Vanguard Feedback Thread

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BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,073
1,553
126
Somebody asked about VG druids VS WoW druids ... so here goes ....

In WoW my toons were:

70 Druid
60 Warlock
60 Warrior
48 Mage

I raided a lot up until around September of last year .... my warrior was prot spec, my lock I've tried all the common cookie cutter builds with, and my druid I have raided as a feral tank, as a feral healer, or just a healing specced healer. I have only really played the druid since BC came out, and I can say that I'm already bored of WoW again. My druid is full feral.


On Vanguard, I've tried the necro to level 5, and a druid to level 9.
Druids in Vanguard don't really compare to WoW.
The similarities that I've noticed.
Roots .... yes, you can root stuff just like entangling roots ... and they break really easy just like in WoW
Solar Flare .... Just like Moonfire!
The HOT spell ... only heal spell I have, heals like 1/4 of my hitpoint pool over 16 seconds or something like that. It's handy, but it's not gonna keep up a tank in a group. The only thing this HOT has in common with WoW is that it's a hot spell ...
Buffs, yup, there's buffs

No cat form, no bear form, no sea otter form, no tree form, no moonkin form, no tanking, no big melee damage, no healbotting ....

I haven't played the necro enough to really give it a fair comparison to the druid class. The necro was my first VG toon, and I made so many noob mistakes ....

I personally look forward to the Berserker class .... well, that and fixes for some of the bugs I've run into.....



One other mention, it sometimes runs well, and sometimes runs like crap on my machine.
I have an X1800xt, 2GB of ram, and an AMD X2 4200+, so my machine is not exactly ancient .....
My monitor is a 24inch Acer with a native resolution of 1920x1200.
Sometimes it plays at 1920x1200 with the graphics set to "faster performance" and I get very smooth gameplay
Sometimes it gets so choppy that I have to both lower the resolution down to 1680x1050 and set the graphics to "fastest performance" ...

The inconsistent performance bugs me, as I want the game to look the best possible, yet I hate having to change my resolution or settings every time I visit different towns are areas .....


Overall though, I am quite happy with the game ....
Perhaps it's just because I'm still al lowbie and exploring and learning the game is so much fun, or perhaps it truly is a good mmo, I guess I won't see until Endgame, but I'm leaning towards it earlier ....
 

smokeyjoe

Senior member
Dec 13, 1999
265
1
81
Anyone playing on the FFA pvp server (Tharridon)? I am enjoying it... until any pvp that involves more than 5 people or a Druid or a Shaman with pet out. When that happens, I am watching a slideshow and waiting for the screen to unfreeze so I can release my body. I just "upgraded" to an 8800 gts (latest XP drivers, 97.92 me thinks) and am still getting the same lag/freeze/lockup in semi mass pvp. I hate to think what it would be like at a large scale raid.

Anyone else have this problem? Or know of a fix?
 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,184
42,289
136
Druids have wolf form and at level 30 they have group wolf form, Necro's are amazing in open spaces, can kill stuff 4 levels higher and 4 dot , just takes a little time, Druids snare works great and they have ok heals but in no way can be the main healer in a group.

I like this game, but damn, it's buggy and it runs like complete crap unless you have a very good system.

31 Sorcerer on Varking
 

smokeyjoe

Senior member
Dec 13, 1999
265
1
81
So.. Do you get a slideshow on your screen in group pvp? Can you post your system specs?
 

CKent

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
9,020
0
0
Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Wow, maybe these devs are complete tools. The servers didn't crash last night afterall, guess what? They brought them down. They decided to post a warning on their website 20 minutes before bringing them down. Yet, there was no in-game warning that they were going to be shutdown. That is completely retarded. Many people lost a lot of hard earned work as a result of this. Who the hell is going to check their webpage while playing the game? That is so retarded. Even DAOC when it first came out gave warnings when the servers were coming down IN THE GAME! They warning you at 15, then 10, then 5 and then each minute after that.

Sigil gets a major thumbs down for this major "eff up". :thumbsdown:

I'd guess something needed desperate fixing, possibly an exploit which threatened the economy? Back when Sony didn't really get involved with EQ, the devs were quick about this sort of thing. They served the game, not the customers, and the game in turn served the customers. Devs now, notably WoW's, are all about placating the customers and it's harmful in the long run.

I remember after the Planes of Power expansion in EQ when this style of development had gone out of fashion, there was a bug allowing the duplication of platinum. The developers didn't do anything for 2 weeks, for fear of upsetting players. The economy was utterly destroyed and when I left over a year later, they still had a game-run casino to continue mopping up the extra cash.

It's really too bad about VG, I'd love to play it, bugs, bad performance (I have an old PC) and all, but I'll never lay another penny in Sony's palm. I also expect them to start meddling with the game in the near future in a neverending quest to increase sales, no matter how good they already might be. It is the Sony way. Sadly, they're incompetent and do more to harm the game (and sales) than help it, but like a dog straining against a leash they dumbly strangle themselves.
 

ericb

Senior member
Nov 11, 1999
898
0
0
I'm also getting a little bored with WoW especially with my druid main getting nerfed today but Vanguard is a wait and see at this point. I'd love to try it out but haven't had luck with anyone giving me a buddy key for the 10 day trial.

The screenshots look nice though :)
 

smokeyjoe

Senior member
Dec 13, 1999
265
1
81
Yes, it is a very nice looking game. The Balanced setting looks decent enough as well I think. But, get into some pvp with a few people on screen (mages especially) and sit back for a slideshow. Had a pvp yesterday with me (ranger), a warrior and a cleric vs. about 5-6 other including a shaman (with wolf), a druid, cleric, ranger, and some other. I crit shot/dawn arrow the druid, ran in to hit him, and then froze up from all the lag :( Somehow we killed most of them and then ran to where it was less laggy. Then we went back and finished them off.

Right now I'm running WIN XP,an Opty @ 2.4 ghz, 2 GB ram, 8800 GTS (97.92 drivers). Running around in the wild and even it towns, my FPS are just fine. But as I mentioned earlier, with a lot of people on your screen casting and pvping/raiding, it's horrible. I wish I could turn off all caster spell animations hehe.

Anyone with a similar system getting better results?
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
I've been running VG at 1680x1050 with an E6600@stock, a Radeon X1900XT with Cat 7.2s, and 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM. VG has been set to High Quality settings. Outside of towns, the frame rate is up above 30 consistently. Inside towns, it can vary considerably. Some towns have high frame rates, and others are much more choppy. Though, usually, those cities that are choppy are the much more detailed and boast more players than a random patch of land in the middle of no where.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
VG Update 1 is now live. Here are the patch notes. They've also added various NPC models, weapon artwork, and revamped effects in several dungeons. See my previous post on the VG Update 1 for those details.

Game Updates March 07,2007

Vanguard Build 1758a 3/06/2007 ? Live


On Wednesday, March 7th at 5AM PST all servers will be brought down for Game Update #1. The estimated downtime is 3 hours. Please expect a longer download time.

With Game Update #1 Customer Support now has an upgraded petition system to better assist players. As a result of the changes made to the petition system all open petitions have been closed. If you still have an issue that you need assistance with please re-petition the issue when you log into the game.

For more information about Game Update #1 please visit the Game Updates Page and read the patch notes below!

Game Update #1 Patch Notes ? Coming 3/07/2007

GAMEPLAY NOTES



- Experience is now lost (or debt is applied) when you release or are resurrected, instead of at the moment of death.
- You can now gain skill both on success and on failure, instead of only on success. This should make gaining skill with weapons you haven't used before at higher levels significantly easier.
- Dark Elves now start at -8100 faction with Celestine Ward like all other ?misunderstood? races instead of -8200
- Abilities which cause damage over time that are not in the same spell line should now stack.
- Melee and Ranged direct attacks have had a bug fixed that was causing them to do around double damage. Direct attacks are one type of melee attack that do not use weapon damage and strength damage directly, the are most often used with abilities that do not have damage as their focus.
- An attribute bonus soft cap bug was recently introduced related to healing and damage bonuses. When a player hit their soft cap their total magnitude was dropping significantly. This issue has been resolved and the damage bonus soft cap is functioning as intended again.
- While levitating far above terrain or water and not attempting to move down, you will now descend twice as fast as you did before. Attempting to move down continues to allow you to get down even faster.
- Some skill buffs that were counting against the available points in a skill pool no longer do so.
- The Halfling racial ability, Shroud of the Vale, will now also make the caster invisible for a fixed duration of 30 seconds.
- The orc racial ability, Fury of Ghalnn has had its duration changed from the next 5 attacks, to a fixed 7 seconds.
- Refresh timers for NPC snare, stun, and damage over time spells have been increased
- Food items no longer display two icons. The effect has not changed.
- Fix for faction wars. Some NPC abilities were causing NPCs to generate a small amount of hate with nearby allied NPCs, which resulted in those NPCs fighting each other once their primary target was dead or had escaped. This hate is no longer generated, preventing these wars from breaking out.
- PVP
- PVP deaths will no longer leave you still dead after you release until you log out.
- Enabled the option to release spirit and spawn at altar or bind point on PVP death. Releasing to altar drops a corpse, releasing to bind does not. All other aspects of the rulesets remain the same.
- Player Housing
-The construction site now shows the proper display name of the building being constructed.
- You can now inspect other players construction sites getting basic info about their plot and what they are building.
- Other players can now contribute to a construction site. However, owners still only have the ability to "complete" construction.
- Closing the Create Permission window via the X button will no longer leave the window in a state where it can not be opened again.
- The Travel Journal now will contain an entry for the location of your house.
- Buildings in the construction window now show additional stats such as max fixtures and max chests.
- An indication has to how many upkeep payments you have missed has been added.
- Upkeep Bank coin values will now also show as red text when negative in additional to the negative value.
- When an upkeep payment is missed, you will not receive an additional notification via in game mail.
- Fixed an issue where building construction sites were only visible if you were within 50meters of them.

