The folks at SOE have a little treat going for Vanguard players this weekend. Starting early Friday morning, people will earn double experience points towards crafting and diplomacy. Here is the announcement:

Double your action, double your fun and DOUBLE your XP!

Join Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™ adventurers in the world of Telon for a DOUBLE XP WEEKEND!

That’s right, get DOUBLE XP in your Crafting and Diplomacy skills all weekend long! Join the action beginning Friday, August 21 at 6:01 AM through Tuesday, August 25 at 5:00 AM PDT to earn DOUBLE XP towards your crafting and diplomacy efforts!

Check out the official Vanguard website for information on a multitude of different DOUBLE XP weekend promotions coming your way throughout the year!

Not a Vanguard player? Check out the Isle of Dawn 14-day free trial at http://vanguard.station.sony.com/isleofdawn/.

Nice, this is great! Don't know if I'm going to resub yet though.

While I enjoy Vangaurd, not everyone considers double XP as "double the fun". For those racing to the finish line, this may ease the pain of playing the game, but then, if that is the case, what is the point or fun in playing at all?

Thankfully, XP can be turned off in Vanguard and I find myself having to utilize this feature regularly to both facilitate my own enjoyment and to mitigate others' race to the finish (where, I might add, the least amount of content awaits them).

You know, if the would just get rid of that card game called diplomacy, Vanguard could maybe make a comeback.  It just doesn't "fit".

Originally posted by anwar

You know, if the would just get rid of that card game called diplomacy, Vanguard could maybe make a comeback.  It just doesn't "fit".

Hello, Anwar, and thank you for your observation.

As an active player who regularly engages the high end Diplomacy game, my own observation is that Diplomacy ties a great deal of the game's lore together in a way that is otherwise obscure. It should be noted here that whether one decides to play at Diplomacy is purely optional, as it is a distinct sphere of gameplay that is separate, yet complimentary to the Adventuring and Crafting spheres.

Originally posted by anwar

You know, if the would just get rid of that card game called diplomacy, Vanguard could maybe make a comeback.  It just doesn't "fit".

I'll take a page out of LoneStryders book here, (in his 'diplomatic' way of disagreeing with you,) and I'll just say that  while your opinion is respected anwar, I have to strongly disagree with your assessment. 

While at first I just blew through the diplomacy game, I soon realized that reading the dialog really opened up the background of the place to me.  I have started playing again, and I'm pretty much focusing purely on Diplomacy.

I really enjoy the strategy of the card game, and like I said before, the writing of the dialog options, really opens up the world.

Without Diplomacy to set this game apart, I highly doubt that I'd have even bothered logging back in to check it out again.

so, that's my opinion.

thanks,

zWolf -out.

WOW.  Seriously like offereing free water in the center of the Sahara Desert.  Great idea and will be loved but, who is freakin actually there to receive it?

Originally posted by NovaKayne

WOW.  Seriously like offereing free water in the center of the Sahara Desert.  Great idea and will be loved but, who is freakin actually there to receive it?

lol, Nova, that cracked me up. heh, Guess I'll go be the lone traveler through the desert.  :-)

Cool

I never played past beta....was really disappointed, was looking forward to a game kinda close to early EQ in difficulty....tried the diplomacy a few times and felt like I wasn't even playing the game.   At that time it seemed to be something "new" added just for the sake of being able to say you had something new.

I check on Vanguard occasionally, and the elimination of diplomacy has been the indicator I look for to see if they have really totally revamped so I can take another try at it.

Obviously, you guys like it, and  glad you do.

Looking forward to the extra gain!

I have played VG off and on since beta and still love it. I think its the most in depth PvE game out right now. Huge game, great dungeons, and lots of fun. Only quam is that they put in riftways awhile ago. Id rather take my boat or a flying mount.

While the Double XP will be nice for crafting and Diplomacy i do not think it is nessisary to the adventuring sphere. There is so much content and so many dungeons at all levels that you end up having a blast running them instead of just waiting for the DING.

My 25 Disciple (monk style healer) is more rewarding and complex to play then any of my higher level characters from other MMO's. Having to Buff, debuff, dot, heal, all while in mele and using combos to pull them off is alot of fun. Also habing chain moves, block moves, and rescues just adds to the fun. Its always chaning and each encounter is a little different.

They are also adding in more higher level content all the time and have a Alternate Advancement system like EQ to make things even more interesting.

I would reccomend giving it another try if you have not recently. It truely is a great game and the population is slowly starting to grow again thanks to an awesome trial island with a good ammount of lore that acutly represents the game. Also it runs so much better then it used to. If you havent tried it recently give it a go. Either resub for a month and test it or try the 14day trial. While you can only get to level 10 in all 3 spheres you can try out a few classes and find something that suites your style of game play