The Pantheon newsletter returns!
This month’s articles include an update on the road to alpha, fantastic new lore with some familiar characters, new videos, screenshots and more.
Good stuff.
"3. Over 100 new NPC abilities and statuses were added throughout the game, many with unique visual effects."
The more the merrier.
"5. The first pass of the Diminishing Returns system was implemented. For those not familiar with what Diminishing Returns means, here is a simple explanation: using an ability that applies a detrimental status effect to a target repeatedly over a short period of time will diminish that effect’s duration on the target until it becomes completely ineffective. This encourages a more thoughtful, strategic use of abilities in combat instead of relying on the same stun over and over again, for example."
Very cool....nice design decision and I hope it's defended and kept in place when the bemoaning starts.
I enjoyed the gaming as a family interview portion of the newsletter. It is a lot like the Spotlight Community Member interviews Kils used to do.
I was a bit disappointed when those spotlight member interviews went away. Is this something that will continue? (I know it isn't exactly a great use of development time so I understand if the answer is no).
philo said:I enjoyed the gaming as a family interview portion of the newsletter. It is a lot like the Spotlight Community Member interviews Kils used to do.
I was a bit disappointed when those spotlight member interviews went away. Is this something that will continue? (I know it isn't exactly a great use of development time so I understand if the answer is no).
This is the community spotlight, but with two players this month we wanted to elaborate a little bit more since they are a great example of one of the many meanings of the phrase Community Matters. They are slated to appear every month as this was our longest recurring feature in our newsletter and one of our favorites. We love our fans and we enjoy hearing your stories.
MedawkyVR said:philo said:I enjoyed the gaming as a family interview portion of the newsletter. It is a lot like the Spotlight Community Member interviews Kils used to do.
I was a bit disappointed when those spotlight member interviews went away. Is this something that will continue? (I know it isn't exactly a great use of development time so I understand if the answer is no).
This is the community spotlight, but with two players this month we wanted to elaborate a little bit more since they are a great example of one of the many meanings of the phrase Community Matters. They are slated to appear every month as this was our longest recurring feature in our newsletter and one of our favorites. We love our fans and we enjoy hearing your stories.
Fantastic newsletter! I am particularly jazzed about the Terrain Streaming, HDRP and Network Overhaul. I know it’s going to be a beast of a project but sounds like it will get the infrastructure in place to get us a few large steps closer to Alpha (and launch)! I really love what you guys have done with the updates this August, keep up the great work!
I think we all here agree that this is a great first step in bringing some standard for the future, I have little doubt that this can and will be consistent given Minus's track record over at P Plus.
I do love the tone and infer from the statemnent about ranger and sumoner that this team is adapting to the current state of the development fluidly and with purpose. It seems to me that the desire to get the networking in overarches almost all of the teams focus. And yet they are also nimbly moving to adress other tasks as well so that when able to implement they are ahead of the curve.
The montage put together from a more directed first person view was a nice touch and something that shows good solid gameplay whilst not cluttering the screen with a streamer face, or clunky looking UI, to me at least. One can see where the base of this game is graphically and see what they need to polish, hit zones and final art animation in regards to that detection as well as more fluid and unique styles that are what sets each class apart. I can't wait to see a fist punching a dent in armor, or blood being absorbed by the Dire Lord from the visceral spray of their enemies. ** please make this happen **
I too enjoy having to take the time to slow my brain down read and re-read the offical lore. So many mysteries and such a deep narrative I feel like an adventurer myself when I sift through the information and make some mental notes to check it all out when we are in game. Thanks Istuulamae for this gift of fantasy.
Great Job to all and keep it coming!!
Onward and Upward.
Zip
philo said:I enjoyed the gaming as a family interview portion of the newsletter. It is a lot like the Spotlight Community Member interviews Kils used to do.
I was a bit disappointed when those spotlight member interviews went away. Is this something that will continue? (I know it isn't exactly a great use of development time so I understand if the answer is no).
I'm glad you enjoyed it mate!
This is kind of like the Community Spotlight (Now called Community Highlight) but with some changes, the questions will be more tailored to whoever I interview and I will be including all kinds of things from the community like artwork, solo stuff, family stuff, content creators and anyone or thing that helps bring us together as a community, so stay tuned :)
Honestly, this newsletter had pretty much everything we could ask for.
