Vanguard Races:
The races are organized by continent, since there are multiple human, barbarian, and elf races, each of which is unique. Select a link below to jump to the description, or just keep scrolling to read them all.
Thestra

* Thestran
* Varanjar
* High Elf
* Halfling
* Vulmane
* Lesser Giant
* Dwarf


Qalia

* Qualiathari
* Mordebi
* Varathariz
* Dark Elf
* Gnome
* Kurashasa


Kojan

* Kojani
* Kojan Barbarian
* Raki
* Half Elf
* Wood Elf
* Goblin
* Orc



Adventuring Sphere
This sphere contains what will be most recognizable as a traditional set of MMORPG classes, with some notable additions. Check out the full list of classes within the adventuring sphere [link] here. Classes will be broken into four basic categories, protective fighter (tank), offensive fighter (melee damage dealer), healer (defensive caster), and archane caster (magic damage dealer).

Characters in this sphere will be encouraged to group up, and advancement will come mainly through combat. Solo and casual advancement will be possible throughout the levels, but the quickest advancement and best rewards will come from group play. Within each class will be a system of skill points that will allow a player to further customize their character and differentiate themselves even from other players of the same adventuring class.



Crafting Sphere
Crafting in Vanguard will go well beyond the systems in other games, and make crafting a viable non-combat choice for advancement, containing its own set of classes. These will be Herbalist, Blacksmith, Woodcrafter, Stonecrafter, and Outfitter. The crafting process will be set up as encounters where a player will utilize a fleshed-out set of skills and a huge diversity of resources to perform a "recipe" or ordered set of actions and to deal with problems during the process.

Equipment, clothing, and tools will play a role much the same as armor and weapons do in the adventuring sphere, with better equipment offering better or more successful results. Non-player character crafting quests or commissions will allow a player to advance as a crafter, where resources will be provided and the resulting product will be turned in for experience. The idea is to cut down or totally remove the need to craft hundreds or thousands of useless items in order to advance. When a player in Vanguard creates an item for other players, they will do it by choice and the item will most likely be useful. Salim Grant (Silius), the Sigil designer responsible for the crafting sphere, created a thread on the official Vanguard forums where he has answered many questions and explained in depth about the crafting system. Check below for a link to the thread. Genda over at Vanguard crafters has also done some fantastic articles on crafting in Vanguard, see below for a link to his site.



Diplomacy Sphere
Sigil's concept in the case of diplomacy is to add an element from table-top roleplaying games which has been largely absent from MMORPGs. The idea of manipulation and coercion through diplomacy offers another non-combat advancement system within Vanguard. Players will take on NPCs in encounters known as "Parley", pitting their character's wits and skills in conversation and intimidation against their opponents'.

Again, as in the other spheres, equipment such as clothing or items will play a role, with better or more appropriate garb improving the chance of success. Diplomacy will contain a set of skills and levels just like the other spheres. Through this sphere, skilled diplomats will be able to affect faction, access areas and content which are impossible to reach through combat, and even discover and control the status of various aspects of NPC or player-run cities.



Adventuring classes:


Protective Fighters


* Warrior
* Paladin
* Dread Knight
* Inquisitor


Offensive Fighters


* Ranger
* Rogue
* Monk
* Bard
* Berserker

Healers


* Cleric
* Shaman
* Blood Mage
* Disciple


Arcane Casters


* Sorcerer
* Psionicist
* Necromancer
* Druid


Protective Fighters

Adventuring The protective fighter job is the group role long identified as “the tank.” Every protective fighter, regardless of class, is a heavily armored melee fighter designed to take the pain. He also has abilities that allow him to protect his more frail allies from physical harm. One such ability that has been discussed is “rescue,” which will apparently allow a player to place himself bodily between a mob and its target, taking the hit so that his companion may live.

The dual target system in Vanguard, whereby a player will identify both an offensive and defensive target, could allow for a lot of reactive tanking along those lines, and promises to make aggro management more interesting and challenging than it has been in past MMOs. You can find a more in-depth discussion of tanking and aggro management in Vanguard here. The archetypical representation of the defensive fighter is the Warrior.


The Warrior
The Warrior is, of course, the traditional tank. He relies on heavy armor and class abilities to soak up damage and protect softer targets. Because a Warrior does not supplement his melee prowess with magic, he is truly head and shoulders above all others in his mastery of pure melee. That is the only way to keep the Warrior balanced with the other heavy tanks, who supplement their steel with magic.


The Paladin
The Paladin is a holy warrior who combines raw tanking ability with divine magic. Undead in particular will fear the Paladin.


