Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Dev Responds to Multiboxing & More!

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen’s Creative Director Chris “Joppa” Perkins has been on an absolute roll lately putting to rest.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen’s Creative
some of the community’s biggest questions about gameplay. Now just less
than a couple weeks ago, he captured the spotlight in the first ever live video
newsletter to answer some burning questions, which I’ll provide a link to.
But this time, he took to a different platform to deliver some more pretty
unexpected news. This is BazgrimTV. Learn. Laugh. Level Up. It’s always exciting when Joppa returns to the monthly
developer roundtable with community manager Ben “Kilsin” Walters. And this
time, it was a rare general Q&A session where fans could ask him pretty much
anything about the game. Now if you’re brand new to Pantheon, I suggest you
actually watch it in full because he does speak on some of the more
fundamental questions about the game. But the full podcast is about an hour long,
so for those that don’t want to listen to the full thing, I’m gonna do what I
often like to do, which is boil it down to the highlights – the things that were
new to the community and that he actually had more definitive answers for.
Because I don’t want to broadcast information that’s probably just gonna
change at some point. But I want to provide you with the facts so you can
have a more informed opinion about the game. And if you want more Pantheon
coverage like this hit the subscribe button now because this is where we
always stay on top of the latest news in the game’s development. But without any
further ado, here are my top three highlights from the October 2019 anthe
on developer roundtable. In February 2017, Visionary Realms released this matrix
which detailed all the playable combinations of races and classes in
Pantheon. And they explained how the deep lore of the game provided a very
specific reason for why a race would or wouldn’t be able to be a certain class.
But unsurprisingly there were still people that were maybe attached to a
particular race and class in another MMO and we’re looking forward to trying it
out in Pantheon, but it wasn’t available according to this chart. Now the devs of
course did make the disclaimer at that time that nothing is set in stone. But
that was over two years ago now and haven’t really heard anything about it
since. But in this roundtable, Joppa had an interesting update on it. Yes we will
be revisiting it and yes we will most likely be making tweaks along the way. Just because we’ve come to those conclusions doesn’t mean that as we sit
with it longer, as the lore and other thoughts and ideas surrounding the
game continue to evolve and mature, that those those previous decisions don’t
change and maybe things open up. I’ll give you an example. The Archai need to be
able to be summoners. And so you can expect that one to change. Now there is a
reason that they were not able to be from the lore. And just as a little bit
of context, as we sat with it, we thought okay the Archai were were basically
enslaved as these you know as these beings of light and were made to do the
bidding of another. And now they have through this
ritual been imbued into this elemental shell, this framework. And so
they still have this kind of vestige of that prison and that
old experience, and so would it make sense for an Archai to summon and bind
this other entity to do their bidding just the same way that they were
made to do another’s bidding? And so we wrestled with that for a while
and said well probably not. They probably would have a
hard time reconciling doing something like that to another being – it’s just a
little too close to home. But again, an example of how over time as we’ve
thought about that and continue to revisit it and the ways that we’re able
with a more mature understanding of the Archai even
ourselves, see how that can be possible in the way – that they themselves
do that kind of thing as a summoner and even the way that the Archai could even
redeem some of that as a summoner in the way that they – I guess it sounds
weird to say – but just the relationship that they have with their
arcamentals. Because arcamentals are more than just
elementals. That’s why they have a different name. We could have just gone
with elemental. But they’re arcamentals because they’re specifically different. And I’m not going to go into all the reasons why now, but hopefully at least from what we’ve shared so far about the relationship
summoners have with their pets and the way that the pets gain their
own unique attributes, they can be equipped with unique items, armor ,weapons,
etc. and are really kind of a secondary character for the Summoner to equip and
maintain and things like that… there is enough of a relationship
there that ultimately we said that I think it does on so many levels
make a lot of sense for the Archai to be summoners, because of
their heritage and because of their elemental prowess, which the arcamentals are still bound to the elements. So once we were able to get over that more philosophical hump I guess you could say,
that’s a decision we decided to change. So anyway, long way to say yes we
will, we do revisit that list. There’s other ones in mind that we’re looking at
and working through. But there is good reason as to why we’ve made these
decisions and we’ll do our best to make sure that they’re as appropriate and as
enjoyable to you guys as the players as we can. – Players of the traditional
MMORPGs that Pantheon draws some inspiration from are probably used to
needing to carry around food and water just for their character to survive. And
while this has so far been the case in Pantheon’s pre-alpha testing, Joppa
explained how this is an example of a mechanic that is long overdue for some
innovation. -One of the decisions we’ve made over the last few months is to move
