World Wide First x2

Tired of sitting in Khal with 10 FPS while waiting for the raid content promised to us in game update #3, Pravus Dei decided to go out and mix it up a little bit. Since there are no official raids in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, we decided to create our own. Yup, we raided the High Elven City of Leth Nurae. Our faction is totally fucked, but this kill here made it all worthwhile:

The NPC "Silius", named after the developer of the entire crafting sphere in vanguard, died to Pravus Dei in a world wide first attempt on a typical Tuesday afternoon. Many crafters stopped to watch the show and to our amazement, this NPC actually had a unique script and battle plan. We all had a great time taking this guy down and we thank those who came out to see us in action. Boredom can be a powerful motivator ;)

Even more recently, Pravus Dei became the first guild world wide to complete the construction of the Qalian Guildhall. This is an ENORMOUS team accomplishment, as both the diplomacy and actual construction materials are a ridiculous pain in the ass to acquire. 14,420 granite bricks, several 100 diplomacy information from T1 to T5, and that clusterfuck at the mummy dust just to name a few of the challenging aspects of building one of these bad boys. Needless to say, not many people even have theirs up days after they have gone live. Here is the result of an incredible team effort to get this done (we started about a week and a half before the merge).

It is absolutely massive and can be seen from an incredible distance as you're riding through the Infineum Plateaus. Because we were the first to have completed this project, we figured it would be a good idea to open it up to the community in a sort of "open house" kind of fashion.

The number of people who came out to congratulate us was staggering and all of our members were beaming with pride as adventurers flew in to check out what we had done. I'd like to thank those who came out and wish you all the best of luck in building halls for your guilds as well.

These are just a few shots of the many, many indoor chambers, but if I were to post them all this thread would go on forever.

PD is still recruiting, though we have about a 20% application to membership approval rate at the moment. While it isn't easy to make it into our ranks, it is worth it for the hardcore, dedicated player . www.pdguild.org to apply if you think you've got what it takes.

Finally

Game update #2 is supposedly going live as I type this. Here's to hoping it goes over well and that Drox gets his updated UI out so the new features aren't all fucked up for those of us who are using custom UIs.

In other news, I've been working on getting my ranger up to par since I've been slacking a bit while toying around with Stubbz (he's 35 atm). I recently completed my swamp shoulders quest for the stage 1 Gorgalok shoulders and am currently trying to harvest another supple hide to upgrade them to Flare Totem. I'm still one of the better equipped Targonor rangers, however I'm far from being where I need to be in the equipment department. That will change soon.

Here's a couple screenshots so this post doesn't become just a wall of text:

This gave me flashbacks to watching Jon Voight get eaten alive in the horribly bad movie "Anaconda".

I also completed the Unicorn quest finally. This was a huge pain in the ass since most of the quests required significant travel time and high kill counts from lower level areas. Not exactly making an argument for the heterosexuality of rangers, but this thing is fast as fuck so whatever :P

"Bond don't fuck around"

This guy made me lol irl. I guess Dante beat his group to a named mob kill and got some mediocre uncommon drop and this joker sent me a tell accusing PD of being KSers/assholes. His approach was hysterical and I was laughing pretty much the entire time I spoke with him. Some level 45ish Monk threatening PD while talking in the 3rd person was just priceless.

I had Dante return the item to him and we apologized despite not being in the wrong. The threats continued but eventually I told him good luck and he said thanks and that was that. Pretty funny situation if you ask me.

Recruitment is also still open for exceptional raid type players. www.pdguild.org for details.

Forget Enlarging Pictures

Since I'm too computer illiterate to handle it, I won't be bothering to add the hosting and such to enlarge pictures. Viewers will have to deal with smaller pictures. You'll get over it. Here's a few screenshots to help.

Killing Ettercaps for part of the Unicorn Questline. Pretty cool mob shot here.

Another cool looking scene from an island just off the shore of southern Thestra.

Ana casting a healing spell on himself. Once again showcasing some cool graphics and creative animations.

