The Fate of WoJ

Posted in Vanguard with tags , on October 17, 2009 by Romulus

If you’re looking to find Wings of Justice, Vanguard is not the place to look anymore. A series of mis-steps by the developers sent most of us looking for new games to play. Others had to leave due to the economy and needing to spend their time focusing on other aspects of their lives. There are a few left who carry the WoJ banner in VG, but the guild has fallen from its place of prominence on Xeth.

A small band of WoJ members moved to Everquest 2 and formed a guild on Crushbone. Not looking to make a big stir or caring to invite guild drama, the guild has been kept small, but those few are playing actively.

Others have moved to Guild Wars, waiting in hopes that Guild Wars 2 may bring to life what Vanguard failed to do.

If you’re interested in joining up with one of these other groups, you’re welcome to post a comment here and I can get you the information you need.

-Rom

Isle of Dawn

Posted in Adventuring, Crafting, Diplomacy, Game Updates, Harvesting, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on August 15, 2008 by Romulus

Spell Drops

Posted in Adventuring, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on April 14, 2008 by Romulus

Arcane casters

Psionicist: (copied from www.vgpsi.com)

Lvl 34 (Soulbound): Sentient Crystal of Mass Acceleration: Curse + vgplayers
River Palace

Lvl 50: Sentient Crystal of Mass Acumen: Curse + vgplayers
Abammisi Lake + Temple of Tehatamani

Lvl 50: Sentient Crystal of Mass Expansive Mind: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Sentient Crystal of Mass Second Sight: Curse + vgplayers
Nusibe + Abammisi Lake

Lvl 50: Sentient Crystal of Mass Vast Psyche: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Necromancer:

Lvl 40 (Soulbound): Tome of Breath of the Dead: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 40 (Soulbound): Tome of Rest of the Dead II: Curse + vgplayers
Beranid Hills (Graystone)

Lvl 42 (Soulbound): Tome of Soul Meld: Curse + vgplayers
Jahred’s Twist

Lvl 50: Tome of Death March: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Tome of Font of Depravity II: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Tome of Might of the Grave: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Tome of Well of Corruption: Curse + vgplayers

Sorcerer:

Lvl 45 (Soulbound): Scroll of Eldritch Banishment: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 45 (Soulbound): Scroll of Eldritch Vulnerability: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 45 (Soulbound): Scroll of Zull Provocation: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Scroll of Mantle of Ether: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Scroll of Mantle of Frozen Embers: Curse + vgplayers

Druid:

Lvl 50: Leaflet of Natureskin: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Leaflet of Naturewood Talisman: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Leaflet of Talisman of the Eclipse: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur + Afrit

Healers

Cleric:

Lvl 50: Testament of Devout Bestowal of Brilliance: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Testament of Devout Endowment of Fervor: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Testament of Devout Renewal: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Testament of Devout Resolution: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Testament of Devout Spirit Ward: Curse + vgplayers

Shaman:

Lvl 42 (Soulbound): Idol of Gift of Alcipus: Curse + vgplayers
Stranglewater Shore

Lvl 50: Idol of Adroitness of the Shadow Prowler: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Idol of Gift of the Oracle: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Idol of Hayatet’s Gift of Acuity: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Idol of Infusion of Spirit: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Idol of Mantle of the Phoenix: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Idol of Rakurr’s Gift of Speed: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Idol of Superior Tuurgin’s Vigor: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Idol of Tuurgin’s Gift of Fury: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Idol of Warmth of the Great Bear: Curse + vgplayers

Disciple:

Lvl 50: Jin Tablet of Grace of the Crow: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Jin Tablet of Sagacity of the Grasshopper: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Jin Tablet of Stoical Mind: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Blood Mage:

Lvl 50: Compendium of Accelerated Regeneration: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Compendium of Inspirit: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Compendium of Life Graft: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Compendium of Mental Stimulation: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Compendium of Serak’s Amplification: Curse + vgplayers
Temple of Tehatamani

Offensive Fighters

Ranger:

Lvl 50: Leaflet of Prowler’s Grace: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Leaflet of Razorshroud: Curse + vgplayers

Lvl 50: Leaflet of Speed of the Tempest: Curse + vgplayers

Rogue:
?

Monk:
?

Bard:

Lvl 50: Sheet Music: Suann’s Nocturnal Call: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Sheet Music: Sung’s Renewing Rest: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Defensive Fighters

Warrior:
?

Paladin:

Lvl 50: Testament of Superior Courage: Curse + vgplayers
Rahz Inkur

Lvl 50: Testament of Superior Gift of Peace: Curse + vgplayers

Dreadknight:
?

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22520

Housing & Recalls

Posted in Guild Hall, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on March 28, 2008 by Romulus

Information About Guild Housing

As a reminder, you may only own one “plot” per account in Vanguard. So you may not own a house and a Guild house; it’s one or the other.

____________________________________________________

So essentially if you are a guild member (not the leader), you can have a recall to your bind point, a recall to your house, and a recall to your guild HQ (3 total).

Input

Posted in Adventuring, Crafting, Diplomacy, Game Updates, Guild, Guild Hall, Guild Info, Harvesting, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on March 23, 2008 by Romulus

If there some specific information you’d like to see on this website, please feel free to leave a comment with what you’re looking for. We will try to accommodate and post about any Vanguard information needs.

Infineum Quest Line

Posted in Adventuring, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on March 23, 2008 by Romulus

Infineum Quest Line:

STEP 1:

“Strange things are Afoot” ( http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…ngs-are-afoot/ )

Obtained from Donovan (a gnome NPC at Donovan’s Roost; west of Aghram as you take the road) – available at level 19. He’ll ask you to talk to someone who knows about Infineum.

You have to talk to the Warder, who patrols around the entrance area to the infineum mines. Go south from Donovan’s Roost and you’ll come to the mines; either have someone invis and scout him out or clear for exp until you find him. While you’re there, farm yourself an Infineum Pickaxe (you’ll need it later) from Infineum Thrall mobs; 4 dots that are level 18-20.

Once you find the Warder, hail him; he’ll give you a quest update and should point you to the slave. The slave is hiding in an infineum grove immediately to the right as you run into the mines(in the middle of this big crystal patch); hail him to get the quest “Helping the Runaway” – he’ll ask you to retrieve a key for his chains from the Captain.

The Captain is named Captain Fubared and is located in a tent at Yuni’s steps; to get there, hug the right wall as you run south into the mines, then either clear through the camp or invis around the side (behind the tent, to the left/right, inside works best). Clear the tent mobs. Next, someone in your group – who’s on this step of the quest – must hail the Captain, which will turn him agro and spawn his guards. 3-4 adds. your tank keeps the Captain occupied while you kill the adds first. Once the first guard is killed, DPS the other one, kill, then resume DPS on the Captain. He should spawn more guards around. DPS the Captain, loot the quest item, head back to slave. He’ll ask you mine 5 Infineum Ore nodes, which are “!” items – but you need the Pickaxe mentioned above to hit them. they drop off the miners in the immedaite area. The respawn is fairly quick and they’re all around, so just clear the immediate area until everyone’s done. Return to Donovan with the ore, complete the quest, return to Donovan and get your cloak.

Premi quest :
1) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…ak-of-empathy/
2) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…f-destruction/
3) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…-of-agression/
4) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…-of-agression/
5) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…ak-of-defence/


STEP 2:

“Infineum Immunity” ( http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…neum-immunity/ )

You’ll obtain this quest from Donovan. The first step is to find The Book it can be found by running to the entrance of the mines; you can worm your way up the hill to the left. Continue southeast, either clearing or invising past the roamers; you’ll eventually come to two buildings and a gazebo; the book is in the left building, which is populated by mobs. Clear them out before moving in. Select the book off the table, and get the quest.

You’re told to go to Sedymor and interrupt some sort of ritual. Run out of the book room, hug the right wall (i.e., go northish) and head to a building that’s tucked back up by the hill; it’ll have gazebos in front of it and guards at the door.

Get inside to the quest giver.

Premi quest :
1) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…ng-of-empathy/
2) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…f-destruction/
3) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…-of-agression/
4) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…of-deterrence/


STEP 3:

“Subquest: Vengeance” ( http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…088/vengeance/ )

Sedymor wants you to kill the Infineum Recruiter – Trevorak. Head west – you’ll come to another building with gazebos out front; Clear the mobs around her and any others you want, as kiting the boss encounter is a valid way to finish it.

