A Day In Thestra
Moderator: Community Managers
-
John Adams
- Retired
- Posts: 4582
- Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2013 9:40 am
- Location: Phoenix, AZ.
- Contact:
A Day In Thestra
I find nostalgia very, nostalgic. So I popped onto my flying wurm and did some exploring - places I have never been before in Vanguard. That's what these final days are all about, right? Seeing the sights, doing things we never did, taking final mental snapshots of how the game should look - when we start building zones.
One thing I notice, Thestra is HUGE. And in a lot of cases, empty. This I remember from running around Three Rivers, to Southwatch, across Silverlake, from Halgarad - my home town. I also remember my character, big and dumb as he is, moving so very slowly. Then the rifts came. And the mounts (finally earned 3gp!) and flying things... sure made travel easier.
In all my time playing previously (2007-2008) I could never afford a boat, nor had the skills to build one. Thank the Gods for Station Cash, cuz today I bought one (my account has 2400SC for god knows how long). I also bought said wurm.
Note to self... when you are out in the middle of the Sea of Mist, slowly losing altitude while AFK nuking some pizza, it is a real long swim back to shore. Just sayin.
Not one to be caught making the same mistake, I bought a modest sea vehicle to help me out in my exploration.
[attachment=3]AMB_Cleveland.jpg[/attachment]
After sailing out from New Targonor, I ran into a friendly group of 5-dot purples who almost ate me for lunch. Lucky for me the wurm actually flies.
But here's one thing of note: While sailing close to Troll Coast Point, I didn't see anything on the island, which is how I found myself in that predicament. Seems from the boat, you cannot "See" things. Even flying over the island, I had to be roughly 10-15' above the monsters before I saw their names. Hopefully this is just a client thing, and the spawns are still in-game for collection.
Leaving the island and heading out to deep sea, I saw something flickering in the distance... now what the HELL is this thing? A Kojan Sea Portal?
I assume my ship will get sucked in and sent to Kojan? I steered clear and continued NE-ward...
Another interesting point, Raveosier's Haven seems new. In fact, nearly everything along the eastern coastline of Thestra seems to be housing... Virtual Urban Sprawl. Wonder if they too considered the wildlife they were disturbing?
Heading to my final destination, the upper-east corner of land of the continent of Thestra (Oh look, more housing!) As I raced to murder an innocent giant spider, I noticed a very obvious white line on the ground.
[attachment=1]zone_line.jpg[/attachment]
I guess in some places, chunk lines are easy to see I saw them in the water, too... blatant square edges where you cross over. That's okay, players aren't supposed to be paying attention to that anyway - SHINY!.
So that concludes my day in Thestra, traveling only the outer southern/eastern coast lines... this place is BIG. But I am ready for the Global Run event, which hopefully will start soon.
[attachment=0]me.jpg[/attachment]
One thing I notice, Thestra is HUGE. And in a lot of cases, empty. This I remember from running around Three Rivers, to Southwatch, across Silverlake, from Halgarad - my home town. I also remember my character, big and dumb as he is, moving so very slowly. Then the rifts came. And the mounts (finally earned 3gp!) and flying things... sure made travel easier.
In all my time playing previously (2007-2008) I could never afford a boat, nor had the skills to build one. Thank the Gods for Station Cash, cuz today I bought one (my account has 2400SC for god knows how long). I also bought said wurm.
Note to self... when you are out in the middle of the Sea of Mist, slowly losing altitude while AFK nuking some pizza, it is a real long swim back to shore. Just sayin.
Not one to be caught making the same mistake, I bought a modest sea vehicle to help me out in my exploration.
After sailing out from New Targonor, I ran into a friendly group of 5-dot purples who almost ate me for lunch. Lucky for me the wurm actually flies.
But here's one thing of note: While sailing close to Troll Coast Point, I didn't see anything on the island, which is how I found myself in that predicament. Seems from the boat, you cannot "See" things. Even flying over the island, I had to be roughly 10-15' above the monsters before I saw their names. Hopefully this is just a client thing, and the spawns are still in-game for collection.
Leaving the island and heading out to deep sea, I saw something flickering in the distance... now what the HELL is this thing? A Kojan Sea Portal?
Another interesting point, Raveosier's Haven seems new. In fact, nearly everything along the eastern coastline of Thestra seems to be housing... Virtual Urban Sprawl. Wonder if they too considered the wildlife they were disturbing?
Heading to my final destination, the upper-east corner of land of the continent of Thestra (Oh look, more housing!) As I raced to murder an innocent giant spider, I noticed a very obvious white line on the ground.
I guess in some places, chunk lines are easy to see I saw them in the water, too... blatant square edges where you cross over. That's okay, players aren't supposed to be paying attention to that anyway - SHINY!.
So that concludes my day in Thestra, traveling only the outer southern/eastern coast lines... this place is BIG. But I am ready for the Global Run event, which hopefully will start soon.
- Attachments
-
-
-
- The AMB Cleveland
John Adams
VGOEmulator - Project Ghost
"Everything should work now, except the stuff that doesn't" ~Xinux
VGOEmulator - Project Ghost
"Everything should work now, except the stuff that doesn't" ~Xinux
-
John Adams
- Retired
- Posts: 4582
- Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2013 9:40 am
- Location: Phoenix, AZ.
- Contact:
Re: A Day In Thestra
Two more bits - boats are just awful. Clever in their design, weak in their implementation. I cannot count the times I got stuck trying to dismount and had to /camp or /stuck yes myself to safety. I am truly hoping our server will help smooth out those rough edges (in some fashion).
Second, it's snowing. Really? It had to wait til I got up there to start snowing?
Second, it's snowing. Really? It had to wait til I got up there to start snowing?
Re: A Day In Thestra
Boats were one of the things I liked about the crafting system. Personally I hated seeing Sony put them in the cash shop because once again they started negating the need for crafters. I hadn't made it to the larger boats yet but was able to make each of the continental sloops and the middle boat (galleon or caravel.. can't remember which was which)... Odd thing is, I could make the boats but I never really explored much with them.. Was always too busy leveling my four crafters and questing.. lol
In going through revisiting areas, I'm realizing that a lot of them are kind of sparse. Still beautiful but most of the terrain seems near barren. Nothing that I would consider dense forest.. Rocks and boulders for the most part seem widely scattered. I wonder if they had to do that because of the chunk sizes and range of detail settings to keep frame rates playable. I'm dying to figure out terrain to a point that I can play with redecorating a chunk.. lol
In going through revisiting areas, I'm realizing that a lot of them are kind of sparse. Still beautiful but most of the terrain seems near barren. Nothing that I would consider dense forest.. Rocks and boulders for the most part seem widely scattered. I wonder if they had to do that because of the chunk sizes and range of detail settings to keep frame rates playable. I'm dying to figure out terrain to a point that I can play with redecorating a chunk.. lol