away from food and drink as being just this passive item that you need to have
in your inventory just to not get hungry and thirsty. It makes sense, I get it on
some levels, but at the end of the day when you’re sitting and you’re looking
at everything and just saying ‘is this fun? Is this enjoyable in any way?’
It’s not. -It’s just taking up the slot for the sake of it. -It’s just taking up slots and it’s just not
fun. So no longer are you going to need food and drink just to stay
able to regenerate health and regenerate mana, but we are moving more into that
consumable direction where food and drink are going to serve as ways of
getting short term, shorter duration, well not just short term, but just
duration based buffs and those… you can expect the traditional fare
there, you can expect some of those being more potent, less potent, but that’s kind
of the direction we’re taking food and drinking. So consumables are going to be
a thing some classes will have consumables they can create on their own.
There’s a rogue ability called reddened elixir. That is just another example of
one of the mini class abilities that aren’t currently released publicly, but
it’s a really cool ability that rogues have that they sacrifice 25% of their
health to create a vial of reddened elixir that restores 25% of their health. And if you combine that with the halfling racial, for example, of
increasing the effectiveness of consumables, then a halfling rogue right
there has a little bit of a more potent built-in health restore with that
reddened elixir. But rogues in general will have that and that’s kind of
in line with – there’s again several ranger consumables that we haven’t
released yet of things that they can create through their foraging and
some stuff I’m excited for you guys to see like brightfire sap and a couple of
other things that are going to be really cool in the consumable front. So you’re
going to see consumables becoming more of a of a thing and looking
forward to that and excited to be moving away from the old food and drink
paradigm. -If you don’t know what multi boxing is,
it’s when one person controls multiple characters on multiple accounts at the
same time so that they can play as if they had a full group without having to
actually talk to anyone else. And if you’ve been following the game for any
length of time, you’ve probably seen this question come up at least once before. In
fact it even has an answer on the game’s official FAQ page. But like I said before,
if the devs just left it at that, it probably wouldn’t be making this
highlights video. So before I go on, I should probably refresh you on what the
original answer was: “our reaction to multi boxing is to try something
first before we even entertain the idea of artificially restricting it. We want
to make combat, especially mid and higher-level combat so tactically
intense with so much going on, so much to do so, much to counter, so many companions
to keep alive, and the timing of many abilities crucial, that multi boxing is
extremely difficult if not impossible and likely far inferior to having an
actual real person in your group.” But surprisingly in this
roundtable, Joppa actually offered some new insight that differed from that familiar
answer. I think we’re going to be moving toward more of a hardline approach to
prohibit that behavior. Because the concern is that it poses too much of
a risk to the core values of the game, being built on that social cooperative
spirit. We want to create a living world where players depend on each other and
form those social bonds by leaning on other actual players to bring the
answer or the solution or the help that that particular race and class and
player is able to bring. So multi boxing is another form of soloing, but if you’re able to bypass game systems without depending on other
players to do so – like the question refers to those class specific utility
abilities – if you’re able to just have a pocket druid to build your bridges and a
pocket rogue to drop your ropes, like I get where that’s attractive on the
soloing side of things, but it goes against the core convictions of building a
living world where players are building these social contracts because they
depend on what each other bring to the table. So while this is not an anti
soloing sentiment, because I would much rather see soloing
itself promoted and made more room for soloing than I would giving a nod to multi boxing. We all know too
that saying we’re not going to stop multi boxing is the same thing as saying
yeah go ahead. Because if you can multi box and no one’s gonna stop you,
then that’s what you’re gonna do. So anyway that’s the current
stance on that. We will be keeping an eye if it’s the kind of thing
where if there needs to be a couple of servers – I
think it’s a little bit of a stretch, but if there needs to
be a couple of servers that exist that are multi boxing friendly, sure,
but when it comes to the core game, when it comes to the mainline experience
of playing Pantheon, and what we are doing as developers to support and
maintain those convictions, that’s absolutely our approach. -Well with
that, you should now be all caught up with the news from the October 2019
Pantheon developer roundtable. And at the end of it, Kilsin actually confirmed that
Joppa will be back on the roundtable in the near future because there were just
that many questions that need answering. So of course we’ll look forward to that
and you can count on me to let you know if he spills any good beans from it.
Because hopefully this overall upward trend of communication from the devs can
continue. And speaking of which, I’ll be hosting another live community watch
party for the next Pantheon video newsletter, which is on November 7th at 3
p.m. Eastern and that will be on We had a
great turnout for the first one, so until then, you guessed it, my name is Bazgrim
and I’ll see you there.

