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Next DevStream: April 30

  • April 14, 2020 3:58 PM PDT

    Fellow Fantheons!

    We are going to return to a monthly streaming cadence - trying to organize streams bi-weekly has been a scheduling and logistics challenge, and we want all hands working on the game itself.

    A monthly stream will allow us to provide a better overview of progress for you all, at the level of content and detail that you deserve - more beans, less filler.

    Join us for our next Pantheon DevStream, on April 30, 2020!

    • 1479 posts
    April 14, 2020 4:33 PM PDT

    Thanks for the information. I look forwarf to see if it will be a better package and content that the bi-weekly that looked exhausting for you.

    • 50 posts
    April 14, 2020 4:40 PM PDT

    No worries Brasse.  Keep up the great work on the game's progress! 

    Take it easy, Fragile.

    • 560 posts
    April 14, 2020 4:54 PM PDT

    I will miss them but it sounds like you have good reason for the change.

    • 1273 posts
    April 14, 2020 5:15 PM PDT

    So sad.  Those were real highlights for me; I know they're not going away but once a month...ugh, I've been spoiled the last few months.  It was exciting to see how excited the devs get just talking about the game.  I can really tell they are into it and that gives me a lot of hope!  

    But, I get it.  Hopefully the once a month ends up having as much or more content than the every two weeks.  

    • 1273 posts
    April 14, 2020 5:19 PM PDT

    Side note / suggestion - Maybe consider taking the live Q and A portion out of the streams.  I know you take questions ahead of time via the forum.  I'd suggest choosing the questions you can answer ahead of time and avoiding the others.  Too many times the answer is "no, we can't talk about that" which uses up time that could be spent answering other questions.


    This post was edited by Ranarius at April 14, 2020 5:20 PM PDT
    • 200 posts
    April 14, 2020 5:38 PM PDT
    The live Q&A is because they are revealing new information live.

    VR, without giving a timeline (unless you want), what general items are left to do before entering PA5? I think that's a fair question.
    • 287 posts
    April 14, 2020 5:44 PM PDT

    sad to hear this. I REALLY hope we get some PA5 news in this next stream. If we have to wait until the end of May (or longer) to get that announcement, my interest is really going to wane.

    • 523 posts
    April 14, 2020 6:36 PM PDT

    Became clear several months ago as you guys continuously punted and postponed these that twice a month was too much to handle.  These video updates were sold to us as an upgrade on the previous monthly newsletters and I tend to feel that they are not.  Would be nice if you could go back to the old written style monthly newsletter updates and then do a content video once a month as well.  Maybe that would be the sweet spot.  Either way, hoping for the best.

    • 124 posts
    April 14, 2020 6:46 PM PDT

    This is a good decision, as much as I enjoy the bi-weekly streams, that schedule was always going to be a pain in the rear end to produce content on such a regular basis. I have a bank of reports to produce once a month at work, and they always come around quicker than I'd like!

    Maybe aim for the last weekday of each month, that's an easy formula for anyone to follow (instead of hunting for a specific, designated date each month).

    • 2419 posts
    April 14, 2020 8:10 PM PDT

    Mathir said:

    Became clear several months ago as you guys continuously punted and postponed these that twice a month was too much to handle.  These video updates were sold to us as an upgrade on the previous monthly newsletters and I tend to feel that they are not.  Would be nice if you could go back to the old written style monthly newsletter updates and then do a content video once a month as well.  Maybe that would be the sweet spot.  Either way, hoping for the best.

    Lets hope they can keep to the monthly schedule...unlike how they kept to the schedule before they switched to bi-weekly..a schedule they couldn't keep up either.

    • 388 posts
    April 14, 2020 9:29 PM PDT

    Vandraad said:

     

    Lets hope they can keep to the monthly schedule...unlike how they kept to the schedule before they switched to bi-weekly..a schedule they couldn't keep up either.

    Just walk away... I got all hyped for a minute during this last stream because they didn't give 1 bean and then stammer around with questions they couldn't answer for 27 minutes. 

    the shaman  content was good. 

    but.

