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Pantheon State of the Game 2.20.15

    • VR Staff
    • 176 posts
    February 21, 2015 7:24 AM PST

    Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen -- State of the Game update 02/20/2015

     

    First, a quick note on Unity and the new version of the engine and how it will affect Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. The visual 'upgrade' you see from these shots and movie were all done within the constraints of Unity 4 -- John Diasparra and his team have pushed the limits of the engine pretty far here, and are also using a variety of other tools to help make these environments, mold them, texture them, before we even bring them into Unity to make a build. I think the 'upgrade' is fantastic myself, with big kudos to John and the team. One quick amazing tidbit: there's no measurable frame rate hit at all -- these zones are running just as fast as their predecessors, what you've seen in earlier screenshots and movies! And we're not done -- we'll continue to push and innovate, because creating a virtual world you can call home is what it's all about!

     

    But we've also very recently begun working with Unity 5 release candidates thanks to our friends over at Unity (they took a look at the game during DICE and seemed really excited about a full AAA MMO being made with their engine and we've become fast friends). Well, here's the exciting news: not only is Unity 5 64 bit, which will help us big time when we're building zones, nav meshes, etc., but the engine comes with a serious upgrade in terms of lighting and shader technology. I know this is quite a tease, and you may not see any Unity 5 screenshots or movies for a month or two, but just bringing our scenes into the new engine, with very few tweaks on our part, has brought the visuals up even *another* notch! It's really quite amazing and our friends at Unity have worked on their technology such that very little extra effort on our part will be needed to move the project to this latest tech. In the old days, upgrading to a new version of a game or graphics engine was typically long and very painful. Lots of procedures and plug-ins and techniques would have to be re-done, and often it took a while, slowing down development in a frustrating way.

     

    Not so with Unity 5! Like I said, very little effort on our side has resulted in some serious visual enhancements. Anyway, I just had to share that with you all. If you like where we're headed visually, you're really going to like Pantheon under Unity 5! And hopefully we'll be able to start showing some of that off in the next 1-2 months.

     

    Additionally, all that I've been talking about, as exciting as it is, has been world building related. And at the same time John and his team have been doing amazing things, the rest of the team hasn't slowed a single bit! We have more concept art coming soon and will be highlighting two more playable races very soon. Lore continues in full force and I'm very happy with the way it's all taking form, coming together, and really shaping up. 

     

    And then there's the programming team. We've not stopped or slowed by any means! The world builders and game designers are getting upgraded tools, allowing them to populate zones much more efficiently and with much more control of who and what goes where. They're also able to quickly create boss mob encounters, linked encounters, and quests and quest tasks. One of the features we just got in is the ability to execute a Zone Event upon the completion of a quest. For example, let's say you turn in your quest to the original mob who gave it to you, only to find.... he's betrayed you! The quest is complete, but then the mob yells for reinforcements! Guards from different parts of the dungeon run in and surround you. They talk with each other, arguing what they should do with you and your party next! And what you say at that point could really matter -- say the right thing, and the mobs may simply escort you out of the area. Say the wrong thing and factions can change and suddenly you are KoS to the guards in that area and you're under attack! Needless to say, I'm really excited about Zone Events because just about anything can trigger them (hailing a mob, saying the wrong thing, attacking the wrong mob, or even turning it what you thought would be a profitable quest!). Essentially, something you the player does 'triggers' one of these events, after which one or more mobs will react in any number of ways, casting spells, using abilities, following you around, and, of course, attacking your party.

     

    One of the next 'big' things we've begun working on are the actual classes. Class descriptions are being written up, and the coding team is taking these and begun implementation. Soon, in-game, you'll be able to create a character with a certain class, and all of the abilities, spells, prayers, attributes, etc. will be assigned to your character. Us proto-GMs will be able to enter /class Warrior or /class Ranger, and regardless of what class you were before, all of your skills and abilities will change accordingly. We will be able to dynamically set experience, skill points, level & tier, and class in-game, making it very easy to test and balance and tweak how the classes play out -- are they powerful enough? Do they get the right abilities and skills and the right level and tier?