ADVENTURING NOTES

- Bard
- Bards can no longer throw ranged spears/javelins
- Bard songs should now correctly apply themselves to the bard and his group members, at a minimum, when entering crowded locations such as the Ruins of Vol Tuniel, or the Brownie Storehouse in Tursh.
- Tynen?s snaring components will no longer stack with one another and are now resistable.
- Blood Mage
- Sanguine Focus now grants regeneration, no longer reduces heal effectiveness on the blood mage, and increases mitigation correctly.
- Bloodmage hit point factor has been increased bringing them much closer to the hit point levels of other healer classes. Previously, their hit points were more like those of a pure caster.
- Blood Tribute should now be triggered by all damage spells.
- Blood Tribute now has no refresh time.
- Your forms will no longer refresh every time you gain a blood union point.
- Cleric
- Auto-attack damage and melee special attack damage has been significantly increased.
- The rune portion of Spiritual Guardian now lasts 5 seconds or 1 hit, whichever comes first.
- Disciple
- Auto-attack damage and melee special attack damage has been significantly increased.
- Dread Knight
- Dread Knights can now throw spears/javelins
- Druid
- Druid chains have changed. All finishing moves should now become available after any spell (except phenomena) crits.
- Significantly reduced the refresh time on all finishers.
- Monk
- Aum of the Harmonious Body should now grant upgrades to Deadly Adder Hand at appropriate levels.
- Aum of the Harmonious Body should no longer give incorrect error messages.
- Monk base damage has been slightly increased.

- Necromancer
- Removed some abilities from trainers that were not supposed to be so easy to access.
- Reduced the conversion rate for Life Draught I and II.
- Necromancer chains have changed. All finishing moves should now become available after any spell crits.
- Added a new ability line to Necromancers: ?Bone Chill?. Check your trainers!
- Significantly reduced the refresh time on all finishers.
- Paladin
- Aura of Shielding now actually gives you 40% increases hate instead of a fraction of that.
- Strike of Gloriann now costs 10 endurance
- Vothdar?s Mighty Stoke now costs 10 endurance.
- Stroke of Conviction now costs 10 endurance
- The effects of Vothdar?s Mighty Strike now lasts for 5 minutes, up from 40 seconds.
- The effects of Strike of Gloriann now lasts for 5 minutes, up from 40 seconds.
- Guardian?s Assault now deals direct damage instead of a percentage of weapon damage. Lowered the endurance cost.
- Fixed an issue with Guardian?s assault not applying all of the hate it was supposed to.
- Guardian?s assault now progresses differently to provide a more smooth damage and hate progression. New levels are: 14, 22, 30, 38 and 46. Visit your trainer to learn the latest version.
- Holy Strike now progresses differently to provide a more smooth damage progression. New levels are: 1, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40 and 48. Visit your trainer to learn the latest version.
- Vanquish now deals much more damage and is usable on opponents who are below 15% life.
- Vanquish now costs 10 endurance.
- Psionicist
- Psionicist chains have changed. All finishing moves should now become available after any spell crits.
- Added a new ability line to Psionicists: ?Temporal Fracture?. Check your trainers!
- Significantly reduced the refresh time on all finishers.
- Telekinetic Blast now deals less damage to the caster.
- Concentrations no longer incur global recovery when activated.
- Concentrations now have a 2 second shared refresh timer.
- Ranger
- Entangling Web now states that it is a conjuration spell and not an alteration spell
- Rogue
- Reduced the movement penalty caused by stalking significantly
- The various stalking forms will now display their progressing buff effects
- Added an increased chance to crit to the final stage of stalking.
- Added Shroud of Shadows to trainers at level 50
- Added Elusive Foe as an innate ability earned at level 50
- Added Imperil to trainers at level 50
- Rogue base damage has been slightly decreased.
- Rogues have had a mitigation adjustment moving their mitigation effectiveness closer to other light fighters.
- Shaman
- Shamans can now throw spears/javelins
- All versions of Spirit Strike are now 2 second casts
- Hayatet Totemic abilities that previously cost mana no longer do.
- Changed the endurance cost of Firestorm to 40
- Changed the endurance cost of Phoenix Fury to 10
- Changed the endurance cost of Breath of Immolation to 25
- Changed the endurance cost of Ignite to 17
- Acuity is now trainable at level 18. Levels of other version of Acuity have changed so you may need to commune with Hayatet to gain the latest one.
- Acuity now buffs intelligence.
- A small amount of the regeneration portion of Acuity now stacks with other energy regen buffs.
- Burning Mantle has been moved to level 26. The first version has been changed to Smoldering Mantle and is no longer available on vendors and has remained a level 18 spell. If you have this spell you will keep it. If you have yet to earn Burning Mantle you will need to wait until level 26 to gain it.
- Fire Claw is now available at level 15.
- Changed the endurance cost of Fire Claw to 20.
- All Offensive flavored Totemic Gifts should now cost less mana.
- Shaman chains have changed. All finishing moves should now become available after any spell crits.
- Significantly reduced the refresh time on all finishers.
- Sorcerer
- Sorcerer chains have changed. With the exception of Mimic, all finishing moves should now become available after any spell crits.
- Significantly reduced the refresh time on all finishers.
- Cast time on Invisibility is now 3 seconds, down from 6 and its range has been increased from 5m to 25m.
- Elemental Mantle?s energy cost has been reduced. It has been changed to affect only your defensive target.
- Decreased the energy cost of Arcane Mantle significantly.
- Warrior
- The Defensive Stance tool tip erroneously stated that it increased block chance by 15%. It was actually 5% and not
working correctly. Changed the tooltip and fixed the ability.


CRAFTING NOTES


- Ammo enhancements should now display their damage type enhancement in the description.
- Crafted ammo and thrown items should now display their damage type properly.
- Half Elves should now have their racial crafting/harvesting bonus.
- Updated crafting gear that has an effect added should now show the effects correctly
- Horseshoes
- Crafted horseshoes are now all no drop.
- Horseshoe recipes will now produce horseshoe packs that cannot be equipped but when right clicked will add the proper horseshoe to the inventory of the clicker. The stats of the horseshoe that will be created should display on the horseshoe pack as well.
- Fixed cloth armor recipes that were allowing invalid types of leather lining to be used.
- The Rindol Field Medal is now more powerful.
- Some crafting items have had helpful information added to the tooltip of the beneficial spell effect icon.
- Varryn Dunes now gives you Kojani faction for work orders completed there.
- A new quest for higher level artificers has been added to the Varryn Dunes outpost.
- Decreased orb and sphere requirements for Artificer bow recipes.
- Adjusted skill requirements for quantity actions.
- Many advanced work order items have had their descriptions and icons updated.
- The Tanvu outfitter tutorial now has you turn in the assembled needle as intended instead of doing the work order over again.
- You can no longer deconstruct Infinium items
- Increased drop rate of pure magic orbs by 20% on deconstruction.
- The quest ?Dear Sister? has had its experience reward increased.
- The members of the Imperial Trade Organization are now more talkative about their jobs and the I.T.O. in general.
- Item requirements for the ?preview quest? of each crafting organization have been adjusted.
- Crafted items that are made with only an attuning enhancer have had their attributes adjusted. Attribute values should now
be consistent regardless of whether a resonating enhancer was used or not.
- Items crafted with only an attuning enhancer that adds STR, CON or DEX now have a health bonus.
- Items crafted with only an attuning enhancer that adds INT, VIT or WIS now have an energy bonus.
- Some additional modifications to stat allocations are underway to compensate for expensive bonuses not showing up on low
level items.
- Sage?s Agony and its upgrades should not equip correctly on items
- Dust, powder, and shards of devastation have all been removed from deconstruction tables as they were not used before tier
5. The current items have been changed to cash loot
- The quest ?The Herbalist?s Equipment? has had its rewards changed.
- Ultra rare tier 2 resources have been removed from tables as they were not supposed to drop in the first place.
- All tier 2 ultra rare resources can be converted into tier 2 rare resources by right clicking them
- If you take the style-learning quest, and don?t yet have the first basic refining recipe, you should be given it so you are able
to finish the quest.
- The quest ?Tursh Supplies? for outfitters has had the type of jute cloth requested changed.
- A few of Argus?s work orders were asking for incorrect tools. This has been fixed.
- Novice and Amateur Qalian Martial Staffs have been added to trainers.
- Qalian artificer trainers now offer the amateur shaft recipe.
- Thestran artificer trainers now offer the amateur club recipe.
- High level secondary components for outfitters have been added to some Kojan trainers.
- Eralis should now offer the quest to locate the Qalian amateur artificer trainer.
- ?Learning Qalian Style? quest recipe for outfitters now displays the proper amount of required jute.
- ?Fresh Cloth? quest is now acceptable at a lower level.
- Focusing items have had their allocation fixed, the previous change set the allocation heavy on the attribute side instead of
setting it heavy on the focus side
- Amateur tier quest crafted item totals have been lowered slightly.
- The item the special recipe Seer?s Amulet produces has been updated.
- Gwartak Clan crafted items now require more resources.
- Gwartak Clan short sword now actually short.
- The power of Gwartak Clan items has been adjusted.
- The quest ?Legendary Fiend Hunter's Weapon? has been added.
- Saddlebag and rare saddlebag recipes have now been consolidated and made to work like normal bag recipes work. (Existing
rare saddlebag recipes will be removed from game next patch.)
- Continental Effects should be attached to all items properly now. While the effect should display in the tooltip some tooltips
may not have a description of the effect within. This is a known bug and will be resolved when item effect details are properly viewable in tooltips
- Fixed complications that were using wrong skills
- Hopefully resolved brilliant work CTD issue
- Renamed build complications for injury and bubbling.
- The crafting factions in New Targonor and Ahgram now begin offering membership at an earlier level.
- The rewards for the crafting faction quests have been adjusted.
- Some quest recipes were giving experience for a process completion when they shouldn?t have been. This has been fixed.
- The preview quest for each crafting faction has been changed. Please check your logs if you are on this quest.
- The advanced work order recipes for the Black Diamond Mercenaries have more action points now.
- An issue with the quest ?Experimental Equipment? not advancing has been fixed.
- Fixed an error preventing quest progression with the quests ?Resource Research? and ?Skullduggery.?
- The Custom Experimental Apron was incorrectly set to only blacksmiths. It is now usable by everyone as intended.
- The quests ?New Inventions?, ?Royal Order?, and ?Fresh Victims? now have coin rewards in addition to the item reward for
completion.
- The Qalian and Thestran caravel recipes can now be successfully completed.

