We talk to several members of the Visionary Realms team to get the skinny on Pantheon

One of the trends in the genre has been homogenization of classes. "Bring the player not the class."  What is your philosophy on class design as it relates to this idea?

I’m a big fan of class based systems because it’s how we humans think, act and work every day.  The majority of people are not jack-of-all-trades.  We go to work and we have a role, and that role hopefully is valuable in a team environment.  

We play team sports where the player assumes a role, like goalie, or forward (I’m a soccer fan).  So I think a class system is natural and compliments human nature.  

But you aren’t just a class, you are a player too.  How you fulfill your role as a tank is just as important as being a tank.  Back to the soccer analogy, just because you are put in the position of being a defender doesn’t mean you’re a good defender.  So there’s plenty of room for being the player and the class. They are certainly not mutually exclusive.

Quests are noted as being few but meaningful. What will be the primary mechanism for players to level their characters? What else, besides quests and grinding enemies, will grant players experience?

Finishing quests are more for obtaining a great item in Pantheon.  Advancing your character will happen organically as you kill mobs, overcome challenges, and learn the secrets of the world.  

Crafting is listed as a pretty deep stretch goal, but is there anything you might be able to say about your ideas for the system, and how it fits into the economy?

The crafting system in Vanguard was highly praised and the designer of that system is on the Pantheon team. It would need to be meaningful, fun, and contribute to the economy in a way that makes sense. We don’t want crafting to be the only economy. Some people just don’t like crafting and we want to make sure they have a way to make ends meet too. That being said, when we do get to it, crafters will have plenty of services they can offer to make a living.

Could Pantheon actually release without something as foundational as crafting, but still have it be meaningful when it was added later?

Absolutely. Pantheon’s focus is on epic adventure and exploration.  Crafting is great and we want to implement it in one way or another at some point.  But it’s a complementary system, not a core system. Adventuring with your friends, defeating boss mobs, building up your character and acquiring the best items is Pantheon’s core. What’s important is that we make our combat system and grouping exceedingly fun.

Can players expect to see non-combat progression paths, such as dedicated crafting classes?

It’s far too early to announce any crafting specifics given that crafting is a stretch goal.

What is the team's view on world or dungeon zone maps? Does the game provide this kind of guidance or is it up to the players?

We understand how maps and minimaps can detract greatly from the game experience. That being said, the creation of maps can be a great social experience. What if players could create their own maps to sell?

Can you talk about health regeneration? Will players be required to eat to recover, or some other mechanic?

Players will recover their HP automatically, but slowly without aid. You will need to have food and drink in order to regenerate without any outside help. And, of course, getting healed or healing yourself with a spell is the most efficient way to get your health back.

How do you envision progression in Pantheon? How do guilds move forward and measure success against other guilds?

Groups and guilds will get a sense of accomplishment when they learn how to conquer a dungeon or a specific boss mob.  Some more competitive guilds will probably race to obtain the better or best items in the game and show them off.  

Your affinity for the fantasy genre is well-known, but did you ever consider a different setting for Pantheon?

I have indeed considered that and it’s one of the many reasons I’m so excited about Pantheon. Terminus is the product of collisions with all sorts of worlds, planes, and shards. This is why we are calling the game Epic Planar Fantasy. As you explore, you’ll come across pieces of former worlds with all sorts of inhabitants, landscapes, and architecture. The physics in those zones could be different.  Magic might work slightly differently. The backstory and setting allows us a lot more freedom to do some crazy stuff that might not fit into a more rigid and traditional high fantasy world.

Let's talk about the business model. You've decided that Pantheon will require a subscription to play the game. Can you tell us the reasoning behind that choice versus other models, and what can players expect to receive as far as updates for their monthly fee?

Pantheon will have a free trial available but the plan is to charge a monthly subscription fee beyond that.  We’ve chosen this revenue model because it’s a proven one, especially given our target audience, which consists partially of players who’ve been around MMOs for a while. Our goal is to also have periodic expansions and updates.

On the outside chance that the Kickstarter does not fully fund, will you still endeavor to make the game through other means?

Ideally we’d like to be completely crowdfunded as at that point, the players are in control. That is our preference, but we feel it’s an important enough game that it needs to be made, no matter how it gets fully funded. The team will take the work we’ve accomplished to both investors and publishers if need be.

When the game launches, how will you measure success? Will it be a certain number of subscribers? Player or critical acclaim?

All of the above, really.  The number of subscribers is, of course, directly related to revenue, which allows us to pay the team to keep working on the game as well as making expansions.  But we’re all also MMO gamers and are making the game that we want to play too.  So player and critical acclaim is certainly important to us.  When EverQuest received the GDC’s 2nd Annual Game Developers Choice Online Award in 2011 the original team and I were extremely honored.

What else would you like the ZAM readers to know about Pantheon that may not have been covered yet? Say something that might surprise them!

There are just a few more things we need to discuss as a team before we can get into too many details about other things we hope to do. It’s important to us to get the information out there but it is equally important that that information is as accurate as it can be at this early stage of development. The last thing we want to do is make promises we can’t keep.

Finally, if you could personally speak to every player that this game is intended for, especially those who may be older with different life responsibilities, what would you say to them to convince them to support the Kickstarter campaign?

I’d let them know that Pantheon is a modern, high-fantasy MMORPG that strives to inject high-tension gameplay back into online games. I view the game as a spiritual successor to EverQuest--it is focused on developing an online world that is both dangerous and exciting that relies on group-focused tactics.  There’s been a significant demand for it, and until now we feel that demand hasn’t been answered. And then I’d ask them if any of the above description of the game was appealing to them, and, if so, to please contribute to our Kickstarter campaign and help make this dream become a reality.

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