     

    One more thing and I’ll wrap this up. Ever since Vanguard, I’ve read posts and posts about how much people liked the class system. Even some of the more critical MMO players out there have had nothing but good things to say about the classes in that game, how they felt and played differently, that they didn’t feel cookie-cutter at all. Well, we are determined to have the classes in Pantheon feel that way as well, and are putting a lot of effort into making sure they don’t just feel traditional, but that they also include features and mechanics that really make playing one class over another a different experience. One way we are doing this with Pantheon is our plan to use a variety of different types of mana – mana will vary in color and will represent a theme or alignment. So let’s say you chose a cleric, and a cleric’s primary mana color is White. Prayers and abilities you’ll receive at your basic trainer will be healing related, as one would expect, and when you use these abilities, it will use up the White mana you’ve been accumulating. Your primary mana will then re-accumulate over time, especially if you are resting, or not in combat, or if another player casts an accelerate mana generation type spell. But what if you want to customize or focus your cleric? What if you don’t want a cookie-cutter healer? Just like rare items, you’ll need to explore the world of Terminus in search of rare spells and abilities. Maybe you want to be a cleric that is especially good at fighting the un-dead? Or perhaps you like the idea of a Battle Cleric and want to dish out some damage as well? These types of prayers, spells, and abilities will *not* be available at your local trainer. You’ll have to find them, perhaps from a wise old hermit in the depths of the dungeon. But then even after you have the ability, can you cast it? Perhaps it uses a different color of mana, a gold or a grey? You’ll then need to find a way to make your character accumulate mana other than White. Obviously, this doesn’t happen naturally. Perhaps you’ll need to change the god or celestial you follow? Perhaps you’ll need to find a rare orb, that when held, also allows you to accumulate Gold mana, allowing you then to cast that rare ability? 

     

    What does this all do? It allows you to customize and focus your class in an area that means something to you, that fits in better with your vision of what a cleric or any other class should be. It allows us to expand upon the basic, classic versions of classes that goes all the way back to D&D. It allows you, the player, to customize your character by choosing to focus on one or more of these specialties. Is it true multi-classing? No, we don’t feel in a grouping game that is based on how well you perform in a team/group and how well you play your role should have true multi-classing. Class interdependence must be maintained. But it *does* allow you to customize and specialize your class by going out into the world, engaging that environment or region, and find the rare items and abilities that allow your class to do things and perform feats the typical ‘cleric’ would have no way of accomplishing. It rewards you for exploration, and it creates an entirely new type of item or artifact that plays right into our vision for multi-colored mana. Play it safe? Heal away! Want to specialize? Get out there and learn how to accumulate rare mana types and find those exotic mana sources! Change your mind, or choose to focus now on being a Battle Cleric as opposed to the bane of all those undead? Go for it – there’s nothing stopping you from exploring the potential of your class to the extreme!

     

    Anyway, that’s a pretty good summary of what we’re all working on, and because we’re so focused on Classes right now, it gave me a great opportunity to tease you a little bit and explain in more detail what we mean when we talk about a multi-colored mana system and how it relates to us having the freedom to not only make each class play and feel differently (ala VG), but also to allow you to customize your class within the confines still necessary to uphold class interdependence!

     

    In summary, I’ve never been more excited about Pantheon than I am right now. Things are really coming together. The visuals are on their way up. The world is being built and zones are really taking on a character of their own. Classes are being designed and implemented with a flexibility and fun-factor not seen since VG. Zone Events and other ‘scripted’ encounters are in the works. And I just can’t say enough about this team – it is indeed an honor and privilege to work with a lean and mean team who works through the night and into the weekends, getting more done, more quickly, than I’ve ever experienced in my 20+ years of computer game development. And, lastly, that we can log in to our pre-alpha servers from anywhere and show off our progress is *most* gratifying!

     

    Onward!

     

    -Brad “Aradune Mithara” McQuaid

    • 999 posts
    February 21, 2015 8:44 AM PST
    Joppa said:

    Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen -- State of the Game update 02/20/2015

     

    But we've also very recently begun working with Unity 5 release candidates thanks to our friends over at Unity (they took a look at the game during DICE and seemed really excited about a full AAA MMO being made with their engine and we've become fast friends).

     

    Onward!

     

    -Brad “Aradune Mithara” McQuaid


    All great information here, and I will have to see how the multi-mana and class specialization tests in alpha/beta before I can be fully onboard (much like the Rights of Passage System); however, I am glad that Pantheon is trying to be innovative and is attempting to create its own identity unique to Vanguard/EQ.  More importantly though, the tidbit that I quoted here may be the most exciting of all - becoming friends with Unity and being able to guinea pig their software for Game Development is a huge deal.  That piece of information alone makes me realize that external parties are beginning to take notice of Pantheon and its potential.