The Dread Knight
While no details have yet been released about the Dread Knight, but the very name conjures up a strong image of what the class could be. I would not hesitate to bet that the Dread Knight will rely not only on the strength of his steel but also on an array of dark magics. Former Shadow Knights rejoiced when they saw this class on the list.


The Inquisitor
The Inquisitor is a heavily armored fighter who combines raw physical power with psionic abilities. The Inquisitor's powers give him a distinct advantage over magic-using enemies.


Offensive Fighters

The next job is that of offensive fighter. A lightly armored melee combatant, the offensive fighter's role is to dish out pain in physical combat. Secondarily, he will also aid in protecting the weaker classes from harm. One ability that has been discussed in this regard is “intercept,” which lets a player block damage that his defensive target would otherwise take. Another prediction: offensive fighters will prove surprisingly capable at protecting other party members. The archetypical representation of the offensive fighter is the Ranger.


The Ranger
The Vanguard Ranger is not a hybrid of Fighter and Druid. According to Sigil, the Ranger is going to be implemented differently than he's ever been implemented before. He will not be completely unlike any Ranger lore we know of, but will be a different take on what a Ranger is. He has incredible martial prowess, coupled with great ranged attacks. From close or far range he is deadly. While he may live in the wild, he does not commune with nature the way a Druid would. Instead he has gained abilities that allow him to track and to hunt using stealth. The Ranger also gains spells that allow him to augment his performance and increase his allies' capabilities.


The Rogue
The Rogue focuses on stealth and uses it constantly in combat as a means to his high damage melee attacks. Rogues can enter stealth at any time. Because their capacity for damage increases the longer they remain hidden, you may see rogues habitually stealth at the start of a fight and not spring into action until halfway through, when they unleash a devastating sneak attack with a massive backstab multiplier due to the duration of their stealth.

Rogues will also have an uncanny knack for spotting the weakness of an enemy and exploiting it. As Nenjin commented in his Safehouse report, this could explain why one developer thought intelligence was one of the most important stats for the Rogue. The Rogue can also perform traditional thiefly feats such as picking locks and detecting and disarming traps, though as of now they cannot pick pockets.


The Monk
The Monk is a psionic warrior who harnesses his inner power to do extraordinary things; my suspicion is that the psionic nature of the Monk means he will not be available on Thestra (because, as described below, the core psionic class, the Psionicist, is native only to Qalia and Kojan).


The Bard
The Bard, whose presence in-game was announced to much rejoicing, is another RPG staple, but details of the particulars of the Bard in Vanguard have been sparse.


The Berserker
While no details have yet been released about the Berserker class, the general consensus is that he will be a fearsome and savage fighter who hurls himself into combat with no concern for his own safety and an unquenchable thirst for the blood of his foes.


Healers


The next job, a well-defined and familiar one from past games, is the healer. Talisker, a game designer at Sigil, has provided a detailed explanation of what Vanguard will offer those who follow the path of the healer:

"Vanguard healers will be cut from a different cloth than most other game's healers. We really wanted the healer's game to be something other than healing bot.

Our combat system allows us to take the focus off of the traditional MMO paradigm of Tanking, Healing, DPS. While each of these is still important, interaction within the group and the player's ability to react to the NPC will play a larger role. We can make things more challenging without increasing NPC hitpoints and damage alone. Games of the past only gave you a few options - Aggro it, Nuke it, Heal us, etc.

This allows us to reduce the focus of healing in combat. It is still needed in combat, but you won't spend all of your time managing the red bars. Instead you will be engaging the NPCs and healing when needed.

It may be that some people like doing nothing but managing the red bars. If that is the case, then you can still do that, but there will be many things that you could be doing if you chose to." ~Talisker, Sigil Games Online


The Cleric
The archetypal healer is, of course, the Cleric. In addition to healing, the Cleric is a martial combatant who uses specialized attacks and spells to augment his damage and accuracy. He can also choose to use spells to damage and debuff his opponents. Expect to see the Cleric fiercer and more active in melee than you might expect given his role in past games.


The Shaman
The Shaman is the third announced healer class. While a familiar name from past games, details of the specific implementation of the Shaman in Vanguard have been limited.


The Blood Mage
Finally, the fourth tentatively-announced healing class is the Blood Mage. Long the most mysterious of the announced classes, the Blood Mage provoked much speculation. Some believe the Blood Mage will use psionics to heal; others think he will drain the blood of his enemies to restore vigor to his allies. I will decline to speculate, but look forward to finding out the nature of this unique class.

Recently, Talisker confirmed some basic information about the Blood Mage:
Originally posted by Ominous -
I'd say they will be able to cast their healing spells using their own health instead of mana, and be able to use mana to suck the health out of enemies to replenish their own health.

