It has been a crazy year for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and for the December Producer's letter, we wanted to share a little reflection. This month, Visionary Realms CEO, Chris Rowan, takes up keyboard and shares of Pantheon, our progress, this community, and what it means to him.
Give this year end update a read and see some rather cool visual art shares that highlight where this game is headed, in this month's letter from the CEO.
"As we increased VIP testing frequency in early 2023, we ran out of content after a few months. MMO players are notoriously voracious content consumers so we needed to find a way to make content last longer to allow us iterate quickly on features and functionality and gather testing data without testers becoming bored. One of the best ways to make content last is to make it replayable. Thus was born our ill fated 247 Test Mode. Originally envisioned as a way to keep the testers happy and radically accelerate Pantheon feature and content development, while also ideating on a future PvP mode of Pantheon, 247 Test mode launched us forward on so many fronts. Everything accelerated, but when the concept was introduced to the community and we mentioned that we were considering monetizing it to help fund accelerated Pantheon development, the community quite literally freaked out. They thought we were abandoning Pantheon (we weren’t) and made it painfully clear that they didn’t like 247. We listened and shifted right back to full development focus on the MMO mode of Pantheon, almost overnight. And as we promised, thanks to how 247 allowed us to rapidly iterate, Pantheon was much further along too, which allowed us to fulfill our commitment to bring Alphas in before the end of the year."
This is a very poorly written paragraph. I see now where the problem with the company has been when the CEO says the community "freaked out". No they didn't "freak out", they were very concerned and rightfully so because your communication has been absolutely garbage on a game that has been in development for a long time. Don't sit there and talk down to your community because of their "misunderstanding", their misunderstanding came from your poor communication and leadership. You know you got a game to finish at some point right? Not a tech demo. Of course you listened because they called you out and rightfully so. No your 247 was a mistake, and the fact you still don't own up to that shows that you and your company have a LONG way to go. I would advise your CEO to have some humble pie over the holiday season, with that kind of attitude you are going to have much more issues in 2024. The Alphas by the end of the year came about because your lack of communication was called out and your lack of transparency. If 2022's word of the year was "imminence", I think your 2024 word(s) of the year should be communication, transparency, feedback etc. etc. That also includes transparency on funding for the game which caused the "freak out", at the current pace, with the current funding, it is going to take "years" as Joppa pointed out. Maybe part of that transparency would be communicating clearly a plan on the funding and communicating clearly goals and dates for when things like Alpha and Beta would come about. And even speaking with the community on ideas to fund a game that they already funded and being clear to them how that funding is being used to produce a game and not a tech demo.
But yeah your character models are looking better now, I do give you that, but again to be fair, we have seen new character models before in the past.
One thing I noticed in the letter - in the discussion of the content now available to alpha level pledges.
The letter said "back in the alpha session" after taking a break to type something.
Apparently I was wrong in saying that people were over-reacting to certain deficiencies because this was a pre-alpha world not an alpha world.
I have been a very harsh critic. In fact I am banned from the Discord. But this testing session and the progress that has been made since I last played really shows. I am looking forward to 2024 and what that brings for Pantheon; hopefully more testing sessions and less frequent wipes.
This is a good newsletter. I appreciate the admissions and openly self reflecting nature of it. Like Reichsritter I've been a harsh critic over the past year. Very disgruntled for many reasons and I haven't stayed quiet on any of them. Unlike Reich I'd never played before but I've been a long time listener of Pantheon Plus Rewind with Therek and Desryn, those guys were keeping me hanging around and willing to not go in the direction I kind of wanted to go, which was to just stop following Pantheon all together.
And damn I'm glad I didn't drop off because I jumped in Alpha on Tuesday and had an absolutely rocking time. In the lead up to Alpha test I was not a fan of the graphics but upon logging in I totally immersed myself into the world almost immediately. I think the biggest factor that draws me into the immersion is the world doesn't care about me, im just here in it and its nasty lol. It is what it is, its not catering for easy progression, travel and certainly no rails to hold onto.
I logged in at night in game and I felt instantly nervous, those nerves didn't dissipate once through the play session, every time night fell the uneasy feeling returned. Then eventually I walk into gloom and holy hell I'm feeling like I'm suffocating in darkness so I run the hell outta there...but I so badly want to go in and know more. I'm pretty sure that's what you guys were going for when you made night and made gloom, so hats off to ya VR. The environment , Art, and feel are all working really well for me. I loved my enchanter, i haven't played a cc support class that felt so damn useful and potentially powerful since EQ and it was really nice and were just talking level 4+. I had a ton of fun grouping, we were all just a bunch of randoms pugging around and it felt like I was transported back to my mmo roots.
I cant wait to see what comes. I'm well and truly all in on what you guys are making and this being effectively just the beginning is really exciting!
I'm just going to forget the time prior to the last few years of development, I've been following like a mad person since 2016.... I'm just going to leave every chip on my shoulder I was holding onto about the old pantheon stuff and "stumbles" and focus on what happens from this alpha test on.
I haven't gamed so enthusiastically the way I did on my Tuesdays alpha test in forever, prior to finding Pantheon in 2016 I used to regularly google "MMO like EQ" something would come up, i would try it, I would be sorely disappointed, well on Tuesday I wasn't disappointed :) I loved BG3 and I played it through and enjoyed it immensely, but I always ran out of steam playing it, whether that be because its late or because I was fidgeting and looking elsewhere for things to do. However with the Pantheon play session I intended to check it out for a hour maybe... 6+ hours later its almost 3am my time and I didn't care that I only was going to get a few hours sleep till I had to wake for the next day. Now I haven't felt that since EQ back in 99-2004. Well done VR and thank you.
