On Sunday, Visionary Realms reunited with CohhCarnage once again to showcase some more of the latest progress made in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. The group was level 22 and was composed as follows:
Ben "Machail" Dean (Producer/Director of Communications) - Archai Monk (playing as Insin)
Brad "Aradune" McQuaid (Executive Producer/Chief Creative Officer) - Human Ranger
Chris "Joppa" Perkins (Creative Director/Lead Game Designer) - Human Cleric
Tim "Convo" Wathen (Game Designer) - Gnome Wizard
David "Roenick" Schlow (Content Creator) - Gnome Enchanter
Cohh - Human Dire Lord
The stream was about an hour long and took place on the Avendyr realm (server), which is a live Pre-Alpha realm and we could see some external testers currently in-game with them. The team showed some previously unseen areas in Black Rose Keep (BRK) as well as the newly revamped version of Avendyr's Pass (AVP). As always, keep in mind the game is still currently in Pre-Alpha 3, so most things should still be considered subject to change, but of course it's still very good to see what the current state of the game is. Rather than a traditional Q&A style stream, the team focused primarily on revealing the new Dire Lord class and showing it in action. The Dire Lord is a tank class that wears mail armor and therefore primarily uses on self healing to stay alive, rather than damage mitigation. The Dire Lord also uses a unique resource called Essence to perform self healing abilities as well as detrimental effects on the enemy. At the beginning of the stream, before embarking on an adventure in BRK, the team took some time to do an overview of the various Dire Lord abilities that Cohh would be using throughout the show:
Provoking Phantoms - 20 Essence, 12m range, Instant (6s cooldown): The longer you engage the same enemy in combat, the greater their Hate toward you will grow over time.
Thresh - 3m range, Instant (8s cooldown): A ruthless attack that carves your enemy open to expose their Essence, causing your enemy to Bleed and healing you for 12% of your Max Health over 4 seconds. (Generates 5 Essence) Modifying Attributes*: STR (20%), AGI (20%), INT (10%)
Abyssal Strike - 40 Essence, 3m range, Instant (15s cooldown): A vicious attack that ignores all of your enemy's Armor, healing you for 25% of your Max Health. Modifying Attributes*: Target's Max Health (1%), STR (50%), AGI (20%), INT (10%)
Sanguine Blade - 25 Essence, 3m range, Instant (20s cooldown): A blood-laced attack that lower's your enemy's Magic Resistance and drains 5% of their Max mana. Modifying Attributes*: Target's Max Mana (5%), STR (30%), AGI (20%), INT (10%)
Essence Thief - 15m range, Instant (20s cooldown): You shadowstep to an enemy's location up to 15 meters away, draining that enemy's Mana by 5% and instantly restoring your Essence to full.
Splatter - 20 Essence, 3m ranger, Instant (15s cooldown): Splatter your enemy's Essence in 6m radius. Up to 3 enemies within this radius have a chance to be afflicted with the same detrimental effects as your target.
Edge of Midnight - 40 mana, 3m range, Instant (20s cooldown): A strike that absorbs a magical effect from your enemy and grants it to you. This attack deals more damage based on your enemy's Max Mana. Modifying Attributes*: Target's Max Mana, STR (20%), INT (10%)
Dampen Harm - 50 Essence, Self, 3m range, Instant (120s cooldown): Reduces all damage you take by 30% to 50% for 10 secs, with larger attacks being reduced by more.
Harmshield - 5 Essence, 2 Essence / 2 seconds, Self, 26m radius, Instant (1s cooldown): Infuses your blood with caustic properties, inflicting damage to all enemies that strike you in physical combat for 20 seconds. (Uses 2 Essence every 2 seconds) Modifying Attributes*: Your Max Health (1%), STR (30%)
Leaden Blood - 30 Essence, 20m range, Instant (20s cooldown): Cause your enemy's Essence to grow thick and heavy, slowing their Movement Spped by 40% for 5 seconds, then rooting them in place for an additional 5 seconds.
Stances:
Nightmare Blood - Your attacks influct your enemy with palpable horror, converting 2% of your damage to bonus Hate.
