"Vanguard" is a high fantasy themed MMORPG with a heavy focus on character advancement, an immersive world, and player interdependence.

A vast, detailed universe of fiery swords and powerful sorcery, dragons and knights, "Vanguard" involves a myriad of sentient races and creatures, many of whom players will be able to choose to play as their own.

"Vanguard" is a dynamic world where players can follow different paths of advancement, including assuming the roles of adventurers, crafters and merchants. They can make their mark on a world while ultimately shaping and forming its future.

Players will travel with trade caravans across deserts and fight pirates on the high seas. They will ascend the highest peak and explore the eerie depths of the darkest dungeons. "Vanguard" will offer a next-generation online experience in which players will actually experience what they have only previously imagined possible.

Features: The following features have been announced to date:

• Executive leadership and creativity. At the helm of the "Vanguard" team are Brad McQuaid, Jeff Butler and Steve Clover. Vanguard represents the logical evolution of their original vision for online role-playing, started in "EverQuest," but fully realized in "Vanguard."
• Third generation MMORPG. "Vanguard" is a premier third generation massively multiplayer online RPG. A vast, seamless, immersive virtual world filled with elements of both familiar and exotic high fantasy, all depicted using cutting-edge graphics technology. Sigil Games' expertise and experience in the field will introduce groundbreaking static and dynamic content to the genre.
• Unparalleled adventure. "Vanguard" revolutionizes the MMORPG genre with an Advanced Encounter System. These next generation game mechanics build upon party-specific threat scaling and scripting technologies. Dynamic spawning and non-player-character (NPC) populations ensure deeper story and quest driven adventures for players, while also addressing many of the problems with current MMORPGs such as camping and kill-stealing. Players will experience the magic of "Vanguard" thru classic hair raising dungeon crawling and social camaraderie.
• Breathtaking landscapes and environments. Enter a vast and detailed fantasy world, passionately designed and art-directed by award-winning artist Keith Parkinson. Parkinson is bringing "Vanguard" to life by combining his unique artistic vision with next generation 3D graphics to create realistic fantasy. Exploration will take players across multiple continents with strikingly different environments that will directly impact gameplay.
• Exciting and visceral combat. While still very much a traditional role-playing game, "Vanguard" also introduces more tactical action and decision making into combat. Timing as well as working with other players during combat will play a significant role. Cooperation during melee combat as well as casting 'ritual' magical spells will lead players to victory.
• Multi-class an adventurer and crafter. Characters in "Vanguard" can be adventurers, crafters, or both. Players can work on their adventuring experience one evening and their crafting skills the next. "Vanguard" also takes crafting to the next level by integrating "risk and reward" into harvesting materials, refining and assembling goods.
• Player owned houses, vendors and workshops. Players won't stop at just exploring the world of "Vanguard," they will also create buildings in which to create, store, and house their belongings. Homes can be built and decorated, while workshops are used by artisans to craft valuable items. Player run vendors can sell and buy goods, providing for both online and offline gameplay.

Developer Information: Sigil Games Online, Inc. is a game studio dedicated to the development of massively multiplayer games. Formed in January 2002 by Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler, both key figures in the development of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and runaway hit "EverQuest," Sigil Games plans to play a key role in taking MMORPGs into their third generation and beyond.

Currently, Sigil has built a team of all-star developers and is well underway working on their first project, "Vanguard: Saga of Heroes," an MMORPG published by Microsoft Game Studios.

Sigil's goals are to remain focused on creating great games, games developed by gamers, and maintaining a culture of passion and dedication.

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