Lots of new Vanguard info released, plus videos & screenshots

[Aradune Mithara]

We recently held a big press event where we had over 20 journalists from the major gaming sites and publications come by, get a demo of the game, interview various members of the team, and (I think most importantly), play the game all afternoon on their own. Yeah, we set up an entire room with over 20 workstations and let them go at it.

The articles are starting to trickle in, although some info is on hold until the publications can print stories lest the online sites get an advantage.

There were also a lot of new screenshots released, including a lot of Kojan, and recently a bunch of videos have gone out at well. To that end, I updated one of our key threads on our official site and thus cordially invite you to head on over there and check it out. You may be new to the game, you might already know a lot about it (though something could still surprise you), or heck even you skeptics might want to brush up on the latest and make sure your criticisms and concerns are directed at the most recent infoz

Oh, and I wrote a new intro to the game which is in the same post

Check it out: http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=71778

thanks all -- no matter where you're coming from, I really think a lot of you are going to get into this game -- it's really improving and we're really working hard on it. Seriously, thanks.

[kasey]

mods can we pluck this under the last reply of the last vangaurd thread? :P

and also please try to resist the urge to flame aradune for making too many threads either =) Just saying this would fit nicely to continue the last thread.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally Posted by kasey

mods can we pluck this under the last reply of the last vangaurd thread? :P

and also please try to resist the urge to flame aradune for making too many threads either =) Just saying this would fit nicely to continue the last thread.

Definitely not trying to spam -- apologies in advance -- I hadn't posted for a while and with this new thread I refered to so comprehensive as well as containing lots of new info, I thought it warranted it's own thread here. But if you guys feel otherwise, it's your board and as always I appreciate that the owners welcome me here and certainly don't want to wear out that welcome.

[Ham n Cheese]

I don't see it as spamming. It's a lot of new content and a lot of people (myself included) don't go into old threads when they hit 10+ pages (they normally change topics by then and so many things get lost). This is a large amount of new media, seems to be worthy of its own thread.

[Tyen]

^

[fucker]

hmmm

maybe im stupid, but i cant find the new article/infos

what am i missing?

[Zehn - Vhex]

Originally Posted by fucker

what am i missing?

Not a whole heck of alot. OOOOh, burn! Gwaha, I keed, I keed.

[Aradune Mithara]

Originally Posted by fucker

hmmm

maybe im stupid, but i cant find the new article/infos

what am i missing?

Several new write ups with new screenshots from the big press demo we did just last Friday with over 20 mainstream journalists who were shown the game, did interviews all day, and also played beta 3 all day (we have a room with over 20 machines hooked live to beta 3).

Here, I'll post them directly here:

"http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/738/738352p1.html

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?s...&page=1&bhcp=1

http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/ind...splay&ceid=414

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vangu...eviews;title;0

http://pc.gamezone.com/news/10_12_06_01_03PM.htm

Also updated my web page with new info and 2 unreleased screenshots showing Kojan and flying mounts (scroll down to the Vanguard info):

www.bradmcquaid.com







Also wrote up a revised intro to Vanguard for those who haven't heard about it or haven't heard much:

----

Hello Everyone!

• Been having fun in WoW or another MMOG, but looking for something new, something deeper?
• Are you an old school MMOG player looking for a game that will wrap yesterday’s magic into a next-gen package?
• Might you be new to massively multiplayer gaming (or online interactive entertainment as it’s beginning to be called) and looking for the game that will be right for you?
If any of these descriptions sound like you, I’d like to cordially invite you to check out the next big massively multiplayer game coming your way the first quarter of 2007…

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

Many MMOG players may already know about Vanguard and are looking forward to launch, or the opportunity to play in beta. Many of these people, especially long time gamers, are already active in our community and avidly looking forward to the game. These folks already know what they want out of Vanguard, and they believe that we at Sigil will deliver.

