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[Interview] Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen: Exclusive MMORPG.com Q&A with Brad McQuaid
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Our community recently had the opportunity to submit questions to Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's Brad McQuaid. In one of the fastest turnarounds in history, Brad has returned the questions and we've got it exclusively for our readers. Check it out and then head to the comments.
Read more Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen - Exclusive MMORPG.com Q&A with Brad McQuaid.
Comments
Thanks MMORPG for putting this together and thanks Brad for taking time to answer questions.
I've been waiting for a game full of challenges and adventure and I am really excited to see a game in the works that seems to hit the nail on the head.
https://www.youtube.com/user/NemsGaming
"And doing those quests will also be optional. While they will usually reward the player quite handsomely upon completion, they won’t necessarily be essential to advance. Players should be focused on adventure and exploration first. "
And with that answer (as well as the answer about horizontal progression) I'm officially sold on this game.
DEATH TO QUEST GRINDING. Have you ever tried to advance in a WoW style MMO without doing quests? It's THE WORST.
I have and it is the worse.
Most of my Lord of the Rings Online play is avoiding the "silly quests" or the quests that are just too mundane. What I hate is when these quests are not optional. In LOTRO I atcually had to carry a basket of apples and then carry the empty basket back. And it was part of the main story quest.
Sometimes I think "some" developers just don't like their players.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
LotRO is what did it to me too.
Doing quests, level 1-10 in about two hours.
Avoiding quests about 2 weeks.
Not to mention that if you ever EVER try to group with ANYONE in that game, all they do is quests. So, you can either try to hop into quests WITH them (that is, if you find a group, but barely anyone socializes) only to learn that you need to complete chains of fetch quests just to get to their step, in which case you disband and do your own quests..., OR you try to convince them to just hunt mobs with you, in which case you disband and go your seperate ways.
I actually love those LOTRO quests where you are delivering pies or carrying apples. It is great not to be killing all the time. To each their own , I suppose.
Agreed. Vanguard was way too sprawling. It has so much content and half finished content no one will ever see.
I would prefer a ton of sandbox features in this game, but I don't mind waiting for expansions.
Hell, if the expansions are stuff like, adding housing, adding crafting, adding PvP, and making sure they're all focused and great quality, that's a fuck load better than just raising the level cap and adding more land.
Great answers, it's refreshing to get such clear cut and honest responses from a new game in development, instead of promising the world and falling short at release.
Keep up the great work Brad and the team, I am backing Pantheon all the way!
They're okay the first time or two, and they're clearly left over in tone from when LotRO was Middle Earth Online.
But since they're REQUIRED to level up, you have to do them about 100 times, reskinned, and it's just... no.
Diplomacy was a great system to get lore out in the world, but Vanguard had a massive budget, so far this game does not. I'd rather they add it in later and get it right.
Yup, that's my experience.
And the other problem, as you mention is getting on the same quests as they are.
There are quests in LOTRO that are worth doing as they have decent stories, etc but Turbine never got "how" to incorporate group quests. They always make it so that you group for one quest and then you disband. They need to have separate group quests where players can group and stay grouped (if one indeed wants to "quest").
Or just have explorable areas that have interesting rewards/mats where players need to group.
And I"m not even a "grouper". but sometimes you want to group with friends and it's just too much aggravation.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I ALWAYS want to have those types of quests in these games. I just want a choice as to whether or not I do them.
When you have a main quest line and you have to deliver a basket of apples and then deliver the basket back, well, that's not very epic. It's a bit homey but not epic.
Now, having those quests be sub quests or just separate would solve that problem.
I don't know of any movie or book where the hero delivers pies and apples as an end in and of itself.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Considering the amount of questions put out from the community in the original thread, I expected more length and depth in this Q&A. As an avid crafter, I am somewhat disappointed that crafting will not be in the game at launch, rather, it might be an addition with an expansion or if more resources ($$$) are given to development. I think having 3 questions on crafting was a waste as the answer was the same on all of them: it won't be integrated at launch.
