First of all, thanks VR for the stream earlier today! The game looks fantastic, and excitement grows. Looking forward to Tuesday's!
I wanted to make a thread about the meditation graphic as we've seen it - blue mana streams coming in to the meditator. It's an awesome idea, but I think it could be toned down. People look a bit like sea urchins right now. Any number of things could be altered, like removing the color so we just have some distorted air around the meditator, keeping it all but making it more subtle, or whatever else. Definitely a minor topic, but still worth noticing, considering how much we'll be seeing this graphic. We all know it'll be everywhere.
What do you all think?
I'm not sure if it was changed, but in the dark dungeon environment it is definitely much more visible (check the last stream with Cohh where they were fighting outside, it was not that noticeable). Agree that it is a bit much now, hopefully it can be can be tuned a bit for darker areas.
It hasn't really changed since the last streams, but that's of course not to say that it won't see some change in between now and launch. Almost everything is subject to change. Regardless, there already was some discussion about it last time:
https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/5205/sit-to-meditate
https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/3596/sitting-quot-medding-quot-vs-animations/view/page/1
I know what you mean, OP, but I think it was good and visual cues like that for what your party are currently doing (medding, mezzing, blocking, stunned, rooted, etc) would be excellent, but if they aren't clear and obvious they aren't of tactical use.
One thing to note is even way back in EQ you could choose to tone down things like spell particle effects in your settings.
I quite like the new visual it's suble in my opinion, but there's something that I noticed, in the last stream they had a standing meditation animation, that was used while they were in combat, where the player put his hand together, closed his eyes and put his head down while metitating.
https://youtu.be/y0F228Rkhxk?t=2487 - joppa meditation while the group is aggroed in combat (see the mobs behind), but he's sitting up.
but in the new stream that's not happening, he just sits down normally when meditating. here's the video.
https://youtu.be/QWgKSQJtHrA?t=3848 - joppa meditation while sitting down during combat.
I quite preffer the standing up in combat meditation animation, it makes more sense as oposed to sitting in combat, (keep in mind that it workd exactly the same, it's just an animations change). Was the standing med animation removed or is it a bug, or something else?
How about if they need to change the meditate animation to the character watching Netflix on a tablet or phone?
I was really hoping Pantheon would let mana regen without sitting and give casters other jobs to do which perhaps used other resource pools such as stamina. I see that we need to gate abilities, but why must casters be forced to sit and do nothing (other than make witty conversation)?
Sitting to regain mana brings up the old issue of where do you draw the line between a slower and more deliberate game and a tedious one.
Regaining mana FASTER while doing nothing else makes some sense but one should also be able to regain mana while doing other things like using wands or casting low damage low (or no) mana spells lest the healers be burdened by having to cast cure insanity on the players.
Celandor said:How about if they need to change the meditate animation to the character watching Netflix on a tablet or phone?
I was really hoping Pantheon would let mana regen without sitting and give casters other jobs to do which perhaps used other resource pools such as stamina. I see that we need to gate abilities, but why must casters be forced to sit and do nothing (other than make witty conversation)?
I don't know about that. One of the main's I played as was Cleric's in both EQ and Vanguard and it was way easier in EQ (easier in a good way). In VG I could barely concentrate on healing becuase of all the non-healing/combat activities you had to do to maintain your mana levels.
I want to only focus on healing and medding in Pantheon on my Cleric.
When I first saw the meditation animation on the stream I wondered what weird spikey creature/npc they had found, but after figuring out that it was a player meditating then I started to get used to it. If they're trying to balance subtlety with a clear indicator that someone is meditating, I think they've done a fine job. They could tweak the animation to make it look better or cooler, but I think the overall direction works for me. If there was one animation that I would want to tweak to perfection, it would be the meditation animation. As the OP said, we're going to be seeing the meditation animation a lot and not only that, it will often be in times when we're not hyper focusing on other things and we will have the time to really look at the animation.
Love the medding effect! If enough people want it toned down, so be it, but please leave enough colored lines so it's easily recognizable without being right next to the player.
Also, it's been a long time since I've played a game where the healer has to sit to med in fights and in-between heals, I am glad to have it back in Pantheon.
SoWplz said: I know its more of an aesthetic comment, but I hope to see each class have its own meditive state. Maybe a wizard base class sitting cross legs and flaoting. A healing base class kneeling in prayer to gods for healing power. Shaman class in a trance with arms up. I am aure there are beter ideas but you get the point. And instead of hitting the "sit" button to auto meditate. There is a "meditate" button that puts the charcater in this trance to double or triple speed of mana regen.
Not a big fan of "specific meditate animations", since mana remains mana (and as we know, gods and mortal cannot communicate withouth descension in pantheon).
However I greatly agree : Differenciate sitting and Meditating, at least for roleplaying purposes. Maybe meditate could be an active action avaliable only once sat.
I am okay with the current meditation graphic, however, I wouldn't mind it being toned down further. I would want to have to really focus on a person's character to be able to see this effect, with very faint blue particles occurring sporadically. I also would like the effect to end completely once a full mana bar is obtained (is this already happening?).
Mentira said:I am okay with the current meditation graphic, however, I wouldn't mind it being toned down further. I would want to have to really focus on a person's character to be able to see this effect, with very faint blue particles occurring sporadically. I also would like the effect to end completely once a full mana bar is obtained (is this already happening?).
I'm sure that will be able to be adjusted for your individual preference. Leave it as bright as they want. I will most likely have it turned off or way down anyway.
Honestly, a subtle visual around the characters head or a light blue glow, almost like a bloom effect. For something like this, since it's not a major effect or spell, I feel it should be subtle but noticeable if looking at the player. As for the UI, as long as we're not looking at the old 1999-2000 spellbook, I'm perfectly okay with that.
Hey... looking at the spell book wasent all bad. Never knowing what was out there. Hearing footsteps wondering if it was going to attack you or not..
Drama Level +10
As for the meditate animation, loved it in concept. I think as some others mention the graphic was a little... aggressive. Spikes for Meditation!? I think "meditation" and calm, peace and serenity come to mind... Spikes don't fit that real well.
Somebody mentioned spots, spots are peaceful.
I was thinking wavy lines, but that could look like worms. I think the spots would be a good way to go.
Zorkon said:Spikes for Meditation!? I think "meditation" and calm, peace and serenity come to mind... Spikes don't fit that real well.
I agree. I was thinking of a much more subtle version of this.
Mentira said:I am okay with the current meditation graphic, however, I wouldn't mind it being toned down further. I would want to have to really focus on a person's character to be able to see this effect, with very faint blue particles occurring sporadically. I also would like the effect to end completely once a full mana bar is obtained (is this already happening?).
agreed or even wrapping closer to the character. Still overall I like the effect.
Ox
Zorkon said:As for the meditate animation, loved it in concept. I think as some others mention the graphic was a little... aggressive. Spikes for Meditation!? I think "meditation" and calm, peace and serenity come to mind... Spikes don't fit that real well.
It doesn't look like spikes to me. It looks like you are absorbing energy from your surroundings.