Hi! I agree that it's hard to find normal co-players in game world. You can invite your friends thru Vanguard invite system on official site of the game, or from sites of developer and publishers. Sigil is the first firm that started development of this game. After that Sony Online Entertainment grouped Vanguard team, that team was composed of many EverQuest developers, including designer Brad McQuaid. Development began in early 2002 and the publishing deal with Microsoft was announced in April 2002.