Originally posted by Talisker -
Yeah, that is semi close. It was not a hard one to guess, but the devil is in the details, so it is a little more complex than just a life tap healer. I knew that the Blood Mage was going to be a difficult class for a variety of reasons - but I was in love with the idea. It will be great class with a unique feel.


The Disciple
The Disciple is a mysterious healing class about which we know very little. Talisker indicated that the Disciple will draw his power from his control of Chi, so expect to see Disciples on Kojan and probably Qalia as well.



Arcane Casters

The final job is the arcane caster, filling the “nuker” role in a group. The arcane caster’s main role is that of magic damage dealer. He will also use spells to augment his allies’ abilities and prevent damage. The archetypical representation of the arcane caster is the Sorcerer.


The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer draws on the power of the elements for his magic; fireballs have been frequently discussed in relation with this class. Switching between active elements, however, will cost a Sorcerer energy. The devs have confirmed that Sorcerers will be available on Qalia and Thestra; the possibility has not been foreclosed that they are also present on Kojan, and I would not be surprised to see this core class available on all three starting continents.


The Psionicist
The second announced arcane caster class is the Psionicist. Sigil has unveiled more information about the Psionicist than about any other class. The psionicist will be available on Qalia and Kojan, but will not be available to players who begin the game on Thestra.

The Psionicist relies on the power of his mind to deal damage to his enemies and buff his allies. Those buffs will include an enhancement to combat awareness and a diamond-like skin covering. The number and quality of buffs a psionicist can provide will be limited by his concentration; each buff requires a constant portion of the psionicist's concentration pool for the duration of the buff. In other words, if the Psionicist has 100 base concentration and a buff takes 5 concentration, the Psionicist's concentration will be reduced to 95 for as long as the buff remains active. Psionicists will be able to increase their concentration with items (Sigil has specifically described a staff that would enhance concentration).

The Psionicist will also boast a crowd control ability, "mind bar." Using this skill, the Psionicist can freeze an enemy in place and force him to devote all of his attention on engaging the Psionicist in a battle of the minds - but the Psionicist can only do so at the cost of being similarly locked down.

To advance, the Psionicist must do more than just visit trainers. Objects called gestalts are scattered throughout the world; to unlock or upgrade some powers, the Pionicist must travel to these gestalts. The evolution of the Psionicist is thus in part dependent upon which areas of the game he has visited.


The Necromancer
While there is still much mystery surround the Vanguard Necromancer, we know that he will use his dark magics to create "constructs;" rumor is, think Frankenstein's monster, or tinkering with a transistor radio. If that is the case, we may see necromancers hunting mobs not for loot, but for parts.

The lore for Thestra suggests that a shadowy group operating within the Sages Arcane has dabbled in the necromantic arts, and perhaps that their dabbling led to the legion of the dead that overran southern Thestra and drove the humans, halflings, vulmane, and elves to their new homes. For this reason, I predict we will see necromancers available on Thestra.


The Druid
Vanguard promises a new take on the Druid class, departing from the Druid-as-healer tradition to offer us a fearsome master of nature and weather. Brad McQuaid hinted in the Vanguard FAQ that among the Druid's awesome powers may be the ability to control the winds and thus speed along travel by ship.



Vanguard offers each character the opportunity to advance along several different paths at the same time; every character can choose to adventure, engage in diplomacy, and craft equipment, vehicles, housing, and other useful items.

What is broadly called "crafting" involves actually creating items, crafting in the narrower sense, and harvesting resources, which will be necessary to make items for players. (To prevent harvesting from being a necessary precursor to crafting, Vanguard will allow players to perform crafting quests in which the raw materials will be provided by the relevant NPCs.) What a player can make is determined by what crafting trades he selects, but any harvester can harvest any type of resource. Harvesting classes determine what benefits a player brings to a group, as harvesting will be a very interdependent activity.

Crafting and harvesting will involve different statistics, just as diplomacy and adventuring each have their own unique set of statistics. The idea behind using different statistics for each sphere is to allow players freedom to choose a wide variety of combinations, rather than, for example, feeling constrained to make a warrior a reaper because both are focused on physical exertion.



