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Frequently Asked Questions
The following is Vanguard Live's FAQ, which covers just about everything you can imagine about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
Sigil has its own FAQ, which covers its philosphies on game design and a lot of other things. That can be found right here.
There is also an Official Vanguard FAQ, from which some of this FAQ's entries have been taken. Check both of their FAQs out -- there is some information there that we don't have in here (usually because it's not completely related to the game).
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When will you start Beta Testing? * Beta Testing is incredibly important for massively multiplayer games -- there's simply so much content and gameplay to test that it can't be done in-house
That said, other than committing to the fact that we will indeed have one, and preferably a long one, it's far too early to announce dates.Source Link | Entry Link How will Beta Testing work? * Our preference would be to break it into phases and involve more and more people each phase. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link How long will Beta Testing last? * Ideally, a beta test would last forever, but at the same time these are commercial endeavors. Looking at all of the MMOGs to-date, we think it's pretty clear that those with longer beta periods have clearly benefited. So while it's too early to commit to any sort of timeframe, sufficient time to test and balance before release is certainly very important to us.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be multiple phases (of beta)? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link How will you choose beta testers? * We've not decided that yet in detail, and it will likely vary depending on which phase of beta the game is inSource Link | Entry Link Will there be an NDA? * Most likely, yes, at least during the initial phases.Source Link | Entry Link When will Vanguard: Saga of Heroes be released? * While we have internal target dates for all of our milestones, including launching the game, it's far too early to announce or publicly commit to a release date at this time.Source Link | Entry Link Where will it be released? * The game will be released internationally.Source Link | Entry Link What about the international (non-USA) release and related timing issues? * It is too early to speculate, and this will be more up to Microsoft and its distribution infrastructure than Sigil.Source Link | Entry Link How do you plan on dealing with Internationalization? * All we can really say at this point is that we plan to release Vanguard internationally -- it is not a US or North American only product. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link How will you handle the various real world languages and language barriers? * The Vanguard client will employ Unicode and various alphabets and character sets.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be translation of in-game content? * It is too early to announce anything in this area.Source Link | Entry Link Will there real-time chat translation? * We are interested in exploring real-time translation, but it is too early to commit to how and when it might be implemented.Source Link | Entry Link Do you plan on having expansions? * Absolutely. One of the most powerful aspects of MMOGs is their ability to be both patched and expanded. In that sense, they are never truly 'done'... new content can always be added both to the existing world as well as to new areas, opening up all sorts of exotic and exciting places to explore.
Of note is that internally we are planning ahead for expansions and the “big picture”. We intend to address many of the negative expansion issues from the past by preparing now for making transitions to new content and dealing with level limits, item power and inflation.Source Link | Entry Link How often do you plan to release expansions? * We think that will become clearer during beta and as the massively multiplayer market matures. We are also interested in exploring monthly, episodic content, and would need to make sure this was coordinated with the expansions.
What's most important to us is that, whatever the frequency, expansions are not rushed and contain realistic goals in terms of content and features relative to that frequency.Source Link | Entry Link Would expansions be store-bought or episodic (patched), or both? * Hopefully both. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be downloadable free content as well? * Yes, there will be a Vanguard Live Team in charge of refreshing and revamping existing areas.Source Link | Entry Link How long have you been working on Vanguard and how far along are you guys in development right now (March, 2004)? * Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler formed Sigil in January 2002. The Vanguard deal was put together with Microsoft in April 2002 and we started hiring the team. By July/August 2002 or so we'd begun serious coding, although the design work began in earnest in April 2002. We're also on record publicly that it takes a solid 3+ years to build one of these games right.
We purposely started the team out small and built it only as needed. While we just recently surpassed 30 employees, most of this time we were in the 15-20 people range.
We're very proud of using this 'lean & mean' approach to leverage existing technology and build and enhance tools with our experienced MMOG team -- it worked with original EQ, it's working now, and it makes the most financial sense for both the developer and the publisher.
Along with a strong vision, the most important part of MMOG development is getting all departments working concurrently: art, design, and programming.
Programming is in full swing, and art has been in production mode for several months now. In terms of gameplay, design has now been underway for a couple of months with tomes of lore and design documents to back them up.
Where we're at and what we've accomplished thus far is unprecedented, especially when you look at other MMORPGs in production, given how long they've been in development and the amount of people being utilized.
That said, we'll continue grow (in fact, we're nearing a growth spurt now). It takes a lot of people to build these huge worlds, and Vanguard is a triple-A title. But we'll grow as needed, by continuing to hire the best and the brightest in the industry.
Right now the world of Vanguard is being built, pathed, and populated. Core features are present, the designers are putting content into the world, and the game is playable. What that does is gives us a LOT of time to build cool and innovative features on top of this foundation and to be prepared for a serious, involved beta test with both testing and balancing the game and all of its content a focus.
It also puts us in a position to 'throw people at the problem' in a constructive and deliberate way -- neither too early nor too late.Source Link | Entry Link
In the context of the game, what is a class and a role? * Classes will be based on traditional High Fantasy classes that we've all seen in various MMOGs, MUDs, paper & pencil games, and novels.
They are also a way to group like skills and abilities.