37 thoughts on “Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Dev Responds to Multiboxing & More!”

  1. As much of a proponent as I have been to the concept of mitigating multi-boxing, I was not expecting this reaction from Chris and Visionary Realms. While I have received some flak from the few who are vehement supporters of multi-boxing, I still believe their recent decision here is vital for the game. Multi-boxing doesn't only allow that player more chances at loot within a group — especially if the group has no idea that player is playing two or more characters — but it also creates a circumstance where classes like Shamans, Druids and maybe even Enchanters and Bards would be boxed merely for their support function. Seeing a Cleric with a Shaman and or Druid box in tow would be an issue and it degrades the importance of those classes from people who genuinely play them.

    When I brought up my server design concept last year (link in the bottom), I asked for people who were pro-boxing to give their honest criticism. What's often confused is the function in that they think it's absolute in nature. Where the goal is to make it impossible and they'll argue that 'nothing is ever secure'. They'd be correct which is why it's designed to mitigate it and handle the vast volume of the players who intend to box. By following the process I detailed last year in the link below, it then becomes too punishing to even engage in it to the point that most of them don't want to even risk it.

    When those people were introduced with the concept of a box only server, they turned it down saying they would have no intention to play on such a server. Think about that answer. They don't want to play with others who WILL box because they no longer have that advantage over the community that doesn't. Occam's Razor lends credence to that conclusion.

    I applaud Visionary Realms on this decision and going by the sentiment of the community with previous posts on the subreddit, their question on their Twitter and the polling, I believe it's a decision that will be met favorably by the vast majority of players.

    The three links are found here. Close the 'reddit' and the 'dot-com' in the address bar.

    https://www.reddit . com/r/PantheonMMO/comments/dqc335/highlights_from_the_latest_roundtable_with_joppa/f629thg/

  2. I know I can read all about the lore on the website (and I already have done some reading on it), but it's there any video that explains the lore well?
    I'm a slow reader and take in more with video.
    Thanks in advance to anyone who can find some.

  3. Forcing people to group is a big mistake. They will lose a good 25%+ of their audience by eliminating dual boxing. What a shame.

  4. Fantastic as always Bazgrim. Love it. So many great things coming up for us Pantheonites, I feel 2020 is going to be huge for us all. This world VR is creating keeps getting better an better with each tidbit we get. Can't wait for the future Pantheon meet-ups, where this great community gets to meet eachother as well. Have a good one, and I hope your enjoying the new place 🙂

  5. I'm very disappointed with their opinion on food. Asking themselves if it was "fun" is very reminiscent of Blizzard before they removed core gameplay features from WoW. I'm becoming very doubtful that they will stick to their original vision.

  6. Food and drink isn't supposed to be "fun", it's supposed to be an annoyance related to immersion, bad choice imo to remove it. I do love the decision to prohibit multiboxing though, can't stand people that multibox to avoid socialization.

  7. Made the right call with no multi-boxing. Though if there were numbers to support it, which I doubt, could make a server with only multi-boxers. Just as long as they are somewhere else I am cool with it.

