I'm bad at finding info, I admit that right away. I do a few searches, then I give up. So please don't flame me too bad if these questions have already been answered :D
1. Will we see more game footage soon? Maybe some early gameplay for each classes (everything could be subject to change ofc).
2. Will there be caster items that increase spell casting other than the spellcasting stats like int or wis? (Here I am of course thinking about focus items from Everquest, that increase casting time, dot damage, mana preservation, etc.)
3. Will items be as varied and as much side-grade as we see in early EQ? Or more like WoW-items where items often have +x all stats? (I personally hope for the former :P)
4. Are you still adjusting gameplay difficulty? From the videos I've seen, the healers had to spam heals to even keep the tank alive, and the wizard kept dying. And that was just single mobs. All in all, the group seemed to wipe a lot.
5. Since we are now in Q3 of 2017, is there a new ETA on pre-alpha or alpha stage? (You probably hate it when people ask this question, and you probably won't answer, but I'm gonna try asking it anyway :p)
That's it for now, I'll probably think of more soon :D
I hope you guys have a good summer!
-Chalkstix
Oh, I have one more!
Extra question: How often is the official FAQ updated?
Chalkstix said:I'm bad at finding info, I admit that right away. I do a few searches, then I give up. So please don't flame me too bad if these questions have already been answered :D
1. Will we see more game footage soon? Maybe some early gameplay for each classes (everything could be subject to change ofc).
2. Will there be caster items that increase spell casting other than the spellcasting stats like int or wis? (Here I am of course thinking about focus items from Everquest, that increase casting time, dot damage, mana preservation, etc.)
3. Will items be as varied and as much side-grade as we see in early EQ? Or more like WoW-items where items often have +x all stats? (I personally hope for the former :P)
4. Are you still adjusting gameplay difficulty? From the videos I've seen, the healers had to spam heals to even keep the tank alive, and the wizard kept dying. And that was just single mobs. All in all, the group seemed to wipe a lot.
5. Since we are now in Q3 of 2017, is there a new ETA on pre-alpha or alpha stage? (You probably hate it when people ask this question, and you probably won't answer, but I'm gonna try asking it anyway :p)
That's it for now, I'll probably think of more soon :D
I hope you guys have a good summer!
-Chalkstix
Oh, I have one more!
Extra question: How often is the official FAQ updated?
1. I wouldn't count on it. The current focus of the entire team is getting the game ready for Pre-Alpha. Twitch streams would only detract from that. (See https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/6355/i-neeed-my-pantheon-fix-so-pleeaassee-vr-more-twitch)
2. In short, yes. The overall item design is similar to that of early EverQuest.
3. From the FAQ: (13.9)
"Our desire to bring back the value and personality of items drives our item design. This means that the frequency of upgrades will be slower and when you do get a new piece of gear not only will the experience be memorable but so will the item. We want you to collect your items and be able to remember their names. When you get that epic item or rare drop after an incredible dungeon crawl, we want you to be in awe of what you have accomplished and the reward that came from it. Items will be memorable, deserved, cherished, and desired.
There will also be many ‘situational’ items. Please see The Pantheon Difference. "
4. From the FAQ: (13.3)
"Combat statistics, formulas, weapon damage, weapon delay, resource pools, regeneration, etc. are all things we are constantly tweaking and monitoring. While we are at the point we need to be right now, we don’t consider anything final. Tweaking and balancing an MMO is an ongoing process."
5. No. As I said, all hands are on deck working on Pre-Alpha, so it'll be "Soon," but no official date. Unfortunately, knowing a date won't make it come faster. It only sets up the potential for disappointment. Dates will be given at least a couple weeks in advance to give players an opportunity to take time off from work, etc.
Extra: FAQ was last revised on February 20, 2017. It's pretty much just updated as needed. But takes a long time to do so, so it seems like it's updated only when they have a lot to add. As I said, the team often has more important things to do. Meanwhile, people like myself that spend too much time on here can answer questions :P
Hope this helps!
