#Vanguard Campaign

[callofdutygame24]

Vanguard Campaign: Top-Tier Action and Elite Allies

Call of Duty: Vanguard, made by Sledgehammer Games and dropped by Activision, is the latest throwback after Modern Warfare, following Cold War's lead. If you’re looking to buy Xbox games, this one is a must-have for fans of the series. It's got the classic vibes: campaign, multiplayer, and zombies. I tried it out on the PS5 and OMG, the game is fire. The campaign has you rolling with a squad of top-tier allies as they snatch some super top-secret Nazi docs that even the Nazis are hiding from each other—talk about secretive! I’ve played a ton of solo FPS campaigns, and this one’s definitely top-tier. Even though folks might be tired of the whole D-Day grind, this one really stands out. The characters are dope, the graphics are straight-up gorgeous, and the action's paced just right with some chill moments thrown in. You get to switch between the elite soldiers, each with their own special skills that come into play during the mission.

Customizable Combat Pacing: Chill to Chaos at Your Fingertips

I was really wondering if the gunplay in Vanguard would vibe more with Modern Warfare or Cold War, and it turns out it’s a whole new vibe. If you’re planning to buy PS5 games, Vanguard’s distinctive approach to gunplay might make it a refreshing choice compared to the previous titles. I’m down with Modern Warfare, and Cold War grew on me after a bit, but Vanguard’s gunplay is honestly top-notch. Cold War’s was way too bouncy, like your gun was on a wild ride and no matter how much I tweaked the sensitivity, it felt kinda…loose. Modern Warfare was the opposite, with the guns feeling kinda sluggish and heavy. Vanguard hits that sweet spot. You can feel the weight of the gun, but your aim is way steadier. Is it super realistic? Nah, but it’s mad fun, and isn’t that what matters? Recoil isn’t super intense, but it does ramp up with different guns and optics, though it’s still way more controlled than Cold War. The modes are pretty standard: Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy, Free-For-All, and Hardpoint. But there’s this new mode called Patrol, which is like Hardpoint but with a constantly moving circle that teams have to fight over. It’s pretty chill at first but can get hella intense. Also, you’ve got different combat pacing options: Tactical for that slow-burn strategy, Assault for a balanced game, and Blitz for pure chaos and bullet hell. You can pick your fave or switch it up from match to match. I’m loving the ability to customize my gameplay experience.

Weapon Imbalance and Custom Loadouts: OP Guns and Personalized Perks

Vanguard’s operator setup is a bit of a shake-up from the usual. In past games, you’d have the classic good guys vs. bad guys setup, which always felt like it was really about the cool characters vs. the boring ones. You’d pick an operator from each faction depending on your side, making it easier to spot enemies. Vanguard switches it up with a more complex system. Now, there are four operator classes: Hellhounds, Shadow, Barbarian, and Sentinel, each with three operators. Some of these operators and their skins are locked behind challenges, so there’s a lot of grinding involved. You can also unlock quips, finishing moves, highlight intros, and MVP highlights. At the end of each match, the top play gets showcased, and then you vote for the team MVP. Voting and winning MVP rack up XP, which adds a fun twist. The guns feel great, but right now, some options like the MP-40 and STG44 seem a bit OP. The STG44 is a starting weapon depending on your class, but it's still one of the better guns. Personally, I’m rocking the MP-40 with a G16 2.5x optic, No. 3 rifle brake, VDD 285mm shrouded barrel, VDD 34m padded stock, grooved grip, and 8mm Kurz 32 round magazine. It’s got a nice boost in firepower and accuracy, though the smaller magazine can slow you down a bit.

Vanguard: The Ultimate CoD Experience with Stunning Graphics and Balanced Gameplay

Vanguard’s killstreaks got a WWII makeover, with some cool twists like a flamethrower version of the Juggernaut and attack and guard dogs. The guard dogs are a nice touch—they run around on their own and only attack the enemy, which is clutch in hardcore mode. Unlike other killstreaks that might accidentally take out your own team, the attack dogs are focused attacks that keep your squad safe. Honestly, I think Vanguard might be one of the best CoD games I’ve played. After sinking hundreds of hours into both Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard is probably my fave of the three. It takes all the best bits from the previous games and nails the balance. I had a few latency hiccups, but I’m pretty sure that was on my end, not the servers. If you vibed with Modern Warfare but weren’t into Cold War, or if you dug Cold War but weren’t feeling Modern Warfare, Vanguard’s got you covered. It looks sick, sounds amazing, and feels awesome. Vanguard could very well be the top CoD game ever, with its jaw-dropping graphics on the new systems and perfectly balanced gunplay. It brings a fresh take on the WWII and D-Day scenes, making both the solo campaign and multiplayer a blast.

