41.1. What sort of technology are you using for your primary graphics engine for Vanguard? Is it an in-house developed engine, or a licensed engine, or a hybrid of both?
We're using a heavily modified version of Unreal 2.x, and it continues to be heavily modified in just about every area -- we'll re-do the network code, we've already just about totally re-written the rending side of things to get bump mapping, etc. in there, we've made it seamless world, we've completely replaced the player character technology (skinned FPS models don't cut it in an MMOG), plus a lot more.
We feel very confident this modified engine will be perfect for Vanguard at release (just as, like you mentioned, the L2 guys successfully morphed the engine for their MMOG).
Will we switch to 3.0? Well, we look at 3.0 and learn from it all the time, but as to officially switching over to that code base, it would be huge endeavor... it would both slow us down right now, plus 3.0 just isn't as mature as the 2.x code base so we'd be taking some risks. That said, at some point after Vanguard's release, I could certainly see us making the transition.
Source: Official FAQ
Our graphics engine is a hybrid, really. We licensed the Unreal engine, and used it as our starting point so we could rapidly get design and art working on the game, as opposed to just programming. Unreal is a FPS engine, and lots and lots of modifications are being made to make it an MMOG engine that suits Vanguard's specific needs.
Our lead programmer, Ryan Elam, is good friends with Tim Sweeney at Epic, and they talk often, share ideas and code, and we have access to all sorts of technologies.
Here is our press release regarding our use of the Unreal engine:
SIGIL GAMES ANNOUNCES USE OF UNREAL® ENGINE TECHNOLOGY
"Vanguard: Saga of HeroesTM" to Utilize Top Third-Party Engine
SAN DIEGO, California. - May 6, 2004 - Sigil Games Online, Inc. today announced that the company is using the Unreal® Engine as one of several licensed technologies used in their flagship product, the massively multiplayer RPG "Vanguard: Saga of Heroes."
"Unreal Technology enabled us from the very beginning to start making a game instead of an engine," said Brad McQuaid, president & CEO of Sigil and the co-producer for "Vanguard." "From nearly day one, our highly technical team of artists were taking their visions from paper to playable. Furthermore, within a few short months, our designers were seeing real gameplay and functional technology. It is integral to a content-based product like 'Vanguard' that the artists and designers rapidly generate assets and see results, and that all departments are working concurrently as quickly as possible."
The Unreal Engine has been instrumental in bringing dozens of titles to market on multiple platforms with fast, clean, and polished production value. "Vanguard: Saga of Heroes" will heavily modify the Unreal Engine and other technology over time to better support an MMOG's many special needs, while at the same time reaping the benefits of an extensive tool set and the support of the Unreal Development Network.
"I've known Tim Sweeney and the guys at Epic for over ten years", expressed Ryan Elam, lead programmer and graphics 'guru' for "Vanguard." "I've watched the Unreal Engine practically since inception, and I agree wholeheartedly with their philosophy of giving the developer a strong, stable foundation upon which to build a game. Frankly, they free our programmers up to do the 'Cool Stuff'!"
"We're thrilled to be collaborating with Sigil to combine their world class design and artistry with Epic's leading-edge 3D technology," said Tim Sweeney, CEO and technical director of Epic Games. "Sigil's core team members are largely responsible for the popularity of the MMORPG genre today, and it's almost scary to think of the potential of their talent coupled with the Unreal Engine's flexibility. Historically, massively multiplayer games have not pushed graphical detail and realism as ardently as other genres, but 'Vanguard' looks to demolish that trend."
Early on, as Sigil evaluated their technology options, McQuaid and Elam recall discussing their previous experiences building large and ambitious games with either home-grown or licensed technology.
"Given the scope and scale of 'Vanguard,'" said McQuaid, "it was really a no-brainer to use technology like Unreal's to accelerate the process. I'm glad we licensed third party technology for "EverQuest®" back when I worked at SISA/989 Studios, and I'm happy we made a similar decision with 'Vanguard' here at Sigil. The results speak for themselves."
Source: Official FAQ
41.2. What kind of PC will I need to run the game?
The Vanguard client will be built to take advantage of the average gamer's machine at the time of release. The graphics engine is very scalable, so a below recommended spec machine should be able to run the game, albeit with less graphics goodness than a more powerful PC. Likewise, as newer and more powerful systems and cards come on the market, the Vanguard client will take be able to take advantage of them , scaling upwards.