Roles are more high level and deal with our approach to making sure that each class has a role to play in casual, group, and raid situations. In the past, issues dealing with hybrids vs. specialists, especially in the elder game, have been problematic. Our approach with Vanguard will be to better define core roles and to make sure we have different, interesting classes, but that they'll be important in most all scenarios, regardless of level, setting, or casual/group/raid areas.Source Link | Entry Link How many classes will there be? * Quite a variety, but we're not ready to release them yet (and, when we do, they'll probably be released a few at a time).Source Link | Entry Link How does choosing classes work? * It's done both at character creation and based on decisions made in-game. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be traditional High Fantasy classes? * Absolutely. We are also committed to expanding class selection to include several new and exciting character types.Source Link | Entry Link How will you deal with the hybrid vs. specialist issues? * By defining core roles that each class needs to fit into so we don't run into the hybrid/specialist problems we've seen in other games.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be multi-classing? * Not in the traditional sense. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will one class be able to solo better than another? * Maybe, but it will be situational. Again, going back to the system of roles, each class needs to serve a purpose in casual, group, and raid scenarios.Source Link | Entry Link
What type of in game social structures will there be? * Groups, guilds, friends lists, fellowships, and some other cool new ideas we have. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be tools to help manage a guild? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be limits to guild sizes? * Probably, yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will it be easy to start up a guild? * Not necessarily, no.Source Link | Entry Link Will players be able to engage in guild wars? * Probably on certain PvP servers.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be in and out of game guild chat systems? * Most likely, yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be guildhalls and/or guildbanks? * There will be player owned property. There may be the ability to transfer ownership and control of property from an individual to a group of individuals.Source Link | Entry Link
Will there be crafting (non hack-n-slash gameplay)? * Yes, and it's integral to the game.Source Link | Entry Link How will crafting work? * All we can say at this point is that it will be a lot more involved, interactive, and exciting than traditional MMOG crafting systems. We feel strongly that crafting should be a lot more than click-click-click, or setting a harvesting device to extract materials while you go off to actually do something fun. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link How will crafting affect the economy? * Crafters and adventurers can not only co-exist, but they can be interdependent, allowing multiple types of play styles and preferences to exist in the same game-world making things more interesting and robust, especially when it comes to a player driven economy.Source Link | Entry Link How will crafting affect dropped loot? * Some dropped loot will be materials for crafters; some materials for crafters will only be attainable by crafters; and there will still be special complete treasure found by adventurers the old fashioned way. Source Link | Entry Link
What about the character death – how does it work? * Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes will employ a variation on the traditional corpse retrieval death penalty – you die, you return to your bind point but leave a corpse behind and that corpse contains the items and coin you had in your possession. You will generally need to return to that corpse and loot it to regain the items and coin.
Here’s why: a CR (character corpse retrieval) with experience loss has two components: a static penalty based on your level or some such (the experience loss), and a dynamic penalty relative to where you died.
The trick with the static penalty is to balance it such that it stings but doesn't overly frustrate (easier said than done, yes). Death is part of the game -- it means the player is taking risks, entering new areas, exploring, etc. We don't want to over-penalize that and discourage exploration. But, then, if there is no penalty, it's not a risk. By the way, as you all know, there are a couple of approaches to this: conventional exp loss, exp debts, not allowing levels to be lost, etc. Regardless of the precise implementation, we think experience 'loss' is better than losing an item or your skills -- to us, that's too harsh.
The dynamic death penalty is something we feel is very important. If you die on a hill outside the city and someone else dies in the depths of a dungeon, your two CRs will vary significantly in both difficulty and time invested. And they should. That hill outside isn't supposed to be a risky area, and the rewards are set accordingly. The bottom of a dungeon, however, is a nasty, scary place with awesome treasure. In other words, the CR helps us control risk vs. reward. As a side benefit, it can also help community by creating interdependence as one often requires assistance to get their corpse back from those depths.
What we don't like is newbies losing their corpses. Fighting to get to your corpse is fine, but not knowing where it is at all is a problem. In this and in other areas, the CR style death penalty will vary a bit from the more traditional approach -- more on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will my corpse rot? Corpses with items on them will not rot.Entry Link
Will there be monthly content, like a story arc, that will continually progress? * Perhaps -- it's something we are considering. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Is the game level or skill based, or both? * The simple answer is that Vanguard is more of a traditional level based game than it is a traditional skill based game.
That said, really, levels are simply a way to group skills and abilities (as are different classes and races). These defined roles are used to foster interdependence and community building.Source Link | Entry Link How will characters advance? * There will be a number of advancement paths depending on the role, class, race, etc. that you choose for your character(s). More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link How many levels will there be? * It's too early to say, although it is worth mentioning that we are planning level 'caps' out beyond the initial release of the game and into expansions to avoid shoe-horning in new levels or inventing alternate advancement mechanisms.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be a faction system? * Yes. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will we be able to see our faction standing? * Yes. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link How important a role will faction play? * It's tied into quite a few areas of gameplay. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be different religions? * Yes. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link How will religions affect game play?
