[Vanguard] Questions on starting again - class, race, group size, starting areas etc.

[Alge]

Pretty much all I have done since the late teens was the major quest chains and dungeon crawls (including any associated quests).

Here's a list of what I have done (I am now 44):

Hunter's League Questline
United Races of Thestra Questline
Vault of Heroes
Khegor's End
Tomb of Lord Tsang (incl. quests)
Kalendra's Coven
Imanjal Sacellum
Mound of the Zihurr
Skawlra Rock
CIS Questline
Ruins of Trengal Keep
Fallen Lyceum
Wardship Questline (incl. Vol Tuniel and Thelaseen)
Zossyr Hakrel
Spire of the Decakin
Dargun's Tomb
Karrus Hakrel
Islands of Madness
Vault of the Hidden
Graystone
Rakshasa Citadel

I love dungeon crawling and that is the one big improvement that VG made over EQ - the dungeons were designed to be crawled rather than boss camped. Getting my Graystone weapons took five longish sessions and I loved every minute of it.

So, yes, dungeon crawling is a very viable option. I'm just not sure whether 3 characters will be enough for the content after about level 25.

[heffner]

Thanks Alge. I think I will try out some dungeons soon. Dungeonguru has a list, albeit likely outdated, but it's a starting point.

My current team is 6 and is the reason I started over - Paladin (might switch to Dread Knight - hard for me to decide), Shaman (bear), Bard, Disciple, Sorcerer and Necro. The Disc, Sorc and Necro are on free accounts. Hopefully that won't be a problem for me in the future.

[pox67]

As you said Alge after level 10 those rescue macros worked much better.

I always add group members in the same order but have noticed that they don't appear in the same order in the group bar. Is that a bug?
I added some VideoFX pass though windows to heals, specials and health potions on each character but they don't line up all the time with the group windows. This game can be frustrating!

[Alge]

I always add group members in the same order but have noticed that they don't appear in the same order in the group bar. Is that a bug?
I added some VideoFX pass though windows to heals, specials and health potions on each character but they don't line up all the time with the group windows. This game can be frustrating!

I'm not exactly sure what you mean here.

I always invite from my DRK in the order SHM, BRD, PSI, NEC, SOR and on the DRK they always appear in that order in my party frames. However, on the SHM they appear in the order SHM, DRK, BRD, PSI, NEC, SOR and always in that order.

I use a 6 step mapped key in ISBoxer to set up the party. Step 1 uses a macro on my leader (Slot 1) with a line to invite each of the other 5. Step 2 uses a macro on Slot 2 to accept that invite (not sure of the command as I am at work). Steps 3 through 6 use a macro to accept the invite on Slots 3 through 6. This ensures I always have consistent party ordering.

The fact that party ordering is not consistent from party member to party member is a feature of Vanguard (and most other games). I'm pretty sure there is no way around it given the constraints of the Vanguard UI.

For my healing I use almost transparent Click Bars overlaid on my lead character's unit frames which send key presses that activate targetting macros on key press and healing macros on key release. Of course, that means I can only heal from my main.

[pox67]

Thanks Alge, I think I was clicking the accepts too quickly and with the lag the group was being formed differently each time.

Doing it slowly put all the members in the correct order so now the party frames line up with my VideoFX click throughs.
Also put in the healers cast bar to make sure they were doing what they are meant to, sometimes key presses get lost.

Team is at 12 and having fun
This is a great world. Kojan seems huge and is the smallest of the 3 areas. I think I am going to buy a boat with one character and do some exploring, I assume I can just load the other characters up on to the boat and go?
It is great there are no (visible) zones. You can just run and explore

[Alge]

You have to be careful when you chunk on a boat that you don't leave people behind. Best way to guarantee that is to ensure everyone has loaded fully after chunking and make sure you don't move them around the deck, just leave them where they are after hitting U to enter the boat.

[heffner]

Ran the "Serpents of Sihari" in Lomshir and "Gardens of Xao'Liu" on the weekend. Great dungeons! Although, I was too high for Serpents of Sihari, but it was still cool.

One thing I noticed was my Shaman AoE heal Ancestor's Gift didn't appear to be working properly. Not sure if it's lag or something else. Ever noticed a problem with this?

I also put /reactionautorescue in my tank DPS macro. Seems to be working OK so far, but obviously with multiple mobs you'd want a separate macro key.

[Alge]

One thing I noticed was my Shaman AoE heal Ancestor's Gift didn't appear to be working properly. Not sure if it's lag or something else. Ever noticed a problem with this?

Yeah, it is flaky for me too. There is an instant AoE heal on a cooldown which is much more reliable but it comes at a higher level I think.

I also put /reactionautorescue in my tank DPS macro. Seems to be working OK so far, but obviously with multiple mobs you'd want a separate macro key.

Given that mobs are immune to having their targets forced for 30 seconds after being target-forced, you may only want to use this situationally. For example, my shaman tanks fine on most mobs but my sorcerer is a lot more squishy.

[pox67]

You have to be careful when you chunk on a boat that you don't leave people behind. Best way to guarantee that is to ensure everyone has loaded fully after chunking and make sure you don't move them around the deck, just leave them where they are after hitting U to enter the boat.

Curses, nothing works quite right does it.
Ah well, I am well acquainted with the /rope command now so I guess I can get them back on deck

[pox67]

Bought a medium sized boat, after some hiccups getting out of the Tanvu bay everything was good. It is great being able to transport the troops around, especially in Kojan which is all little islands.
Chunking freezes up the game for a second and the boat stops but no one has gone overboard yet. The U button works if someone is under the boat anyway.

Picked up a lot of new abilities at level 10 and 12. Took a long time to redo the macros but things are rocking now. I didn't pick up, but I am sure Alge said, that Instant abilities all fire from a macro at once. I couldn't work out why trash mobs were dying so quick. Basically one button press shoots off 4 or 5 abilities in the macros. Feels a bit exploity but handy for making macros. Now I don't need to worry about loading up the macros with instant cast no refresh abilities.
The defensive abilities I put in to the rescue macros for each of the characters. The Disciple is still quite squishy, maybe some better armour will help.