DIPLOMACY NOTES

- Problems with the quest ?Increasing Fares? have been resolved.
- Diplomacy clothing has been standardized. Weights should now be more consistent and logical across the board. Bad display
models and attachment points have been fixed and icons have been standardized.
- Tahean?s Vengeance - New 12 presence quest, ?Deposing Sage Marin,? available at Tahean's Vengeance.
- The Statements Snippet of Wisdom, Line of Reasoning, Extol Virtues, and Fan the Flames should now display the appropriate
symbol overhead when played.
- Quests - Blood And Seals: The Presence requirements on this quest have been upped to 12, but the skil levels have been
lowered to 50.
- Further text has been added to the quest summary to clear up confusion about the location of the Spectral Scholars in ?A
History of the Raki.?
- Measures have been taken to ensure that Mesmerized Takuni no longer follows you when you are finished with ?Bring Him
Home.?
- Diplomacy quests now work similarly to adventuring quests in that there will be red shields above the heads of NPC?s with quests you do not quite qualify for. Quest levels will also now be displayed on the quests.
- Writs have been deactivated in Bordinar?s Cleft while we work on newer, better Writs.
- Stack size for all Information is now 500.
- Hido Kani Dawnstar is now no longer on Lomshir faction, and should no longer flip out like a Rai?jin whenever he sees, er, gnomes.
- Many Diplomacy items have had increased Presence rewards placed on them, especially Chest items.


HARVESTING NOTES

- The Harvester Pyrite Axe now requires harvesting skill to use.
- Harvestable mobs should now produce resources consistent with the level of the mob.

QUEST NOTES

- Ghostly Burning Essence for the quest ?Flames of the Past? now has the correct icon in the inventory
- Mapping the Mine - Fixed a big in the quest line where location 2 would not update
- By Night ? Despawn timer on the Large Stalking Wolf has been lowered, so players should be less likely to run into a mob they cannot hit.
- Southwatch
- Missives in Southwatch are no longer shareable.
- ?Task for Southwatch: Red Sparrow Bandit Camps? has had its requirement to complete increased.
- ?Task for Southwatch: Wild Griffons? has had its requirement to complete increased.
- ?Task for Southwatch: Creatures in the Hills? has had its requirement to complete increased.
- ?Task for Southwatch: Harry the Undead? has had its requirement to complete increased.
- ?Task for Southwatch: Eradicate the Plague Vermin? has had its requirement to complete increased.
- ?Task for Southwatch: Timber of the Dead? has had its requirement to complete increased.
- Marsh of Peril
- The weapon upgrades in Marsh of Peril now require 300 motes of ancient power.
- The warrior belt ritual was incorrectly requiring the mid-tier catalyst despite the fact that it should require the lowest tier.
This has been fixed.
- Celestine Ward
- Thorian Glowban will now offer a quest for classes that cannot use the ancient orb of moon and stars, and yet chose it as
their quest reward. This quest will allow you to exchange the orb for a different reward.
- Khegor?s End
- The quest ?Tome of Stone? is now able to be completed.
- Coastal Graveyard
- The quest ?It All Hinges on You? is now able to be completed. You will have to abandon and retake the quest if it is already
in your journal.
- Wardship of the Sleeping Moon
- Thorian Glowban will now continue to accept runes even after he is willing to give you complex ritual catalysts.
- Thorian Glowban now offers a shield as a reward for completing the quest ?Ancient Weapons of Leth Vareal.
- Zaraj Arena
- Added several quests to the Zaraj Arena.

WORLD POPULATION NOTES
- Adventurers, be on the lookout! Additional overland rare/unique NPCs have been added to the Tursh/Rindol, Trengal Keep and Coastal Graveyard area. These creatures vary from two-dot solo to six-dot difficulty.
- The Var Efreet of Afrit now like all races a whole lot less though none are KOS. Orcs, Goblins, Vulmane, Kurashasa, and Dark Elves rejoice as you for once, are liked more than other races.
- Cragwind Ridge
- Nebberzek and Xexxinez now spawn less frequently.
- Jadeon will now start dropping loot again.
- Marsh of Peril
- Faction rewards from killing NPCs in the dungeons Vol Tuniel and Thelaseen have been increased by one point per NPC to further reward players who dungeon delve. NPCs that already granted multiple points of faction have also been increased by one to five points.
- Lost Temple of Vol Tuniel
- Relsom Serile has moved into the Recondite Threshold and will now happily offer his services as a ranged weapon vendor.
- Celestine Ward
- Llyn Serile has moved into the Celestine Ward and will now happily offer her services as a ranged weapon vendor.
- Jathred?s Twist
- The Vault of the Hidden has received an itemization and population pass.
- Azebaj Hive
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often
- Ceros Isle
- Killing Rhinos should now update the Reckless Rhinos quests correctly.
- Several rare NPCs on the island were missing their loot. This has been corrected.
- Dargun?s Tomb
- Several of the rare / named NCPs will appear more often
- Gauthek Village
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often.
- Karrus Alljur
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often.
- Karrus Hakrel - Overland Camps
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often.
- Ksaravi Gulch
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often. These NPCs will also appear after a time regardless of player interaction.
- Ksaravi Hollow
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often
- Lair of the Vi?Rak
- The Vortex to the Lair of the Vi?Rak will now teleport your entire group if they are within range of the vortex.
- The Vi?Rak Neophyte should now drop loot as intended
- Mound of the Zihurr
- Reduced the effort required to spawn the Ant Prince and Ant Queen in the Mound of the Zihurr.
- Redcap Storehouse
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often.
- Renton Keep
- The Renton Keep Missive, ?Task For Renton Keep: A Watchful Eye?, has had its coin reward reduced.
- Trengal Keep
- Several of the rare / named NPCs will appear more often.
- Vol Tuniel
- Rare NPCs in Vol Tuniel will now appear more often, enjoy!
- Solathus the Armor of Vol Tuniel is now somewhat more difficult his loot has also been adjusted accordingly
- Additional Rare NPCs have been added to the dungeon. Some of these new rares will appear when the dungeon has been uninhabited by players for a time period.
- Kaon?s Rush
- Overland population has been slightly decreased.
- Zaraj Arena
- NPCs in the Zaraj Arena are now immune. This should help prevent people from doing encounters that are too difficult for them through kiting, and in turn stopping other players from using their challenge tickets.



GUI NOTES
- Quests will now be colored in the quest log by their relative difficulty to your level.
- Crafting work orders will now be colored by difficulty in the journal and in the work orders window.
- The parry chance displayed in the tool tip for martial swords is now correct in both cases.
- Added a Diplomacy Container slot to the diplomacy section of the character sheet. Eventually all diplomacy containers will be moved over to this slot.
- Crafters with many recipes will no longer be able to actually build a house in real life while waiting for their recipe list to expand. (Expanding crafting recipes is now much faster.)
- Added a tutorial pop-up that explains the death penalty when you die.
- Group Loot options viewed by non-leaders will now wrap correctly instead of being cut off.
- Right-clicking on toolbelts when crafting will open the toolbelt so you can see what's in it. Left-clicking will change to that toolbelt as before.
- The selected toolbelt is now indicated with the green checkmark when changing crafting toolbelts.
- Percents are now displayed for crafting grade and progress so you don't have to mouse over the status bars to see them.
- The crafting toolbelt selection window will now properly close if you cancel crafting while it is open.
- Mail composer window will now auto fill in the subject with an item name if sending an item and their is no subject currently set.
- Item 'Equipped Effects' are now shown in the item examine window.
- The title window is now larger so long titles will fit correctly.
- Your selected titles will now display correctly when you log in and the display won't be messed up by gaining new titles.
- You will now see an indicator below your player status window when you have an active petition in the queue. You may click on this icon to edit or delete the current petition.
- Added "SGOUI HOTKEYBANK UP" and "DOWN" commands for UI modders to utilize.
- Brokers: Fixed alignment issues with the purchase confirmation window and the purchase amount.
- Fix for some hitches related to being a member of a large guild.
- The work orders window has been expanded to make work order text more easily viewable.
- All of your group members will now appear on the map instead of only the first person to join.
- Group member positions will no longer stop updating on the map after the member dies.
- Changed the group member map indicators to purple so they match group member names.
- Added a new "friend" parameter to /who, e.g. "/who all friend" will return a list of all your online friends without having to open the Social window.
- Percentage-based item mods will now correctly show a % sign after the mod in the item tooltip.