* We're still working on the details. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Can we expect to see religion specific quests or items? * Most likely not specifically, although you can expect to see faction specific quests and items (and a faction can relate to or represent a religion, amongst other things).Source Link | Entry Link Will gods or their avatars be killable? * We're undecided at this point. There are good arguments for and against killing gods and other powerful beings. Is it really the god you are slaying or only his avatar or manifestation? More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be an alignment system? * Yes and no. There will not be a traditional system where you decide the initial alignment of your character. Alignments will be implicit, not explicit, and more related to what your character does and how he or she interacts with various factions and other entities in-game.Source Link | Entry Link Can we be good, evil, or neutral? * You are free to role-play different alignments, but you won't explicitly select an alignment at character creation.Source Link | Entry Link Will this affect how we play the game and how the game reacts to us? * Your characters actions and the decisions you make will affect various outcomes, including those of factions, quests, etc. Source Link | Entry Link Is the gameplay more ‘Twitch’ or more ‘Strategic’ or a balance between the two? * Definitely a balance between the two. MMOGs are not twitch games, but they also don't need to involve boring encounters where you turn on auto-attack and sit back and watch. We plan on adding quite a bit of excitement and decision making to combat and other gameplay areas.Source Link | Entry Link What kind of focus and priority do you place on the newbie experience? Will there be a tutorial? * The newbie experience and not intimidating new players with information overload is very important. The depth and detail behind the game will be unveiled gradually for the new player.
There will definitely be a tutorial.Source Link | Entry Link Will Vanguard: Saga of Heroes support voice communication? * Yes. More details to follow.Source Link | Entry Link What about in-game mapping and navigation? Will it be present and how will it work? * We have some pretty cool ideas on how to integrate mapping and navigation without spoiling the fun of exploration and earning the privilege to experience higher level areas.Source Link | Entry Link Will I be able to alt-tab and/or run the client in a window? * We made the decision to try to keep EverQuest non-switchable back in the day, and it was a tough call. It's one of those instances where you are penalizing the many for the problems caused by the few That said, EverQuest's been one of the least macro-able, hackable games. We took a tough stance on cheating and we think that turned out to be one of the reasons the game has remained as compelling as it has, aging pretty well.
All that said, Vanguard will be switchable/windowable/minimizable because of the way newer operating systems and graphics APIs work. And, honestly, we’re glad. The additional challenges to keep the game as 'cheat-free' as possible are more than worth the effort, and we'll also do our best to impact the average, honest gamer as little as possible.Source Link | Entry Link Is the game first person, third person, or what? How does camera control work? * Our philosophy is to pretty much allow the player to put the camera where he or she wants. Third person, first person, whatever -- it's a matter of preference (for example, some people are almost always in first person unless in a complicated battle, and then switch to 3rd and pan the camera around as necessary). Pretty much as long as one can't put the camera through a wall or a mile down the road, it's all good.
We also really like the use of the mouse wheel to switch between 1st and 3rd. We think this is another area where it should be totally user-configurable. Do you like first person view? Go for it. Third person? Great.
Keyboard only movement? Quake-style keyboard and mouse? Point and click where you want to go? Have some whacky blindness & nausea inducing bleeding-edge VR helmet? Go to the 'movement options screen' and choose.Source Link | Entry Link How will the User Interface work? Will it use XML skins? Will it be customizable? * The UI will come with several different configurations and also be configurable by the user. Tom King, who is well known for his contributions to MMOG UIs, is responsible at Sigil for taking customizability and UI design to the next level.Source Link | Entry Link
What is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? * It is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by Sigil Games Online. Visit the official Vanguard website.
Vanguard's purpose is to become the premier third generation massively multiplayer RPG. Given the significant success of games such as EverQuest, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and Asheron’s Call, it is clear that a strong demand for fantasy based MMORPGs exists. To meet the growing demand for a game that advances the multiplayer fantasy genre, Sigil is using the combined experience and creativity of its team to bring players a new and challenging feature set with deep, involving game content.
Vanguard is a High Fantasy themed Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) with a heavy focus on character development, an immersive world, player interdependence, and which strives to meet the following goals:
• To lead the next generation of massively multiplayer RPGs by using Sigil’s unparalleled expertise and experience in the field. Our team consists of original EverQuest team members, EverQuest expansion team members, as well as team members from EverQuest 2 and EverQuest Online Adventures (PS/2).
• To lead the next generation of massively multiplayer RPGs by implementing unparalleled static and dynamic content using advanced approaches including, but not limited to: advanced encounter systems; meaningful travel; a detailed and interesting seamless world; advanced immersive gameplay and graphics, and pre-planned expansions for both the short and long term health of the game. We also have quite a few ideas and preliminary plans that we consider revolutionary. These innovations, although they will be under wraps for some time to come, should take the genre to the next generation and beyond.
•To bring back to the genre a challenging and rewarding environment -- removing tedium and frustration (which we certainly aim to do) does not mean a game necessarily has to be easy.Source Link | Entry Link What is Sigil Games Online? Sigil Games Online is the developer of Vanguard. It is a new developer composed of industry veterens. Find out more about Sigil at their official website.Entry Link What is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game)? * While many computer games support multiplayer gaming, few are designed to support thousands of simultaneous players. Most online games allow for 16 or 32 players to connect to a server that is usually controlled by one of the players. This is called a client-server network for online games.
Massively multiplayer games work in a similar way but on a much larger scale.. The player runs the 'client' program (a client is a program which has been downloaded onto the player’s computer) which then connects over the Internet to servers administered by the company that hosts the game (the servers are the computers located at the company).
Imagine logging into a virtual fantasy world, creating your own character, and then being free to explore that world, to meet friends, and to learn new skills and acquire items of power.
Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes is that game and that world. Whether you are logged on or not, thousands of others most certainly are, and the world persists and evolves regardless of who is logged on and when.
If you think about the huge graphical Internet described in cyberpunk novels like Snowcrash or the holodeck in Star Trek, MMORPGs are really the logical predecessors to these virtual worlds of the future. Source Link | Entry Link What do you mean by a ‘third generation MMORPG’? * We usually use the word ‘generation’ more like an 'era'... when a group of games come out around the same time, were in development mostly around the same time, and therefore couldn't use each other as reference nearly as much as older games, we call that a generation.
Under that definition, M59, UO, AC, EQ, etc. were all first generation. They pretty much just had MUDs to look back on and be inspired.
When you get to AC 2, SW:G, EQ 2, and WoW, all of the developers are able to look back not only at MUDs but also at what worked and didn't work with the first generation of MMOGs.
Vanguard will have the advantage of looking back at both generations, learning again from what worked and didn't work with all of those games. In other words, we will be able to analyze EQ 2, WoW, etc. too.
That doesn't mean our definition of 'generation' is 'right' or 'official', but that is the rationale we use when we refer to Vanguard as a 3rd generation massively multiplayer role-playing game.Source Link | Entry Link Why should I play your game? I already have a guild and massive time invested in another MMOG. * All games age, even massively multiplayer games with content that can be patched and updated. Economies grow old and inflated, the 'newness' and reward for exploring the world wears off. Technology also continues to advance and games probably can't be updated indefinitely, especially if that level of flexibility wasn't built in from inception.
Really, though, you, your friends, and your guild need to decide if you're ready for a change. Our goal with Vanguard is to take everything we've learned ourselves in the last 8+ years and by watching and playing other MMOGs and take the genre to the next level. We're certainly ready for a new game, and we hope many of you are as well and will give Vanguard a try. If what you learn about Vanguard from this FAQ and elsewhere intrigues you and sounds like something you might enjoy, we don't think you'll be disappointed..Source Link | Entry Link Does it cost money to play Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? * Yes. Most likely the game will follow the traditional model of buying the box in the stores, receiving a free trial period, and then paying a monthly subscription fee. Other payment plans and options may be made available.Source Link | Entry Link Who is the game's publisher? * Microsoft Game StudiosSource Link | Entry Link What are the technical requirements for the game? * The Vanguard client will be built to take advantage of the average gamer's machine at the time of release. The graphics engine is also very scalable, so a below recommended spec machine should be able to run the game, albeit with less graphics goodness than a more powerful PC. Likewise, as newer and more power systems and cards come on the market, the Vanguard client will take advantage of them as well, scaling upwards.
It's too early to announce Vanguard's hardware, memory, or storage requirements.Source Link | Entry Link Where can I find that leaked screenshot from April 2003? Sorry, but we can't say. We can link to you Brad McQuaid's official response to the issue, however.Entry Link How long has Vanguard been in development? Design work started in April 2002, with true development of Vanguard beginning aroundJuly/August, so you do the math.Entry Link
Will there be a player driven economy, and if so why, and how will it work? * The simple answer is yes. But player-driven economies in MMOGs are really complicated. It's probably been the source of more debates internally, with other developers, and within the MMOG community in general than just about any other topic.
We’ll put out a few thoughts, and some aspects of how we feel about MMOG economies and the challenges.
First, a closed economy can't work. One can't have a completely controlled environment where only X of one item exists, or Y gold exists, and then when another item is created there is some mechanism to guarantee one of those same items is removed from the game. In addition to the logistics involved (which are terribly complicated), it's also just not fun.
So, we're left with open economies. That means, to some degree, no matter what, more items are going to enter the world than leave. This, in turn, leads to inevitable MUDflation: an item that is rare because there are only 5 in the world on day 1 will be less rare 20 days later because there are then, for the sake of example, 100. If, assuming the demand stays the same and the supply is going up, prices for that item will go down (assuming, again, that the total amount of money in the world is relatively the same -- this stuff gets complicated).
So, what we’re saying is that the economy of an older server in an open system, no matter what, will be different than a younger server. And this can certainly get out of hand, because as the supply of an item increases and the demand decreases, that item will 'trickle-down' to lower and lower level people, until eventually the level 1 guy buys the Flaming Sword of Sigilean Doom(TM) for 3 copper pieces.
If crafting items is a heavy part of the game (and, in Vanguard, it is), we don't think this by definition has to change much of anything. The issues remain the same, and the controls are very similar. In a non-crafting-centric game, one controls the drop-rate of a 'completed' item. In a crafting-centric game, one controls the rate at which the components the crafter uses to create the item enter the game world. In a mixed-game (like Vanguard), one controls both the drop rates of components and finished items.
Dupe bugs and the like can hasten MUDflation, bringing the game to that ludicrous point all the more quickly. This is why they are very bad and must be dealt with quickly.
Money (say, platinum or gold) probably shouldn't be thought of as analogous with items. One way to consider money is to look back at why it was 'invented': Bob had a cow he wanted to trade to Sally for Sally's pig; Sally, however, really hates beef and doesn't want Bob's bovine. So Bob has to find somebody else to trade his cow to until he eventually has an item of value to Sally to get her pig. Money is just a medium that everyone agrees has a 'value' so trading/bartering isn't such a hassle.
