Forums » News and Announcements

School is back in Session: September Newsletter

    • VR Staff
    • 167 posts
    September 12, 2018 9:25 AM PDT

    School’s back in session with Professors Justin Gehart, Forrest Imel and Jared Pullen as they discuss reimagining the Skar. Under Wraps returns with your fall semester Pre-Alpha curriculum and an update on Faethale. Plus: Our Community Spotlight this month features an ethics lesson on good and evil with Vandraad.

    https://www.pantheonmmo.com/newsletter/2018_september_intro/

     

     

     


    This post was edited by Roenick at September 12, 2018 9:25 AM PDT
    • 523 posts
    September 12, 2018 9:35 AM PDT

    Skar seem a little less interesting than the former model, but I get why the change was needed.  These sort of remind me of WoW's trolls but with a Cryptkeeper face.  They seem to fit the pure evil race option quite well.

    Newsletter overall was pretty light.  I guess that's fine since the last four have been heavy with the class reveals.  You guys can slack off for a month on this thing.  A little concerned that you've only gotten one more zone completed over the last four months.  And it's probably not even completed, I expect the city will be grayboxed like Thronefast continues to be.  Release date for 2025 looks to still be on track.  Hoping you guys have some surprises to show us this month.  

     

    • 612 posts
    September 12, 2018 9:42 AM PDT

    But... I really want to know... do they like beans?

    PS. Kudos to Justin for dropping the word Nadir in a sentence... not a word you often hear in normal conversation.

    • 96 posts
    September 12, 2018 9:53 AM PDT

    I think it was a good call to revise the Skar model because I too was concerned that the backwards knee cap would end up looking funky. Skar is a race I will definitely be trying.

    • 2419 posts
    September 12, 2018 9:57 AM PDT

    Anatomically speaking, that is not a backward knee.  Digitigrade legs have the same anatomy of a 'normal' leg.  What appesrs to be the knee on a digitigrade leg is actually the ankle.  While in a human, for example, the femur is quite long and we walk on the soles of our feet.  Digitigrade animals walk on their toes, with an elongated foot and a much shorter femur.

    • 303 posts
    September 12, 2018 10:07 AM PDT

    Oh my the new Skar are such an improvement! I went from not caring about them to considering playing one.

    • 96 posts
    September 12, 2018 10:14 AM PDT

    @Vandraad

    Good to know, thanks!

    • 1860 posts
    September 12, 2018 10:32 AM PDT

    I love the Skar rework!  Not only does it look great and fit the lore better but the design doesn't make me think it is simply a reworked Iksar.  Very nice.

    I do have a question:

    the eventual starting city for our hardy and weathered elves

    The above line makes me wonder if Pantheon's elves will go away from the normal "frail" elves we see in most lore?  Might it be possible that these elves gain a racial bonus to Stamina instead of the lesser hitpoint type of elf we see in most games?

    I usually don't play elves because they are one of the least durable/fragile races.  Will this change in Pantheon? 

    That could change how I look at elves.

     

    • 363 posts
    September 12, 2018 10:43 AM PDT

    Absolutely love the new Skar. A great improvement from the previous design.

    • 88 posts
    September 12, 2018 11:01 AM PDT

    I much prefer the new vision of the Skar to the old.  The look of them seem to be MUCH more visually manageable.  Also with the new look, they remind me quite alot of the Moredhel from the Raymond E Feist Magician/Riftwar series of novels.  As you can see by my name, I am a fan of Feist :) 

    • 3016 posts
    September 12, 2018 11:23 AM PDT

    Glad to see you artistic folks at VR,  are keeping an eye on "uniqueness" of player races and so on.  So I wonder what was planned for the Gnome...my curiosity is piqued.   I like the uniqueness of the Gnome now. :)   Originality is a good thing. :)

     

    Cana

    • 1303 posts
    September 12, 2018 11:48 AM PDT
    I'm very impressed with the Skar revamp. They have a much more clear personality, visually, now than they did before. I wasnt really very interested before, but the new look coupled with the lore information in the newsletter has me absolutely enthralled. Love it!

    Given the visual ties to undead, the violent nature, the malevolence, the disease and rot mentioned... they will make fantastic necromancers when that class is announced!
    • 206 posts
    September 12, 2018 11:48 AM PDT

    They would look better with tails IMO, ahgh, forget it just make them Iksars..../facepalm

    • 42 posts
    September 12, 2018 11:54 AM PDT

    I like this new Skar look much more!  Great work!

    • 248 posts
    September 12, 2018 12:04 PM PDT
    Thank you for the news letter! :)
    I really like the new Skar! The former look didn't make me feel anything. They were just spiky people. These new ones are cool and alien looking and somehow more right for the world of Terminus. Really good job!
    Also I hope when the time comes to reveal more about the gnomes, this sentence will be fully explained: " the Gnomes were so close to meeting a worse fate than the Skar". It has me so very curious!