But there are some people who don’t realize that Vanguard may be the perfect game for them. They’re the people who are enjoying one of the current MMOs, but are ready for something deeper and more challenging. Or they’re folks who’ve heard of Vanguard but are misinformed about the game due to some of the rumors floating around. If either one of those circumstances is the case, I want to take the time to introduce you to Vanguard, and provide some resources for accurate information. We’ve made an effort to get the word out about Vanguard, whether through interacting with people on message boards, or releasing series of screenshots and in-game videos, or doing interviews for print and Web publications. Now I’d like to invite you to check out this information. Of course we can’t make a game that’s all things to all players (and really, who’d want to), but it might surprise you to learn that Vanguard could be the game for someone like you.

And neither do we want to make a game that’s a copy or clone of a popular game that’s already out there--players want choices, and meaningful ones at that. And now we want to help you make an informed choice about what massively multiplayer game you’ll be spending your time playing early next year, because how you spend your time is important, especially in a virtual world. You’re not just spending time, you’re investing time, both in your characters and in the relationships you form in-game. Some people may not understand online interactive entertainment and still think of MMOGs as “just games,” but while those guys play catch-up, we know they’re really so much more: they’re online communities, and these people we game with are real whether they live across the street or in another country. And not only are they real, they’re our friends. These “games,” the good ones anyway, aren’t just games, they’re homes.

So no matter who you are, we want to reach out to you and pique your interest in Vanguard because we are confident it's going to change the face of massively multiplayer online gaming next year, and the year after that, and…well, you get the picture--we’re in this for the long haul. Our aim, quite simply, is to offer an alternative to an online gaming genre that is dominated by a few very large and quite excellent games right now (Final Fantasy XI and World of Warcraft come to mind). Why? Because life is about choices, and that’s especially true when it comes to entertainment.

And Vanguard itself is about choices, too. It’s about freedom of choice. It contains content and quests and adventures for all sorts of people: casual players, “core” players, and even those who spend a lot of time in these games raiding in large groups. We're all about making a world that is inclusive, not exclusive. Vanguard offers a freedom that players have never before experienced--you have a wide variety of races and classes to choose from, unparalleled capability to customize your character, and multiple ways of advancing your character, be it through traditional adventuring, or an exciting system of harvesting and crafting, or a brand new spin on gameplay called diplomacy, where you use your wits and not your sword to decide the outcome of events and make your mark on the world.

And on top of all of this, the world itself is so immersive it’s mind-blowing. Telon, the world in which Vanguard takes place, awaits all sorts of people who want to be part of a living, breathing, virtual environment, in which you can own your own house, ride or sail a ship anywhere as far as you can see, and even one day fly through the clouds on the back of a dragon, a winged horse, or any number of mythical creatures to the destination of your choice. There are virtually no limitations in Vanguard--you get what you put into it and so much more. The world of Telon takes the “massive” in MMOG and cranks it up to eleven. But it's not just big for the sake of being big; it's full of variety and laid out in a seamless environment where if you can see an interesting location miles away in the distance--a dungeon or a castle, or really anything interesting at all--you can always get there. Exploration has been missing in some games as of late, but travel in Vanguard has meaning.

But we didn’t stop there either; we expanded upon the traditional high fantasy we all love and included not just one continent with familiar Western European, Tolkien-esque and Arthurian settings, but also another continent that draws from the tales of the Arabian Nights, full of pyramids, hanging gardens, and hidden jungles filled with exotic intrigue...virtually the entirety of Persian, Egyptian, and other middle eastern mythology. And then we went nuts and didn't stop there either; there’s a third continent, this time with an Oriental twist, which forms a vast archipelago of islands. Picture yourself as a thief or a ninja or a merchant or pirate, sailing from one isle to the next, discovering new lands and even lost empires swallowed whole long ago by the sea.