Someone with the quest will have to hail the mob She’ll go agro and spawn 4 guardians (Guardian of the First, Second, Third and Fourth, respectively). You can finish as you did with Captain Fubared; tank the named, kill the adds, loot the diary off Trevorak, examine it; you’ll finish Vengeance. Infineum Immunity should also complete – return to Donovan to get your ring.


STEP 4:

“Immunity Potion” ( http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…munity-potion/ )

Obtained from Donovan after turning in Infineum Immunity; this quest is fairly simple and nets you a potion and an earring. Kill and loot the following in and around the Northern Infineum Mines:

1)Item: 10 – “Shard of Infineum” Mob: “Rolling Infineum Shards” or “Animated Infineum Shards” (best found on the platue)

2)Item: 2 – “Chunk of Animated Infineum” Mob: “Animated Infineum Chunk” (found south of the platue)

3)Item: 1 – “Sample of Boiling Infineum Ooze” Mob: “Boiling Infineum Ooze” (south of the patroling mob from the first quest)

4)Item: 5 – “Fragment of Infineum” Mob: “Animated Infineum Fragment” (south of the platue)

Once complete, head over to Acadd, who resides at the entrance to the Southern Infineum Mines out in the open. Drink the potion once you have it to quench the infineum affliction.

Premi quest:
1) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…ng-of-empathy/
2) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…f-destruction/
3) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…-of-onslaught/
4) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…of-deterrence/


STEP 5:

“Power Cores & Cultists Robes”

Acadd has two quests to give you – one to get 10 golem powercores (from Infineum Horrors and other rock-mobs closeby) and one to get 4 cultist robes (from the humans; Diviners or Seers directly west).


STEP 6:

“Forging Infineum Weapons”

Put on the robe and make your way southwest through the forge until you come to a building ringed by non-agro mobs; head inside. When you enter, you’ll see 3 mobs; the Smith Of’barba and his two assistants Hail the smith; he’ll give you orders to make a weapon. You get the book from him at zero cost. (note: they also have semigood toolbelts at no cost as well)


STEP 7:

“Subquest: Forging Infineum Weapons pt.2”

Hail the assistant; (Dont right click like some people and kill the poor soul) he’ll make a weapon for you but you’re required to provide him the materials. he’ll list off what you need for each type of weapon, which you can then buy off the smithing vendor. Once he crafts the weapon you can complete the quest and head back to Acadd. The weapon cost about 1g30s.


STEP 8:

“Using the Weapon” (http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…ng-the-weapon/ )

Acadd will now tell you to “convince” the Tahir Jahani at the Altar of the Ages to tell you how to use infineum weapons. Run east to him from Acadd. As before, have someone hail him, then flatter him – he’ll turn agro and spawn three guards, while depopping all the other mobs at the altar. The depop is great because it gives you room to run around. kite the named while picking off the guards. Note that you can’t kill him right away; since he’ll travel through time, shift his form, basically be a royal pain in the ass for about 5 minutes. Each time he depops and respawns he’ll be in a different gazebo location; you can easily lull pull him solo, as agro mobs do spawn around each gazebo with him. Once he’s dead you’ll loot a book that teaches you how to use the weapon and when right clicked, will upgrade your forged infineum weapon to a Mercurial Infineum weapon. Note that this will also flag you for the Arena of Time. Head back to Acadd again.


STEP 9:

“The Summoning” ( http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…the-summoning/ )

Acadd will send you to stop a summoning ritual; run west you’ll come to a path through some infineum with mobs on either side that are non-agro. Head into the area and keep your group off to one side; have someone hail the quest NPC in the summoning circle, then sit back and enjoy the show. The huge golem to the right of the summoners will go berserk and kill everything around it – once that’s done, the quest NPC will respawn as a ghost. Again, have one person hail her; she’ll ask you to kill her, so go for it – she’ll put up something of a fight, though.

Once more back to Acadd. He’ll send you to Smith Of’barba, who is in the Shidreth Mining Camp (continue west/north up the path). the blacksmith at the shidreth mining company will tell you to collect scavenged armor and gems in order for him to make me armor peices. He asks you to get armor to have it reroughted then to complete the armor then the Key from mobs in the Sanctuary. Any mobs can drop the key except the Rock Thingies. Gems do drop off the humanoid mobs in the sanctuary. However, they are pretty rare. It’s important to note that the Head, Chest and Leg pieces need the Orange gem and those only drop on 30+ while all other armor pieces need the Gem of Energy (yellow I believe) and that drops off 29 and below. While hunting the gems you will also score plenty of infineum armor. Seems to drop 2x as much as gems.

Ricompense:
(non ci sono notizie precise so pochi quelli che l’hanno fatta e che hanno condiviso notizie certe sui pezzi di armatura qui potete vedere qualcosina non ci sono tutte)
http://vs.warcry.com/db/item/4876
http://vs.warcry.com/db/item/7533
http://vs.warcry.com/db/item/7534


STEP 10:

“The Ageless One” ( http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…e-ageless-one/ )

From the smith head back to the sactuary
Go into the builing to the NW and float to the top. Head around counterclockwise and exit the door. Once you get to a path heading over nothing you will find the Ageless One. Listen to his quest text and you will have to kill four “guardians”. Head back to the Ageless One and get the quest update. (min lvl 28) You will have to kill Kronus now (Level 33 6-dot). He is at the top of the structure you floated to the top of. Kill Him and then head back to the Ageless One and then Smith Of’bara to claim your Legendary weapon.

Premio finale :
1) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…e-of-the-ages/
2) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…d-of-the-ages/
3) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…f-of-the-ages/
4) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…f-of-the-ages/
5) http://vg-en.curse-gaming.com/databa…e-of-the-ages/

Some things cam from other parties so they might not be perfect, but I hope this helps those that had questions. After this you head to the Strands of the ancients for the Pantheon Quests. Which i will post after people have played with for a while.
Below is a post of a map I quickly did. not perfect, but it helps.

this post was the work of Zorne.. credit where credit is due.

Necromancer – Graft Setup

Posted in Adventuring, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on March 23, 2008 by Romulus

I. Soloing with Pet as DPS

This is your typical grinding setup for an open area. Your pet acts as an additional DoT. You want him to do as much damage as possible yet not steal aggro (if you’re not Fear kiting). All grafts do the same damage over x period of time (when comparing similar tiers and quality), so there is no need to have a Devastation Claw. In fact, I use a Plagued Claw. I find the Devastation Claw + Sundering Fist to be a ton of up front damage, and this is usually enough for the pet to steal aggro, causing your grind session to be far less efficient.

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Plagued Claw Sundering Fist Legs of the Colossus Xakrin Skin Backbone of Might

II. Solo with Pet as Tank

Here is an example when you are solo and your pet has to tank. Perhaps you are in a tight space, running quests in dungeons. This setup is for those areas where your pet is sustaining major damage and it’s an issue for you to keep him alive. In this case, the defensive setup buys you more time.

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Draining Claw Fist of the Stirge Umbral Legs Match resists for casters or use Xakrin Skin Backbone of Fortitude (casters) or Thick Backbone

III. Grouped with Healer but No Tank

This setup is similar to the above, but in this case keeping your pet alive with heals isn’t an issue. Perhaps he isn’t taking any damage. Here I would use huge DD items (claw + fist) to take aggro and use Sneer plus the continued damage to keep aggro.

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Claw of Devastation Sundering Fist Legs of the Colossus Xakrin Skin Backbone of Might

IV. Grouped with Tank

Group setup; again, I don’t go with a huge fist / claw setup because you want the tank to have aggro. Why worry about your pet when you can be doing more DPS?

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Plagued Claw Sundering Fist Legs of the Colossus Xakrin Skin Backbone of Might

V. Pet as Off-Tank

This is for those times when you need your pet to off-tank and CC isn’t a possibility (RI for example). Damage is an issue and anything that buys you more time (plus keeps aggro off you) is the best bet. You can go for all out damage to keep aggro off you, but a defensive pet is a better choice. You can FD to remove aggro and your party can always heal you. Good luck getting a healer to heal your pet.

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Draining Claw Fist of the Stirge Umbral Legs Match resists for casters or use Xakrin Skin Backbone of Fortitude (casters) or Thick Backbone

VI. Pet vs. Mobs with Negligible Damage

Same as before. These are for zones where your pet isn’t sustaining heavy damage. In NN for example, any adds you cannot CC can be debuffed. Once debuffed, the damage versus your pet is nothing. You can easily keep your pet up in these situations. I’d use a heavy damage setup to keep aggro on the pet.

