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Get It While It's Hot - July's Newsletter!

    • 189 posts
    July 13, 2017 11:02 AM PDT

    This is what I've been waiting for. More goodies to read and stuff to look out for in the near future. Can't wait to see what you guys cooked up for the YouTube channel!

    • 219 posts
    July 13, 2017 12:58 PM PDT
    So just some thoughts:

    I love the idea of vertical integration. From my first encounter with "MMOs", a MUD called Abysmal Realms (no idea if those things are even still RUNNING), I played a thief (because of always being the light combatant type myself), but I picked up some healing and buffing/curing spells. I tended to spend my downtime at the healer/respawn and would cure and heal people that came in (when you died, status effects like blindness might stick with you). I eventually joined the Protectors of Life guild, a newbie helping guild that was focused on makkg care packages and helping lowbies, though I tended to help pretty much anyone.

    I hate that newer games don't really allow this. What do I mean?

    In FF14 (I love the game and community...BUT...), you can't throw buffs on non-party members. The expansion even removed StoneSkin, so I can't even use that on people. WoW removed most (all?) buffs and also limited many (all?) buff spells to party/raid, or in some cases, self-only - talk about designing the game for a selfish community! People can't even share if they WANTED to. And much as I love EVE online, there's no real buffs to speak of that you can throw out, the very few in the game are essentially all limited to fleet (party/raid) operations.

    I'm hoping Pantheon allows me to buff up people I come across or when just chilling in my downtime. It's just a nice function that most games have intentionally eliminated, and I have no idea WHY.

    .

    I also wanted to talk about that interdependency of players. While I don't like factions (yay, I met a new friend that plays WoW...on...he's on a different server...AND plays the other faction?! Bummer...), I do like the idea of starter zones going for a while and encouraging interactions of people of, initially, the same racial faction. And then when you move on to mid-level zones, starting to interact with other races and open up that experience.

    ...this is one reason I'm so against some of the raves being utterly lacking in some important elements (e.g. Gnomes having neither healers NOR tanks...) It just builds this element of community right from the start to have these interactions to get people started on the right foot of community and working together. And, oddly, avatar actually has a psychological effect on that (not unlike the Planet of the Apes filming where the different sub races of primates tended to eat lunch together while filming, regardless of the race or gender of the actors under the makeup).

    ...not that I don't like soloers and solo-friendly classes (Druid, Ranger/Hunter, etc), just I like working with people from the start. It's probably one of the reasons I like playing healing and buffing classes so much.

    And, of course, zone design has a lot to do with this.

    I also hope that server sizes are really large (or, like EVE, where there is only ONE universe/shard). Because I hate meeting/finding a friend plays a game but we can't play together, but j also LOATHE cross-server functions. I'd rather there be just one server. Possibly multiple world's, but being able to cross between them in-universe (like some kind of dimensional nexus rather than a paid character transfer service).

    I know it's not transferable to all game types, but EVE reduces the server load by simply having some solar systems on their own (physical) servers and players can move between them simply traveling around the universe through Stargates. Since Pantheon WILL have zone barriers, that would work the same. Just have servers specifically to care for higher activity areas (Jita...) and call it good. :)

    It's also cool when all the capitals are...functional. No more of that WoW ignoring Silvermoon and Exodar stuff. :)

    .

    All that said - I like this kind of newsletter. A lot of the newsletters go into technical nitty gritty - which some people love, I know - but don't really talk about the GAME, the EXPERIENCE.

    I like hearing about how the world will work, how the NPCs will, how the classes will work (seriously - update the class info pages, please! You guys HAVE to have a good idea at this point of how you want them to work on an overall level...)

    In short, giving me a glimpse of what it will be like to log in and play. To explore and struggle and contend with this world. It was a good read (if, as always, a LITTLE short), and nice to read about the experkence and gaming philosophy.

    ...though it doesn't hurt to have pictures, too! :)
    • 294 posts
    July 13, 2017 3:42 PM PDT

    As always, great newsletter.

    Yarnilla Nailed it.

    Brad's insight as to why VR is making this kind of community game is spot on.

    I truly enjoyed the conversation on AI as well which I have to admit got my creative imagination churning. So many fun possibilities there. Makes me wish I was a programmer.

