Hi,

I played Vanguard day one of release.  It was awesome despite its bugs, crashes, etc....  I got my toon up to level 30 I believe, but quit after due to a lightning storm frying my motherboard.  When I got my PC repaired i went to WOW with friends.

Here are my concerns:

1.  It's been more than 3 years.  Should I start over?  I don't even remember what class I played.  I am ALWAYS a caster, so I was most likely a caster.

2.  Can i still install from the original box CD?  Or were there so many updates that the original CD is obsolete?

3.  What server should I start on?

4.  Will chicks dig the fact I play Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?

Thanks,

Hope to see you back in game soon!

1) Casters are fun.  Try the druid.

2) You can download it right from the Vanguard website.  The discs would be horribly outdated but its probably a horse a piece depending on your connection.

3) Telon is the only server really.

4) Yes.  You will now be able to score any chick your heart desires.

Originally posted by Allhallows

Hi,

I played Vanguard day one of release.  It was awesome despite its bugs, crashes, etc....  I got my toon up to level 30 I believe, but quit after due to a lightning storm frying my motherboard.  When I got my PC repaired i went to WOW with friends.

Here are my concerns:

1.  It's been more than 3 years.  Should I start over?  I don't even remember what class I played.  I am ALWAYS a caster, so I was most likely a caster.

2.  Can i still install from the original box CD?  Or were there so many updates that the original CD is obsolete?

3.  What server should I start on?

4.  Will chicks dig the fact I play Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?

 

Thanks,

Hope to see you back in game soon!

 1) Defiantly start over, because you have to make friends along the way. Besides why bash your brains out trying to figure out all your abilities all at once. Level 30 has a lot. Everyone you play with will expect you to know the game well at 30.  Since launch a new quest line was added by SOE called the Hunters league quest line starting at level 17 on up to high 20's, This was added because you get much better equipment to make soloing more enjoyable.

2) My hard drive crashed several months ago.  I only had a digital copy of Vanguard.  I used  my friends original disc from way back and it took a lot of pain out of patching. So yes.

3 ) Only one server for US.

4) If you have any girlfriends at all, you would probably loose them for ever !

1. In the case of Vanguard and a not very far developed level 30 character that you dont know how to play any longer, I would strongly recomment on starting your characters over. The new starter island (Isle of Dawn) will give you many advantages - an easy start into crafting and diplomacy and an uber item that will make crafting and diplomacy much easier and more enjoyable. It also helps with adventuring, though not as much.

2. Yes.

3. Telon. The other is Halgar. You are welcome to play on Halgar if you are from europe, for better ping - but right now there are like two douzens of people still playing on Halgar, while there are hundreds of players on Telon.

4. Try buying a fast car for that.

I've heard this was the best raiding game still, how is that so?

Originally posted by LizardEgypt

I've heard this was the best raiding game still, how is that so?

I have no comparison, other to Lineage 2 - and Vanguard leaves L2 raids in the dust when it comes to complexity. Each and every boss requires an own strategy to beat.

Vanguard has 15 classes and 18 or 24 man raids.

What I can tell you for sure is that raiding in Vanguard is very complex. You want each and every class:

- Warrior: Tank with the highest dps and best snap aggro, good for dps fights (there are many of those).

- Paladin: Tank with lowest dps, but immunity to fear and good overall aggro. Important against some raid bosses (Kotasoth).

- Dread Knight: Tank with the ability to move a bit even if rooted, again thats a feature thats interesting in some fights (Shiver). Can disenchant.

- Rogue: Melee DD, second highest dps in game, can feed aggro to tank.

- Ranger: Melee or Ranged DD; best stance kicker in the game. Also can do it ranged.

- Monk: Melee DD, fake Death specialist, second and last (relevant) stance kicker.

- Bard: Melee DD. Extreme dps boost to group (about 60%) and very high dps themselves. Also can sleep and enchant.

- Cleric: Healer with tank spike heal (from almost dead to full every 8 secs), good general heals, good buffs, good defense (tank-ish).

- Shaman: Healer with good endurant healing, large number of buffs depending upon Totem, great debuffs. Bear Shaman has best endurance buff in the game (even better than Clerics).

- Disciple: Healer with sheer endless manaless "jin" healing (mostly single target, very important in some fights) and great dps. Neither the Fake Death nor Stance kicking ability work much in raids, though.

- Blood Mage: Healer as a dedicated hitpoint magician. Can take away part of the damage on one tank. Maybe even higher dps than Disciple. Can do a strong aggro free group heal on (very frequent) spell crits. Troubled against mobs that are healed by arcane damage, though (the group heal turns into group damage). Can disenchant.

- Sorcerer: Mage. Best dps in game. Can also disenchant (and is best at it) and sleep.

- Druid: Mage. Best spike dps in game. Also toolbox-ish. Can for example allow raid force to operate without mana. May possibly be able to disenchant ?

- Psionicist: Mage with sleep and enchant (and best at it). Can feed mana to other classes. Can feed aggro to tank. Best mage buffs in the game. Not sure if they can disenchant.

- Necromancer: Mage. The "meat" (lowers Int and Energy, raised Str and HP) and "orb" (the other way around) buffs are the strongest and most important ones in the game; without a Necromancer, you can pretty much forget raiding, unless your tank has really brilliant gear. Can also fake death.

So yeah, tank and spank fights in raids only occur with one special mob (the very first one you'll meet in the APW dungeon). Everyone else needs some kind of strategy.

How does the progression work, and have the specs been somewhat improved?