Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Pets and Pantheon

    • 429 posts
    August 20, 2016 8:29 AM PDT

    Raidan said:

    Late to the the party... but, I'll throw my two cents in.

    I like pet classes - enjoyed the necromancer and beastlord in EQ, and other variations in games afterward.  I enjoyed hybrids who also had a lesser form of that pet such as the Shadowknight in EQ.  I am not a fan of cosmetic pets, just as I'm not a fan of ridiculous wardrobe changes.

    From reading Brad's post a few times, I'm thinking the pets for "non" pet classes would be more akin to the familiar he mentioned in the post.  That the pet would give +resistances, or +hp/mana regen etc. similar to how familiars can be used in EQ today.  That said, I'm still not a huge fan of the idea, and, the gotta catch them all phrase did make me think of some sort of JRPG monster catcher game.  But, if it was implemented this way, I would adjust and it wouldn't be a dealbreaker by any means.

    However, as Amsai said, Brad's reference to not using pets being disavantageous can be read into as well.  And, I'm all for alternate forms of progression, but, if these pets level up beside the character and can be equipped - that makes me think more mercenary from current day EQ than familiar.  So, I'll reserve judgement at this point until more information can be released and I'm hoping it's more in line with the familiar status and not the mercenary.

    What I do know though is if I have to collect a ton of pets or a ton of gear for different climates etc., it will eventually border on too much.  I get it as it provides shinies for people to collect and keep people interested, but call me simple - I like having my "gear" and maybe a few pieces of resist gear. 

    1000 % agree make that a even million 

    • 432 posts
    August 20, 2016 9:20 AM PDT

    Am I doing it right? :3

     

    Sent via mobile

     

    -Todd

    • 1778 posts
    August 20, 2016 9:23 AM PDT

    @Todd

    YES!!!

    • 187 posts
    August 20, 2016 11:27 AM PDT

    tehtawd said:

    Am I doing it right? :3 

    -Todd


    LOL, lets pray you aren't doing it right. Haha.

    Edit: Ok, that'd be a pretty sweet pet.


    This post was edited by Syntro at August 20, 2016 4:46 PM PDT
    • 21 posts
    August 20, 2016 4:52 PM PDT

    I want a necro monk....a necromonkian....that would be cool

    • 33 posts
    August 21, 2016 4:48 AM PDT

    In regards to flying mounts, a possible solution to overcoming logistic and skipping content issues would be to restrict where you can land. Perhaps your character has to identify safe landing spots on foot before your end game mount can land there. Hence a player can fly around as much and anywhere they want, but can only land in those "safe" spots. The more you explore, the more places you can land.

    In addition to my previous thoughts, add in a beastmaster skill line that restricts what you can ride until your leveled high enough. While you may own a flying mount, you can't fly it until your sufficient.

     

    Mod Edit: Copy/Paste double post into original post and removed double post, please use the "Edit" function to add additional thoughts instead of creating a new post to help save on bloat and keep information consolidated on the Dev forums :)


    This post was edited by VR-Mod1 at August 22, 2016 4:35 PM PDT
    • 432 posts
    August 22, 2016 1:20 PM PDT

    I just wanted to add, my husband is a huge fan of pets in mmorpgs. Telling him about the death penalty made him show a lot of avoidance at first but this made him excited to try out Pantheon for sure. That and the mini-garrison or outpost creation you can do.

    Thanks Brad for adding in the pets info within this thread.

     

    -Todd

    • 613 posts
    August 23, 2016 11:50 AM PDT

    Dumb question for the Dev Team.  Is there evenpets ready for us to see in the game as it sits now?  No presure was curious and maybe we could see one on the net VR stream? 

     

    Ox

     

    • 1618 posts
    December 26, 2016 5:16 PM PST

    Aradune said:

    Here's some information about our plans for Pets -- disclaimer:  we're not at a point yet where this is set in stone, so please consider it our current thoughts but not a commitment to exactly how Pets will work in-game.  Also, some of these design plans may be implemented after launch -- at this time it is too early to, with certainty, commit to what functionality is present at launch vs. added later via an expansion or update.  All that said, this should pretty clearly show you what we're thinking, the direction we're going, etc.  Of course, as always, quesitons and comments welcome.