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Claw of Devastation Sundering Fist Legs of the Colossus Xakrin Skin Backbone of Might

VII. Pet in PvP

This is up for debate as I don’t PvP. Personally all out damage seems to be the way to go. Only issues I have here are on the legs. Most people don’t focus on the pet, but if a snare type class did snare or root your pet, they would render your pet useless. I hear he dies fast anyway in PvP, though, so perhaps damage is the way to go. Either way, the below is your best setup; of course, you can make the decision about which legs to use. Damage vs snare / root immunity is your call and changes depending on the situation.

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Claw of Devastation Sundering Fist Legs of the Colossus (damage)/ Legs of Escaping (vs. root/snare) Xakrin Skin Backbone of Might

VIII. Pet in Raids

This setup is for raids once they go live. When AE damage is an issue, you will not want to spend 10 seconds casting a new pet. You also don’t want to focus on healing your pet. You want to maximize your DPS. If your pet can stay alive on his own or only costs you minimals heals, then you’re set. Once I am able to raid a bit more, I will edit this to what does work in practice, as opposed to theory.

Claw Fist Legs Skin Backbone
Draining Claw Fist of the Stirge Legs of the Colossus Xakrin Skin Backbone of Fortitude

IX. Heroic Grafts

  • Claw of the Zull – Best claw hands down. Not sure what drops it yet (speculation is warlord), but something in RI obviously. This would replace your claw in every circumstance above.
  • Xakrin Skin – Found off God King in NN. He’s easy enough to do, even in a PuG.
  • Fist of the Pyramids – Drops off one of the 6 dot named in Abasami Lake NE of TT. Based on current numbers, this is a very nice life draining graft, but the Sundering Fists seem to be more DD. Once data on this fist is confirmed, it may end up being the fist of choice in every circumstance.

X. Conclusion

Most of this information is common sense, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what grafts to hold on to and what to sell / decon (yes they can be deconstructed). I didn’t bother going over hearts as they aren’t currently dropping. If you can get a Heart of Blood Bonding (10% damage – Life Transfer) then thats the way to go, hands down.

Blood Mage – Guide to Symbiotes

Posted in Adventuring, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on March 23, 2008 by Romulus

The Blood Mage is very unique class, and it has a very varied playstyle. One of the most unique spell-lines the class gets is the Symbiotes.

Symbiotes are created by the Blood Mage by using his own blood and organs harvested from enemies, and subsequently cast on allies or yourself for various buffs.

Do not expect your Symbiotes to be huge buffs; they give you a ton of flexibility and are very interesting.

This document will cover the following topics: Construction of Symbiotes, Using Symbiotes and a List of the Symbiotes a Blood Mage will learn to use (and when).

Construction
When you get your first Symbiote-spell you will see that it requires a Symbiote-item to cast. To construct a Symbiote, follow these steps:
Note that there is no need for you to be at an assembly table!

  1. Cast “Siphon Blood”, this will give you the “Vial of Blood” you need for constructing your new Symbiotes.
  2. Cast “Bursting Cyst”, “Exploding Cyst”, “Constrict”, “Union of Blood” or “Blood Letting Ritual” on a mob, any rank will do.
  3. While the mob is affected by the spell you cast on it, cast “Grim Harvest”, depending on which spell you cast you will get the following organ for your Symbiotes:
    • “Bursting Cyst” or “Exploding Cyst”: Quivering Brain
    • “Constrict”: Twitching Muscle
    • “Union of Blood”: Still Beating Heart
    • “Blood Letting Ritual”: Pulsating Stomach
  4. Open your Crafting list and go to the assembly-pane. In the pull-down menu select Blood Mage.
  5. Find the Symbiote you want to construct, check if you have all the components (If not go get them as per steps 1-3).
  6. If you have all the components, click Combine and get your Symbiotes!

You should now have 10 of the Symbiote you constructed, and a few less components. No worries though; components stack, and a Still Beating Heart will continue beating even though you’ve had it in your bags for weeks.

Organs
Getting the organs you need can be a bit tricky, so heres some comments and tip.
First of all, don’t harvest organs when you’re in a group. You’ll divert your attention from the action and that could prove fatal.
Since organs stack (up to 20) go find some mobs (even gray ones will do), and harvest off those by yourself.
I find that going into “Sanguine Focus” makes it easier to harvest several organs from the same mob since you wont do as much damage and wont take as much damage while waiting for “Grim Harvest” to refresh (15 seconds).
I do this since you can harvest several organs off the same mob – yes, a bear does seem to have 4 brains, 3 hearts and more stomachs than a cow!

Also you can make absolutely sure which organ to get by having only one debuff on the mob at one given time (so don’t cast Cyst followed immediately by Union of Blood, since you cant be sure which organ you’ll get).

  • Vial of Blood: Not quite an organ, but deserves mention. Go into “Sanguine Focus” (for the HP regen), then cast on yourself “Transfusion of Serak” (for more HP) and then just go nuts with “Siphon Blood”. Just remember that you can kill yourself with “Siphon Blood” so take it easy when you go low on HP.
  • Quivering Brain: Easiest organ to harvest – cast a Cyst-spell followed by Grim Harvest.
  • Still Beating Heart: Cast “Union of Blood” and then “Grim Harvest”.
  • Twitching Muscle: Root the mob with “Constrict” , and then cast “Grim Harvest”. If root doesn’t break (“Grim Harvest” does cause a little damage), you can just wait until “Grim Harvest” refreshes and cast it again for another muscle.
  • Pulsating Stomach: Build up 1 Blood Union Point with either “Despoil”, “Entwining Vein” or from “Focus of Gelenia” (Using these spells does not work with “Grim Harvest”, so they wont mess up which organ you get). Then cast “Blood Letting Ritual”, followed by “Grim Harvest”. The Duration on “Blood Letting Ritual” is long (1 minute), so you’ll be able to get 3 or 4 stomachs off the same mob (if the mob lives that long of course).

The points here is of course that having only one debuff on the mob ensures that you get exactly the organ you want, and that you can harvest several organs from one mob.
Of course this is only my way of doing it, but I think its a very easy and quick way to get a lot of organs.

Using Symbiotes
When you have constructed your new Symbiotes, you can cast the spells associated with them.
When you cast the spell your Defensive Target will be buffed with the Symbiote and one Symbiote of the appropriate type will be removed from your inventory. Remember that a player can only be buffed with one Symbiote at a time.

The only offensive Symbiote is “Controlling Symbiote”. Casting it will apply it to your Offensive Target. Remember that the spell can miss, be resisted or just not work if the target is of a type that is not charmable or is to powerful (4dots and up usually). If you try to charm a mob which has already been charmed by “Controlling Symbiote” once, it will also fail.

It does not cost you anything to construct or cast Symbiotes, the only cost you have is in getting the components.

List of Symbiotes and associated spells
I have listed all the available Symbiotes in one entry per Symbiote. Where there are multiple ranks, I have stated how many ranks are available and when you’ll be able to train them. The description will also include what bonus a certain Symbiote yields at which rank.
I have also added a note to the Symbiotes where the description doesnt quite cover the way it works.

Name: Cleansing Symbiote
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Still Beating Heart
Trained at Character Level: 14
Description: Attaches a Symbiote to an ally, cleansing their body of poison and disease over 15 minutes.
Notes: Ticks every 10 seconds, removing 1 poison or disease counter.

Name: Controlling Symbiote
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain (Animation Symbiote in the assembly Menu)
Trained at Character Level: 14
Description: Attaches a controlling symbiote to an opponent forcing them to obey your commands for 15 seconds. Repeated symbiote uses will be ignored completely. Draconic, undead, construct and elemental targets are immune to suggestion.
Notes: The controlled mob will behave like a pet for the duration of the spell, which means that you can command it to attack and use its spells.

Name: Plated Symbiote
Ranks: I / II / III / IV
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Twitching Muscle
Ranks trained at Character Level: 18 / 28 / 38 / 48
Description: Attaches a plated symbiote to an ally, transforming their skin into spiky plates that returns 30 / 49 / 71 / 94 damage upon their attackers and increases AC by 54 / 84 / 114 / 144 for 1 hour.
Notes: The Symbiote only causes damage to melee-attackers and normal ranged attacks (bows, throwing weapons etc.).

Name: Hollow Symbiote I
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain, 1 Still Beating Heart
Trained at Character Level: 22
Description: Attaches a hollow symbiote to an ally, allowing them to float of of the ground for 1 hour.

