pantheon-rotf
Latest
New class rises to join Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
The second class revealed for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen isn't the hero that the world of Terminus needs, but it's the one the world deserves. The Dark Knight is exactly what it sounds like on the tin: Aside from striking fear into the cowardly and superstitious lot of Terminus' monsters, it's a fusion of melee abilities and destructive spellcasting that draws upon unholy might. It's a class with plenty of toys to mix with extensive martial training, and it serves nicely as a peek at the conceptual space of Pantheon's classes. Dark Knights have access to several choices of both weapon and armor, generally focusing on heavy plate armor along with two-handed swords, shield, and axes. They also possess the ability to drain life and strength from their foes, apply diseases, summon necromantic minions, and possibly hang upside-down from gargoyles. There's a bit more lore to be found in the official reveal; keep your ears open for more classes so that you'll be properly prepared.
Pantheon reveals the Cleric
Pantheon is still in the early stages of its Kickstarter campaign rollercoaster and has revealed its first (non-stretch goal) class: the Cleric. According to the announcement post, the Cleric is a battle priest who's big on doing nice things for good folks while smashing bad folks with blunt instruments. The Cleric uses divine spells to heal friends and harm foes backed up with his or her trusty warhammer or flail and a lot of heavy armor. It looks as though players will have an option to eschew this mode and spec as a lightly armored spellcaster or an astral Paladin. One of the most interesting aspect of the Cleric is his or her choice in deity. That choice won't be merely for roleplaying purposes but will influence which spells and abilities will be granted to the Cleric.
Brad McQuaid explains more of his design goals for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has only just opened its Kickstarter campaign, and it's about an eighth of the way to its initial goal with more than a month to go. Perhaps you're still on the fence about whether or not you want to donate, however, wondering what sort of game you'll be getting out of it when all is said and done. So why not let the game's creator tell you about it? In the second of a series of community Q&A sessions, Brad McQuaid explains more about the design goals of Pantheon as well as how the game will handle specific mechanics like fast travel, quests, and items. McQuaid also explains what inspired the team to make the game and how far along the development process is at the moment. Check out the full video past the break, and keep your eyes peeled for a third part in the near future.
Brad McQuaid's Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen launches Kickstarter campaign
Ready, set, go: One of the industry's most notorious developers has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $800,000 or more for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. Visionary Realms head Brad McQuaid's super-secret project is labeled as "a group-focused MMORPG based on challenging gameplay and open world high fantasy." Pantheon takes place in a world where both gods and heroes roam and where players will be on a quest to reclaim their lost glory and power. According to the feature list, Pantheon will have a heavy social focus, an open and non-linear world, the ability to customize your class by "bonding with the spirits of fallen warriors," action combat, an emphasis on travel instead of instant ports, exploration as part of character development, and "designed downtime" as part of the game experience. While McQuaid is asking for $800,000 to add more employees and fund development of the game, his stretch goals continue to the $6.7 million mark. Will you help pony up the $3.2 million needed for a Bard class?
McQuaid's MMO is Pantheon: Rise of The Fallen [Updated]
Thanks to some sleuthing of one fan, the name of Brad McQuaid's upcoming MMO has been discovered -- and confirmed -- on Twitter. Behold Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen! Unfortunately, the name of the project is the only tidbit of information that has been confirmed so far, although additional information has been compiled as to who might actually be a part of the development team: Noell Walling, Tony Vhalen Garcia, Ben de la Durantaye, James Rochelle, and Corey LeFever. It also appears that SOE is the registrar for the domain PantheonROTF.com, but there is no indication of what that might mean. For those who are concerned about how McQuaid will handle this new project, he acknowledged that due to his initial big success, he "became extremely arrogant, thinking whatever [he] touched would turn into gold," but he learned from his mistakes and is looking forward. [Thanks to BaBaGraPL for the tip!] [Update: Pantheon's PR has contacted us to clarify that SOE is not involved in the project and that the reference was an error on the early version of the site. We've also tucked some awesome new logo art behind the break.]
McQuaid tweets teaser pic for his mystery MMO
Back in September, Brad McQuaid let fans know he was working on a secret MMO, but has remained pretty tight-lipped about things since then. Now, McQuaid has taken to Twitter to tease interested fans with a tiny morsel: a beefy armored man with a broadsword (that's quite true to its name) sitting on an elaborate horned throne. Astute observers may question the significance of the solid blue eyes, which are reminiscent of a certain classic sci-fi story. More details will be available once this mystery MMO's Kickstarter is launched sometime in January. Until then, check out the full image of this imposing figure below. [Thanks to BabaGraPL for the tip!]
Brad McQuaid delays Kickstarter until January
Would you like to give Brad McQuaid a whole lot of money to make another game after Vanguard? Well, you'll just have to wait a bit longer. In a recent Twitter update, McQuaid stated that the Kickstarter for his next project will be delayed until January due to the challenge of raising funds during the holiday season. He also promised followers that the delay will mean showing off more of the game when the project goes live. No one knows what the project will look like at this point, although McQuaid's previous statements have indicated that it's meant as a throwback to the days of the original EverQuest and the first iterations of Vanguard. If that sounds like exactly what you'd like to play... well, as we said, you'll have to wait a little while to fund it. But it's coming.
Brad McQuaid looks to Kickstarter for new MMO
Brad McQuaid, best known as one of the original EverQuest designers and Executive Producer on Vanguard, is throwing out hints for his newest upcoming MMO that he plans to fund through Kickstarter. In a series of tweets, McQuaid asks for interested fans to submit questions for him to use on his Kickstarter campaign video. "Please email your questions to aradune@hotmail.com," the tweets suggest. "We're excited to start this dialog with our future players! We hope to have our kickstarter page up in the next 3 weeks or so... The game is high fantasy and if you've played EQ 1 and/or Vanguard, you've got a general idea of what the game's about and what kind of questions to ask :)" But McQuaid doesn't want to leave out the younger players: "I should also add that if you are a younger player & didn't play EQ or VG, but you want a challenging game & not a game that tries to be all things to all players, then you should feel right at home too, so please send us some questions as well :)" After being rehired by SOE in 2012 to work on Vanguard and EverQuest, McQuaid was let go in August of this year. We first heard hints at this new MMO project back in September. [Thanks to BabaGraPL for the tip!]
Brad McQuaid working on 'secret' MMO since leaving SOE
You may or may not have been aware that former Senior Game Designer Brad McQuaid was let go from SOE this past August, but either way, do not fret. The McQuaid cat has landed on his feet and is working on a "secret" MMO in conjunction with his former studio. McQuaid's personal page hints at the project: "Brad left SOE in August 2013 as part of a huge [reduction in force]. With so many jobless developers in the area and so many exciting game design ideas in his head, Brad intends to start something. He's run the ideas by John Smedley, who was visibly excited. More info will be made available on this site and elsewhere when the timing is appropriate." Meanwhile, on Twitter McQuaid set his status as "Working on sekret MMO. That is all for now." He also mentions that "going forward I intend to work as closely with [SOE] as possible." [Thanks to Marianne and Matt for the tip!]