    Transient Pets

    A transient pet is similar to a no-rent item – when you log out, it is removed from your inventory.  Transient pets may also have timers associated with them – if so, when the timer runs out, the pet disappears and its icon is removed from your inventory.  There may also be ‘unsummon’ spells that you can cast or can be cast on you.  If one of these goes off on you, it would be very similar to your transient pet running out of time – the pet would disappear and the pet icon would be removed from your inventory.  When a transient pet for any reason is ‘unsummoned’, not only does the pet’s icon disappear from your inventory, but any items stored on that pet or equipped on that pet are also lost.  Transient pets are created by casting an Ability that creates the pet.  A transient pet’s level is typically at or around the level of Ability (or, if we choose, it could be based off another field in the Ability class).  The pet’s character model, it’s stats, its abilities, and its behaviors are all determined by the Ability used to summon the pet.

    The greatest variety of transient pets are summoned by the Summoner class.  Since transient pets are generally ‘summoned’, the idea is that the player is grabbing an elemental or some other type of being from a different plane and forcibly bringing it here to the player’s plane and then being able to command it to fight or do other tasks.  So transient pets are typically elemental in nature, with the traditional resistances and weaknesses to heat, cold, etc.  That said, while most summon spells will be cast by Summoners and while most transient pets will be elemental based, these are by no means hard and fast rules.

    Persistent Pets

    Persistent Pets are also represented by an icon in your inventory and as a 3D character model in-game (in world space) if they are activated.  Persistent pets can be activated (summoned into the world) by double-clicking on their icon in the player’s inventory.  Typically, only one Persistent Pet may be active (in world space) at a time, although there could be exceptions to that general rule.

    Persistent pets are more typically associated with the player character’s race and not class (the opposite of transient pets, which are more typically associated with the character’s class).  There are, however, exceptions to this rule, one being a Crusader’s Warhorse (traditionally Paladin-like classes have the ability at certain levels to summon a loyal Warhorse to their side).  Whereas transient pets are often elemental in nature, persistent pets are often akin to ‘familiars’.  Some persistent pets will fight with you.  Some will not fight, but can be damaged and killed.  Some will not fight and are not affected by damage and therefore typically cannot be killed.  Note that if a persistent pet is killed, it will die in world space and there will likely be an indicator in the UI on the icon letting you know that the pet’s status is dead.  Also note that when a persistent pet is dead, you cannot access items stored on that pet or equipped by that pet.  To that end, depending on the type of persistent pet, there will be ways to resurrect or ‘bring back to life’ your persistent pet.  These resurrections, how they are accomplished, and what triggers them can vary widely depending on the type of persistent pet.  

    Persistent Pets are generally purchased, dropped as loot, or given to a player as a reward for finishing a quest (as mentioned previously, one exception would be the persistent mount that Crusaders can call to themselves).  The level, type, abilities, behaviors, etc. of a persistent pet are typically all based on which NPC spawns when that particular pet is activated (brought it into world space).  Many persistent pets that will fight by your side also gain experience and can thus level up, have its skills go up, etc., just like a PC or NPC.  Their initial level would depend on the data for that NPC, but after that, the pet could level up and become more and more formidable.  There are some goals associated with this behavior:  1. There should be an advantage to obtaining a persistent pet and then leveling him up over time, keeping him in your possession, over merely selling your pet when you find another one that is inherently higher level (those advantages are TBD and need to be thought through) and 2. There should be an attraction to collect pets as well as build them up as you play Pantheon – we should try to incorporate the ‘gotta collect them all’ paradigm from similar games where applicable.

