Hi folks, we wanted to say a big thank you for your support in joining us for our AMA stream! There were so many great questions that we couldn’t get through them all during the allotted time, but we were still reading and gathered up as many as we could so we could answer them for you here. We look forward to the discussion and feedback in the comments below about these topics, as well as to this overall new format. Let's get started!
Dosi70 - How will you implement a teleport system in a way that doesn't violate the spirit of "We want the world to feel big"?
Joppa: There needs to be a relationship between a massive world with a high amount of traversable landmass (including Pantheon’s verticality) and the amount of teleport locations. If there are too many teleport locations, it could have a negative effect on the perceived size of the world. However, our stated goal is to ensure that travel is meaningful, not overly tedious.
Raidil - Once all the tanks have had their spotlight will you do a stream showing how they compare in doing their job vs the different types?
Minus: As we continue to work on classes and get them to a place where we can show them off, we are very excited to put out some content on them. We heard everyone loud and clear on the Monk video and are excited to do more. When the classes are in a place where we can showcase differences in real situations, I think that would be a great thing to show off. As a big part of my job is creating content, I’m just as excited to get to it as you are all to see it.
Nagasakee - Any consideration of a soft rollout…instead of the mad rush on Launch Day that often causes bad press, maybe stagger it a bit…have the Pre-Alphas VIP’s in 72 hours early, the Alpha Champions 48, the Beta’s 24?
Joppa: No specific plans for a staggered launch at this time, but it is something that we are carefully considering to minimize the impact of congestion during the first few weeks.
Jothony - Can there be 'Drop Bears' as NPC's somewhere on Terminus please? (Even if only on one small island)
Minus: No way, Kilsin would love that! A sneaky drop bear following him around stealthed in the trees ready to pounce when he's in trouble…
SinizterDeedz - Is it intended that CC'd mobs break mez on taunts and non-damaging debuffs or is that just a change that has not been implemented in the PA sessions we've seen?
Joppa: This is not intended and is being addressed as part of our combat system improvements
walkingwaste1 - Any plans to add some more stories for future Producer's Letters?
Minus: Without a doubt! I absolutely love working with JN Gerhart, and I know he loves sharing what he can with the community. Things like lore and concept art reveals with Jared Pullen are always community favorites and I hope to have a lot of that in future newsletters, while not over working these two wonderful gentlemen.
Realfazool - When can we reserve names? Names are important to some of us, as I've had mine for three decades!
Minus: All of our current pledge levels starting at the $50 Watcher’s Pledge and up will grant supporters the ability to reserve character names and create characters prior to the official launch of the game. Until we have a planned launch date, it would be hard to give an exact date.
Hypercrush – Are you still planning on having separate starting zones for each race?
Joppa: Yes - each Race will have their own starting area.
Firegrillie - Right now how many people are on the VR team and how much time does the team invest into developing the game every week on average (versus other commitments you have such as family)?
Minus: As team members are brought onto the team, or if anyone steps away, we keep the “Team” page on Pantheonmmo.com up to date. You can check that out at the bottom of the main page to keep yourself up to date with the team there. In regards to how much time people put in, it's hard to give an exact number. Depending on people’s roles, current projects, and needs it can be wildly different. What I will say is that this team puts in a LOT of hours. At any time of the day I feel like I can ping someone and get a response back in a pretty timely manner, of course depending on time zone differences. The team at VR is incredibly dedicated to the project, and no one is shy of putting in the hours.
Dougbug - In an ideal world, what would you consider the IDEAL future size for the Visionary Realms team?
Joppa: An ideal team size is having the specific amount of people you need to get the job done well. While we’re not going to give a specific number here, we are not interested in growing into a massive, bloated team. A tight, close-knit, passionate and agile team is our sweet spot.
DesrynDoes – Is there a website update coming any time soon?
Minus: Why yes there is. As time allows, more is being added to the website. The next update will include some of the lore from the old website.
Archbishopps - will we have a surname system in Pantheon? Having a first and last name added a lot of flavor to games like EQ. and earning that surname at higher levels was always a fun milestone in EQ.
Joppa: We are definitely fans of unlocking surnames as a means of prestige.
EQN13 - Any chance you guys will reconsider and give us a (fog) in game map.
Joppa: We are planning on having an in-game, topographical map that unveils through fog of war as you explore. Note that this is not a minimap.
Bountycode - What games are you guys playing in between development for fun/inspiration?
Minus: I still put time into Hades on occasion, but I also played through 12 Minutes, a really neat indie game on Xbox Game Pass. I dabbled in New World for a bit and played some original Quake. That said, there’s no game I play more than the Adobe Creative Suite. That said, the team had some fun with this one in our group chat, so here’s what everyone said below:
Joppa has been spending time in Metroid Dread, Minecraft, and FIFA 22 Career mode. I also have it on good accord that he has died quite a bit on Metroid Dread bosses, but he will not say just how much.
Kyle has been putting some time into Valorant and still dabbles a bit in World of Warcraft.
Saicred has put a small amount of time into Valorant, P99, and Smite, but also just downloaded Breath of the Wild and is looking to get into that a bit.
Adam is always trying new items, but currently is putting time into Monster Hunter (Rise), Gloomhaven, and Final Fantasy XIV.
Artois has been mostly playing D&D and the Age of Sigmar Tabletop.
Tod has been playing a lot of Gloomhaven and is currently working his way through Dragon Quest XI on the switch.
