* The Dioscuri (EQ2 Guild)
* Vanguard Crafters
* Vanguard Players
VG Tact

Added by Talaen on Jun 24, 08 5:38 PM

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Editorial

How many players have never, and may never, experience this?  All because we wanted to make things more convenient.



I understand why riftways were implemented in Vanguard, and there were some very good practical reasons for them, but at the same time I really wish that it hadn't happened.  At least to me, that picture there symbolizes in a very big way the original potential of travel in Telon.

I'm not posting this to start a flame war, but I hope everyone takes the time out sometimes to actually explore Telon, and see just how huge and beautiful it really is, rather than simply following quest line after quest line, and going from riftway to riftway.  Take some time, get in your ship and sail, get on your horse and ride, or just start walking and take a good look at the world we've been given to play in.  It helps to put things in perspective, or at least it does for me.

Added by Talaen on Jun 22, 08 7:02 AM

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I've been reading a lot of really positive posts lately on these forums and elsewhere.  To tell the truth, I wasn't expecting to see it and it's been a welcome surprise that so many people are enjoying the game now and that so many people are coming back or picking up Vanguard for the first time.  For those that maybe haven't seen it yet, right now Vanguard is going into what we all hope will be a renaissance, gaining new players and bringing back old ones who left for a while.  Mostly this seems to be happening because AoC ended up being very shallow, and a lot of people decided to give Vanguard a second look.  This is a great thing for the game - more players means a better funded and better staffed development team, and a brighter future for all of us.

So what I've been thinking about after reading all this is where my guild, Shadowfire, fits in.

Among the guilds of Vanguard we are relatively unique in how we approach the game.  Many other guilds, especially guilds that have been around since launch like we have, are very focused on level 40 and up.  Sure, some of them have people that are lower level, but the 40s and 50s are where the action is.  It was recently estimated that over 50% of Vanguard's guilds at this point exist for no other purpose than raiding.

That number might be a little exaggerated but it's not far off the mark.  Take a look at the in-game guild recruiting tool and you'll see that for many guilds, raiding is what they want to do.  They're either doing it now or they're trying very hard to get ready to do it soon.  In the end, it's what they're about.  For them, this focus is a strength, and it allows them to get to the parts of the game they're looking for faster.  There's nothing wrong with that, really - after all, raiding can be a lot of fun.

That's great and all, but where does Shadowfire fit in?  The answer is, we don't fit in very well at all, and that's something that we're actually very proud of.  Our goal is to be a guild that can help you with every aspect of the game.  We want to continue to be a newbie-friendly guild, but also one where higher-level players can attain their goals too.  We want to be a guild where it's ok if you can only play a couple of days a week, or if you have to go on business trips and can't be around sometimes.  We want to be a guild where you can be anything you want in the game - a crafter, a diplomat, an adventurer, or a jack-of-all-trades, and not feel like you're different or wierd.  We want to be a guild where you can take your time and explore the world if you want, and not feel ostracized because you level slow.

Likewise, even for a guild formed at launch, we're not very big.  There's a lot of guilds out there that advertise their size.  They spam chat channels and put up forum posts and say "come join our guild, it's big!"  But for us, quality is more important than quantity.  We want our guild to be a community, a big family, and we never want anyone to feel like they're just another faceless member.

But it's all well and good to talk about ideals and principles and visions that you want your guild to live up to, and quite another to actually try and make it work in the game.  A lot of guilds run into this - they have great concepts starting out, and then when they get in game there's a lot of pressure on them to start compromising on those ideals.  Every guild leader out there has to make hard choices about numbers, recruiting, and organizing their guilds, and a lot of time those ideals that we all started out with end up falling by the wayside as part of the process.

So what is Shadowfire doing to try and maintain all those lofty goals and ideals I listed above?

Well for starters, we've held two successful major serverwide events in the past year, something that no other guild on the server can really claim.  (Our next Xeth Faire will probably be in September).  We love doing these and we're planning to do them as often as we can for as long as we can.  We believe that it's important for us to give back to the server community and these events are a big part of that.  The last one had something like 120 people attend over the course of the evening - not bad for a completely player-run event!  I know at the end we had a good 30 people just for the raffle event.