    Vehicles

    Vehicles are a Persistent Pet sub-type.  Typically, pet vehicles are mounts (e.g. horses) or boats/ships.  The key is that Vehicle Persistent Pets can be used as transportation.  Mounts typically allow you to travel faster overland than normal travel speed.  Boats and ships typically allow you to traverse over water at reasonable speeds, almost always far superior to swimming.  Some mounts may allow you to traverse certain terrain types, while others may be restricted.  Likewise, boats and ships may be restricted to how deep the water can be that they sail over – this means you could find a boat that would allow you to travel down a river, or up the coast (staying near to shore), but not allow you to head out into the open ocean.

    Vehicles, like other persistent pets, may or may not engage in combat.  Typically, a mount like a War Horse would both deal and receive damage.  A ship or boat, however, would typically receive damage but not deal it (until perhaps post-launch when we allow ships to be equipped with weapons).  Mounts die and ships are ‘destroyed’.  Mounts leave a corpse, while ships leave ‘flotsam’.  Just as with other persistent pets, a Vehicle’s inventory may not be accessed when it is dead or destroyed.  Bringing a mount back to life or repairing a destroyed ship will be possible, although the methods will likely vary significantly depending on the type of Vehicle.  For example, one might require a player with certain ship building crafting skills to repair a ship, allowing you to use it again and to access its inventory.  Regardless of the proper method, doing so will usually require spending resources so that allowing your Vehicle to be destroyed/killed is something players may risk, but will also do their best to avoid.

    When you are riding on a mount or traveling on another type of Vehicle, not only might your movement speed vary depending on the type of vehicle and how it is equipped (perhaps your Warhorse has magical horseshoes equipped, increasing its movement speed), but your movement type or status may change from normal travel (walking/running) to a special status (e.g. horseback).  Travelling on ‘horseback’ may offer additional advantages (or even disadvantages) in addition to changing your movement speed.  For example, an NPCs ability to aggro you, or their aggro radius, may vary if you are on horseback (making it easier for you to avoid being attacked when riding a horse).  That said, some NPCs may have the ability to forcibly dismount you, essentially knocking you from the saddle and returning you to walking/running mode.  Some mounts may inherently offer you protection from a dismount, while others may be advantageous in other areas, but more susceptible to a dismount.  

    Restricted Access to Specific Regions/Zones

    Zones and/or regions within zones (perhaps even climates/atmospheres) may include restrictions on pets.  It may not be possible to have an activated (in world space) pet in certain regions or climates/atmospheres.  You also may be more or less susceptible to the effects of a climate/atmosphere when using a Vehicle.  In many instances, you will not be able to descend into a dungeon while mounted on your horse, but if you dismount and order the horse to follow you (like a traditional pet), you’ll be able to enter the dungeon.  Once inside such a restricted region, double clicking on the mount in your inventory will not enable you to mount the vehicle but will rather display a message explaining that you mount vehicles where you are currently located.

    Pets and their ability to possess/contain Items

    All pets can carry items in their general inventory, and many can also wear items and wield weapons.  To place items in a pet’s General Inventory or to equip a pet with an item, ‘open up’ the pet just as you would a bag or other container by right clicking on it.  If the pet can wear or wield items, the UI container windows will indicate what locations the item slots refer to.  If the pet can only store items in its general inventory, you will only see generic slots.  Some special types of pets will have specific location slots; for example, a mount like a horse may have slots for a saddle, saddlebags, horseshoes, etc.  Also, just as with other containers, the items placed inside of a pet may have some of their weight mitigated or even totally eliminated, making storing items on a pet advantageous in relation to encumbrance.  Many pets that will fight by your side can be equipped with items, taking full or partial advantage of that item’s attributes, damage, speed, procs, etc.  By making equipping pets an important part of Pantheon, we are creating yet another reason to hold onto and hoard items, even if they are not your current ‘best’, which should, along with many other systems, slow MUDflation and reduce the frequency items are twinked (given or sold to players lower level than the item).  This behavior should be encouraged, just as other systems with the same goal are encouraged, enabling us to avoid hard rules like ‘bind-on-equip’ and ‘no-trade’ without having MUDflation and twinking run rampant.