  8. I go back and forth on the multi boxing. I have 0 friends who will play this game and it’s a pain in the ASS to find a group of people / guild that has the same exact schedule as myself. :/

  9. So excited. Pantheon is gonna bring back the fealings i got when i first played Eq almost 20 Years ago, fealings no other rpg mmo has given me, not even WoW. Really appreciate all your hard work Baz, thank you man

  10. Multi-boxing does not mean to play as a full group. I multi-boxed in EQ with 2 accounts, not a full group. Casters in EQ had to rely on enchanter mana regen buffs. Many times groups had to disband to get new buffs after only an hour of playing. I leveled a high level enchanter just for those buffs so groups would not disband or give up a camp for buffs. Hopefully things will be different in pantheon and you won't be reliant on buffs like before in EQ.

  11. Survival is a cancer to mmos.
    They never do it right and I play mmos for fun and challenge, not to eat and shit.
    So glad they made that change.

  12. core social experience will prohibit multi boxing? Are alts going to be similarly restricted its in the same vein just smaller scale? Im not amused at the idea that i will need to co-ordinate a core party every time i hop online if i want to advance my character or pug it being my only options. Coordinating 3-6 peoples scheduling means we may as well get a pen and paper session going and pug groups have a tendency towards toxicity.

  13. i love the whole aspect of more important consumables. I understand the social cooperative spirit but I can't imagine how you will actually restrict mult-boxing. My friends and I had Internet parties where we all set up our laptops on a table and played next to each other – how will they know how many humans are sitting at the table, whether it's one or six?

  14. You gotta respect the no multi box because they are basically saying we are willing to lose money(extra accounts for boxing) for the sake of the vision.

  15. Gnome runs around screaming please I need a healer. Skar ha ha I've got you happy they don't want multiboxing. I could see players trying to do 2-3 characters hurting group play and team focus.

    Teams full of idle players doing nothing because they can't keep up. It would be annoying for groups to deal with.

    If your doing all you can to benefit your team their should be no extra time to play a alt.

  16. I am SO READY for Pantheon! When I started following it Joppa's beard was still brown. The wait is killing me!

    Great to hear about their change of view toward multi-boxing!

  17. No one boxes without a 3rd party program… if they did they where straight shiiiit…. macroquest and xml was used by the highest end guilds in eq…. theres not a single honest multiboxer, trust me I know, making the macros and running a full automated group was the sheeit once the group content turned into instanced zones.. if they keep the group content open world then fk multiboxing… if they go with the lame ass instances I guarantee, that I and many others will full box group with a 3rd party program and will hog all the lewt…. theres alwaysa work around and if you think theres not your retarded

  18. Since this is a kind of spiritual successor to EQ.

    along with Humans racial of having the best mustache.

  19. I have to admit the multi boxing change is a little annoying considering I already threw in $250 for this game. I seriously enjoy the challenge of playing multiple characters (multi boxing is not easy) and am disappointed that it’s changing. Hopefully the multi box friendly servers are a thing.

  20. "the food system needed innovation so it's no longer required and only gives buffs"that's not innovative at all, mmo's have been doing that for 15 years now.

  21. Personally, I’m very pleased to hear this new stance on multi boxing. A separate server for that is fine, that being said.

  22. I wish you could solo, that is the reason I have not preordered this game. IT sucks because I loved Brad's earlier MMO's, and not being able to really solo in the game? I feel left out 🙁

  23. I don't think many consistently multi-boxed in EQ. I knew about 12 as we shared techniques and LAN tips. My Monk pulled for the guy who took a full multi-boxed group into a dungeon, and farmed it, sometimes. That made it easier for him as he could set up to heal, tank, and dps and let me pull to his group. At one point I multi-boxed, but not very much. 99% of my /played was a single character, though I did run ShowEQ on a second PC (!). Since most of my EQ from around level 45 on was raids, it didn't make sense to multi-box.

  24. multiboxing is a fail condition for the game…it needs to be banned forever even before the game goes up. And i cannot agree/belive on the idea that the encounters will be so hard that a "player" will always be better then a scripted box…thats nonsense….every old EQ..EQ2 player knows that many players were very bad and could not even match a well scripted shaman/defiler. And one of the reasons that many players didnt get better was because many "good" and old schooll players had their own boxing group and didnt spend any time helping and griding new players. Multiboxing is a cancer in any MMO….specially on the kind that Pantheon is developing to be. I really hope they find a good way to prevent this.

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