Because of this, the 'value' of money can be fairly easily controlled in an MMOG. For example, let's say there are 10 Flaming Maces of Death in the game and that the player-driven economy (e.g. supply/demand -- the relationships of how many of the item there are, how hard it is to obtain, and how useful it is in-game) has determined it's worth 100 gold. If, magically, there was suddenly 10 times the gold in the world-state, the 'value' of the item would quickly change and, all things equal, would be 'worth' 1000 gold even though the supply and demand hadn't changed. People simply have more money to spend (again, this is very simplified -- the distribution of the wealth and a ton of other factors exist as well).
But, anyway, this can be controlled via money sinks. In other words, if there is too much gold in the world, money sinks can be created and/or turned up. Coffins and gems in EverQuest are a good example... there was a situation where higher level players had so much platinum that it ceased to be as useful in terms of buying/selling/trading... it stopped performing its function (outlined above: to make the bartering process easier). To fix this, all sorts of things were added that were very useful to the higher level player but cost a lot of plat, and we also made those useful things generally consumable (e.g. they left the world). Very quickly, there was a lot less plat, it was useful to higher level players, and therefore usable again to purchase both consumable and persistent items.
Of course, none of this addresses the fact that players want non-transient items. They don't want everything to be consumable, or to wear out. They want to have pride in that Glimmering Epic Bow of Accuracy, because they worked for 3 months on an intricate and difficult and dangerous quest to earn it. When items one earns wear out (like, say, in real life), it’s just not fun.Source Link | Entry Link How do you feel about players selling accounts, items, and other in-game ‘property’ outside of the game, in auctions and/or for real money? * It's too early to announce actual policies, but we will say we've never been fans of selling items outside of the game. Ideally we enter these virtual worlds to escape the real world... who we are, how much money we have, etc. What we earn in-game should have little or no bearing on what we've accomplished in real-life.
When you encounter another character in-game who is equipped with rare items, it's bad enough when you think he might have twinked without warrant, and even worse when you find out he just bought them on eBay. To us, it diminishes the accomplishments of those who actually earned those items by playing the game. Source Link | Entry Link How ‘item-centric’ is the game; how important is item acquisition? * Vanguard will be a very item acquisition-centric game... questing, crafting, and adventuring to obtain items that enhance your character will be key, as will honing your skills and abilities.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be automated ways of selling items, such as a bazaar, or seller NPCs (vendors)? * We’re not too fond of global or centralized selling/buying systems. To us, part of a virtual world is making exotic lands that take time to travel to, have unique items, and allowing merchants and the like to create 'silk roads'... transporting items more common in one region to another, and selling them for more because they're rarer there. Global chat channels, bazaars, and the like take away from a lot of this.
Now, that doesn't mean we don't plan on having player controlled vendors and the like, ala Ultima Online for example, but they should be spread out all over the world. Source Link | Entry Link Will there be item decay? If so, why? What is it for? * Item decay should never be a hassle... things wear out in real life, and we play games to escape real life.
Item decay also shouldn't be a means by which items are removed from the player economy -- it's not a valid item sink in our opinion. To make it one, the rate at which items leave the world due to degradation would have to approach the rate at which they were entering the world, resulting in a game that certainly couldn't consider item acquisition as a focus or retention mechanism (and Vanguard does).
Item decay could, however, be done in an interesting fashion to increase interdependence between those preferring tradeskills and those preferring adventuring. We intend to use some degree of item decay in this regard. Source Link | Entry Link Will there be in-game item and money sinks to encourage players to remove items and money from the economy? * Yes, these are important components of slowing and controlling item and money inflation (MUDflation).Source Link | Entry Link Will items have restrictions on them to control who can use them? * Many will, yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be item class and race restrictions? * Yes and YesSource Link | Entry Link Will there be item level Restrictions? * There won't be 'hard' level restrictions, no; it's likely that we will use 'soft caps' on statistical gains and usefulness.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be item gender Restrictions? * No.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be faction restrictions on items? * We hope to support faction based equipment.Source Link | Entry Link Will items be used to help define class roles at high levels? * In some cases, yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be epic or unique items or artifacts? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link How will item storage work? * Items can be stored on your character's person, as well as in certain properties and on certain vehicles.Source Link | Entry Link
What kinds of NPCs will I encounter in Telon? * A wide variety of traditional High Fantasy creatures as well as quite a few original monsters as well.Source Link | Entry Link Can you tell me about NPC AI? * NPC AI will be more advanced than seen in previous MMOGs, but the details will be forthcoming.Source Link | Entry Link How will NPC pathing work? Will NPCs get stuck at times? * They shouldn’t get stuck, no. As opposed to using a pathing system based on designers placing pathing nodes, we've implemented a more advanced algorithmic system that is both more thorough and accurate.Source Link | Entry Link Will you use massively scripted NPC events? * You bet :) In fact, the author of the famous Ring War quest, Steve Burke, is one of our Senior Designers. He and the other designers feel that with our next generation tools we'll be able to take these events to the next level.Source Link | Entry Link How will we interact with NPCs? * In all of the traditional ways (talking/hailing, transacting, fighting, as banks, etc.), as well as some new ways. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be dragons? * In the world of Telon many ancient beings lie dormant. Dragons are amongst their numbers.
