Hi all.
I listened to the developer round table recently, and one topic came up regarding gear progression, specifically the aesthetics of gear from level 1 to max level (for anyone who has not listened to the round table or does not remember this particular question, the general answer was that gear would look more realistic, and while high level gear would look unique, it would not follow the trend where all gear looks like it's from outer space).
I think that it is a great idea to keep the appearance of gear grounded in reality, especially in lower levels, so that high level gear feels more special.
One similar topic I wanted to bring up is mob progression. Just like gear progression, I feel a lot of MMOs have no real sense of mob progression from an aesthetic or lore perspective. There will be a level 5 giant rock titan, and then a level 20 bat. It really takes me out of the game when I've been fighting huge, mythical beasts, but now suddenly some common animal is a challenge. I find I don't look at what the mob looks like to determine whether it will be a challenge or not, I just look at its level indicator. Conversely, I remember being level 15 or so in Everquest and the scariest monster I had fought and succeeded was a black bear or a caiman, but if I saw a kodiak bear I had to turn tail and run. Giants and other mythical beasts were out of the question until much later on.
I just wanted to bring this up and say I very much prefer the EQ way of doing things where a monster's relative strength was actually indicated by its appearance / mob type. I hope Pantheon takes a similar approach.
I agree 100% and I completely expect the team to have this sort of progression. Something related I have been thinking about is the appearance of armor as both an indicator of mob strength but of what armor they actually have to be looted. A simple gnoll can become visually nasty with the right set of gear as an indicator of strength and experience visually.
I agree with this and am glad to hear the team is also on board and working towards making mobs progress properly.
Sadly what you describe has become so common place anymore that I didn't even notice, however your EQ analogy is spot on. If we look at other mmo's you may have just defeated a giant dragon that threatened the whole world, but now you're on a new continent fighting tigers
I also agree, I think that "unique" gear becomes less desireable when there are like 50 different unique sets that all look similarly flashy and you can't really tell which one is supposed to be better just by looking at them. Granted not all great items need to be flashy either...maybe just a simple but polished and pristine looking piece of armor versus an old dull and dented one would do the trick...you don't need neon lights and gizmo's attached to it for it to be powerful.
In the defense of the mobs, maybe you just killed a big ole dragon that was scary...but when you're fighting ninja snakes that can somehow kick you, you never know what to expect...they can be pretty tough.
Unique gear has to be rare and hard to get. I would not even allow armor dyes.
If everybody is special, nobody is special.
It should be possible to recognize what tier people are in, and how much time and effort they invested into the game, by looking at their gear.
If all that someone did was to kill easy outdoor mobs 1000 times, he/she doesn't get to walk around with a light-saber.
Same for mob progression. Letting people fight really unique, graphically and otherwise, mobs at low levels... it's simply borrowing from your own future. You'll get people oohing and aahing for the first few weeks into the game, and leave out of boredom in a few months.
Isn't that exactly what many other MMOs after WoW did? And they got exactly the result I described, every time.
Same for raid vs group vs solo loot.
Organizing and leading a high-end raid guild is in totally different league from random pickup group content. It should result in a different tier of gear, both by stats and by looks, gear that's either not obtainable in pickup groups (and certainly not solo), or obtainable only through long PITA quests, that may result in one item of raid level (and even that, only on the level of... medium-tier raid loot, for lack of a better word; it should not result in items on the level of the best loot from the endgame boss).
I agree with this as well. On the note of gear progression please please please make items rare again. Make items worth trying to attain them. When it comes to max level gear make it unique. Bring back the status having rare items. I am not opposed to people having the same items but I am opposed of everyone and their mom having the same item. If everyone has it then its probably not that rare or cool. Bring back the status and accomplishment of attaining rare items.