Crafting Trades


Alchemist

* Potions
* Infusion

Blacksmith

* Metal Weapons
* Armor
* Vehicular and Structural Components

Woodcrafter

* Wooden Structures
* Vehicles
* Furniture
* Weapon/Armor Components

Stonecrafter

* Jewelry
* Structural
* Furniture
* Focus Items

Outfitter

* Cloth Armor and Armor Components
* Leather Armor and Armor Components
* Crafting and diplomacy gear/clothing
* Bags



Crafters can learn two trades, a primary and a secondary. Within their primary trade they can specialize, gaining access to the best recipes within their specialization and, presumably, becoming more effective at making things within the specialization. A player will gain access to basic recipes in his secondary trade, but cannot specialize.


arvesting Professions

Foreman

* Focused on maintaining group stats and resource quality

Reaper

* Focused on group buffs and resource quantity

Prospector

* Focused on resource integrity and the predicting of detrimental obstacles

Gleaner

* Focused on harvesting byproducts of resources


Combat System

he Reaction System is basically a means by which you'll link your character's own abilities into multi-step combos, as well as play off of those of your team members. There are also some elements in place that let you respond to enemy attacks. Its most basic manifestation is the attack chain. This is where you'll link together your own moves sequentially, for a big pay off at the end. If you remember FFXI's skill chains, then these are very much like it. When party members come into the equation, though, you'll be able to execute "sympathetics." These are very much like attack chains, except they'll involve multiple party members for, logically, more dramatic effects. There's even talk of "epic" sympathetics that would involve entire raid parties. As you can imagine, these will be reserved for similarly epic situations.

From the looks of it, though, the reaction system will work best when it comes time to counter an enemy's attack. If you're a spell caster, you'll be able to counter enemy magic (provided you have access to an appropriate spell, of course), but this doesn't mean that you'll necessarily cause the enemy's spell to fizzle. While that will certainly be the effect some of the time, some more devastating results are possible: an enemy spell can have its properties entirely reversed, healing when it was supposed to harm. In other cases, you might reflect a negative effect right back at its caster. Melee characters will have similar abilities, though of course, they'll affect enemies that they're going toe-to-toe with. They'll be able to disarm, stun, or otherwise assail them, all depending on the synergy in question.


Diplomacy

Vanguard's diplomacy system is completely different in its approach to any other kind of faction-building politics simulator and that's what makes it one of our favorite parts of the game. In keeping with the "gameplay is king" thrust of Vanguard, diplomacy has been built as an incredibly entertaining card game. The concept centers on simulating conversations as verbal fencing with all of the thrust-parry-riposte kind of tactics represented by different cards.

It works like this: after learning the basics of diplomacy, your diplomacy trainer will give you a starter deck of statements (each statement is represented as a card), then you choose five cards to use during a diplomatic session (called a Parley). When engaging in a Parley, you'll have access to only these five cards which can be played one at a time on the diplomacy pane (which opens once you initiate a Parley). The diplomacy pane has four sections: a slot for your opponent's current card, a slot for your current card, the expression bank and the dialogue indicator. The expression bank lets you know how many points you've accumulated in any given expression category, and these points are used like currency to play cards. There are four different expression categories, including: demand, reason, inspire and flatter. While cards may cost expression points from a specific category, they may award you expression points as well (as indicated on the card). The part that really matters is the dialogue indicator which tells you how well you are doing in the argument. You and your opponent take turns playing cards, accumulating expression points in order to play cards that will earn you the most gains in the dialogue indicator.

There are four different conversation types and some of them lock out certain expression categories, similar to actual conversations. Here are the conversation types and what expressions they prohibit:


Incite - prohibits flattery
Convince - prohibits inspire
Interview - prohibits reason
Gossip - prohibits demand
Entertain - prohibits nothing



1.This is your library of statement cards
2.Here we see the expression bank which uses dots to keep track of how many points you have
3.The dialogue indicator lets you know who's winning and by how much with that numbered circle
4.Your opponent's current card
5.The slot for your card
6.Corresponding conversation dialogue reflects the tone of the card game
7.This tells us what type of conversation we are engaged in


More about Crafting




"One of the things we've focused on from the beginning was that gameplay must be involved in every system of the game," said Senior Designer (and honcho of the crafting sphere) Salim Grant, "so, we wanted to incorporate some elements of strategy by providing some limits to your actions and pitfalls that would manifest as risk when crafting." More complex than the World of Warcraft crafting system (where you just assemble your materials and click "craft") the Vanguard crafting system draws more from the EverQuest style of crafting by requiring materials and allowing for different grades of quality in crafted items.

Here's the basic rundown: you first collect the materials required by the recipe for the item you want to craft, then you put them all together using a crafting station and refine them to increase their quality.

Of course, it's not quite that simple; you have a limited number of Action Points that you can spend on fabricating an item, which includes basic construction and refining. So, the more points you spend on refining, the higher quality your item will be; however, as you tinker with your craftables, complications arise that you'll need to spend Action Points (and extra materials) to correct. You'll need to balance the amount of points you spend on construction and refinement with the points you will need to spend fixing any issues that occur during the crafting process.

Frequently, crafting in MMOs tends to result in lots of trash items being created just to get your crafting skill up (typically called 'mud-flation'); leaving you with forty runed copper daggers that nobody will ever buy. Salim has the answer, "we've put a lot of work into solving mud-flation, and our Work Order system is designed to combat that."

