Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
| Vanguard: Saga of Heroes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Sigil Games Online | ||
| Publisher | Sony Online Entertainment | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
   January 30, 2007 2007 2007 March 29, 2007   |
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| platform | Windows | ||
| Game engine | Unreal Engine 2 | ||
| genre | MMORPG | ||
| Subject | Fantasy | ||
| Game mode | Multiplayer | ||
| control | Keyboard , mouse | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | DVD , download | ||
| language | English | ||
| Age rating |
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Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is an MMORPG originally developed by Sigil Games Online , currently owned and maintained by Sony Online Entertainment . The game was officially released on January 30, 2007; Pre-orders have been able to play it since January 26, 2007. The game sold 242,000 copies in the first month, and there were approximately 130,000 players who played it for more than one month. Vanguard's servers were shut down by Sony Online Entertainment on July 31, 2014.
The game
The setting is the planet Telon , which is currently covered by 3 different continents , islands and archipelagos. The population is divided into numerous factions.
You can have up to 12 characters per account.
One of the strengths of the game is the boss fights. These can be carried out with three or, with the particularly difficult boss opponents, even four groups of players. It is characteristic of Vanguard how each of the 15 classes is really needed due to the different strengths. For example, Necromatos in Vanguard have a particularly strong support spell that gives tanks a lot of extra life and is therefore practically indispensable. Or: Rangers and monks, for example, can kick boss opponents from special fighting stances and are therefore often indispensable in boss fights.
In addition to the adventurer class, a player can also choose a craftsman class through quests in the game. There are three artisan classes, all of which later split into two specializations. The two specializations of a class still share a subset of recipes - for example, all blacksmiths can make horseshoes, regardless of whether they are an armourer or an armourer. The craft is also well implemented, players can increase it completely independently of the adventure with orders from so-called contract masters, without having to constantly collect ingredients for it as in other games, and the products of the craftsmen are actually in demand without the rewards of The adventurer's tasks would be completely devalued by handicraft products. The amount of recipes for every craftsman is enormous, many of which have to be acquired by the players through quests and other possibilities.
For example, Vanguard supports player houses. These can be set up at fixed locations in the game world. There are about 5000 places to build a house per server, and you can only build one house per account. Homes must be kept in the style of the continent, so there is only a short list of possible options for the exterior look. The interior can, however, be designed freely, including some boxes for additional object storage.
There is a diplomacy system implemented in the form of an in-game card game. Better cards can be obtained through quests, winning games, and also from the adventure sphere as loot from killed opponents. You can increase your diplomatic rank by winning speech duels. Diplomacy is also the main source through which one can learn the backstory of the game world.
There is also the opportunity to learn how to harvest. There are five different resource types here, two of which can be learned per character. In the case of the rock resource, there is also a high chance of finding additional gemstones. The resource types play a major role in crafting. The finest items can only be created with special, rather seldom found resource types. Normal resources are also needed a lot. Large projects such as house and ship building in particular require an enormous amount of normal resources.
The players are given the opportunity to join forces in guilds . Here they get a so-called guild chat and can better coordinate their actions with other players. There is also the possibility of building a guild house and thus, for example, to be able to fall back on the particularly expanded options for storing items. Guild houses are very expensive, however, only particularly large guilds or guilds that regularly conduct lucrative boss fights can easily afford them.
Races
The player selects one of 19 different races (from gnomes to half-giants , from humans to raki). These differ in appearance, a racial ability, different bonuses on skills, a preferred harvest skill, the starting area, and the different selection of classes.
The 19 races are:
Thestran
- Thestran (human)
- dwarf
- Halfling
- High elf
- Volmans (wolf man)
- Varanjar
- Lesser Giant
Kojan
- Kojani (human)
- Wood Elf
- Half past ten
- Orc
- Goblin
- Raki (fox man)
Qalia
- Qualiathari (human)
- gnome
- Dark elf
- Kurashasa (cat person)
- Mordebi (dark-skinned person)
- Varanthari
Classes
There are 15 adventurer classes, which are strictly divided into tanks, healers and damage makers. Conceptually, every tank and every healer should be able to fulfill their main task equally well, which was also achieved in practice. From its initial design, Vanguard is a strict group game. However, some non-healers can heal a little, and some non-tanks have considerable defenses, so groups in lighter areas may be able to do without a tank or healer. In the solo game and in 1 vs 1 PvP , the classes differ greatly from one another. With tanks, for example, a lonely Dread Knight with his mass deprivation of life can assert himself very well against hordes of opponents and thus go to places where other game characters can only survive with a group, while a single warrior, for lack of any appreciable opportunity to heal himself, often has to seek his salvation in flight very early.
Each class has different chain skills, i.e. skills that can only be used in combat when a certain effect has been triggered. For example a critical hit. Then you usually even have a selection of different chain skills and can use them depending on the situation. There are also "chained" attacks by several players.
The 16 adventure classes are:
Heavy Fighters:
- Warrior
- paladin
- Dread Knight
- Berserk
Offensive Fighters:
- ranger
- Rogue
- monk
- Bard
Healers:
- Cleric
- Disciple
- Shaman
- Blood Mage
Casters:
- Sorcerer
- Druid
- Psionicist
- Necromancer
server
The originally much larger number of servers was reduced to one.
- Telon - US / EU-PvE
The history
By 2001, Brad McQuaid and Jeff Buttler were busy developing the online game EverQuest . After Sony Online Entertainment (SOE for short) took over its management, the two left the project and founded Sigil Games . From 2002 a team from this company worked on the development of Vanguard, with Microsoft as a partner. In May 2006, the two decided to change the publisher and to choose Sony Online Entertainment as a partner. On May 15, 2007, Sigil Games and all rights to Vanguard were sold to SOE. A large part of the old workforce was entrusted with the further maintenance of the game.
McQuaid and Buttler want to develop a game from the point of view of challenge and game depth, which deliberately does not correspond to the concept of mass distribution (Everquest, WoW). Originally the target was half a million players.
The game has been presented at various trade fairs since 2005. So the E3 2005 and 2006 and the Games Convention in Leipzig 2006.
Beta phase 0 began on July 2nd, 2005 , followed by Beta1 from October 14th and Beta2 from December 16, 2005. After Beta3, the switch to Sony Online Entertainment took place. From December 12, 2006 the final closed beta4 was carried out. Since January 4, 2007, interested players have been able to get to know VSoH to a limited extent (25,000 users). With the NDA repealed , the game received extensive press and internet media coverage. The release date was set for January 30, 2007. The actual start of the server game for pre-order customers took place on January 26, 2007. Only an English client is currently available. In the meantime, four major updates have been installed that have both added content, improved performance and made the client more stable. The 4th update was released at the end of February 2008. Numerous other updates followed.
distribution
In Europe, ProSiebenSat.1 Media has been responsible for sales since summer 2012 .
Free to play
On August 14, 2012, the game switched to the free-to-play business model. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is therefore free with restrictions.