Sorry not tryong to be a pain. but have been asking for every livestream with no answer. is bard still "hopefully" going to be released at launch? (also interested in necro) but im sure necro will be more far fetched as bard. i dont mean to beat the drum. but been asking this questions for a long time and it never gets addressed, I know there is no 100% garantee that you can promise this but is there a good chance? meh, maybe? or yea GFYS thats not gonna happan. also as an after thought, being as you are hoping to bring the summoner online does that increase the chance of the necro being brought to the game earlier than possiblely anticipated?
These are the current classes for launch: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/game/classes/
Bard, Necro, and (insert a 3rd class here) will likely be released in the first expansion. It’s just solid marketing.
My two favorite classes are Enchanter and Necromancer, so I’m locked in for the first expansion.
Lunacea said:They've said that all announced classes will be ready by alpha launch and that the networking component currently being worked on is the bottleneck that is preventing those classes with pets/charm from being implemented.
They have traditionally referred to the original 12 Classes that are still listed on the Class page on this site as the 'announced classes'. To my knowledge, VR has never said that Bard would be available in Alpha. If you have a link to them saying that, I'd love to check it out.
NegativeNRG said: Bard, Necro, and (insert a 3rd class here) will likely be released in the first expansion.
In early 2018, Joppa said he was confident that Bard would be in by launch. In early 2020, he was "every bit as confident" as he had been in 2018 that Bard would be in by launch. According to a Player post ( I didn't hear it myself), in late 2020 Joppa "confirmed" in a Discord chat that Bard would be in at launch.
VR has also said more than once that if they don't get any expected content - like Bard or Necro - in at launch, it will be brought in ASAP afterward, and wouldn't wait until an expansion.
VR teases "future Races" on the Race page, but I've never heard mention of another Class beyond Bard & Necro in Pantheon. Again, if you have a link I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
In many discussions, VR makes it clear what their plans are and explains that the amount of resources available (funding) is the major determiner of how much gets in for launch. Bard & Necro are a significant part of the 'Quaternity' system for group makeup and thus a pretty high priority for them to have in by launch - or very soon after.
Jothany said:
In early 2018, Joppa said he was confident that Bard would be in by launch. In early 2020, he was "every bit as confident" as he had been in 2018 that Bard would be in by launch. According to a Player post ( I didn't hear it myself), in late 2020 Joppa "confirmed" in a Discord chat that Bard would be in at launch.
VR has also said more than once that if they don't get any expected content - like Bard or Necro - in at launch, it will be brought in ASAP afterward, and wouldn't wait until an expansion.
VR teases "future Races" on the Race page, but I've never heard mention of another Class beyond Bard & Necro in Pantheon. Again, if you have a link I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
I have no links for you as these are just my personal thoughts. I want Visionary Realms to be very profitable/successful. One profitable marketing strategy would be to release classes in an expansion as that “guarantees” sales. I much rather have Bards and Nercos released in an expansion than asap (in a patch) for a couple reasons:
More focus on the core game: Many MMOs have failed over the years due to poor launches, system bugs, and unbalanced characters/weapons. These are very complex issues, and I would rather have whatever time is spent on Bards and Necros spent toward those three critical issues.
More money earned by Visionary Realms: At the end of the day VR is a business. Not everything that makes since from a game or player perspective will make sense from a business perspective. These are the tough decisions that VR will have to balance out.
If VR can release Bards and Necros in a patch over an expansion, bring it! Sounds good to me!! But I’m happy to pull out my wallet and support VR by paying for the Bard and Necro.
NegativeNRG said: One profitable marketing strategy would be to release classes in an expansion as that “guarantees” sales. I much rather have Bards and Nercos released in an expansion than asap (in a patch) for a couple reasons:
- More focus on the core game
- More money earned by Visionary Realms
More focus on the core game: Many MMOs have failed over the years due to poor launches, system bugs, and unbalanced characters/weapons. These are very complex issues, and I would rather have whatever time is spent on Bards and Necros spent toward those three critical issues.