I've given you but a taste of what’s in store for you the first quarter of 2007, but I promise you there's *so* much more...far, far too much to cover here. I’d have to write thousands of pages of history and lore and background and settings. I’d have to design detailed game mechanics and systems that build upon every bit of our experience making these games and then goes even farther into the next generation of online gaming. Ah, but wait! Our team of over 100 people have already done just that and built all of it into this game, and they’ve been pouring their hearts and souls into it for over four years (not to mention those who worked on games like EverQuest, who have been dreaming about a virtual world like this for over a decade)! In fact, we’ve planned so much that you’re not only going to have all of this to experience soon, but after the game launches we have both live and expansion teams ready to add new content to the game; content that has, to a great degree, already been planned out so we know what Vanguard will look like and offer not just in 2007, but for more than seven years to come.

So how do you find out more? The heck with design documents and quest scripts and all of the art and data that makes an MMOG tick – that’s what we work with in-house at Sigil. Instead, check out our web sites and other resources, with more and more information being revealed virtually every day. Head to www.joinvanguard.com and find out more about the game as well as www.vanguardsoh.com where there are movies, screenshots, a detailed FAQ to answer your many questions about the game, and a very active message board community with well over 100,000 members. Find out what opportunities there will be to get into beta at some point. Read what people are saying about the game. Check out the screenshots and the videos. And don’t just read the boards, participate and ask us questions. Yeah, we developers are really there, with many of us using one screen to work on the game and another to interact with YOU to make sure we’re making the game YOU want to play.

So what are you waiting for?

-Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Original Producer & Co-Designer, EverQuest

[The Hiram Key]

I wonder if Brad has somehow tapped into the database for the forums, and anytime a Vanguard thread is not in the top 10 for more then 24 hours he gets an email alert.

[The Hiram Key]

Originally Posted by Aradune Mithara

So what are you waiting for?

-Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Original Producer & Co-Designer, EverQuest

Honestly ? TBC.

Edit: Well don't want to limit my answer to one genre, also waiting for Planetside 2, Assassin's Creed (I don't know what looks hotter, the game or the producer Jade Raymond). I want a look at Conan too but not super interested. Starcraft MMO !! Hillary08' Virtual reality gaming display's and controls via thoughts only, and a main line plug in from me to my computer, jack in and all that.

And of course, the end of the world !

[Lost Ranger]

Originally Posted by The Hiram Key

I wonder if Brad has somehow tapped into the database for the forums, and anytime a Vanguard thread is not in the top 10 for more then 24 hours he gets an email alert.

????

I see 7 WoW threads in the top 10 some giving new info, some not. I see this 1 Vanguard thread also giving new info to people but some how this one needs snide fucking comments? I really dont understand some of you guys... you give brad so much shit for "spamming" this place with Vanguard related stuff but seem completly fucking oblivious to the fact that this place get hits with 10x more "WoW Spam" then anything else. Some new Vanguard info has been over due, anyone interested in the game will be happy to read over some of this stuff. So give it a fucking rest already.

[Lyenae]

Originally Posted by Lost Ranger

with 10x more "WoW Spam" then anything .

WoW is out, successful, and played by alot of people on these forums.

I think people are just fed up, in general, with beta hype about a game 6-12months before it's out and when it's finally released, the game sucks. I'm not passing judgement on Vangard, but when the majority of MMO's beta hyped on forums suck when released (or quickly forgotten), I'm kinda sick of reading about broken promises, "what we plan to implement", and other such nonsense.

[Lost Ranger]

Anyway to stay on topic as im sure by the time I get to work there wont be one /sigh

When can we expect some more class related info damn you :P

[Lost Ranger]

Originally Posted by Lyenae

WoW is out, successful, and played by alot of people on these forums.

I think people are just fed up, in general, with beta hype about a game 6-12months before it's out and when it's finally released, the game sucks. I'm not passing judgement on Vangard, but when the majority of MMO's beta hyped on forums suck when released (or quickly forgotten), I'm kinda sick of reading about broken promises, "what we plan to implement", and other such nonsense.

I could go back 2 years worth of pages on this board and show you dozens and dozens of Pre-WoW hype threads. This is not just something thats happened with Vanguard the EXACT same thing happened with WoW before "it was out, sucessful" blah blah.

[Immy]

MMORPG board. Dont like some mmo threads, dont read them. Bye.