Ditto on "MMO like EQ" Hokanu. Been looking for years and though some have held my attention for a few months, none like EQ. I play P99 now vice all the MMO's out there. I think my biggest joy is finally logging into a newer game that has serious consequences for bad decisions. Too many game now a days pander to the lowest common denominator. Not Pantheon! If you decide to fight something that is out of your league (post level 5), you will pay the consequences in lost xp as well as organize how you will retrieve your corpse. Few more things:
- Game stability was near perfect. I hope the test today with all three days combined goes well.
- Game/UI mechanics are still in need of polishing, but overall group mechanics and class roles are spot on and what give it the EQ feel and captivation. You can definitely tell the difference between good and bad healers, good and bad tanks, pullers that shine, and how dps peeps are lifting the group.
- Cleric healing is pretty shabby until you make level 6. Then the cleric truly shines!
- Near the Gloom is a bit wonky. If you are in a bright area that borders the Gloom and then turn to face the Gloom all goes dark. Would make more sense if just the Gloom in front of you was dark imo.
Looking forward to after work today and keeping my fingers crossed!
Update: Server ran like a champ! Very fun grouping and lots of encouraging things to look forward to. Did a dungeon/cave crawl with a full group and had a blast! Even the 3 corpse retrievals were fun :). Absolutely love the cleric class. You can melee and heal at the same time! Exactly what a cleric should be doing. Not sitting, standing, healing, sitting... Keep motivated VR - been a long road but Pantheon is getting there - and nicely. Oh, and more Pre-Alpha/Alpha sessions please!
Being a long time mmo player and disappointed with some of the choices made in the last year, I approached my test with a mix of excitement and trepidation. My big concern being the graphics.
After 10 minutes of playing, my thoughts had moved away from that and was concentrating on the game. So all in all, I still hope for more grit and variation, however in game, the graphics changes were not a deal breaker.
It was refreshing not to have a pathing system and having to rely on the text telling you where you needed to go. So, one of the first quests (sorry, tasks), was along the lines of: "...he likes ships and water...", OK I need the docks I guess? ...Nope? OK, let's look, up the riverbank a ways... Ah! There he is! it was a simple delivery task, but completion came with a good measure of satisfaction not there in hand held quest mechanics. Nice!
It took a good while to meet up with my partner. We logged in, in the dark and had no idea where anything was. Day light came and so did the rain, and mist. It severely limited vision range and it took an age to get together. But we did it with out help and we got a good idea of the lay of the land and got an image of where POIs were. The dark and mist did a good job of making your world feel small. I would like to see ghostly shadows of trees and mobs moving about, but it did provide a debilitating environment.
We did some exploration and collecting logs and tattered pelts and the like. One stand out moment was when I rounded a rock on a hill and a skellie was standing there, smiling at me. I jumped (nice). Now bearing in mind, we had taken out a couple of skellies prior to this, conning them and seeing nothing we couldn't handle (we were still level 1) so i didn't expect anything else. As I was in the firing line, I started to cast a hot on myself. Before I got half way through, I was lying face down in the dirt. About 3 seconds later, so was my partner. I just laughed. There, right there, EQ vibes.
We only managed a couple of hours play and I enjoyed them. It was slow going, but that was not a bad thing. I did more in my first level of Pantheon than any other mmo. Exploration, completing tasks, foraging, dieing, skilling up mining, climbing, etc., and still no ding. Lol, lovely. In other mmos you just have to sneeze and you are given a level. We could have levelled if we aimed for it by killing everything we came across, but there was nothing in game that was pushing that kind of play style. Very refreshing. Very enjoyable.
The town noises were nice. The buildings were empty of everyday things, which gave that feeling of being abandoned, so needs more clutter but I know that is coming. There were some clinky mechanics (tasks UI, being told you need an axe to chop down a tree and you did have one in its slot - turned out to be full bags being the real issue).
All in all, being pre-alpha, I have hope again. I had a good time. No crashes. No major bugs. Onwards...
Kenn said:If I was making a game, art would be the last thing on the list. A lot of people still play Runescape.
Yeah, for some, this is the case. For others, graphics matter a great deal. In the same way some people prefer vinal over digital when listening to music. Some people prefer books to films. Some people don't care at all, some do.
Because you cannot see the issue, does not mean the issue does not exist for others.
For me, game mechanics are important, however, so are the graphics. They set the tone and either draw me in, or if bad, don't. And for me, even if the game has great mechanics, there will always be a feeling that the game could have been more if the graphics were better. It is the main reason I moved away from EQ and just dabbled with RuneScape.
In your example, RuneScape; if there were two versions that were exactly the same, except, one had existing graphics and one had AAA graphics, it is a no brainer which people will play. Graphics do matter and it is just an opinion to what extent.
A lot of people do feel it is essential, so if you were creating a game to sell, you could not afford to ignore this element, otherwise you would loose revenue from those that do care about this piece of the puzzle. It is really difficult to just bolt on a graphic element after the mechanics have been built. Its one of the main reasons why old games seldom get radical face lifts. Because of this, it needs to be thought about throughout game creation.