Source: Official FAQ
41.3. Will you attempt to make distant lands really feel distant?
Yes. The world of Telon is huge. Travel between lands will take some time, but again, we believe the travel in and of itself should be fun. We are including "assistance" items such as a Compass and Travel Journal to help players deal with the size of the world.
Source: Official FAQ
41.3.1. Will you support dual core processors? What are your upper limits?
1. Dual core already works fine. That said, we've not finished moving things to different threads to fully take advantage of it, so it will just get better. I run a 3.2EE dual core at home and use it to play almost nightly.
2. Just ran Vanguard the other day on a 64 bit CPU on XP 64. Ran fine. Some who had used the box more claimed it ran faster, but I didn't notice a huge difference. This was a 32 bit client (Vanguard) running on a 64 bit chip and OS. We hope to release a true 64 bit client at some point as well.
3. We have it running on SLI machines. Runs fine. SLI mostly helps with fill rate, and depending on which build we're on, we're poly or passes or fill rate or cpu bound, so how much it helps varies as well But this will be sorted out well before release.
4. We have it running on various machines with fast ram.
Source: Aradune Mithara
It already does to some degree and we plan to, as we finish up the game and optimize, to continue to architect it such that it will more and more.
It also runs great, or so I've been told by serveral people, on XP 64, even though the beta .exe is 32 bit.
We hope to have both a 32 and 64 bit client available, as well as support both XP and Vista.
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.4. So what are our options for travel?
To be clear, you will have access to horses pretty quickly. The idea then is that you can traverse the continent you are on more quickly than just by running.
Coast hugger ships come next, which will help people get around continents by sailing around their perimeter.
Ocean going ships are higher level, but not uber epic only a few people will have. They'll be around, believe me. And even if you don't choose to build one, I think it's likely that you'll have a friend or guildmate who does have one. If not, perhaps you pay someone for a ride, and then we are also going to implement NPC piloted transport ships if necessary. Keep in mind that these ships, especially the ocean going ones, are pretty big and can carry multiple people.
Combine that with the offline travel that the caravan system gives you, and I think we'll be in good shape. Worst, worst case scenario, as I've posted in the past, we could implement a small number of Velious style teleports, but we really hope to not have to do that (mostly because we really want to make meaningful travel an important part of the game. Coding them is actually pretty easy).
Source: Aradune Mithara
Vehicles are integral to gameplay (and not just for travel).
We are planning horses and ships at this point. There's not reason we couldn't have another more exotic vehicles, but they'd probably be in an expansion.
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.5. Will Vanguard support advanced video card technology?
5. I don't think we have a physics card in-house yet, but I've heard the programmings talking about them, all excited. So I would say that there's a good chance, time permitting, that we'll do something with them, assuming they're out before we're out. Certainly at some point after launch as we have some pretty cool ideas. Can't promise by release tho, sorry.
Overall, I think our programmers have done a really good job architecting the engine such that it will grow with and take advantage of new tech that comes on the scene over the next several years. We learned that with EQ, where we had no idea how long the game would be popular and so didn't plan as well, making it harder to implement new tech. I think we're much better set up now.
Source: Aradune Mithara
We're currently working on better supporting NVIDIA SLI and also getting ready for ATI Crossfire.
We have a physics engine -- It's unclear to what extent we'll be able to use it by launch, but my understanding is that you'll be able to use additional ATI cards not just to boost graphics performance, but also to do physics in hardware. Very exciting stuff.
We should also be able to at some point in the not too distant future take advantage of shader 3.0 (we require 2.0). Also, the new ATI cards should allos us to put anti-aliasing back on at virtually know cost while keeping advanced features like HDR lighting.
In summary, we know that this game and the engine behind it have to last and stay as current as possible for a long time. So a lot of time has already been put into it, architecting it such that taking advantage of new tech will not require major surgery. – 31 October 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
Vanguard uses true HDR and that is what you are seeing in the more recent screenshots -- they are not 'bloom hacks'. This same system also uses true tonemapping, world lighting, per pixel lighting, and a bunch of other stuff Ryan could list off better than me. – 24 December 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.6. Will there be different types of horses?
Different types of horses will be available, both depending on where you are buying them and also what type (a horse more focused on carrying goods vs. speed, etc.), as well as how much you have to spend on one.
How many variations? Honestly, as many as we can make. And we will add more after release too.
