Pantheon Community,
As I mentioned not long ago, we are wanting 2015 to be a brand new year as it relates to our communication with all of you through the use of interviews, podcasts and Q&A round tables. It's time to start gearing up for those!
In anticipation for our first Q&A session, I want to get this Think Tank started as a place for each of you to start formulating the questions you want us to discuss and hopefully answer. The rules are simply this: please only one question per person until your question has been answered, then you may contribute another one and so on. That is just our attempt to make sure we answer as many questions from unique individuals as possible. Also, as you know, we may not be able to answer certain questions fully yet, and some maybe not at all.
I don't have concrete details just yet of how often we will hold these round tables, or how many questions we will try and cover during each one. But the important thing right now is that we get a sense of what questions are out there so we can start fleshing the structure out more intentionally.
Can't wait to read your questions!
I guess my first question should start with the basis of Pantheon. Long ago on these forums Aradune made it a point to request clarification and fleshing out of the game tenets. He wrote on the forums that he would finalize those tenets and post them when they were ready. It will soon be a year since that was posted in the thread titled, "task #1". I am wondering, were those Tenets ever finalized and were they ever posted on the Forums or the Website? If they were, there was not a post or anything saying "These are the Final Tenets of the game." If they were never finalized, WHEN, if at all, will they be finalized?
I have a few basic questions.
1) What is the team going to do that will ensure a smooth release. Meaning what will be the guidelines for bug fixes/reporting. How will they be addressed?
2) Is the team still soliciting for a sponsor/sponsors for the game?
3) Will these be the official forums or will there be a new forum set up for the trolls to play on.
First a comment if you'll permit me.
Brad is on record for saying he does not like camp style XP groups and they will not be included in Pantheon
I'm a huge fan of camp style experience. Right now, I'm playing P1999 while visiting with my wife in the living room. I'm engaged with the group while our monk pulls but am also able to visit with her between pulls. It allows for very, very engaging conversation and if I may, conversation that you likely won't have without camp style experience. It also permits people who aren't 'actively' able to play to still participate in a more 'passive' way. I'm not precisely sure how you'd combine the camp style with mobile style, but it would be nice if both were permitted or supported.
And now for my question.
Are there concrete plans for the pricing model once complete? Are we looking at F2P or Monthly subs? (for the record, monthly subs are a far better idea imo).
Treyekh said:
Are there concrete plans for the pricing model once complete? Are we looking at F2P or Monthly subs? (for the record, monthly subs are a far better idea imo).
Brad has already answered that one, SUB based, this game will not be F2P or B2P, sub price will be inline with normal standards i would assume.
Treyekh said:
First a comment if you'll permit me.
Brad is on record for saying he does not like camp style XP groups and they will not be included in Pantheon
I'm a huge fan of camp style experience. Right now, I'm playing P1999 while visiting with my wife in the living room. I'm engaged with the group while our monk pulls but am also able to visit with her between pulls. It allows for very, very engaging conversation and if I may, conversation that you likely won't have without camp style experience. It also permits people who aren't 'actively' able to play to still participate in a more 'passive' way. I'm not precisely sure how you'd combine the camp style with mobile style, but it would be nice if both were permitted or supported.
And now for my question.
Are there concrete plans for the pricing model once complete? Are we looking at F2P or Monthly subs? (for the record, monthly subs are a far better idea imo).
I'm personally not a fan of sitting in one place for hours, waiting for a spawn. That does not rule out that some encounters still won't be like that though.
Concerning stats for your character
The trend in modern mmos is to have basically only 1 stat affect your char (in EQ2 you can mouse over a stat and it will tell you "This stat offers no benefit for your class")...Will more than one stat matter to your char? Will I need to work up my wisdom even if I am an intellignce caster? As a warrior will I need to up my charisma or Int?