Name: Frenzied Symbiote
Ranks: I / II / III / IV / V
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain, 1 Twitching Muscle
Ranks trained at Character Level: 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 / 50
Description: Attaches a frenzied symbiote to an ally, increasing their damage by 20 / 32 /45 / 63 / 84 for 1 hour.
Notes: The bonus from Frenzied Symbiotes apply to all types of damage; melee-damage as well as spell-damage.

Name: Renewing Symbiote
Ranks: I / II / III
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Twitching Muscle, 1 Still Beating Heart
Ranks trained at Character Level: 30 / 40 / 50
Description: Attaches a renewing symbiote to an ally, this symbiote transfers 20 endurance to 30 / 34 / 38 health every 10 seconds for 30 minutes..

Name: Quickening Symbiote I
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain, 1 Twitching Muscle, 1 Still Beating Heart
Trained at Character Level: 34
Description: Attaches a quickening symbiote to an ally, this symbiote grants you the use of an ability that doubles your damage for 6 seconds. This symbiote lasts 1 hour.
Notes: The target of your Symbiote will have to check his Abilites/Spells for a spell called ”Quickening Jolt” and drag this to his hotbar.

Name: Vitalizing Symbiote I
Symbiote Requires: 3 Vial of Blood
Trained at Character Level: 38
Description: Attaches a vitalizing symbiote to an ally, this symbiote transfers 30 endurance to 45 mana every 10 seconds for 30 minutes.

Name: Conductive Symbiote I
Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 2 Pulsating Stomach, 1 Quivering Brain, 1 Still Beating Heart
Trained at Character Level: 42
Description: Attaches a conductive symbiote to an ally, this symbiote grants you the use of an ability that instantly heals an ally. This symbiote lasts for 1 hour.
Notes: The target of your Symbiote will have to check his Abilites/Spells for a spell called ”Conduct” and drag this to his hotbar.

__________________
It looks good … You go first!
~Hjelmen
LvL 50 Blood Mage – Gelenia

Vanguard Nominated for Best Online Game

Posted in Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on March 1, 2008 by Romulus

GIN GAME OF THE YEAR NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Posted: 1/24/2008

Thousands of passionate GiN readers have cast their ballots to choose the nominees for the Game Of the Year Awards. According to GiN columnists Chella Ramanan and Todd Hargosh, 2007 was an incredible year for gaming, producing more excellent titles that at any other time in recent memory, making the job of finding just a few nominees in each category all the more difficult. As such, even being nominated is a huge honor.

Like a caucus, the top vote getters in each category have advanced to the final vote process. Nominees had to garner at least ten percent of the vote.

Now however, all things are equal once again. Each and every subscriber to the free weekly GiN newsletter gets one vote to cast. If you are not already a subscriber, you can still Subscribe Now so you can vote.

And so, in a very difficult year with thousands of worthy titles, here are the nominees for the 2007 GiN Game of the Year.

 

Best Adventure Game

  • Assassin’s Creed — UbiSoft
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Electronic Arts
  • Monster Hunter Freedom 2 — Capcom
  • Penumbra: Overture — Strategy First
  • Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened — CDV
  • Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune — Sony Computer Entertainment

Best Family Game

  • Fritz & Chesster’s Chess For Winners — Viva Media
  • Marvel Heroes: Comic Book Creator — Planetwide Games
  • Pet Vet 3D Wild Animal Hospital — Viva Media
  • Scene It? Movie Edition — Namco Networks
  • Xango Tango — MumboJumbo

Best Online Only Game

  • Myst Online: URU Live — GameTap
  • Pirates of the Caribbean Online — Disney Online
  • The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar — Turbine
  • Vanguard Saga of Heroes — Sony Online
  • World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade — Blizzard Entertainment

Best Peripheral

  • I Can Play Guitar — Mattel
  • MadCatz Arcade GameStick 360 — MadCatz
  • SteelSound: 5H v2 — SteelSeries

Best Puzzle Game

  • Capcom Puzzle World — Capcom
  • Kororinpa: Marble Mania — Hudson
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All — Capcom
  • PopCap Arcade Volume 1 — PopCap
  • Zendoku — Eidos

Best RPG

  • Hellgate: London — Electronic Arts
  • Mass Effect — Microsoft Game Studios
  • Neverwinter Nights 2 — Atari
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Shivering Isles — Bethesda Softworks
  • The Witcher — CDProjekt

Best Shooter

  • BioShock — 2K Games
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — Activision
  • Enemy Territory: Quake Wars — Activision
  • Halo 3 — Microsoft
  • John Woo Presents Stranglehold — Midway
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl — THQ
  • The Orange Box — Valve

Best Simulation

  • ArmA: Combat Operations — Atari
  • Flyboys Squadron — Interactive Magic
  • Race 07 — Viva Media
  • Sid Meier’s Railroads! — 2K Games
  • The Guild 2 — JoWooD

Best Sports Game

  • Baseball Mogul 2008 — Enlight Interactive
  • Madden 08 — Electronic Arts Sports
  • Race 07 — Viva Media
  • Tony Hawk’s Project 8 — Activision
  • Virtua Tennis 3 — Sega of America

Best Strategy Game

  • Battlestations Midway — Eidos
  • Dawn of War: Dark Crusade — THQ
  • Europa Universalis III — Paradox Interactive
  • Front Mission — Square Enix
  • Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar — Stardock

Best Environment

  • Bioshock — 2K Games
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — Activision
  • Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock — Activision
  • Oblivion: Shivering Isles (Expansion Pack) — Bethesda Softworks
  • Rock Band — MTV Games
  • Space Giraffe — Llamasoft

Best Soundtrack

  • Bioshock — 2K Games
  • Europa Universalis III — Paradox Interactive
  • Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock — Activision
  • Rock Band — MTV Games
  • Star Trek Legacy — Bethesda Softworks

Best DS Game

  • Contra 4 — Konami
  • Front Mission — Square Enix
  • Glory Days 2 — Eidos
  • Naruto: Ninja Council 3 — D3 Publisher
  • Nervous Brickdown — Eidos
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All — Capcom

Best PC Game

  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — Activision
  • Europa Universalis III — Paradox Interactive
  • Hellgate: London — Electronic Arts
  • John Woo Presents Stranglehold — Midway
  • The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar — Turbine

Best PlayStation 2 Game

  • Dawn Of Mana — Square Enix
  • Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol — Konami
  • Marvel Ultimate Alliance — Activision
  • Spiderman: Friend or Foe — Next Level Games
  • Tomb Raider Anniversary — Eidos

Best PlayStation 3 Game

  • Assassin’s Creed — UbiSoft
  • Dragon’s Lair (Blu-ray) — Digital Leisure
  • Heavenly Sword — Sony
  • The Darkness — 2K Games
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion — Bethesda Softworks
  • Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune — Sony Computer Entertainment

Best PSP Game

  • Alien Syndrome — Sega
  • Call of Duty: Roads to Victory — Activision
  • Chili Con Carnage — Eidos
  • Monster Hunter Freedom 2 — Capcom
  • Silent Hill: Origins — Konami
  • Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth — Square Enix

Best Wii Game

  • Bleach: Shattered Blade — Sega
  • Cooking Mama: Cook Off — Majesco
  • Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire — D3 Publisher
  • Elebits — Konami
  • Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games — Sega
  • Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles — Capcom

Best Xbox 360 Game

  • Bioshock — 2K Games
  • Crackdown — Microsoft
  • Halo 3 — Microsoft
  • Mass Effect — Microsoft
  • Project Sylpheed — Square Enix

And the overall GOTY is wide open. Any game, even one not already nominated in another category, can win the big prize. Each reader gets one vote, and we look forward to the results.

Congratulations to everyone nominated this year and may the best game (and the developer/publisher team behind it) win!

Crafting Tier Quests

Posted in Crafting, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on February 21, 2008 by Romulus

Tier Quests
Guide compiled by Laurelleth from vanguardcrafters.com

These are the quests that you must complete in order to learn recipes.

The Tier quests take place at level 11, 21, and so on, and allow you to learn more recipes from your trainers. Along with the completion of the quest, you gain a new title. From Novice, you go to Amateur, Apprentice, and upward through the ranks until you reach the top of your profession. Expect your crafting profession to change as you increase in level through each ranks, with the process slowly changing and becoming even more complex.

PLEASE NOTE: the amateur (level 11) quest is NOT the same thing as the specialization quest. These both take place at level 11, but they are two separate things. Many people assume that because they chose their specialization they are now amateur crafters and should have new recipes, only to be sadly disappointed, not to mention confused.

