As Zazazuu pointed out, it is the Elvish capital city. As for the entire project, it not only includes the city but also the following:
"we are bringing together the full Pantheon experience, with all of the systems, animations, models, sounds, and effects one would expect to see in a modern game"
So this is probably the largest/last big content push they will do before the Alpha (Pre-Alpha 5 will be before Alpha, keep in mind). I expect it will be like toggling the so called 'light switch' on the game, that will bring it out to the open for a lot of new people and also reinvigorate the already highly active fanbase.
Faerthale is the Elven home city. So like Thronefast, it'll probably a big zone that contains a city and a surrounding newbie adventure area. The important thing is that this will be the first feature-complete zone that brings together all the major game systems, such as climate, perception, atmospheres, dispositions, etc. in a cohesive way. There will also be improved animations, character models, etc. That way, rather than having to always tell people what Pantheon "will" eventually look like, they can basically just show them this zone. It's called their "reference zone" It of course won't be 100% done, but it'll be very close. Then they can take what they learned about the workflow of pulling together the art, design, world building, etc. departments to compile a zone from start to finish, and apply those lessons to complete the rest of the zones in the game much more efficiently. It's a huge turning point for the game.
Drebin said:Praying for a Cohhcarnage stream once this is done. I really did not know that all these systems would be ready at this stage and would love to tune into a well put together stream to see all of this in action.
Me too. Cohhcarnage has been the best streamer so far with his presentation of the game to the audience.
dorotea said:May all Gods grant that it isn't another elven tree city. Some treeehouses/flets are fine as in Caras Galadhon in LOTRO but I got *so* lost in the tree city in Vanguard.
I think you'll be safe in Faerthale, Dorotea, but you might want to steer clear of Wild's End :)
Drebin said:Is an elf without a tree even an elf at all?
"Apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze!" I heard that expression was attributable to the, then called "pennsylvania dutch"(amish)
I've come to like a slice warm apple pie with a thin piece of sharp cheddar cheese- real cheddar- slowly melting on top. vanilla ice cream optional.
Yes treehugging is inevitable. We just need to be careful - splinters can do a lot of damage - a tree's bark is worse than its bite.
The example I gave from LOTRO - Caras Galadhon - was a city where almost everything was in trees but you could get to every tree fairly easily by riding or walking on the ground. What baffled my sense of direction in Vanguard were all the winding above-ground passages.
Of course it *is* logical for the elves to have almost every point of interest accessible only from the trees. Just one route up from the ground to defend and aerial bridges can be cut so easily - ideally while enemies are on them.
I expect this - I accept this. But I *will* get lost more than once looking for the crafting tree. Been there - done that!
zewtastic said:6 months per zone, I'm not liking this timeline.
It's a little more than just a zone. Based on what we've seen in streams from earlier PA phases, and what's been said, I think their goal for Faerthale is, potentially to have all the "major" gameplay systems hooked up and functioning. That's not a small list. Here's what I think might be part of it, just off the top of my head:
- Class abilities and class-specific resources
- Gathering and Scavenging
- Crafting and Salvaging
- Atmospheres and Acclimation
- NPC Dispositions
- Normalized Itemization
- Day/Night Cycles, Weather, and variable spawns
- Perception Triggers
- Quest Lines
That's not even counting things we know will be in at some point but that aren't "critical" to the day-to-day gameplay experience. Things like social support (friends list, guilds, etc), group and raid management tools, customizable chat channels, progeny, advanced abilities earned via "special" means, colored mana (assuming it's still a thing), travel aids like caravans, and so on.
To use an analogy, I think they still have a lot of wiring and plumbing they're trying to do, even though the frame of the house is built now. It's not just as easy as finishing the walls and adding the furniture, at least not yet.
Nephele said:zewtastic said:6 months per zone, I'm not liking this timeline.
It's a little more than just a zone. Based on what we've seen in streams from earlier PA phases, and what's been said, I think their goal for Faerthale is, potentially to have all the "major" gameplay systems hooked up and functioning. That's not a small list. Here's what I think might be part of it, just off the top of my head:
- Class abilities and class-specific resources
- Gathering and Scavenging
- Crafting and Salvaging
- Atmospheres and Acclimation
- NPC Dispositions
- Normalized Itemization
- Day/Night Cycles, Weather, and variable spawns
- Perception Triggers
- Quest Lines
That's not even counting things we know will be in at some point but that aren't "critical" to the day-to-day gameplay experience. Things like social support (friends list, guilds, etc), group and raid management tools, customizable chat channels, progeny, advanced abilities earned via "special" means, colored mana (assuming it's still a thing), travel aids like caravans, and so on.
To use an analogy, I think they still have a lot of wiring and plumbing they're trying to do, even though the frame of the house is built now. It's not just as easy as finishing the walls and adding the furniture, at least not yet.
Additionally, once they've done these things all together in one zone it will be significantly easier to reproduce in others. They are deep within a technical debt level of development right now that will see large efficiency gains once they have more tools in place that they are building out for the first time in this process.
I can't say I am all that enthusiastic about the timeline either - we may be lucky to see alpha by the end of the *year* and I have no reason to expect and quite a few reasons *not* to expect release to come within a year after alpha starts.
But Nephele and Keno Monster are entirely correct what is being worked on is far more than one zone and once it is done other things should go a lot faster.
