
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes was admittedly not ready when it released in early 2007. Since then the game has improved drastically. Not to mention, you can have a boat. I cannot emphasize enough how awesome having a boat is to me.
Now that the game is better it needs a few more people in it. Enter the mentoring system for Vanguard. Get your friends in the game by mentoring them. A higher level person can drop down a newer person's level and help them on their way to 55.
While mentoring, your player stats will be reduced to keep it reasonably in line with the level equivalent of the mentored player however you will still be a bit more powerful than an equal level character. This means your friend's progression should move along a bit more quickly than normal!