Work Orders are like quests given to you by your crafting trainer; you'll be asked to make a certain number of, say, iron spikes that will help boost your crafting skill. After the Work Order is complete, you'll get a tidy bonus of crafting experience points and/or some nifty new crafting gear that will help you do your job better.








1.The name of the item you're currently crafting
2.This bar indicates the quality of the item and can be increased by spending Action Points
3.Your remaining tally of Action Points (be sure to save some in case complications arise)
4.You get a couple of options here for either refining or finishing construction
5.There are a few stages to crafting and each may require some additional materials
6.You can access your Toolbelt if you need special tools that give bonuses
7.These are the materials on the Table to be used in refining or solving complications

Blacksmith: The weapons and heavy armor guy, the Blacksmith works with metals and ores. The skills of this school are also required in the creation of parts for ships and houses.

Artificer: Working with both stone and wood, the Artificer can assemble resistance-boosting jewelery, furniture for dwellings, wooden weapons (like staves) and is the primary go-to person for building ships and houses.

Outfitter: This school is responsible for making light armor, horse accessories and bags. The Outfitter can also fashion social clothing to boost diplomacy skills and is allowed some ability to customize the color of this clothing.

Alchemist: Not yet finalized for launch, the Alchemist is Salim's personal favorite and is receiving special treatment so that even if this school is not ready by the time Vanguard is released, it should arrive shortly afterwards. The Alchemist is your basic potion mixer, but Salim and his team are looking very deeply into transmutation (magically altering one substance to become another, like iron to gold).



and i'd like to post a BETA tester story on Necromancer class.

I just receivd approval this afternoon for my second post to this thread. This time, as I promised, is a review of the Necromancer.
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So here it is; a beta tester's perspective of the Necromancer class.

Wow, where should I begin? There is so much to tell about my experience as a Necromancer. I've played the necro in beta 2.5 and again in beta 3 and I simply love it. It has gone through a number of changes and balancing and, although it is not yet complete, it is a very powerful class even now. It will most certainly be my main upon release. Well, I'll start at the beginning.

First let me say that everything contained here could change. I am just a beta tester telling you what the Necromancer is right now. However, if it does change, it will be for the better and the result of continued class balancing.

I started out in Hathor Zhi, a town nestled into the high mountains, which is the home for the dark elves. Hathor Zhi is on the continent Qalia and located in the Western section. The sky is reddish in color and the air is a bit misty. As I stand looking about I can see large tents surrounding a main legionnaire barracks sort of place slightly to my left and over to the right I can see an enormous stone entrance to the main rooms hosting trainers, merchants, bank clerks and the like. It is difficult to miss this place as it reaches as high as the mountain itself and has two very large flaming basins marking the entrance.

Hathor Zhi
Temple Entrance
Inside Temple

As I familiarize myself with the town, I quickly find my way around to the [url="http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/1338/questgiverxc9.jpg"]quest givers[/url], merchants, etc. I'm given a couple starting quests and I quickly go to work slaying the enemies. Right off the bat I am given a life tap (Drain Life) that remains powerful all through later levels. I also have an ability to raise the dead corpses of my slain enemies to serve me (Mockery of Life). I find my first unsuspecting foe and begin casting life tap on a Feeble Dark Elf. Immediately about 6 of these guys come running for me so I high-tail it out of there and rethink my plans for who I'm going to attack next time. Ah, a Pallid Scorpion should do and hopefully not bring so many of his friends. So far, that worked out well as I needed a few of those for a quest. After killing my first one, I summoned his corpse to serve me and he did well. It seemed I could get about two fights out of this summoned minion and maybe three if I was quick about it. I found I could even attack multiple targets by life tapping a second, which then turned my minion onto that target. Then I could switch back to my first target, finish him off, then back to my second target and kill him to and still have a bit of energy to spare for a third if necessary. Level 1 is no weak level by any means.

So quickly I knock out level 1 in no time and head to the trainer for my level 2 spells. I purchase my spell from the trainer and head straight out to give it a try.

Level 2:
Raise Slayer Yes, that is the skeletal form you see through the chainmail armor.

Now this guy is a hack-and-slasher and could easily solo a mob at even level, with just a little help from me. Also note, you can only have one of these guys (summoned minion) at one time. If I summon another, the prior one vanishes. Maybe you get more than one at much later levels, but that is not known to me as of yet at level 14. Previously in beta 2.5 you could have 2 or 3 of these guys, but as powerful as this Slayer is now, that would be far too overpowered so it was rebalanced to only one, which is just right.

