By the third day of E3, all of the MMOs began to run together, especially the fantasy-themed ones. Sure, MMOs featuring super heroes, giant robots or Mad Max-esque armored cars stood out simply because, well, they were about something OTHER than elves, dwarves and wizards. Unfortunately, this is a design element that the genre is completely choked with right now, as developers feverishly try to recreate the magic formula that has made games like Everquest/EQ2 such financial juggernauts.
In the swirling maelstrom of E3, it was easy to miss the booth for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, a fantasy-flavored MMO offering in development from Sigil Games and publisher Microsoft. In fact, I did not manage to drift back to the display until the beginning of day 3, and to be honest I