    Flying Mounts

    At this point, there are no plans to include Flying Mounts in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.  Flying Mounts present quite a few problems when it comes to implementing and preserving content.  Unrestricted flying mounts allow players to simply fly over content they wish to bypass.  If that content was not meant to be bypassed, then lots of rules and game logic for Flying Mounts must be implemented.  If you don’t build the game world from the ground up keeping Flying Mounts in mind, it can become quite a mess.  We have found that, typically, Flying Mounts are more trouble than they are worth.  An exception might be a ‘ferry ride’, where you can use a specific Flying Mount that you come across in a specific location, or as part of a quest reward, etc.  In such a controlled environment, the player can use the Flying Mount, fly up into the sky, follow a predefined path, enjoy the view, and then land in a predetermined location.  Pantheon may use restricted path Flying Mounts, at least post launch.  Unrestricted Flying Mounts, however, create many problems we want to avoid in Pantheon (including preserving the joy and reward of exploration, preserving meaningful travel, and stopping players from bypassing content).  It is therefore unlikely, even post-launch, that Pantheon will feature unrestricted Flying Mounts.

     

    I did not see this thread earlier. I have to say that i like the categories and their potential.

    Of course, since this post is 6-months old, it might not even still be the current plan.


    This post was edited by Beefcake at December 26, 2016 5:18 PM PST
    • 323 posts
    December 27, 2016 9:47 PM PST
    Now that this thread has been reanimated, I'll just add my voice to the chorus of voices from earlier this summer that cried out in dismay at the idea of having every class needing to own pets (other than mounts) to get the most out of their character. I personally do not like pet classes and would be disappointed if I had to have a pet following me around even if I roll a paladin or whatever. The idea of having to get gear for a pet also turns me off. We'll have enough to think about with just gearing a single character for the many situations and environments that pantheon likely will present. At the very least, let there be an option to not display non-combat pets, as others noted earlier in the thread.
    • 118 posts
    December 27, 2016 10:17 PM PST

    Gnog said: Now that this thread has been reanimated, I'll just add my voice to the chorus of voices from earlier this summer that cried out in dismay at the idea of having every class needing to own pets (other than mounts) to get the most out of their character. I personally do not like pet classes and would be disappointed if I had to have a pet following me around even if I roll a paladin or whatever. The idea of having to get gear for a pet also turns me off. We'll have enough to think about with just gearing a single character for the many situations and environments that pantheon likely will present. At the very least, let there be an option to not display non-combat pets, as others noted earlier in the thread.

     

    I agree that I don't want to HAVE to use pets, i generally think its dumb to have something following me around unless I play a pet class. 


    This post was edited by OneForAll at December 27, 2016 10:17 PM PST
    • 1618 posts
    December 28, 2016 12:59 PM PST

    I believe most of the pets that you would be "forced" to use would not be the type that follow you around. They would most likely be temporary pets with temporary effects. In that way, just think of them as a spell that looks like a pet.

    The more permanent ones would be more of a class choice.


    This post was edited by Beefcake at December 28, 2016 1:00 PM PST
    • 284 posts
    December 28, 2016 3:17 PM PST

    FFXI had such a system in which you had a "companion" that was basically an npc you could level up and equip gear on to specialize it. It worked pretty well for a few reasons:

     

    1. Instead of the "pet slot" they took up literally a slot in your party.
    2. Using one in a party with other people was either impossible, or at the very least was not as useful as another person by half (I forget which).
    3. Soloing was obviously easier with a levelled companion, but still paled in comparison to exp'ing or grouping as a party. Most monsters of any relevance were things you wouldn't bother "soloing" with a companion if you had any choice.
    4. Levelling one up took a considerable amount of time and effort and, because you didn't get gear thrown at you like in modern games the actual gear the companion had was usually terrible or really outdated (unless you just doted on them)

    I'm ok with having a companion pet that sort of takes the same role, as long as it's clear that another person is infinitely preferrable given the choice. It's like a nice side-game you can mess around with that doesn't really affect the partying dynamics.

