HAIL! FELLOW PANTHEON ENTHUSIASTS,
I have been reading a lot of forum posts about different ideas, questions, and concerns regarding Pantheon ROTF for a long time and I decided it was time to butt in and try to give a thorough description all in one post of what the guys at Visionary Realms are aiming for. Granted, like a large percentage of the Pantheon community, I have not played the game. Hopefully my intense love for what VR is trying to accomplish and my obsession with the development will shed some light on what Pantheon is and what it is trying to stay away from... or should stay away from. Some speculation, some fact, Enjoy! Maybe? You decide...
That being said, the big topics I have come across are the concern with classes in Pantheon concerning: "class balancing", solo play, PvP, PvE, and talent trees/class specialization.
Classes and the way they are handled sort of pull the whole game together, so bare with me.
I want to start with class balancing. This seems to come up in quite a few posts and there are a good chunk of posts dedicated to how this should be handled. Also, this can be a dirty, dirty business and can effect the very soul of a game. I mean, WOW, this can really hurt a game if it's done improperly. To be fair a lot of games have had issues with class balancing. What is the culprit you ask? The very idea behind class balancing... the classes should be equal, why is my DPS lower than his DPS?, he can take way more damage than I can!, FLAVOR OF THE MONTH, THIS CLASS IS BROKEN!!, and lets face it PVP. Aiming for class equality in all aspects of combat is what makes your class dull. Eventually, if done like certain game developers have done it, all class abilities become stamps of every other classes abilities with different shiny things flying off in all directions, ultimately doing the same crap and leaving room for very little variety in challenging content. Balance shouldn't = equality.
Why does VR have a shot at doing this right?!
Class balancing can be heavily influenced by solo play. When people wonder why they can't solo that big ass dragon in the crack of doom they start questioning the ability of their class and maybe even their manhood. People shouldn't come into this game expecting to be the GOAT by playing alone... I mean dragons eat GOATS right? Thankfully, solo play in Pantheon will not be a very effective way of developing your character. Pantheon ISN't a solo grind fest. VR has a shot at doing this right because they aren't "class balancing" in the traditional way. Because this game will be group centric it's going to be KNOW YOUR ROLE. Is that any better??? From what I understand it seems like they want to keep their classes unique, so yes that is a good thing. When you have a group centric game the best way they can keep balance is not by making major changes to the class but to the enviorment and PvE encounters/mobs. From what I've heard in streams and read from VR, this seems to be the approach they are taking. If you read about the classes revealed, each one has special abilities that make it unique and useful in different ways, not just in encounters, but in the enviorment as well. Yes, they will have to make sure that each class is actually going to be useful and effective in their role. This can be done by slightly tweaking these unique abilities, but to keep the game challenging and balanced the large portion of tweaking will come in PvE content. This should ensure your class will not feel useless with its given utilities. Variety and challenge in variety will be key. FLAVOR OF THE MONTH? No. Sorry. All the classes have a role to play. You're having trouble in this storm? Get a summoner. The force is strong with this one? Get a Direlord. He hits like a truck? Get a warrior... etc. Not saying this could be the only way of defeating certain monsters or making it through dungeons and different enviorments, maybe different combinations work. The point is they want to make every class feel useful, not just through major DPS, AOE IT ALL DOWN!, or meaty meat shields. You will need to rely on your group and the make up of that group to deal with the variety in PvE. Efficiency will be a deciding factor not just in a groups make up, but in each class/player knowing their role.
PVP! I love PVP just as much as anyone who enjoys killing people. With a lack of good MMO's around I'm sure we all enjoy a lot of PvP. While Pantheon will feature at least one PVP server on launch day, it is not VR's main focus at this time. PVP can have a large effect on class balancing. This could be where VR runs into the toughest challenge with balancing the world because you aren't playing against the world, you are playing against PC's. As of now, I do like the approach they are taking to PVP though. Someone said, somewhere, PvP will not have an effect on PvE gameplay. If a class needs to be taken down a notch because they are just wreaking havoc and killing everyone too easily, it won't change their effectivenss in PvE. This is not an easy task to undertake, especially due to what Pantheon will be at it's core... a PvE game. The only solution I can think of to make this a little easier is making sure PvP will be mainly group centric as well/and/or having abilities soley used for PvP. We don't know much about the development of PvP and it has more or less been said, while VR knows the demand for PvP in the genre, Pantheon ISN'T going to be a PvP centric game.
Talents and class specializations, another topic we do not know much about yet. This is another one that can throw off the balance of a game very easily if not handled with care. If I could guess I would say that VR feels the best route to take with this is a very gentle one... and with good reason. If you are trying to develop a group centric game like Pantheon, and the best way to keep your game balanced is through focusing on content of PvE, giving each individual class too much specialization and versatility will give content creators issues they don't really need. This game will already need to have a huge variety of PvE content to keep everyone happy, as I mentioned earlier. It can also have an effect on future classes they may have planned for expansions, rendering certain classes useless or ineffective. I'm not saying this won't be something that is implemented, just maybe in a slightly different way than we are used to. I think the best system for a game like Pantheon would be improving a classes role through some sort of "class mastery" system, simply make the abilities your class already possesses stronger in some way. We do know that to unlock special abilities/stronger abilities you will have to complete certain quests or dungeons. Depending on how this will work exactly, it could be enough. If we need a little extra, we also know that abilites will be effected directly by multiple stats, so maybe a mastery system could work by simply improving your class through certain stats, making you better with different abilities, giving some variety in gameplay, but not changing your overall role in the group. My main point is this should be done in a way that the sheer number of classes in the game is all the variety we need (already 12-14). If there is too much specialization early on for that many classes then it will be very difficult to have enough space and time to create meaningful/challenging content for everyone. Maybe future expansions could explore something new, but I would say keep it simple, keep it safe. Adding classes in the future should help keep the game fresh. I don't think an overly in depth talent system or class specialization is entirely needed in a game like this, something simple will do.
Hope this helps some people... maybe it consoles you, maybe its just rambling for some of you. Tried to be specific if something was actually known or if it was my own ideas/experience. If nothing else it's a semi-educated opinion on the development with some facts thrown in. Take care.
JHarms said:HAIL! FELLOW PANTHEON ENTHUSIASTS,
That being said, the big topics I have come across are the concern with classes in Pantheon concerning: "class balancing", solo play, PvP, PvE, and talent trees/class specialization.
Classes and the way they are handled sort of pull the whole game together, so bare with me.
Hope this helps some people... maybe it consoles you, maybe its just rambling for some of you. Tried to be specific if something was actually known or if it was my own ideas/experience. If nothing else it's a semi-educated opinion on the development with some facts thrown in. Take care.
Yep i did read through it all , only cause i suck at the same thing :)
Sounds like this is the game for you , your simply voicing that you agree with just about most things within Pantheon .
As for your first point , although this is group centric , soloing will be a thing and doable ( through gaming history there will be someone/class who masters or finds a way ) , raids will be within the game just not a focus .
I am sure you will enjoy yourself once the game releases :)
Pantheon in a can
It was put there by a man
In a factory downtown
If I had my little way
I'd play Pathenon every day
Mezz'n mobs here in the shade
https://youtu.be/wvAnQqVJ3XQ?t=36