So I continue to work on the quests, gathering up armor for myself from the fallen foes I've slain and gaining a bit of pocket change as well. I sell the items I don't need and my stash is soon building up. I know that when I approach about level 10 I should have enough money to buy a horse and that is my first goal with my spending cash. So I refrain as much as I can from buying any armor, which can quickly drain you of cash if you get too greedy. I might spend a little on some merchant items that provide some more intelligence or wisdom boosts to increase my energy pool as well as my perception skills. I finally reach level 4 and I head to my trainer for my next spell. This is my first DoT (Death over Time) spell.

Level 4:
Plague of the Flesh Eaters

This is mainly a damage dealing DoT. So now I can drop this spell on an enemy, my Slayer goes to work on them and I can either help with a life tap or two, or increase my 2-hand blunt skill by fighting toe-to-toe with them using my staff, while all the time they are being eaten away with Plague of the Flesh Eaters. My coin stash is doing much better now and I've acquired several pieces of armor, just enough to kick up my armor class a bit as well as some attribute boosting equipment.

Level 6:
Instill Fear
Bone Spear of Nathrac

Now I've got something to get out of trouble with, or...get INTO trouble with depending on how I use it. The Fear spell is something to use with great care. Use it in a dungeon and you're bound to draw a lot of attention as the foe runs about telling all his friends about you and what you did to him. However, this can be a quick get-out-of-jail card if you find yourself in a sticky situation in some open areas. Later on this becomes a nice little combo package to kite your foes about in wide open areas, but it can still get you in trouble if you don't watch what is going on.

Bone Spear is your first real direct damage spell and it has a nice animation to it. It has some serious damage associated with it so be prepared to have your enemy turn it's head from your minion and begin running right for you. This is a kill-quick combo if your Slayer is hacking away at your enemy while he has been DoT'ed with the Plague of the Flesh Eaters and you drop in this Bone Spear at around 1/2 health. So who says Necromancers can't kill quickly?

Level 8:
Plague of Horrid Decay
Raise Guardian He's the guy on the left. Who's that guy on the right you ask? Just read. And by the way, that armor on the Guardian is 3-dimensional, meaning it's no flat bitmap stuck to a frame. It is quite detailed when you look at it closely.

Now you get your next DoT called Plague of Horrid Decay. This one does more than just damaging your enemy; it lowers their movement speed, lowers their attack damage by 10% as well as doing damage to them, but not as much as Plague of the Flesh Eaters. So using both DoTs on the enemy is always a good thing. Remember that "kiting combo" I mentioned? This is when you get to start refining your skills at doing this. Using Fear with Plague of Horrid Decay sends them walking about aimlessly while these DoTs eat away at them, your Slayer hacking away and landing a Bone Spear or two. But, be careful. As I said, this can get you into trouble so you'd better make sure you get them dead within a few seconds before they reach one of their friends to help them kill you.

Now, at level 8 is when you begin to think you will never be hit again. Well, it could very well seem that way, but rest assured you can still die in combat. The Guardian is exactly that. He's a tank. Very low damage output, but he can really make an enemy mad at him and hold agro for the duration of a fight even while you've DoT'ed the enemy, landed a Bone Spear and life tapped them. Just remember, all your summoned minions are time based and if you've done a lot of damage to the enemy and your Guardian decides his time is up in the real world and disappears...well...you've got a situation on your hands.

You will, however, find the Guardian extremely useful in your battles and it essentially changes your battle tactics. Also know that your Guardian stays on the target you've first attacked and will not change targets even if you begin attacking something else, unlike the Slayer that attacks whatever you are attacking.

So now you can Fear-Kite your enemies, raise a Guardian and have him tank for you, or just simply flat out deal some damage with a Slayer and Bone Spear. Now you've got three ways to kill your foes and maybe even a mix of all three.

Level 10:
Harvest corpse
Toxic Burst
Mend Flesh
Zombify
Summon Abomination

In case you haven't noticed, level 10 is when it all changes. Okay, I won't keep you waiting. The Abomination is what you want to know about. Yes, this has been your goal all the while you've been leveling because you saw some post level 10 necro running about with his Abomination trailing behind, fighting for him, and you wanted your very own. Well, I can't blame you. Having an Abomination is probably the most fun part of being a necro. Yes, you can name him. I name mine "Gimpy" all the time, but it certainly isn't because he can't do damage because he can solo any mob your level and you may only need to heal him once with Mend Flesh. The Abomination is a permanent pet, meaning he doesn't "poof" when his time is up like your summoned minions do. He does die though if you don't help him out from time to time with a heal while he's taking damage. He has more hit points than a Slayer, but doesn't have as much hit points as a Guardian does, but he can hold his own very well. The Abom is your most controllable pet. Before with the Guardian and the Slayer, they just stood there until you attacked something. With the Abom (short name version) you can tell him what to do. I can tell him to attack, guard me, stay put, go away, etc. I can also tell him what to do in battle, such as to attack with his weapon or Sneer at the enemy to draw agro and each of these can be set to auto-use by right-clicking the Abom mini-menu for that attack type. And, while he is in auto-use for Sneering, you can manually click the weapon attack to have him add in some additional damage with his weapon while he's holding agro. Weapon you say? Yes, he can be given weapons, but not the kind you think. These are body parts and every once in a while you find a body part that your Abom can use. Harvest Corpse is the skill you use on a dead corpse to see what kind of usable body part you can find and hopefully you'll find something equipable by your Abom.

