Pantheon AMA

Kumapon

Visionary Realms had an AMA with the guild Fires Of Heaven, the other day. Hundreds of questions were asked, but these were the ones that the team answered. 

I thought I would share the answers with you, as some of the answers were really interesting.  


https://www.firesofheaven.org/threads/pantheon-ama-responses.10091/


Enjoy !

Ganksinatra

DMKano said:

Also

"What is your minimum target audience size / demographic expectation for launch? 10k subs, 50k subs, 100k subs, or more ? In other words, how small is your niche tolerance?
Ben: We’ll be sustainable with subs in the 10s of thousands. "

I wonder just how low is 10s of thousands realistically - because I think after 6 months or so - this is going to be the real struggle as subs only decrease over time.

I highly disagree. My son (13 years old) and all of his friends are HYPED about Pantheon. They find WoW way too easy. They like games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne because the stuff is dangerous. It's something that has been missing for years in MMOs now. 

For instance, I went AFK in WoW the other day and forgot all about it. I windowed back as it was counting me down to log me out and I was still alive and well. I couldn't do that in the original EQ when it launched....well, you could, but not many places.

Ganksinatra

I'm actually REALLY excited that it may take me half a year to get top level and gear. Man I wanna play this SO BAD...

LackingMMO

Any plans to implement 'epic' weapon quests?
Chris (Joppa): Yes. Our plans for Epic quest lines cover: Epic Weapons, Armor and Abilities.


I hope its more along the lines of eq1 epic where you had to really think and piece it together than newer "epics" where its very guided.

Ganksinatra

LackingMMO said:

Any plans to implement 'epic' weapon quests?
Chris (Joppa): Yes. Our plans for Epic quest lines cover: Epic Weapons, Armor and Abilities.


I hope its more along the lines of eq1 epic where you had to really think and piece it together than newer "epics" where its very guided.

Yeah. Although I am no fan of "just hope you figure it out", either. I think there should be a happy medium between "you're on your own" and "follow the path of ! to find it". I think that is kind of what the perception system is supposed to do. Although I am a bit concerned that with factions playing into perception that I am gonna have to grind faction like crazy lol.

svann

Yea the original eq was too much into "let them find the quests with no guidance".  The claim was that many quests had not been found 10 years in and then they figured out that was because they were broken and could not be done.

edit: wth is up with that text color scheme?

LackingMMO

Ganksinatra said:

LackingMMO said:

Any plans to implement 'epic' weapon quests?
Chris (Joppa): Yes. Our plans for Epic quest lines cover: Epic Weapons, Armor and Abilities.


I hope its more along the lines of eq1 epic where you had to really think and piece it together than newer "epics" where its very guided.

Yeah. Although I am no fan of "just hope you figure it out", either. I think there should be a happy medium between "you're on your own" and "follow the path of ! to find it". I think that is kind of what the perception system is supposed to do. Although I am a bit concerned that with factions playing into perception that I am gonna have to grind faction like crazy lol.

Yeah but if I remember right(long time ago) in eq1 the war epic gave you enough clues to check a few places and figure it out. Its nice to have exacts for certain areas but in others, that little clue that strings you along is just as good.. or irritating lol.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

delete5230

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

Two weeks ? 

Your mind is still in 3rd generation games Online where you can run your character "solo" playing "easy" content. 


If somehow you have that extreme super-duper Guild that could accomplish this, where all the members are jobless basement dwellers, then maybe you should look at your life, because you have nothing else going on !..... Even still, the prep work and demographics of the game will not allow this.  

I would bet their making the game 2.5 months even for basement people that never have to eat or sleep.   



I think your playing too many Asian cash shop games and starting to forget with an mmorpg is.

Kyleran

delete5230 said:

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

Two weeks ? 

Your mind is still in 3rd generation games Online where you can run your character "solo" playing "easy" content. 


If somehow you have that extreme super-duper Guild that could accomplish this, where all the members are jobless basement dwellers, then maybe you should look at your life, because you have nothing else going on !..... Even still, the prep work and demographics of the game will not allow this.  

I would bet their making the game 2.5 months even for basement people that never have to eat or sleep.   



I think your playing too many Asian cash shop games and starting to forget with an mmorpg is.

He also forgets, the Devs could make it so some content actually can't be won, or even completed, has happened before.

Or, just make it extremely infrequent, random, unfair, and about as likely of actually occurring as a lightning strike....and only if the 3rd healer is facing west, and its a Tuesday between the hours of 4 and 5 am, etc etc.

Xiaoki

Ganksinatra said:

DMKano said:

Also

"What is your minimum target audience size / demographic expectation for launch? 10k subs, 50k subs, 100k subs, or more ? In other words, how small is your niche tolerance?
Ben: We’ll be sustainable with subs in the 10s of thousands. "

I wonder just how low is 10s of thousands realistically - because I think after 6 months or so - this is going to be the real struggle as subs only decrease over time.

