Tasslehoff Burrfoot
Following all of the uproar of RealID, I thought I’d try something new this month. As we progress through MMO releases, we tend to let the games of yesterday slip from our minds. When was the last time you saw Star Wars Galaxies make the news? As the weeks wear on, and World of Warcraft comes under fire, I’m reminded that these old games won’t be around forever. Eventually, people leave and the games slowly descend into unprofitability.
In a lot of ways, that makes me sad, but for some reason, it also puts a little fire under my butt to get out and try some of these things before they go away. There are several that I’m particularly interested in: Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies being high on the list. To start, though, I decided to re-subscribe to Vanguard.
Vanguard is pretty much at death’s door. Some people who disagree but when all new content is put on indefinite hold, there’s cause for concern. That’s not to deride the game. I absolutely love the concept of Vanguard. But, out of the three I named, I’d say ol’ Saga of Heroes is most likely to go under first. So, I’m taking the opportunity while I have it.
It’s also a bit of a test that I’d encourage all of you to put yourself to sometime. A lot of us talk about how we like the old school way of designing MMOs, myself included. Vanguard approaches a lot in a rough around the edges, old school way (though, admittedly, it’s gotten much better in time). One of the biggest that sticks out to me is the game vs. world dichotomy. Telon, the setting of Vanguard, is absolutely a world’s world. It is filled with life and character. Plus, it’s absolutely enormous, so there’s lots to do and explore. On the other hand, it’s also old school in some worse ways, such as the grind (or so I’m told — especially to build things).
For the next 30 days, Vanguard will be in my game rotation. For better or worse, I’m going in and I plan to see more than I ever have in the past. The game encourages you to “step into” your character and experience the world through them. I’d like to bring you along with me.
The plan right now is to photoblog my way through my experiences. I know that many players refuse to try it after such a disastrous launch, but I’m hoping this pulls you into the fold a little bit. At the very least, it will be nice to share some of the games great vistas and landscapes with you all. I’ll still be posting my usual stuff up here, but I noticed that when I’m playing WoW, I tend not to write about what I’m doing in-game. This should help fill that void.
I labeled this post “The Wanderlust Experiment” because, if this month goes well, maybe I’ll take it up as a regular part of my gaming. I’ve always felt that trying a new MMO, whether you love it or hate it, is enlightening – freeing, even. In the end, maybe I’ll wind up staying with one of them. For now, I’m taking a stroll in Telon.
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