February 2013 - Status Update

I've been boxing Vanguard fairly casually for the last few months, dipping in when I felt like it and haven't made a huge amount of progress.

Lið Fe (DRK, SHM, BRD, PSI, NEC, SOR) is still sitting at level 52 and they are all probably feeling very unloved. At level 52 I feel like the best of Vanguard is behind me. I've heard that the post-50 gameplay is quite grindy.

Lið Ur (PAL, CLE, BRD, NEC, ROG, MNK) recently hit level 28 (up from 12) and have been working through Trengal Keep and the Coterie Infineum Sanctuary quest areas. It may be because I am more comfortable multi-boxing 6 characters now, but this teams feels more powerful than Lið Fe did at the same level.

Lið Thurs (WAR, BMG, BRD, PSI, RNG, DRU) hasn't progressed much since the beginning of November, only acquiring 2 levels to now sit at 19. Their next step is to head on into The Tomb of Lord Tsang for the Weapon Quest. However, I'm not entirely happy with a Blood Mage as healer for a boxing group. I have a level 19 Shaman on that account but am undecided as to whether I should swap healers.

Lið Oss (DRK, DSC, BRD, RNG, ROG, MNK) is new since November and has progressed through the Qalian starting area (too many collection quests - I'm not doing this starting area again) to be level 10. This is my attempt to make a team that will be viable with a Disciple as healer.

At some point I'll probably make another team or two, maybe something more racially homogeneous

I was a little bit uninspired with Lið Oss' names. They are:

Hardhi "strong" - a male Varanthari Dread Knight
Adhisla "noble sun-beam" - a female Qaliathari Disciple
Saerdha "wound" - a male Mordebi Bard
Hleidh (meaning unknown, some King's sister) - a female Qaliathari Ranger
Spjalli "friendly conversation" - a male Dark Elf Rogue
Kolla "woman"  - a female Varanthari Monk.

Lið Oss at Raia

Two new teams

So, I've been multiboxing Vanguard a lot lately. The game is undergoing something of a resurgence with free to play and a recent promotion on Steam. It is great to see people in what I consider to be the best MMO around. I've even done a little bit of soloing and grouping with other people.

My main team, Lið Fe, hit level 52 today in Rahz Inkur. I'm very happy with the combination of classes and while the content is challenging it is not insurmountable.

 I've now got two other teams started: Lið Ur (Team Bravo) is only level 12 and Lið Thurs (Team Charlie) is level 17.

Lið Ur chilling at Northern Neamsog Bunker, Qa Riverbank

 Lið Ur is my melee team, consisting of (from left to right):

• Vamodhr "Damage Wrath", male Gnome Necromancer
• Roekkr "Darkness", male Orc Rogue
• Hjoerdis "Sword Goddess", female Kojani Paladin
• Eirny "New Peace", female High Elf Cleric
• Sveidh "Vibration", female Thestran Bard
• Lofi "Palm of Hand", male Vulmane Monk.

I'm not sure how this team will pan out. Crowd Control is not as strong as I have had and I'm not sure how I will go holding aggro on multiple targets with the Paladin. Damage shields on mobs or those that like to AE may also be an issue. The cleric looks like a strong choice for healer though.

Lið Thurs preparing for the Tomb of Lord Tsang

Lið Thurs is another ranged team with a different tank/healer combination, consisting of (from left to right):

• Fimmti "Fifth", male Mordebi Ranger
• Thridhi "Third", male Mordebi Bard
• Fyrstr "First", male Qaliathari Warrior
• Annarr "Second", female Qaliathari Blood Mage
• Fjordhi "Fourth", female Mordebi Psionicist
• Sjaundi "Seventh", female Mordebi Druid

The racial homogeneity of this group is due to me not wanting to play through Isle of Dawn again. And yes, the name Setti "Sixth" was already taken.

I'm a little concerned about the healer on this team. The Blood Mage mostly heals by doing spell damage. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

And finally, here are a couple of screenshots showing off the glory that is Vanguard...

Hrafnsvartr, my solo Ranger, showing off his "rides" (horse and boat)

Lið Thurs getting ready to go candy hunting

Arachnophobes need not apply

Our humble Guild House

Back to Vanguard

With Vanguard going free-to-play I am back multiboxing and thoroughly enjoying myself. I even signed up for 3 months on all of my accounts. It is good to see such a great game getting some of the attention I believe it deserves.

