I think it seems like they're not having exactly that kind of division for elves. I think the halflings fill the wood elf type (the EQ/Vanguard wood elf type, anyway) while the elf lore describes the elves being divided between the isolationalist "Ashen" and the aggressive "Ember".
Night elf?
...I'll show myself out.
Dark Elves or get out! They've always been my favorite race!
Let's throw all this Tolkien and D&D stuff out, let them be Pantheon's Elves, why try and categorize them into stereotypes defined by other games and media when we can have something potentially new.
Just my 2-cents in this, still doesn't change that gnomes>all.
//Voices of Terminus' Youmu/Svartie
Sorsha said:Dark Elves or get out! They've always been my favorite race!
Well, I'm thinking the Skar will be the new Dark elf, but I agree, Dark Elf is one of my favorite races to play, to date, Hathor and Pankor Zhi Dark Elves were the best I have ever seen made in a MMO.
I always liked the EQ version of elves with the exception of the half elf. You'd think a mixed race elf would have varying skin tones, facial features, and height but alas, a half elf is still just an elf. You have no idea how much I wanted a tall, pale blue elf to call my own. :(
That said, what I am seeing as the Pantheon elf I like. Same or very similar features with the differences being cultural/class related. Maybe different abilities for tradeskills and such based on passive vs aggressive (I declined to use good v evil, at least right now).
Malloriana said:I always liked the EQ version of elves with the exception of the half elf. You'd think a mixed race elf would have varying skin tones, facial features, and height but alas, a half elf is still just an elf. You have no idea how much I wanted a tall, pale blue elf to call my own. :(
That said, what I am seeing as the Pantheon elf I like. Same or very similar features with the differences being cultural/class related. Maybe different abilities for tradeskills and such based on passive vs aggressive (I declined to use good v evil, at least right now).
I think I recall that they changed them to like 49% Elf a few months after launch. :)
Gomok said:Sorsha said:Dark Elves or get out! They've always been my favorite race!
Well, I'm thinking the Skar will be the new Dark elf, but I agree, Dark Elf is one of my favorite races to play, to date, Hathor and Pankor Zhi Dark Elves were the best I have ever seen made in a MMO.
I would think the Dark Myr are replacing the Dark Elves.
Beefcake said:Gomok said:Well, I'm thinking the Skar will be the new Dark elf, but I agree, Dark Elf is one of my favorite races to play, to date, Hathor and Pankor Zhi Dark Elves were the best I have ever seen made in a MMO.
I would think the Dark Myr are replacing the Dark Elves.
Yeah I believe Skar are actually what the Trolls turned into during development.
Taledar said:If we are playing wood elves, why can they be all the intelligence casters?
Who's to say Elves can't be intelligent? To say they are actually "wood elves" is an extremely basic, low-level comparison. While it may technically be the most similar, there's still so much more to it than that. It's best to think of them as a new race, rather than just bunching them with the closest thing in EQ. Just as the closest comparison to Pantheon itself may be EQ, there's still so much more to it than just that. Drawing direct connections is very limiting.
Bazgrim said:Taledar said:If we are playing wood elves, why can they be all the intelligence casters?
Who's to say Elves can't be intelligent? To say they are actually "wood elves" is an extremely basic, low-level comparison. While it may technically be the most similar, there's still so much more to it than that. It's best to think of them as a new race, rather than just bunching them with the closest thing in EQ. Just as the closest comparison to Pantheon itself may be EQ, there's still so much more to it than just that. Drawing direct connections is very limiting.
I don't see any cookies so they can't be that smart.
Bazgrim said:Taledar said:If we are playing wood elves, why can they be all the intelligence casters?
Who's to say Elves can't be intelligent? To say they are actually "wood elves" is an extremely basic, low-level comparison. While it may technically be the most similar, there's still so much more to it than that. It's best to think of them as a new race, rather than just bunching them with the closest thing in EQ. Just as the closest comparison to Pantheon itself may be EQ, there's still so much more to it than just that. Drawing direct connections is very limiting.
Even in the lore, can you find anything that says elves are intelligent? I see a lot on wisdom, and on their tree, and on their sense of duty and their desire to purge the world of evil...But nothing that comes even close to the gnome lore on just screaming "intelligent" with every line.
Elves in other stories can be all the intelligence casters. They are even very wise, have past or present long term battles with forces of pure evil, and love trees. If you look hard you can find many easy comparisons between Pantheon races/classes and those things in other fantasy stories. For example; The similarity between Pantheon Archai and DnD's Genasi.
The Pantheon Lore guy is fantastic at what he does, but I don't think it's unfair to make comparisons between his work and other works.
____
The best explanation I can give Taledar is one I got on a similar topic about how wise folk like dwarves could get an intelligent caster role like enchanter. In this other post, I argued that a race which isn't insanely intelligent could not realistically be expected to cast spells that are essentially mind control. I learned that:
1. The individual races might have significant, game play related, differences when it comes to how they play a particular class. Dwarven enchanters might actually have different spells than gnomish enchanters; Dwarven spells might be more based on enchanting inanimate objects, such as metals. Gnomes and other more intelligent races are then left with the actual mind control.
This also helps to explain why a race like halflings, who would take using words to turn their enemies, such as laughing wraiths, in stride, didn't get enchanting. Halflings would be interested in enchanting minds. But they are not intelligent, nor arcane inclined, enough to actually accomplish any form of mind control (the only aspect of the Enchanter class they are interested in.)
Wood elves may use aspects of the "intelligence" based classes in some unique way that pertains to wood elves' strengths/weaknesses.
2. Vr's reasoning for adding in things like gnome rogues, archai monks, or dwarven enchanters can be looked into pretty deeply.
It could be fair to say that VR is more interested in the picture in their minds and that picture's effect on gameplay.
This IS a game after all. We have features like the holy trinity, despite their lack of realism.
Thus, even if wood elves aren't realistically intelligent enough for intelligence based spells, VR perceives intelligent wood elves as an interesting and valuable part of their game, so long as you are willing to go outside of the box (like with gnome rogues).
In this case, my previous example of halfling enchanters could be explained away by VR simply not feeling halfling enchanters are an interesting and useful addition to Pantheon gameplay.