    Note that FFXIV has something similar with chocobo companions, although in true FFXIV fashion it is infinitely shittier in comparison to its older cousin.

    • 1618 posts
    December 28, 2016 3:20 PM PST

    No, definitely not. We don't want Mercs, like in EQ or EQ2. 

    Pets are not meant to be a solo pal.

    • 284 posts
    December 28, 2016 3:36 PM PST

    I mean I never played EQ or EQ2 so I have no frame of reference for whatever a Merc is. All I can tell you is that the companions I'm familiar with would on no account be considered a replacement for real people, and certainly wouldn't enable efficient grinding on anything but already easy monsters.

    • 2130 posts
    December 28, 2016 3:46 PM PST

    Jimmayus said:

    I mean I never played EQ or EQ2 so I have no frame of reference for whatever a Merc is. All I can tell you is that the companions I'm familiar with would on no account be considered a replacement for real people, and certainly wouldn't enable efficient grinding on anything but already easy monsters.

    The system you described sounds more akin to how mercenaries work in EQ/EQ2 than how pets generally work. Pets are generally, most importantly, limited to specific classes with the tools available to that class being shaped around the fact they have a pet.

    Giving everyone the ability to have a pet is pointless unless your sole reason is increasing a player's soloing ability, which is not what Pantheon is about.

    • 284 posts
    December 28, 2016 4:04 PM PST

    I mean I know what a pet class is, I guess I just read Brad's post as more of the merc thing (the permanent part, not the temporal pets) instead of the pet. I'm just saying, everyone technically had a pet in FFXI but not only was it a huge task to make it useful at all it was also clearly inferior in every way to having just one more person around. I'm using that as an example of how it's not automatically a doomsday scenario.

    • 80 posts
    December 28, 2016 5:11 PM PST

    Aradune said:

    Here's some information about our plans for Pets -- disclaimer:  we're not at a point yet where this is set in stone, so please consider it our current thoughts but not a commitment to exactly how Pets will work in-game.  Also, some of these design plans may be implemented after launch -- at this time it is too early to, with certainty, commit to what functionality is present at launch vs. added later via an expansion or update.  All that said, this should pretty clearly show you what we're thinking, the direction we're going, etc.  Of course, as always, quesitons and comments welcome.

    Transient Pets

    A transient pet is similar to a no-rent item – when you log out, it is removed from your inventory.  Transient pets may also have timers associated with them – if so, when the timer runs out, the pet disappears and its icon is removed from your inventory.  There may also be ‘unsummon’ spells that you can cast or can be cast on you.  If one of these goes off on you, it would be very similar to your transient pet running out of time – the pet would disappear and the pet icon would be removed from your inventory.  When a transient pet for any reason is ‘unsummoned’, not only does the pet’s icon disappear from your inventory, but any items stored on that pet or equipped on that pet are also lost.  Transient pets are created by casting an Ability that creates the pet.  A transient pet’s level is typically at or around the level of Ability (or, if we choose, it could be based off another field in the Ability class).  The pet’s character model, it’s stats, its abilities, and its behaviors are all determined by the Ability used to summon the pet.

    The greatest variety of transient pets are summoned by the Summoner class.  Since transient pets are generally ‘summoned’, the idea is that the player is grabbing an elemental or some other type of being from a different plane and forcibly bringing it here to the player’s plane and then being able to command it to fight or do other tasks.  So transient pets are typically elemental in nature, with the traditional resistances and weaknesses to heat, cold, etc.  That said, while most summon spells will be cast by Summoners and while most transient pets will be elemental based, these are by no means hard and fast rules.

    Persistent Pets

    Persistent Pets are also represented by an icon in your inventory and as a 3D character model in-game (in world space) if they are activated.  Persistent pets can be activated (summoned into the world) by double-clicking on their icon in the player’s inventory.  Typically, only one Persistent Pet may be active (in world space) at a time, although there could be exceptions to that general rule.