Crafters should be pointed to the location of their particular tier quest by their normal trainers once they reach the level needed. I have however heard multiple people say that they weren’t getting a quest like this – I’m not sure if they ever found out why, if it was the same issue, if they made a mistake, or what. This info should help out though, not only for such cases, but also for times when you have a not-very-helpful location in the quest log, along the lines of “go to that one continent, you know, the one with the rivers, and trees and things, and look for your trainer.”

Also note: when you are asked to craft an item for these quests, these are not workorders. You must supply your own materials, so be prepared!

Along with unlocking recipes, completing each tier quest gives you (I believe! Please correct me if this is wrong!) 50 continental artisanal faction, as well as some amount of crafting experience.

___________________________________________________

Kojan

Artificers:
Amateur (level 11-20)
Talk to Milakesh Noradu in Ca’ial Brael, then craft some simple items as requested, turning them in when you are done.
Additional Reward: Resonating Dust (???)

Apprentice (level 21-30)
Speak with Milakesh Noradu in Ca’ial Brael, and then go to Tanvu. Talk to Alasani Takon in Tanvu for recipes, and make 4 Wood Grip and 2 Wood Shaft (using 6 Dry Boards).
Additional Reward: faction and choice of a focusing powder that regens energy or hit points

Blacksmiths:
Amateur (level 11-20)
Locate Karenda Bluewine on the westernmost pier in Dallerjuba Village, north across the bay from Tanvu. He asks you to make two sets of three easy items. You need at least nine tin ore, and use the “special recipe” for tin ingots and sheets for the quest.

Apprentice (level 21-30)
Speak to Kimaka Rett in Martok. Next visit the blacksmith master in Ca’iael Brael, Lakash Daykete, and craft 2 special hilts, 4 special hafts. You need your own Iron Ingots!! Return them to NPC in Martok
Added Reward: Resonating Powder of Rejuvination or Renewal; 10,000 crafting XP. +50(or 100) Kojan Continental Artisan Faction

Outfitters:

Amateur (level 11-20)
Locate (???) at Gaxton Village. The quest tells you that he is on the outskirts of Martok, but in this case “outskirts” equates to “way over in the neighboring village to the west.” The NPC in question is a goblin, hanging out at the very eastern edge of the village. He will ask you to craft 5 leather gloves. Do so, and give them to him to complete your amateur training.

Apprentice (level 21-30)
Speak with Oranku Sendaken, the Master Outfitter in Tanvu. He sends you to Kef Jortul in Martok to receive a recipe. Craft the items that he asks for (stiff leather and then 5 leather stappings from the leather – 10 stiff hides required total) and return them to Oranku.
Additional Rewards: ??? Crafting Experience; +100 Kojani Continental Artisan Faction (+50 for non-natives???); Focusing Dust of Arcane Resistance OR Regeneration

___________________________________________________

Qalia

Artificers:
Amateur (level 11-20)
Speak to Odri Axbul in Neamsog Bunkers. Craft 2 Qalian Stone Signet and 2 Qalian Shortbow, and hand them in.

Apprentice (21-30)
Speak with Sajin Callash in Ahgram (-40861, -1230, 244)
She sends you to Sarin Talah in the crafter’s area of Hathor Zhi; hail for recipes. Craft 3 Wood Grip and 3 Wood Shaft and hand them in.
Additional Rewards: Focusing Powder, 10,000 Crafting Experience

Blacksmiths:
Amateur (level 11-20)
Find Narijar Daldan at Dark Horse Downs (it’s not far south of Lomshir, you’ll see it on your map.) She’ll ask you for 2 Qalian Metal Armguards and 2 Qalian Metal Blades (if you’re a weaponsmith), so bring at least 8 tin ore.

Apprentice (level 21-30)
Find Valer Thanul in Ahgram (she’s the same one who gives you your Qalian style quest, the blacksmith instructor in Ahgram.) She’ll send you to Carul in Lomshir to get recipes for the things she wants– the NPC’s name is actually Aslak Carul so don’t run around trying to /tar Carul. When you talk to Carul you’ll get the recipes to make everything Valer wants. Weaponsmiths need to make 5 metal short hafts and 1 metal small hilt (actually called iron short haft and iron short hilt, but it recognizes them fine), so be sure to have at least 6 iron ore on you. Take the items back to Valer in Ahgram.

Outfitters:
Amateur (level 11-20)
Visit Ravnul Greska in Neamsog Bunker. Craft the 2 Qalian Ratty Leather Boots and 4 Qalian Ratty Leather Bracers you are asked to make, and return them to the questgiver for the amateur title.
Additional Rewards: Resonating Dust of Health OR Hexes; +50 Qalian Continental Artisan Faction

Apprentice (level 21-30)
Qalia – Speak with the Master Outfitter Alibaan Delzard in a side room of the crafting area in Ahgram. As requested, go to Khal and speak with the Master Outfitter there to receive the leather strapping and refining recipes, and craft the 5 stiff strappings needed to complete the quest before returning ot Ahgram. 10 Stiff Hides are needed.
Additional Rewards: Focusing Dust of Arcane Resistance OR Regeneration; (???) Crafting Experience; +100 Qalian Continental Experience (+50 for Non-Natives)

___________________________________________________

Thestra

Artificers:
Amateur (level 11-20)
Talk to Ralern Seaforge in Themnwar’s Shield, inside the tower at Khazbatak Bridge (between Themnwar’s Shield and Three Rivers. You must then make 2 Thestran Stone Truncheon and 2 Thestran Cudgel for her.

Apprentice (level 21-30)
Speak to Linnike Velra (Artificer Instructor) in New Targonor’s crafting area, inside a building. You are sent to Leth Nurae to speak with Tirame Welsare. Craft 2 Wood Grip and 4 Wood Shaft from the recipes she gives you, and return them to Linnike.
Additional Reward: Focusing Powder of Regeneration OR Renewal; 10,000 Crafting Experience; +100 Thestra Continental Artisan Faction (+50 for non-natives)

Blacksmiths:
Amateur (level 11-20)
Go to Three Rivers Village, and speak with Resanna Greywing, behind the smithy in the main town. Make 3 Thestran Blades and 3 Thestran Sabatons, using at least 9 tin ore. Use the special recipes received for the quest.

Apprentice (level 21-30)
See Grodek in New Targonor. He’ll send you to Carind Seaforge in Bordinar’s Cleft to get the recipes for some things he wants you to make. Once you talk to Carind, you can make the necessary 1 metal short haft and 5 metal small hilts– but make sure you have at least 6 iron ore with you. Return to Grodek in New Targ to give him your shiny new hafts and hilts and voila.

Outfitters:
Amateur (level 11-20)
For this quest, go to Renton Keep and find Tobby Fitch in the northeast tower. He will ask you to craft (???). There are two outfitter stations that you can use within the same room, although they have nonstandard names. Craft the items right there if you like, then turn them in.

Apprentice (level 21-30)
Speak to the Master Outfitter Romandar Whitebeard in New Targonor. From there, travel to Halgarad to learn from the Outfitter Instructor, Casja Regand. Make 5 leather strappings (containing 10 stiff leather/hides total) and turn them in.
Additional Rewards: Focusing Dust of Arcane Resistance OR Regeneration; ??? Crafting Experience; +100 Thestran Continental Artisan Faction (+50 for non-natives)

Tetehmani Harbor Faction Guide

Posted in Adventuring, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on February 21, 2008 by Romulus

Tetehmani Harbor Solo Faction Grind Guide
Guide compiled by Illusive

Acolyte rank: (0 faction to 1K faction)
Grab the two solo quests at the tip of the pennensula in the Tetahmani harbor chunk at the docks after completing your lucent medal quest (just talk to people and kill rats/snakes basically) after getting acolyte rank, you get offered 4 quests 2 of them are solo,
One requires 50 essences, the other requires 100 snakes/rats, the mobs themselves do not reward faction but the quest turn in does.

The easiest way to the spot, is to head up along the western shore and once you get to the end of the pennensula, head north east. There you will see a large hill with a pyramid atop it. on each side of the hill are the 2 prime ae spots.

On the right side (as you run up) you can grab some of the snakes / rats in the gap between the mini mountain and the pyramid, as well as all the mobs in the vicinity, try to avoid pulling the one’s up on the hill as they tend to get stuck.

On the left side, you can pull all the mobs in this area and kite them in the little “basin” at the bottom, its just big enough to make a large circle. Solo these mobs give around 11k xp per kill, so killing 15-20 at once rewards a ton of xp. they’re around lvl 46-47 2 dots.

Apprentice rank (after 1k faction)
This one offers 4 more new quests and you can no longer get the old snakes/rats quests.

