You folks are working really hard to make a game you'll love to play, as will we, but you'll know everything about the game. There's no mystery for you. No thrill of exploration and discovery. Is there any strategy you're using to keep the game fresh and interesting for yourselves when you play Pantheon?
Great question Keiiek!
I started off trying to use a strategy of only sticking to what was required to test, so I wouldn't ruin all of the surprises but it was impossible to stick to, so now I just enjoy it for what it is and test whatever needs testing without worrying and know that at the end of the day when we release it, the best part will be playing with you folks, so it won't matter anyway as the whole game is about social interaction, player engagement, teamwork etc. :)
The overall vision for the game certainly keeps me enthusiastic, as well as the constant moments we have during design meetings and testing where we come up with exciting ideas that will engage and immerse players.
As development progresses, we will have additional designers working in different parts of the world, and tweaking / adding abilities, balancing game play, and adding in quests and items that even we aren't expecting. The lore will continue to grow, and so will the scope of the game.
Each team member is usually focused on a small subset of the game at any one time, and although there is a high level overview, there is a lot of room for introducing surprises that the rest of the team aren't expecting.
We always have discovery moments when exploring new features that other members have added. It's really quite exciting to think about how other players will feel when they finally encounter some of the more intriguing content too.
Jumping into the game again with a fresh character after making game play tweaks can be just as exciting as it was the first time we had the game in a playable state.
So yes, there is an evolving mystery and thrill as we move forward!
We are very passionate about Pantheon, and we hope that will be apparent when you enter the world and explore it for yourself.