I really can’t do the game justice. It’s simply amazing. Take some time to peek at the screen shots, and it’s not hard to see why I love this game.

January 30th marked the 3rd anniversary of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. For those who are playing the game or perhaps have an active account (I realize some may be active with station access but not actually playing currently) you’ll want to make sure you jump into game and head to NT, Aghram, or Tower Galan and speak with a Telon Historian for a bag of goodies (pictured to the right). I logged in all seven of my characters in order to claim them – for one reason. See that Special Anniversary Bag listed There? Well. It’s 36 slots of pure awesomeness, with stats on top of it. Unlike the special bag that came from the first anniversary this one is able to be claimed on every character so long as you log in and find yourself that Historian.

There were also events in game – including a Ustream event. The downside is that this was only on the test server, which I didn’t have patched. VG is large enough on its own without me patching the extra server right now. I would have never made it in time either. *sighs* With only four servers in the game to begin with I can see why having one ‘local’ server may have been the best bet, but I would have still rather seen the event moved to the live servers. Show players who may not have been ‘in the know’ what is going on with their game. That’s right, people DO still play!

I wish I had unlimited time to play unlimited games. Vanguard has always been really high on my list of games I adore, but I just can’t devote as much time to it as I’d like. I still belong to my very active guild, and I still own my home that I built from scratch. I’m not THAT far from the current level cap of 55 (I’m sitting at 44 on my Bloodmage) and I’m a level 50 crafter. I haven’t touched diplomacy as much as I’d like (my highest level diplomat is still only 10 or so) and there are so many places in the world of Telon I’ve yet to explore fully. That’s one thing Vanguard really has going for it. It’s an entire world, and it FEELS like a world.

Happy 3rd Anniversary Vanguard – and whether the road is rocky or not, I’m hoping for many more.

Ellithia is sporting the Shard of Love headgear that dropped for us earlier this week – and that’s been the extent of my time in EQ2, which hasn’t happened in literally, months. I haven’t logged in. It’s not that I don’t have things to do in game, because I certainly do but I just don’t have enough time lately to do everything I want to do. Isn’t that always the case?

EQ2 is always my home base, and I’ll always return there. Especially after I glanced through this HUGE list of patch notes that are currently on test. Wow. Some pretty amazing stuff is finally getting fixed. This has been a very long time coming. Earlier this week I also transferred my 80 swashbuckler over to Antonia Bayle, so I can get back into boxing. I had closed my second account for a little while but decided that 12 alts was simply not enough, so I’ve got both accounts once more.

Vanguard is my home away from home. It’s the game I play for pleasure with a few friends when we all happen to have time, and I really love the game. The problem is it’s not one of those duck in real quick for a minute or two games, so it looks like it gets a lot of back burner time.

Aion is what I’m playing a lot of lately, mostly for work. I play during the day, when it’s quieter then normal and I can’t say I’m hating it. Leveling is slow, quests are grindy but it’s beautiful and still new, and I’ll be sticking with it.

Torchlight and Dragon Age are still on my play list as well, but I’ll probably be playing those more on the weekend when I’m not busy with other things. The weather is getting much colder and it’s almost time to hibernate for the winter. No doubt my adventures there will be fun as always.

NaNoWriMo is eating up a lot of time. I’m just over 12k words right now (although I completely slacked yesterday and didn’t do any writing – today I should be making up for it) and I’m excited about my story. It’s something that I’ve been meaning to write for a very long time, but simply never got around to. Now that the motivation is there I just need to stick with it for the month of November. I’ve also been very excited watching all my friends work on their stories, and the inspiration and motivation that bounces off of one another is fantastic.

There are five games that are on my “dang I wish I had more time” list currently. These are the Lord of the Rings Online, Fallen Earth, Wizard 101, EverQuest and Dungeons and Dragons Online. Thankfully DDO is free to play, so I don’t exactly feel like I’m missing out by NOT playing right now. The Lord of the Rings Online recently extended their special Mirkwood promotions until mid November, so I’ve been debating whether or not I want to get in on that and plurge on a life time just because. It’s one of those games I’ve really enjoyed playing but just can’t seem to find the time. Fallen Earth I managed to score a 15 day trial for, and never logged in – sighs. Wizard 101 is something I should be playing a lot more of next week, fingers crossed. EverQuest currently has their closed beta ongoing for Underfoot – and if I could convince a few of my friends to play with me, I’d probably be there a lot more. I really love EverQuest, always have, even 10 years later. It’s just not fun for me to play alone.