Testing New Screenshot Hosting - Enlarge

I purchased a Kojani sloop to complete the extremely annoying Unicorn mount quest. The name Validus is after the guild I briefly put together on Thunderaxe before joining PD on Targonor. Here she is docking at Khal under a starry sky.

Enlarge Here

The only pair of Flare Totem Leggings on Targonor at the moment belong to me. Pretty cool graphic on these puppies too. I was also the server first to complete the stage one swamp leggings quest prior to the Flare Totem assembly.

Enlarge Here

I'm Not Livin', I'm Just Killin' Time.

So we've made it to the end of July without seeing either the promised server merges or highly regarded Update #2. To help counter impending boredom, I've created an alt- a dwarf warrior named Stubbz McGee - along with an alt guild to house him and other PD alts called "Waiting for Content". I've had some fun with some of the players around targonor while playing as Stubbz and he's received some pretty funny comments from people who can appreciate where the name comes from. Here are a few shots of lil Stubbzy in action:This is one of those scenes that really shows off the beauty of Vanguard. In this shot, I think I'm playing on HQ settings, which is still only the second best graphical setting you can play on. Donedor is Zakoriz' gimp monk for those who were wondering.
The Dwarf racial ability turns me into stone, adding a damage rune and negating stun and knockbacks. Even my mount gets in on the action if I'm riding him. Its a glimpse into the life of the rock dude from Fantastic Four I suppose.

I started skinning on Ana in an attempt to pick up a supple hide to complete some more gorg faction armor. Everyone loves a good MMO dragon so enjoy these shots of Ana and Dante hunting in Pankor Zhi.

Another of the Iceborn dragon getting duo'd. Kinda lame how easy this content is for a ranger, but its still pretty cool nonetheless.



Finally, the contested Hegnarian spawn has been monopolized by necro fear. This has become a glaring issue in the game's development serverwide and really reflects upon the fact that the game was rushed to market. Any developer who even touched EQ1 would know how retarded making group/raid content fearable is and it has become obvious these guys were not EQ1 veteran developers. Many players are crying about this new necro "exploit", however, to any veteran player, it is apparent that this weakness is perfectly legal and is simply a flaw in game design. Hopefully it will be addressed in the next update.



I don't usually do this, but I'm going to take the time here to give a little shout out to Dagada of Despair, who valliantly attempted to fear Heg (after our rightful ownership was established) and pull him to the upper tier in order for his guild to reset ownership and steal the kill. Not only is this a ridiculously easy spawn with drops that are far from being worth the reputation hit from such action, but he was unsuccessful in his attempt despite our only healer going LD. I managed to kite Heg and kill him pretty much myself while the rest of our group hung back and waited for our healer to return. Once again Despair shows their true colors and fails at being the "bad boy" guild it seems to want to be. Fucking Amateurs.



The result was a server first drop of Heg's plate BP. Socratic is pimped out and didn't want another bag ornament, so congrats to my ranger on a BP that will surely rot in my bank for years to come.


And devs-- get this shit fixed asap eh?

Diplomacy, Serradon, APW and PD Recruitment

Diplomacy, believe it or not, is actually pretty fun. Since Socratic started getting serious about it, I figured I'd give it a shot too. Diplomacy is expected to play a role in raiding, so it will help to have a few high level diplomats in guild. I'm currently an Envoy with 143 diplomacy skill and I plan on continuing up to 500 in my spare time. This is just some of the diplo shit that I've collected in my travels. As you can see, bags fill up pretty fast.

Group buffs are always nice. I picked up the group version of our Stalker's grace line in rahz the other night. Can't stress how nice it is to not have to cast that spell individually anymore.

