Hi all,

Despite some controversy and debate, my releasing actual beta 3 gameplay focused shots from the upcoming Massively Multiplayer Game Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (check out both www.vanguardsoh.com and www.joinvanguard.com for more information, more varied screenshots, active message boards, and a detailed FAQ, plus www.sigil.com to find out more about our company and pedigree making these games) at various sites the other day generated a lot of talk and interest and questions. To many MMOG players, you already know about Vanguard and are either looking forward to it, or at least looking forward to getting into beta or checking out the game being played by someone else in beta, or perhaps even waiting to see how launch goes. To many other MMOG gamers, especially long time gamers, you're already active on our boards and looking forward to the game. But then to many other MMOG gamers, there's a lot of about Vanguard you don't know about -- you might have heard that it's an old style game, or only for hard core players, or that it's too challenging and tedious. Or, on the other hand, you may be playing in one of the current MMOGs and are looking for something new on the horizon. Or both. Our message and our efforts, whether releasing a series of screenshots or doing interviews in major magazines is one and the same: this game was likely made for someone just like you and it's our job to get this message out, let you know about this game, and to dispel any inaccurate rumors you may have heard (for example, no, Vanguard is NOT a hard core raiding only game by any stretch of the means).



No matter who you are, we want to reach out to you and pique your interest in the game because we are confident it's going to change the face of massively multiplayer online gaming next year. A huge marketing and PR campaign has just begun with our co-publishers, Sony Online Entertainment. But the unique thing about Vanguard is that Sigil, a company founded by many of the original makers of EverQuest and other older MMOGs is that we are working together with SOE and have retained creative control over the project. Our aim, quite simply, is to offer an alternative to an online gaming genre that is dominated by a few very large and quite excellent games right now (Final Fantasy XI and World of Warcraft come to mind). Why? Because life, especially entertainment, is about choices. And this game being an alternative to the MMOGs you may be currently enjoying is also by no means is an indication that Vanguard is for a niche crowd -- it contains content and quests and adventures for all sorts of people -- casual players, 'core' players, and even those who spend a lot of time at these games raiding in large groups -- we're all about making a world that is inclusive, *not* exclusive. Vanguard offers a freedom that players have never before experienced -- you have a wide variety of races and classes to choose from, unparalleled capability to customize your character, multiple ways of advancing your character, be it traditional adventuring, to an exciting system of harvesting and crafting, to a brand new spin on gameplay called Diplomacy where you use your wits and not your sword to decide the outcome of events and make your mark on the world.

And on top of all of this, the world itself is simply incredible and awaiting all sorts of people who want to be part of a living, breathing, virtual environment, in which you can own your own house, ride or sail a ship anywhere you can see, and even one day perhaps fly through the clouds on the back of a dragon to the destination of *your* choice. There are virtually no limitations in Vanguard -- you get what you put into it and so much more. The world of Telon, which is where Vanguard takes place, is literally massive -- but it's not just big for the sake of being big, rather it's full of variety and laid out in a seamlesss environment where if you can see an intriguing location miles into the distance, or simply just a mountaintop off in some direction, you can most likely always get there -- travel in Vanguard has meaning.

And not only that, we've expanded upon the traditional High Fantasy we all love and included not just one continent with familiar Western European, Tokieneque and Arthurian settings, but also another continent that draws from the tales of Arabian Nights, full of pyramids, hanging gardens, hidden jungles filled with exotic intrigue -- virtually the entirety of Persian, Egyptian, and other middle eastern mythology. But then we didn't stop there either -- a third continent, this time with an Oriental twist forms a vast archipelago of islands. Picture yourself a thief or a ninja, or even merchant or pirate, sailing from one isle to the next, discovering new lands and even lost empires swallowed whole long ago by the sea.



And I promise you, I've given you but a taste of what is in store for you this Winter -- there's simply *so* much more -- far, far too much to cover here. I do hope you check out our web sites and other resources, with more and more information being revealed virtually every day. Head to www.joinvanguard.com to find out more about the game as well as www.vanguardsoh.com where again there are movies, screenshots, a detailed FAQ to answer your many questions about the game, as well as a very active message board already with well over 100,000 members.



But enough of an introduction filled with only words. Check out these web sites, visit our host of affiliate web sites dedicated to this highly anticipated game. And in the meantime, please accept this first tiny piece -- a small and focused taste of the game. While we've been releasing screenshots, movies, and information about Vanguard for quite some time now, we're finally at the point where we've just entered our third and first truly major phase of beta testing, where hundreds of testers are helping us tune and tweak this massive endeavor. What almost 100 people have poured their hearts and souls into for over four years is about ready to release! So please take a moment to check out the following screenshots taken from this beta, involving actual beta testers, and then if anything catches your eye whatsoever, do some more digging -- information on the game is not hard to find and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised both with the information out there already as well as with our plans to whet your appetite over the next several months!