After the list of “I wish I had more time” games, there are a few games that I wish I could simply afford to take a peek into every so often, even if I don’t have the time. These include Warhammer (I loved the game, but lacked friends to play with), Free Realms, and Champions Online (which I played a few times but honestly never got into it, I was right about it simply not being the genre for me). Of course there’s those games I’ve tried but never stuck with (and I’ve tried them multiple times), EVE and World of Warcraft. I even bought the latest EVE game and never actually installed it (it went on sale for $5 if I recall) because I just don’t have the time right now to learn another game. I’ve played WoW off and on since release, and I just think it would have been neat to make it to the level cap at least once. My highest level is 50.

Don’t get me started on all the free to play games out there that tickle my fancy.

There really is just not enough time for everything.

Looking down at Renton Keep, working on the United Races of Thestra (URT) quests that reward some pretty good armor at lower levels. I’ve done these quests a lot, and each time I love them more and more – all except the one that we were working on today that involved hunting invisible mushrooms that simply refused to spawn. I was using my disciple which is a monk healer and a character I haven’t played in a VERY long time. If a disciple is not hitting a mob, typically that means they’re not healing. You have to melee in order for your heals to go off. This is difficult for me, as I’ve become accustomed to staying at range as a healer. Being right in the middle of the combat is breaking years of training to remain ranged.

With our duo we managed to defeat level 18 mobs without too much issue as long as they came alone (two dot) and three dots a level or two higher then us were also dealt with fairly easily. We wiped a few times when (usually do to some bad pathing) we found ourselves with a handful of brownies eager to eat us (how odd does that sound) but dying in Vanguard isn’t as heart wrenching as it once was. You do still need to recover your corpse to pick up the extra gear that’s not currently bound to you, and recover some experience, but you don’t have to do it naked any more.

I spent most of my time mentored from 23 to 13, but Hampooj hit level 14 as a Dread Knight, and we had a blast exploring Telon. Now if we could just find those mushrooms.

Yesterday was filled with Halloween goodness, so I didn’t really play all that much. I spent the evening giving out candy to frozen trick or treaters who braved the cold to go door to door, eating some great pizza, and playing Torchlight on the laptop since I was not at my own apartment (we don’t hand out candy at the apartment building, and I wanted to be a part of it this year). When I heard that EQ2 was putting on an event that included random void shards dropping all over Norrath until the 2nd of November, I decided to see about farming some, I need a lot still for my illusionist.

After hours of killing in Crushbone Keep with Hamal and Calreth, we decided it would have been far easier to just go and complete the void shard instances in TSO and actually get a shard, rather then hope one dropped from a chest (which it never did).

I did manage to get my bruiser from 15-36 in an hour or so of game play last night, she was the Oasis character I had level locked at 15 to work on achievements, but now that I have the shadowknight on Antonia Bayle, I decided one level locked character was more then enough.

Since I wasn’t sure how much time I would have, I didn’t get into any Vanguard yesterday, but Wpus did and now that the riftways on the Isle of Dawn are working, he left and inched his way to level 12. From all of his accounts he’s having an absolute blast, and I’m so glad to hear it. I’ve really loved the game and every time I hear that someone else is also enjoying it, I get a little tingle inside.

Hopefully everyone has been having an amazing weekend, no matter where you find yourself!

Yesterday a pretty hefty patch was implemented in Vanguard, and sadly it seemed to break more then it fixed. For one, it broke the Isle of Dawn riftway, which meant that none of us could get off of it to explore the rest of Telon even after we reached level 10 and accepted (and in some cases, completed) the quest to speak with the rift seeker. It also seems that special recipes for crafting on the Isle of Dawn are not showing up in recipe books, which means progressing specific chains was impossible.

Not exactly the glorious second day I wanted to show to a newcomer to the game but it also wasn’t something that really bothered either of us. We spent the day finishing off old quests that we still had kicking around in our journal, and made the dreaded flight to the Temple located up a hill in order to finish the main chains. This temple is a place I have died more times then I can count. It’s difficult, respawns tend to be quick, and there are named located in various parts.

It was fun to hear another persons views on the quests, and see his excitement as we completed our sets of armor including a cloak. Once you’ve done the main chains on the Isle of Dawn you finish off the quests that reward you little trinkets, these can be right clicked and combined together to create a bracelet that levels up with your character and grows in power.