Torrential Veins - Your blood flows faster, increasing your Health Regeneration Rate and causing your Essence Vial to fill naturally.
Essence Leach - Increases your Critical Strike chance. Your Critical Strikes draw out the essence of your enemy, healing your for 50% of the damage dealt.
*While stats such as Strength, Dexterity, etc. have universal benefits, they also can modify the damage, healing, and/or duration of some abilities.
Cohh's character stats:
Health 1183 / 1183
Mana 200 / 200
AC 378
STR 24 | CON 16
STA 28 | WIS 16
AGI 14 | INT 9
DEX 15 | CHA 7
Miscellaneous:
- Cohh was sporting a full set of Keep Leon Brigandine armor, all of which drops in BRK.
- BRK is one of the premier zones on Kingsreach from low teens to mid thirties for upgrading gear.
- Dire Lords specialize in single target hate generation, while Paladins specialize in AOE hate generation, and Warriors can do a little of both.
- Provoking Phantoms lasts until the target dies, but can only be active on one target at a time. If you switch targets, the hate already generated will remain even though it will not continue to grow.
- There will be an option for auto attacks to automatically toggle when activating a damaging ability.
But of course that is all just a summary, and words alone cannot do the game justice. So if you haven't already, I definitely suggest you check it out for yourself. For more information on individual topics, click on the links below:
Multiple level ranges within a zone
Auto Attack Toggle on Abilities
The importance of feedback in development
Alternatively, the whole stream is available on Visionary Realm's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FXXE4IWu6k
Overall, the amount of progress that has been made on the game continues to be very impressive. I hope you enjoyed the stream as much as I did and found this recap helpful. Now we look forward to what is to come! Firstly, on August 6, there will be yet another Pantheon stream, this time with a whole team of MMO Streamer All-Stars. More info on that here: https://pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/9016/mmo-all-stars-come-to-play-pantheon-in-a-mega-stream Also, Keep an eye on the upcoming August newsletter. In this stream, Ben Dean hinted that it will contain some more info on the Pre-Alpha timeline as well as more reveals!
If you're new to Pantheon and want to learn more, I suggest you read the FAQ to get up to speed about what the game is and why it's different. If you liked what you saw in the stream and haven't pledged already, you can do so here: http://www.pantheonmmo.com/join/
As always, thanks for reading!
Bazgrim said:Abyssal Strike - 40 Essence, 3m range, Instant (15s cooldown): A vicious attack that ignores all of your enemy's Armor, healing you for 25% of your Max Health. Modifying Attributes*: Target's Max Health (1%), STR (50%), AGI (20%), INT (10%)
OP'd like a mofo. Unless Essence is something hard to get or maintain, DL's will not need a healer with this. Maybe extend the cooldown.
Kittik said:OP'd like a mofo. Unless Essence is something hard to get or maintain, DL's will not need a healer with this. Maybe extend the cooldown.
I'll reserve my cries of "OP!" until I get a chance to play the game. No need to get out the pitchforks just yet, since we're still in Pre-Alpha.
Kittik said:Bazgrim said:Abyssal Strike - 40 Essence, 3m range, Instant (15s cooldown): A vicious attack that ignores all of your enemy's Armor, healing you for 25% of your Max Health. Modifying Attributes*: Target's Max Health (1%), STR (50%), AGI (20%), INT (10%)
OP'd like a mofo. Unless Essence is something hard to get or maintain, DL's will not need a healer with this. Maybe extend the cooldown.
I think not needing a healer is an overstatement. Don't underestimate the Dire Lord's ability to also take damage very rapidly ;) As Joppa said, the DL's health bar is intended to fluctuate up and down a lot. I personally think that volatility lends itself to the DL playstyle well.
edit: typo
I really see the Dire Lord as sort of an early WoW blood DK. They were very powerful in groups. But struggled initially vs harder hitting nameds and raid mobs due to how squishy they are. 25% does seem like alot. But given its a 15 sec cooldown. It's basically just like adding a big heal. I dont think it will be too bad.