My Pantheon Experience July 27th 2024

Slapshot1188

Original backer of the failed Kickstarter.
Did NOT back when they relaunched.
Have watched from afar for all these years with the hope that THIS would be my go-to PvE game at some point.
It's been 10 years.
Yesterday was the first time I got to play it thanks to a key from MMORPG.com (Thanks!)
Account setup was the worst I have ever seen. You have to make an account for the website and then ALSO make a game account.  Even though the website shows you already have a Pantheon ROTF game account, nope, thats not legit, you have to actually make another one.
Then login was crazy with it telling me my PW/login was incorrect, even though I am literally looking at the same login and password from the edit account screen on the website.

ANYHOW... on Saturday around 3PM it finally worked and I was able to install the game and login.

I simply cannot believe that this game represents a decade of development.  It actually did NOT remind me of EQ surprisingly.  What IMMEDIATELY came to mind was Pathfinder Online.  Thats was it felt like when moving, attacking, etc...

I just cannot believe it.  I have no issue with lower rez graphics.  But this legitimately reminded me of Pathfinder Online which they produced for about $1M in maybe 2 years.  I don't know what else to say.  It was that bad.  Early Access in 4 months?  Utterly laughable.

But I appreciate that I actually got to experience it for myself and will no longer wonder about it.  I can safely bury the dream.

Kyleran

It's going the early access route not because it's ready to but rather as a means to generate some more regular long term funding as their coffers are quickly running dry.

I'll be quite surprised if they don't throw the towel in some time in 2025.

achesoma

It's nice to see new players point of view after playing this for so many years. Pantheon plays like it's been in development for a couple years because in a sense that's what happened. They've had so many setbacks and refactors that's essentially what happened. But believe it or not, this version is the most complete and well done version of Pantheon to date.

When people compare it to EQ, they are referring to the fundamental mechanics. So things like camping, split pulling, crowd control, group grinding, dungeon crawling, training, no quest hubs, etc, are why people draw comparison to EQ.

Kyleran is spot on. They need a new source of funding but I'm not sure EA will do it. They are launching EA and will continue to have wipes. EA will be missing 3 playable races and 2 classes. So there is not a lot of motivation to log in regularly and grind away if it's all for nothing, even more so if your favorite race/class aren't in the game yet. Hell, according to Joppa, the race/class matrix isn't even finished yet.

Brainy

Slapshot1188 said:

I simply cannot believe that this game represents a decade of development.  It actually did NOT remind me of EQ surprisingly.  What IMMEDIATELY came to mind was Pathfinder Online.  Thats was it felt like when moving, attacking, etc...

I just cannot believe it.  I have no issue with lower rez graphics.  But this legitimately reminded me of Pathfinder Online which they produced for about $1M in maybe 2 years.  I don't know what else to say.  It was that bad.  Early Access in 4 months?  Utterly laughable.

Yeah so now you see why I rated it Trash tier.  With all the info out there on how bad this was, you couldnt believe it?

I guess now that you have opened your eyes and have seen for yourself, all the hate people are giving this is not so shocking.

The game must be pretty bad if you are saying its bad.  Considering how many games you say are great, that are F tier for me.

Whytewulf

Well I tried it for 10 min.. I like the EQ aspects, using something grows your skill.  And thats about it.  No clue what I was supposed to do, graphics were 20 years old (which I could have dealt with) but there was no fun aspect..   Vanguard, released 15+ years ago was better.

Robokapp

Kyleran said:

It's going the early access route not because it's ready to but rather as a means to generate some more regular long term funding 

it's a great way to turn away potential players.

Slapshot1188

Brainy said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I simply cannot believe that this game represents a decade of development.  It actually did NOT remind me of EQ surprisingly.  What IMMEDIATELY came to mind was Pathfinder Online.  Thats was it felt like when moving, attacking, etc...

I just cannot believe it.  I have no issue with lower rez graphics.  But this legitimately reminded me of Pathfinder Online which they produced for about $1M in maybe 2 years.  I don't know what else to say.  It was that bad.  Early Access in 4 months?  Utterly laughable.

Yeah so now you see why I rated it Trash tier.  With all the info out there on how bad this was, you couldnt believe it?