Pegusus' are pretty badass. Hopefully when permanent flying mounts go live, this is an option because I find these to be cooler looking mounts than both the Griffon and the Wyvern variety.
Dante admits having a fetish for "older women". If you took the time to get to know Dante, you probably wouldn't be all that surprised.
This is gold. Socratic finally admits that he is in fact a woman. While many of us may have speculated, none of us had expected to hear it from the man *herself*. Enjoy :D

And that's really all for now. Merges soon. Raid content soonish. We all know the story by now. We do know that raids will be 12 man affairs for the initial APW content, and that Targonor will be joining Florendyl, Flamehammer and Shidreth as the new "Serradon" server.

With knowledge of this new criteria for end game in Vanguard, PD is still recruiting, though on a much more limited basis. Roster openings are outlined by class on our homepage at www.pdguild.org. Get those apps in if you think you can handle the heat. We also have super secret plans in the works that may surprise some people and make a loud splash amongst the Serradon population when merges hit.

Until then, good luck to applicants and looking forward to the competition that awaits us on Serradon.

Ranka out.

My Promotion and What it Means for PD Recruitment

With server merges and raid content just on the horizon, PD has been working diligently on equipping our members and adding some talent to make our team the best out there. Currently, we are seeking a limited number of hardcore, veteran players preferably with EQ1 raid experience. Recruitment is open to all classes at the moment, however that will change as the merge happens. If you have what it takes to be the best at what you do, fill out an app today or contact a PD officer (Anaeran, Tildin, Lenwen, Socratic, Fehm, Ebumar) in game.

6/24/07 - I was promoted to Officer rank in Pravus Dei. I am the new PD recruitment officer and am currently revamping our entire recruitment process, so as to ensure only the best of the best players make it into our ranks. Yup, its gonna get harder folks. Suck it up and apply anyways, its worth it. I am also working with the other officers on general guild management so as to increase our efficiency.

Note: If you're planning on applying to PD, I accept RL dollars and/or sexual favors as bribes in return for a good word on your app. Attractive women only please.

Here's my Flawless Axe, crafted by one of PD's weaponsmiths, Shadowatcher. I finally got my hands on a striking weapon and degimpified myself a bit.

Exploring the Fungus Dungeon in Rumug Swamp seeking Socratic's leg assembly items. Socratic became the first person worldwide to obtain his heroic swamp legs. That's how PD rolls folks.


This guy was just cool looking. He's always up, but we changed that in a hurry.

Pharoah farming. This guy drops one of the better heroic medium belts in the entire game at the moment. He ended up dropping his rare bow for us instead, which ended up being guildbank fodder. Maybe next time.

Almost There

PD is getting serious folks. We may not have much content to work with, but we are focussed on making our toons as good as they possibly can be so we are able to dominate once raid content goes live.

Server merges are on the horizon as well so we are gearing up to remain the top dog on Targonor regardless of who comes to play in our pen. Recruitment is closed for most jobs but if you're an exceptional healer or psionicist (or another class who happens to be insanely good at what you do), head on over to the Pravus Dei link listed to the right there and fill out one o' them thar applications. Maybe you'll get in.

-----------------------------------------------------

Now to talk about me:

Ranger "circle" kiting techniques allow me to kill 15+ mobs at once within 2 minutes of a pull. Each of these gives about 11,000 exp for some pretty sexy leveling.

The scene after a "circle" kiting pull. Lots of dead mobs. Even more exp for me.

Power suit in Xennumet. /flex


Exping/Exploring in the Xennumet dungeon. Mobs here are giant and line of sight on them is all kinds of fucked up. This needs to be addressed asap, as my dps was nearly halved because half the time I wasn't able to see the mob I was attacking. Get on it devs...


Once again an amazing graphical scene. Keep in mind I don't even play on a top-of-the-line machine. This game has so much potential and once certain issues (such as LoS probs outlined above) this game will really be among the top MMOs out there.


This is a group shot of us killing Optimus Prime's nepphew (not really related). I later soloed this guy (yes 5 dot) without taking a single point of damage. I be a leet ranka.