     

    Thank you for the update

    • 21 posts
    February 21, 2015 9:02 AM PST
    I'm glad that the classes will be unique like VG. VGs classes were truly great. But as I do not see a bloodmage on the list of classes or looks like i will be finding a new main in either a Druid or a rogue!
    • 610 posts
    February 21, 2015 9:15 AM PST

    Maybe a "Bloodmage" isnt there, but could you create your own?

    A wizard who searches for spells to heal and sustain his group....gathering the needed items to be able to use white (cleric) mana

     

    • 2 posts
    February 21, 2015 9:30 AM PST

    Sounds very exciting. Really looking forward to the game.

    • 23 posts
    February 21, 2015 9:31 AM PST

    Of particular interest to me after reading the State of the Game 2.20.15 is the zone events.  What was described could certainly add great emotional emphasis to the situation as well as greater attachment to your avatar. 

     

    I have been mulling over in my mind how that will affect group play. 

     

    Does the decision of one party member override the decisions of others in the group?

    Is each group member's response weighed solely on them as individuals? 

    How does this work in a group setting? 

    What if my normal group takes a day off and I decide to group with another group that chooses to take a different path which leads to us being KoS.  My normal group wants to be friendly.....how does this affect game play? Does it only affect me or the group?

     

    There is plenty of time to flesh this out, but I'm somewhat curious if this is just in the initial planning/idea phase or has it been brainstormed/fleshed-out some?


    This post was edited by Yvyll at February 22, 2015 11:37 PM PST
    • 999 posts
    February 21, 2015 9:41 AM PST
    Sevens said:

    Maybe a "Bloodmage" isnt there, but could you create your own?

    A wizard who searches for spells to heal and sustain his group....gathering the needed items to be able to use white (cleric) mana

     

    Yeah it's a neat concept, and I am eager to see how it plays out.  It will be a very fine line between class balancing / class interdependence and people seeking out the needed items to obtain specalizations.  The only real fear I have with class specializations is regardless of the mechanics behind obtaining specializations (talent tree, ability points, items, etc.) I can't forsee a path without cookie-cutter builds/specializations ultimately - i.e. the best cleric is 80% white magic and 20% red magic and the specializations just become more gimmicky.  The cynic in me would be happy to be proven wrong though.

    • 318 posts
    February 21, 2015 9:42 AM PST

    Thank you for the update. Great info on the state of the game!

     

    I have a question about the multi-colored mana.  After finding these items or whatever it is you have to do to get another color mana, does that replace your existing color or do you end up having two different mana pools, one for each color?

     

     

    • 610 posts
    February 21, 2015 10:16 AM PST
    Raidan said:
    Sevens said:

    Maybe a "Bloodmage" isnt there, but could you create your own?

    A wizard who searches for spells to heal and sustain his group....gathering the needed items to be able to use white (cleric) mana

     

    Yeah it's a neat concept, and I am eager to see how it plays out.  It will be a very fine line between class balancing / class interdependence and people seeking out the needed items to obtain specalizations.  The only real fear I have with class specializations is regardless of the mechanics behind obtaining specializations (talent tree, ability points, items, etc.) I can't forsee a path without cookie-cutter builds/specializations ultimately - i.e. the best cleric is 80% white magic and 20% red magic and the specializations just become more gimmicky.  The cynic in me would be happy to be proven wrong though.

    I share the same fears, this is something we will just have to wait and see on

    • 610 posts
    February 21, 2015 10:18 AM PST
    Wellspring said:

    Thank you for the update. Great info on the state of the game!

     

    I have a question about the multi-colored mana.  After finding these items or whatever it is you have to do to get another color mana, does that replace your existing color or do you end up having two different mana pools, one for each color?

     

     

    My impression is that it will be you will have different mana pools. Im sure there will be something in place to keep you from having every color of mana..but then again if thats the way you would want to build your toon, why not? I must say this is one area that really has me intrigued

     

    • 77 posts
    February 21, 2015 10:46 AM PST

    Some big things being said here.  The events being being triggered versus timed/passive is pretty cool.

