Forums » News and Announcements

Spring has Sprung with our March Newsletter

    • 9115 posts
    March 14, 2018 1:22 AM PDT

    Daylight Savings time may be messing with your sleep schedule, but we've made up for the lost hour of your life with not one, but two great features this month. We sit down with the team to learn all about the creation process for Armor in Pantheon, and we sneak into a possible repository for those rare drops - Halnir Cave, one of the first dungeons players may encounter in Pantheon. Last, but certainly not least, OneADseven is our featured community Member this month. What are you waiting for? Check it out now!

    • 470 posts
    March 14, 2018 3:32 AM PDT

    Cool deal, Kilsin. Sounds like a fun dungeon run. Can't wait to try it.

    • 27 posts
    March 14, 2018 3:47 AM PDT
    What a great read! I love the more realistic fantasy art style that Pantheon is going for, and is one of the reasons I pledged.

    Also, great job on the info about Halnir. I want to experience it in game first, and didn't want to see a bunch of screenshots and info on the mobs in there. Thankfully, the devs thought the same way and stayed away from info like that.

    I'm also really curious now to see what Justin means by a "fun disruption" when camping a section of a dungeon.
    • 624 posts
    March 14, 2018 4:42 AM PDT

    Excellent read, thanks for providing such diverse news in one letter. Looks always matter to bards, glad to see the armor sets will not be cartoony. Better still that we will return to the rags to riches progression where style improves with level and effort expended to obtain. Also - thanks to Tim & Justin for giving us more information related to the “hall near” Thronefast. As a human, I can’t wait to enjoy the “Pantheon Tenets” while exploring my first dungeon...including fun disruptions.

    Lastly, I always enjoy reading the community spotlight. Though I had a good idea what makes Oneadseven tick from his posts, I now can envision the fierce ogre warrior sopping wet, emerging from Syronai’s Rest like some drowned Cheshire Cat - grinning from the joy of exploration and plotting his progeny’s future. You go big guy!

    • 626 posts
    March 14, 2018 8:07 AM PDT

     

    Showed a friend this Picture and he said - "Looks great, but cinametics never look like live footage" 

    I didn't know we were doing cinametics yet haha :)


    This post was edited by Reignborn at March 14, 2018 8:51 AM PDT
    • 77 posts
    March 14, 2018 8:22 AM PDT

    Confirmed. Coldark Steel is.....

     

    LEGENDARY

     

    inb4 all the new dwarf babies pop up to be better craftsmen.


    This post was edited by Nolvu at March 14, 2018 8:31 AM PDT
    • VR Staff
    • 167 posts
    March 14, 2018 8:51 AM PDT

    OK OK @Convo you win. Here be Wraiths...


    This post was edited by Roenick at March 14, 2018 8:53 AM PDT
    • 724 posts
    March 14, 2018 8:53 AM PDT

    ^ Nice image...is that some kind of lich?

    And on the image in the original post...probabably wishful thinking, but is that a summoner and his fire pet casting a fire spell there? Looks almost like a flamethrower :)

    • 2886 posts
    March 14, 2018 9:37 AM PDT

    Sarim said:

    ^ Nice image...is that some kind of lich?

    And on the image in the original post...probabably wishful thinking, but is that a summoner and his fire pet casting a fire spell there? Looks almost like a flamethrower :)

    That's a wraith, probably much like the ones found in Halnir.

    And no, if you zoom in, you can see that the fire spell is coming from some sort of female Elf, probably a Wizard. It is a sweet looking effect :)

    • 248 posts
    March 14, 2018 9:38 AM PDT

    Thank you for the newsletter!

    Great armor. Great pictures. Great info. and great Wraiths! :)


    -sorte.

    • 13 posts
    March 14, 2018 10:05 AM PDT

    I can't tell you how happy I am to see the armor and  the direction you are going with the models. One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is the over the top, manga influenced armor. Since I have an interest in real armor and swords (mainly 14th-15th century European), seeing models that are quasi-realistic really excites me. I also believe that realistic weapons and armor help with immersion in the game, at least for me; there is enough reality to assist with the suspension of disbelief (which is critical to me for something I hope to spend years enjoying!). One last point, hurry up Alpha!!

    • 1281 posts
    March 14, 2018 10:59 AM PDT

    Fantastic update, thanks for sharing!

    I want armor to look realistic. From the sounds of the newsletter, female armor is the same as male armor "The current female armors are refits of the male armor". It reminds me of a post I made in someone’s thread a few years ago: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2284/please-make-the-females-gorgeous

    Can someone from VR confirm or deny that this game will have "boob armor"? A breastplate is going to look the same on both male and female characters. E.g. no defined breast in armor plates, etc. I understand that cloth or thinner type armor would, but not heavy armor.