We have pre-planned guild groups happening 2-3 times a week, and spontaneous ones happening every day.  Not just at certain level ranges either, but all over the map.  I logged on a few days ago and saw a level 40ish group of guildies doing one thing, and a level 20ish group of guildies doing another.  We also are holding guild events about once a month - private parties just for our members.  It's really important to us that everyone in our guild feel like they're part of something, and these help quite a lot.

We have several active crafters and diplomats, and more on the way.  Want a ship built?  Trying to get a house put together?  Need some new armor?  We can help with that.  Seriously, three quarters of the storage space in our guild hall is devoted to supporting our crafters and diplomats.  We do this for two reasons - first, we want to try to make it easy for our members to get going in these two spheres, and second, having crafters and diplomats around can make the lives of our adventurers much easier in many ways :)

What we're hoping, and the reason that I'm posting this, is that as more people (re)discover Vanguard, we'll be able to add to our family.  Like every guild, we wouldn't mind growing a little bigger - more people allows us to accomplish and help each other more than we can now.  So, if you or someone you know is looking for a guild that values community and playing at your own pace, and that isn't exclusively focused on raiding and high-level adventuring , we hope you'll consider Shadowfire.  Either way, feel free to stop by our forums and say hi.  We'd love to hear from you!

Added by Talaen on Jun 2, 08 6:41 PM

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Editorial

So sometime in the not-too-distant future, the Pantheon of the Ancients dungeon is going to be redone.  The rework is needed, since the scripted encounters in the dungeon are horribly broken.

When the revamp is finished, the dungeon will be a level 50 raid dungeon, instead of being a mid-20s group dungeon like it was originally.

I'm not happy about that at all, for several reasons.  Now, I don't mind them reworking the dungeon if it's the best way to make it playable and fun.  And I don't even mind them moving the level range up a little to be more in line with the level that characters are by the time they reach this part of the world.  But I do mind them taking a perfectly solid piece of midlevel content, and turning it into something that 50% of the playerbase is never going to be able to experience.

Of course, a lot of bored level 50 players on the official forums don't see it this way.  From their perspective, the game is all about raiding, right?  When I voiced my discontent with this change, they responded with all sorts of justification about why it was good:

• The dungeon's broken now, no one ever goes there.
• The storyline of the dungeon is too good to be wasted on midlevel characters (that's a direct quote)
• Midlevel characters have plenty of other dungeons in that level range.
• We need more raid dungeons, we only have the one now.

Let's tackle this point by point, shall we?

- The dungeon's broken now, no one ever goes there.

Well yes, it's broken, no one is arguing that fact.  But a lot of people DO go there.  Or at least they try to, until they find out just how badly broken it is.  And many more people have been patiently waiting for a long time to be able to take characters through it.

- The storyline of the dungeon is too good to be wasted on midlevel characters

Wow.  This one make me want to punch people in the face.  Not only is it elitest bullshit, it's completely backwards.  Compelling content should not be reserved for specific level ranges.  It shouldn't be a reward for months of grinding.  Sure, you want your max-level players to be having epic adventures, and that implies some pretty intense plotlines, but you need those plotlines at all levels.  As players play through the game, they should be constantly engaged in the backstory of the world.  And if at any point they are not then the game's creators have failed in creating a game worthy of the title RPG.

This isn't rocket science.  The reason you want compelling content at all levels is to keep players hooked.  To keep them playing.  Whether they're level 5 or level 20 or level 50 you want them to be at least mildly interested in what's going to happen next.  It helps engagement, also known as immersion, and makes your players not only stick around longer, but also enjoy the game more, and be more likely to bring their friends into it.

- Midlevel characters have plenty of other dungeons in that level range.

Yup, they have two big ones.  The Coterie Infineum Sanctuary, and Trengal Keep.  Oh, those aren't the only two.  They're just the only two that anyone does besides Pantheon.  Why is this?

• Rewards.  Both CIS and TK have some nice rewards that players like to get.
• Storyline.  *gasp*  They both have an epic storyline that players enjoy!
• Level range and size.  Both dungeons are very big and have a level range that keeps players coming back for multiple sessions.
• Accessibility.  Both dungeons are easy to get to, and it's easy to find groups for them (because of all of the above)

Sure, there are some other dungeons in between 20 and 30.  But guess what - you won't see people there, because they are lacking in one or more of the items above.  Pantheon was really the third major option within the level range, and the only one that could really compete with CIS and TK.

