The Vanguard developers have supplied answers to questions fans submitted in April, and perhaps the most noteworthy response gives us information on the timetable for the release of new content. According to the developers, Pantheon will be released relatively soon, and the raid portion should be released approximately two months after that. The developers are looking at Nexus after that, but may push some basic content, such as Stiirhaad or COW, since Nexus is such a large endeavor.

"We are hoping to get another dungeon out after Pantheon B and possibly some side content but we will have to see how things go as we still need to do player choice updates," the developers said.

They also said raid content will follow the current progression line. You can read all of the team's answers below.

As a writer in the MMO industry and someone whose only real source of gaming involves MMORPGs, I have to say that I used to be fairly depressed about the state that the industry was in. With World of Warcraft casting its 11.5 billion user shadow over everything, it just felt as if so many developers were simply re-crafting the World of Warcraft. As I write this, I'm sure you'll realize that my opinion has since changed. I realize now that there are definitely other developers out there who are creating new and unique takes on the MMORPG genre. One game in particular that really contributed towards this epiphany has been Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Released in 2007, Vanguard was Brad McQuaid's next creative step after his development of Everquest. Unfortunately, McQuaid believed that Vanguard was released about three months before  it was ready. While he points out that they did this for financial reasons, McQuaid does not argue the fact that, on launch, Vanguard was definitely a half-baked pie. Unfortunately, while the Vanguard team has managed to really shine the game up over the past two years, they've also suffered the long term effects of their bad release, in that the game's reputation tanked pretty badly and it has lost far more subscribers by word of mouth than it has gained. In this way, my entrance into the world of Telon comes after two years of solid development, but the game itself has been pretty much ignored by gamers after its not so grand opening in 2007.

The Vanguard developers recently answered some questions from players in place of the regular community news segment on the Web site. The questions were all submitted to the team last month.

According to the post, there are no plans to revamp Karax and Varking and the team doesn't have the resources to manage a class lead system at this time, nor do they want to "deal with the issues the last class lead system caused." It's possible you may eventually know how much experience you need to reach the next level, but it's not high on their list of priorities.

Each class does have a single, class-only weapon from completing Pantheon, and more content will come after Pantheon. Also, the team currently doesn't have the resources to focus on implementing guild quests or goals. You can read the full Q&A after the jump.

An upcoming update is going to bring something a little different to Telon: New hairstyles !

Over the next four weeks we're going to take some time to showcase the fantastic haristyles that will be made available to players in an update coming soon. This week we're showcasing the first four of sixteen races that will recieve new hairstyles. The races that we're featuring this week are Goblin, Mordebi, Orc, and Varanthari.

You can lookat numerous angles of the new hairstyle for these four races here. In addition to the screenshots, there's also wallpapers available for Goblin, Mordebi, Orc, and Varanthari fans.

Yesterday's game update contained some updates for the Warrior, Sorcerer and and Dreadknight, but it also brought the annual Valentine's Day event back to Telon.

To celebrate the holiday of love, Vanguard will be decorating the major cities within Telon complete with gift wrapped packages that contain an abundance of exciting Valentine's Day goodies. Travel to Tanvu, New Targonor or Ahgram and find many gifts to open. Inside, you'll discover items you can use to set the mood in your home or Guild Hall. Stuffed heart-shaped pillows or wall adornments, a variety of flowers – long stemmed or in a vase, chocolates and gifts galore!

Keep reading below for the full patch notes, which also contain some miscellaneous fixes.

Wednesday, Feb. 4 (which is today depending on your time zone) is a big day in Telon. First, a game update will be implemented at 5 a.m. PST which will introduce three new quests, as well as new appearance slots that "allow you to display the look of a different item while retaining the mods of your gear." There's also other changes coming in the update, which can be found here or below.