    Thanks


    This post was edited by bigdogchris at March 14, 2018 1:46 PM PDT
    • 2752 posts
    March 14, 2018 11:30 AM PDT

    bigdogchris said:

    Fantastic update, thanks for sharing!

    I want armor to look realistic. From the sounds of the newsletter, female armor is the same as male armor "The current female armors are refits of the male armor". It reminds me of a post I made in someone’s thread a few years ago: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2284/please-make-the-females-gorgeous

    Can someone from VR confirm or deny that this game will have "boob armor"? A breastplate is going to look the same on both male and female characters. E.g. no defined breast in armor plates, etc. I understand that cloth or thinner type armor would, but not heavy armor.

    Thanks

    It would seem there will be some breast molds for female armor according to the linked, but perhaps not all female plate will have it (I really hope they don't). Their goal seems to be appropriate armor for the job with at best a very limited amount of "sexy" armor: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/5287/request-female-character-model-in-the-next-stream/view/page/1

     

    Kilsin said:

    As I posted above, we do have multiple versions of female models for each race (nearly all, we are still working on some) but we only showed off a default female Warrior and Gnome, the Warrior is obviously a hardy character and it would not be appropriate to tank in a mini skirt of dinner dress! ;)

    You will have more options in the character select to change the appearance as you see fit but a female Tank will be wearing bulky armour to protect herself, not a sexy skirt or dress but if you were to pick a caster etc. you will have more appropriate options for casting which may be more appealing/sexier to some folks.


    This post was edited by Iksar at March 14, 2018 2:03 PM PDT
    • 43 posts
    March 14, 2018 11:48 AM PDT

    Thank you for the update!  Spell effects look to be coming along nicely.  And the environment; i can't wait to get in there myself!  I also appreciate the detail of the wriaths, in particular the one having more ghostly legs to where his "feet" appear on the ground like tracks.

    • 470 posts
    March 14, 2018 12:05 PM PDT

    Nolvu said:

    Confirmed. Coldark Steel is.....

     

    LEGENDARY

     

    inb4 all the new dwarf babies pop up to be better craftsmen.

    Doubt it's restricted to just dwarves. If you recall during the livestream they showed a dwarven forge at the bottom of that one mountain you had to acclimate and get to. I expect that forge is probably where Coldark is likely made.

    • 690 posts
    March 14, 2018 12:15 PM PDT

    This sounds amazing! I love the new zone, it looks like it will be both diverse and difficult enough to be fun but not tedious=).

    I'm also loving how much effort is being put into gear, that it will look realistic/unique(by such factors as race and qaulity), and that it will not throw a million stats you barely understand at you.

    Count me in the group who hopes that Pantheon mostly avoids the "sexy sells" idea when it comes to female non cosmetic gear. That said, if they are using a simple conversion process for gear from male to female, i'd bet we aren't getting anything too offensive in this department.

     

     

    Several pieces of the armor section gave me a distinct vibe that armor, at least, will be pushing players to want to be the highest level they can be to get the coolest/best looking gear. 

    Getting cooler gear as your character gets stronger does definately make sense and I have no personal problems with it, but it doesn't seem like a good outlook if you don't want players to feel like they have to rush to the end to get the most out of the game. I'm interested to see how Pantheon manages to balance this out with other game mechanics like progeny, high-level/low level interdependence, and sheer low level content quality.


    This post was edited by BeaverBiscuit at March 14, 2018 12:36 PM PDT
    • 14 posts
    March 14, 2018 12:41 PM PDT

    Very nice information.

    The part that had me most excited and chattering like a fan boi to my wife about it was the information about itemization and stats.  I hate that newer games try to artificially inflate a players feeling of power and achievement through the use of massive stats and damage scaling. Diablo 3 being a perfect example of this. Hitting in the billions has always felt rediculous to me. I have missed games like everquest, when getting my first green silken drape (poison resist 10 was the only stat iirc) felt like a true upgrade. I played a caster and snakes scared me. My low HP pool and their poison DoTs had me chasing my corpses alot.

     

    Well done VR. I grow more excited for Alpha on a daily basis.


    EDIT: As to female armours. I am not concerned if they add breast molds into, say, a breastplate. However, I hope they never go the route (and it sounds as if they aren't) of having female armours be a thong with 2 metal plates over the breasts with some red ribbon hanging from the shoulders. In no reality would that protect a warrior in battle.


