So, with the recent merch store introduced. I actually dig the idea of grabbing a shirt and supporting the company. Here is my problem though, I look at every class symbol on the shirt (and I know they are slightly tweaked from before) however.. aside from avid fans of the game whom have memorized every conceivable fact of the game; well take the class names away and look at the symbols and try to tell me the classes behind the symbols?
I'm just curious if anyone else has similar thoughts, if people disagree that is fine.. but maybe some people can explain some of these symbols? For instance, what the nine hells of dwarfdom is the Dire Lord symbol? A tick humping a flipped pyramid?
I'm not demanding a symbol change, but I'd love to hear back from others on them, I cannot work up the desire to look at these symbols and scream. "That is my class." Tragically.
Someone in our guild posted an image of the paladin one and my response was "Why do you have a table lamp on your t-shirt?" Once you see the lamp in the negative space, you can't unsee it. As a joke, I reworked the druid logo and replaced the centre with a coffee pot.
I would agree, Mayceus. The new class symbols seem too stylized to me. I suppose everyone is an art critic but I would have zero probability of matching logos to classes if challenged.
Mayceus said:Here is my problem though, I look at every class symbol on the shirt (and I know they are slightly tweaked from before) however.. aside from avid fans of the game whom have memorized every conceivable fact of the game; well take the class names away and look at the symbols and try to tell me the classes behind the symbols?
I thought the same thing, they're not quite as easy to decipher. I wouldn't mind the sybmbols undergo alterations. Perhaps, keep the symbol but add flare to them to more represent the class they're associated with. EQ did it well with having aspects that made you think of that particular class. Most people can pick these symbols out from the class matrix in EQ even without playing the game.
However, I will attest, some were more ambiguous than others...
VR seems to have wanted to go with a minimalist approach which is fine. It may even work better for a shirt that you'd feel okay with wearing out in public, It just has the effect of not drawing as many people into the symbolism.
Mayceus said:... I cannot work up the desire to look at these symbols and scream. "That is my class." Tragically.
I felt the exact same way about my EQ Enchanter symbol - absolutely hated it. Same with the Druid one.
The Mage one was cool. But I am generally uninspired by class symbols. Same with these.
Mayceus said:
I'm not demanding a symbol change, but I'd love to hear back from others on them, I cannot work up the desire to look at these symbols and scream. "That is my class." Tragically.
I have to agree. The class symbols should be 100% identifiable to all as soon as they are seen. As it stands most of them are ambigious at best and totally baffling at worst. Much like Mayceus, I'm not going to call for the symbols to be changed, but I streneously suggest they be changed. I hate to say it, but while I would LOVE to buy a Druid shirt, I just can't bring myself to just for the simple fact that I have no idea what it even is. I honestly figured before we ever got any kind of class shirts or something like this, we would have a new website and more distinguishable class symbols. Because that's really what we need. I giant Fist Monk icon, perhaps a Leaf or Tree for Druid. Something that anyone that is familiar with MMOs could walk in and see and immediately have a very good estimation of what that class is. It's our symbol, that's what it's for, to symbolize what we are. As it is, I'm not sure what most of these symbolize...
I have nothing negative to say about the bard class symbol. (grins) The shaman one is nice, will probably order that tee-shirt until bards exist.
On second thought, these may become collector's items IF they ever update the symbols. May purchase a few of the less obvious ones...
starblight said:Well I do not think I will ever look at the Dire Lord the same…
I looked around though and while I can’t say the icons are amazing, I was not able to find another game that really looked any better. Do you have any examples of better?
https://alwaysbequesting.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/eq2_classes.jpg
I personally think EQ2's class symbols were okay. Though I think they could stand to be less-busy and dressed down a bit. In Pantheon's defense I think the Rogue symbol is fine, with the poison dripping off the 2 daggesr. Although it could easily just be one dagger and maybe a keyring, sort of like EQ1 Rogue or even similar to EQ2 Assassin. Where EQ2 might be a bit too complex, Pantheon is much too simple and minimalist. I would prefer something with more pop to it. Not something that just looks like a notebook sketch, but an actual drawn symbol with definition.
Kumu said:I have nothing negative to say about the bard class symbol. (grins) The shaman one is nice, will probably order that tee-shirt until bards exist.
On second thought, these may become collector's items IF they ever update the symbols. May purchase a few of the less obvious ones...
My friend Sortis agrees with all of this, even the wit. haha Shaman is one of the few that is very recognizable. Fingers crossed for some Bard news ASAP.
Thanks for linking the EQ2 classes. Most of them are more identifiable but I like the simplistic look of Pantheons. I wonder if this is only an issue while we get used to them. I mean in time we will learn to identify the symbol with there class. Is this not any different then a pointy hat for a mage or a leaf for a druid?