    Persistent pets are more typically associated with the player character’s race and not class (the opposite of transient pets, which are more typically associated with the character’s class).  There are, however, exceptions to this rule, one being a Crusader’s Warhorse (traditionally Paladin-like classes have the ability at certain levels to summon a loyal Warhorse to their side).  Whereas transient pets are often elemental in nature, persistent pets are often akin to ‘familiars’.  Some persistent pets will fight with you.  Some will not fight, but can be damaged and killed.  Some will not fight and are not affected by damage and therefore typically cannot be killed.  Note that if a persistent pet is killed, it will die in world space and there will likely be an indicator in the UI on the icon letting you know that the pet’s status is dead.  Also note that when a persistent pet is dead, you cannot access items stored on that pet or equipped by that pet.  To that end, depending on the type of persistent pet, there will be ways to resurrect or ‘bring back to life’ your persistent pet.  These resurrections, how they are accomplished, and what triggers them can vary widely depending on the type of persistent pet.  

    Persistent Pets are generally purchased, dropped as loot, or given to a player as a reward for finishing a quest (as mentioned previously, one exception would be the persistent mount that Crusaders can call to themselves).  The level, type, abilities, behaviors, etc. of a persistent pet are typically all based on which NPC spawns when that particular pet is activated (brought it into world space).  Many persistent pets that will fight by your side also gain experience and can thus level up, have its skills go up, etc., just like a PC or NPC.  Their initial level would depend on the data for that NPC, but after that, the pet could level up and become more and more formidable.  There are some goals associated with this behavior:  1. There should be an advantage to obtaining a persistent pet and then leveling him up over time, keeping him in your possession, over merely selling your pet when you find another one that is inherently higher level (those advantages are TBD and need to be thought through) and 2. There should be an attraction to collect pets as well as build them up as you play Pantheon – we should try to incorporate the ‘gotta collect them all’ paradigm from similar games where applicable.

    Vehicles

    Vehicles are a Persistent Pet sub-type.  Typically, pet vehicles are mounts (e.g. horses) or boats/ships.  The key is that Vehicle Persistent Pets can be used as transportation.  Mounts typically allow you to travel faster overland than normal travel speed.  Boats and ships typically allow you to traverse over water at reasonable speeds, almost always far superior to swimming.  Some mounts may allow you to traverse certain terrain types, while others may be restricted.  Likewise, boats and ships may be restricted to how deep the water can be that they sail over – this means you could find a boat that would allow you to travel down a river, or up the coast (staying near to shore), but not allow you to head out into the open ocean.

    Vehicles, like other persistent pets, may or may not engage in combat.  Typically, a mount like a War Horse would both deal and receive damage.  A ship or boat, however, would typically receive damage but not deal it (until perhaps post-launch when we allow ships to be equipped with weapons).  Mounts die and ships are ‘destroyed’.  Mounts leave a corpse, while ships leave ‘flotsam’.  Just as with other persistent pets, a Vehicle’s inventory may not be accessed when it is dead or destroyed.  Bringing a mount back to life or repairing a destroyed ship will be possible, although the methods will likely vary significantly depending on the type of Vehicle.  For example, one might require a player with certain ship building crafting skills to repair a ship, allowing you to use it again and to access its inventory.  Regardless of the proper method, doing so will usually require spending resources so that allowing your Vehicle to be destroyed/killed is something players may risk, but will also do their best to avoid.

    When you are riding on a mount or traveling on another type of Vehicle, not only might your movement speed vary depending on the type of vehicle and how it is equipped (perhaps your Warhorse has magical horseshoes equipped, increasing its movement speed), but your movement type or status may change from normal travel (walking/running) to a special status (e.g. horseback).  Travelling on ‘horseback’ may offer additional advantages (or even disadvantages) in addition to changing your movement speed.  For example, an NPCs ability to aggro you, or their aggro radius, may vary if you are on horseback (making it easier for you to avoid being attacked when riding a horse).  That said, some NPCs may have the ability to forcibly dismount you, essentially knocking you from the saddle and returning you to walking/running mode.  Some mounts may inherently offer you protection from a dismount, while others may be advantageous in other areas, but more susceptible to a dismount.  