    This post was edited by Criimson at March 14, 2018 12:46 PM PDT
    • 2886 posts
    March 14, 2018 2:33 PM PDT

    Criimson said:

    EDIT: As to female armours. I am not concerned if they add breast molds into, say, a breastplate. However, I hope they never go the route (and it sounds as if they aren't) of having female armours be a thong with 2 metal plates over the breasts with some red ribbon hanging from the shoulders. In no reality would that protect a warrior in battle.

    From the FAQ:

    4.4 Will the female character models be as attractive as depicted in the races section?

    We sure hope so. The female playable characters in Pantheon brings up an important point: they will be very attractive, heroic in appearance, a persona anyone could look up to; but they will not be overly sexualized. We want all players to be proud of their character and their appearance.

    In the newsletter, Joppa said "We've landed on a believable fantasy, or perhaps you could say a realistic fantasy approach to our armor design." In no way does a chainmail bikini fit the style of "realistic fantasy" lol, so no need to worry about that :)


    This post was edited by Bazgrim at March 14, 2018 2:33 PM PDT
    • 294 posts
    March 14, 2018 4:40 PM PDT

    Awesome as always !!!

    Truly loved Halnir cave. Can't wait to dive in and discover its juicy details.

    Thanks for the news.

     

    • 201 posts
    March 14, 2018 4:45 PM PDT

    Uhh Kilsin, sorry to be that... "guy"....
    But I have found a typo or grammatical error in your ummm.. newsletter

    "Will there set bonuses?"

    I think it should say

    "Will there be set bonuses?"

    Other than that, I enjoyed this newsletter. Thanks for the hard work everyone at VR!


    This post was edited by Tootiredtocare at March 14, 2018 4:45 PM PDT
    • 1479 posts
    March 14, 2018 5:28 PM PDT

    Awesome NL as usual. Now the monthly feed of information became my mensual lighthouse in the dark.

     

    I can't wait for more information about races and classes that haven't been shown in the light yet, gameplay streams, whatever makes me starving for the far far release.

    • 3016 posts
    March 14, 2018 8:15 PM PDT

    Roenick said:

    OK OK @Convo you win. Here be Wraiths...

    Nice are there female Wraiths?  :)

     

    Always glad to receive the Newsletter btw...plus the pics in the Kickstarter letter as well. :)  So interesting this time around..so much information to glean.   Thank you VR. :)

     

    And this..makes me happy. :)    

    From the FAQ:

    4.4 Will the female character models be as attractive as depicted in the races section?

    We sure hope so. The female playable characters in Pantheon brings up an important point: they will be very attractive, heroic in appearance, a persona anyone could look up to; but they will not be overly sexualized. We want all players to be proud of their character and their appearance.

    In the newsletter, Joppa said "We've landed on a believable fantasy, or perhaps you could say a realistic fantasy approach to our armor design." In no way does a chainmail bikini fit the style of "realistic fantasy" lol, so no need to worry about that :)

     

    Cana


    This post was edited by CanadinaXegony at March 14, 2018 8:29 PM PDT
    • 173 posts
    March 14, 2018 11:21 PM PDT

    SO as usual, I hit the forums before I go to bed.  Now I'm to wound up to go to sleep.  Amazing stuff goin on 'round here :)

    • 1281 posts
    March 15, 2018 7:12 AM PDT

    Bazgrim said:

    From the FAQ:

    4.4 Will the female character models be as attractive as depicted in the races section?

    We sure hope so. The female playable characters in Pantheon brings up an important point: they will be very attractive, heroic in appearance, a persona anyone could look up to; but they will not be overly sexualized. We want all players to be proud of their character and their appearance.

    In the newsletter, Joppa said "We've landed on a believable fantasy, or perhaps you could say a realistic fantasy approach to our armor design." In no way does a chainmail bikini fit the style of "realistic fantasy" lol, so no need to worry about that :)

    Though not optimal, if I had to choose I would rather have breast molds than chainmail bikini's for sure.

    It's still disappointing though that VR is choosing not to comment on the issue.


    This post was edited by bigdogchris at March 15, 2018 7:13 AM PDT
    • 14 posts
    March 15, 2018 2:23 PM PDT

    Breast molds do not seem an issue to me. One could argue that the reason we didn't see more of them in creation during our own histories was because of the patriarchal nature of who was allowed to go into battle. In a fantasy realm I do not think gender restrictions would apply as they do/did in our history.  I am in no way a scholar (or even a student) of armor and how they were used throughout history, so I understand I may be missing some important information. However, if I were a female warrior I would think that having the breastplate fit more naturally would be an advantage in battle.