Welcome! I tried to acually post the picture, but the forums weren't cooperating with me. haha
I think those kinds of things are more identifiable with the general audience at large though, don't you? The more I think about it though, perhaps these symbols would be fine if they weren't all in one color and not defined at all. No edging, no color, no markings. Just white on a black backdrop. That goes a bit beyond minimilist. I think...the Druid symbol might be their Fox pet's head. Maaaaybe? I dunno, but I feel like if things were more defined we would know what they were. As it stands though, I can't imagine a worse symbol for Dire Lord. Can we not get something like the old Kickstarter class symbols? (Ex: Horned Skull with a glyphed Greatsword impaling it) I mean sure it was busy, but you knew you were looking at a symbol for an evil knight. Everyone did, and that's what we need. Not...the tick humping a rice cake.
Also...something I just now thought of. Unless the same artist is still employed by VR, when they do Bard and Necro...aren't they going to have to change all of the class symbols to match the new Bard and Necro ones? Or are they already drawn, we just haven't seen them? Who knows, but I gotta be honest, I don't wanna throw the baby out with the bathwater here, but most of these symbols just aren't very good. I don't mean to be overly critical of anyone's artwork. I'm sure they took time and thought when crafting them, I just think they're too simple and ambigious to be symbols for very traditional MMO classes.
Also, last post for a bit, I don't mean to spam, I just had another idea. For anyone not totally understanding what I am saying about the symbols. Go look at the Race symbols on the class pages. They're very defined, colored, and edged. They have a lot of that "Pop" that I was speaking about. They jump off the page at you. That's what we need with class symbols. Maybe with some color we might see something other than a Tick humping a cheezit, as far as Dire Lord is concerned. Those symbols need love at minimum, and totally thrown at most. I just feel like we can do better, I am positive we can.
Here is how you can tell if the Symbols for the classes are good or not.
Take a look at each of the symbols here and just tell me if you know what class that is or not, all without looking it up. I did this test with a few friends of mine that know nothing about the product (still don't) and most of the time, they get at most 3-4 right with the most common correct one being rogue. 
Now look, I understand they're trying to go into more of a "there own thing" deal but these symbols need to be improved upon. Just simply adding color to the symbols like they did with the races will go a long way. I mean you can get the gist about each race by their symbol alone, unlike classes. 
So yeah, I'm with you OP. Class Symbols need to be improved upon.
Yeah, the Rogue symobl is fairly straight forward, it's probably my favorite. Only because it's one of the few that actually symbolize the class. Though to be honest, upon a closer inspection, the daggers (I assume) are actually a lot larger than the sword on the Warrior symbol. Does that seem right to anyone else? =\ On second thought, I think the Shaman symbol is really the only "good" symbol out of the bunch. The rest? Just overhaul them all, again we can do better.
Yeah, the race symbols are fantastic. Honestly, looking at each class symbol on their own it is.. certainly odd to say the least.
I hate to come off as a dick with these, sadly it is my general natural state of being. If they keep them, I'll certainly live with it.. but I'll never go. "I have my class icon." Especially compared to the race ones.
Also, I really appreciate the feedback on all these, glad to know I wasn't alone, hah. Also, in general. I won't keep my tone dialed so high, as I certainly don't want to garner bad attention. Feel free to flame me though, I can take it.
Pre-Alpha.
I imagine those symbols will be refined or even changed, much like anything and everything in game.
The class symbols are 'better' and were produced more recently. I imagine even those will receive further attention - they are quite variable in quality and style.
All these things are great to discuss, but not to get worried about.
Raidil said: If they updated the class symbols and put on a coffee cup I'd get that coffee cup but the current symbols are just ... Ok there's nothing currently inspiring about them at all I don't even recognize them and I thought that for a long time when I watched the video streams like what class is so-and-so playing because I have no freaking clue and I've been watching from the beginning I don't I haven't memorized them and they're not in any sort of way they'd be like oh yeah I can see that being ex-class. To me I think this is going to be a bad part of the game if it keeps the current emblems per class because people are going to have a hard time remembering and deciphering which switch unless you're an old player and higher level I think the symbol should scream that class. But this is just my thought
Yeah, I think that's mostly how we all feel. Would love to support the game, but we don't want items with ugly ambigious symbols on our Pantheon stuff. Especially(Hopefully) if they get changed later.
Also, I know we've moved well beyond the Kickstarter, but just a reminder that we did have some excellent class symbols back then, for the classes that are still around. Races and Classes alike, to be honest. Just take a look at Dark Knight/Dire Lord as it was back then. Compare what we have now, and what was there before. You definitely know you're playing a Dark Knight class with the below symbol!
Mariska said:It does look more interesting then what we have now for Direlord but the vibe i'm mostly getting from that is "Necromancer or Warlock with a sword" and not what we got now. Which admittedly wont fit with the Direlord but it would fit with a "Dark Knight" class.Yeah, I think that's mostly how we all feel. Would love to support the game, but we don't want items with ugly ambigious symbols on our Pantheon stuff. Especially(Hopefully) if they get changed later.
Also, I know we've moved well beyond the Kickstarter, but just a reminder that we did have some excellent class symbols back then, for the classes that are still around. Races and Classes alike, to be honest. Just take a look at Dark Knight/Dire Lord as it was back then. Compare what we have now, and what was there before. You definitely know you're playing a Dark Knight class with the below symbol!
I acutally prefer the older symbols for the most part.