[demigoddessqueens]

Official Ludinus and Liliana art!!! 🔥

[undead-knick-knack]

Would somebody smite his ass already please 🙏

[quipxotic]

“Bell’s Hells is suggesting something even worse than what the Ruby Vanguard wanted! Any charlatan could pretend to be a god!”

Oh you mean like the Traveler? Hmmm, yes that would be HORRIBLE and certainly nothing Exandria has faced before.

[lunarrolls]

deanna seeing and recognizing ashton’s sharp worry for fcg immediately because she sees it in the mirror every day traveling with frida and instantly just knowing to trust them is so important to me, and likewise ashton recognizing her internal conflict on sight because they spent so long lost, knowing she was helping all their family while they weren’t there and offering her this one affirmation and a hug (ASHTON. OFFERED HER A HUG. ashton “don’t touch me if you don’t know me” greymoore OFFERED HER A HUG) to reassure her that whoever she wants to be is enough is SO SPECIAL TO ME!

[likeshipsonthesea]

love love LOVE what matthew is doing with this portion of the campaign and how it mirrors how organizations like the ruby vanguard recruit people who were actually deeply wronged and gives them an outlet, and how a lot of the time their motivations are understandable, and wanting to get rid of the gods is not, in itself, the worst thing ever to many of these characters

but then you have orym there who is a widower with no living father because of the ruby vanguard, and no matter how the world/matt/the ruby vanguard justifies their actions, there will never, ever be a good enough reason to convince orym his family had to die for this cause

[uhtcearemorning]

Bells Hells: Why are all of our horrible enemies in this horrible enemy pit?

[sadanduncertain]

Character portraits I did for our DnD campaign!

[danwhobrowses]

Okay I've had a sleep, I've seen a lot of what the fandom has to say and I'm gonna just talk about my thoughts on the episode 118 stuff in more detail too.

Spoilers under the cut and it's a little bit (5 paras and a tl/dr at the bottom) long

I have never liked the Release Predathos option, but it had been very apparent - since probably as far back as the vorbing - that Matt had been pushing the narrative towards that option whether Bells Hells wanted it or not. The lack of alternatives provided meant that yes, the Hells had little choice but to deal with Predathos themselves; Ludinus was likely not dead, they were low on strength and resources even after a short rest to fight another full-strength Ludinus, and even if they caved in the core and killed Ludinus again someone else would've tried to come and release Predathos. On that I can't really fault the cast for playing ball with the DM and I can't say what the characters are doing is out of character or with bad intentions, it simply annoys me how close we were to entertaining the idea that should've been discussed earlier of putting Predathos somewhere nobody can get to. Objectively it was still a terrible idea, one that even in delivery could've been better prepared with Imogen not in range of the two saving throw buffs or having any Inspiration as she took on Predathos knowing from previous experience that a wisdom save is likely to be involved. But again, the alternatives offered up to them are sparse, nothing else in the narrative had offered a clear solution and if something did suddenly come up it would've felt too much like a deus ex machina. The Hells are not doing this because they want to do Ludinus' plan, but doing so is by proxy doing Ludinus' plan, and thus the problem as of current lies in the Plot.

Right now, they're at a very high risk of the plot not justifying a story, because why did we have this campaign if the outcome is gonna be the same? If the plan is to reset Exandria why didn't we have C3 in the post-reset era and trickle in what happened as lore? Bells Hells have often lacked agency when it came to the Predathos portions of the campaign, but even when they took agency to try and be more than what they were made to be they found themselves punished or being withheld the catharsis they needed to grow. Regardless, the plot is currently failing the characters, and thus the characters are failing the audience - to the point where some in the fandom now want them all to die or for Braius to betray them all - because we the audience don't see the appeal of the direction.

