Vanguard introduces racial mounts

Sony Online Entertainment has launched a brand new update for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, adding new mounts and a faction reward system for the game's loyal fans to play with.

Every race in the game now has its own unique land mount, ranging from giant wolves and preying mantis' through to turtles and rhinos. There's a lengthy quest chain to receive each one, available for players from level 30 to 50 from their race's home city.

Actually, if you've been thinking about popping back to Vanguard to see how it's improved since launch, this might be a make or break moment for you - if you're as arachnophobic as your humble commentator is, then be warned that goblins will now be scurrying around the place on the back of some genuinely hideous giant spiders. Ugh.

The other major change in the update is that players will now be able to align themselves with a city faction in the game, which gives the chance that every creature you defeat will drop a faction token. You'll then be able to exchange tokens for faction recognition, and earn valuable rewards down the line.

There are a few other changes in the update, with Blood Mages and Psionicists getting the biggest overhauls to their class balance, while the engine benefits from tweaks to performance and more spectacular particle effects.

We've still got a little bit of a soft spot for Vanguard, a game whose huge ambition was sadly let down by one of the most shockingly poor launches of any MMORPG. The game has definitely improved in the year-and-a-bit since launch, but continues to struggle in terms of player numbers.