I want more than one stat to matter, I want to have to weigh all options when choosing my armor
Sevens said:
Concerning stats for your character
The trend in modern mmos is to have basically only 1 stat affect your char (in EQ2 you can mouse over a stat and it will tell you "This stat offers no benefit for your class")...Will more than one stat matter to your char? Will I need to work up my wisdom even if I am an intellignce caster? As a warrior will I need to up my charisma or Int?
I want more than one stat to matter, I want to have to weigh all options when choosing my armor
I had typed up the exact same question and was just about to paste it here when I read yours! Great minds... lol ;)
I really liked the freedom of having multiple stats in VG and being able to do exactly what you wanted in terms of building your character and what gear to wear.
In EQ1, There was a lot of downtime due to how slow mana regenerated. In Vanguard, the opposite was true. There was rarely any downtime and most mana dependant classes had a way to recover mana somewhat quickly. I know originally The idea was to be able to be able to dungeon crawl in 2-3 hour chunks which wouldnt be helped by slow mana regen. How will mana regen by handled in Pantheon? Will there be a sweet spot somewhere in between EQ1 and Vanguard? Will I be able to get fat donations for my KEI?
Some really good questions here, please keep them coming and if you can try and limit it to just 1 question per person as per the request from Joppa it would help a lot, just so we can consolidate and give everyone a chance at asking something and getting a response, once your question has been answered you are more than welcome to post another one though. :)
Aradune said:
Treyekh said:
First a comment if you'll permit me.
Brad is on record for saying he does not like camp style XP groups and they will not be included in Pantheon
I'm a huge fan of camp style experience. Right now, I'm playing P1999 while visiting with my wife in the living room. I'm engaged with the group while our monk pulls but am also able to visit with her between pulls. It allows for very, very engaging conversation and if I may, conversation that you likely won't have without camp style experience. It also permits people who aren't 'actively' able to play to still participate in a more 'passive' way. I'm not precisely sure how you'd combine the camp style with mobile style, but it would be nice if both were permitted or supported.
And now for my question.
Are there concrete plans for the pricing model once complete? Are we looking at F2P or Monthly subs? (for the record, monthly subs are a far better idea imo).
I'm personally not a fan of sitting in one place for hours, waiting for a spawn. That does not rule out that some encounters still won't be like that though.
Just to make sure we are clear, I was asking about xp camps where you find perhaps a small civilization of Orcs and have a ranged class pull the orcs back to the group one at a time. I was not referring to standing around waiting for a specific mob to spawn (although, I do hope some mobs are extremely rare like Lady Vox was in EQOA - this coming from a Druid who waited 6 months to get her PoS portal spell because of the elusive nature of Vox).
It seems (sorry if I assume incorrectly) your opinion comes from the perspective that "camps" are boring and non-immersive. Others see "camping" as an opportunity to get to know their fellow community members on a level that isn't nearly as possible in roaming parties (unless you plan for substantial down time ).
I feel less immersed in a game world where I have few friends, like in WoW. I personally think quick travel breaks immersion more so than an xp camp ever will for me. I still went out and quested and explored the world on EQOA (likely spent more time exploring than straight up xping), but because of the camp xp sessions, I had more friends to do those other things with.
I hope this clears up any confusion about my initial question.
This relates to the question Sevens and Kilsin had; Assuming all stats will affect each class to varying degrees, how will attribute/stat increases be handled while leveling? Will we have the ability to distribute a certain amount as we see fit? Or can we expect a generalized attribute/stat increase for each class upon leveling? Will the amount vary based on class/race? And will there be a system similar to VG in which you actually gain attribute points throughout a given level, not just upon leveling up? I realize I posed this as several questions, but really its just one! LoL.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! This is a great thing!
Caster related. Will casters have a lot of utility spells, or will they be relatively focused on their specific field "and nothing else"? Will utility spells be shared by the magic classes (IMO they should be)?
Some utility spells I'm thinking of: invisibility, see invis, levitate, enduring breath, teleport (short range, targeted), unlock door, light (flare type and/or hovering light source), bind soul (for recalling as in EQ), recall, ...
