Pantheon: Pre-Alpha Impressions

As discussed in our Producer’s Letter we were thrilled to open the world of Terminus to our Pre-Alpha testers after so much change has happened in the last year. It was truly a more evolved world for them to adventure in, and the myriad of changes brought forth a truer form of what Pantheon will ultimately become. As an ode to our testers, who are usually bound by an NDA to speak on their experiences, we wanted to share some of their most exciting moments, thoughts about the experience, and fun stories about the recent test. Below are player-submitted moments and some of their own favorite screenshots they took while playing. We are incredibly thankful for our VIP supporters, and thank them for their submissions.

Tester Stories and Quotes

 
We were exploring a cave system in Thronefast and came upon a part where the only way forward was down a hole. We looked down and saw an absolute pile of player corpses at the bottom. It wasn’t a very long drop, so it probably wasn’t just from falling damage. That gave us pause. Just then, another group came up behind us, and started saying things like ‘go down there,’ ‘lots of loot,’ and ‘no danger at all.’ That’s when we knew for sure that it was not a place we wanted to go. We turned around and high-tailed it out of there.

-Bazgrim

The first part of Saturday I was starting to wonder if I made the right decision backing the game – not because of the game, but because I was really struggling with figuring out what to do. Then I met a really nice community member who grouped up with me. Sunday, another community member offered & then we grouped up with the guy from Saturday & then three more. By the end of Sunday, I learned that I’d been playing on SUPER hard mode all weekend because I didn’t realize I’d been getting more scroll abilities as I went. I’d only been using the scroll ability I’d spawned in with on Saturday – until nearly the end of the day on Sunday. Even so, after I was able to group up, I had a TON of fun – so much so, that now I’m having withdrawal. I want to play more, now that I know I have more scroll abilities, know where to get some additional inventory space, a rare pickaxe, and was actually making some decent progress. I’m VERY excited for the next test session!

–DoodleBugIA

Submitted by Therek

Looking up from the shores outside Thronefast to see the stars with my own eyes for the first time. Knowing it was from these stars that my human kin had arrived from Vas Demith over 500 years prior. Knowing it was somewhere amongst these stars the other races also called home at one time. Wondering what brought us all to this point, and what lies ahead. What mysteries I’ve only glimpsed over the last two days of exploration. The moons, Launa and Hauta, moving across the blanket of night. Their light shining as bright as my need to return here. This was the moment that I will keep with me until Terminus opens to me again.

– Therek

Our party had been using (testing) the climbing mechanic to occasionally drop aggro to avoid wipes. At one point we tried this while fighting one of the undead spirits, which had a teleport skill. Well, this time our rock was too tall to climb fully, but had a rest ledge kind of low on it that a couple of us got onto. This time, however, the spirit decides it can teleport onto the little ledge and it finished off our party. It kind of sucked in the moment, but I always appreciate when the game finds a way to fight back against players trying to cheese their way through the game.

– Tulac

Submitted by Nimrith

“Discovering” a new game that felt like games I have not played for over 20 years was exhilarating! New maps, character, ability, mechanics felt amazing! The whole experience stood out!

– Rendall

What a blast seeing this go down. Big Bear, Dragons, Ghouls, and Trolls. Overall, the experience was AMAZING! I’ve been following this since before mid 2017. It’s so wonderful to see this come to be what it is now. I pledged originally back in June 2017. With the old Cohort pledge. I love the back-bone of this game and what it has to offer, as well as its potential. I can say there was a lot of squealing and running knowing death was looming. The thought of having to run back to my body to grab my goods was a FML moment. Especially the Bandit Mage hidden behind the rocks. Word to the wise. If you’re not over leveled don’t follow the dead bodies!

– Logick

Submitted by tsundokugames

My first adventure in Pantheon was above my expectations. We broke things, we fixed things, and by the end we were all having fun. It was a real privilege being able to directly give feedback and report bugs to the devs themselves, and to see those changes manifest over the weekend – sometimes in real time! I felt immersed, more so than I have in an MMO in a very long time. The world was scary and wonderous, and if you were caught unaware, even unassuming wildlife could ruin your day. The standout was the lighting and environmental effects, as you can see here in an early morning view from the cliffs outside Thronefast. I really look forward to seeing the rest of Terminus unfold.

