PVP:Yes | Distribution:Download,Retail | Retail Price:$09.97 | Pay Type:Subscription
Desktop Client | System Req:
| ESRB:T
Vanguard: Taking a Look at the Diplomacy System
MMORPG.com Vanguard Correspondent Warren Bennett takes a look at the unique diplomacy system in SOE's Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
Diplomacy in Vanguard is an interesting type of MMO play. It takes a concept of the physical collectible card game, games like Magic: the Gathering, and turns it in to a new way to interact with the world of Telon. Yet this isn't just a card game, your choices and how well you perform may actually effect the entire zone you are playing in.
What is Diplomacy exactly?
)
di•plo•ma•cy [ di-ploh-muh-see ]
- -noun
- the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.
- the art or science of conducting such negotiations.
This is a term you hear bandied about in the news as one country sends diplomats to another to try to help their cause in whatever issue is being discussed. This idea is the same in Telon, the world of Vanguard, and you are the diplomat.
Diplomacy is a part of Vanguard that I had never really tried; I knew it existed but it seemed a bit foreign to me. In preparing for this article, I started to go through the tutorials so that I could actually play as a diplomat.
One thing that you need to remember: Parley is where it is at. Everything in the diplomacy sphere revolves around the parley, the back and forth card game that works as a sort of conversation. Your goal is to win the parley, showing that you are the superior diplomat. Unlike the adventuring sphere, you cannot tea bag your enemy after you down him; instead, different rewards will be granted for your victory in the field of diplomatic conversations. These range from items that you can use, to buffs that affect the whole zone or area where are you attempting to parley.
I have found that as I move through the sphere of Diplomacy it open up more and more information about the world and what’s going on there. This is the sphere you want to go through if you want to find out more about the lore of Telon. The two other spheres do tell you something about the historic and current state of Telon, but Diplomacy is where it is at if you really want to delve in to the depths of the story.
)
Diplomacy, just like any physical Collectible Card Game, has a type of resource attached to it called “expressions.” You need a certain type and number of expressions to use your Statements, or Statement Cards, that form the meat of the Diplomacy game. Each race and class has an affinity for certain expressions, which tend to influence how you build your deck.
The Expressions are: Flattery (yellow), Demand (red), Inspire (blue), and Reason (green).
There are different conversation types that can block a certain expression from being used during that game: Entertain blocks Demand; Incite stops Flattery; Convince blocks Inspire, and Interview conversation type does not block any expression.
So, if Expressions are the resource you use to activate your statement cards, what are the Statement cards exactly?
Statement Cards are abilities that you use during each round. Each statement card has a different use, of course, all centered around the idea of a conversation. If you have built up enough of a certain expression type, you can use one. Each statement card has a coast associated with it, but also helps to build up expressions. Each card gives a certain amount of expression to both the speaker of the statement and the person that is doing the listening (your opponent). In the upper right hand of each card is a number on a small seal of wax: This represents the influence that you are gaining (or losing) in this conversation.
You speak by putting down your statement cards and listening as your opponent takes his turn and puts his own cards down. The goal is to bring the influence bar in the middle of the board to your side and keep it there. If you have more influence then your opponent does when the game ends, you win.
This, of course, is just a very brief overview of the diplomatic process in Vanguard.
Some thoughts I have had while going through the very beginning of my Diplomatic career:
The lore should be more spread out. I appreciate that in a world such as Vanguard, the people that are more “learned” and essential to governing of any “medieval high fantasy” type of nation would have more an idea of current, past, and future events than the common citizen, I wonder if an adventurer would be so clueless as to the events leading up to the present. They are going to and fro in the land fixing ills and digging up long lost treasure, you would think a portion of them would be educated. So spreading out the lore among your adventuring companions (IE: NPC's that give you quests) would be a logical step, I think.
)
Diplomacy, although very unique, isn't a required sphere. I'd like to see the three spheres of Vanguard work together a bit more. I don't understand why Diplomacy feels so cut off from the rest of the game. I'm not saying that being “just” a diplomat should not be a viable option, but the three spheres just do not feel connected when it comes to in game content.
I like the idea of Diplomacy, yet the execution needs to be refined. The beginning tutorials are, at least to me, a bit vague. I had to read through them a couple of times before I got the gist of what they were trying to tell me. I love the idea of a CCG inside an MMO and Diplomacy was one of the first. I know that the development team is working hard on various updates and changes to Vanguard: Here is hoping that they decide to give Diplomacy a revamp in the coming year. It would be nice to get those seeking a new and unique experience a reason to try this dark horse of an MMO game; diplomacy could be a Trojan horse to bring people in to the game. It is a unique aspect that none of the other Massive games I have played has implemented.
Quite simply the best feature of this game. I hope others steal it.
Originally it was intended that all THREE spheres were important..at least thats the way Sigil meant it to be. Alas new owners and who knows what will happen for VG's future. All three spheres were meant to influence and pretty much overlap each other.