I guess now that you have opened your eyes and have seen for yourself, all the hate people are giving this is not so shocking.

The game must be pretty bad if you are saying its bad.  Considering how many games you say are great, that are F tier for me.

Yeah, I definitely have made a name for myself by being overly positive and defending games around here.  Thanks for noticing!

KnightFalz

Brainy said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I simply cannot believe that this game represents a decade of development.  It actually did NOT remind me of EQ surprisingly.  What IMMEDIATELY came to mind was Pathfinder Online.  Thats was it felt like when moving, attacking, etc...

I just cannot believe it.  I have no issue with lower rez graphics.  But this legitimately reminded me of Pathfinder Online which they produced for about $1M in maybe 2 years.  I don't know what else to say.  It was that bad.  Early Access in 4 months?  Utterly laughable.

Yeah so now you see why I rated it Trash tier.  With all the info out there on how bad this was, you couldnt believe it?

I guess now that you have opened your eyes and have seen for yourself, all the hate people are giving this is not so shocking.

The game must be pretty bad if you are saying its bad.  Considering how many games you say are great, that are F tier for me.

There is nothing like direct experience when it comes to dispelling illusions, especially when one puts their own judgment above that of others as they should when it comes to game preference.

Jenkz

Can't believe this was 10+ years in the making. I tried the beta just like the OP. Game is terrible, dull and completely empty.

What have the devs been doing for 10 years? What a shame.

Slapshot1188

Jenkz said:

Can't believe this was 10+ years in the making. I tried the beta just like the OP. Game is terrible, dull and completely empty.

What have the devs been doing for 10 years? What a shame.

It's been suggested that they had multiple "restarts" over the last decade but one would HOPE that even if they had to change tracks they could move significant amounts of work to the new version, but it really looks like something that could be put together in a few months in my absolute honest opinion.

Wargfoot

Your post convinced me to pull the trigger on the $10,000 VIP pack.

Slapshot1188

Wargfoot said:

Your post convinced me to pull the trigger on the $10,000 VIP pack.

Then my plan has worked.

Wargfoot

Slapshot1188 said:

Wargfoot said:

Your post convinced me to pull the trigger on the $10,000 VIP pack.

Then my plan has worked.

The fact they offered a $10K pledge pack caused me to write them off quite some time ago.  Something about that actually made me mad.

Slapshot1188

Wargfoot said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Wargfoot said:

Your post convinced me to pull the trigger on the $10,000 VIP pack.

Then my plan has worked.

The fact they offered a $10K pledge pack caused me to write them off quite some time ago.  Something about that actually made me mad.

My perspective is that they can offer whatever packages they think people will buy as long as it doesn't cheapen the game experience for everyone else.

Most of the items listed for that package seem to be cosmetic like highlighted forum names and game titles plus lifetime subscription etc.  The big ticket item was the ability to help with the design of a dungeon.  I'd never plunk that down but it doesn't bother me that they offered it.

Slapshot1188

Did anyone else give the game a first try during the weekend test?  Curious to see other thoughts.

harken33

Slapshot1188 said:

Original backer of the failed Kickstarter.
Did NOT back when they relaunched.
Have watched from afar for all these years with the hope that THIS would be my go-to PvE game at some point.
It's been 10 years.
Yesterday was the first time I got to play it thanks to a key from MMORPG.com (Thanks!)
Account setup was the worst I have ever seen. You have to make an account for the website and then ALSO make a game account.  Even though the website shows you already have a Pantheon ROTF game account, nope, thats not legit, you have to actually make another one.
Then login was crazy with it telling me my PW/login was incorrect, even though I am literally looking at the same login and password from the edit account screen on the website.

ANYHOW... on Saturday around 3PM it finally worked and I was able to install the game and login.

I simply cannot believe that this game represents a decade of development.  It actually did NOT remind me of EQ surprisingly.  What IMMEDIATELY came to mind was Pathfinder Online.  Thats was it felt like when moving, attacking, etc...

I just cannot believe it.  I have no issue with lower rez graphics.  But this legitimately reminded me of Pathfinder Online which they produced for about $1M in maybe 2 years.  I don't know what else to say.  It was that bad.  Early Access in 4 months?  Utterly laughable.

But I appreciate that I actually got to experience it for myself and will no longer wonder about it.  I can safely bury the dream.