Really enjoyed reading about the progress made lately and where we stand as far as the roadmap to Alpha. Lots of things on the list but good progress is being made! Low Health running enemies really brings back memories of chasing one enemy just to run into a group of mobs and getting pummeled heh.
The Month in Review is great for people who dont have time to watch all of the streams and podcasts but want the highlights.
I was happy that one of the other continents were getting some love in the story, really got a picture of what Tenebrous Tundra was like.
And I didn't even know Community Spotlight Interviews used to be done but I'm glad they made a comeback! It's nice to get to know people in the community, that's what this game is about!
Job well done to Minus and congrats on the new position! Looking forward to what next month has in store!
Therefore we’ve decided to postpone finishing the Ranger and the Summoner until after the new Network stack is in place. This is good and bad news. It’s bad news for people who have been excited about the Ranger and Summoner – this means you’ll have to stay patient for a bit longer..
I'm NOT surprise by this news at all. I honestly was expecting it.
2. Pets: To Do
Dependent on the new Network stack. Got to ask. Why after all these years have you not done this before now? Maybe you have a good reason.
5. Basic Guild System: Design Complete
The Guild System and associated in-game Guild Management tool has an approved design. - - -
14. LFG Tool: Design Complete
The LFG Tool design has been approved
Now this is the "only" thing you said that I want to know more about.
2. Pets: To Do - 6. Perception System: To Do - 7. Gathering and Crafting: In Progress - 9. Acclimation: To Do - 10. Climbing improvements: To Do - 11. Dispositions and Traits: In Progress - 12. Ability Loadouts: To Do - 13. Swimming: To Do - 15. Faction: To Do - 17. Player Models: To Do - 18. NPC Models: In Progress - 19. Animations: In Progress - 20. Audio: In Progress - 21. Zones: In Progress
Oooh.
I like this letter style.
Has a lot of concrete things - concrete is good - even patch notes!
I've been a fan of "Letter from the Producer" since FFXIV has done such a great job with the format, and it's nice to have Devs, especially the lead Dev, leveling with and communicating with the audience. There's no way to quantify JUST HOW IMPORTANT this is and how much goodwill it generates. There are many reasons Yoshi P is a legend, and this is one of them.
Me personally, I'm less a fan of the community spotlights and such, but I know some people like that sort of thing, so by all means, keep doing it if it's a hit.
So again, I like - no, LOVE - this style. Please do more of this going forward, it's great! :)
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I have some thoughts about the rest of the content, but need to mull some more. I'm kind of curious how many things on that list of items are "we need this done before Alpha" and how many are NOT. For example, are you guys fine with getting Alpha up before Ranger/Summoner are ready to release? Me personally, I'd be fine with this, but I couldn't tell from reading the letter if you were saying you guys are pushing Ranger/Summoner to post-Alpha luanch, or were still insistant it be complete before Alpha, but just pushing to a later phase of PRE-Alpha.
That wasn't entirely clear.
Interesting to see "returning player" in there. That's not a bad thing to plan for, definitely some good longer term strategic thinking.
Renathras said: I'm kind of curious how many things on that list of items are "we need this done before Alpha" and how many are NOT.
When it was first issued this list had the title "Roadmap to Alpha" and was defined as "essential for Day One of Alpha". In this latest newsletter, it has the same title and is described as "items to get through before Alpha will be ready". That sounds quite clear and straightforward to me as meaning that anything still on this list, still has to happen before Alpha opens. If something gets re-scheduled to after Alpha opens, I expect it to get removed from this list.
Renathras said: I couldn't tell from reading the letter if you were saying you guys are pushing Ranger/Summoner to post-Alpha luanch, or were still insistant it be complete before Alpha, but just pushing to a later phase of PRE-Alpha. That wasn't entirely clear.
Finishing classes has been item #1 on this list since it was created. Having to delay completion of Ranger/Summoner until after the big push to get Terrain Streaming, HDRP and Network Overhaul done is a change that would be noticed, and cause many of us to worry what it foretold. (for example, your question here) So it's reasonable that they would explain the change in the schedule as they did in this letter.
The possibility of having to open Alpha without Ranger/Summoner finished was already acknowledged as possible when this list was first released. It still COULD happen. But I see nothing in the newsletter to suggest that is what they are telling us. It makes no sense to me that they would NOT tell us Ranger/Summoner were postponed until after Alpha opens if that decision has already been made. Even less sense that they would bring up the subject but then tell us something with clearly different implications.