I highly disagree. My son (13 years old) and all of his friends are HYPED about Pantheon. They find WoW way too easy. They like games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne because the stuff is dangerous. It's something that has been missing for years in MMOs now. 

For instance, I went AFK in WoW the other day and forgot all about it. I windowed back as it was counting me down to log me out and I was still alive and well. I couldn't do that in the original EQ when it launched....well, you could, but not many places.

Dark Souls and Bloodborne are also action games ....with action.

Perhaps you should have your son and his friends play EQ1 to see if they are ready for how mind numbingly boring "old school" games can be.

Scot

Kyleran said:

delete5230 said:

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

Two weeks ? 

Your mind is still in 3rd generation games Online where you can run your character "solo" playing "easy" content. 


If somehow you have that extreme super-duper Guild that could accomplish this, where all the members are jobless basement dwellers, then maybe you should look at your life, because you have nothing else going on !..... Even still, the prep work and demographics of the game will not allow this.  

I would bet their making the game 2.5 months even for basement people that never have to eat or sleep.   



I think your playing too many Asian cash shop games and starting to forget with an mmorpg is.

He also forgets, the Devs could make it so some content actually can't be won, or even completed, has happened before.

If they get to end game within two weeks just drop them into a Pit of Doom, that should keep them occupied for a bit.

Amathe

delete5230 said:

Two weeks ? 

Your mind is still in 3rd generation games Online where you can run your character "solo" playing "easy" content. 

Sometimes (not always) the first "person" to hit max level is not just one person. It is a team of people who share the account and keep the character playing 24/7. They may also be supported by friends and guildmates who help them in any way possible. Supplies. Ports. Coin. Clearing trash. You name it. And their progress isn't a journey of discovery. It has all been planned out ahead of time for maximum efficiency. Someone like that is going to finish way faster than even a highly dedicated single player.

Amathe

DMKano said:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

I was rather hoping for a steeper leveling curve. I played EQ for around 1.7 years and only reached level 57. Of course, I suck, but still. 

Warlyx

not even a single question about summoner

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Amathe

blueturtle13 said:

What exactly are you considering ‘hard’ content? (Compared to easy as you said) 

Personally I think hard can be many things. One player may do great, for example, in an action combat game like Overwatch, but be bored to death and stumped by the many puzzles in The Secret World. Or it may be a function of time, and finding the time. It could be, as you point out, whether PvP is present, and in what way. It could be dozens of things.

I for one don't think Pantheon will be the hardest game out there, nor hard in every possible way, nor harder than every other mmo. But I do believe it will present some of the types of old school mmo challenges that folks around here are looking for. 

Wellspring

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

They should've estimated it in terms of total hours played, not in overall weeks or months. What Joppa considers to be the average playtime per day for an aggressive/competitive pace is anyone's guess. 

And due to the learning curve of a new game, it may take the hardcore players 1000 hours (or whatever Joppa's estimate is) to reach max level the first time through. But that first play through will likely happen during alpha / beta, and the launch play through will be must faster.

Regardless, as long as they don't bank on it taking 2.5 months for players to reach max level, and then use that time to add in the end game content -- like they did in Vanguard -- I'll be happy. Fortunately, I do think they've learned from it and won't repeat the same mistake in Pantheon. 

svann

Id like to see it be no max level.

Mendel

Amathe said:

DMKano said:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

I was rather hoping for a steeper leveling curve. I played EQ for around 1.7 years and only reached level 57. Of course, I suck, but still. 

Level a character, create an alt, rinse, repeat.  Been there.  Done that.

If the 0 to max level is too quick, VR/Pantheon are likely to have major retention problems.  I'm one of those who had already abandoned (temporarily) EQ1 several times before I 'maxxed out' at 70, when that was the max.  If they aren't already working on adding content for that steeper learning curve, this will be another flavor of the month game.  A good number of their hard-core fans will be playing this in Beta, and there will be little 'new' or 'interesting' to keep them around.  They are likely to be in that first wave of Pantheon retirees.

I'm thinking there will be max level characters for every class on every server within a month.  Probably closer to DMKano's 2 week race.  Possibly even before I can make a /world 'Congratulations ' macro.

Mylan12

Wellspring said:

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

They should've estimated it in terms of total hours played, not in overall weeks or months. What Joppa considers to be the average playtime per day for an aggressive/competitive pace is anyone's guess. 

And due to the learning curve of a new game, it may take the hardcore players 1000 hours (or whatever Joppa's estimate is) to reach max level the first time through. But that first play through will likely happen during alpha / beta, and the launch play through will be must faster.

