Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Interviews
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Brad McQuaid and the team at Visionary Realms have been busy sharing more details about Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, the fantasy MMORPG currently standing at $218,000 and counting on Kickstarter. First up is an interview with Brad on ZAM:
One of the trends in the genre has been homogenization of classes. "Bring the player not the class." What is your philosophy on class design as it relates to this idea?
I'm a big fan of class based systems because it's how we humans think, act and work every day. The majority of people are not jack-of-all-trades. We go to work and we have a role, and that role hopefully is valuable in a team environment.
We play team sports where the player assumes a role, like goalie, or forward (I'm a soccer fan). So I think a class system is natural and compliments human nature.
But you aren't just a class, you are a player too. How you fulfill your role as a tank is just as important as being a tank. Back to the soccer analogy, just because you are put in the position of being a defender doesn't mean you're a good defender. So there's plenty of room for being the player and the class. They are certainly not mutually exclusive.
Quests are noted as being few but meaningful. What will be the primary mechanism for players to level their characters? What else, besides quests and grinding enemies, will grant players experience?
Finishing quests are more for obtaining a great item in Pantheon. Advancing your character will happen organically as you kill mobs, overcome challenges, and learn the secrets of the world.
Crafting is listed as a pretty deep stretch goal, but is there anything you might be able to say about your ideas for the system, and how it fits into the economy?
The crafting system in Vanguard was highly praised and the designer of that system is on the Pantheon team. It would need to be meaningful, fun, and contribute to the economy in a way that makes sense. We don't want crafting to be the only economy. Some people just don't like crafting and we want to make sure they have a way to make ends meet too. That being said, when we do get to it, crafters will have plenty of services they can offer to make a living.
And then we stop by PC Gamer for another interview with Brad:
McQuaid's vision for Pantheon amounts to more than a new take on resist gear. He also sees acclimatization having an impact on combat, to the point that some fire spells (for instance) would be far more devastating in frozen zones than in deserts. But mages need not worry that acclimatization gimps them for other encounters. "The spells and abilities and gear that work better or worse in a certain climate will be the more rare and exotic ones," he says, referring to the ability to collect new abilities by exploring the world. "Your base spells, abilities, and gear should work fine."
In fact, Pantheon's emphasis on obtaining items and weapons for specific situations extends beyond environmental conditions. McQuaid also spoke of craftable or lootable weapons that would deal bonus damage to specific enemies, such as swords that unleashed hell on giants. It all sounds like an awful lot to keep track of, but he adds that players would likely be able to switch between different sets at will in order to face specific situations.
McQuaid also sees acclimatization as leading to interdependence in grouping. "If a character has spent some time in a certain climate, or if he has some gear that makes him more effective in a certain climate, it will make him more useful in certain groups," he says. "Hopefully it will broaden who is wanted in certain groups because it won't just be about your DPS or your ability to tank anymore."
But first, he stresses, it must be enjoyable. "That's why I'm stressing that a lot of this stuff needs to be tested by us. It might sound fun, but then you implement it, and you realize you have players thinking, 'Hey, I just got this buff and now I have to abandon it.' That's no fun."