The solo 2 dot mobs are beetle looking mobs that you can swarm kite for the 100/50 quest just like the rats/snakes, I haven’t done this quest because doing the small group once’s are more lucrative.

The group quests require you to kill 75 birds and collect 30 wings. The wings are on a slower drop rate so you WILL have to kill more than 75 birds to collect 30 wings (can this get adjusted?) on average I was killing 100 birds for 30 wings.

The birds are not casters, have no stuns, snares, ranged abilitys, and are completely cake to ae.

To get to the birds head up the path that leads into the Tethamani temple area (up the road to the top of the plataue) and turn left as soon as you get up, follow the cliff to the last pyramid on the left, the birds are all around this pyramid.

They are 3 dot mobs lvl 47-48, and have a long leesh, so you can easily pick up 6-10 mobs in one area.

I’d suggest starting out low with just 3 mobs until you get the hang of it, because they run at 10% life, and you will need to ice quake them and spam fireball right before 10% to finish them off because they have crazy regen when they try to run.

Once you’re comfortable with 3, move up 1 more each time until you’re satisfied with the # of mobs you can kill. Generally speaking I dont pass more than 6 mobs(solo) unless I’ve got help and I’m duo/trio’ing the mobs.

These mobs reward around 25k xp per kill solo 6 of them is also a nice chunk of xp

The reason why I grind these mobs is they all give 1pt of lucent circle faction, and are very easy to Full speed kite/kill. the two quest turn ins give 60 and 120 faction, and when you add up the # of mobs req to finish off the quests you get around 250-280 faction per quest run. I can get the two quests done in around 2 hours solo, and with help about an hour.

Warrior rank (3k faction)
Okay this quest for warrior title is just plain crazy, if you didn’t have someone give you a clue you’d never figure it out unless you got lucky and randomly hit the right order.

#1 you get no updates till you’re done with ALL 6 riddles.
#2 figuring out the riddle is just insane. I found the pattern only after someone told me you have to spell “riddle”

It works like this
There are 6 stones
each stone is named differently (**edit wrote down the names**)
you have to right click all 6 stones in the correct order to spell riddle.

the hard part is each name doesn’t begin with the letters needed to spell riddle, the pattern is like this

First word (Retenu)

R*****

Second word (nItoci)

*I****

Third word (meDijay)

**D***

Fourth word (horDji)

***D**

Fifth word (corbLa)

****L*

Sixth word (bakarE)

*****E

click them in that order and on the 6th one you can enter the temple and talk to the NPC to finish the quest and get the shard.

The other part is easy, just rent a flying mount from wyrmwing slopes and fly to the tops of each temple.

viola you’re now a warrior.

–The group quests for warrior rank have you kill 75 undead and loot 30 bones off their corpses (again takes average 100 mobs to get 30 bones please adjust the drop rate so you finish collecting bones when you kill 75 mobs)

The undead are soloable, but not really swarm kitable due to most of them cast a mez that lasts for 40 seconds! they also have 3 dots they cast that can quickly add up to a good chunk of your HP. These also give 1 faction per kill

–The solo quests send you to kill 50 grunts and 50 panthers, and collect 25 charms from the grunts and panthers. These are CAKE solo AE kite. Mobs are really tightly packed, have no ranged abilities or stuns/snares. The hardest part is when they get stuck and you have to group them up again due to un-even terrain. They give about 8.5k xp per kill. There is one good kite spot in each camp that has flat ground, and I usually rotate between the two spots to make kiting easier and quicker. You can also collect more charms than you need, which isn’t really useful because the two quests are separated out, as in charm / mob on one, and charm/mob on another. So you cant over collect them and do 2 turn in’s back to back on the charms.

Templar rank (6K faction)

The test of strength sends you to nubsie, so It will be some time before I can get my guildies caught up on the same step, and we head over to the dungeon to start looking for the named we need. Will update with more info once I get this part done.

Tranquil Thought:

Step1, go to the two temples and kill the mobs there till you get a random (rare) drop that you need to update it.
Step2, once you have both rare tablets, head over to nubsie, and use your quest dot to guide you to the NPC where the turn in is. He’s in a very large room with like 4-5 different tunnels out, he’s in the center surrounded by very large NON agro skeleton mobs. hail him to complete tranquil thought. He’s a floating head.

Hero’s strength-
Time to head back to nusibe (or if you’re in the floating head guy room)

From the floating head guy room,
head up the steps in the back left hand side of the room. (stairs go up)
At the top once you get to the 5 non agro NPC’s you will need to turn right. After you get through these few pasages you will see the tehatamani mobs you need. From here you really cant go a wrong way just make sure you dont take any right handed turns at any crossroads. It will eventually open up into a large room with a bunch of pillars, and in the middle will be the named mob he’s a lvl 50 5-dot with two 4dot adds (49 and lvl 50) surrounded by 6 other 4 dot mobs, and two roaming skeletons on each side.

We cleared 4 mobs to the left/right of him and left the other ones behind him alone. cleared the skeletons and the door mobs and cc’d one add, I off tanked the other 4d add, while the ranger tanked the named.

After kill you can evac and head back for turn in. Congrats on templar rank.

Justice Rank (10K faction)

The solo quests ask you to kill beetles 100 and collect 50 pinchers. The beetles have no ranged abilties, and you can gain roughly 60-70 pinchers per 100 clearing, you can accumulate more than the 50 req and do a double turn in if you feel like grinding a few more. The beetles are so plentiful that the area supports 2-3 solo’ers swarm ae kiting at once. They are great soloing for a sorc for xp / faction.

The group quests require you to kill scorpions, pretty straight forward, swarm kiting the beetles so far seems the easiest to do. Scorps are a pita because they cast sheild wall type of mit buff on themselves, so fireballs hit for roughly 800 and tick for 150, it takes a long time to kill them, although they dont run, so with a group of 3-4 ae’ers they would be much easier. Their stun is only 4s long.

Tranquil Thought:
This step requires you to run to the 2 pyramids in abysmal lake. You’re looking for the heiroglyphs on the sides at the dot location on your quest map. I just trained by them, you’ll know you found the right one when you get a blue message flash on the screen.

Visit the 3 pyramids, then head back to the portal on your map.

I found the easiest way was to scale the backside of the portal on horseback. Then hop onto the small white ledge on either side. Once up there (or before) make a macro with the words:

/say Zah Nee Whop

Then run your horse straight up towards the top of the platform, once he gets airborne, spam the macro, and It will update the quest. Then hightail it outta there because by then the 3 5 dots will be on your tail. (credit goes to Khaleel for telling me what to say)

Hero’s strength:
Plain and simple, kill 15 of the mobs near the portal (can be any of them in the area, near the water, on the sides, they all count)
Once 15 are dead, do the same trick for tranquil thought for getting up to the portal, only this time you just have to get airborne and the quest auto updates.

Viola you now have the first heroic neck piece and justice rank.

High Justice Rank (16K Faction)
Working towards this rank only offers 2 group quests.
Killing Xarkin Sages in abysmal lake.

One quest requires you to collect 30 or so charm looking dealibobs, these are semi-rare drop off the MINI looking xarkin. Think of them as runts of the litter. It takes me a good 100-120 mobs to get 30 charms. Turning this quest in however yeilds 200 faction which is much more than the previous ranks.

The other quest is a straight 75 kill quest. you have to kill the cats at the end of the abysmal lake, this one rewards 120 faction. If you do the two small group quests you end up with around +450-500 faction after turn in and counting the # of mobs you have to kill.

Its a nice change of pace to be able to do these two for about 500 faction istead of getting a whole group together for a crypt run.

Tranquil Thought & Hero’s Strength
I put these two together because they both ask you to do the same thing. You must spawn the medal event in all 4 pyramids. You dont have to actually complete the event, just spawn the Lucent Circle mobs.

Spawning a temple event:
I’ll list the basics on poping a temple here, and then the hazards on each temple after.
kill down to the bottom of each crypt.

Once at the bottom room, clear the 3 legs of the room, the path to the center cirular platform as you enter and the left/right of the center circular platform (all 4 crypts are the same floorplan at the bottom)

Basically just the 6-9 mobs you need to kill to get to the center circular platform, then the 6-9 mobs on each side (leave the ones in the water alone), and any mobs in the back platform behind the orb.

You must have Justice rank to Click the orb, once clicked the rest of the mobs in the room will rush the orb, DO NOT LET THEM GET TO THE ORB. attack them cc them, ae them, take a death if you have to. You have to stop them from reaching the orb for about 6 seconds.