    I watched the video again, and noticed that as a shaman, I have to spend 14-15 AA (points/levels) however you wanna count the AA,   Just to get a group resist poison that can't help the group unless I am casting a poison spell on a mob. the one "buff" i saw in the spell book was a Wisdom buff. but apparently resist buffs are locked behind the first 100 AA points. tied to spells that aren't buffs. ..... i give up.

    Down-ranking gone. think about how fun that will be to level a school of magic. Now you can't cast your lev 1 spell with LOW mana cost to get skill points. True north etc was a great way to level skills. Not any more, that's gone. 

    I think that now that Brad's gone. this whole game is about to change and the end product (if it isn't already a dead project) won't be anything like we hoped we were getting. 

     

    I think they've only actually worked on the UI for the last 6 months. (and maybe the spell book) and that's about it. 

     

    what fragile said. .... 


    This post was edited by Flapp at April 14, 2020 9:33 PM PDT
    • 46 posts
    April 14, 2020 9:54 PM PDT

    Mathir said:

    Would be nice if you could go back to the old written style monthly newsletter updates and then do a content video once a month as well. 

     

    I agree with you. At least the Q&A part could be done in a written newsletter. The Devs can think about their answers without spoiling too much. For content things like class gameplay is a stream more suited. And I'm missing the Community Spotlight :(

    • 627 posts
    April 15, 2020 1:52 AM PDT
    All is good thanks for your transparency in your proces. <3 more beens is always nice! And game progress is most important for any of us after all!
    • 122 posts
    April 15, 2020 8:24 AM PDT

    Cool.... Thanks for the update.... i am looking forward to the stream... I love how passionate Joppa and the guys are when talking about Pantheon...

     

    • 429 posts
    April 15, 2020 8:56 AM PDT

    Thanks for info Brasse , I think it was wise choice . ( beans are good for the heart ) :)

    • 888 posts
    April 15, 2020 10:21 AM PDT
    While many like getting an many videos / updates as possible, they are, from a productivity standpoint, the equivalent of an unnecessary staff meeting that takes time away from actually getting work done.

    VR can't make everyone happy, especially those who are out of patience and whose "criticism" has become unrelenting complaining and doom prognosticating. VR does need to do something to deal with this lest it turn our community into a Blizzard-like toxic waste dump. Not all progress being made is easily visible (or even visible at all) so it can be very hard to show constant progress.

    Rule #1 of making a MMO is that it will run into delays and take much longer than expected. There are only two ways to avoid delays: spend 10s of millions more or release it buggy and incomplete.
    • 34 posts
    April 15, 2020 10:55 AM PDT

    More time for development... I like it!

    • 45 posts
    April 15, 2020 12:03 PM PDT

    A monthly update is fine. I could even do with quarterly updates no problem. Take your time and make the game good!

  • April 15, 2020 12:25 PM PDT

    There is no question that making a game is challenging, even with the support of so many amazing people in our community.

    VR is a small, indie company, and consistently hitting above its weight class in quality. Bear in mind is that this Dev Team does not have the massive budgets of companies who traditionally make AAA products. It means that the Dev team has to constantly adjust process, piplelines and commitments as we all work toward PA5 and Alpha. It ain't easy, and if we were a AAA company, no one would get more than the briefest of peeks into the game in it's Pre-Alpha state... so we've got that going for us, more openness and visibility, along with allowing everyone to see the challenges of development evolution.

    Don't base assessment of the game on the changes to the stream schedule. Having managed streams for two large companies, I can tell you that these adjustments are normal, even when a game is LIVE, never mind in Pre-Alpha.


    Too all who leave, we understand. Thank you, and good luck, we hope to welcome you back one day.
    To those who stay, we really appreciate the support. Thank you and let's carry on with this journey together, one step at a time.

    Brasse


    (BTW: We are not going to moderate any criticism that comes our way, it's a healthy part of the development process, provided it remains constructive criticism. Keep it within the Forum Rules and we're all good!)

    • 429 posts
    April 15, 2020 1:42 PM PDT

    Brasse said:

    There is no question that making a game is challenging, even with the support of so many amazing people in our community.