Since coming back I've been busy. Here are some highlights:

• 6 full sets of Wardship Armour (see screenshot below). I started this before I last stopped playing so it was good to finally finish them all.
• Completing the weapon quests in Graystone. I am particularly happy with this as I couldn't get this done when I played with my guild at launch.
• Finally seeing more than the first couple of rooms of Rakshasa Citadel. The 6 dot named at the end and the 5 dot mini boss and the add kicked my collective arse. I will be back at some point...

I'm currently doing Temple of Tehatamani. At 49 I am ready to try flipping my first temple. Once I hit 50 I plan to go to Rahz Inkur and do the quests there.

Lidh Fe at Level 49 in their Wardship Armour at Tehatamani Harbor

A guild house! (not quite yet)

Due to the assistance of a generous benefactor Fara Undir Jordhina has now laid the foundation for our guild house.

The guild house foundations.

Leaving the Isle of Dawn

I wanted to get off the Isle of Dawn as quickly as possible. Here are the highlights.

Dinging together

Fighting Iku Dai in the temple

I decided to level harvesting while I was on the Isle of Dawn for two reasons: just in case I decide to continue with it later and to see how effectively I could do it while multiboxing. Quite well it turns out as a result of Vanguard's group harvesting.

Group Harvesting and my harvesting UI

And then, suddenly, it was time to leave. I had levelled to 10, trained all my abilities and outfitted myself well.

Newly arrived in Qa Riverbank

On Names

Character names are important to me. I put thought (often quite a lot) into how I name my characters and try to avoid the worst excesses of poor naming. Whether I succeed, well...

The problem of how to name your characters when multiboxing is more difficult. I've used a number of schemes:

• independent names, no theme (Eobhan and Anopheles, Ramshackle and Blatherskite)
• character variations (Hjaldar, Hjelde, Hjildi, Hjoldoc, Hjuld)
• racial themes (Slagspitter, Anvilgrinder, Forgebreaker)
• obscure technical terms (Antistrophe, Litotes, Prolepsis, Zeugma, Hendiadys and the guild name Anaphora).

For my multiboxing adventures in Vanguard I've decided on an Old Norse theme, partly inspired by the word Saga in the full title of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. One benefit of such a scheme is that there are ready-made lists of names I can use or use for inspiration. Additionally, Old Norse orthography makes less likely these names are in use.

My guild name "Fara undir jordhina" (and the name of this blog Fara undir jǫrðina) means "to travel under the earth" as best I can work out. It acts as a guiding principle for my multiboxing in Vanguard; I want to see as many of the game's dungeons as I can.

I've called my first team "Lið Fe" from the Old Norse word for "flock, team" and the first rune of the Futhark (the Old Norse alphabet).

The names of Lið Fe and their meanings are:

• Vigmadhr (Vígmaðr), "warrior" for my male Orc Dread Knight.
• Arnve (Arnvé), "eagle priestess" for my female Goblin Shaman (who may or may not take Hayatet as her patron).
• Hloekk, (Hlökk), "noise, battle" for my female Thestran bard. Hlökk is the name of a Valkyrie.
• Hrefna, "raven" for my female Dark Elf Psionicist.
• Djur (Djúr), "beast" for my Male Kurashasa Necromancer
• Ljotr (Ljótr), "ugly" for my male Gnome Sorceror.

Guide to Old Norse Pronunciation.

EDIT 22/1/12: I talked to a Swedish player in-game tonight. He translated my guild name as "Heading to the Underworld." I like that. 

Beginnings

After quite a bit of planning and preparation, and some nervous moments rebuilding my PC into a new case that could accommodate my R6990 GPU, I was finally able to log 6 characters in to Vanguard and play them. Lið Fé (essentially Team Alpha) consists of:

• Vigmadhr, a male Orc Dread Knight
• Arnve, a female Goblin Shaman
• Hloekk, a female Thestran Bard
• Hrefna, a female Dark Elf Psionicist
• Djur, a male Kurashasa Necromancer
• Ljotr, a male Gnome Sorceror.

On the Isle of Dawn

I decided to begin on the Isle of Dawn to make a mixed race group easier to manage. So far I haven't scared too many newbies.

Collection quests of the click a ground spawn variety are tedious when you have to do them 6 times but the kill quests go very quickly. One of the benefits of multiboxing in Vanguard is that all your characters can be part of a Brotherhood, meaning that they share all experience, even if logged out.


I managed to end the session at level 5.

Training