    • 208 posts
    July 13, 2017 4:26 PM PDT

    Just a random thought for Kilsin,  Isn't it cold right now down under?  (in reference to the topic title)  Great Read folks!  Another outstanding job of providing insight as well as teasing and wetting the appetites of us rabid fans :P

    • 9115 posts
    July 13, 2017 5:31 PM PDT

    Sogotp said:

    Just a random thought for Kilsin,  Isn't it cold right now down under?  (in reference to the topic title)  Great Read folks!  Another outstanding job of providing insight as well as teasing and wetting the appetites of us rabid fans :P

    Haha yes, it gets close to zero degrees Celsius (0c) where I live so I need to warm myself up with CM content titles :P

    Glad you liked it mate :)

    • 38 posts
    July 13, 2017 8:01 PM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    Haha yes, it gets close to zero degrees Celsius (0c) where I live so I need to warm myself up with CM content titles :P

    Tell me about it, I got roped into some farm work the other day while it was snowing :/

    • 9115 posts
    July 13, 2017 11:03 PM PDT

    Jeffey said:

    Kilsin said:

    Haha yes, it gets close to zero degrees Celsius (0c) where I live so I need to warm myself up with CM content titles :P

    Tell me about it, I got roped into some farm work the other day while it was snowing :/

    Oh, that sucks man! Hopefully, it went quick and wasn't too bad...

    • 125 posts
    July 14, 2017 4:04 PM PDT

    Great stuff and very informative. I love being able to get a glimpse into the minds of the developers and the thought process that goes into what finally will become Pantheon. 

    • 151 posts
    July 14, 2017 10:24 PM PDT
    I was hoping to get a sense of progress, perhaps I missed it.
    • 166 posts
    July 15, 2017 1:04 AM PDT

    If you read the last newsletters and the other recent published informations between the lines, you get a rough sense of the actual progress.

    On the AI side they changed the complete system behind it and are now writing tools to create different NPC behaviours.

    On the graphical side they switched to the new Unity features and contantly improving the look of the game.

    The other systems like acclimation, carfting etc. are on their way to be implemented in a first version, that will need a some more iterations before it is finished.

    They are still working on the new home page, seems they have still problems with the background systems like account management etc.

    If I missed something or be wrong on one part, please add or correct ^^

    Not very percise information, but at least I like to hear that they are working on other stuff than combat.

    The lack of precise infomation is also a sign, that we are still far away from release, which should be about 1 year after testing starts. But pre alpha is not running yet.

    But I understand you, I also already had a few ups and downs in my excitement for Pantheon.

     

    • 902 posts
    July 15, 2017 4:45 AM PDT

    "Noooo..."

    Every month I wait for the news letter or the latest stream. I am really excited for it to arrive, finding myself holding my breath while I wait. Then it arrives! Woo hoo... I devour the content with a smile on my face. Sated, sit back, smile and imagine the game being controlled by my fingers, then I snap back to reality and realise I have more waiting to do. Noooo...

    What are you doing to me VR?

    Ah well, deep breath required as I start holding it again.

     

    • 10 posts
    July 15, 2017 5:43 AM PDT
    Looking at those screen shoots makes me so excited to play. I can't wait to take in the visuals of this game first hand. VR, y'all are doing an awesome job!!!
  • July 15, 2017 9:43 AM PDT

    Folks if you're not receiving the email version of the newsletter, you need to contact support so they can ascertain why you may not have it.  Most cases you just didn't opt in to receiving it at sign-up.  But since there are other possibilities, it's best to email them and have them make sure you've signed up for it.

    http://www.pantheonmmo.com/support

    • VR Staff
    • 104 posts
    July 16, 2017 5:04 PM PDT

    Zynxs said:

    Folks if you're not receiving the email version of the newsletter, you need to contact support so they can ascertain why you may not have it.  Most cases you just didn't opt in to receiving it at sign-up.  But since there are other possibilities, it's best to email them and have them make sure you've signed up for it.

    http://www.pantheonmmo.com/support

    And not to derail too much - if you are using gmail, the newsletter tends to show up in the "promotions" tab.

    • 2886 posts
    July 17, 2017 6:05 AM PDT

    Zippy's posts are pure gold lol. I love how he is handling the AI. I am also big fans of Brad and Yar and enjoy their insight.

    • 34 posts
    July 19, 2017 5:26 AM PDT

    Great thank you.

    • 3016 posts
    August 4, 2017 1:56 PM PDT

    Thank you for keeping the community up to snuff..oh and I love Zippyzee's contributions btw. :)

     

    Cana

    • 399 posts
    August 9, 2017 5:15 PM PDT

    This... is    Not      the august newsletter.