Hopefully we’ll be able to leave the island before too long, and explore the rest of Telon. With the new mentor system, this is something I am looking forward to the most.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Yesterday I managed to convince a friend to give Vanguard a try. The station access pass is $30/m and gives you extra EQ2 character slots as well as access to all of the other SOE titles, so it wasn’t that difficult. I’ve gone on and on about Vanguard in the past to anyone who would listen, so he was eager to try it and see what I was talking about. He created a Dreadknight, which is Vanguards equivalent to a shadowknight, and I created a druid, which in Vanguard is a nuker. I did also have a very small heal, druids get points called phenomenon points and these are spent when you cast a few select spells (like the heals, or a nuke). You can save up 20 of these points at a time (or at least I could at my low level) and you gain them back by defeating mobs.

When I first created the druid it was a LOT of fun. They have some very high damage spells, some snares and roots. In Vanguard you can move while you cast, at a slower pace then normal. This makes kiting (with a speed buff) exceptionally fun and easy, bringing back fond memories of EQ1.

Experiencing the game through the eyes of someone who has never played before was great. I’ve convinced a few friends over time to give Vanguard a try, and even if they don’t stick with it long term they’ve all enjoyed their visits to the world of Telon. The bugs have been greatly reduced, and it runs far better then it ever has. On the Isle of Dawn with 40+ people in the zone I experienced 0 graphic or technical issues aside from getting stuck between a pile of rocks, and lets face it that was probably my own fault for trying to wiggle in there.

As the druid leveled up it became apparent to me that while these casters did have amazing firepower they are also exceptionally squishy, and unless I had room to move around killing could become a huge problem. There is one portion of the island that is caves, and I needed help with that, another portion is an indoor temple, again I would require help. The encounters were made very easy with the help of the dreadknight, who took the time to level up crafting and diplomacy too.

The newcomer to Vanguard absolutely LOVED harvesting in the game, and I can’t blame him. It’s very nice to whip out an actual axe and hack away at a tree to watch it groan and eventually topple once you’ve cut through it, plus harvesting can be a group or solo activity, with greater resources being the result of a group effort. He was intrigued by the entire crafting process and its complexity, which is something I’ve always really enjoyed. Vanguard may not be the game it was promised to be at launch, but it’s developed and progressed beautifully on its own terms.

Next? Getting off of the Isle of Dawn, when crafting, diplomacy, and adventuring are all at level 10. Then it’s time to mentor with my higher level characters and complete some content that I haven’t been to in a very long time. I’m looking forward to exploring some lower level dungeons, the game is refreshing, and I like that.

Wednesday! I hope everyone has a fantastic day no matter what game you find yourself in.

Instead of wandering around wizard city, or questing in Norrath, I decided to spend most of my evening yesterday (once power was restored) exploring Telon again, getting familiar with my characters in the hopes that I’d spend more time in Vanguard over the next little while then anything else. I’ve played off and on since release and while it’s never exactly been my ‘main’ game, I’ve always had fun. A huge factor of this is of course my guild, Safe Haven. Every time I log in there are no less then 10 people around and in the evenings that expands to 30-40 people. We’re not even the largest guild on the server (Seradon) I believe the Platinum Order is the largest.

Kanad from Shattered decided to play as well, and we met up in Thestra (Renton Keep) to test out the mentor system. He was playing his 14 shaman and I decided to play my 19 psionicist (enchanter). In Vanguard mentoring has a level range of 5, and there seem to be a few bugs. The instructions claimed I could still use my spells, but I would get unknown error messages if I tried to cast a spell that I had not already gotten one version of by level 14 (my mentor level). Once I was unmentored the spells worked fine. Once he leveled to 15 I was no longer able to mentor him until I hit level 20, granting the 5 level range again.

We worked on URT (United Races of Thestra) quest chains. By the end of the evening we had completed both the gloves and the shoes, then we decided to break and mend, get our new spells, etc.

It had been a LONG time since I crafted anything for anyone, but I still remember the click frenzy known as Vanguard crafting. I spent hours upon hours working on orders in order to farm sigils. One feature Vanguard has that I really enjoy is the vgplayers web site, where the achievements of your characters are auto-blogged. You can find the blog I have for Faydai (my 44 blood mage) here. Of course the main reason I mention crafting is that a guild mate requested an upgrade to five pieces of jewelery and I actually disco’d two of the five pieces (granted, only one shows up on that blog atm). I believe discoveries re-set every time the server re-sets but perhaps it doesn’t any more.

In any case, I was pleased to be the first person to make those particular pieces, and happy that I hadn’t forgotten how to craft. I delivered the bits and decided to call it a night, I may not have done a whole lot of leveling, but it was still fun. I’m looking forward to getting a lot more Vanguard time in the future (especially since this happens to be a long holiday weekend, Monday is Thanksgiving here in Canada).