You may have already read articles about Vanguard, or seen our ads in the major game publications that are already out. You may have already picked up a copy of the Computer Games magazine with Vanguard as its cover story a few months back. Know that this is just the beginning of a huge outreach by Sigil and SOE that is now beginning to come into full swing. You'll see more articles, ads, and online coverage. You'll hear more about the exciting freedoms, opportunities, and exciting adventures Vanguard brings to massively multiplayer games, many for the first time ever and many of which have been kept under wraps until now.

But at Sigil we know that it's just as important, if not more so, to reach out to the community ourselves and support you all directly. This is why, in addition to this more formal massive marketing campaign that is just now beginning, that is it just as important to also reach out to various MMOG oriented fan sites, to support them and provide them with information, to answer *your* questions and to receive answers by people actually working on the game..



So please take a look at this set of screenshots taken just tonight from our beta test. These in particular focus on one group of testers and future players who were having a blast fighting their way though the overland region called the Temple of Daliuk in the Arabian Nights themed continent called Qalia.

This is a low-mid level outdoor (with some indoor) massive dungeon, designed to accommodate many groups. It is live on Beta 3, which is from where these pictures were taken. The players are real, although I step in a bit with Aradune, my GM character who is also a high level ranger, and intervene here and there. But the vast majority of what you see is the real game -- in fact, you'll see one of the testers dead body that was quickly recovered after a minor setback.

You'll see a few different NPCs, a vast area, lots of spells and abilities going off, several different races and classes, all working together. None of this was choreographed, however. Rather, from my and others at Sigil's standpoint, we're going to spend some time periodically throughout beta 3 and beta 4, until we release the NDA covering the game, and release actual beta footage of real beta players, both in the form of screenshots and movies.

This will not preclude our regular release of screenshots to affiliate sites, other sites, major sites, or any other PR or Marketing plan. I bring these to you (and the other sites who receive shots from this series) because I know the audience here and elsewhere often wants to see the real game and what it's all really about. You want a view of the real game play, and you've got it. And this is only the first of several series!



We are still working on movies which will show a lot more of the game. We are still in beta, so you will find flaws here and there because while the game is close to finish, it still has several months ahead of it for us to wrap things up and polish the game for general release. And then, even after release, we'll be updating the game, keeping it fresh, growing the world, much of which you will download automatically before logging on. But from what I see here, you get a pretty cool glimpse into what people are experiencing in Vanguard beta right now, with well over 500 people online at any given time. And that number is growing daily -- we're going to need thousands of people to test what is more than a game but actually a living virtual world.

So please keep in mind again that the series here is all about one area, fighting various mobs outside the Temple of Dailuk -- again, a low-mid level huge mostly outdoor dungeon in Qalia. And this is very much the Qalia you've probably heard about -- it's a lost temple in the middle of a vast desert. Some of the shots show beautiful vistas, and there are a variety of points of interest, but the focus here is not on showing off a variety of themes or locations, but rather a group of 'core' gamers having a blast, working together as a team, playing in this one area. Again, to see more variety, I encourage you to head to the sites I listed above and dig into the game in more detail should this series of shots catch your attention.

Movies are still coming, shots from other areas still on their way, more about gameplay, the interface, etc.. Most of it is coming through the more conventional PR and Marketing (e.g. released to major online sites and publications) plan I referred to above. So consider this series and those shots found on other sites to be only a part of Sigil's solemn commitment to keep in mind the fan site, the MMOG discussion site, the guilds' sites, etc. in mind and to never forget that community is what makes these games, and communities are filled with individuals -- we are creating a service here and take that service very seriously. While we're just starting to 'go big' with marketing for this game and have some incredible plans we never want to forget the smaller sites or the more focused sites either.



Ask questions, criticize, note that we're not done, remind us we need to get movies out more frequently, take issue with it being a series of shots all from the same location -- we value your opinions and feedback, here, on our official message boards, or anywhere.

Overall, though, please enjoy them, which I think most of you will -- it's a pleasure to share here this glimpse into an incredible new MMOG coming your way this Winter. Here is Series One of the battle for the Temple of Daliuk -- look for several more series of the Temple in the next day or so, and then more series covering different areas after that (in the following weeks).

-Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Original Producer & Co-Designer, EverQuest


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