Of course, those bored level 50 players on the forums would say "But CIS and TK are both great dungeons!"  And they are.  Until you're on alt #5 and ready for something new.  Or if you're a class that isn't "required" for groups, which means that you're competing against every other <insert list of classes here> for a spot in the few groups that are going.

- We need more raid dungeons, we only have one now.

Great.  No one is disputing this.  But nowhere in that statement does it say "and we need to take content away from midlevel players to make room".  In point of fact, there are over half a dozen unfinished areas and dungeons scattered around the world that would make great raid areas.  And yet, instead of finishing one of those, we have decided to co-opt midlevel content and make it a raid area.

There are two things about this whole decision that really tick me off.  The first is that the development team seems to have an unrealistic expectation that all players will eventually raid.  It.  won't.  happen.  Raiders will, at best, only ever be a moderately sized minority group in any game.  They just happen to be very vocal.  There are over 12 years of MMO gaming history (with raids) that bear this out, and as the age of players continues to go up (most MMO players are in the 25-35 range now, did you know?) the amount of RL time they can devote to things like raids will continue to go down.

So raids are great but you can't make all "endgame" content raids, or you will eventually lose at least 60% of your players once they top out at the max level and realize they can't give up that much of their lives.  You don't gotta be good at teh maths to realize just how much that could suck for a game publisher.

The second aspect that's got me upset is that it completely breaks the content flow of that section of the world.

If you look at a map of Telon and then start making dots for major quest lines along with their level range, you will see that there is a content flow.  Players start in their home town, and have quests there.  They then go to a nearby outpost (sometimes they have a choice between two, sometimes not) by following quest lines.  They do quests at these outposts, then get quests that sort of nudge them towards the next outpost, and so on.  Along the way are major dungeons in each level range.

So for example, starting out in Khal, you're given the choice to go east to Neamsog bunker, or west to the beacons.  Of course, if you're an experienced player, you could just cross the ocean or go somewhere else entirely, based on out-of-character knowledge.  But if you're following quest lines, those are your options.  If you go west, following the quest lines, you'll eventually find yourself at the Temple of Dailuk, and shortly after that, CIS.  If you go east, you'll find yourself at Ksaravi Gulch, then Skriien Point, and ultimately, Pantheon of the Ancients.

The content paths continue past this.  So the path from Pantheon leads into the Badlands of Karrus Hakrel in the 30s.  Just as the path from CIS leads you either south to Cragwind Ridge, or west through the River Valley to Xennumet and the Arena.  The point being that there's a flow to the levels of the content, and the quest lines are what push people along that flow.

With the change to Pantheon, what's going to happen is that players following the eastern flow are going to hit Pantheon, but instead of seeing a nice mid-level dungeon, they won't be able to go in because they're not level 50 (and in a raid).  And then they'll be stuck.  They won't be able to go start on Karrus Hakrel because they're still too low, so they will have to backtrack and go somewhere else.  Where they will pick up a new content flow, and then everything that they would have done after Pantheon will be missed.

Content flows may not be important to some players (the people who like to treat the game like a giant spreadsheet, and who tend to frequent websites asking questions like "which area has the best quests for me?" or "what's the best place to level?").  But if you're trying to provide any sort of organic experience to players, so that they feel like their progression as a character is a natural result of having adventures, rather than choosing to go grind in a dungeon halfway around the world, then it becomes very important.  The vast majority of casual players are only going to feel frustrated and upset if they ever have to wonder where they should go next.

I recently had a conversation with some fellow guildmates that was a bit disheartening.  We were talking about some of the level 50 content and the comment was made that "most of it feels like it's only there to prepare you for raiding, to help you get geared up and leveled up".  That's not how it should be, and if it really does feel that pointless, ultimately that may be Vanguard's biggest failing to date.  The game should be doing everything possible, at all levels, to keep players engaged and excited about what they're doing at that time.  Not what they're going to be doing in 10 levels, and not what they're going to be doing after they get that sword upgrade they've been lusting after, but what they're doing right now.  The quest that they're on, the dungeon that they're in.  And yeah, there will always be some players for whom the destination matters more than the journey - but if the game itself starts to treat things that way, the vast majority of players will likely never bother to finish the journey.

It is possible to keep this from becoming a problem, and to have compelling content for all levels, and also to have plenty of raiding content in a game.  It's been done before in several other, very successful games.  But as long as the game designers keep making decisions based on the incorrect assumption that everyone can or even should raid, it's not going to get any better.