Source: Aradune Mithara (2/11/06)
41.7. Can I still play using a Modem? What is the minimum baud rate?
We believe so, yes, but are not committing to a minimum baud rate this early in development.
The main issue with broadband and MMOGs is still a matter of cost server side, even though bandwidth prices have gone down. In other words, it still doesn't make sense to send out a lot of data to each player's client, even if they do have the capability to receive it. Now, obviously this will change, but we’re confident that by the time it does the vast majority of players will have broadband too.
Source: Official FAQ
41.8. Player-owned ships?
Both NPC-controlled as well as player-controlled and owned.
Player-owned ships will need to be crafted by the appropriate crafting classes.
Various types of player owned ships will be available, including 'coast hugger' ships, as well as ocean going vessels, some better for defense, some better for hauling equipment, etc...
Players will, just like with their residences and their horses, be able to both store goods in their ships. They will also be able to enhance their ships by equipping them with items.
Source: Official FAQ
41.8.1. So all a person would have to do is set his/her desired framerate and the system (over time) would optimize the game to that?
That's the general goal. Things would turn off, or different LODs would turn on, all relative to the scene you are looking at and how complex/crowded it is.
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.8.2. What happens if my connection drops and I go link dead?
I can tell you what we are doing in beta, but it is subject to change, tweaking, etc. before we launch in order to avoid exploits.
Currently, if you crash out/disconnect, when you return as long as you don't move, cast, attack, etc. you have a temporary invul buff on you. The idea is that you have some time to re-group with your party members and re-orient yourself, especially if you disconnected in a nasty spot.(beta 2)
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.9. What is this XNA I keep hearing about from Microsoft and how will it affect Vanguard?
XNA is a growing group of software tools that allow developers to more rapidly develop their games. Additionally, Microsoft wants to share tools and technology between its different platforms (e.g. Win32, Xbox, future platforms).
Vanguard is one of the chief early adopters of this ever-growing group of software. For example, we will be using technologies from Xbox live, voice communication, and already have the ability to play the game via an Xbox-style controller with a tiny keyboard attached to it (a TID).
There will be more information about all of this later.
Source: Official FAQ
41.10. So there's mounted combat? And sea battles?
We are NOT promising MOUNTED combat on release.
You may have to get off your horse to fight effectively, and then your horse would be a pet and fight with you, etc. (and, remember, you can equip your horse with armor and such to make it more formidable).
I'm all for mounted combat, but man, it's tough stuff.
Source: Aradune Mithara
What's pretty solid: Pirates or any other NPCs you end up fighting while on a ship will likely attack you, any other players you're with, and your ship. You and your companions will obviously be able to fight back.
What's likely: In addition to being able to store items on your ship for transport, you'll hopefully be able to equip it (and your horse, etc.) with items that could increase its armor class, sturdyness (HP), etc.
What's post launch: Hopefully ship to ship battles, but hey, as cool as it is to dream about that stuff, we have to be realistic right now and get this crazy big detailed game as it is into beta!
Source: Aradune Mithara
Actual ship to ship combat probably will NOT make the game by launch, but we do plan to have it one day. If you are on your ship you can be attacked by sea creatures as well as NPCs piloting their own ships. Your ship can be damaged during the battle, needing to fixed, but it doesn't actually deal damage -- you and your passengers will do the fighting. – 31 October 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.11. Will Vanguard Be on X-Box?
Vanguard simply requires more resources than the current generation of consoles can handle (xbox 360 and ps/3). Will the next generation after 360 and ps/3 be capable of handling Vanguard? I have no idea, but I do know that we'd like to see the game on muliple platforms as long as it doesn't require us to make Vanguard any less of what it is (e.g. sacrificing quality or quantity).
Source: Aradune Mithara April 26, 2006
All I have to say is "No - there are absolutely no plans for vanguard to be released on Xbox360." That's not to say that we wouldn't consider an adaptation to the 360 at some point after release - but there is no work going on to that end at this point.
Source: Taranis
41.12. A lot of games list System Requirements that often prove false upon release. Does Sigil plan on being as close as possible to the truth on game requirements?
I hear you. We will be as honest as we are allowed to be (it's not all in our hands, but the marketing departments seem very cool about these things -- I'm just saying I don't have authority over that area, just influence).
