Community Spotlight – A Weekend at Elleryn’s

A Weekend at Elleryn’s

Our community features a wide range of player types, with a diverse background of gaming stories. Whether etching your name in the record books achieving a world first, getting the highest score, logging on to hang out with friends, or simply journeying through a good story – gaming in general brings us together amidst our differences. We are constant in our praise for our wonderful community because its diversity fits with what we’re trying to create in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. Different player types tackling difficult challenges, with a social need to bond and learn one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Something that keeps us in awe of our community, is the amount they share about their experiences on our various platforms such as our forums, or our discord. Guilds have already formed, relationships continue to be built out, and even friendly rivalries have started to develop. It’s these things that keep Pantheon going strong on its Road to Alpha.

Today’s featured community member, Elleryn, is one of the first to say good morning on our official discord and with a coffee in hand she greets our amazing community daily. We are thankful for her engagement, and her general care for the community we love so much. Join us as we learn about her start in gaming, some of her favorite moments – including an epic corpse drag, and celebrate her in this spotlight article.

Thank you for opening yourself up to us, why don’t we start by having you tell the community a bit about yourself.

For those of the community who aren’t on the Discord server or have put me on ignore because I post so much, I’m an “old enough to know better but still too young to care” mother of an adult son. I’m a medical librarian by day and a gamer by night. I love to travel, read, and knit when I’m not gaming.

What are some of your early gaming moments that you remember fondly, and turned you into a gamer?

My family has always played games… board, card, video games. You name it, we’ve probably played it. My first memory of playing video games was playing Pong and soon thereafter my parents got us an Atari and we quickly became addicted to Space Invaders.

Many of my high school afternoons were spent at the local mall where my group of friends and I would play Asteroids for hours on end. Once I hit my college years, gaming fell off my radar until I met my first husband. He introduced me to Warcraft II, which reignited my love of computer games.

What was the first MMORPG you jumped into, and which has been your favorite so far?

So… funny story, my son was born in 1998. For Mother’s Day 1999 my then husband (the same one who introduced me to Warcraft II) bought me Everquest and a gaming chair. I was hooked from day 1 and played far too often. To this day I am still friends with many people whom I either played EQ with or met on EQ related bulletin boards.

After EQ I dabbled in Dark Ages of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxy, and Lord of the Rings Online. None of them captured my fancy as EQ did and I stopped playing MMOs for a while. I picked up EQ again in 2015 briefly on Ragefire, then full throttle on Agnarr. Though it’s still my favorite MMO I no longer play, and I am waiting patiently for Patheon.

Do you have a fun MMORPG story you can share with us?

Where to start? I have a few but probably the funniest is one night when I was on a Temple of Veeshan raid. My internet connection was iffy that night and I went link dead quite often. Finally, I had enough and just didn’t log back in. My character ended up dying and my guild dragged my corpse around, Weekend at Bernie’s style, for the rest of the raid, taking screen shots of dead bosses and my corpse along the way.

I also had a tendency, as a necromancer, to forget to take lich off after raids and would lich to death in the most benign places… a bank, the Nexus, you get the idea. Someone from my guild somehow always seemed to be there to witness this and memes were made. No, I don’t have copies of those memes.

MMORPGs house all kinds of player types, from hardcore grinders, to theory crafters, to explorers, and those that just want to be social and meet friends. How would you classify yourself as an MMORPG player?

While I have never been a hardcore grinder there was a period where I was what one might call semi-hardcore. I like to do my best at whatever activity I choose. But to me a video game is just a game, and I won’t let it become more of a job than a hobby.

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about MMOs is helping. Whenever possible I tried to be there for my friends and my guild for anything from epic items to taking down the big boss. Also, the last couple of EQ TLP servers I played on I discovered I really enjoyed crafting, like a LOT.

What led you to the discovery of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen?

I found out about Pantheon from the raid leader in the guild I joined on Agnarr. I was interested right away. An EQ like game developed by someone involved in the original EQ? Count me in! I didn’t pledge right away though and never really paid much attention to its development until I heard Brad McQuaid passed away. I decided to financially support Pantheon then to keep things going.

What are you looking forward to most upon the launch of Pantheon?

Besides the launch itself? Finally playing with the people I have met in my Pantheon guild (shout out to Legacy of Ages! Love y’all) and people I’ve met on the Official Pantheon Discord server. I’m also looking forward to exploring Terminus and I’m also hoping that crafter turns out to be as amazing as it seems like it will be.

We always ask, do you have your favorite race picked out yet and/or your class?

On EQ I tend to main a dark elf necromancer or wizard but fell in love with the concept art for the halfling and the climbing mechanic drew me to wanting to play a rogue. Having said that, if the necromancer class is out by launch it’s going to be a tough choice.

Are there any games you’ve been playing recently that have grabbed your attention?

I have completely and utterly fallen in love with the Horizon games. I’m frantically saving up for a PS5 so I can play the Horizon Forbidden West DLC when it comes out. I’m also interested in Hogwarts: Legacy. Single player games fit into my life easier at this point and time.

I am also a new Dungeons & Dragons player, the TTRPG not the video games. I am currently in two campaigns and have even streamed a two shot. If you go to YouTube and search Oops All! Forest Friends, I play Fluffernutter, a herangon (rabbit folk) cleric who used go around bopping field mice on the head. One day he bopped too hard and killed a field mouse and made it his life’s mission to be a healer.

As one of our community members who usually gives a heartfelt good morning to the community in discord, and always kicks the day off with some coffee – how do you like your coffee? What does it say about me that I drink my coffee black?

I like my coffee simple – black. Sometimes I’ll go for concoction drinks but that’s rare. So, we have something in common, Minus! Well, that and planning on playing a halfling rogue.

Thank you so much for sharing with us, what would you like to say to the community who’s eagerly awaiting the release of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen?

Be patient, and if you are my age, start looking for a nursing home with good Internet access.

Thank you Elleryn for sharing a bit about yourself, and even more so for the care you show for the community daily. We look forward to your early morning “Good Morning” posts in discord, as well as the coffee emoji that is usually attached. Thank you for the great conversations you take part in, and for overall being an amazing community member. Oh, and we’re going to need a some of those pictures of your corpse raiding!

We are thankful for the amazing stories our community has shared thus far with us. Do you have a story about how MMORPGs have made a difference in your life? Has it driven your creative urges? Has it made you a better leader? Has it helped you overcome difficulties in your life? We’d love to hear your tale and show why community truly matters. Drop us a line in the forums.

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