Nephele has been short-bursting a rotation of MMORPGs, but mostly Final Fantasy XIV and SWTOR, after dipping into New World a bit. Outside of MMORPGs he’s spent some time playing Stellaris, Age of Empires IV, Rimworld, Oxygen Not Included, and Solasta.
JN has been playing mostly Age of Empires 2 & 4, while spending some time in Final Fantasy XIV and SWTOR.
Kilsin has been rotating through Call of Duty Vanguard, Football Manager 2022, Age of Empires 4 and Forza Horizon 5.
Kim just finished playing through The Last of Us 2, and usually sticks to single player RPGs, and of course testing Pantheon!
Jeanna played 100s of hours in Atlas, making her island into a resort and selling animals, she admits to being rather addicted to it, but has recently gotten away from it with some Dead by Daylight.
Roenick has been playing Marvel Strike Force on his phone and can’t explain because he typically doesn’t like games like this, but he’s gotten sucked in.
Rob played some Minecraft Dungeons with his kid, but admittedly hasn’t played it in a while, or much of anything.
Ben Dean has been checking out New World, dabbling in Genshin Impact, VRing in Resident Evil 4 on the Oculus Quest 2, and going retro with Final Fantasy 9.
DesrynDoes: How much content are you looking to show off before release, even to testers? Will you be holding some cards to your chest even throughout the whole testing process?
Joppa: Absolutely. We are aiming to create a highly immersive adventuring experience with Pantheon, which means the importance of exploration and discovery is paramount. Therefore we will continue to be careful when deciding what and how much to show of the game publicly.
MarovecVralt - While we know that Pantheon won’t be a primarily “quest driven MMO” (a la WoW), we do know there are some quests, as well as the perception system, that will provide content. How much “content” will there be that revolves around Pantheon’s version of “questing”?
Joppa: A significant amount of game content will be centered around Tasks, Perilous Tasks and Storylines. We approach Tasks as the more mundane “jobs” that an NPC might ask you to do for them if you inquire. These could result in a bit of coin, a small amount of experience, an item reward, a means of increasing your reputation, or any combination of the above. Perilous Tasks represent more dangerous quests that will usually require more than one player to band together in order to succeed. With Perilous Tasks, the potential rewards will definitely be commensurate with the risk. And finally, Storylines are unique to the Perception system, and will be a primary means through which players will progress as Keepers and unlock the vast Lore of Terminus.
An important thing to emphasize when talking about Pantheon’s specific vision towards “questing” is that we are committed to creating a non-linear experience, giving the player a deep sense of sovereignty in how they approach this sphere of content.
Shodyshadow - With the launch of other new MMORPGs, have you guys taken note of any of their successes or failures to implement into Pantheon?
Minus: I can tell you that the team is always jumping into new MMORPGs and follow the news and communities around them a great deal. There’s a lot to learn from different launches or testing that is out there. It’s very common for the team to share articles, experiences, and opinions on the genre.
Nemufae - Will there be any quick return abilities or items e.g. Bind+Gate/Hearthstone/Origin/Recall?
Joppa: Yes. You can expect certain classes to have abilities similar to Bind/Gate. You will also have the opportunity to find rare artifact items that could have similar effects. Just ask our testers about the Golden Fife!
Archbishopps – Will you take part in the draft this year?
Minus: Last year our friendly neighborhood Ogre, Medawky, took part in the draft on behalf of Visionary Realms. I’m sure we’ll work towards having representation there this year, if they will have us.
LevelUpLarry – Any plans for spell particle progression similar to everquest or other mmorpgs?
Joppa: If we do particle progression it would be representative of a specific ability’s power, rather than applied to all abilities as a byproduct of being higher level.
We hope you all enjoyed this added feature of our AMA session from this month's live stream, and look forward to doing more in the future as it has recieved very positive support. Don't forget to check out the November newsletter for even more goodies, which will go live at 10am EST Today.
Read the November Newsletter Here!
There are many things here that almost beg for discussion (almost all of which I like and appreciate I do not use discussion as a euphemism for criticism). That will best be done in separate threads or by "necroing" old threads on these topics. This post will limit itself to a general statement that I much appreciate the information and almost entirely agree with the decisons you have made.
Answering MORE questions than you had time for in the stream? Oh boy, whatever you guys were smoking, go have some more!!
This is really great VR. A+ for communication with your supporters. Thanks a ton.
Guessing you had something to do with it happening, Minus. Keep up the good work.
Dosi70 - How will you implement a teleport system in a way that doesn't violate the spirit of "We want the world to feel big"?
Joppa: There needs to be a relationship between a massive world with a high amount of traversable landmass (including Pantheon’s verticality) and the amount of teleport locations. If there are too many teleport locations, it could have a negative effect on the perceived size of the world. However, our stated goal is to ensure that travel is meaningful, not overly tedious.
I hope this means port spots are restrictive and highly dangerous.
For instance: when velious opened up there was one Spires to Great Divide, they said dont go. I wanted to see because I heard there was a city of dwarves fairly close by to the port, maybe I could make it if I was careful and ran. They said NO!. when I came on later I went by myself and died as soon as I landed. They were too high! a wolf got me right away. No one could rez me because by the time people of a appropriate level landed, they were off like a shot or getting rid of what was on them and then hoofing it before something else came by. So I ate a death, had to.
If there are open ports to other areas, I would like them to be very dangerous even up to high levels. Like, is there a port to wilds end? sure, but its in the middle of the well and you'll get the bends if you rise fast enough to avoide whats in the well just to get to the surface, let alone the pollen thats waiting up top this time of year unless you're ok with using some pressure acclimation but it will slow you down. Can you hold your breath? kind of thing.