     

    The Class unique'ness to avoid cookie cutter always sounds amazing on paper..... I just hope it performs likewise in the actual game.  There were some 'special classes', that while fun to play solo, were not desired in groups/raids.  I know in VG the Peace, War, and Death Clerics paled in comparison to the Preservation Cleric.

     

    Obviously(hopefully) the team knows this balance is key, so while one may be great at 1 thing, it could be significantly weaker at another.

     

    Which brings up my next point but were probably at least 10 months away from talking about this if not more:  Raid Size.  Why do I bring that up?  The more abundance of classes are made available, the more the current 'sexy raid size' of 24 looms its ugly head.  Not gonna go any further into it, but lets just say the numbers won't add up, especially when you want to win/double up on an obvious no brainer in the raid.

     

    Happy thoughts, Unity 5 sounds like a winner.

     

     

    • 132 posts
    February 21, 2015 10:53 AM PST

    So excited for more! Onward! ^_^ Sounds great so far Brad!

    • 311 posts
    February 21, 2015 10:56 AM PST

    Thanks for the update, I'm excited that I will be able to make a battle Druid. Not much on healing here. I'm sure there will be cookie cutter this is best healer this is best cc/dps/tank. But ultimately it is up to us what we want to play and if we are good at what we play it shouldn't matter what cookie cutter there is out there. It will also be up to us to make it what we want cause we will be testing it so lets do a good job testing.

    • VR Staff
    • 176 posts
    February 21, 2015 11:06 AM PST
    Raidan said:
    Sevens said:

    Maybe a "Bloodmage" isnt there, but could you create your own?

    A wizard who searches for spells to heal and sustain his group....gathering the needed items to be able to use white (cleric) mana

     

    Yeah it's a neat concept, and I am eager to see how it plays out.  It will be a very fine line between class balancing / class interdependence and people seeking out the needed items to obtain specalizations.  The only real fear I have with class specializations is regardless of the mechanics behind obtaining specializations (talent tree, ability points, items, etc.) I can't forsee a path without cookie-cutter builds/specializations ultimately - i.e. the best cleric is 80% white magic and 20% red magic and the specializations just become more gimmicky.  The cynic in me would be happy to be proven wrong though.

     

    I hear your concerns, but it won't work that way.

     

    Class Design is my main focus right now (when I'm not making videos ;)), and I can say that we'll be pursuing specializations in a very unique way, in a way that is hard to infer from what Brad posted, though he was intentionally writing it that way since we're not totally ready to share the details yet.

     

    Yes, there will most likely be ways for, let's say, a Cleric whose core mana is White, to uncover a Dark/Black mana Sigil deep in the heart of a dungeon. That Sigil may grant the Cleric a relatively minor amount of Dark mana (since it's only one item), but the Cleric doesn't have any Dark Mana spells to cast. So maybe a month or two down the line, a Dark Mana spell drops and the Cleric picks it up. Now he has an item that grants Dark Mana, and a spell that uses Dark Mana. This is one tier of how the multi-mana system will likely work. You have the chance, as any given class, to earn the means of using spells outside of your typical spell pool. The spells gained in this way will likely be very potent, but they will also be fairly limited. Limited in use because your resource pool is so small. Limited Lore-wise as well, in this case, a Cleric casting a Dark Mana spell would likely have a significantly detrimental effect on him, and would have to be used sparingly.

     

    However, the true Class Specialization arm of the multi-mana system will work differently than this, by actually homogenizing your core mana color with a new mana color. This is where I could rattle off endlessly with excitement and juicy details, but I have to wait a bit longer, and so do you ;)


    This post was edited by Joppa at March 9, 2015 8:07 AM PDT
    • 21 posts
    February 21, 2015 11:09 AM PST

    Can't wait for the more details!

    • 999 posts
    February 21, 2015 11:23 AM PST

    @Joppa

     

    I appreciate the clarification - I will be patiently awaiting more details to flesh out the system :)

    • 67 posts
    February 21, 2015 11:42 AM PST

    Fkin sick, I read some of what Joppa posted to one of my roommates and now he's super excited about this game even after knowing nothing about it.

    • VR Staff
    • 176 posts
    February 21, 2015 11:52 AM PST
    Xeravik said:

    Fkin sick, I read some of what Joppa posted to one of my roommates and now he's super excited about this game even after knowing nothing about it.

     

    That's how I roll, making roommates excited ;)

     

    Very glad to hear it!

