
It's cool in a single player game, but from a performance standpoint in an MMO, it could be bad. Think about the lag in the EC tunnel or the Bazaar. Now imagine if every one of those characters had Pedro the donkey following them around on top of that.

I'm also curious as to how they are going to handle it in regards to dungeons. Are there going to be 100 donkeys waiting outside Sebilis v2, or will every group have mules following them around?

It's a cool idea, I liked it in Dungeon Siege. I'm not sure how it will work in an MMO though.

You hitch Pedro the Donkey at an outpost near the dungeon thereby 'logging him off' so there aren't 500 donkeys sitting around. Same with ships -- you dock them and they disappear. Also, you'll be able to set whether you want your client to display other people's vehicles, etc.

This isn't only applicable to pack mules... vehicles are key to travel, and pets in general are a big part of Vanguard -- some pets will be persistent (wizard's familars, for example), so we've been planning for this stuff from the beginning.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally posted by Esmo
I believe you will stow your mounts at a "nearby" outpost but not outside the actual dungeon. Should you die you would resurrect at that outpost where you can then put on your secondary gear (which you stored on your mount) to recover your corpse from the dungeon. The part of this that hasn't yet been discussed though - if storage space is so limited what the hell are you supposed to do with the "secondary gear" once you CR? Do you have to then run BACK to the freaking outpost to 'put it away' and then BACK to the dungeon to continue your adventure?

Let's hear it for genius gameplay that might equate to 15 minutes of action for every hour of timesink!

After you loot your primary items from your corpse, you will have the option to un-equip your secondary items and put them in a 'body bag', or keep your secondary items on (perhaps that's why you died -- you had your character configured wrong for that dungeon/encounter) and stow your primary items in the body bag.

Once you've made your decision, however, it is unlikely we'll allow you to re-access your bodybag until you've return to an outpost.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally posted by Froofy-D
From what I have read there will be outposts with guards, merchants, etc... where you can park your horse and some outposts will be near dungeons. Im pretty sure that Brad mentioned mounts will not be allowed in dungeons and outdoor mounted combat is a "possibility".

Your horses can be attacked btw. If you park them in a dangerous area dont expect them to live long. I believe I heard it mentioned that it would be possible to hire henchmen as guards and stuff like that though. Not 100% sure on that. Anyway, VG is sounding better and better.

That's true -- if you don't hitch your horse or pack mule and just leave it, you may return to find it's been killed and need to have it rezzed similarly to how a charater might be rezzed. Same with ships -- when they 'die' they become a 'corpse' of sorts, requiring a craftsman to repair it such that you can again pilot it and access any items stored therein.

[Kiely]

The dungeons were great designs I thought, but you did say they were over crowded.. thats a - lack of dungeon's flaw.

[Braen]

Originally posted by Kiely
The dungeons were great designs I thought, but you did say they were over crowded.. thats a - lack of dungeon's flaw.

Correct. Just cause a dungeon is full doesn't mean it sucks.

[The Bog]

Originally posted by Aradune Mithara
That's true -- if you don't hitch your horse or pack mule and just leave it, you may return to find it's been killed and need to have it rezzed similarly to how a charater might be rezzed. Same with ships -- when they 'die' they become a 'corpse' of sorts, requiring a craftsman to repair it such that you can again pilot it and access any items stored therein.

Cool idea in having destroyable/killable horses. I always wondered why my mount could never die regardless of me leaving it out for ages or repeatedly being mobbed by the enemy. Now check your email and don't ignore anything written by me (surname begins with Z), Brad.

[Camerous]

Just curious...who are you Aradune? You say "we" as in you are a part of Vanguard. Not an attack just curiosity on my part. :-)

As for Vanguard, sounds like an updated version of UO. I loved UO so much that if they even make it 1/2 as much fun as UO was, I will play it for years.

I also love how open Brad is being about everything. I met him back in EQ beta when he played his ranger and he was always willing to answer questions. I have high hopes for his game and pretty much figure it will be a hit. I think EQ could have been alot diffrent than it became if he was given more control.

GL Brad and don't dissappoint us. :-)

*spelling

[Braen]

Originally posted by Camerous
Just curious...who are you Aradune? You say "we" as in you are a part of Vanguard. Not an attack just curiosity on my part. :-)

As for Vanguard, sounds like an updated version of UO. I loved UO so much that if they even make it 1/2 as much fun as UO was, I will play it for years.

I also love how open Brad is being about everything. I met him back in EQ beta when he played his ranger and he was always willing to answer questions. I have high hopes for his game and pretty much figure it will be a hit. I think EQ qould have been alot diffrent than it became if he was given more control.

GL Brad and don't dissappoint us. :-)

I will take this one...

Brad is Brad McQuaid. One of the original designers of EQ1 and founder fo Verant. He was the producer of EQ1 till about the Luclin era when he left and formed Sigil.

He is the President of Sigil Games and producer of Vanguard and keeper of the Vision™

In other worda. Brad is "The Man" and one of the main reasons there is a MMO genre and why these boards exist. heh

[Camerous]

Um my question was who Aradune was...not who Brad was. Reading comprehension ftw

[Braen]

Originally posted by Camerous
Um my question was who Aradune was...not who Brad was. Reading comprehension ftw

OMG.. okay Aradune is BRAD! FINKLE IS EINHORN!

Sorry for me not being clear that I was indeed talking about Aradune. Aradune is his name in the game world.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally posted by Camerous
Um my question was who Aradune was...not who Brad was. Reading comprehension ftw

Aradune is a character from part of a book I started writing a long time ago. Then when I got into MUDs, he became my primary play character. Then with EQ he was my GM character and he will be my GM character in Vanguard as well.

When posting and interacting with the community I almost always use Aradune Mithara as my posting name just as most of you use some sort of pseudonym as well.