– tsundokugames

This was the first time in the pre-alpha testing. Sciendrial came into terminus as an untested Elvan Shaman. She spent the early part (first day) of testing exploring the zone, working on skills, finding quests and even accomplishing a few. The first day, Sciendrial was able to reach level 5 soloing all of the way. Day 2 hit and Scienfrial continued her journey now having heard the keepers’ voice and trying to figure it all out. She shortly joined a group trying to track down a large rat that turned into a session of taking out thugs. This leveled her to level 6 before the group split up. Sciendrial was able to find the keepers and successfully become one. She then had one quest to finish involving the ever-evasive large rat. It wasn’t until Sciendrial explored the other side of the map that she found the Vengeful Spirits and a large rat. Yeah, her quest was done and just in time to join a group taking on the vengeful spirits. The initial group did well and she was able to almost make level 8 before they logged. Sciendrial then took to killing rabid wolves and further exploring until asked to join another group, which she did and was able to make level 8… Good times. During her roaming’s she saw multiple VR “Gods” to quote a group member… It was cool to see them in game and able to enjoy it.

– Friar Monk

Submitted by Durant

A prime example of how about a 2 hour a stretch went for me, doing corpse runs and generating more corpses on the way! Viper, Spider and Bear…the dreaded triumvirate of the wild creatures of Thronefast got me this time! I almost made to the edge to jump and take my chances with the cliff, but unfortunately, I was just too slow! The death mechanic adds a level of danger that makes escaping kind of thrilling but also makes you think twice about blinding running around! Love it!

– Darant

My group was fighting at the Wandering Spirit ruins. Tehom had stopped by and asked us how the difficulty was. I had said something along the lines of “we can manage 2 but anything more is a bit rough” The second I pressed enter about 5 wandering spirits got trained on us and we all had to scatter, cleric died, people trying to climb away, chaos ensued! But the timing of Tehom asking that question was hilarious!

– Chubtoad

Submitted by PepsiJoe

Let’s go explore, they said. Let’s see what’s down that hole, they said. This thing is red, we’re dead, I said. Within seconds of me saying that, 4 of the 6 people in my group were dropped into a near-death state by this unholy ghoul that should have been left well enough alone in his chamber. By some magnificent stroke of luck (or thoughtful positioning) our cleric and enchanter were the 2 classes that weren’t promptly destroyed. Our cleric used his fear-undead spell which bought all of us near-death crawlers a little bit of time (and distance as the ghoul started pathing in the other direction) to crawl toward the wall. It was this very same wall that we had just descended several seconds before, seemingly into our demise. Now it was our gateway to survival, a small obstacle between life and death but time was fleeting.

Our cleric wisely healed our shaman and helped him out of purple club … who then did the same for me. The fear duration ended and the ghoul sought revenge on the cleric that was responsible for it. Our cleric (whom was still at the top of the wall) was casually nuked for all of his health and the infamous purple club welcomed its newest member. Just as it seemed like our recovery efforts were going to stall out and fail, our enchanter casted mem-wipe on the ghoul and bought our escape odds another precious window of opportunity. Everyone made it back up the wall alive and we managed to escape that situation without a single player dying. We watched the ghoul path back into his chamber while we were licking our wounds from above. Lessons were learned. The tension was palpable. Counter play was executed and catastrophe avoided. Awed in 60 seconds.

– 1AD7

Exploration was the name of the game this session for my group and so we set off on an adventure when we saw a looming mysterious tower hanging high above the peaks of the mountains. We had to see what secrets Visionary Realms had tucked away there. It was treacherous! We didn’t have climbing gear, so we were depending on skilling up our climbing naturally as we found ledges to rest, from time to time, on our epic ascend up the face of the cliff. Soon, a developer noticed our efforts and teased us from the destination which was just out of reach. We all worked together to find the best path, we communicated, and after a few unfortunate falls to our deaths, we finally found a way. This is what is so awesome about Pantheon Rise of the Fallen: If you want to do it, you CAN find a way. Once up there we found secrets so good, so rare, so awesome that I am not allowed to disclose it… But what I can tell you is that it was an absolutely stunning view at night.

– TheNathanNapalm

Submitted by Nautilus

Thank you once again to all of our VIP supporters who submitted stores and images of their favorite moments. We cannot wait to get them back into Terminus in the near future.

Producer’s Letter	Monthly Recap	Pantheon: Pre-Alpha Impressions	Communities of Pantheon