    Restricted Access to Specific Regions/Zones

    Zones and/or regions within zones (perhaps even climates/atmospheres) may include restrictions on pets.  It may not be possible to have an activated (in world space) pet in certain regions or climates/atmospheres.  You also may be more or less susceptible to the effects of a climate/atmosphere when using a Vehicle.  In many instances, you will not be able to descend into a dungeon while mounted on your horse, but if you dismount and order the horse to follow you (like a traditional pet), you’ll be able to enter the dungeon.  Once inside such a restricted region, double clicking on the mount in your inventory will not enable you to mount the vehicle but will rather display a message explaining that you mount vehicles where you are currently located.

    Pets and their ability to possess/contain Items

    All pets can carry items in their general inventory, and many can also wear items and wield weapons.  To place items in a pet’s General Inventory or to equip a pet with an item, ‘open up’ the pet just as you would a bag or other container by right clicking on it.  If the pet can wear or wield items, the UI container windows will indicate what locations the item slots refer to.  If the pet can only store items in its general inventory, you will only see generic slots.  Some special types of pets will have specific location slots; for example, a mount like a horse may have slots for a saddle, saddlebags, horseshoes, etc.  Also, just as with other containers, the items placed inside of a pet may have some of their weight mitigated or even totally eliminated, making storing items on a pet advantageous in relation to encumbrance.  Many pets that will fight by your side can be equipped with items, taking full or partial advantage of that item’s attributes, damage, speed, procs, etc.  By making equipping pets an important part of Pantheon, we are creating yet another reason to hold onto and hoard items, even if they are not your current ‘best’, which should, along with many other systems, slow MUDflation and reduce the frequency items are twinked (given or sold to players lower level than the item).  This behavior should be encouraged, just as other systems with the same goal are encouraged, enabling us to avoid hard rules like ‘bind-on-equip’ and ‘no-trade’ without having MUDflation and twinking run rampant.

    Flying Mounts

    At this point, there are no plans to include Flying Mounts in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.  Flying Mounts present quite a few problems when it comes to implementing and preserving content.  Unrestricted flying mounts allow players to simply fly over content they wish to bypass.  If that content was not meant to be bypassed, then lots of rules and game logic for Flying Mounts must be implemented.  If you don’t build the game world from the ground up keeping Flying Mounts in mind, it can become quite a mess.  We have found that, typically, Flying Mounts are more trouble than they are worth.  An exception might be a ‘ferry ride’, where you can use a specific Flying Mount that you come across in a specific location, or as part of a quest reward, etc.  In such a controlled environment, the player can use the Flying Mount, fly up into the sky, follow a predefined path, enjoy the view, and then land in a predetermined location.  Pantheon may use restricted path Flying Mounts, at least post launch.  Unrestricted Flying Mounts, however, create many problems we want to avoid in Pantheon (including preserving the joy and reward of exploration, preserving meaningful travel, and stopping players from bypassing content).  It is therefore unlikely, even post-launch, that Pantheon will feature unrestricted Flying Mounts.

     

     

     

    As a pet class lover I love every word of that. I am very excited to see the Summoner class ( like you didnt know this already).

    • 19 posts
    December 28, 2016 5:26 PM PST

    I've played pet classes in other MMOs and enjoyed them- I hope Pantheon has a pet class.

    One thing I would not want to see, however- a player having several pets.  I remember in Age of Conan a caster class could have up to 5 or 6 pets at one time, which was really messy and hard to see around.


    Please VR, do not allow multiple pets at one time.  It looks terrible and it is hard to tell what is going on.


    This post was edited by Morr at December 28, 2016 5:28 PM PST