    -sorte.
    • 172 posts
    September 12, 2018 12:28 PM PDT
    I like where they are heading with the skar design. Do these models remind anyone else of predator? i wonder If they took any inspiration from the movies.
    • 1303 posts
    September 12, 2018 12:49 PM PDT
    @aayden Yes! I knew there was something but I couldn't put my finger on it! But I do think it's a subliminal comparison not a ripoff.
    • 172 posts
    September 12, 2018 12:58 PM PDT
    @feyshtey oh by no means did I mean to discredit VR I don't think they ripped off, but inspired perhaps.
    • 2419 posts
    September 12, 2018 1:02 PM PDT

    Aayden said: I like where they are heading with the skar design. Do these models remind anyone else of predator? i wonder If they took any inspiration from the movies.

    I got a 'Yuuzhan Vong from the Star Wars Extended Universe' vibe from the redo.

    • 2138 posts
    September 12, 2018 1:12 PM PDT

    I know they mention if the Skar like beans, but I wonder if they accidentlaly spilled a small amount of beans regarding crafting?

    I am making assumptions into their armor description and how they also brought in the dwarven cold forge steel and the elven ashenbone.

    I wonder, are these crafting recipes already in place? like, Can a human can learn the dwarven cold forge ways, or dare to risk learning the Skar acid-bath method? Or is it a hint to the existence of Cultural armors? I hope cultural armors are actually really good and possibly better by a small amount from looted or quested stuff.

    Also as a side comment, from an rp perspective it seems to me like the Skar could be enticing to more sophisticated Role players, and experienced gamers IF they also came with racial hinderences or negatives they had to overcome to "get gud".

    Personally I would like to see the entire Skar related zones to be accidental PvP- like an arena, like the game Rust, with a bit of Dark souls for ambiance. You know you are in Skar territory when you see that "you are entering a pvp area" flash- causing some nice internal RP catharsis, do you trust your group members? could one of them turn? or- "go native" in the skar areas?! and attack you?! but why? we saved each others lives back in amberfaet! whyyyy!. Something about the acid, something about the air *drool* I want your face! *rip*.

     

    • 172 posts
    September 12, 2018 1:13 PM PDT

    Vandraad said:

    Aayden said: I like where they are heading with the skar design. Do these models remind anyone else of predator? i wonder If they took any inspiration from the movies.

    I got a 'Yuuzhan Vong from the Star Wars Extended Universe' vibe from the redo.

     

    I'm actually not familiar with the extended star wars universe..  but you're right! Definitely some notes taken from that design, purposely or not.  Over all I do like the redo, they appear to be more intelligent humanoids rather than just savage monsters (which.I get they are) in this rendition.  Theyre definitely evil.

    • 57 posts
    September 12, 2018 1:27 PM PDT

    I hope they knock Faerthale out of the park.

    • 1281 posts
    September 12, 2018 2:58 PM PDT

    I like the redesigned Skar. My first thought was a tribal looking race that would make a lot of people who played Iksar happy. I see others here also feel the same way.

    • 189 posts
    September 12, 2018 3:19 PM PDT

    I really love the new Skar look. After reading your guys' thought process on Skar; where they came from, how they should look, why they look this way, why they needed to be changed, what look you were going for... It really does look like a brand new species in the gaming world. I can't say I would be one to play them, but I'm excited to see others play them in game.

    Also, huge appreciation for the amount of effort and thought process in the newsletters. Being able to read the newsletter and having explanations or examples of how things are suppose to go, or why certain things are being done this way, or what steps are up next -- those are huge for some people like me. I can't stand reading updates that are saying, "Hey, we are working on building a world." Or "Next, we'll be working on adding abilities into the game". Makes it sound rather easy and like they are just taking their sweet ol' time.

    I'm not a PA tester, but I look forward to exploring the world during Alpha.

     

    Keep up the amazing work VR <3

    • 77 posts
    September 12, 2018 5:16 PM PDT

    Mathir said:

      A little concerned that you've only gotten one more zone completed over the last four months.  And it's probably not even completed, I expect the city will be grayboxed like Thronefast continues to be.  Release date for 2025 looks to still be on track.  Hoping you guys have some surprises to show us this month.  

     

    I wouldn't get too concerned about that mate, they've previously said that once PA4 is underway the foundations of the combat and classes will essentially be in place allowing them to focus on world building, so that will tangibly speed up. Also It might be premature to assume that everything we have seen is the sum of their work. If I was them I'd deliberately have zones I wouldn't show to exceed people's expectation of our progress.

    GoofyWarriorGuy said:

    But... I really want to know... do they like beans?

    Considering Skargol is a sulphurous place where pools of acid have formed, It's evident the Skar love beans. You don't need to remind me not to sleep at their place ;)

     

    Lastly I think it would be cool if the Skar lived in buildings made out of the bones of their prey. Think 'Evora' the Portugese chapel made of bones.