Vanguard: 10-30 General Guide
MMORPG.com Vanguard Correspondent Jei Anderson writes this general overview of what he feels that players of Vanguard should experience in levels 10 through 30.
So you just got the wrapper off of your new $20 Collector's Edition of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and you are ready to play. You spend 30 mins. to an hour, making your new character…choosing your class and your race, and going through all of the customization options, making sure your nose is the right width, etc. And then you log on for the first time and enter into a vast, realistic, beautiful, world. The game leads you through the first few levels with quests that do a pretty good job of acclimating you to all three spheres (adventuring, crafting, and diplomacy) as well as harvesting, if you do them all. However, at some point, you will probably feel a little overwhelmed if you do not have a veteran friend leading you through the game, due to the sheer enormity of the explorable land. So we here at MMORPG.com decided to give you a few hints and tips on some great places to go to get your character from level 10-25. Some of these zones may even be foreign to your veteran friends if they haven't broadened their horizons when it comes to race or zone-level progression. Unlike in most MMOs, there are quite a few zones to quest in at any level in Vanguard, so if one gets used to going to a particular place or set of places, and only goes to them with every new character, then they will miss out on a lot of content. So hopefully the information provided in this guide will help out players new and old.
Prior to Game Update 6, which just hit live servers on September 10, 2008, depending on your chosen race, you would enter the game in a particular starting area to start your journeys of Telon. Now, however, you have the choice of doing the very same thing, or starting on the Isle of Dawn. I would suggest the IoD (for new and old players), as it has a very interesting, new, storyline that is fun to play through and all of its quests offer gear with stats on them. In addition to this, no matter what race you are, if you choose the IoD, you start in the same place, so it gives you an opportunity to make new friends right from the start, whereas in some of the racial starting zones of less popular races, you may go through all of the starter quests without seeing any other player characters.
10+
Once you have gotten to the mainland or simply gotten away from your race's starter zones, you may be ready to see something new. Well at level 10, you are armed and ready to do so. The first thing you will want to do is find a local horse vendor and buy your very first horse for 12 silver and 50 copper. Then find yourself a riftway and the world is open to you. At this level, as all others, there are several places you may want to visit and explore and the Rift Keeper will offer you a quest called "The Nature of Rifts". These will be quests that will instruct you to use the riftway to go to particular zones to meet new NPC's that will get you started exploring that particular area.
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Here are some of those zones:
- Thestra- Three Rivers, Veskal's Exchange
- Qalia- Temple of Dailuk, Qa Riverbank
- Kojan- Wildgrowth Forest, Jalen's Crossing
The Qa Riverbank is a nice place to start out. Take the riftway there and speak with Neelin Roshuk. The quests at Neamsong Bunker are fun and even send you on a flying mount to see quite a bit of the continent for free! In addition to this, you get introduced to the Hunter's League, a group that you want to know very well. These quests will offer you some nice uncommon armor and weapons.
12+
At level 12, you have the opportunity to do a quest line that offers some very nice rare gear from a group called URT (United Races of Thestra). To start these quests, take a riftway to Renton's Keep and speak with Legrok Blacksmelter. There are quest givers for the URT line in Three Rivers Village, Renton Keep, Veskal's Exchange, and Kaon's Rush. Some of these quests can be very tedious though, especially at lower levels, so I would suggest that if you are questing solo, you either wait until you are level 14 to start these or skip them and just do the normal quests in your level range.
15-18
At level 14, I would suggest that you head on over to the Blighted Lands. You can also now viably do the Temple of Dailuk dungeon in Qalia, if you have a group. There are other places that you can go at 15 such as:
- Thestra- Misthaven Crossing, Kaon's Rush, Renton Keep
- Qalia- Hathor Zhi, Kasavari Gulch
- Kojan- Sundering Wastelands
The Blighted Lands is a very popular zone for mid-teens, so it is very easy to get a group here. There are lots of quests that are in one centralized area, so you don't have to do an excessive amount of running around. In addition to this, you get "The Five Brothers" quest here, a quest that has you assassinating five devout followers of Ra'jin. This quest rewards you with quite possibly your very first cloak in the game, the "Cloak of the Pupil". While doing this quest, make sure you pick up "Ra'Jin Outpost: Cripple the Guards", "Ra'Jin Oupost: Deeper In", "Ra'Jin Outpost: Looking for Trouble", "Ra'Jin Outpost: The Courier", and "Spirit of Talsu", as they can all be done at the same time. Try to kill all of the three dot and named mobs that you find in the encampment, as they drop some nice uncommon and rare gear and weapons.
18-25+
Once you reach level 18, it is time to drop all that you are doing, and head on over to Skrilien Point to speak to Neneler Jabifa. If you did the quests at Neamsong Bunker, then you are familiar with the Hunter's League. If you did not, then it is time to meet them. These quests are very difficult for some classes, not as hard for others, but for most of them, you will need to be in a group and be prepared to spend quite some time doing the quest line…in upwards of 10 hours, but it is well worth it. Once you have completed the Neamsong Bunker quests it is time to either swim, take a boat, or rent a wyvern to get to Skawlra Rock. For completing the entire Hunter's League quest line, you will end up with, quite possibly, your first heroic chest piece, legs, and weapon in the game, made specifically for your class. You will also receive rare shoulder pads, helm, and arms and the "Officer of the Hunter's League" title. In addition to the rewards, you will get a chance to work in a group, something you may or may not have experienced up until this point.
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Other places you can go to around the 18-20 levels are the Tomb of Lord Tsang, a much looked over dungeon that offers a quest that eventually rewards you with a heroic weapon. You can find this dungeon in the Jin'ka Forest in Kojan. Once you reach 20, you should also, either after you have completed your Hunter's League quests, or as a break from them, head on over to CIS (Coterie Infinium Sanctuary) and speak with Scholar Donovan (he does not have a quest icon over his head, so you will just have to talk to him). After your conversation with him, he will give you the quest "Strange Things Are Afoot". This quest takes you into the Infineum Dungeon. These quests are not soloable at this level. A proper full group, complete with tank and healer/s will be needed for these quests. For completion, you will be rewarded the uncommon Infinium Cloak of your choosing and offered the next quest in progression. The most notable reward for completing the entire CIS quest line is the first legendary weapon available to you in the game. Yet another good dungeon is Trengal Keep, which you can go to at level 23. At times all of these dungeons will be amply populated; they all offer very nice rewards and very good experience.
The trick to Vanguard is remembering that the world of Telon is vast and meant to be explored and discovered. I have given you some places to go see, but get out there and search for yourself. I'm sure you'll find other places that I have not mentioned and good reasons to venture them as well. Good luck and as always, have fun!