There is a caveat though: it's not yet over. We expect that there will be a fight between the Hells and Predathos!Imogen (we need a name for that) and possibly Ludinus swooping in with the harness to try and steal a victory, but that does mean that the theatre of imagination can come into play in dealing with Predathos itself. There is of course uncertainty whether Predathos can die, since Vecna at 0hp would've just discorporated them for a bit, but there are a lot more options for the Hells to entertain now than there was at 118, including having to kill the vessel - be it Imogen or transferring it to another like Ludinus or Liliana, being able to expel Predathos from Imogen and entrapping/banishing/killing it with the knowledge that yeah that was a terrible idea, or somehow having Imogen suppress it and remain control over herself (and hope that the same rule doesn't apply to her as it does with Delilah being free when Laudna dies), which all can involve exciting twists and turns and creative solutions befitting of a conclusion. In that hope is the opening for a more exciting and satisfying end, and while the plot has had rightful criticisms a good ending can make up for them just as much as a bad ending can ruin a good plot.

So in short; I don't like that Imogen did that, but I know why she did it. And why she did it is more the plot's fault because we never saw it as a good idea, just the only decision that was pushed to be made. There's hope though, and all is not lost, but the plot as well as the characters are gonna have to earn it.

[utilitycaster]

You commented on not being a fan of non-pc pov scenes in ap, something that Aabria used in the first go of exu (which was one of the main things that put me off of it, tbh). Do you have any thoughts on how this is applied in EXU compared to WBN?

So for EXU there's some parts that are better, and some that are worse. The good thing is that they're very brief snapshots vs. the one in WBN that was like, an extended several-minute scene. I also actually kind of like the ones for Ted, since that makes sense; we know it's impossible to really get Ted's perspective otherwise and you can kind of handwave it as being related to Opal and floating about in her unconscious.

The ones for My'ratta and Poska on the other hand, while again, brief, sort of underscore their lack of development. We did not know what Myr'atta wanted until episode 93 of Campaign 3, and as I've said before I literally could not tell you what the goal of the Nameless Ones or Poska is. They serve no purpose narratively except as a ticking clock and shadowy threat to get the Crown Keepers to leave a place quickly.

I mentioned Otohan in my original post on this topic as an example of an underdeveloped antagonist, something Brennan mentioned as something he hoped to avoid, and Myr'atta, Poska, and Otohan are all ultimately cut from the same cloth: cool aesthetic, cool abilities, and a severe lack of in-game development. I don't know what motivates them (or in Myr'atta's case, didn't while they were an ongoing part of the story) and so they all bore me. They are flat, dull villains who say threatening shit that means nothing because I don't know what drives them. I don't want to keep getting into it because it kind of derailed my original point anyway but what frustrates me the most is how people keep saying "oh but I'm sure they have a motivation." Like yeah bitch. I'm sure they do. The GM has a responsibility to convey that in-game. And they can do so subtly! Believe me, I am glad to do the work of unpicking motivation from allusions or what is carefully unsaid; this is what makes Ludinus and Liliana (and Lolth in EXU) interesting! But it's telling that whenever I'm like "what the fuck does this character do other than serve the purpose of a Plot Device to either threaten or move the characters", no one ever like, explains their motivation to me; it's always "give it time! I'm sure the GM has something in mind." Well, both Myr'atta and Otohan died before we got that (we still don't have it for Otohan) so I think we can safely say the waiting game is for suckers. Like, if you like characters based on aesthetic alone that's valid as a choice, but I'm not taking your meta or arguments seriously because that's a superficial judgment.

It's also frustrating because it's like...the GMs and the fans who keep insisting to be PATIENT long after a boring antagonist has worn out their welcome for me are simultaneously like "the audience will not remember this guy if I don't shove them in their face in a stilted cutscene" and also "clearly, the audience will infer that this boring-ass antagonist MUST have something deeper going on and therefore they will extend credit indefinitely." It's the absolute opposite of what they should be prioritizing. Instead of trying to jingle the antagonist in front of me like keys while still doing nothing to develop their personality, maybe have the party...idk, have a vision. find a letter. learn something secondhand from someone talking in a bar that sheds light on their motivation.