Will you see a dragon or god walking about the game after starting a new character? Not likely.
Will you slay one before the release of our first expansion? Doubtful, but the challenge will always be there...Source Link | Entry Link
What sort of customization will be available at Character Creation? * After you choose your character's race, you will have a variety of choices as to the appearance of both your character's face and body.Source Link | Entry Link What about my character’s appearance and clothing – will I be able to make my character appear unique? * When making an item-acquisition-centric game, the appearance of those items when worn or wielded is extremely important. You ought to be able to look at someone and say 'Wow, she's got an Iron Crown of the Fire Giant Warlords on!! I’ve never seen one – only heard stories! Where did she get that?'
Arbitrarily and/or easily changing this layer of worn/wielded items directly conflicts with the above premise. That said, what if there were multiple layers and/or configurations for a character... a decorative layer, perhaps, that could be more easily customized to a person's whim and at the same time not interfere with the 'earned' layer.
We are committed to the former, and interested in experimenting with the latter (the decorative layer). More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link How many characters will I be allowed per account? * Nothing is set in stone; however, it is unlikely you will be meaningfully limited.Source Link | Entry Link How many characters will I be allowed per ‘shard’? * This is really one of those controversial issues where there's pretty much no point in us taking sides. There are lots of reasons why one character per server is good and also bad. We think the answer is to have this functionality part of the ruleset associated with the server, not the game.
Some team members prefer to play in a single character per server world for a variety of reasons (most especially so that you could have different factions/races/nationalities without players easily being able to play different sides, although a second account still gets around this).
But for others that’s not true – some are willing to give up the flexibility of trying out all sorts of character combinations because they tend to fixate on one character. Others here at Sigil, however, LOVE to have multiple characters in the same world, to play one of them one day, to dabble with another combination the next. And if you told them they had to do that on different worlds for each character, well, they'd not respond kindly.
So there's really no 'right' or 'wrong'... this is a preference, and preferences can generally be facilitated by varying non-core rules on different servers.Source Link | Entry Link How will you handle character naming, unique names, etc.? Can my character have a first and last name? * Our plans are currently to require characters to have a first and a last name at character creation in order to allow players to have unique names.Source Link | Entry Link What about Character Statistics – will players know what they mean? * We will better document the various character statistics and what they do. We will also strive to make their application more consistent and meaningful. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be character emotes? * Yes. There will be many done via the text interface, and hopefully a large subset of them visible via character animations.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be character animations? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will characters react to the environment? For example, sit on a chair or lay on a bed? * Too early to say -- our focus is currently more on interacting with the environment in ways directly relating to gameplay.Source Link | Entry Link Will characters age? * Most likely no.Source Link | Entry Link Will characters need to eat and drink? * Yes, although food and water consumption will occur automatically.
Additionally, we hope to include consumables that affect gameplay (for example, food that provides a temporary stat bonus, etc.)Source Link | Entry Link Will I need to use outside tools like parsing in order to effectively play my character? * Some players will choose to do this regardless of what we do, but where we find it meaningful and useful we hope to provide the information most players seek in-game.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be different pathways to improve my character? * Definitely. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will you allow server transfers? * This is undecided at this point. If we do, they will be without the character's items, or full transfers to new servers, or full transfers when servers are split due to over population.Source Link | Entry Link Will you allow players to buy pre-made characters? * Not from us, no, and we will discourage out-of-game auctioning of players and items to the best of our ability.Source Link | Entry Link Will level progression be fast or slow? * Sigil's Philosophy:
Progression should be challenging and rewarding, and therefore certainly take time, that doesn't mean it should feel slow. In other words, more, smaller rewards, more often, could work. Even if the game was designed to take the average player 2 years to max out, or see it all, there ought to be lots of rewards, new items, new skills, etc. 'unlocked' en routeSource Link | Entry Link
Will there be player owned housing and how will that work? * Players will be able to build and own houses and other types of structures, as well as store items in those structures. More detail to follow.Source Link | Entry Link Will I be able to own and operate my own ship? Yes.Entry Link
What kinds of quests will you use? * We've implemented an advanced flag-based quest system that is very flexible. More details to come.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be branching quests? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will players be able to repeat quests? * Some yes, some no.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be different types of rewards for quests? * Yes, there are quite a few types of rewards including but not limited to items, experience, faction adjustments, etc.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be some sort of journal to keep track of quests? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will we see different types of rewards for quests? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link What relationship if any will factions, alignment, and quests have? * Completing quests may adjust faction, but there is not explicit alignment associated with your character.Source Link | Entry Link
How many player character races will the game offer? * Quite a variety. We will be unveiling the various player character races on Vanguard's web site over time.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be racial innate abilities? If so, what kind? * Yes, though it's too early to document them. We are, however, dedicated to creating racial innate abilities that do not make one race the 'end all and be all' selection for a particular class. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will different races start near or far from each other? * Different groups of races originating on the same continent will most likely start relatively near each other to allow friends to find each other fairly soon after they begin playing (in other words, we hope to avoid situations where two friends each create a character of their favorite race and then enter the game only to find out they are separated by vast distances).Source Link | Entry Link Will the races each have different starting stats? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link Will every race be able to play every class? * No. There are race/class combinations that we feel are simply not traditional in a High Fantasy setting and should be avoided.Source Link | Entry Link What Races are there in Vanguard? Confirmed races include Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Vulmane. No information is yet available on any of them.Entry Link
Will you have different servers for different play styles? * We think an MMOG needs to choose a focus and stick to its guns... say cooperative PvE, ala EverQuest, or PvP, ala Shadowbane. BUT, we think a LOT can be done via alternate rules servers, including exploring PvP in an otherwise PvE game, RP servers, etc.