    VR is a small, indie company, and consistently hitting above its weight class in quality. Bear in mind is that this Dev Team does not have the massive budgets of companies who traditionally make AAA products. It means that the Dev team has to constantly adjust process, piplelines and commitments as we all work toward PA5 and Alpha. It ain't easy, and if we were a AAA company, no one would get more than the briefest of peeks into the game in it's Pre-Alpha state... so we've got that going for us, more openness and visibility, along with allowing everyone to see the challenges of development evolution.

    Don't base assessment of the game on the changes to the stream schedule. Having managed streams for two large companies, I can tell you that these adjustments are normal, even when a game is LIVE, never mind in Pre-Alpha.


    Too all who leave, we understand. Thank you, and good luck, we hope to welcome you back one day.
    To those who stay, we really appreciate the support. Thank you and let's carry on with this journey together, one step at a time.

    Brasse

     

    Again common sense prevails  :) Thank you Brasse , I know you want this to succeed as do we all :)


      Assesssment of game,  your far more ahead then you think you are .. Thank you to all and the team :)

    (BTW: We are not going to moderate any criticism that comes our way, it's a healthy part of the development process, provided it remains constructive criticism. Keep it within the Forum Rules and we're all good!)

    • 429 posts
    April 15, 2020 1:45 PM PDT

    lordy I am so bad at quotes :P ^&^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    • 124 posts
    April 15, 2020 2:01 PM PDT

    Everyone knows constructive criticism is a good thing, it's absolutely critical to the development of anything, and everything, but, there are a few bad apples that are really starting to rot the entire fruit bowl here... They're just so monumentally, relentlessly, loud (without being constructive, just like people on Twitter) that, you can literally see the impact they're having on the community, it really does wear people down over time.

    It reminds me of a quote from Muhammad Ali:

       "It isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the pebble in your shoe"

    This relentless complaining and negativity is the pebble in the community's shoe, the wait for a release date is the mountain ahead. The fomer cannot be dealt with for an extended period, it's just too destructive, the latter can be endured with the right mindset.

    Having said all of the above, I genuinely understand that, and agree that, it's not good to be relentlessly positive when things are not right, either. However, that's not what's happening here, there are plenty of people that are not afraid to raise issues when they arise, and those same people also give credit if / when it's due.


    This post was edited by Shadowbound at April 15, 2020 2:02 PM PDT
    • 200 posts
    April 15, 2020 3:09 PM PDT

    Brasse said:

    There is no question that making a game is challenging, even with the support of so many amazing people in our community.

    VR is a small, indie company, and consistently hitting above its weight class in quality. Bear in mind is that this Dev Team does not have the massive budgets of companies who traditionally make AAA products. It means that the Dev team has to constantly adjust process, piplelines and commitments as we all work toward PA5 and Alpha. It ain't easy, and if we were a AAA company, no one would get more than the briefest of peeks into the game in it's Pre-Alpha state... so we've got that going for us, more openness and visibility, along with allowing everyone to see the challenges of development evolution.

    Don't base assessment of the game on the changes to the stream schedule. Having managed streams for two large companies, I can tell you that these adjustments are normal, even when a game is LIVE, never mind in Pre-Alpha.


    Too all who leave, we understand. Thank you, and good luck, we hope to welcome you back one day.
    To those who stay, we really appreciate the support. Thank you and let's carry on with this journey together, one step at a time.

    Brasse


    (BTW: We are not going to moderate any criticism that comes our way, it's a healthy part of the development process, provided it remains constructive criticism. Keep it within the Forum Rules and we're all good!)

     

    Hi Brasse! thank you for your candor! It is very much appreciated.

    Is there any chance we can get an update on the developement process so the community can better "assess" where we are? Or simply, what is left to be done to move to the next phase of developement? Are we at least more than half way to PA5, Alpha, Beta, the finish line?!?

    Thanks for your time and patience with our impatience.

  • April 15, 2020 3:16 PM PDT

    I don't think I am qualified to make those statements. I see the game, I am privileged to mess around in it, but I do NOT make the judgment calls.
    The next pre-Alpha will be when the Dev team decides it's ready, and they have set a pretty high bar for themselves.

    Me, as an old Dwarf, I'd be happy just to sit around in game and gab with ye all about life, the universe and everything. ;P
    I go by the Producer's Letters as much as you do, because that is where I see the top-down, objective look at where the game is, as opposed to my own perspective.
    Brasse