In WBN it's actually a totally different problem. The scene is 100% unnecessary. We know what the Man in Black wants. We know what's going on with him. We know his goals and his allies. We saw him only a couple episodes ago and he's been a topic of discussion throughout a good chunk of the arc. Hell, we even know how dope-ass his aesthetic is. This is just showing something the party doesn't know and can't act on, for several minutes of Brennan talking to himself, and I think it actually destroys what would be a gut-punch of undead Sir Curran showing up on the opposite side of Eursulon, whose entire deal is being inspired by him.

So: The EXU scenes are less intrusive for their brevity, the fact that the Ted ones are pretty good, and that at least they don't spoil a moment, but at the same time they still don't solve the problem of an underdeveloped antagonist for Myr'atta and Poska. The WBN scene meanwhile drags on, and actually does too much by taking what could be an unbelievably devastating reveal and having it happen when Eursulon isn't even there to respond. I couldn't tell if this actually spoiled it for Lou, since they record well in advance, but if it did that's such a missed opportunity.

Anyway I think my point is that (with the exception of the very first scene of a campaign that is setting the stage, before the PCs are introduced) these cutscenes only work if they are extremely short and purely for vague flavor. I think if you want to have a scene with no PCs present, you should perhaps write a book or a screenplay instead of playing D&D.

[six-improbable-things]

Looking back at the dnd notes, and man, session "thirty-six" (aka the 36th session since Rook joined. the rest have been playing longer) was a wild ride.

I start off the notes with this, and it just gets weirder from there.

[continued under the cut bc this got long]

I roast the wizard and the gunslinger during the fight summary:

This entire sequence of events is both wild and very funny to me:

(yes I Gladiator'd a guy into a pit. Yes I then jumped down on top of him and stabbed him through the back. Yes, the guy I did all this to save turned out to be a puppet of the BBEG.)

We put someone we thought was the BBEG in a hamster ball and gave it to a demon. (But it turns out the BBEG's puppet was waiting in the minivan the whole time.)

(We had this "war machine", but it could somehow fit like 8 people so I started calling it a minivan and couldn't stop.)

We get back to the city and Rook starts playing mind chess with the siblings who rule it, absolutely living up to the "bastard" part of his nickname in the process.

Rook is So Normal About Affection.

This was vague on purpose because the party didn't know yet, but Rook went to go buy a magic ring to hide the symptoms of his demon curse and saw Sigmar also buying an enchantment to hide the effects of the serum Ivan injected him with. And then Rook dissed the chihuahua-that-use-to-be-a-gnome who we rescued without knowing it was the guy who sold Rook to Wolf in the first place.

Also, I didn't write it in the notes (obviously) but we fucking LEFT A VERY IMPORTANT ITEM IN (the equivalent of) THE GLOVE COMPARTMENT OF A RENTAL MINIVAN. It ended up working out in our favor because otherwise we would have had to fight Sigmar in the werebeast labs after what was already a hard fight, which would have been extra traumatizing for Rook and might have ended with someone getting killed, but it's still really funny to think about.

[une-sanz-pluis]

In York’s case we do have another account of his death, and one written within a generation of Agincourt. Here, detail on the duke’s death is provided by the London chronicle Cleopatra CIV, which likely drew on returning soldiers’ accounts of the battle – and it offers strong contrast to Leland’s account. For the London chronicler chose to single out those who had displayed particular valour at Agincourt. Amidst this roll-call of honour, it was stated: The Duke of York was also lost, For his king, no foot would he flee Til his bascinet to his brain was bent. In other words, York refused to move more than a foot from his standard, holding the line and trading blows with the enemy until his own helmet [bascinet] was smashed into his skull. It is a vivid and moving sequence of events, and in this version, it is a death derived from extraordinary courage rather than corpulence.

Michael Jones, "How did Edward duke of York die at Agincourt?"

[undead-knick-knack]

How many more times is Orym going to deserve this cake

[godofthestupid]

these polls and fanarts are a lot of fun so let's keep it up!

[punkrockgenasiashton]

Just because I decided, against my better judgement, to check out the cr discourse tag and saw somebody railing against Siding With the Gods, and because this is my blog, I feel the need to get my thoughts on the matter out. Imo, Bells Hells position needs to simply be Against The Ruby Vanguard. Like, for once and for all, they as a party and us as a fandom, should put any discussion of the Gods of Exandria and their morality and the merit there of to one side and apply some basic logistics to things. And I think, from the beginning, Orym and Ashton, have been the champions of this line of thinking.

