What is the setting for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? *
Vanguard involves the planet Telon, a world rich with history, lore, and magic, and populated by humans, elves, dwarves, and many other traditional fantasy races.
The setting could probably best be described as High Fantasy, yet not necessarily only traditional High Fantasy. More on this later.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
What can you tell us about the world of Telon? *
Telon is a large world with a myriad of larger landmasses, smaller island-continents, and archipelagos strewn about its oceans and seas.
Pretty much every conceivable environment exists, including plains and fields, mountains, swamps, deserts, and much more.
Likewise, Telon is inhabited by all sorts of creatures, some sentient, some merely beasts, and some in-between.
The intelligent creatures differ greatly in culture and religion. They worship strange gods and goddesses whose very existence is a matter of some debate. That said, the presence and power of magic, once only described in legend, has of late become a very real force and something most every Telonite will have to deal with at some point.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
How big is the world? *
World size should be determined by how much compelling content we can create in the development time we have. Content should drive world size and not really much else. If a world can support 3,000 or 6,000 or 20,000 people simultaneously and the community works, people can find each other, and there's stuff to do for all levels, then it's all good. Sub-communities already form in the world sizes seen in EverQuest... how much would that change in a much larger world?
Telon will be big. Exactly how big, while interesting to speculate about, is not on the forefront of our minds; rather, making enough content is. We want to make sure this large world is interesting and compelling to explore.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
Is the world seamless or zone based? *
The world of Telon will not be zoned based in the traditional sense. Every square kilometer of the world we define will be there, all interconnected in a virtual grid. In other words, if you can see it, you can probably go there. This also provides for some very epic views.
Seamless worlds offer a lot of cool things... a more immersive world, more room for a dynamic world, etc. But, as many have mentioned, they are also harder to populate with handcrafted content, and it can be harder to find others with whom to group.
We feel these difficulties can be overcome with the right experience and planning, and that it’s worth the extra effort. In fact, we’re committed to making the world as interesting or even more interesting than the zone based worlds of most first and second generation MMOGs.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
How much content will the world have? *
This is a difficult question to answer succinctly.
Our goal is to provide interesting and varied content for the different races and classes as well as plentiful content for the level range we support at launch.
As mentioned, one of our tenets is 'Content is King' -- we certainly realize how important it is to MMOGs and how many have struggled with providing enough to do at launch or soon thereafter.
That said, there were skeptics back when we were working on EverQuest, wondering if we could fill that game with interesting things to do (especially since the game was more PvE than PvP).
Bottom line: we're confident we can do it again.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
Will there be different types of environments? *
Absolutely -- exploration is a key component of Vanguard's gameplay and varied environments are essential.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
Will there be dungeons? *
Definitely. Deep, dark, dark dungeons are an integral part of any serious MMORPG. Expect to get lost in the depths of some forgotten temple catacombs or deep in a dragon's lair. And then expect to find both danger and rewards... assuming you make it out alive.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
Will there be cities? *
Yes, from smaller villages and outposts to sprawling cityscapes and castles. Additionally, these areas won't be only for show or to buy and sell wares; rather, they will be integral to gameplay. More on this later.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).
How can the player affect the environment? Will this effect be permanent or temporary? *
How players affect the environment is an area we're pretty excited about, but need to keep under wraps for a while.
From the Official Vanguard FAQ (original entry).