In this current status of the Abom, you get 3 slots to which you can drop in an equipable body part. I only know of two types right now, being a weapon type and some sort of armor. The weapon types you can find range from life taps, poisons, clawing damage, etc. Yes, that life tap one gives health to your Abom. I save each of the weapon types and equip them on my Abom based on the situation I am in, be it in a dungeon with a group and my Abom is the tank, or we have a tank and my Abom just needs to do damage.

At this level you get your first AoE (Area of Effect) damage spell; Toxic Burst. Use wisely. As with all AoE spells, you can draw some unwanted attention to yourself. However, if used at the right time, it could mean avoiding a group wipe. Knowing when to use it is key.

Zombify, your very own mesmerizing spell. Obviously this is your primary crowd controlling ability and groups will love you for it. It currently lasts 45 seconds, which is a good long time to allow your group to dispatch 1 or 2 other enemies and not having that third one beating them down. Add to this your Guardian, which can tank another, and your Abomination on a third. Now you've got 3 mobs under your control and the group can work each one as they see fit. However, don't even think of trying that in a solo situation as you'll quickly run out of energy trying to kill 3 mobs at the same time.

So those are all the levels I'm going to cover here as I don't want to spoil everything, but those are my first 10 levels experience as a Necromancer. Now that you have your Abomination, 2 types of summoned minions as well as a third by raising the dead corpse of your enemy, 2 DoT types, some direct damage, a life tap, an AoE damage spell, and a mesmerize spell, you have at your disposal an arsenal of damage and crowd control to keep you very busy in battle.

I can tell you that I, as a Necromancer, control a large portion of the crowd control duties in a group fighting through a dungeon.

Okay, just one more tid-bit; your Forms. Now stop drooling! At some level, I think it's around level 10, you get your quest to obtain your necro form, which can either be a Lich or a Wraith. As a Lich you are in a skeletal form and as a Wraith you are in a transparent ghostly form. I picked the Lich as I love the skeletal form and there's a screenshot of it for you.

Lich Form screen 1
Lich Form screen 2

In Lich form I gain more armor class and do a bit more damage with Bone and Poison spells and I can breath underwater, but it lowers my fire resistance. Also, in Lich form my raised minions take on a whole new zombie look. In Wraith form your minions are ghosts.

So, the Necromancer is a very powerful class to play and rest assured groups will want you. I was in this one group and they new the value of the necro's raised minions so they worked to get me a corpse on a regular basis so as to keep a Guardian up for the majority of the time. This was a life saver for our group and allowed us to not only avoid taking the brunt of the harder foes to kill, but also saved the energy pools of our healers being as the Guardian was expendable and I'd just raise another one even during battle as we slayed each mob. There were times I goofed up and wasn't watching the timer on my Guardian and the group wiped. But there was no distress as we were all having a blast plundering the contents of the dungeon. I would mez the back mob and nab the main one being killed with the Guardian then send in my Abomination to occupy a third until the group got the first one killed. It was like clockwork and I really felt important. I had to have the skills to know what to do and when. I learned more and got better at it and it showed in less down time between battles. I monitored my energy pool and always kept a reserve just in case some roaming mob decided to drop in, and they did. I'd watch the group's progress, their health and what was attacking who then send in the Abomination to draw agro off of an offensive fighter or a caster. Then I'd have the Abomination add in some life tap to lessen the rate of his health dropping and then heal him. I'd switch to the timer bar on my Guardian to make sure he wasn't going to go "poof" and leave an offensive fighter to take major damage.

Everything could change in battle depending on what was going on. The healer, like a Blood Mage, might want to be using energy for damage dealing since my Guardian was doing the tanking. But if I lost the Guardian, then he would have to switch to healing and that meant less damage was being dealt, which also meant the battles lasted longer and that could be bad.

There is no just go attack a mob any more with Vanguard. You have to use your skills and know what to do. Unlike many MMOs out there, it's mostly just do the damage you can and hope for the best. Now you have to think. Figure out what works best and use your skills that compliments the group well for the situation you are in. You might die, or your group might die in the process, but you talk about it and come up with ideas on what to do and being open minded is key. There could be just one way to get to that main boss in that dungeon you've been wanting to get to and when you figure it out it can be very rewarding.