As a whole, the Q&A wasn't bad. I am liking what I hear so far, so my attention will remain on Pantheon through development. For me, it is a worthwhile investment to support a game, and team, that refuses to pump out another piece of MMO garbage that the last 8 years has seen. I think it sends a message to the sheep of the industry that players have had enough. That said, the proof is in the pudding. This is the Words and Fund-raising stage, and we have nothing to see or touch. If the product is good, I will buy it. If it has a subscription, rather than a F2P model, I will support it even further.
Consider me sold as well, barring the combat is engaging. While I understand that not everyone wants Twitch based Combat I do at least hope the combat is engaging, visceral and fun. Anything remotely similar to Tab Targeting EQ/WoW style will put me off right away.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Sounds good to me, even talking about mistakes in the past and consequences for the future. I can't stand these people who know nothing but jump the bashing train.
This game is about adventuring, not leveling up for the sake of it. Good approach, it is about time to leave the "Everything for all players to get high sales on release day"-train and jump on board on a train, where quality matters, not numbers.
I asked that one as well as if putting lifetime subs for 250 dollar pledges and over could possibly hurt the game in the long run. Just have to see if MMORPG submitted all the forum questions and they were cherry picked or they did a crap tame softball interview to make sure Brad didn't go diving for his bottle of vics again.
Liked that the diplomacy question got through at least, I was curious about that one.
The fact that he's not in a "managing" role this time around.
He's going to be a creative lead on the project - which is where his talents are best utilized.
The man can definitely create engaging, deep and fantastic worlds (EQ1 of course, and even VG's world and lore is awesome). So long as he's able to focus on those aspects, and has a capable team behind him managing everything else... I think Pantheon is in a much better position to do well. I have absolutely zero reservations about McQuaid performing excellently in that capacity - and of course, he's not working in a vacuum.
Not to mention the fact that they're focused on catering to a specific type of player with a specific type of experience, rather than "let's be all things to everyone!" approach. Not to mention the fact that they're keeping the design so focused on doing fewer things at a time, but doing them well, and then expanding on them down the line.
Basically, everything they did wrong in the past... they're doing the opposite this time.
Nice try, here's his most recent Q&A that proves virtually everything you said is false:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1588672538/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen/posts/727564
I was wrong about him maybe not answering my questions. it was; in fact, MMORPG.com that gave him a softball interview because that last question on his website video was mine
He has answered that question literally dozens of times already.
Yes, I watched that. He's CCO and a Producer on the game (I referred to it as "creative lead" - wrong term, same idea). He's managing the project to make sure things come together and head in the correct direction. That's exactly where he needs to be. My understanding (as memory serves) is that his role went a bit beyond that with Sigil Games.
Though, if you're interested in being intellectually honest (which you're demonstrably not), and not spewing out half-baked conspiracy theories (which you demonstrably are), you could easily make a comparison between the scope, direction, goals, and circumstances behind Vanguard, and that of this game. The differences are substantial.
You can start with the fact that, with VG he was quite clearly and openly interested in going directly up against WoW, a game that could be "something for everyone". With Pantheon, they have quite openly stated their goal is to be more focused, and make a game for very specific portion of the player base that has been largely ignored over the past decade. Without even moving beyond that distinction, there's already a huge difference between VG and this project.
If he said they were trying to make "Vanguard Part 2: The Vanguardiest Vanguard Ever", with all the same goals and circumstances behind it, then yes, your predictions would be at least believable. As it stands, they're not.
He's given thorough explanation of how they're approaching this game and why, much of it echoing the problems with Vanguard (which he himself has come out and talked about). But of course, you'll ignore all that. If it doesn't help you in spinning a good conspiracy theory, then it's best left ignored, right?
But again. You're just "that guy" on these forums for Pantheon. Nothing new. Every MMO has at least one.