Before Brad McQuaid left Sony Online, one of the last things he worked on was Firiona Vie, the RP server, and we think it turned out pretty well (in fact, he leveled a Ranger there to 47). At Sigil and with our first MMOG, we plan on really pushing alternate ruleset servers to their limits.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be Player vs. Player servers? * Yes, and hopefully several variants. How many might be available at launch is up in the air at this point.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be Premium Servers? * We realize this is a complicated and controversial subject and are still debating the issues internally. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be Role-play servers? * There will definitely be PvE servers with alternate rule sets. Some sets might be perceived as more 'RP' than others, but because people have different definitions of what 'RP' means, we will likely label these server types with more specific names.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be ‘iron man’ servers with permanent character death? * Perhaps at some point. We are certainly intrigued by the idea and know it's been experimented with recently. It is not a priority, however, to launch the game with one.Source Link | Entry Link
What are skills – how does the skill system work? * In Vanguard, a skill is defined as a rating within an area of expertise. In other words, a skill is a measure of how well a character may perform an action or type of action.
A skill rating may be increased via use of Abilities that are associated with the skill.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be caps on skills? * Yes, typically limited by the level you are.Source Link | Entry Link What do you mean by abilities? * In Vanguard, an ability is a special action or feat that a character may activate or use. Some will be usable throughout combat, some will have to be readied and are usable only a finite number of times per combat, etc.Source Link | Entry Link What type of abilities will there be? * Abilities may be broken into one of several subtypes including but not limited to: Spells, Feats, and Disciplines.
A sorcerer’s Freezing Wind spell and a ranger’s Kick feat are both examples of abilities.Source Link | Entry Link Can players improve the effectiveness of abilities? * Yes, by using an ability the skill or set of skills associated with the ability will increase. Abilities may become more effective with higher skill ratings.Source Link | Entry Link Will skills be limited by race and/or class? * There will be class specific abilities that only members of a specific class have access to and more general abilities that a number of classes may have access to.
There will also be a subset of abilities that are granted by a characters race.Source Link | Entry Link Will classes have different but equivalent abilities? * Yes and no. Some will be equivalent but with a different flavor, and others will be unique to the class and even the environment or the situation.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be both individual and group abilities? * Yes, there will standard abilities that may be executed by an individual and abilities that groups of characters may execute.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be spells? How does the spell system work? * Yes, the spell system will be very elaborate. It uses the skills & ability system. Some spells will be castable repeatedly, while others will be more limited, and still others may require reagents and the like. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be both individual and group spells? * Yes.Source Link | Entry Link How will you improve your spellcasting? * By casting spells and practicing.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be pets in the game? * Yes. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link
Will there be boats or ships? * Yes, both NPC controlled as well as player controlled and owned.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be anything to do on boats? * Yes, encounters and other events can and will occur while onboard boats and ships.Source Link | Entry Link How will you deal with teleportation? * The trick, we think, is to make travel a part of the adventure too. Sitting on a ship doing nothing isn't fun -- it's downtime at its worst. But what if traveling from one exciting location to the next was challenging and fun in and of itself? If we can manage that in Vanguard, extensive or egregious use of teleportation should not be necessary. That said, some means by which to teleport will be present in some cases. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will travel be meaningful but hopefully not too tedious as well? * That is our goal, yes. The journey should be fun, not just arriving at the destination. There should be content along the way as well as horses and other means of faster transportation as a character becomes higher level and needs to travel farther distances. Source Link | Entry Link Will you attempt to make distant lands really feel distant? * Yes, Telon is huge with all different sizes of landmasses. Travel between lands will take some time, but the travel in and of itself should be fun.Source Link | Entry Link How will you deal with mapping, navigation, compasses, and the like? * There will be a compass as well as a navigation system, but the latter will be largely based on where you've already explored at least once combined with a few other variations we're working out. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link
What is VanguardLive.com? We are a fansite about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.Entry Link Is this the official Vanguard website? No, that is located at VanguardSagaofHeroes.com.Entry Link Who runs this website? We do. Now, go away.Entry Link How can I contact the staff of VanguardLive.com? Email us at staff@vanguardlive.comEntry Link Is Jessica Simpson as much of a ditz as she lets on? Reply hazy, try again.Entry Link
What is the setting for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? * Vanguard involves the planet Telon, a world rich with history, lore, and magic, and populated by humans, elves, dwarves, and many other traditional fantasy races.
The setting could probably best be described as High Fantasy, yet not necessarily only traditional High Fantasy. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link What can you tell us about the world of Telon? * Telon is a large world with a myriad of larger landmasses, smaller island-continents, and archipelagos strewn about its oceans and seas.
Pretty much every conceivable environment exists, including plains and fields, mountains, swamps, deserts, and much more.
Likewise, Telon is inhabited by all sorts of creatures, some sentient, some merely beasts, and some in-between.
