I will admit, I enjoyed playing through a lot of the newer MMOs. Many of them have great story-line quests which take you all the way to the max level. But most of the time, this is a solo experience...and the very real question then is, "Why do I need to play an MMO if I'm going to play solo most of the time?".
Instead, the most fun I had in MMOs was when playing with others. Not only in EQ, but also in VG and Rift. That's where the real fun is for me...overcoming dangers and sticking through hardship with your friends and guildies. And since Pantheon promises to bring back this experience (instead of another solo game), it is my great hope for the future :)
The current reason for me is: you're the only modern fantasy-themed North American MMO that promises to require challenging group content to increase personal player power.
It's true that currently, it's just potential. I saw some potential (but not as much) in SW:TOR, ESO, Rift, GW2, PFO, and SOTA.
None of these, when it came down to implementation, actually delivered the requirement of challenging group content to increase personal player power, imho. Maybe at max-level / raiding? But not a moment before.
In all of them, you can solo to ~max level far faster or more efficiently than grouping. (in PFO the terrible PvP implementation just ruined the game entirely for me) In some cases, grouping nets you LESS XP and/or loot. What's that about? :|
I play an MMO to be forced to group with other players. I have hundreds of solo games, if I want that gameplay experience.
Now, yes, you could argue some games like WoW, LOTRO, EQ2 and more have this same public requirement, but they also have cash shops where you can buy stat gear directly, or XP potions, or whatever other thing that is just a $USD->player_power conversion system. I hate that. I want to pay my subscription and have exactly the same opportunity as everyone else. My personal RL income should have no bearing on my power in game. So far, that's a design goal.
The day that changes is the day I turn my back on Pantheon. :) I'll just keep playing EQ1, as broken as it is.
I hope to eventually be able to rekindle the excitement I once had for the MMORPG genre. VR, with Pantheon, is a project closest to bringing those feelings back without even being able to play yet.
Maybe I'm like a hopeless dope fiend chasing the dragon, or maybe you'll be an even better rush than before. You miss all the shots you never take.
This is one of the only actual Mmo's that will becoming out. Theres an actual need to group up. I never understood why an mmo would focus so much on solo content. Yea its good to have some, but focus more on group content and social aspects and ways to get people to work together to create memorable moments. I never played Everquest inits prime, but played Vanguard simcerelease until 2013-2014. I remember playing that and hearing how Wow was so much better. So i gave it a shot and within hours i missed Vanguard. This game looks like it will force me to find groups creating friendships and just seems more like the way vg and eq were. And i have a lot of great memories in Vanguard. I want another game like that. Form groups, make friends go adventure. I dont want an easy peasy rush to maxlevel and autogroup for raids. That stuff needs to be earned in order to seem like a cool game item. I dont want handouts
Various reasons not in any particular order.
1. Hopefully good community. The best communities are in pay-to-play games. Not because the average free player is any less mature or less nice than the average subscriber but because the lack of a barrier to entry attracts the minority of very unpeasant, vocal, *visible* people that can make any general channel a horror to participate in. I had hopes for The Elder Scrolls because they were so visibly committed to the subscriber model. Sadly the game had serious weaknesses and it did so badly they dropped that model very quickly out of desperation.
2. Slow pace of progress as a core tenet. When a game lets me get to maximum level in a day or two I tend to do it - at least after the first character. It may be illogical but when I know I can get 10,000 experience points somewhere else it is harder to enjoy killing an orc for 12 experience points doing a quest my first character already did. But at maximum level there is typically a lot less to do. So I will stay with a game a lot longer and more happily if there isn't a two day route to maximum level that I have to force myself to pretend isn't there.
3. Good reason to have "alts". I like having characters of different classes and crafting skills. A game like Rift that lets one character do everything doesn't prevent me from doing this but it is less fun when I know there is no real need for it. The first character can heal, tank or dps at will. Pantheon seems likely to force each class to play a limited number of roles so there will be value to my preferred approach of filling all my character slots and advertising "Dorotea Rent-a-toon. The class you need at a fair price (TM)" No I don't actually do that but that is my preferred approach. Many mediocre characters not one exceptionally well geared and played one.