Well I hope you've enjoyed this review and let you in on what the Vanguard Necromancer is like at the lower levels. If you're the type that likes a lot to do, flexibility in your killing styles, controlling pets and minions to do your will, then I think you'll like the Necromancer class.

Here are a few screenshots of my journey to the Temple of Dailuk. This is a spooky place loaded with Gargoyles, Necromancers, Sorcerers and undead animals. As soon as I get to level 15 or 16, this is where I'll be fighting.

Dailuk at sunrise
[URL=http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/8484/dailuklatemorningwk0.jpg]Dailuk at mid morning
[/URL]

All these screenshots, with the exception of one or two, were all at the highest rendering setting. I also wanted to post these screenshots as I think they really define how good the graphical environment is in Vanguard. These were of my Ranger.

Ranger at night Just a great night shot with the moon shining in from the right.
Ranger getting feet wet Note the light refraction distorting my feet. Also a nice lighting effect on the armor when the sun is just right.
Necro at morning Yes, that is sun reflection off of the ripples in the water.

I'll be asking Brad if I can post some others at some later point. Let me know if you like this and want to see more. If so, I'll see if I can get the approval. Until next time, it's back to Vanguard for me!


u can find more storiest at http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showt ... hp?t=73463

more info available at http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showt ... hp?t=53263

FAQ available at http://vanguardsoh.com/faq.php
and http://vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43537

sites used in my post:

http://vanguardsoh.com/
http://www.gamesradar.com/
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/vanguard-saga- ... 620p1.html
http://www.silkyvenom.com/?page=articles&articleid=8[/quote]

Haha. hahahaha

It took me three long months but I finally got perma banned from their forums. When I realized this game was a sinking ship (they can't even keep people playing the beta) I started slandering the game as much as possible. God I hate their elitist attitude, both the fans and the devs.

edit: I wonder who made this thread

wow im glad i stoped reading after the first paragraph cause that would have been a complete waste of time

Wait, why does this game suck? Trying to give it a fair judgement here, haha. From what I've read the company behind the game, and Vanguard itself looks really interesting from a technical/mechanical perspective. Although granted I'm seeing alot of words and very little feature.

_________________
Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

That monster post was probably more enjoyable to read than it was playing that game. lol

It's good in concept, and I was lured in by the McQuaid name (I was a huge EQ fan). The game is outdated; it's an old game using old principles and a "challenge before fun" attitude. That doesn't fly anymore. They wanted a lot of content. Instead, according to those who are still in the beta, the world is gigantic but there's really nothing to do in it. Instead of taking their time and adding content, they're just adding x more health onto mobs to make the game "more challenging."

Every thread about it on SomethingAwful brings in the beta players who are absolutely disappointed by what they've done. They say the game is nearly unplayable (and getting worse), and that it lacks any sort of spark that the old EQ has. Apparently they can't even compress the game properly, as it's currently sitting at around 30 gigs.

Not to mention that they've got the most hostile, elitist community I've ever seen. It almost made me sick. They're all VERY VERY hostile towards WoW (in fact, let me try and dig up the article from joystiq that said that people in the beta are turning away and ridiculing those who still enjoy WoW). They sit there, circlejerking about how great the game will be, oblivious to the beta testers reporting constantly about the game's sad state of affairs. They say that they're the "old hardcore eq crowd looking for a game". Really, they're half of the hardcore EQ crowd. The other half is in WoW playing in top guilds and enjoying themselves. The other half is sitting in Vanguard, spiteful. They were the ones that sat in their guilds in EQ causing guild drama during raids. I fucking hate them all.

This concludes my rant o' the day

I'm not sure it's even coherent. Oh well.

lol, ok nm

_________________
Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

Actually from your posts you look like the hostile one Ponuh lol.

http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/member.php?u=14471

Some of my favorites. Granted these are taken out of context.


Ponuh wrote....







<<my personal favorite

<<this made me throw up a little in my mouth

<<No Comment O.O

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/ArmLengthInterviews
My attempt at making funny gaming related videos.

Yes I wrote all of that...



but how is this relavent to vanguard saga of heroes? I already told you I was trying to get banned.



I said that a few posts up

Oh man I love some of my posts on that forum













http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71770





http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71249

Damn, I missed this one.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/ArmLengthInterviews
My attempt at making funny gaming related videos.

I just posted the rest of them. That was just what the forum didn't delete.

That forum was wayyy too nice. They should have banned my ass right away. And I'm still not IP banned but I accomplished my goals so I'm done.