Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Preview

The folks at Hooked Gamers have published a two-page preview of Sigil Games' upcoming fantasy MMORPG, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
The (Grind) is the black cloud that hovers over all MMOs in the genre. Anything that requires x experience to achieve z goal, is a Grind. Vanguard will fall victim to the same black cloud, however, much of the experience rewards will be quest based. It will not eliminate the Grind completely, but it will at least make it more enjoyable. Crafting will also have a quest system in place in efforts to reduce the crafting Grind. Work orders will allow the crafter to not only advance his skill, but get paid for it as well.

Combat is an essential part of the Grind, for obvious reasons. The combat mechanic of Vanguard is going to be tactically based combat allowing party members to take advantage of not only what they can do against a target, but also to take advantage of his positioning in relation to his target, companions and special situational attacks that will offer up a dynamic battlefield. In addition to positional combat, the combat skill of 'Perception' allows the player to anticipate a targets attack before it happens. With this ability, you will be able to prepare and possibly counter an incoming attack. Another very helpful addition to combat is the ability to take and hold two targets, one offensive which is being attacked, and one defensive, which is for healing and assistance purposes.