But that's not all. The Winter Solstice anniversary event to celebrate two years of Vanguard will be held on Feb. 4 and 6 in the city of Ahgram at the following times:

• Halgar – 1PM PST / 4PM EST / 10PM CET
• Xeth – 2PM PST / 5PM EST
• Sartok – 3PM PST / 6PM EST
• Seradon – 4PM PST / 7PM EST

And if you can't log in for any reason, you can watch the festivities over at the Spouse Aggro blog.

It's hard to believe January is over. As we begin the second month of 2009, let's take a look back at some of the most noteworthy news stories and Allakhazam features of the past week. There's more links after the jump.

Allakhazam Features

Wizard101: Our First Look : Allakhazam editor Christopher "Pwyff" Tom supplies a first-hand look at Wizard101, a children’s MMORPG with "collectible card magic, wizard duels, and far off worlds."

Champions Online Interview with Bill Roper : We sat down to talk to Roper about Champions Online, the vision that he brings to the team, and what he learned from Hellgate: London.

Talking Vanguard with Jason "Ikik" Weinmann : We talked with Weimann, a programmer on Vanguard, about some of the changes that he's made to the game's tools as well as some of his secret projects on the side.

Kicking their second year-running off with a bang, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is hosting an (almost) anything-accepted art promotion. This brilliant idea starts today, but keep in mind that there are precise rules and the like to keep everything on-the-level and rated PG.

"Using live photography (real life pictures), in-game imagery through screenshots or modified screenshots, original artwork, and their special skills, Vanguard community members have this opportunity to depict a visual representation of two Vanguard characters or Non-Player Characters (NPCs) or a mixture of both within heroic scene in the world of Telon, by participating in this official Vanguard contest."

This can only result in a wild and crazy time had by all. This will continue until March first, so get to being creative. There is an infinite number of awful or funny or terrible things that this could lead to, but that's probably why they are running it.

Last week in an Interview with Lead Designer, Salim "Silius" Grant, we got the inside scoop about a series of massive content updates that is going to essentially be a 'free expansion' for Vanguard. We had the opportunity to talk with Jason "Ikik" Weimann, a Programmer on Vanguard, about some of the changes that he's made to the game's tools as well as some of his secret projects on the side. Ikik has been active in the games community by helping facilitate gameplay test sessions, as well as his well known personality during Vanguards beta back in 2006 that led to his original position at Sigil, and now with Sony Online Entertainment.

Tamat : You've been working on Vanguard for nearly two years now. How did you come to work on the game?

Jason : I started working on the game back in April of 2007.  Back in the day, I used to play a ton of the original EverQuest.  One of my server’s GMs ended up becoming the QA manager on Vanguard and one day I got a message from him while I was playing.  He asked me if I wanted to play the Vanguard beta, and I jumped on the opportunity.  After playing the beta for a year or so, he offered me a job doing QA & tools for the QA dept.  Then, after the SOE buyout of Sigil, the QA team got all changed up, and I switched off of there and started doing design tools.  From there, I got into gameplay code, and now I do a mix of gameplay, tools, db, and other stuff.

Tamat : You’ve also been responsible for some of the monumental additions and changes to Vanguard that your average player may not be aware of. In your mind which of those has been the most significant?

It's about that time again for another weekly recap. We have a ton of exclusives to share with you, so let's jump right in! Keep reading after the jump for even more links to some of our most noteworthy news stories of the week, as well as editorials on casual MMOs, professional gaming and machinima by members of the Allakhazam staff.

Allakhazam Features

Interview with Mia Rose : Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle got the chance to meet up with Mia Rose at the Consumer Electronics Show this month and she discussed all things WoW, including her thoughts on WotLK.

'Free Expansion' on the Horizon : Tamat talks with Vanguard's lead designer, Salim "Silius" Grant, about all of the new expansion-like content coming soon to the game.

Fasaria World Beta Giveaway : The Fasaria World team gave us 500 beta keys to give out to Allakhazam members. If you'd like to participate, we suggest you hurry before they're gone!

TwelveSky 2: Our First Look : Our friends at MAYN sent us 10 exclusive screenshots of this upcoming MMO set in ancient China. Check them out to see the style of the game.