Added by Talaen on May 22, 08 9:45 AM

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Some of you might remember that a few months ago, Shadowfire hosted an event we called the Xeth Faire, in Ahgram.  We had a lot of fun and gave away a lot of prizes.

We're doing it again.

Xeth Faire II will be held in Tanvu on Saturday, May 24th, starting at 6 pm Eastern Time and going until around 10 pm Eastern Time.  Everyone is invited - we don't care what guild you're in, what level you are, or even if you're a raki, you can come join the festivities.

Please keep reading for information about the event.  You can fid the most up-to-date information in our forums.

Xeth Faire FAQ:

*What events are planned for XF2?

We have several competitions planned, and we're working on pulling them all together.  As the date gets closer, this might change a little, but here is what we have on our list right now:

• Lore Trivia Competition
• The Shadowfire Regatta (boat race)
• Telon Relay Race
• The Running of the Chickens
• Pegasus Race across Kojan
• End-of-event raffle

The Lore Trivia Competition is a contest to see who can answer questions about Telon's lore the fastest.  The lore can come from adventuring, diplomacy, and generally just paying attention to the world.  There will be hard questions and there will also be easy questions.  We give away a prize to each person who answers correctly, so if you're a lore fiend, make sure to come out for that.

The Shadowfire Regatta is our boat race - we'll give away prizes in two categories - sloops and caravels.

The Telon Relay Race is a new event for us.  To participate, you'll need to team up with two other people.  Each member of your team will go to a designated location.  When the race starts, we give an item to the first member, who takes it to the second member, who then takes it to the third member, and so on.  Anything goes in this race - recalls, riftways, flying mounts, regular mounts, speed buffs, evacs, etc.  That said, we're planning on making the race course big enough that hopefully these things shouldn't be too much of an advantage.  If you want to participate, start getting your team together!

The Running of the Chickens is a fun race we're planning to do in cooperation with Sir Denoran.  Racers will be turned into chickens at the start of the race, and chased by a few cats on their way to the destination.  If we're lucky, we'll be getting a video of this one :)

The pegasus race is pretty straightforward - all the contestants rent a pegasus and then fly to the destination.

And finally, at the end of the night, we'll hold a raffle/giveaway for some neat stuff.

* You mentioned prizes, what kinds of prizes will there be?

We have a TON of prizes, but here are some of the things you can win:

• Boats (we plan on having a few caravels and sloops to give away
• Adventuring armor and weapons - our crafters have been hard at work making some really nice stuff!
• Diplomacy cards
• Harvesting gear including rare-upgraded tools and clothes
• Some neat drops from around Telon
• Furniture for your house

* This sounds awesome, do you guys need any help?

We love to have people and guilds help out with the event.  If you're interested in helping, what we could use most are donations of prizes.  You can send those to me (Nephele) in game.  Include your name and your guild name if you want, and I'll make sure that you get mentioned during the event so that everyone else hears how cool you are for donating prizes :)

We may also need some help on the day of the event - however, if you volunteer for the event you may not be eligible to compete in competitions, depending what you do.  If you're interested in volunteering to help us run the event, please send me a forum PM or talk to me in game (mail works too).

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them in our forums, or contact any officer of Shadowfire in game.

Added by Talaen on Apr 22, 08 4:54 AM

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Shadowfire's guild hall is complete!!

I can honestly say that building the guild hall has been the single most fulfilling guild experience I've ever had in a game.  The entire guild worked together to build this hall.  We spent months working on it, gathering resources, crafting components, saving up money, working diplomacy parleys, and even adventuring to try and get everything that was needed.  It's been a long time coming, but I am just in awe of what we have accomplished.

I do want to call out one person here - all of us in Shadowfire owe a huge debt of gratitude to our crafting officer, Aarrina, who single-handedly crafted over 20,000 pieces for the construction of the hall.  It's contributions like these that make me hugely proud to be the leader of this ragtag bunch of lovable misfits :)

Here are some pictures :)



This is the front of the guild hall.  It's massive!



To give you an idea of just how massive, this is a shot of Nephele in the doorway with the camera as far back as it can go.



The interior is just amazing.  This is one side of the main hall (we're still working on decorating).



And this is the other side :)