Opudufi:
The only real hazard in this crypt is the falling floors. If everyone in the group has LEV the floors will not fall. If however you do not have group lev you will need to cross one at a time, and wait for the floor to come back up each time.

Aromizo
Getting to the bottom of this crypt is a bit tricky if you dont know the correct combination. There is a room with swinging pillars that will knock you off combined with a false floor that only has ONE path across.

To cross the bridge you must count the # of vertical lines on the squares. You must go in this pattern 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 2

For example
#1 = _|

#2 = |_|

#3 = |_|_|

………_|_
#4 = |_|_|

……..|_|_
#5 = |_|_|

…….|_|_|
#6 = |_|_|

Now once you get to the 4 swinging pendjulums(sp?) there is one block inbetween each one to rest and time the next 2 blocks. What you do is stop at the first one, plan your route to the next 2, and wait for the pendjulum to swing in front of you, then move 2 squares. wait and plan the next 2, and repeat.

You may find it much easier to range pull the 2 guards on the opposite side and the 1 roamer before making the trip across.

Also if you die at any point in time, run to the opposite side, and release your corpse. Then consent a member of the party and they can drag your tombstone up and rez you from there. (this is for the lazy people or not so coordinated ones)

Umbeyum
This crypt is the second easiest layout, and only has one path that drops just like the one in opudufi, again use lev, or one at a time to cross this part.

Ikwazon
This crypt has yet another bridge with swinging penjulums that will knock you off. I believe its supposed to snare everyone by 80-85% once you enter the room but not everyone gets snared. There is plenty of room between the penjulums to wait for it to swing across.

What I do is look towards the wall and pan the camera around so it is facing the wall. In this view the penjulums swing across the right hand side of your screen instead of across the whole screen. I face this way because its easier to tell when in the “safe” zone between the swinging penjulums.

Also if you die at any point in time, run to the opposite side, and release your corpse. Then consent a member of the party and they can drag your tombstone up and rez you from there. (this is for the lazy people or not so coordinated ones)

Building a new home?

Posted in Crafting, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on February 7, 2008 by Romulus

Check out this site for pictures of each house and the resources needed to build it.
http://www.vanguardroleplayers.com/playerhousing/housing.php

Also, here’s a list of home decor from the same site.
http://www.vanguardroleplayers.com/decor/album.php

Hotfix Notes January / 25 / 2008

Posted in Game Updates, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 26, 2008 by Romulus

Hotfix Notes January / 25 / 2008
GENERAL
- Fixed a bug with swimming. You should now swim smoothly along the surface of the water instead of hopping along it.
- Illusions now persist across chunk boundaries.
- Fixed a pet pathing bug that would cause pets to run off into the distance repeatedly until despawned.
- Fixed some falling through the world issues.
- Fixed a bug with the Social window’s dungeon list where it was not being updated enough. It now updates every 60 seconds, every time a player chunks, and every time a player moves to a new location within a chunk.
- More fixes for network lag / server performance issues, especially in areas where there are a lot of players.
- More client and server crash fixes.
- You are now able to use the mailbox after browsing a market and closing the market window with the X button.
- Custom pet names now persist correctly.
- Combat text will now display in the correct order. i.e The slain message will appear last.
- Looting your tombstone will no longer give you refund points.
- You will no longer see a loot window when looting an NPC if they only have coin. You will just receive the coin immediately.

ADVENTURING
- All group and raid targeted spells should now affect pets in addition to the group members. This does not apply to bard songs.

CRAFTING
- Fixed some bugs with the assembly recipe list. You should no longer have to log out to get new recipes to show up in the list.

ITEMS
- You are no longer able to sell NO RENT items.
- Items in the harvesting window no longer show misc wrong information about the item.
- Items with +presence now properly update your presence stat when equipping and unequiping them multiple times.
- Items with right click abilities that have long refresh times will no longer appear to have the cool down for all characters until you log out. Right click cool downs are only per character.

Main Site

Posted in Guild, Guild Info, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 21, 2008 by Romulus
Don’t forget we moved our main site to Guild Portal. We’ve got lots more helpful info posted there in our forums. Just sign in and request access.

http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=193313&TabID=1633230

Helmets are almost here!!

Posted in Game Updates, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 21, 2008 by Romulus
What’s To Come

Take a look at what’s in store for Game Update 4!

The Vanguard team has plenty of updates planned for the 2008 year; the first of many will be Game Update 4 which is already well under way in terms of development. Those who played the game over the holidays had the chance to pick up a festive flying mount known as Randolph. Adventurers of all levels traveled the skies of Telon, guided by a reindeer mount who took flight during the Festival of Gloriann. With the holidays behind us, Randolph now remains grounded, but those of you who enjoyed a personal flying mount will be excited to learn that the much anticipated flying mount quest will be available with Game Update 4! It certainly won’t be easy, but the reward will definitely be worth the risk!

PC optimizations are in the works! The first phase is underway and will be evident with the release of the next update. What does this mean for you? Well, some bones are being removed from character models in order to ensure that a variety of helmets can fit correctly on player’s heads. Yes, visible helmets are making their long awaited debut in Vanguard! We managed to sneak a few sample shots of what the art team is currently working on. Although not quite complete, you can see just how fantastic these helms are going to look when finished and in game!



Keep an eye out for additional information on Game Update 4 which should be coming soon!

 

http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/newsArchive.vm?id=287&month=092007&section=News

Necro Nerf Incoming?

Posted in Game Updates, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 21, 2008 by Romulus

Part 3: Necromancers

Dalmarus: With the recent changes in the Vanguard developer staff and location, are individual developers still assigned to specific classes? If so, who is currently assigned to the Necromancer class?

Thom: Currently we have two designers assigned to all classes. Darrin McPherson and Michael Mann are our current resident experts when it comes to our classes but we are looking towards diversification within the team by assigning classes to more than just Darrin and Michael so that we can take advantage of their talents in other areas while we get our other talented designers more intimate with the class systems.

Dalmarus: One of the long standing issues/bugs for Dark Elf Necromancers since the early release of the game revolves around their racial ability. If the racial pet is cast for the damage buff and dismissed, Necromancers currently have to cast their abomination pet twice to have their pet grafts load correctly. Can we expect to see a solution to this sometime in the near future?

Thom: A fix for this is currently not high on the radar but it is there. We are currently looking at our priorities when it comes to fixes that require code changes and we are hoping this falls somewhere in there.

Dalmarus: The addition of new graft types have been a welcome gift to the Necromancer community. Will there be an increase to the number of grafts a pet can have to allow a level 50 pet to have one of each type (heart, legs, ribcage, etc.) or will players continue to be required to pick and choose?necromancer

Thom: There are currently no plans to change this functionality, but since we have not gotten to the Necro’s evaluation I cannot say that there wont be plans made in the future.

Dalmarus: In the Producer Letter, Thom mentioned a Class Diversity pass. Is there anything you can tell us about this in regards to the Necromancer class?

Thom: Necromancers, like all classes, will receive an evaluation and we will determine where they fall in regards to the overall vision of the class. At that point, should there be any changes or tweaks we feel we need to make (aside of the standard bug fixes, which will always be ongoing) we will make them. Its really too early to give specifics at this point though.

Dalmarus: In regards to the Necropsy ability, is there any formula for how often you can get a graft, or is it an equal opportunity on a table chart every time you cast the spell? There seems to be a large difference in the amount of grafts some necromancers pull over others. Is it just a luck of the draw, or over a given amount of mobs, each necromancer should have relatively the same amount of grafts?

Thom: The necromancer grafts are very similar to a loot table when you kill a mob. The loot table for grafts has a certain percent chance to be rolled on every time and every time it is rolled on you will receive a graft. The division of the grafts that you get is divided into different rarities that allow you to get different results each time and each of these rarities are also set up in additional levels within each rare category. The difference you are seeing from one necromancer to another is just the result of chance. Nothing more or less than that.

Dalmarus: Thom’s producer letter also mentioned that AA’s were currently being discussed. Can you tell us any of the possible AA’s available for Necromancers? Will those AA’s begin being attained early in the game, as in EQ2, or near the end game, as in EQ1?

Thom: It’s way too early to give any details about what the AA system may or may not contain. Sorry! More information to follow in the near future.

http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=868

Best of the Best!

Posted in Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 19, 2008 by Romulus
Best of the Best!

Starting next week, Customer Service will be running a Best of the Best style tournament on all servers, for all classes. Get your swords and spells ready folks, because this is going to be a battle until the death, with only one left standing!