But I think you guys know I'm very straight up with you. I'd like to post minimum specs that are really minimum specs (e.g. you can play the game and have fun, but all the graphics goodness slider bars will be turned off), and then recommended which would be the slider bars in the middle, and then 'crazy' or some such, which would be the best system you could buy at the time. Though keep in mind the best system buyable during beta or release likely will not be able to have everything turned all the way up -- the game has to scale both backwards and then forwards into time so it still looks great years after release.
The reason we are not talking about specs now is that it's just not a good idea for the following reasons:
1. the game is not done
2. the game is not fully optimized
3. technology changes very quickly
4. the price of technology changes very quickly
Thus the system I use to run Vanguard today in alpha mode will likely be MUCH cheaper when the game comes out (or even during beta), and also I'm running on relatively unoptimized code (though we are putting some optimizations in for E3 demos and such).
Source: Official FAQ
41.13. Will Vanguard: Saga of Heroes support voice communication?
Yes, Vanguard will support voice communication—participating in voice or group communication will be completely optional.
Source: Official FAQ
We are unlikely to have any form of baked in voice support when we ship (bordering on 100% certainty at this point) and there are currently no plans to build our own solution. As we've said all along, we expect people to use 3rd party solutions - if they want to use voice at all. - September 2005
Source: Taranis
I want to reiterate that voice won't be rolled into the game at launch, and isn't planned in the foreseeable future. That being said, we do expect a lot of people to use 3rd party voice apps - but at the same time, we're not relying on it - so nothing about the game experience will require it. - 31 October 2005
Source: Taranis
41.14. What about a 64bit client for Vanguard?
We will have a 64 bit client before launch -- it's just a matter of priorities. Btw, even though the client is still 32 bit, I've run some tests and you get around at 5% (sometimes up to 10%) performance boost running on XP64. And this wasn't just running Vanguard -- I ran 3dMark too -- I can dual boot my 3.2EE dual core into either XP 32 or 64 since it's a newer chip and supports the 64bit instructions, and I've run the game and third party 3d tests on it. December 22, 2005 (Beta 2)
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.15. Can my horse or ship 'die'? If they ‘die’, and I've equipped them with valuable items and/or am storing valuable items on them, what do I do to recover them?
Think of your horse or ship as an extension of your character. Your character can 'die', but it really only generates a corpse with your items.
Healing a horse will undoubtedly involve skills similar to those used to heal or revive a character. Repairing ships, on the other hand, will involve the crafting sphere. Once you have completed your healing or repairs, you may not only retrieve your items, but your horse and ship are also 'brought back to life' and made usable again.
Source: Official FAQ
Your ship remains as a corpse (flotsam) and can be 'brought back to life' by a craftsman skilled in that area. You never lose your corpses or items (I'm talking PvE servers here -- let's not get into PvP at this point) that were on your character, horse, ship, or house.
As for swimming the oceans in search of your damaged ship, unless you died too, you'd still be at that location. If you had died and returned to your bind point, a more efficient route would be to have someone in their ship take you back to the point of your defeat (using the silvery cord system to guide you across the waters). That is, unless you really like swimming
Source: Aradune Mithara
Yes, you'll need to find another ship, your own or somebody else's, and then use your travel journal to guide you back to your corpse. You'll also likely want to bring a crafter with you to repair your ship unless you choose to abandon it. In any case, you'll want to loot your corpse and your ship, in that it may have items stored on it as well.
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.16. What happens to my ship/horse/vehicles/pets when I log out?
You 'log out' your ships and horses at the appropriate locations so they don't sit there and take up a ton of room when not being used.
Source: Aradune Mithara
Characters are persisted, and then everything that character owns. Except now your character can own other persistent objects which can be in various states, including being logged out of the game or in.
So we save your character, his items, any vehicles he owns if they are logged in at the time, and any items on that vehicle. And vehicle is used very generically: it really means anything that needs to be persistent that isn't on your character, so it's horses, ships, your house (a vehicle that doesn't move, I suppose), etc.
A vehicle is also really a character is most ways. It has a status. It can contain items. It can have stats. Etc. Etc. The difference is only that it's owned by another character, whereas your main character isn't owned per se.
Now you're probably asking yourself, why is Brad going into all this detail when I asked a simple question
Well, I think it helps to think of your vehicles/pets/buildings in this sense.
Can your character die? Yes, though he is not permanently dead, but you are restricted to him in the sense that your items are still on the corpse and you may also have the opportunity to resurrect that corpse.
