Lifted from---> https://www.libraryofpantheon.com/ ---> Perception (system that allows for organic discovery of lore)
I would imagine that if you wish to know less of the lore, then not pursuing becoming a Keeper would suffice.
Myself, I will be going at the Keeper thing 100%.
Khadgar- "knowledge is power"
I hope there is some programmed discernment between player driven and game driven, like, Game driven: if there is a locked door, we can backtrack and someone may get a ping for a key or how to get the key. On the otherhand, Player driven: 2 players walk into an abandoned house, one sees faded magical wards on the floor, the other, upon looking at a painting gets a ping to some family history they had read on in town as part of a different quest. The player with the history has no clue about the wards, the player with the wards sees nothing in the painting.
So possibly, I could spend 3 months learning the dance of your people just by looking for things everywhere in your hometown, or, take it as it comes and look into those things that interest me.
Really good topic! Here's my 2 cents...
I HATED the fact that there was no official information on the chessboard on Butcherblock, for instance. There were many different theories, but no official info. That was the same for a ton of content just thrown into EQ. That drove me crazy because I wanted there to be a meaning to it, something I could uncover if I went to the right place that I could tie the chessboard to, even if there was no published lore script about it, at least there wouldbe something that referenced it somewhere else in game.
Now, for those not like me, I don't think the perception system will take out mystery from the game. This is why:
The narratives of lore are from the perspective of a certain character, NOT an omniscient narrator. To date,, they have all had bias clear in their writings. This leads to potential half truths or other perspectives on events. We already see this shaping up in human lore. E'mani Karos is branded a traitor and goes off and founds a militia fighting against the crown in Thronefast. There will be things to learn in game, but if you choose to align with BRK, you may find much different info than you would if you chose to align with Queen Amenthiel and Thronefast. Which is right? It's kind of like choosing sides in Skyrim. Everyone is telling some truths and some lies about the other side.
Second, for every new story that fill in a piece of lore, it opens up to new questions. For instance, why did the humans march on Azeris? We don't know, but if we find out that there was a magical relic there and the humans were trying to keep it from the evil forces in Azeris, then what were they trying to do with it? Where did it come from? Why did humans want it? Are they planning on using it against one of their enemies? I have whole articles written in the forums under Lore claiming all kinds of absurdities because there is always going to be a motive, a bit of history, a different perspective on events that can drive a new narrative. The fact that there is more story to do this with is exciting to me!
I hope that's a fresh perspective.
I get the feeling that there will still be plenty of intrigue, if not total mystery, in Pantheon.
Whilst there will be tons of lore, I'm sure, the style we are seeing already is often cryptic, incomplete or 'mytholgical' rather than historical. There will be interpretation and gaps.
I know what the OP means about wanting to feel like you are in an organically unfolding world of discovery and not wanting to be 'handed' lore, but it feels to me like perception will be much more like intriguing insight than random lore-dump. Something that drives exploration rather than hands out solutions.
But, yeah, if you wish to maintain mystery, don't be a Keeper is the answer ;^) And as always, don't read the inevitable Wikis.
You'll get perception pings, but only the very basic "what the heck does that mean?" ones hehe.
Benonai said:Really good topic! Here's my 2 cents...
I HATED the fact that there was no official information on the chessboard on Butcherblock, for instance. There were many different theories, but no official info. That was the same for a ton of content just thrown into EQ. That drove me crazy because I wanted there to be a meaning to it, something I could uncover if I went to the right place that I could tie the chessboard to, even if there was no published lore script about it, at least there wouldbe something that referenced it somewhere else in game.
...
Totally agree with this. IMO placing such a structure in the world and then telling the players nothing about it, feels wrong to me. At the very least, have the local NPCs have their own theories about it, even if they don't know "the truth". It's not neccessary that a historian NPC stands next to each ruin and explains its history, but there should be stories or at least myths that you can learn from the people living nearby. Or if you could find inscriptions, symbols or anything (and why not via perception?) and eventually make some connection to the world's lore for yourself.
Project Faerthale was the first place we saw the Perception system working as intended. I will just note that what you discovered on your own affected the answer and relationship you had with the NPC. If you spent more time looking, you received more info but if you missed stuff, it was a totally different answer.
I hope that assuages fears, DagnyStout. They are NOT lore dumping. Another example is Fort Deviare:
Poor Adella Windlain gushes as much of a story as you would like to hear about Count Galion Deviare being overtaken by the power of the Azure Queen, some might call it a bit of a lore dump. BUT it is contradicted by Diogracius, the head researcher, who tells everyone that the Count is just fine and is out on another hunt in Frosja Nochta. If you never went down into the caverns underneath the fort and delved deep enough to find the Azure Queen down there, you would never know that Count Galion actually is down there and Diogracious was lying to characters about him to cover up his own misdeeds there at the fort.
This layered lore content is as much a part of the combat game loop as it is just lore. The lore, so far, has held many veiled clues to what we might find out in the world if we go exploring. So it's not just about history, but about the present and what it means for the gameplay loops.
BTW, no lore has given specifics about how or where to do anything directly. Only very subtle clues that may or may not be true. So much fun.
Good example of this here -> Maps, Dragons, And Love article on Pantheon.Plus
I agree that done well, this system could really add some depth to the story experience. I especially like the idea that certain dialogue options or NPC reactions are based on past actions/conversations/etc. So long as the pings are more in the hint side of the equation, I think it could be very fun. I just want there to be opportunity for debate and engagement in the community. I don't need some keeper coming by and telling me that the answer to the riddle is ABC because they already solved it. Leave some msystery and debate among us to fill in gaps and argu for theory a versus theory b.
One of my unstated concerns is priority for alpha. If you can tell good story with NPC dialogue, drops, and other content clues, it is really an essential system. The scope of alpha feels too big already with combat, class interdepedence, crafting, swimming, climbing, etc already that MUST be fully tested and experienced for a meaningful Alpha. Why not hold off on perception until later, maybe even as a post release item. Instead, just log the heck out of everything: named npc kills, special loot, proximity to POI etc into a big old dump and then update everyone when perception is fully ready.
I have every intention of being a keeper, at least with some of my character slots, but also could see the game getting a thorough assessment in aplha without the perception system.