4. Becoming a useful elder in the community. In many games you join a guild and if you ask what class or craft they need the answer is none - just play what you enjoy. Seventy-one of our members have every class at maximum and every craft at maximum. Well OK maybe not seventy-one but a few. Yes it is nice to be able to get anything you need from guildmates but it is *nicer* to be useful and able to contribute. At first we all will be equal - over time those of us who are among the First will be the ones with all those skills.
5. Slow pace of progress - deliberate repeat it is really important to me. I am tired of going from MMO to MMO because none of them is really that good and it is so easy to max out, declare victory and look for the next one. If even the second character takes months to get to maximum level in adventuring or crafting I can take literally years getting a number of characters up there with each one trying to see things her older sisters may have missed.
6. Variety of races and classes. Have I mentioned I am an altoholic? The more different starting areas or real differences between races and classes the more reason to start many characters and explore all the starting areas and all the racial backgrounds. And see how each class works (most games have different classes but they often feel very similar to each other - I don't expect that here). WoW has many strengths as a game although many of us love to criticize it and the biggest strength is the variety of starting areas and backstories. The story underlying a Forsaken for example (that is an undead on the Horde side as I recall) is just so different from that of Tauren (cowlike entity on the Alliance side as I recall - it has been many years). And the Forsaken are so charmingly greedy, always screaming out for loot as they fight - isn't their battle cry something like "For the hoard!"
Note that I haven't mentioned forced grouping or the near certainty that most content will require groups. There is a good reason for this - it is my number one NEGATIVE in Pantheon. I often group - I like to be able to group and for my classes to have special skills that makes them group-friendly - but I also like to solo. I like to explore at my own pace, not worried about having to find anyone else interested in the same area, and not concerned with whether I may have a long interruption without much warning. And I like my solo time to be productive - killing enemies and gaining experience and money and gear not just bumming around to see the sights with no ...tangible ...benefit from the time spent. I don't mind if dungeon and other groups progress *faster* but I want a piece of the action too when I solo even if I get 1/5 the experience and loot per hour that a group would get.
I remember one of the times EQ2 decided that "this is a MMO everyone should group" and made a large amout of content impossible to solo. I hated it. So did a lot of people, they reversed themselves so fast the developers at that time may still have splinters in their hands from how fast they moved them on the wooden desks recoding what they had coded. I fear that this is what I'm in for with Pantheon. My own philosophy is "This is a MMO - everyone should be able to group - but if I talk in chat, talk in guild. buff passing strangers, get buffed BY passing strangers, roleplay, etc etc I am taking advantage of the MMO experience just as much as the person that groups 24/7 but may not do all of these other things."
No complaints I knew what Pantheon was before I pledged (and I would have pledged a lot sooner if not for fear of forced grouping) and items 1-5 above are *important* to me - enough so for me to pledge and enough so for me to play - but I won't pretend I like forced grouping because I do ...not.
(as in all my longer posts - many edits because the size of the text when I type is too small for me - after the post is done I can read it in much larger size and notice typos - I've been an editor far too often to let typos go when I can change them though occasionally one will sneak past my rereading)
The easy answer is that I played EQ1 from 1999ish to 2008, and I'm hoping the magic will be recaptured. But the more thought-out answers are:
I follow Pantheon because Brad is an awesome designer. I loved EQ from the start and still do today. Eq lost interest to me when they added machines and mercs. But I still play on project 1999 and love the old school EQ. If Pantheon is half the game Eq was it will hold me for a very long time.
Because I'm really hoping that Pantheon will be the reincarnation of so many things that I enjoyed about Everquest. There are too many aspects to list them all, but some of the biggest are:
"Slow", meaningful progression with interesting things to do at all level ranges (no rush to level cap). Personally I would be thrilled if my planned casual playstyle doesn't see me reach max level until after an expansion comes out...maybe 2!