CODING NOTES

- Fixed a substantial client memory leak. This will greatly minimize any further occurrences.
- Major improvements to NPCs teleporting to you when you are levitated and fleeing or in the water and fleeing have been made. However, continuing to cast on/attack an NPC in the situation where it doesn't think it can path to you will cause it to port to you.
- fixed a problem where sometimes an ability would have an effect that kills you, and in a duel since you don't die, it would end the duel but keep processing other effects that would actually kill you.
- Fixed a bug in which your corpses would disappear from your travel journal after you camped. You should now see all existing corpses in your travel journal, including ones you were unable to see before.
- Fix for a bug where items were sometimes being unequipped after looting a corpse then relogging.
- Fixed a bug that was causing abilities of the same ability line (or of mutually exclusive lines) to not display the same refresh timer.
- Fixes to issues with NPC names having the wrong faction color.

ITEM NOTES

- The Cloak of Vindication is now soulbound.
- All adventuring Martial Staffs now correctly use the ?Two-Handed Blunt? weapon overskill
- All adventuring Bladed Staffs now correctly use the ?Two-Handed Pierce? weapon overskill
- Starspark Melded Chestguard has had it?s statistics adjusted
- Thousands of Adventuring Armor, Jewelry and Weapons have had their statistics increased/fixed/adjusted. This will result in any item in question being better; in some cases, a few hitpoints or energy were removed to increase DPS or a single attribute but, as stated, the items will ALWAYS be better in those situations.
- All Maces, Clubs, Daggers, Wands/Rods, Greatstaves and Greatmauls have had their appearances updated and retiered with the new models in mind. This change in ?tiering? will result in item models changing, some to a ?better? model and some to a ?not so better? model. The weapon?s appearance and tiering is based upon the level and the rarity of the item. In the future, when higher tier models are patched in, that addition will result in the shuffling of some of the current higher tiered models to lower tiered models, making them available at earlier levels and more common rarities. The remaining weapon types are also currently being retiered and should be updated in the patch(es) to come.
- Shield of Promise has been increased to Heroic and is now Soulbound
- Blessed Chain Vest has been increased to rare from uncommon
- Bounty Hunter?s Cuirass and Greaves has had it?s AC reduced and funneled into other statistics on the items.
- Higher level effects on wands and staves have had their names adjusted, which should clarify their power in relation to the lower level effects.
- Llyn's Drakerune Belt is now bindable instead of soulbound

ART NOTES
- Rejoice! The main theme for Leth Nurae will now play when you enter the main part of the city. It has been absent until now.
- The following abilities have received edits ranging from minor to extensive for animations particles and sounds:

CLERIC
Aegis of Blades
Anathema
Bestowal of Brilliance
Divine Barrier
Divine Light
Endowment of Fervor
Fist of Rebuke
Flames of the Faithful
Gift of Ardor
Hallow
Maul of Divinity
Maul of the Gods
Purification
Renewal
Replenishing Strike
Sacrifice
Spirit Ward
Turn Undead



DISCIPLE
Blessed Wind
Essence Thief
Fleeting Feet
Gift of Vitae
Gift of Anguish
Impenetrable Mind
Kiss of Heaven
Kiss of the Slug
Kiss or Torment
Leech?s Grasp
Sages Endowment
Sun and Moon Disciple
Touch of the Ox
Touch of Woe

DREAD KNIGHT
Aphotic Shield
Armor of Darkness
Bane
Bleak Foeman
Cull
Dark Ward
Devour Mind
Devour Strength
Dreadful Countenance
Dreadful Visage
Frighten
Hatred Incarnate
Ravaging Darkness
Scythe of Doom
Shadow Meld
Slay
Symbol of Despair
Symbol of Suffering
Symbol of Wrath
Terror Incarnate
Vile Howl


PALADIN
Aura of Divine Power
Aura of Radiance
Aura of Replenishment
Aura of Shielding
Blade of Vol Anari
Blessing of Vaelion
Boon of Vol Anari
Champions Might
Contrition
Courage
Cry of Illumination
Cry of Solace
Dictum of Valus
Final Stand
Hammer of Judgment
Hammer of Valus
Judgment of the Bloodthirsty
Judgment of the Envious
Judgment of the Impure
Judgment of the Proud
Judgment of the Wrathful
Lay Hands
Marshalling Cry
Paragon of Justice
Sentinel's Blessing
Shining Beacon
Smite
Vanquish
Vothdar's Mighty Strike
Wings of the Avenger
Zeal

RANGER
Arrow of the Moon
Arrow of the Sun
Barkshield
Barkskin
Bullseye
Cripple
Critical Shot
Dawn Arrow
Debilitating Shot
Dusk Arrow
Entangling Web
Hawk Talisman
Hurricane
Panther Talisman
Poison Shot
Precision Style
Shocking Arrow
Speed of the Wind
Splitting Arrow
Stalker's Grace
Stunning Shot
Thorn Cloak
Tiger Talisman
Wind Talisman

ROGUE
Backstab
Blackjack
Blinding Flash
Blood of Decay
Blow Dart
Dazzling Flechette
Death Whirl
Elusive Mark
Explosive Flechette
Extract
Keen Eye
Last Ditch Strike
Quickblade
Relentless
Rogues Kiss
Ruin
Snaring Flechette
Water Breathing Scroll
Fade
Trick Attack
Fatal Stroke
Eviscerate
Vital Strikes
Smoke Trick
Deadly Strike
Impale
Shiv
Kneebreak
Revenge
Feint

WARRIOR
Battle Frenzy
Diehard
Disarm
Enrage
Grim Determination
Life Rend
Power Attack
Shout of Defiance
Shout of Fury
Stinging Cut

~The Vanguard Team
 

smokeyjoe

Senior member
Dec 13, 1999
265
1
81
Cool. Looks like some interesting changes.. particularly the Halfling racial change as I play that race. Not exactly sure how it works though since I never really used it. Do you need to have mob agro to use it? And/or have a mob targeted to use it on? I am hoping it is castable on players as this would be useful in pvp.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
13
81
www.markbetz.net
Fwiw, I play in 1680 x 1050 mode, "high performance" settings. Looks good enough for me although it has me tempted to get a better card. I have been in a few group settings in dungeons with spells going off and six people fighting multiple mobs without any serious framerate lag.

I have also been in a couple of 5-7 player PvP fights, without noticeable frame rate lag.

Not that there isn't lag in the game. Mostly it seems to be i/o-induced from reading massive amounts of textures in from disk. Chunk boundaries especially need a ton of work.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
New patch notes 1778

Vanguard Build 1778 Patch Notes 3/13/2007

GAMEPLAY NOTES
- Aggro NPCs that can see invis will now attack if you move near them.
- Aggro NPCs that cannot see invis will no longer attack if you move very close to them.
- Ranged attacks use dexterity for their damage bonus again, they had been using strength.
- Some bugs with target hit points not updating correctly have been fixed.
- Disabled the text output about the number of charges on a charged item changing
- NPC Wyverns should now be capable of flying as intended
- All Clubs, Axes, Martial Swords, Hammers, Longswords and Maces have all had a damage increase. The choice between light and medium weapons should now be more difficult to make. Remember, while light weapons have a critical hit bonus every special attack with a medium or slow weapon does more damage. The rate at which you can use attacks does not change with the speed of your weapon but your auto-attack rate does change.