Will there be group porting the way druids and wizards could do in EQ ? Will any classes be able to evac ? Will there be classes that can buff non grouped players ? I loved ninja buffing newbies with my druid in EQ. SoW, skin like nature , chloroplast and thorns on a low level character made friends fast :) Will there be classes or races that require more xp to level up than others in exchange for some benefits ? For example at one time iksar and trolls leveled up slower than other races in exchange for their natural HP regen. Will there be hell levels ? Will you level up slower as you get higher and higher ? Can you lose levels when you die ? Will some races have different eyesight than others (i.e. ultra vs infra vision) ? Are items you buy in the Pantheon store which I assume are account bound be for one character or for all characters you create ?
Jason said:
Will there be group porting the way druids and wizards could do in EQ ? Will any classes be able to evac ? Will there be classes that can buff non grouped players ? I loved ninja buffing newbies with my druid in EQ. SoW, skin like nature , chloroplast and thorns on a low level character made friends fast :) Will there be classes or races that require more xp to level up than others in exchange for some benefits ? For example at one time iksar and trolls leveled up slower than other races in exchange for their natural HP regen. Will there be hell levels ? Will you level up slower as you get higher and higher ? Can you lose levels when you die ? Will some races have different eyesight than others (i.e. ultra vs infra vision) ? Are items you buy in the Pantheon store which I assume are account bound be for one character or for all characters you create ?
LOL none of that one question business for Jason!
I have a few major questions, but I'll ask this one first since it's been a topic of recent conversation. How will soloing be handled. I know this has stirred great debate here. For me there are two main designs and they are as follows:
1. Designing soloing into game. I would argue this will lead to a less immersive, less community focused world, albeit with the valid counterargument that "I can't log in and find a group immediately, so I get frustrated, then log." I would rather address the "lack of things to do" if I can't find a group rather than reduce the challenge/difficulty to satisfy the masses.
2. Designing only group content which allows capable skilled players to learn emergent gameplay and the whole class skillset to solo content meant for groups. Ultimately, a few classes as always will be better at soloing than others, which will cause griping that "my class can't solo" and everyone will reroll the necro/druid type class; however, I would much rather have this second problem than the warrior being able to solo because he/she has fast out of combat regen, etc. that was designed into the game that allowed the warrior to solo overland mobs productively. I obviously fall into camp #2 here.
I realize this question has been partially addressed by Brad stating that overland mobs will be soloable, but I still believe if all classes are able to solo by design either having fast regen/skills/abilities etc. even if it is meant for only overland mobs, it will lead to people soloing the majority of the time.
Treyekh said:
First a comment if you'll permit me.
Brad is on record for saying he does not like camp style XP groups and they will not be included in Pantheon
I'm a huge fan of camp style experience. Right now, I'm playing P1999 while visiting with my wife in the living room. I'm engaged with the group while our monk pulls but am also able to visit with her between pulls. It allows for very, very engaging conversation and if I may, conversation that you likely won't have without camp style experience. It also permits people who aren't 'actively' able to play to still participate in a more 'passive' way. I'm not precisely sure how you'd combine the camp style with mobile style, but it would be nice if both were permitted or supported.
I second that comment on camping mobs (named mobs). Currently playing P1999 as well and it is nice to be able to afk camp a mob for an upgradable piece and still get RL chores done while setting a timer. It is definitely not my desired playstyle, but it is nice to be able to have the variety/option.
This is a Lore question with parts to it and have asked Joppa once but not as indepth as this might be.
First which are your favorite authors (meaning Tolkien, Salvatore, Knaak, Hickman, Weis, Jordan, Martin) do they influence your lore, which world do you prefer Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Middle Earth? So I guess what I'm asking is that how you make you races to immulate in way to one of those and how they interact with other races? I know you don't out right copy them, I read a lot though not very nerdy unless reading is, my grades never where. I'm sure I will see more as the Lore comes out, but just want to find out what all you have read and influences you all even Brad. Personally I like them all but I do have favorites.
Zandil said:Question
When is Brad inviting us all around for Beers ?