Pantheon Dev stream

https://tinyurl.com/y375j59y
video on Pantheon, you can even see Brasse in it. lots of EQ in it

Sorry didn't see that it went to the dude stream

Hope this is okay to post

 

I stopped paying attention to Pantheon when in the pursuit of more money they started the pre-alpha category for backers. I am a backer btw.

I am not sure they are going to ever make it to release or if they do, that I will be able to play it due to my age.

 

Wow are they seriously still working on this game?

They need to stop trying to make an mmo. It's never going to be done. They should try making a co-op game or survival game or whatever, just something a small team can handle. They could have released a Pantheon rts game by now at the very least to build up interest and get some revenue flowing in. Kind of like how WoW got started.

Either way though, MMOs are a dying genre if you ask me. Just look at Fallout 76 or RDR2 online. People dont want those games anymore. Old mmos will still survive but new ones...I dont think so. Idk at this rate we will probably see Borderlands 5 by the time we see a finished product from them.

 

I expect that whatever Pantheon turns out to be, it will disappoint a lot of people.

Give the players the tools to make their own content and save the company resources. I spent a couple of decades playing and running different campaigns across various settings and mediums. I'm pretty sure I could make some interesting content for the people on my server given the ability to do so. I'm fairly convinced that is the direction the MMO genre needs to go in for the most part.

Imagine if someone re-released a bare-bones version of the original Norrath world but set is up to be a private server then gave the server's admin (or who ever) the ability to make the content as they liked. It would take less effort and resources on the company's part and address a lot more of the old school players wants and needs than Pantheon will.

 

I stopped paying attention once they said grouping was mandatory. I play in short spurts and I prefer to solo or duo with my husband. I'm not against grouping, but I don't want it to be a requirement.

It's too bad some of these games had promise (Pantheon and Shroud of the Avatar) but then they end up being something I'm not interested in by the time they release. I was an early backer of Shroud of Avatar, ($25 early buy in), but lost interest when they started "selling" off any good land plots for a house for high amounts of real money to fund the development of the game.

 

Speaking of buying in - it's a wonder any game can get backers anymore. I feel like I've been burned twice now. At least SoA was only $25, but for Landmark I dropped $100. I have no interest in backing any online game in advance again.

The only time I've ever gotten my money's worth by "paying in advance" even though it technically wasn't early backing since the game was already fully released was my lifetime sub to LOTRO. I still play it and I'm still glad I spent that $200 over 11 years ago.

 

I backed Camelot Unchained recently. I don't feel ripped off, but it does seem like things are dragging on. At least they're staying on course and showing their work as they go which is reassuring. Not like Landmark or any number of pre-release titles I've bought into over the years where I was left feeling less than satisfied.

 

I personally never understood backing games before release. If the game is good enough, chances are it can at very least release a game in an Early Access form to bring in more income.

I wouldn't back a new car garage to perhaps make a car I really like in advance.

 

Every time I watch a Pantheon stream, I'm reminded that there is zero chance I'll play it.

 

As much as I don't ever see myself playing this game (or any number of other titles in the works) there are a couple I'm interested in and might back.

It also is reassuring to see folks still getting excited about games, whether I think that excitement is misplaced or not.



(see, I'm not a complete monster)

 

For me it depends on the game. If it's a game from one of the major corporate game companies? Never again. I made that 100$ mistake with Landmark. If a company like that has to crowdsource a new game, there is a major underlying financial problem, or they're just fleecing customers.

Games from smaller independent companies/developers like Camelot Unchained or Ship of Heroes? After watching them for a while, I'm seriously considering it.

Largely for the same reason I don't buy the hot garbage the major western comic companies are spewing out these days, but I have and will back independent comic creators on Indiegogo. Or bands like Postmodern Jukebox, Aubrey Logan, Von Smith, Avi Kaplan, Anthony Vincent, etc etc.

The hobby entertainment industry is changing and I think startups like these are a part of it, you just have to do your due diligence before you commit. These creators (games or comics or music or whatever else) are beholden to their backers, the paying customers - US, the fans - not some money sucking, fun destroying corporate locusts.

 

Omg Avi Kaplan.....what a amazing, fantastic voice!

I switched off Pantheon as soon as they said grouping was mandatory as well. It seems to me that Pantheon is really just a reskinned EQ1.

I've just dropped US$50 on Firmament, which is being made by Cyan, the indie creators of the Myst universe. It's going VR, so something I'm interested in (as well as the incredible storylines and beautiful worlds that Cyan create).

 

This I agree with - we still kickstart many a tabletop game!

 

I am sorry, but whats the difference with EQ2? In Eq2 for the first decade, grouping up and grinding was also the fastest way to level, he never once said you couldnt solo grind till you drop dead, it just isnt as effective as grouping up. It really wasnt until they added signature lines you could quest the 5 or 10 levels per expansions.

 

I didn't play EQ2 at the start, so unaware of how it was initially, but was definitely there in the first decade. I started after DoF was released. The only time I group is with a friend who plays. I'm not interested in "the fastest way to level" - the journey is most important thing to me, not the destination.

If grouping is mandatory in Pantheon, it's not the game for me. If soloing is in the game but you can't get stuff done (like needing a group to pull levers all at once) or your play is limited because you prefer to solo, then Pantheon is not for me. I will not be coerced into a play style I don't enjoy (grouping).

EQ1 is a just a horrible, ugly, grindy mess. Although the music is good.

 

I solo'd, or duo'd with Cast from Day 1 of EQ2. It was doable, you just had to chose your battles wisely. And not accidentally run into groups of linked ^^^ mobs... repeatedly, while harvesting. Not that I ever did that. *coughs*all the time*coughs*

Those restrictions let up pretty fast, and EQ2 was never as grindy/group dependent as EQ.

I played EQ from just before Velious until, I think it was Lost Dungeons of Norrath (and went back to visit a few times), and whether or not you could solo (to level, not necessarily for content) depended primarily on your class, though a few additional classes could solo reasonably if they had the right gear. But if you wanted to level in a reasonable time frame (especially through hell levels, until SOE finally admitted they existed and fixed it) even solo classes benefited from grouping.

 

EQ was deliberately painful to play solo when it was young. Far more so than DAoC was. Which was worse than AoC or Horizons. Which was nearly as bad ad EQ2. Which was torture compared to WoW. Progression happens. EQ2 and WoW came out something like 15 days apart. EQ and EQ2 came out something like 5 years apart. The differences in those comparisons are similar. I do not see Pantheon going back to a true EQ experience. That's likely impossible anyways. But, a hard core early EQ2? Maybe.

 

Still seems awfully niche to me. Your average modern gamer on PC doesn't have the time or patience for that kind of daily virtual grind anymore. It's just a different market now. Not saying it won't do well enough, it's just not going to be the Next Big Thing.

 

I have somewhat followed Pantheon on and off for the last year or so. They have said the it is a niche game and not for everyone many times. They are not trying to make the next big game but rather make the game with hard rules and very little QoL so that everything you do in game is meaningful some way. They are creating an experience rather then just a blow up end game experience.
I like the fact they seem be be sticking to core values and not wavering from them and have a goal in which they want the finished product to be.
Im not a fan of corpse walks so im not sure if this game will really be for me or not but they are doing something different by making a game which has alot of old school MMO features with new and improved systems.
If they game even makes it to launch its still about 2 years away anyways

 

Well, at least they're being realistic about expectations, which seems increasingly to be a rare trait in the industry.