ADVENTURING NOTES
- All Classes ? Some attacks remain direct attacks. These are intended to be lower in damage, but have alternate uses and should be less expensive overall. These debuff, buff and are not intended to be used to be a main source of damage.
- Bards - The Bard instrument ?Ancient Melody? has been changed from granting a voice modification to granting a string modification. Sorry Bards, but wasn?t it fun while it lasted?
- Blood Mage - Blood Tribute now heals the caster?s group as intended.
- Cleric ? Your finishing moves now all cost 10 endurance
- Cleric ? Maul of the Gods and Maul of Divinity now use a percentage of weapon damage instead of being direct attacks.
- Disciple ? Increased the damage of Falling Petal, White Lotus Strike, Soul Cutter and Lao?Jin Burst
- Dread Knight ? Increased the damage of Dark Bastion, Incite, Inflame, Shield of Fear, and Scourge.
- Dread Knight ? Scythe of Doom now drains for 100% of the damage it deals
- Monk ? Fixed an issue with Quivering Palm causing 3 lines of text when executed.
- Monk ? Crescent Kick now costs 10 endurance and does not incur global recovery.
- Monk ? Counter attacks are now cost free
- Monk ? Many finishing attacks were more costly than intended. Endurance costs have been lowered.
- Monk ? Many attacks have been converted over to use weapon damage directly, either flat or percent based. This will increase over all damage and give better returns when upgrading weapons and increasing strength. Affected attacks are:
Ashen Hand
Crescent Kick
Dragon's Rage
Sundering Dragon Claw
Fists of Transcendence
Legendary Fists
Flying Kick
Kick of the Heavens
Thousand Fists
Three Finger Strike
Thundering Fists
Deadly Adder Hand
Celestial Kick of the Master
Withering Palm
Stinging Backfist
Steal the Wind
Quivering Palm
- Paladin ? Stroke of Conviction now progresses differently to provide a more steady progression of hate. The new levels are: 20, 28, 36, 44, 50
- Paladin ? Maul of Valus has been added to trainers starting at level 18. This is a new line of finishing attacks that follows Hammer of Valus.
- Paladin ? Stroke of Fervor has been added to trainers starting at level 30. This is a new line of finishing attacks that follows Stroke of Conviction.
- Paladin ? Holy Strike and Blade of Vol Anari now deal their additional effects to fiendish races as well. Ulvari hunters rejoice!
- Ranger ? Increased the damage of Fleetblade
- Rogue ? Please visit your nearest rogue vendor to learn all of the new poisons that you can. The following information is what has been changed?
- Rogue ? Your weapon poisons are now granted at level 10 and have received numerous changes in functionality and recipes. There are also upgrades more frequently than there used to be.
- Rogue ? Your flechettes are now granted at level 15 and have been adjusted in effectiveness and function (you can actually even train them now). They will be upgraded more frequently and have had new recipes added.
- Rogue ? Your darts are now granted at level 20 and have also been adjusted in functionality and effectiveness. New dart recipes have been added and some dart recipes have been adjusted
- Rogue ? Your scroll forging is now granted at level 25 and have received recipe alterations. These can now be trained as well.
- Rogue ? The costs for scrolls to learn poisons, flechettes, darts and scroll forging have been lowered drastically. This should make them affordable.
- Rogue ? Poisons, flechettes, scrolls and darts have received new animations.
- Rogue ? Vendor costs for poison components have had their prices adjusted. This will be an ongoing process ? these AREN?T the final prices.
- Shaman ? Fixed an issue with the Patron Spirits quests that was allowing some players to pursue two different Patrons at the same time.
- Shaman ? Claw of Winter is now a standard attack that uses weapon damage.
- Warrior ? Increased the damage of Smash
- Warrior ? Increased the damage and hate portion of Overwhelm

CRAFTING NOTES
- Of Striking crafted items have been changed. The previous bonus from striking was too powerful and so these items can no longer be made. Instead recipes will now produce striking items that are within the balance guidelines and add a striking proc as well.
This is NOT a retroactive change. Old striking items will remain the same
- Disabled a lot of the useless crafting spam
- The Thestran caravel quests now require the proper faction.
- Fixed issue with weak product description
- All old of striking weapons have been changed to soulbound
- Specialized defense now adds to block, dodge, and parry skill and the actual specialized defense skill did nothing at all
- Crafting quests should function as adventuring quests now, displaying the proper color difficulty and showing red quest bangs for quests you don?t qualify for but will in the near future.
- Some of the education quests have had their starting levels adjusted.
- The item requirements for the quest ?Fresh Cloth? have been revised to better match the reward. If you are on this quest, please check your log.
- The ?Swordsmith?s Apprentice? quests have had their level requirement increased. The experience rewards have been increased as well.
- The two reward items for the ?Swordsmith?s Apprentice? line of quests have had their overall power increased.
- The advanced work order Door Frame recipe no longer asks for incorrect tools and has had a formatting error corrected.
- Hardened Meteor Shard should now give the proper deconstruct rewards
- You can no longer deconstruct some crafted cloaks
- All of the crafted crafting gear that got skipped by the last fix has been updated (no joking this time!)
- The direction-quest to find Kef Jortul for amateur Kojan outfitters and the Swordsmith?s Apprentice lines of quests should be more factual/helpful in their directions to find the appropriate NPCs.
- The Gwartak faction gain from the quest Grazeel?s Peace Treaty has been lowered.
- Joley and Rold should now despawn more reliably for the quest ?Tonic? if the brute force method is chosen. However, safety is still not guaranteed.
- Some special/unique items were accidentally obtainable from regular work orders. This has been fixed.
- The Fiend Hunter?s tools now add ingenuity as the description reports instead of reasoning.
- Blacksmiths must now get at least a B on their specialization recipes to successful craft an item for the specialization quest, just as the other trades do.
- Focusing dust of resilience has been changed to Focusing dust of Wizardry
- Focusing dust of wizardry adds a skill bonus to Evocation, Alteration, and Conjuration when added to cloaks

DIPLOMACY NOTES
- Fixed an issue with the display of parley card refresh timers.
- The Informant?s Vest (Diplomacy container in the Shoulder slot) is now the Informant?s Valise. It equips now in the Diplomacy Container slot. The valise currently holds only Information, but will very soon accommodate clothing as well.
- Thannis Heartsworn will once again offer the quest, ?Playing Matchmaker,? that follows ?Local Maidens? in Tursh.
- Quick Pun now displays the correct icon overhead when played.
- Well-Traveled Wisdom now displays the correct icon overhead when played.
- Common Ground now displays the correct icon overhead when played.
- Blunt Evaluation now displays the correct icon overhead when played.
- Maze of Logic now displays the correct icon overhead when played.
- You may no longer Gossip with Crafters in Mekalia. This is a temporary change that will be reversed at a future time.
- Crafter Convince Civic parleys are now correctly labeled as ?Shared Effort? in Tanvu.
- The Paladin Instructor Bordardia Stoneforge is now a Noble and takes part in Civic Diplomacy in Bordinar?s Cleft.
- The Civic Diplomacy option ?Spiritual Revival? is now correctly an Incite parley in Tursh.
- Additional god-related lore dialogues added to the Civic Diplomacy options for Clergy in Tursh.
- Soldier Civic conversation options in Tursh are now correctly labeled.
- Captains Meshkat and Reyahni in Tawar Galan are now Domestics.
- Debutante?s Pants are no longer restricted to light armor wearing Adventuring classes.
- Leg items are now standardized to new Presence values (generally higher by 10-50%).
- The tier 2 waist item ?Stylish Surable Silk Sash? is now no longer an alliteration.
- Elindrila Summerbloom is now Clergy in Ca?ail Brael.
- ?Flesh and Blood? is now an Inspire card that repeals 2 inspire into 5 Demand, and modifies the dialogue status as well.
- Foot and Hand items are now standardized to new Presence values (generally higher by 10-50%).
- Diplomacy Chest, Shoulder, Waist, Leg, Foot, and Hand items are now standardized in weight and other statistics.
- Known Issue: Some Diplomacy items, especially tier 3 items, may not be deconstructable. This will be corrected in a future patch.
- Tier 3 clothing items are now available in Kojan and Qalia from Informants.
- The Traveler in Lomshir will no longer flip out like a Morduma and attack random wildlife.

WORLD POPULATION NOTES
- Ahgram - Ahgram guards will now correctly give out directions to adventuring instructors.
- Cragwind Ridge ? The 3-dot snakes should stop following players into the outpost. Hooray!
- Fallen Cove - More than one Brittleshard Weapons Cache should now spawn at a time.
- Karrus Hakrel - Glowing Aqual Orbs are tradable.
- Karrus Hakrel - Glowing aqual orbs are no longer governed by trivial loot code.
- Ksaravi Gulch - The inhabitants of the Tauthien Tuatiren Village in Ksaravi Gulch are now 3 dot difficulty instead of 4 and 5 dot difficulties.
- Quests - The quest ?The End of Innocence? now requires players to use the Altar of Zar instead of just walking up to it.
- Quests - Thorian Glowban will now exchange any ancient weapon once for any other weapon. Choose wisely.
- Rahz Inkur - Players above level 40, you?ll find more quests available to you at the outpost of Deliverance in Rahz Inkur.
- Seawatch Coast - Overland NPCs should have a lower aggro radius
- Seawatch Coast - Several overland NPCs have been changed from aggressive to non aggressive
- Three Rivers - ?Task for Three Rivers: Greater Stonesmashers? should now update in all cases when slaying the appropriate targets.
- Three Rivers ? Reduced the refresh timer on the Ant Queen Ayxlxyx event, allowing her to spawn more often.
- Vault of the Hidden - Vault of the Hidden should be summonable inside
- Zaraj Arena - The Legendary item reward ?Destruction? from the Zaraj Arena has had its stats tweaked.
- Zaraj Arena - All quests that yield Zaraj Coins have had their reward increased
- Zaraj Arena - Arena Enforcers now offer a repeatable quest for Zaraj Coins
- Zaraj Arena - Added many new single events to the arena, ranging in difficulty from solo to full group
- Zaraj Arena - Challenge Tickets now have the correct icon associated with them
- Zaraj Arena - The gold event now yields 60 coins
- Zaraj Arena - The platinum event now yields 100 coins and is more difficult
- Zaraj Arena - Snare immunity was taken off of several single events

Items
- The items ?Ancient Longbow of Leth Verael? and ?Ancient Shortbow of Leth Varael? along with their upgraded versions now give +bow instead of +sneak.
- The heroic version of Queldoral, Bounty of the Gods now summons heroic Moonstrikes and Sunstrikes instead of Legendary Moonstrikes and Sunstrikes
- Mask of the Portal is now soulbound instead of bindable
- Certain level 31+ Thestran Greatmauls now have the correct 2-handed weapon model attached in place of their previous 1-handed model.
- All Shortswords in the game have had their appearances updated and retiered; additionally, they should actually be ?short? now.
- All Longswords in the game have had their appearances updated and tiered.

