With the recent increase in new users, I wanted to throw together a guide to using these forums to help give some of them a more enjoyable experience, as it’s hard to really know about some aspects of the site without some level of research. Plus, who knows, some older users may also learn a thing or two!
Welcome to vgforums.net! If you haven’t already noticed, this is a community-run forums site for the mobile and PC game, Vainglory. Because we are community-run, we have no formal relationship with Super Evil Megacorp, and we are unlikely to have one. It was established by our lovely mod team about a year ago in light of the official forums’ closure, and we’ve certainly grown a lot since then. Thank you for joining our community! If you would like to support the site, you can provide monthly donations through the site’s Patreon page, one-time donations through the buymeacoffee, or follow the site’s Twitter page (all three of which are accessible via the top of the site).
NAVIGATING THE SITE:
The main page
This is the main page in its desktop and mobile views, respectively. Nothing too complicated, it simply allows you to access the various topic categories, create a topic, and view threads with recent activity, among other functions.
The main navigation bar
At the top of the page is the main navigation bar. It holds the following navigation tools:
- The site logo; it simply takes you to the main site page.
- The social and donation platform logos; they redirect you to the previously mentioned Twitter, Patreon, and buymeacoffee pages, respectively, for the site.
- The search bar; it allows you search for topics, posts, users, or categories. Clicking on “options” takes you to the advanced search should you need it.
- The expanded navigation tab (represented by the three horizontal lines); it provides you with various ways to view posts (such as by latest, or by tags), and allows to access the badges, users, and groups pages, among others, and lets you swap from the mobile view to the desktop view (and vice-versa).
- The user tab (represented by your profile picture); it shows you your notifications, and provides you with access to your profile page, bookmarked posts, and user settings, as well as allowing you to log out. When you receive a notification, they will appear on the icon like so:
Blue notifications are for general matters such as a reply to one of your posts, a like on a post being received, or another user tagging you. Green notifications, on the other hand, are specifically for private messages - from a secret admirer, perhaps?
Additionally, the expanded navigation and user tabs can be pulled out on the mobile version of the site by swiping right on the left side of the page or left on the right side, respectively.
The post navigation slider
If you are viewing a thread in desktop mode, you might have noticed the slider on the side of the screen that moves as you go though the posts. The blue slider can be dragged up and down in order to navigate to a specific post.
On the mobile version of the site, however, you need to tap on the post number indicator on the bottom right of the site in order to bring the slider up.
In addition, you can tap on the “jump to” in the bottom left of the slider menu that appears in order to go to a specific post.
Categories
The categories are the various topics of the discussion here on the forums. Major categories include:
- Vainglory Discussion; for discussion about the many aspects of the game. This category also includes the SEMC Art and Artists sub-category, - for showcasing official art that usually isn’t shown formally by SEMC - the Challenge of the Day sub-category - for the daily challenges the VGCOD overlord, @Lebatron, posts for us to attempt (maybe you should join in on the fun and climb the leaderboard too!) - and the Gameplay moments and Cheers sub-category (as well as it’s salty counterpart, The Salt Mine) - for showcasing great (or unpleasant, in the Salt Mine’s case) experiences you had in-game. Additionally, please remember to always follow forum rules in the Salt Mine, even if may be hard due to saltiness, and please censor player names if match screenshots/details are show,
- Useful Resources; for resources, such as guides, that are helpful for other players in regards to the game. This category also includes a sub-category, Great content from the OG forums, that holds an archive of useful threads from the official forums prior to their shutdown.
- Fan Creations; for fan-made content, such as art, hero ideas, and lore.
- Guilds, Teams, Esports, & Tournaments; for guild/team recruitment, esports discussion, and tournament advertising.
- Forum Stuff; for matters concerning these forums.
- Help!; for trying to get help with in-game matters.
- Off-Topic; for discussing anything non-VG related with your fellow users.
In addition, there is another category typically hidden for users for good reason:
- The Broken Pipe; for showcasing and discussing VG content leaks. It can be accessed by joining the Consumer of Leeks group.
More in-depth explanations of each category’s purpose can be found on the “about the category” posts pinned to the top of each.
Badges (and trust levels)
The Badges page allows you to view all of the earnable badges for being active on these forums. The badges are simply achievements for being active or doing specific tasks here.
In addition, you can view the various trust levels available for active participation here, as well as some of their benefits, ranging from getting a higher like-per-day cap to being able to recategorize posts and rename other’s topics. In-depth information about trust levels can be found in this thread by @Moose.
Groups
The Groups page allows to view and join the various groups here on the forums. Most just provide visual perks to your profile, such as adding an indication of which server(s) you play on or providing you with a title or flair. Some however, allow you to view and/or post in certain categories, for example joining the Consumer of Leeks group grants you access to The Broken Pipe category for leaks.