--------------------------------------------

Finally, here's a bunch of screenshots of what I've accomplished lately. After finishing up Graystone (which yielded the bow and cloak screenshotted below) I've been spending my time mostly in Tehatami Harbor/Temple exping and working on lucent faction at the same time. I am currently level 48, and I managed to complete my Lucent jewlery set with the help of a few guildies. Thanks to Socratic, Lenwen, Necrom, Mirkheim, Shadowatcher, Plat, and Tsarsha and congrats to all on a Pravus Dei server first kill of Xarmanx the Decimator.

Adios panther mask.

Wearing 2 of these now.
I'm wearing 2 of these too.
This is the cloak that dropped from the final Graystone battle. I got a Lucent cloak too that will be used as a secondary item for certain situations.

Gloves of Hatred were obtained separately with the help of Dracogirl, Tsarsha and Dante. Clicky effect is a skeleton form that makes me look pretty evil.


All that time in Graystone finally culminated in this- Congrats to Ebumar, Dante, Mediocre and Shadowatcher on our new heroic weapons.

For All of you who seem to be confused...

I am NOT a banana nor am I related in any way to such things as a fruit. Thanks!

-Ana

Ding 43...

The ranka owns a house! Yup I bought a plot next to the guild hall (Ebumar's house), Crellin, and Kayleem's houses so we're all in the Falthesi Steppe area. This strategic location is a great point for mobilizing the guild for raids. There be dragons in these parts...My new alt Pscionicist, Kastin Spellz, makes an appearance. The goblin starting scenario is probably the coolest of all the races. You're thrust into the midst of a war between Gulgrethor and Murtok soldiers and some of the first quests require you to navigate a battle field (depicted above) to save some prisoners from the slave ships of the enemy. Pretty effing cool way to start an MMO.Graytone is one of the coolest dungeons to date. Currently, I'm working on this time-consuming questline which ultimately results in a very nice sword reward. This is one of the named in the deeper parts of the dungeon. Lots of Hp, total puss. Ladies and Gentlemen, the coolest aspect of Vanguard:Saga of Heroes. Yup I'm flying. Griffon mounts have been added via temporary 5 minute rentals during a testing phase. This is me flying over Graystone. Pretty cool.
Another shot of me flying.

This is for Rellix. This is part of the Rellix mud wrestling conversation from guildchat.

Notice Fehm is 100% confident she can take you Rell.

Enjoyable Content? Wtf?!

So during my time off I began pushing hard for adventuring levels. Having hit 38 prior to the vacation starting, I moved from Jathred's Twist over to the Xenn coast area of Dragon's Backbone. I hit 40 doing this series of quests. Here are some action shots from the Mekalia pauldrons questline there:

Just call me the exterminator.These are the mob types of the area. Its pretty cool how they have an aquatic city going on under the waters just off the shoreline. Lots of diving involved in this particular questline. That was annoying but it was nice to see the more creative sides of VG development.

Ebumar and I prepping for the next stage of the Mekalian pauldrons quest. He may have the size advantage but don't be fooled--I can take him.

One of the action scenes in the Mekalian line. These beacons of light, upon activation, can be seen from the distance so everyone knew I was doing this quest. Some of the more involved quests are far more interesting than your typical "grindfest" quest. Props to the devs, this one was pretty cool.

Having completed a long series of quests I finally obtained my heroic Mekalian Researcher's Pauldrons. Special thanks goes out to the lovely Paladin-ess, Kayleem, for helping Ebu and I find the beacons for the final quest deep within the fortresses of the Xenn. This is the scene when I finished. The graphical beauty of this game still amazes me despite some glaring content/gameplay issues that still need to be addressed.

PD is getting a ton of apps lately too, which gives us the chance to handpick us some of the best talent/personalities out there. Apparently people are recognizing that we are the best on Targ and it seems everyone wants to try to break into our ranks while recruitment is still open. Just want to wish all our talented apps the best of luck through the process. Hope to see some of you guys make the cut so you can enjoy raiding content with us whenever SoE gets it into the game.

Ranka Out.