GUI NOTES
- The red/pink color for text on your offensive target should now update correctly representing if a NPC can see you or not (red, aggro and can see you, pink, aggro and cannot see you).
- The map now properly shows your location while you are driving a ship, and you should now be able to target things (PCs, NPCs, etc...) while driving a ship.
- Your modified factions are now visible in your character sheet under the Diplomacy Factions tab below the Prestige Factions. They will be colored according to your faction rating and you may mouse over them to see your actual standing with that faction.


CODING NOTES
- Fix for NPC Names not drawing in the correct color.
- Fix for another group disconnect bug. This one occured intermittently if you had previously been in a group during your play session, and usually occured within a couple minutes of joining your new group.

~The Vanguard Team


 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,184
42,289
136
My system is AMD 32000 64 , nvidia 6600gt , 2gb's ram running XP SP2 , i have the gfx set to the bare minimum, in the countryside it works great, however in populated areas it get's bad. I wish there was a way to disable spell gfx, while playing with another Sorcerer and another caster and we are AOE'ing it turns into a slideshow (Southwatch undead missives, pulling 8-15 mobs) . PVP is kind of broken (you can walk into enemy faction towns after getting a little bit of faction and you can wave at the guards while you slaughter people in town). I like the game, but it has lot's of problems at the moment, having to /flush whenever i open a lfg/map/abilities window is getting old....
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
13
81
www.markbetz.net
They've improved it quite a bit, but yeah you're going to have a hard time running it well on a 6600. I'm running an AMD 4400+ w/7600GT and 2 gigs, and the game works very well. I'm running on tweaked "High Performance" settings that are actually closer to balanced, and gameplay is very smooth. I do get some tearing because the game doesn't support vsynch, and if you enable it externally it slows the engine down way too much. I also wish they would support antialiasing, although that will make it even more GPU intensive. However, I can run with the clip plan well out, and most details cranked up a bit. Standing on a mountaintop outside of Khal in Qalia last night, and seeing trees and mountains stretch away in front of me halfway across the continent, was pretty damn impressive. Like Oblivion on steroids. The world is tremendously big, and there is a lot to discover.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
13
81
www.markbetz.net
It has steadily gotten better, and I am still enjoying it at level 28 with my Ranger on Varking. The remaining problems that bug me the most are...

- UI window bug that seems to be caused by a memory leak. After playing for awhile talking with NPCs will slow the game way down, and cause the response dialog to display full-screen, then sometimes flash repeatedly, then eventually display full of garbage. Very annoying. Resolved by either grabbing the dialog and moving it, or by hitting esc to close, doing /flush to clear the engine cache, then redisplaying.

- Group bug that causes you to drop connection with your group after an invite when you are more than a chunk away from them. Sometimes you don't even see yourself as in-group, sometimes you do, either way eventually it drops the connection and you can re-invite. Resolved by waiting until you are in close proximity to invite.

- Graphical objects that flicker into existence when you are quite close to them. Flashing textures on trees.

- Occasional crashing to desktop. Can happen at any time.

- Anomalies at chunk boundaries. You may get dropped off of horse; dropped out of auto-run; spun around to a different heading; dropped out of an active form; the chunk may randomly take a long time to load; may lose targeting.

- Hitches and pauses. The game uses big textures and a lot of polys. I'm running an X2 4400+ with 2 gigs RAM and a 7600GT w/256 megs. Sometimes the game freezes repeatedly for as long as ten seconds while it thrashes disk to load models. I am told there are some ini cache tweaks that will fix this a bit.

- PvP is completely borked. Still occasionally fun, but borked.

Having said all that, the fact is it's a fun game. The world is huge and very pretty. There are lots of cool places to explore. Combat is about as engaging as it gets in an MMORPG as far as I can say. There are some really big dungeons and castles and whatnot. The penalties for failure seem about right, as do the rewards for success. All in all it's a net positive for me.

However... I am getting to the point where it is starting to piss me off that they have time to tweak gameplay, but can't seem to fix basic useability issues and software errors. If this situation continues for much longer I will be tempted to the conclusion that they either can't fix them, no longer have the people to fix them, or are setting very poor priorities.

 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Several new patches have been released since the last patch update in this thread, so I'll post the 25 April patch notes, Build 1818.

Game Updates April 25,2007
Vanguard Build 1818 Patch Notes 4/25/2007


GAMEPLAY NOTES
- Riftway Stones have appeared at several altars throughout Telon and will allow faster transit through their magic. Scholars believe that these stones have simply been ?out of phase? with the rest of Telon since the time of the cataclysm. In order to use a Riftway Stone to teleport you must acquire a Riftway Shard ? now available at general goods vendors.
- Travelers must attune at each Riftway Stone in order to return to said stone via another Riftway Stone on the same network.
- There are currently three known Riftway Networks ? each stone in the world belongs to one of these three networks.
- The Riftway Stones at New Targonor, Ahgram, and Tawar Galan are only destinations ? and may be reached via any Riftway Network.
- "You have gained experience" messages will now show the amount of experience and the source (e.g. group, fellowship, etc.). When regaining lost xp or debt, it will also say "you recover" instead of "you gain."
- The unicorn and shadowhound mounts are now set to their correct stats: Speed 70 and Stability 50.
- Endurance costs for large and medium melee damage over time attacks have been lowered.
- NPCs on the Lost Spirits of Vol Tuniel faction should no longer display a double faction hit
- Level 50 dropped only spells have been added to a variety of NPCs throughout the game world, these are fairly rare, enjoy
- Greatly increased the chance to gaining spell casting skill ups for Evocation, Conjuration and Alteration
- A player building can now be designated as the "Guild Headquarters". This will give all guild members basic access to the building. This flag can only be changed once every 24 hours. Only one player building can be the guild headquarters at a time.
- The "Guild Headquarters" designation can only be set by the owner of the house. The owner must be in a guild and the guild leader must be present in the same zone to confirm the action.
- When a player building is designated as the "Guild Headquarters" or when the designation is removed, all plot permissions will be deleted.
- You can now edit permissions for chests. If you have the ability to modify permissions for a house, you can choose the "Manage Chest" option by right clicking on the chest. Modifying a chest to use guild permissions will use the plots guild designation

ADVENTURING NOTES
- Protective and Offensive Fighters ? Many abilities and melee attacks that add or remove hate are now based on strength instead of intelligence.
- Druid, Ranger ? Goldenberries now actually regenerate you when you eat them.
- Cleric ? Greatly increased the damage done by Turn Undead.
- Cleric ? Turning attempts now regenerate every 100 minutes, down from 160.
- Cleric ? An additional turning attempt has been added at each step. The new progression is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
- Cleric - Turn Undead now has a refresh time of 2 minutes, down from 10.
- Cleric ? Turn Undead is now nearly impossible to resist and is more likely to critical hit.
- Cleric ? Turn Undead no longer Adds Damage over time or Movement Debuff
- Cleric ? Turn Undead now stuns the target for 4 seconds.
- Cleric ? Turn Undead now progresses differently to make for smoother damage progression. The new progression is 10, 18, 26, 34, 42, 50. A new version is available on trainers at 50.
- Cleric ? Lull is now an alteration spell.
- Cleric ? Pacify is now instant cast with an 8 second refresh timer
- Cleric ? Increased the energy cost of Pacify
- Cleric ? Pacify is now an Alteration spell.
- Cleric ? Divine Chains now has a cast time of 1.5 seconds and has no refresh timer
- Cleric ? Lowered the cast time of Purification to 2 seconds.
- Disciple ? Added Touch of Discord and Grasp of Discord to trainers. You must train these abilities before your Discord chain will work.
- Disciple ? All bonds now last 2 minutes
- Disciple ? Lao?Jin Flare is no longer affected by global recovery.
- Disciple ? Cyclone Kick now has an increased chance to score a critical hit.
- Disciple ? Added Endowment of Enmity.
- Disciple ? Added the ability line Purify to your trainers. This line starts at level 10 and upgrades every 10 levels afterwards.
- Dread Knight ? Increased the power of Provoke
- Druid ? Quelling Wind has been added to trainers at level 16. Upgrades every 16 levels thereafter.
- Monk ? The Secret of Ice line now lasts its correct duration, 40 seconds.
- Monk - Many monk abilities will now display new particles.
- Monk ? Wave Hand in Cloud no longer has an energy cost
- Necromancer - Many necromancer abilities will now display new particles.
- Necromancer ? Crippling Blight?s Tooltip has been updated to be less ambiguous
- Paladin ? Increased the power of Upbraid
- Psionicist - Many psionicist abilities will now display new particles.
- Ranger ? The endurance cost of Critical Shot has been lowered to 25, down from 36
- Ranger ? Critical Shot now deals extra damage when used from stealth
- Ranger ? Calm Creature and Frighten Creature now work on Fey creatures as well
- Ranger ? Fleetblade now has an increasing chance to crit as you upgrade it
- Ranger ? Splitting Arrow is now an AoE instead of a cone.
- Rogue ? Escape is no longer tied to the refresh time of Smokebomb
- Rogue ? Quickblade no longer incurs global refresh when activated
- Rogue ? You should no longer be resistant to using Scroll of Wolf?s Legs.
- Warrior ? Battle Cries can now be used in or out of combat.
- Warrior ? Power Attack?s energy cost has been halved.
- Warrior ? Power Attack is now only usable while in combat.
- Warrior - Power Attack will now cause the warrior to gain Unyielding Might if used continuously for 15 seconds. Unyielding Might further increases the warrior?s damage.
- Warrior ? Removed the mitigation penalty on Defensive Form.
- Warrior ? Removed the damage penalty on Offensive Form.
- Warrior ? Infuriating Shot now costs the correct amount of endurance (18)
- Warrior ? Rend Armor now costs 28 endurance
- Warrior ? Waylay can now be used in either form.
- Warrior ? Taunting Strike now costs 20 endurance
- Warrior ? Increased the power of Taunt slightly
- Warrior ? Increased the hate over time caused by Stinging Cut and Blade?s Bite.
- Warrior ? Roar of Fury now has a refresh timer of 30s and the amount of hate it adds has been increased.
- Warrior ? Group commands now affect the Warrior giving the command as well as the rest of the group.
- Warrior ? Defenseless and Cleave can now be used in either form.
- Warrior ? Shield of Maiming is now available at trainers starting at level 12
- Warrior ? Shield of Carnage is now available at trainers starting at level 28
- Warrior ? Double text lines on Destroy and Obliterate have been fixed
- Warrior ? Battle Frenzy now costs 10 endurance
- Warrior ? Overwhelm now states that it adds hate
- Warrior ? Overwhelm now costs 22 endurance