Until then, happy gaming and I’ll see you in Norrath Telon!

I may not write about Vanguard all that often, but I still happen to play (and enjoy) the game a fair amount, and since I didn’t do all that much in EQ2 yesterday (more about that later) I decided why not. Vanguard is one of those games that I wish more people played. The population is exceptionally small (especially on servers like Sartok (pvp) or Halgar (EU) compared to Seradon (the most populated server). There IS a community there if you look for it, and it’s very close knit. I’ve been in the guild Save Haven for a number of years now, and lately there has been a surge in numbers and higher level characters in the guild which is something I haven’t seen for a very long time. Members are partaking in raids now, and on any given night there are 10-30 people around, which I think is fantastic.

My main problem in VG is that I feel so lost when I come back to the game – I don’t have the faintest idea where I should be leveling, or where I can actually handle the encounters. I look at the map to get a rough idea of what zones are where and what level it is aimed at, but that doesn’t always help.

I have a handful of quests on me, so I typically pick a “chunk” (zone) and off I go, hoping that it’s enough to gain me a little experience. Last night I was hunting bog creatures in order to find a very rare bracelet that one of the creatures seems to have eaten or stolen from a lady. I hunted for an or or so but saw no sign of the bracelet, I think it must have been digested.

I wanted to do a little crafting, but apparently there’s a pretty sever bug right now that eats up your crafting supplies without giving you anything in return, so I decided to avoid it for the night and just spent my time quietly questing, talking to guild mates and finding my way around. It was a great way to spend an evening.

I’ve been pretty pro vanguard since release, despite the bugs and issues with performance, I always felt that the good surpassed the bad, and I’ve always personally enjoyed playing. I don’t debate that the release was absolutely horrid, but for some reason something still keeps me coming back for more.

Time to go draw a name for a contest I was hosting over on the Beckett MOG forums for an umbra sword, so I’ll end this post early today. Hopefully I’ll get a little more game time in, we’ll just have to see!

Happy gaming no matter where it finds you.

I love my job, I really do. Being able to write about something I enjoy as well as something I’m passionate about is a great gift that I try to make sure I’m aware of constantly. On my web site, I write for me and I love talking about my adventures, thoughts, friends and anything else that happens to cross my mind. The only time any of this is difficult is when it all seems to happen at once. These days there are so many games out there, that I simply don’t have enough time to play everything I want. It’s a shame, because I’d really love to.

EQ2 is my ’steady’ game even though I’m barely playing it these days (it’s due to being crunch week and no other reason) it’s the comfort game that I know inside and out, and I like that comfort factor. However. It’s not the only game I want to play and certainly not the only game I am playing.

I’ve been having an incredible urge to continue playing EQ, which I have waded in and out of for quite some time now. Problem is I don’t enjoy playing EQ alone (where as in EQ2 I have no problem wandering around on my own) and it’s difficult for me to make friends (especially when I waver to and from games). I have my 81 necromancer that I’m considering leveling a little, she’s fairly close to level 82. I’ve always wanted to hit “end game” in everquest, and with the expansion NOT raising the level cap in November, it may very well be a possibility.

Vanguard is another one of those “if I only had more time” games. I seem to be in a rut with my blood mage, and I’m slowly running out of areas where I can just dip in for an hour or two before calling it quits and feel as though I have gotten anything acomplished.

Last month I won a free copy of Age of Conan, I think I found the time to play once during the month that came with the game, and then it sat neglected. For some reason it just does not appeal to me as much as I wish it had. It may be because I’m not really a melee person, and it felt uncomfortable. Either way, it’s one of those “I wish I had more time” games – along with many others.

Lord of the rings online – I really enjoy this game, a lot. It’s familiar, it’s beautiful. I want to continue playing but for now my account lays dormant because once again the greedy time monster has taken all of my time away, and I just don’t have any to spare or to warent spending a monthly subscription for it.

So what AM I playing? Well, my current play list includes EverQuest II, Vanguard (barely), Free Realms (barely), World of Warcraft (please don’t shoot me, it’s easy to dive into for an hour and feel like I actually acomplished something), Wizard 101, Aion Beta, and some DDO.  I want to be able to devote more time to EVE, but that learning curve is so far over my head I may as well actually be playing from another planet. I’ve been having fun in Aion, but again – not enough time to play everything I want to play, and to get work done as well as real life things (plus I can’t actually sit at my desk for too long before I start to get sore from health issues).

While I am excited that there are so many games out there (don’t even get me started on console games and finding time to play those too!) there are certainly moments where I wish the selection were smaller. Am I the only one?