@Slapshot1188 First thanks for posting about your experience, regardless of better judgment, previous Kick-starter examples, multiple issues over the last few years for some reason that defies all logic I had an ember of hope for Pantheon.

Well for me I had been excited about the idea of Pantheon (and Camelot Unchained but that’s a different discussion), but I never supported the original Kickstarter. I was *very* close to buying in back in 2018 when it was being streamed and to me it seemed like it would be out within 2 years. However, it had to be completely redone because it was hard-coded or whatever the excuse was a couple of years back, there have been so many excuses now for the delays it’s tough to keep track.

I held off on building / buying a new PC at the time to make sure I would have the latest system specs when it came out (which would also set me up for other titles I was interested in like Camelot Unchained). My poor system held in there, struggling to play PC games but eventually it was too frustrating to bother even launching steam around 2020. Still good for taxes at least and I had bought my wife 2 systems in that time-frame in case anything urgent came up. I know some around here don’t care for consoles, but I thought they were fine (and still are) and much less frustrating than dealing with an old PC, although there are some games or styles of games that I only want to play on PC.

With my wife’s insistence 2 weeks ago, I bought a very nice gaming system, got it setup, I transferred the data over from the old system and launched Steam for the first time in close to half a decade. It was good to see all my old games there, but it was even better to purchase some new games I had becomes interested in (Valheim, 7 Days to Die and I think Dune Spice wars) with a system that could run them optimally without breaking a sweat or any frustration.

So, after following the game for a decade, there I was last weekend with several free hours, knowing about the free Pantheon keys to get access, and a system that could easily run Pantheon. However, to my surprise I had zero interest in doing so but was more excited / interested in playing a Zombie crafting survival title. 

I figured as I played 7 days to die I could at least throw twitch on the tv and maybe watch CohhCarnage stream some Pantheon, perhaps that would rekindle my interest, but weirdly enough he was streaming 7 days?? I thought he was an investor or something in Pantheon. I didn’t care enough to search other channels to see if any Pantheon streaming was going on.

It was an epiphany that I was no longer interested in Pantheon. When I read your post the “I can safely bury the dream” part is what I have just recently done as well, I no longer have that ember of interest.

Theocritus

Slapshot1188 said:

Did anyone else give the game a first try during the weekend test?  Curious to see other thoughts.

No but appreciate your honest post about the state of the game....As a former EQ player, I was semi interested at one time but skeptical at the same time....Im not sure why they thought basing their game on a game with very outdated graphics was a good idea....I remember watching a dev demo of the game and the game was just awful...Even the devs were bored to tears while playing.

philgon

@Slapshot1188, this line of your post summarize my exact feeling when i tested it several months ago.

” I simply cannot believe that this game represents a decade of development”

 A total letdown and it concern me the approach on gaming today.

Sovrath

Theocritus said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Did anyone else give the game a first try during the weekend test?  Curious to see other thoughts.

No but appreciate your honest post about the state of the game....As a former EQ player, I was semi interested at one time but skeptical at the same time....Im not sure why they thought basing their game on a game with very outdated graphics was a good idea....I remember watching a dev demo of the game and the game was just awful...Even the devs were bored to tears while playing.

Rightful criticisms aside I remember that video and your comment and no they weren’t.

That was you seeing things through your own lens. 

Hartack

Nah, it's great and ticks a lot of the old EQ feels. The only real negatives at this time is that there are yet wipes to happen and it doesn't wash your dishes.

The development time narrative is tired and irrelevant.

Early Access is more of a 'Hey the servers are now up constantly! Come playtest with us!'

because a LOT of us want to play more than seasons have allowed.

It's really good!

Adamantine

Well if this thread is to be believed its official: the game development imploded on this one.

Shows how hard it is to develop games.

Many game developments implode, but we never have heard of these titles, because they did not get announced.

P.s.: After having found time to watch a couple current videos, I am pretty happy with what I see.

Except I really dont get why they had to restart the project multiple times to get where they are now, but whatever.

For the record I havent invested a single eurocent into Pantheon so if that project fails I wont be hurt in any way. Except there is no MMORPG for me to play.

Given how much of my time is currently occupied by Baldur's Gate 3, thats cool.