CRAFTING NOTES
- Crafted items are now flagged as BOE
- Artificer - Focusing Shard of Knowledge should now be labeled correctly
- Artificer - Focus items should now have healing dispersion effect attached
- Artificer - Specter idols should have their effects attached
- Artificer - Crafted bows should have the proper continental effects
- Complications ? Uneven Modification should no longer have an effectiveness penalty
- Complications ? Intense Focus should now give the proper effectiveness bonus
- Complications ? Double complications should no longer occur
- Complications ? Quick shaping should now give the proper action point cost bonus
- Deconstruction ? Ensorced Enduring Mantle should no longer be deconnable
- Deconstruction ? Groush?s Staff should now decon properly
- Deconstruction ? Jewelry and Focus item deconstruction should no longer drop dusts that cannot be used on them
- Deconstruction ? Jewelry decons should no longer drop outfitter orbs/spheres
- Deconstruction ? Small Silver Earring should decon correctly now
- Deconstruction - Artificer decon should no longer penalize you when you get to 100%
- Deconstruction - All of the following should decon properly now:
Amalgamated Xanthoxenite Power Girdle
Amalgamated Xanthiosite Reinforcements
Composite Xanthoxenite Reinforcements
Jointed Xanthoxenite Helm
Assimilated Xanthoxenite Boots
Fused Xanthoxenite Choker
Twisted Xanthoxenite Ring
- Harvesting ? Bloodwood Sap should no longer make you unable to die.
- Misc - Reinforcment items should no longer drop as they were not being used
- Misc - Robes made with the new health or energy abilities should now have the effect attached properly
- Misc - Descriptions for health and energy dusts have been updated
- Misc - Bows/Crossbows should have their continental effects and procs in the correct slots now
- Misc - Dark venom should give the proper feedback now
- Misc - Crystals of Conservation have been converted to cash loot and removed from loot tables
- Misc - Focusing Crystals of Power?s description has been updated. Leather strapping was an invalid option for this dust.
- Misc - Various Renewed weapons have had their points adjusted so the energy regen effect could be applied correctly
- Misc - Crafted items now follow the max level cap of 53
- Misc - Crystals of Focus have been removed from loot tables and turned into cash items
- Misc - Qalian continental effect has been updated:
Tier 2 -Chance to heal for 6 to 10 on attack
Tier 2 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Spiritual and Arcane
Tier 3 -Chance to heal for 6 to 10 on attack
Tier 3 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Spiritual and Arcane
Tier 3 - Increases Hit point max by 8
Tier 4 -Chance to heal for 6 to 10 on attack
Tier 4 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Spiritual and Arcane
Tier 4 - Increases Hit point max by 8
Tier 5 - Increases Spiritual and Arcane resists by 3
Tier 5 - Chance to heal for 6 to 10 on attack
Tier 5 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Spiritual and Arcane
Tier 5 - Increases Hit point max by 8
Tier 5 - Increases Spiritual and Arcane resists by 3
Tier 5 - Arcane damage shield +5
- Misc - Kojan continental effect has been updated:
Tier 2 - All Damage +3
Tier 2 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Physical and Mental
Tier 3 - All Damage +3
Tier 3 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Physical and Mental
Tier 3 - Increases Energy max by 8
Tier 4 - All Damage +3
Tier 4 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Physical and Mental
Tier 4 - Increases Energy max by 8
Tier 4 - Increases Physical and Mental resists by 3
Tier 5 - All Damage +3
Tier 5 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Physical and Mental
Tier 5 - Increases Energy max by 8
Tier 5 - Increases Physical and Mental resists by 3
Tier 5 - Physical damage shield +5
- Misc - Thestra continental effect has been updated:
Tier 2 - Accuracy + 1%
Tier 2 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Fire and Cold
Tier 3 - Accuracy + 1%
Tier 3 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Fire and Cold
Tier 3 - Increases AC by 8
Tier 4 - Accuracy + 1%
Tier 4 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Fire and Cold
Tier 4 - Increases AC by 8
Tier 4 - Increases Fire and Cold resists by 3
Tier 5 - Accuracy + 1%
Tier 5 - Adds +8 to spell damage types Fire and Cold
Tier 5 - Increases AC by 8
Tier 5 - Increases Fire and Cold resists by 3
Tier 5 - Fire damage shield +5
- As always each piece added stacks this effect increasing these numbers.
- Outfitter - Updated many Outfitter work order recipes that specified they required strengthener rather than the softener needed.
- Outfitter - Shadoweave bags should no longer be labeled as Bloodweave
- Outfitter - Rare cloth and leather refining recipes now have enhancements listed in their descriptions

DIPLOMACY NOTES
- Time requirement has been removed from ?Follow Those Robes?
- Bartenders around Telon are now happy to chat it up with their patrons. They may prove generous to those who win their favor, passing out free drinks, free food, riftway shards, and every now and then, something quite valuable.
- Ambassador?s Weeds once again give noble presence. However, quests with House Remniol now offer a choice between noble and academic versions of them.
- Ambassador?s Rod will once again properly display a model.
- The Civic Diplomacy lever ?Simple Pleasures? in Tursh now correctly reduces the ?Cheer the People? lever.
- Virtually all wood elf NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all varanthari NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all varanjar NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all dark elf NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all dwarf NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all gnome NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all goblin NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all half elf NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all lesser giant NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all halfling NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all vulmane NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all raki NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all kurashasan NPCs now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Virtually all special race NPCs (such as mummies, ghosts, spirits, wisps, etc) now have upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Other NPCs also assigned upgraded diplomacy decks.
- Travel journals have been updated for the web quest ?Gather Information Check? to correctly display Roofrunner Firuz?s location.
- A travel journal location for Erdur has been added to ?A Horselord?s Force.?
- The cards ?Simple Allusion?, ?Absolution?, and ?Breakthrough? will now successfully teach their abilities.
- Dockhand Quentin has gone back on his temporary vow of silence and will now talk to PCs who are working on Breaking into the Business.
- Weaver Jekaqie outside of Khal is can now trade in certain quest rewards from the Ahgrammun lines. Should players accidentally double up on a certain station?s reward, they may trade her like for like.