I am not saying that the Soe Devs (some, very few were original Sigil) are not making a good effort to put VG in a good place, I just think certain things have happened along the way since Sigil's unfortunate demise......which guarantees that Vanguard will not be the game originally intended.
And being that the original Diplo Dev is no longer there, I understood that diplomacy and any changes or fixes it needed would be kind of on hold til someone takes it over. There is a dev dealing with it now, from what I understand, but who knows how many other irons in the fire he has at the same time.
Aruspex did alot for the lore in Vanguard from closed beta onwards, through diplomacy...its a shame he's no longer there.
Cend
I've been a diplomat from Day 1. I'm currently working on acquiring my land deeds and am looking forward to exploring the Lamplighters District and seeing how I can exchange my Tier 5 information for gear and jewelry. There was a lot of great content added in GU6 and I'm pumped to get into it.
Diplomacy actually ties into the other two spheres better in the high-end game. As a diplomat, I can parley the gnomes in Gnome City within Ancient Port Warehouse. There, I can put up buffs for the raid, trigger adventure quests, pick up for useful lore and obtaining Hoptonian Schematics which are required for the gear quests within APW.
Vanguard has some amazing ideas and Diplomacy with in-depth crafting are ground breaking in a lot of ways. I always have a soft spot for VG but for me time has moved on but I would recommend it to anyone dissapointed with the latest releases and looking for a fantasy MMO. Plenty to do and I had a many weeks of fun in it.
I think Diplomacy was an interesting concept and one that tied in with the game in a cool way. For me personally, I have some sort of mental block with the card games like this and just don't get them. It's like I'm missing something fundamental. And the tutorials just don't seem to help me find whatever it is. I must be getting too old for it. :)
Amazing aspect of the game that ties in interestingly very well with the other spheres, IF one pays attention to why they're doing the adventure quests or the crafting work orders.
T.
I recently gained 50th level in Diplomacy and got all the Lamp lighters gear, some very cool items and look really good.
One of the best things currently about max level diplomacy is earning Ancient Platinium coins for your flying/racial mounts. There are repeatable quests which is an awesome idea.
I hope the revamp addresses the mid levels where there is very little to do but grind Civic xp.
My advice is at 40th level start grinding 45th and above npcs, they will give you drops you can use later with the Lamplighers.
I'd like to point out that diplomacy actually is needed for the other spheres. For crafting, it's the only way to acquire certain recipes, and they get soulbound on pickup, so you can't find them on the auction house. And boojiboy pointed out how it's useful for adventuring as well.
I would like to see more conversations get added in for civic parleys...reading the same thing over and over from 10 different people gets real old, real fast.
Diplo was super frustrating to get into at first, but I ditched adventuring for it. Reading the stories was pretty interesting, and some of the scenarios were interesting.
I agree that reading the same stuff over and over and over got quite old, though.
Kojan was a horrible place to start my character. It's a shame that I didn't know any better at the time. No content there at all, and as a diplo I found it impossible to get clothes required for quests. Several turned grey and even by that time I couldn't do anything with them. The clothes on the auction house was set at such absurd prices that it's obvious your diplo character would have to come second after (nearly) maxing the other professions.
Then I discovered the clothing quests on the other continents. Cool stuff right there. Fun stories, what with intercepting an assassin, choosing between saving a town and saving a politician, and some other fun stuff. Again with the repeated dialogue, though. Each tree eventually converges into the same text, sending you to the same NPCs, over and over...
As far as the cards are concerned, you can pretend that they don't exist. The only important bits are the colors, numbers, and type.
Anyway, it was cool but needed some work. It was definitely more entertaining (for me) than adventuring, though.
Unfortunatly an MMO is about time managment, spend an hour doing this.. or spend an hour doing that...
Diplomacy doesnt even balance itself against an hour spent crafting, or an hour adventuring. By that I mean the reward, or even the nessesaty for it!
As has been said in other posts Diplomacy for all intense purposes is a waste of time. Dont get me wrong, the idea is brilliant and it IS enoyable sometimes challenging, but the Developers have completly failed to integrate it into the game! such that you dont want to waste your time on it... there are other parts to vangaurd which are so much more fun, brilliant and exciting that diplomacy completly fails to mark up.
More saddening about this system is the torrent of brilliant ideas that the fans post on their forums, detailed, intricate ideas with numbers, storys and reward plans that devs in other games are crying out for and yet, I dont know why, but they are fallen on deaf ears.
A very simple and quick parley with any normal quest giving NPC to boost your reward is an idea that would integrate diplomacy fantastically with vangaurd.
It continues to frustrate and madden me to see this game laid to utter desolation simply because they refuse to give it the proper investment. Its like looking at a cake that you know to taste fantastic and possibly be your favorite cake of all time, but its just missing the icing or the decoration and the presentation that you know it deserves.