The same is true for, say, a horse. It's a character owned by your character. It has an inventory, it can be equipped, it has stats, and it has a status (alive, dead). If it dies, it becomes a corpse as well, and you can loot it, potentially drag it, and resurrect it as well.
Same with a ship. It has an inventory (cargo), can be equipped with items that affect its stats and abilities, and it can 'die'. The names change (instead of a corpse, it's 'floatsam'; instead of being resurrected by a cleric, it's repaired by a craftsman), but it's all the same.
And, lastly, the same with a building you own. You can place items in it, decorate it to some degree (equip it), and it can 'die' if it's attacked by, say, a band of wandering kobolds. And, like the dead horse or floatsam on the sea, the house's status changes to one of disrepair when it's hit points become zero. You'll also need a craftsman then to repair the house, though likely with different skills and abilities than the craftsman who can repair a ship, changing it from floatsam into something pilotable again.
There are some differences, too, though. You can, of course, log out your character. When you do, what happens to other persistent objects that you own? Well, it depends. A building you own stays in the game and doesn't log out. It's always there, regardless of its state, unless you actually purposely delete it.
Your horse? It should probably log out with you, but is this true in all cases? This is something we'll have to mess with in beta.
Your ship? Well, what if there are people on it when you log out (intentionally or unintentionally -- what if you go LD?). Again, some rules we're going to have to play with.
You can definitely, however, log out a ship or a horse if you trigger it and it's in the right location (docks, stables, an outpost, etc.). We don't want a situation like one saw in UO where there are ships for miles down the coastline because they don't log out.
Also, what about vendors or hirelings?
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.17. What is the programming approach utilized in Vanguard?
We use an iterative approach. The closest officially defined method to what we do is a spiral, but even defining a specific method, in my mind, seems too corporate for the atmosphere here. We get requirements, write some code, test it, have other people test it, and revise with new approaches or new requirements, at least that is how it works from the gameplay side. It can often be a question of "Is this actually fun?" or "Is this too limiting/too complex?" that prompts another iteration, or it could just be a question of polish.
I'd say that the closest we have to the pair programming portion of extreme programming (is it just me, or does that name evoke images of a *very* absurd Mt. Dew commercial?) is helping each other track down and fix particularly obnoxious bugs, or a little good natured heckling.
The quote from Amanda's interview is very accurate. We have a very open atmosphere where suggestions from each other are seriously considered, and we all learn a lot from each other which is a testament to how well we get along and work together. - 9 November 2005
Source: Crestone
41.18. What machine specifications are current beta testers using to run Vanguard?
Generally we play at 1024x768, or 1280 x 1024, and I think most of us use an ATI x800 here. I play on a similar spec'ced system at home. 3.2ghz., 2gigs of ram memory, ATI x800.
1920x1200 isn't supported by most monitors, but we take most shots at that resolution for use as wallpapers, etc. But yea, still very playable at 1920 on a fast box. I think Brad plays at that resolution here at work.
Personally, I am waiting until just before release to upgrade my home card. Lots of really sweet tech coming out soon. - 15 November 2005
Source: Kemsos
The December beta 1 screenshots were taken from my work machine. This was a 3.8 Ghz processor with 2 gigs of RAM and a ATI x1800xl video card.
But to be clear, that has nothing to do with the quality of the visuals. The faster machine helps with, rather, the FPS.
As long as you have a pixel shader 2.0 or higher card, any machine can display the game at this quality. Obviously a mid or lower end machine can't display the game at this quality (with all the graphics options turned on and the resolution at 1920x1200) with a good framerate at the moment, though on my 3.6 at home I play in this resolution and with all the graphics settings on every night just fine. But many people are playing in beta at lower resolutions with all the settings on.
We've still got a couple of optimization passes to go and hardware will be a lot cheaper by the time we launch. So while I don't know if I can promise the average gamer machine will be able to run at that rez even at launch, you should be able to run with those graphics settings. - 18 November 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
I am getting between 15 and 30fps at 1920x1200 on a high end machine right now, and do every night when I play, and we're not even totally optimized. I am using a 3.8ghz pentium and an ATI 1800XT and fully admit that's a high-end machine that's relatively costly (though those screenshots were using 850XTs and 1800XLs depending on the date). But the card, cpu, etc. really only determines the framerate in this case, not the quality of the image. You can get that quality of an image on any shader 2.0 card (the x1800s are shader 3.0 but we're not using any 3.0 instructions as of yet). E.g. the game looks that good on a 9800XT, although currently with optimizaitons not done and all of those options on, I think most wouldn't find the game enjoyable at that rez on a lower end system with a much slower shader 2.0 card.