    • 67 posts
    February 21, 2015 12:01 PM PST
    Joppa said:
    Xeravik said:

    Fkin sick, I read some of what Joppa posted to one of my roommates and now he's super excited about this game even after knowing nothing about it.

     

    That's how I roll, making roommates excited ;)

     

    Very glad to hear it!

    Kinky

    • 610 posts
    February 21, 2015 12:46 PM PST
    Joppa said:
    Raidan said:
    Sevens said:

    Maybe a "Bloodmage" isnt there, but could you create your own?

    A wizard who searches for spells to heal and sustain his group....gathering the needed items to be able to use white (cleric) mana

     

    Yeah it's a neat concept, and I am eager to see how it plays out.  It will be a very fine line between class balancing / class interdependence and people seeking out the needed items to obtain specalizations.  The only real fear I have with class specializations is regardless of the mechanics behind obtaining specializations (talent tree, ability points, items, etc.) I can't forsee a path without cookie-cutter builds/specializations ultimately - i.e. the best cleric is 80% white magic and 20% red magic and the specializations just become more gimmicky.  The cynic in me would be happy to be proven wrong though.

     

    I hear your concerns, but it won't work that way.

     

    Class Design is my main focus right now (when I'm not making videos ;)), and I can say that we'll be pursuing specializations in a very unique way, in a way that is hard to infer from what Brad posted, though he was intentionally writing it that way since we're not totally ready to share the details yet.

     

    Yes, there will most likely be ways for, let's say, a Cleric whose core mana is White, to uncover a Dark/Black mana Sigil deep in the heart of a dungeon. That Sigil may grant the Cleric a relatively minor amount of Dark mana (since it's only one item), but the Cleric doesn't have any Dark Mana spells to cast. So maybe a month or two down the line, a Dark Mana spell drops and the Cleric picks it up. Now he has an item that grants Dark Mana, and a spell that uses Dark Mana. This is one tier of how the multi-mana system will likely work. You have the chance, as any given class, to earn the means of using spells outside of your typical spell pool. The spells gained in this way will likely be very potent, but they will also be fairly limited. Limited in use because your resource pool is so small. Limited Lore-wise as well, in this case, a Cleric casting a Dark Mana spell would likely have a significantly detrimental effect on him, and would have to be used sparingly.

     

    However, the true Class Specialization arm of the multi-mana system will work differently than this, by actually homogenizing your core mana color with a new mana color. This is where I could rattle off endlessly with excitement and juicy details, but I have to wait a bit longer, and so do you ;)

    Joppa, youre such a tease!

    • 34 posts
    February 21, 2015 3:53 PM PST
    Any hint on specialization for us melee types?
    • 154 posts
    February 21, 2015 9:39 PM PST

    I have really found all the current updates great. I have not found time to really pick through the video yet but this write up was very nice. I am not much into the details of the updates for Unity but I (like almost anyone else who has been around college level game classes) played around with Unity 4 or 5 years ago and found it to just be an incredible vehicle for ideas and implementation. I can't help but imagine having a more intimate relationship with that group will only continue to allow the incredible growth we saw in the most recent update to continue. 

     

    I am also incredibly eager for more Lore. As much as a I love seeing some improvement and hearing about game play mechanics the lore is what makes all these individual components come together and provides staying power. I am especially interested in the cultural development which I imagine (or at least hope) has a lot to do with the class/race iterations and I am excited to see more.

    • 12 posts
    February 22, 2015 7:32 AM PST

    Love the video and nice to see that its been so well received on other sites too.

     

    The more I hear that music, the more I want to have it on my MP3

    • 671 posts
    February 22, 2015 10:17 AM PST

    I like the creative idea of different mana pools...  

     

    VRi is going places.

    • 1 posts
    February 22, 2015 10:43 AM PST

    Hi all,

     

    Just wanted to say I am an old cynic about MMOs these days. I love grouping games and cleric is the class I love. Most of the games released in the last few years have moved away from grouping and most classes have a self heal so clerics aren't very useful it seems. I really miss those days of healing a group.

    When I just read this state of game the old cynic had a flicker of interest and excitement. I love the idea of different colour mana pools, if it means I have to heal a group into the depths of a dungeon to get the item bring it on! That's what I have been waiting for

    I wish you success going forward, maybe I`ll heal you in Terminus some time

     

    Roz