To participate you must have a clean record; meaning you must not have broken the rules and policies or Terms of Service, (Exploiting, third party programme use), and be level 50. No mounts are allowed during the fight and you will be given a specific area that you will duel in; moving out of that area will disqualify you.

We will begin with the Bard class. The schedule will be as follows:

Halgar – Noon Pacific Time on Thursday 24th January 2008.
Xeth – 5pm Pacific Time on Thursday 24th January 2008.
Seradon – Noon Pacific Time on Saturday 26th January 2008.
Sartok – 5pm Pacific Time on Saturday 26th January 2008.

Shortly before the event a GM on the server will make a world broadcast asking for the names of those wishing to participate. Please only send your name one time, not follow up tells. Do not send a tell for your friends, they must do this themselves. Once cleared, you will be summoned when it is your turn to duel to a location to be announced! This will be one fight knock out event and the winners will move to the next round, held immediately after the first round is completed. Please make sure before you decide to join in the event, you have enough time to move on throughout the day if you win.

The outright winner of the event will be awarded 1 platinum, a special title “Tournament Champion” and a /broadcast to the server announcing your new boasting rights!

New class BotB’s will be posted after the Bard tournament has been completed. The GM’s decisions are final.

I’m level ??…where do I go?

Posted in Adventuring, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 14, 2008 by Romulus

I want to be very clear this is in no way an all inclusive you must do list. I’m posting this because I get a lot of where can I go to xp at my lvl.

Where To Go At Level 10

* Qalia
o Qa Riverbank
o Lomshir Plain
o The Temple of Dailuk (northern part)

* Thestra
o Three Rivers
o Veskal’s Exchange
o Vault of Heroes

* Kojan
o Magi Hold
o Jalen’s Crossing

Where To Go At Level 15

* Qalia
o Hathor Zhi (southern part)
o The Temple of Dailuk (southern part)
o Jharru Flats
o Ksaravi Gulch
o Tauthien Delta (high teens)

* Thestra
o Misthaven Crossing
o Kaon’s Rush
o Renton Keep
o Silverlake (high teens)

* Kojan
o The Tomb of Lord Tsang
o Blighted Lands

Where To Go At Level 20

* Qalia
o Tauthien Delta
o Skawlra Rock
o Skrilien Point
o Coterie Infineum Sanctuary

* Thestra
o Coastal Graveyard
o Shoreline Ruins
o Ruins of Trengal Keep

Where To Go At Level 25

* Qalia
o Strand of the Ancients
o The Infineum Plateaus
o River Valley

* Thestra
o Falgarholm
o Wardship of the Sleeping Moon
o Marsh of Peril = Thelaseen and Ruins of Vol Tuniel (outside dungeons)

Where To Go At Level 30

* Qalia
o River Valley
o Cragwind Ridge
o Zossyr Hakrel
o Karrus Hakrel

* Thestra
o Marsh of Peril = Thelaseen and Ruins of Vol Tuniel (inside dungeons)
o Falgarholm
o Northern Highlands
o Frostshard Lake
o Southwatch

Where To Go At Level 35

* Qalia
o Tar Janashir
o River Palace
o Islands of Madness
o Seawatch Cove
o Jathred’s Twist

* Thestra
o Dargun’s Tomb
o Trial Island
o Beranid Hills (high 30s)
o Kygh’s Exchange

Where To Go At Level 40

* Kojan
o Ceros Island

* Qalia
o Islands of Madness
o Seawatch Cove
o Sunset Pointe (not itemised yet)
* Thestra
o Graystone (dungeon in Beranid).
o Plains of Anguish
o Lost Canyon

Where To Go At Level 45

* Qalia
o Razad
o Nusibe Necropolis
o Afrit
o Rahz Inkur
o Tehatamani Harbor

* Thestra
o Ruin Falls
o Flordiel
o Gorgalok
o Old Targonor

Posted by Dal

Guide to Brotherhoods

Posted in Adventuring, Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 14, 2008 by Romulus

Understanding how it works

A brotherhood works exactly like a group. Any experience brought into the brotherhood will be divided among all members. Knowing this, any member who joins one must accept the fact that you may not receive what you put in. In order for every member to get exactly what they put in all members must maintain the same brotherhood experience contribution.

Members that tend to fit well in “friendly” brotherhoods usually play about the same amount of time during a week whether or not that time is spent together. If you are an experience minded individual who is trying to reach specific level goals most brotherhoods will slow you down and you would want to choose one with a power-leveling base.

Brotherhood for Friendship

This type of brotherhood is great for people who enjoy following quest-lines and achieving goals with friends. No matter how much each member plays no one will be left behind and all backtracking and “re-doing” of quests benefits the entire brotherhood. It is a great way to establish long lasting friendships and get to know people better than you normally would in a regular group.

Be warned! Experience may not always be what you want it to be. During specific periods members may change play schedules or work on another sphere while you may be grinding out the experience for the entire group. This could prove to be most discouraging depending on what is important to you.

This type of brotherhood is a selfless brotherhood one where individual gain is far less important than the group and fellowship and friendship are regarded as top priority.

Brotherhood for Experience

Power-leveling is the main goal of this type of brotherhood. You join this brotherhood with one of two goals in mind: to gain levels quickly, or to help a friend gain levels quickly.

It usually consists of one or 2 players of higher level and one or 2 players about 5 levels behind. This type of brotherhood is hard to make successful. One must remember that yes, the higher levels will bring in more experience per kill, but if the lower members play more and complete more quests then their experience loss will quickly over-power the experience gain.

The fasted way to test if this type of brotherhood is actually working for you is to add up everyone’s brotherhood contributions and divide it by the number of members in the brotherhood. If that number is less than the number the lower members are contributing this brotherhood is not working as intended and should be disbanded.

This is a great tool if used properly. This is how guilds can strengthen numbers and help members become sufficient level to obtain goals.

Conclusion

I suggest anyone wanting to join a brotherhood please weigh all the options.

If you are looking for a brotherhood for friendship make sure the other members are heading in the same direction as you are and share common goals. There is no point in helping to stay in the same levels if you are going to be grouping in different continents. And it would be a shame if you spend all your efforts staying in level range with someone who retires or quits the game a month later.

Posted by Dal

Vanguard Emotes

Posted in Vanguard, Vanguard: Soh on January 14, 2008 by Romulus

I love emotes… they pass the time when someone is AFK and they entertain my son when he’s watching me play. So in case others love emotes as much as I do, here is a complete list of them. Keep in mind that you can do anything by typing /emote (whatever action you want) but these are the preset ones.

/agree

/aha

/apologize

/applause

/bailwater

/beatchest

/beckon

/beg

/bleed

/boggle

/bonk

/bow
FORMAT: /bow target
Performs bow social for nearby players. Target is optional and can be %to for offensive target and %td for defensive target

/burp

/bye

/cackle

/celebrate

/cheer

/cheers

/chuckle

/clap

/clean

/cleantable

/cloak

/comeover

/cough

/countfingers

/cower

/crackneck

/crazy

/cry

/dance
FORMAT: /dance target
Performs dance social for nearby players. Target is optional and can be %to for offensive target and %td for defensive target

/disagree

/dismiss

/drink

/duck

/dustoff

/emote
FORMAT: /emote text
Sends emote text to all nearby players. Text can contain %to and %td which will be replaces by the name of your offensive or defensive target.

/flex

/gasp

/giggle

/grin

/gulp

/hairflip

/handstand

/hidefrom

/hug

/idea

/introduce

/kicklow

/kiss

/kneel

/laugh

/lookaround

/mourn

/nervous

/nodhead

/nudge

/offer
FORMAT: /offer [number] <inv item keyword>
Add item(s) from your inventory target to the trade.

/overhere

/pace

/pat

/pickear

/picknose

/playdead

/plead

/point

/poke

/ponder

/pour

/presentoffer

/raisehand

/roar

/rudegesture

/salute
FORMAT: /salute target
Performs salute social for nearby players. Target is optional and can be %to for offensive target and %td for defensive target

/scratchhead

/shame

/shiver

/shrug

/shy

/sigh

/slapforehead

/smellpits

/smile

/sneeze

/social
FORMAT: /social socialname target
Performs social for nearby players. Target is optional and can be %to for offensive target and %td for defensive target

/spit

/stomp

/stretch

/study

/sulk

/swoon

/talk

/talkangry

/talkhappy

/talksad

/tapfoot

/tease

/throat

/veto

/vomit

/warcry

/wave
FORMAT: /wave target
Performs wave social for nearby players. Target is optional and can be %to for offensive target and %td for defensive target

/whine

/whistle

/yawn

Posted by Dal