More money earned by Visionary Realms: At the end of the day VR is a business. Not everything that makes since from a game or player perspective will make sense from a business perspective. These are the tough decisions that VR will have to balance out.
So let me see if I understand your position. Leaving out of Release 2 fundamental Classes of the core game as it has been described - 3 support Classes, to match the 3 Tanks and the 3 Healers - that are also some very popular Classes, is not going to lose VR any customers at Release. Making the people who really want to play those Classes wait an entire year or more to get them in an expansion is also not going to lose VR any customers. But not having some eagerly anticipated Classes included in the first expansion IS going to keep some significant % of people from buying it, even if it has other eagerly awaited game systems, like possibly Housing, Boats, Progeny, New Land Areas, etc.
Is that it, or did I miss something?
As far as the 'focus on the core game', VR has stated too many times now to count that Pantheon will not be released until it is finished to their standards. Whether they do or don't manage to get Bards & Necros in at Release, it will be complete and polished before they release it. And Bards and Necro have been part of the core game plan for many years.
As far as making 'more' money, they have expressed the belief that making the best game they can - the one they have been describing & building all this time - is the most "guaranteed" way to be successful & profitable. If money was the driving force, I'm pretty sure most of the people we know who are in charge of Pantheon could make more money going to work for an existing Gaming Company.
NegativeNRG said:
Jothany said:In early 2018, Joppa said he was confident that Bard would be in by launch. In early 2020, he was "every bit as confident" as he had been in 2018 that Bard would be in by launch. According to a Player post ( I didn't hear it myself), in late 2020 Joppa "confirmed" in a Discord chat that Bard would be in at launch.
VR has also said more than once that if they don't get any expected content - like Bard or Necro - in at launch, it will be brought in ASAP afterward, and wouldn't wait until an expansion.
VR teases "future Races" on the Race page, but I've never heard mention of another Class beyond Bard & Necro in Pantheon. Again, if you have a link I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
I have no links for you as these are just my personal thoughts. I want Visionary Realms to be very profitable/successful. One profitable marketing strategy would be to release classes in an expansion as that “guarantees” sales. I much rather have Bards and Nercos released in an expansion than asap (in a patch) for a couple reasons:
More focus on the core game: Many MMOs have failed over the years due to poor launches, system bugs, and unbalanced characters/weapons. These are very complex issues, and I would rather have whatever time is spent on Bards and Necros spent toward those three critical issues.
More money earned by Visionary Realms: At the end of the day VR is a business. Not everything that makes since from a game or player perspective will make sense from a business perspective. These are the tough decisions that VR will have to balance out.
If VR can release Bards and Necros in a patch over an expansion, bring it! Sounds good to me!! But I’m happy to pull out my wallet and support VR by paying for the Bard and Necro.
Good points, but consider this: From listening to the Developer Round Tables, I know that VR has lots of ideas worth exploring post release. New classes and races. In the December DRT, Tehom expanded the definition of support classes as one example. As Jothany mentioned, they have hinted at other races. There is a lot of stuff that are planned that we will not see or even hear of until after launch. They hint at those things all the time in the DRT. I have no worries about new content for future expansions.
It is my understanding that the bard and necro are planned for release. When the bard and necromancer were first announced they were planned to come after release. However, since then things seem to have changed. Joppa stated that he wanted them to be there at release and when asked (about a year ago) if they were still on track, he responded that he had a good feeling that they would be there.
I highly doubt we will see them before the game moves into alpha. We might see them make an appearance sometime towards mid or late alpha. I definitely think that they will be implemented sometime before beta as this would allow time for testing, feedback, and change.
I would assume that the focus on classes right now is making sure the ones listed are in a decent state for alpha. After they get those classes into a state that they are happy with, I would assume the focus would switch to working on the bard and necromancer. That's not to say that some work may not have already been done for these classes. Joppa stated, "NPCs will use some of the same abilities that players have access to". If they are in the process of working on NPCs that share abilities with these classes, then some of the work is already done.