Its not about if the Gods are good or bad or altruistic or selfish. Its about a (as far as we know) mortal man (elf) radicalizing people to commit murder For The Greater Good. Its about a cult trying to create a power vacuum using a weapon they arent sure of the scope of that could cause more damage than intended. The entire thing is about stopping people, however well meaning some of them might be (road to hell and good intentions and all that) who are committing actual, practical, atrocities. The Gods may be bad (I dont think they are, but that again, is neither here nor there), but what isnt maybe, hypothetical, or theoretical, is Ludanis and Otahan were willing to kill innocent people as a test run to assassinate a benevolent world leader, whose assassination was only the means to the end of trapping the champion of a god. Are those REALLY the people you want the heroes of the story to throw their power behind?

[burningsuitfire]

Ludinus's Research (and Essek)

Okay so. I actually think Essek might've known way more than the fandom assumes.

First of all, he hints multiple times that he knew Da'leth had a secret weak spot, research that he couldn't afford for anyone in the Empire to discover. And as such, Ludinus needed the war to stop.

How much do you want to bet Essek keyed onto and was talking about the Martinet's secret dunamis research for his moon plans?

(91) Caleb: I want to see the conflict end and I do not get that sense from them. Essek: ...What is the biggest danger... to secret research? Caduceus: Discovery. Essek: Discovery. What better way to avoid discovery than to find a way to stop a conflict that pries into what you're doing?

(125) Beau: You'd be smart to focus your attention to Ludinus and Ikithon. Yudala Fon: It never leaves them. And they've been acting quite nervous recently.

(97) Essek: (...) you're all in terrible danger for the things that you know. Their research is to continue and we are to correspond as the research progresses. There is intent to end this war.

Also, common fanon seems to think Essek didn't get any research when Matt, Da'leth, and Essek himself said the deal was an ongoing cooperative exchange.

If anything, DeRogna, Yeza, and Ikithon said that the Assembly was having a massive amount of trouble on their end trying to work with dunamis and the beacons, and would really need Essek in their work for insights (as Essek said was happening) and to work with the dunamantic expert and intelligence lynchpin.

And another point. The raids. Even if Ludinus wasn't forthcoming with Essek in their meetings (which Essek said he was), the Kryn were raiding research facilities.

The Felderwin raid, which people seem to take as evidence that Essek wasn't getting information, kinda looks like it suggests the opposite. Only after months of experiments and effort and expense and problems did they get a single potion, and Yeza said it was barely days after the completion when the Kryn raided. Incredible timing.

Meaning that it sure seems like the Martinet gave Essek information, possibly even more than he intended, and Essek wasn't playing nice.

Essek, who said his being in Rosohna was the exception right up until the ceasefire (where we saw him constantly in both important wartime full den meetings and sparse late night meetings, seated on the council, deeply influential and personally requested for the Bright Queen's strategy and war efforts)

(94) Essek: It prevents me from some of my capabilities throughout the day each time I do this, so while I'm here in my home and things are not requiring me to be elsewhere rapidly, thankfully this is a moment in time in which I am more useful here in the city.

He could've even been in Felderwin.

Also, if Ludinus was trying to sway Essek over to the Vanguard and his side, easy money that the heretic (a self-proclaimed "coward" who refused self-preservation via consecution, and managed to annoy his own intensely religious father to the point of self-destruction) wouldn't be happy about it.

That attempt at recruitment and following rejection could've easily been the cause of the unpleasant dynamic and tense conversation between the two on the Assembly's boat.

Bonus, Essek's leyline device. That's relatively simple, and a friend clued me in. Essek being able to track leyline strength is just useful for timing dunamancy research for his "personal studies" as he calls them. It's been pointed out multiple times in CR lore that wizards like ley spikes and solstices because the flare in leyline strength and ley energy just means it's easier to manipulate arcane energy and make new spells.

Look where the Tal'Dorei Guide talks about leyline strength and spellmaking.

The Verdant Expanse is saturated with magic. The ley energies that suffuse the greenwood make it easy for arcanists to create works of spellcraft by themselves, when it might take a half-dozen mages working in concert in other lands.