The intelligent creatures differ greatly in culture and religion. They worship strange gods and goddesses whose very existence is a matter of some debate. That said, the presence and power of magic, once only described in legend, has of late become a very real force and something most every Telonite will have to deal with at some point.Source Link | Entry Link How big is the world? * World size should be determined by how much compelling content we can create in the development time we have. Content should drive world size and not really much else. If a world can support 3,000 or 6,000 or 20,000 people simultaneously and the community works, people can find each other, and there's stuff to do for all levels, then it's all good. Sub-communities already form in the world sizes seen in EverQuest... how much would that change in a much larger world?
Telon will be big. Exactly how big, while interesting to speculate about, is not on the forefront of our minds; rather, making enough content is. We want to make sure this large world is interesting and compelling to explore.Source Link | Entry Link Is the world seamless or zone based? * The world of Telon will not be zoned based in the traditional sense. Every square kilometer of the world we define will be there, all interconnected in a virtual grid. In other words, if you can see it, you can probably go there. This also provides for some very epic views.
Seamless worlds offer a lot of cool things... a more immersive world, more room for a dynamic world, etc. But, as many have mentioned, they are also harder to populate with handcrafted content, and it can be harder to find others with whom to group.
We feel these difficulties can be overcome with the right experience and planning, and that it’s worth the extra effort. In fact, we’re committed to making the world as interesting or even more interesting than the zone based worlds of most first and second generation MMOGs.Source Link | Entry Link Will the environments still feel as unique as they do in zone based games? * That's certainly our goal. We realize it's more of a challenge, but we also feel strongly that the extra effort will be worth it. A seamless world is simply more immersive, and the technology and tools finally exist to allow us to have both the immersion and the detail and depth.Source Link | Entry Link Are there multiple worlds/servers/shards or one huge single shared world? * With MMOGs, one thing we like to say is 'Content is King' (we actually have a whole list of Sigil Tenets we'll reveal over time). There's nothing more challenging than filling a huge virtual world up with interesting content, points of interest, quests/missions, NPCs, etc.
We believe very strongly in a hand-crafted, interesting, immersive world, and this takes the artists, world builders, and designers a LONG time to make.
So, from our perspective, creating one vast world as opposed to a traditional 'shard' system just wouldn't be worth it... the content would be spread out way to thin and you'd probably just have repetitive terrain going on and on for hundreds of miles. An MMOG world should be interesting... in fact, it should be more interesting than the real world, with more fantastic views and settings, and more of them.
Plus, how would you know how big to make the world? The size of a single world would have to be relative to the number of players your game attracted, which is not only an unknown but it also varies considerably over the lifespan of the game. With a 'shard' system, which is modular in approach, new worlds can be added as needed.
Anyway, perhaps one day single world systems will be realistic... perhaps in the future where players can create their own content, ala Snowcrash. But, in the meantime, we think multiple game worlds are the way to go.Source Link | Entry Link How much content will the world have? * This is a difficult question to answer succinctly.
Our goal is to provide interesting and varied content for the different races and classes as well as plentiful content for the level range we support at launch.
As mentioned, one of our tenets is 'Content is King' -- we certainly realize how important it is to MMOGs and how many have struggled with providing enough to do at launch or soon thereafter.
That said, there were skeptics back when we were working on EverQuest, wondering if we could fill that game with interesting things to do (especially since the game was more PvE than PvP).
Bottom line: we're confident we can do it again.Source Link | Entry Link How much of the content will be hand-crafted? * All of the world, both content-wise and graphically, will be hand-crafted by our designers and artists. We are not using an algorithmic or random approach to content generation as we feel the quality and feel of a hand-crafted world is much more compelling. This does make the game harder to develop, but it's worth it.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be different types of environments? * Absolutely -- exploration is a key component of Vanguard's gameplay and varied environments are essential.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be outdoor expanses? * Yes, and with the world being seamless, we can have vast, epic expanses, including views from mountaintops where you can see for many kilometers. Source Link | Entry Link Will there be dungeons? * Definitely. Deep, dark, dark dungeons are an integral part of any serious MMORPG. Expect to get lost in the depths of some forgotten temple catacombs or deep in a dragon's lair. And then expect to find both danger and rewards... assuming you make it out alive.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be cities? * Yes, from smaller villages and outposts to sprawling cityscapes and castles. Additionally, these areas won't be only for show or to buy and sell wares; rather, they will be integral to gameplay. More on this later.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be travel on water? * Yes, you will be able to ride ships and even own a ship of your own should you earn the money to afford one. The world contains many continents to explore, with vast seas connecting them. And these oceans won't be empty -- expect meaningful travel as you sail the seas of Telon, and all sorts of interesting encounters.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be underwater adventures? * Yes, the game's engine will allow for different types of environments including underwater adventures.Source Link | Entry Link Will there be an overall story line that covers the span of the game? * Yes, as well as various other story arcs, some of which will interrelate with the overall storyline, and many of which won't.
The beginnings of this interweaving story are already revealing themselves in the lore section of this web site and elsewhere.Source Link | Entry Link How can the player affect the environment? Will this effect be permanent or temporary? * How players affect the environment is an area we're pretty excited about, but need to keep under wraps for a while.Source Link | Entry Link
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* If there is an asterix by a FAQ entry, it is from the Official Vanguard FAQ.
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