Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Interview
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The folks at MMORPG.com managed to catch up with Visionary Realms' Brad McQuaid and Chris Perkins for a quick chat about Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, and that's led to the availability of this article-style interview. A couple of the more interesting paragraphs to follow:
Pantheon will have meaningful travel -- players will need to travel to new areas and face the dangers that come with such a journey. That said, there will be spells like EQ's Call of the Hero, which summons an ally to your side if he or she is grouped with you. There will also be a system similar to Vanguard's Caravans, where a player can log out in a group and then log back in and still be with the group, even if that group has moved. There will also be additional ways to help groups come together and stay together. But it's also important to note that this doesn't mean people will be able to travel ad hoc, anywhere in the world, at a whim, especially if they haven't traveled there by foot or horse at least once (e.g. players will need to unlock regions by traveling there).
Chris stepped in to talk about character progression. They still want a very hardcore game. But they are very sympathetic to how gamers' lives have grown over the years. Most cannot put the hours in that they'd like. Chris said that Pantheon is definitely a hardcore game. However, players can get a great epic experience from about two hours of play. That is what the team is striving for. They want to pioneer a hardcore game in the modern era. He agreed that MMOs have suffered from a sense of sameness. You still need to invest yourself in the game, but players will find a solid balance with regards to progression. One of the ways the team is accomplishing this goal is with horizontal forms of leveling. Rewarding players for encounters, discoveries, and progress. All of these elements are not tied to leveling. They want a game where players really feel like it is worth it to get to the top level. It has to mean something, so they cannot wait to get there. They don't want leveling to just look like a giant ladder. This is really where the story or lore of the game kicks in. One way MMOs have progressed is by adding in very strong single player content to the game.