1. They did release a new Newsletter this month that said to pay attention to their Youtube channel. Possibly subcribe and set up notifications so you know right away when it's available to view. Every few months they do a stream as well. So we can see the progress they've made and to show us more classes and the perception system. We don't have a "soon" estimation for the stream, but next week we have the youtubes.
2.They most likely will, but I haven't seen specific discussions about it. Lower levels the casting time is usually really slow for big abilities. And hopefully they get faster as you level and the content of the game gets harder. Plus it also kind goes well with the development of your character, being able to cast bigger and better spells in a faster amount of time.
3.I think their main focus is to have it be very similar to EQ, EQ2, and Vanguard, but with upgraded graphics and even a bit of content to match with some of the way we've experienced gaming today.
4. The goal is for just that. They don't want just ANY random group to run in and spam spells and not have a hard time. They want group oriented content. You're going to have to learn to use your words and communicate with your group. An enchanter should be there for mezzing extra mobs. The damage can't just rush in and try to slaughter everything because it will be one shot. And tanks have to learn to control their aggro and help their entire group. As well, DPS have to make sure not to go ham on all their abilities, unless they want aggro purposefully and to, well, die.
5. From what I've gathered, they aren't even close to an ETA yet. No game ever is because we hold that ETA against them. Some goal would be nice to know about. Like "we WANT to be done by around xxxx year, but there's bumps along the way we hit so it may take longer or it may go faster if we get more funding and necessary people on board". Etc....
FAQ was updated a few months ago I believe. And to quite some detail compared to the last FAQ.
It's hard to browse these forums, so I understand why you needed to start a new topic. Some of these questions have been answered but quite vaguely too. So we have an "idea", but not fleshed out details of exactly how everything plans to work. Hopefully pre-alpha stage and alpha come soon so we can test it ourselves and then find bugs and give feedback. Sometimes they intend for stuff to work one specific way, and someone finds out it gives significantly extra benefits to them ( as long as they keep it to themselves).
Thanks for the great answers, guys :) Very helpful.
Fancy: As to the difficulty of the game. I really like that they're going for something that requires teamwork and is hard. That being said, I really hope Pantheon will be more about using the right ability for the right situation rather than being a "how fast can you spam your heal key" game. Support roles like enchanters and other CCers get aggro, that's probably inevitable with resists and adds, I just hope aggro for a non-tank won't mean instant death. But I have confidence that the game will be balanced by the time it's released.
I think their whole idea for difficulty means you don't just spam your heal key. The idea for healers is to have buffs constantly running, then to rebuff after any deaths, watching your mana pool, continuously using your smaller healing and shield/buff abilities and saving your big ones for dangerous situations when it's truly needed. They also talked about giving some healers extra jobs. Like possible debuffs I believe. Don't know which specific ones, but they don't want the healer to JUST heal. That could get boring if you have a really well educated group who knows their class well and knows the fights they are about to encounter ahead of them. You'd literally be sitting there doing nothing at times but watching and waiting for someones health to go down even slightly.
However, I dont see them giving you crazy amounts of damage because that would take a significant amount of mana. And lets just be honest, we don't want to see clerics showing up in our groups who only want to dps. But they should have a little here and there to help out and give them something to do if there is nothing specific to their class to do. I believe DoT's were mentioned as well. Some small damage over time abilities to add to the damage your group is doing but also give you something to pay attention to. Just keep your DoT's going everytime they drop off a mob. It may not mean insta death in dungeons, but you can bet they will definitely hit you hard enough you're going to be back peddling as fast you can to your tank and healer. It also depends on the class and armor type they wear. They could be squishy mages who would in fact be one shot by certain mobs if they tried to run ahead like a dipstick. While a bruiser or fighter might be able to take more hits (similar to the monk as some what of an offtank).
Great answers folks,t hank you! :)
The FAQ: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/game/faqs/ is updated as needed be, we try to make it as detailed and comprehensive as possible to cover all major points but there are some things that we update on the fly as needed. If anything drastic changes we will update the FAQ to reflect that fairly quickly.