Update: I agree the races that are in place are good as is. I think the lore of Terminus and the Dark Myr being an alternative to the Dark Elf will be fun. All of the races including the Dark Myr look awesome. :)
Pantheon lore isn't EQ lore, and I like the skar they're a "new" race never seen anything like it before.
But I agree with you having dark elves would be awesome, but right now creating a new race might not be the best option it takes a lot of resources to create a new race (new city, new models, animations, and above all you need to make all the armour in the game fit this new race) Maybe to save time they can use the elves models and just change the skin colour and call it a dark elves, that's a cheap way of doing it but better than not having the race, and in a later patch/expansion they create new models and replace the old models.
Without fully understanding the expansive lore of the game, one can't really say that having Dark Elves would make sense or that the Skar aren't necessary. All of the decisions thus far are very well rooted in the game lore and it all makes sense in its own right. As others have said, this is its own universe and they have the creative license to justify however they want the races to be. It's totally understandable for everyone to have their favorite race from other games, but unfortunately no game can ever please everyone, therefore it's so important that people approach a new game with blank expectations. From our perspective, we just can't really definitively say they "should" do this or that in regards to their lore. The Drow are awesome, but even that term really is unique to the D&D universe. So sometimes it's best to just leave things in their respective IPs.
It's certainly possible that they will introduce a Dark Elf-esque race in a future expansion. I wouldn't be surprised. But I would expect VR to put their own little personal twist on the race and it not be exactly what you're used to. They have a theme of creating "familiar yet different" races to keep things fresh and unique while not completely foreign. I would kind of agree with Krixus though - perhaps even the Dark Myr are already their answer to a "familiar yet different" version of the Dark Elves.
This thread was created just a few weeks ago, may want to continue to conversation there: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/7728/dark-elf
You may also be interested in this: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2336/drow
Krixus said:Again, I could be wrong, but the Skar are pretty clearly the replacement for Trolls, not that there's a 1 to 1 relationship with EQ. That makes them a very important race, imo.
Yup, definitely. And rather than calling them a "replacement," I think it's more accurate to say that they were inspired by the Trolls. It may seem like a far fetch for some, but that's just how Istuulamae said they came about. There is indeed a very distinct reason for why each race is in the world and why they are the way they are.
Bazgrim said:Krixus said:Again, I could be wrong, but the Skar are pretty clearly the replacement for Trolls, not that there's a 1 to 1 relationship with EQ. That makes them a very important race, imo.
Yup, definitely. And rather than calling them a "replacement," I think it's more accurate to say that they were inspired by the Trolls. It may seem like a far fetch for some, but that's just how Istuulamae said they came about. There is indeed a very distinct reason for why each race is in the world and why they are the way they are.
I'm pretty sure they were a literal replacement on the old site and some of the desktop background images. Trolls were there, Skar were not, and then it was reversed. /shrug. They could be Iksar like as well based on their lore. Either way, they make sense as an "evil" race as the world needs balance with all the goody goodies running around.
I love the Dark Elf race. Neriak was one of my favorite cities, and dammit if they just didn't look cool.
That said, what I love even more is VR's willingness to scrap some of the old standbys and try something new. Dark Elves wouldn't have happened in modern games if, somewhere in the past, someone hadn't thought to add them. They were new once.
I'll miss them, but I'm excited to learn about the Dark Myr and the Skar
Syrif said: I suppose I do not understand why the Drow (Dark Elves) will not be (as of now) part of the game given how popular they were in early Everquest. I think it is odd. Am I saying that we need to replicate Everquest? Of course not. Do Drow make as much sense as having Dwarves, Gnomes, Halfings, Elves, and even the paladin class? Absolutely. The Drow were the agents and dragoons of the evil races. Not only are the number of playable evil races always lesser in number, but evil races would really be missing something without the Drow. I do agree that there should be less evil races, but I think the Drow should be in the game. As others have posted, is the Skar race really necessary? I am open-minded to see what they are I guess, but not at the expense of the Drow. The Dire Lord (and possibly Necromancer) will be in game, so please consider having Dark Elves in our game as well. Thanks
If you compare the lore for dark myr and dark elf they were created differenly but ended up having hate.
Innoruuk the Prince of Hate, an innately evil deity shaped their nature and motivation through pain, torture and manipulation, the resulting product an outlet of his own hate and evil
http://everquestlore.wikia.com/wiki/Teir%60Dal
The Dark Myr although they weren't intended to be hateful they became that way by the gods trying to save them and eventually developing more hatred as they killed Syronai.
Both races are hate driven
To me the dark myr are the dark elves.
Additionally if VR had the same races as EQ then people would be saying even more that its a EQ clone so its was a better design decision and business decision to create some new races/twists like the gnome and halfling although they may be in the same niche as the orginal.
We do have dark elves....they are called myr in this game...
Edit:...I didn't read all the posts and now I see that was already mentioned.
Syrif said:....Not only are the number of playable evil races always lesser in number....
Krixus said:....Either way, they make sense as an "evil" race as the world needs balance with all the goody goodies running around....
Sorte said:Syrif said:....Not only are the number of playable evil races always lesser in number....Krixus said:....Either way, they make sense as an "evil" race as the world needs balance with all the goody goodies running around....
I'm no expert, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I understand there are not fewer evil races. If I do the math correctly, there are three evil, three good and then three neutral races. This puts all three alignments at the same number :)
-sorte.
If faction works like it has in other games, the good and netural will effectively be the same. Evil will be KOS to every non evil
Pantheon's approchad to High Fantasy might be somehow the fresh air needed to avoid carrying to much "80's mud" reputation. The game's background is really flexible, allowing to add any race and any landscape from anywhere at will, as collisions are to me the biggest and best way to develop amazing expansions and changes into the world.
Dark elves are usually great, but aren't they better if they are visually and lore unique from usual dark elves from D&D ? (Dark myr are to be amongst my favorite, I'm wondering if they follow a mainly matriarcal society since their main godess was female, this shoud incline their people to follow the words of womens more than mens).
It was my original understanding that EQ1 was designed after 2nd edition D&D, which is where the very famous Drizzt was created... along with most of the other races/classes/monsters in EQ... So dark elves were never exclusive to EQ. With that benig said, I think the DE were one of the coolest looking races in EQ1 (in my opinion), and the Dark Myr will hopefully fulfil that role in Pantheon. I also thought that the Dark Elves Ultra Vision made for an absolutely amazing gameplay experience after repeatedly dying as a lvl 1 barbarian that lost his torch on his first corpse and could never find it again in the pitch black tunnel leaving Halas. I hope vision will play just as much of a role in this "PvE" game since darkness is part of the environment; Oceans are void of light and incredibly cold with pressures that crush steel ships (in case we need to justify how a Dark Myr tank has as much durability as an Ogre.) ;)
Darch said:Oceans are void of light and incredibly cold with pressures that crush steel ships (in case we need to justify how a Dark Myr tank has as much durability as an Ogre.) ;)
Good point. And on top of that, I bet Dark Myr will have an easier time acclimating to the Frigid and Pressure climates :)