A quick note of flairs: your flair is automatically set to the one of the last category you joined, regardless of whether or not it actually has one (if it doesn’t, you’ll have no flair). In order to regain the flair, simply leave the group with the desired flair and rejoin it. You can also receive a custom flair by reaching the “regular” trust rank then kindly messaging one of our mods.
Your profile page
It’s your own personal profile page! Wow!
Here on your profile page, you view various aspects about your activity here, such as your posts, notifications and private messages received, and badges earned. In addition, the “preferences” section allows you to freely edit your profile page. Why not change your profile picture to something cool or say something interesting about yourself? Furthermore, you can change your profile and user card backgrounds (even to a gif!) here, edit your notification settings, or even change this site’s background image to one of the newest skin or hero splasharts!
User cards
If you are using the desktop version of the site, you can click on a user’s profile picture in order to make their user card appear in order to get a brief overview of them. Nothing too wild, but an interesting feature nonetheless.
Posting:
General guidelines
When posting, make sure to be civil, stay on-topic, and most importantly, follow the rules! In addition, try to avoid discussing multiple different topics when creating a thread. It is best for discussion’s sake to focus on a single topic rather than multiple topics that don’t completely relate to one another. If you want to address another topic, then great! Make a new thread for even more discussion! Lastly, please avoid bumping/reviving long inactive threads. If you would like to bring a topic already discussed in a thread back up, then it’s best that you create a new thread about said topic and reference/link the old thread in it.
Making a thread and replying
Making threads and replying to posts is an extremely easy task to do. To create a thread, simply click on the “new topic” button around the top right of the main page or a (sub-)category’s page. You will need to select a category to place your thread in if you are doing it from the main page, or if doing it from a (sub-)category’s page, it will automatically be placed there. After that, type away!
As for replying, simply click on the “reply” button at the bottom right of a specific post you would to respond to or click on the “reply” button underneath the last post to make a general reply to the thread. Then, speak what’s on your mind!
After finishing your post, simply press the “create topic” or “reply” button at the bottom left to let your thoughts out into the world!
Formatting
These are the message interfaces for the desktop and mobile versions of the site, respectively. The desktop version has a post preview on the right side, formatting tools at the top and a button to make it full-page at the top right. The mobile version, however, had the tools hidden by default and you must press the three horizontal bars at the top right of the interface to pull them out. As for the tools, they are:
- Quote; allows you to quote a specific post you are replying to
- Bold; makes your text bold.
- Italics; makes your text italic.
- Instert Hyperlink; allows you to turn a link into a hyperlink.
- Blockquote; allows you to add a
Blockquote.
- Preformatted Text; allows you to add text without
*text* **formatting**. - Grid Gallery; allows you to organize multiple images in a grid format.
- Carousel Gallery; allows you to organize multiple images in a handy carousel.
- Add an Image; allows you to attach an image from your device or the web. Additionally, this can also be done by dragging an image into the text field. A second button for this is also available on the mobile version of the interface, without a need to pull out all of the tools.
- List Item; allows you to create either a bulletpoint or numerical list
- Emojis; allows you to browse all of the available emojis, which includes this site’s VG-related ones at the bottom of the list.
Under more tools (the gear icon at the far right):
- Hide Details: allows you to
hide details
like this
- Insert Date; allows you to insert a specific date and time for an event, like 2019-03-29T05:00:00Z
- Blur Spoiler; allows you to blur text like this
- Bulid Poll; allows you to build a poll
- like
- this
A quick tutorial of these tools, as well as a few other aspects of this site, can be done by going into the “
Greetings!” message automatically sent to you by ForumBotMatch. After completing that, the second, advanced part of the tutorial can be accessed by replying @ForumBotMatch start advanced user in that message thread. Additionally, because this site is run on the discourse forum architecture, Markdown is the primary formatting code, but some HTML and BBCode can be used for formatting as well.
Post tools
Once a post is submitted, you have some ways to interact with it.
For others’ posts, you have the option to like it by clicking on the heart button or share it with the chain button. However, by clicking on the three dots, you can also gain the options to flag the post or add it to your bookmarks. Please make sure to flag posts that are inappropriate or don’t follow the rules in order to keep this place civil! You can also see the edit history of a post (if it has been edited after a certain period of time) by clicking on the pencil icon at the top right of the post. Finally, if you have reached the “basic” trust level, you can edit wiki posts by clicking the “edit” button that takes over the “reply” button’s place.
As for your own posts, you can choose to edit your post with the pencil icon, delete your post, restore your post if you attempted to delete it (there is a 4 hour limit on this unless the post is flagged, however), or turn it into a wiki if you have reached the “Regular” trust rank.
Private Messaging
Sending a private message to another user is very similar to creating a topic. Simply navigate to the “messages” tab, click the “new message” button, and enter the username of who you want to send a message to, granted you have the “Basic” trust rank in order to create private message threads.
However, this can also be done by pressing the “message” button on another user’s profile.
I hope this guide to these forums was useful, as I thought it would be nice to provide some help to new users (and possibly some older ones) in using this site.