WORLD POPULATION NOTES
- Afrit ? Guard Captain Rexmal now offers an additional quest to slay those who oppose the Var Efreet.
- Afrit ? Players who have more than 10k Var Efreet faction will be able to start the weapons quest with Handler Aerco.
- Afrit ? Players who have gotten their first upgrade to Arazmus may want to speak with Handler Aerco again.
- Ahgram - Be careful carrying fish within the Ahgram city limits. Smelly Cat may believe you?ve stolen it from him and become quite hostile.
- Ahgram - Smelly Cat has been itemized.
- Ca?ial Brael - Warrior Defensive Stance Quest ? Maghra Firelash will now speak to you so you may finish the quest.
- Celestine Ward ? The quest ?Hounds of the Wetlands? now has a lower kill requirement.
- Frostshard Lake - Ancestral Reverents will now appear more often in Frostshard Lake.
- Gorgalog Swamp - Named Ichtakhta will now drop the appropriate shoulder component.
- Gorgalog Swamp - "Shimmering Silverbark" armor now correctly requires "Forest Enchanted" armor as its base component.
- Jalen?s Crossing ? The Fire, Earth, and Water Islands of the Arks of Refuge have been retuned for small groups
- Jalen?s Crossing ? The main Island of the Arks of Refuge has been retuned for solo players
- Khal - The Bayside Outpost in Khal has a new questgiver, Tabar Wapashta. He gives 5 new quests appropriate for level 5 players.
- Khal - The Bayside Outpost and the surrounding area near Khal has undergone a content pass. There are many new quests to complete, enemies to fight, and rewards to discover.
- Ksaravi Gulch - The challenge rating (dot value) of many of the NPCs in the Gulch dungeon have been retooled to allow smaller groups to venture deeper into the dungeon. A solo section of this dungeon now exists as well. Additional quests for this area are in development.
- Northern Highlands - A once famous performer that lives in the Northern Highlands now offers a quest for level 30 to 35 bards.
- Nusibe Necropolis ? The God King has gotten better at opening the rifts for his minions and will now summon them wherever he stands.
- Nusibe Necropolis ? The God King?s minions have been scaled down in difficulty.
- Nusibe Necropolis ? Players who have not already completed The Missing Shards quest may trade in their hilt with Berakut for another, though he may not be so willing to do so for nothing.
- Quests - Dying during the quest ?Camel Round-Up? should no longer gate the quest. Other players camels should also no longer despawn when you turn your camel in.
- Quests - The quest ?Water Collection? should no longer display the waypoints for the quest ?Ancient Knowledge?.
- Quests - The Dice Man ? Increased the drop rate on the Thunderhorn Horns and Legion Wasp Carapace.
- Quests - Hunters League: Spellcasters should now be capable of receiving and completing ?The Hunt Continues? like all other archetypes
- Quests ? Hunter?s League quest line ? Upped the drop rate of the following items needed for the Hunter?s League quest line: Vial of Corruption, Living Flame, Patch of Zombie Flesh, Skrilien Hide, Fairy Wing, Cyclops Eye, Lizardman Bone and Sapper Wing.
- Quests ? The Tehatamani Ambassador should now update the quest Hero's Strength, rather than the Pharaoh
- Quests ? Players who have deleted their Hero?s Strength item can hail Silko Guikosha to begin a quest to retake their trial
- Quests ? Players who have deleted their Tranquil Thought item can hail Shabaqen Hasshqo to begin a quest to retake their trial
- Quests - The quest Ancient Knowledge is now marked as Small Group.
- Quests ? By Night ? The Large Stalking Wolf will now drop the necessary quest component for all members of a party that are on that step of the quest. The Large Stalking Wolf is also locked to a group, so that when one group spawns him, no other groups can engage him until either he is killed or despawns. If you cannot hit the wolf, then return in a few minutes and try again.
- Quests ? By Night - The mechanic for completion of Sona?s escort has been changed. This should prevent players from not being able to finish the quest, provided they escort Sona to her uncle. Also, Sona is now able to be attacked by the wolves that are hunting her (which means that she is susceptible to attack from players as well ? watch where you swing!).
- Quests ? By Night - The final battle with Grelrin has been made easier. While it is still difficult, the fight should be more manageable for a level-appropriate group.
- Quests ? By Night - The reward for completing the By Night quest line has been bumped up slightly.
- Rakshasa Citadel - Players should now be able to talk to Fuer Tet in the main hallway
- Rakshasa Citadel - Fixed an issue where the wrong version of Fuer Tet was spawning when you killed the last Energy Guardian
- Rakshasa Citadel - Players can now access the Descrier Plane after they complete the main quest line
- Rakshasa Citadel ? The Ring of the Rakshasa can be completed up to a certain point but the full quest path is currently turned off
- Rakshasa Citadel ? The Ring of the Rakshasa drop rate has been significantly reduced in the citadel
- Rakshasa Citadel - All of the side-quests have received various tuning updates?mostly to fix some small issues with quest counters/quest bits
- Rahz Inkur - Several items from the high tier summoned NPCs have been increased from rare to heroic. Those items that were not soul bound in the past will be soulbound in a future patch ? you have been warned. This affects loot from the following NPCs:
Aluul (The Schism)
Djuul (The Uniter)
Khorr (Ravager of Chaos Undivided)
Shaluu (Lord of Divided Unity)
- Rahz Inkur - Several items from the mid tier summoned NPCs have been increased from uncommon to rare.
This affects loot from the following NPCs:
Ahzali (The Divided Lord)
Rulz (Dreadbringer of Chaos)
Salizi (The Lawbringer)
Torlaxis (Greathound of Rahz)
Zelahi (Torchbearer of Unity)
- Rahz Inkur - Several Mid Tier Rare NPCs have had their uncommon items upgraded to rare.
This affects the following NPCs:
Heroic Gorehorn
Ahzek the Templar (Chosen of the Zull)
Zuthalis (Merchant Prince of the Zull)
Razthil (Flamemaster of the Zull)
Nefarious Titan
Salimar the Champion
- Rahz Inkur - The various worshipers of the Zull found on the western side of the city no longer share the same immunity sets as their masters the Zull Efreet
- Rahz Inkur Overland - The Efreeti Wayfarer is now correctly sized and wearing clothing.
- Rahz Inkur - Flameshell and Pyrewing will now drop two items each per kill
- Renton Keep ? Appeasing Tharridon will now update correctly. Players who missed the update for step one when completing Fulfilling Their Needs should speak with Trisda Sentle.
- Southern Thestra - Celestial Captains and Matrons of Gloriann will now be more frequently seen in southern Thestra.
- Shrine of the Flame - Canyon lizards in Shrine of the Flame are now less stuck.
- Spider Bluffs - Spider Bluffs locations are now categorized under Western Northern Plains.
- Strand of the Ancients - High Archon Nez'riss, Beastmaster Nerik'ssez, Bloodletter Ssrek, Hexscale Hra'kez, Primalist Zez'iss, Warlord Thrak'ssez, Jek'rissik the Champion, Thaumaturge Lass'revik, and Vor'issk will now always spawn their respective banners upon death.
- Strand of the Ancients - War Banner of High Archon Nez'riss no longer behaves like Narahari's Phial.
- Strand of the Ancients - Veteran's War Banner no longer behaves like Narahari's Phial.
- Tar Janashir - Ashwara of Tar Janashir is now on the correct faction table (Tar Janashir, not Upside Defense.)
- Temple of Dailuk ? Tautiren Hunters are KOS again.
- Tiberian Wildwood - The shadowhound camp in the Tiberian Wildwood has been expanded.
- Tomb of Lord Tsang - Dialog for the weapons of Tsang?s Tomb has been updated: Please remember that when you place the gems on the pillar, you have to click on the weapon to remove it from the pedestal
- Trengal Keep - The Heart of Karujin Gulgrethor is no longer attached to the quest "Slime Siphoning".
- Vsurog Moor - Quest armor rewards will now be given out by the Gorgalok Quartermaster instead of the Council of Elders. Please return all quest items to the Quartermaster from now on.
- Vsurog Moor - The road sign outside Vsurog Moor should now display the correct directions to Ichtakhta and Flordiel.
- Xennumet - Several NPCs within the dungeon now see invisible and perceive sneaking players more easily
- Xennumet - the levels of named/boss NPCs in the xennumet dungeon have been increased to 45
- Xennumet - the quest to spawn one of the bosses in the underground xennumet dungeon can now be repeated
- Xennumet - more xennumet mobs now have faction and will be attack on sight.
- Xennumet - Xennumet bosses will now be much more resistant to status affecting spells such as fear, slow, etc.

Items:
- World Loot Tables have been reworked significantly; the jewelry has been replaced with more useful jewelry and more items have been added.
- ?Specialized? loot has been added to the World Loot Tables; ?specialized? refers to Plate for Healers, Cloth for Healers and Chain/Scale for Nukers. This loot does not share the same loot table as the rest of the World Loot Tables so as to avoid saturating that already large loot table; as such, if you happen to get lucky enough to get one of these items, keep in mind that it isn?t ?replacing? a ?normal? drop.
- The Dwarven Dagger of Destruction has been tweaked slightly and has had a proc added to it.
- T2 Brute?s armor should now match
- Relatively few higher level shields have had their appearances updated.
- Some parrying daggers have had their appearances updated appropriately.
- The upgraded, quested Afrit weapons have been slightly improved.
- Many Adventuring Armor appearances have been updated. In general, this means that the changed armor now has the correct contintenal appearance as well as level range. In most instances, this change should result in higher quality appearances. In a few cases (ie, Dargun?s Tomb), the appearances were shifted downwards to their correct tier. Such occurances should be few and far between, while the majority of changes should enhance the look of said armor.
- Majordomo's Scale Greaves has been increased to rare status from uncommon
- Seskarlan's Bauble has been increased to rare status from uncommon
- Flamesinger has been increased to heroic status from rare ? this item will change to being soulbound in a future patch, you have been warned
- Drum of Zezzexxezzexx is now level 50, it was previously marked as level 45

GUI NOTES
- The player housing information window has had some fields moved to the Admin tab.

CODING NOTES
- There is a new programmable shader caching system to reduce hitching. You will hitch a bit more than usual while programmable shaders are cached the very first time you see a different material type in game. This is the last time *all* shaders will need to be recompiled. Hitching should be greatly reduced afterwards.


~The Vanguard Team