Regardless, as long as they don't bank on it taking 2.5 months for players to reach max level, and then use that time to add in the end game content -- like they did in Vanguard -- I'll be happy. Fortunately, I do think they've learned from it and won't repeat the same mistake in Pantheon. 

I agree do they mean 2.5 months in real time or in game time?  Big difference. I assume they mean real outside time. In early EQ 1, it took me around 3 and a half months to get my first character to max level in real time. Which estimating the time I played back then was between 2 and a half weeks and 3 weeks in game time. So this seems similar which I assume is probably the goal.

Mylan12

Wellspring said:

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

They should've estimated it in terms of total hours played, not in overall weeks or months. What Joppa considers to be the average playtime per day for an aggressive/competitive pace is anyone's guess. 

And due to the learning curve of a new game, it may take the hardcore players 1000 hours (or whatever Joppa's estimate is) to reach max level the first time through. But that first play through will likely happen during alpha / beta, and the launch play through will be must faster.

Regardless, as long as they don't bank on it taking 2.5 months for players to reach max level, and then use that time to add in the end game content -- like they did in Vanguard -- I'll be happy. Fortunately, I do think they've learned from it and won't repeat the same mistake in Pantheon. 

They made the same mistake in EQ 1 for months and months all we had to do was go kill two dragons. No raid zones.  I forgot but I think they (the dragons) spawned something  like once a week unless the server or zone crashed. We use to rush to kill them before anyone else got their.

Kyleran

Mylan12 said:

Wellspring said:

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

They should've estimated it in terms of total hours played, not in overall weeks or months. What Joppa considers to be the average playtime per day for an aggressive/competitive pace is anyone's guess. 

And due to the learning curve of a new game, it may take the hardcore players 1000 hours (or whatever Joppa's estimate is) to reach max level the first time through. But that first play through will likely happen during alpha / beta, and the launch play through will be must faster.

Regardless, as long as they don't bank on it taking 2.5 months for players to reach max level, and then use that time to add in the end game content -- like they did in Vanguard -- I'll be happy. Fortunately, I do think they've learned from it and won't repeat the same mistake in Pantheon. 

They made the same mistake in EQ 1 for months and months all we had to do was go kill two dragons. No raid zones.  I forgot but I think they (the dragons) spawned something  like once a week unless the server or zone crashed. We use to rush to kill them before anyone else got their.

In all fairness early game devs had not yet realized the "zeal" some players will put into a game.

I still marvel at the stories folks tell about the amount of study, practice and time they put in towards "mastering" a simple recreational hobby.

Its like claiming one is a Monopoly or Risk expert......go figure.

Me, I just play games......

Scot

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

Don't discriminate against bottoms, lets campaign for equality and booty sliders now!

Amathe

Kyleran said:

Its like claiming one is a Monopoly or Risk expert......go figure.

Those exist. There are world championships. Pretty much every human endeavor has its competitions and champions. 

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-enter-official-monopoly-tournament-411915

https://noveletales.com/risk-championship-tournament-2016/

But I get your point.  

delete5230

Kyleran said:

Mylan12 said:

Wellspring said:

DMKano said:

"Q. Will there be a boob slider in the character creation process?
Ben: No."

Well I'm out.







Hehe - seriously though:

"Q. What is your vision for typical time played to reach max level?
Chris (Joppa): At a highly aggressive/competitive pace, I’d like to see it take around 2.5 months, ~10 weeks. At a normal pace, around 4 months, ~16-18 weeks. "

Reality - aggressive /competitive pace = 2 weeks.

They should've estimated it in terms of total hours played, not in overall weeks or months. What Joppa considers to be the average playtime per day for an aggressive/competitive pace is anyone's guess. 

And due to the learning curve of a new game, it may take the hardcore players 1000 hours (or whatever Joppa's estimate is) to reach max level the first time through. But that first play through will likely happen during alpha / beta, and the launch play through will be must faster.

Regardless, as long as they don't bank on it taking 2.5 months for players to reach max level, and then use that time to add in the end game content -- like they did in Vanguard -- I'll be happy. Fortunately, I do think they've learned from it and won't repeat the same mistake in Pantheon. 

They made the same mistake in EQ 1 for months and months all we had to do was go kill two dragons. No raid zones.  I forgot but I think they (the dragons) spawned something  like once a week unless the server or zone crashed. We use to rush to kill them before anyone else got their.

In all fairness early game devs had not yet realized the "zeal" some players will put into a game.

I still marvel at the stories folks tell about the amount of study, practice and time they put in towards "mastering" a simple recreational hobby.

Its like claiming one is a Monopoly or Risk expert......go figure.

Me, I just play games......

As far as Monopoly goes, You could master it. 

Simply strongarm Boardwalk and Park Place deeds from weaker players, and cheat and put hotels on them