Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Interview

The folks at MMOReports have published a three-page interview with Sigil Games’ Nick Parkinson about their upcoming fantasy MMORPG, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Q: Will the game feature instancing?

A: Not in the way that other MMOs have. We feel that instancing works against creating strong communities the trick is just to provide enough content to support players without having to use instancing. We’re doing two things to help combat the negative things that make instancing so attractive. One is that we are creating truly massive dungeons so that multiple large groups of people can be in there fighting lots of different mobs at the same time. We also have kind of a form of instancing called Encounter Routes, but we don’t consider it traditional instancing because the experience still takes place where other people can see you. For example, once you’re in a dungeon, your group can be set on an Encounter Route, which is kind of like a linear quest that is locked to your group. Mobs that are linked to Encounter Routes only spawn for the group that is engaged in the event. Everyone else can still see you fighting and they can even help heal or buff you, but they can’t take your mob and they can’t loot it once it is dead.

The shared experience of playing with other people is what forms communities and friendships in MMOs. When someone comes along and saves your group after your cleric dies, that creates a friendship. It is important to us that people are able to play together. It’s a big challenge for sure to do that without traditional instancing, but we’re pretty happy with how its turning out.