Community and your reputation will matter, you don't just get thrown together with a nameless group where chances are no one will even respond to a simple Hello.
I think the Perception system is a great idea! I can't count how many MMO's I have tried where I logged in, saw a quest symbol over an NPC, and just logged out never to return. Where is the challenge in that?
PVE focus - it might just be me, but I prefer PVE in MMOs. I do PVP but I get that fix from other types of games. Too many MMO "RPG's" lately seem to be centered on capture-the-flag or king-of-the-hill style PVP hidden behind a level-based timesink and call that an end-game.
Class interdependancy and uniqueness - THANK YOU I don't want a DPS caster who has exactly the same abilites cloned from the ranged physical dps, only with different names and based off of a 'magic' skill modifier rather than a 'physical' one.
I could go on but I'm just on a quick break from work. But, it's sufficient to say that, while I may sink some time into other games while waiting for Pantheon, I'll be eagerly awaiting any more news/info about it and can't wait for Alpha when I can help test!
Because :
You made EQ1 and Vanguard which I both loved.
Western Style MMO ...no korean/chinese/japan manga characters which all are pretty and have big boobs.
Group oriented gameplay and progression ( but I do hope you can solo like you could in Vanguard )
Old friends are gonna play this,too
I miss a world where I can get lost in
Because now no matter what ails you in game, they make a potion for that. It's on the cash shop, and your video game health insurance doesn't cover it. I'm ready to feel the fear that comes from a Ranger kiting 3 npcs... death is but one missed snare away when there ain't no magically expensive potion to save your behind. Fear can be a beautiful thing.
Another old and tired MMO hopper looking for a challenging game..
Things i liked about the old EQ before it got watered down, that i hope to see again in one form or another:
Gaining skills through use.
Not seeing much when its dark, playing as a human. Loved that you could pick up a fire beetle eye and use it as makeshift light source. Loved that you needed torch/ shiny brass shield anyone?
Sharpening rusty weapons to get an edge, and eventually saving up for a steel one
Not seeing any magic gear for a looong time.
Having to talk to npcs to figure out quests.
Having to learn languages
Trouble understanding drunks. (they should have had the drunks develop a skill that improved understanding of other drunks, just like in real life). Also loved alchohol tolerance and brewing. I wish game was more creative in that area though, like maybe high fizzle chance but high mana regen rate, or extra dmg but high miss chance, or some amount of aclohol actually boosting dwarves.. Alchohol tolerance can then expand the boon threshhold, but being too drunk has reverse effect.
Having no maps. EQ was one of the first 3d games i played, and i remember i had to actually develop a skill to orient myself in 3D. With the old video card buffer sizes, you'd make 3 steps out of faydark front gates and looking back, there was no city =) Hope there will be limited visibility in Pantheon (perhaps can be skilled up/enhanced with magic?).
Dangerous travel (but possible with understanding of agro/figuring out safe routes). Loved how magic users had a strong travel adventage, wizard with evac and gate..
Mobs not giving up/trains.
varios factions and how it played with being an evil class (venturing outside and having trouble finding NPC to sell to)
Needing food/water. Summoner classes actually being useful.
I am sure there are plenty more... I loved EQ for innovation, atmosphere and challenge. I hope to see those things again, things above are really just the examples of what stuck in my memory.
Well i follow the game because i have been banned from all the bar's and pub's and been slapped by all the classes and races. If i don't find a new place to hang out i'll start hunting Gnomes again and they taste bad.
Bar grub is easier to catch too!! Just hurry up i am running short on ogre swell and i get mean when that happens.
and no i don't like wine but i drink it just the same hahaha
(MADKAT) Mangler Ogre SK Bertoxx
Pantheon as of now seems like a world I would want to be concious in. The decision making is just coming together so nicely. I like that there is a hard value for everything in the world. I want to know the name of my daggers, especially having spilt my own blood with them durring training. Over all things, I like that the time vested is meaningful in all aspects; gear, social, and adventures.