That said, there are many people in beta playing at lower resolutions (1280x1024, etc.) and without HDR/worldlighting on 9800s, 6800s, etc. and on 2.8ghz or so systems and playing just fine. Lastly, based on what both ATI and Nvidia are saying, cards that perform like x1800s (or even faster) will be in the under $150 dollar range by the middle of next year. - December 21, 2005 (Beta 2)
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.19. With such a long view distance, how do you avoid having objects 'pop' into existance as you approach?
In order to have long view distance (clipping planes), we have to use LOD (level of detail) where depending on the distance between you (the camera) and the object, we display a different art asset with less detail.
When LODs switch to more detailed objects as you approach them, you can notice this. We are doing our best to make this an subtle as possible, but there's still no way to eliminate it. - 19 November 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.20. How will you deal with teleportation?
The trick, we think, is to make travel a part of the adventure too. Sitting on a ship doing nothing isn't fun -- it's downtime at its worst. But what if traveling from one location to the next was challenging, exciting, and fun in and of itself? If we can manage that in Vanguard, extensive or egregious use of teleportation should not be necessary.
That said, some means by which to teleport will be present in some cases (e.g. likely within dungeons only).
Source: Official FAQ
Our plans to 'ease' travel at higher levels is primarily centered around making faster vehicles available to higher level players. We're still of the opinion that adding teleports in the outdoors shouldn't be necessary and will make travel more meaningful.
Source: Aradune Mithara
We currently have no plans to implement any sort of "gate stone".
Source: Tagad
There will be some teleportation in dungeons and the like, primarily to keep groups together. We've stated that we don't want to see it outside and want to make transportation meaningful and fun and also focused on vehicles (horses, ships), not teleportation.
That said, as with many of our ideas, we have a Plan B. If in beta we can't make some of our ideas work, we have other mechanics we can implement. With travel in particular, if it truly becomes necessary, we'd likely implement limited teleportation to specific points and require the player to have at least traveled to the destination point once without being teleported.
Source: Aradune Mithara
More specifically, the intent is to have no overland teleports with a travel purpose. You still have evacs, coh type spells, teleporter traps and such in dungeons, etc.(beta 2)
Source: Aradune Mithara
overland teleportation: as you guys know, we don't plan on having it, focusing more on vehicles and meaningful travel. That said, I have talked about 'plan b', such that we can easily introduce some limited overland teleportaion if necessary (though at this point I don't think it will be). If it is, however, it will likely not be class specific (rather based on special locations where you can teleport from point a to point b, assuming you've already been to point b at least once, ala early Velious style).
Rezzing is class specific, or, more acurately, job specific -- any of the healers can do it, not just clerics proper.
SoW type spells will be available from several classes, although with our emphasis on horses and making quick overland travel accessible early on in the game, I don't foresee it having the importance it did in, say, EQ.
Non-travel related teleportation (evacs, CoH, etc.) are class specific, but also mostly spread out across all of the mage classes.
This is one of the advantages of our job system -- spells that are traditionally priest or mage related and also really key to gameplay can be given to each class within that job, while other more specific and situational spells can be given to one class within a job and not the other so we don't have all of the classes within a job become too similar as I know many fear may occur. - January 2006
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.21. Will we be able to fly?
The Vanguard game engine is being designed to allow for flying (some screenshots and last year's E3 in-game movie show this, and some of you who have had the game demo'd to you have probably seen us use GM powers and then fly high up into the air -- having a true seamless world really helps with this too, btw). Mobs already fly and can path through the air as well as on land and under water.
That said, fully supporting true flying involves a lot of planing and additional functionality and so it's unlikely we'll support true flying (as opposed to levitation, which has been in many games, back to EQ 1 and before that) at launch. Hopefully in an expansion we can really explore additional modes of travel like this. Also, griffon rides that are on tracks like WoW and EQ 2 have wouldn't be hard to implement.
Anyway, just want to be up front about this and manage expectations. Were we to have, for example, fly carpets, they would levitate, not truly fly.
Source: Aradune Mithara
41.22. What are Player Caravans?
See also:
Article on Caravans (among other things) from Silky Venom - August 2005