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

If you've spent any time at all carousing in MMO circles, you’ve no doubt heard Brad McQuaid’s name mentioned at some point.

His original company, Verant Interactive, was best known for creating the original EverQuest, the first MMORPG of its kind, which went on to help define the genre. Verant was also where Star Wars Galaxies began life before Sony bought the company. Later, McQuaid formed Sigil Games to build the ambitious Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. As the development process went through a publisher change it eventually released under the Sony label, but was not met with the commercial success the publisher and developers had hoped — for a number of reasons.

That was way back in 2007. Fast forward to 2014, and McQuad is at it again. This time with his team at Visionary Realms — which is stocked full of industry veterans, including those who worked on Vanguard as well as the original EverQuest and EverQuest II and more. 

Brad and Visionary Realms are promising an MMO for players that want a challenge. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen will offer a challenge that harkens back to the early days of the genre, where grouping mattered. But they also want to bring modern features to the game. To do this, as so many other game developers have done, they’ve turned to Kickstarter to give folks who like what they’re making a chance to help make it possible.

Recently, we had a chance to ask the team some questions about the design, lore, engineering and art direction for the game. What follows is a long read, but if you’re a fan of what Brad and his team are trying to build, you’ll find some tantalizing nuggets of information woven throughout!

Brad McQuaid, Chief Creative Officer

How long have you or your team been actively developing the idea of for Pantheon?

Since September of last year. (Editor’s Note: September 2013.)

Your team has been very clear that Pantheon is targeted at a very specific kind of player, and that it might not be for everyone. How would a player who might be reading this know if the game is intended for them?

I would summarize the game like this: “Pantheon will be a challenging MMO with a focus on grouping and player cooperation, returning to undiluted roots that made MMOs so popular to begin with.”  If that sounds interesting to the reader, I would then suggest they check out the Kickstarter page. 

Would you classify the game more as a theme park or sandbox? And how would this classification compare to how you might label the original EverQuest or Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?

Ultimately Pantheon will not be following a linear path in terms of player progression. You can go where you want, when you want, and we’re not going to push you in the direction we want you to go. In many ways we’re looking at more EverQuest with some Vanguard.

The Kickstarter page mentions "not have everyone with the same quality of character, despite the amount of effort put in". Can you talk about what that might mean? Does that indicate a skill-based progression system?

There will be skills that need to be leveled up. But progression is primarily level-based.

What we were getting at on the Kickstarter is that a player’s character will reflect the amount and quality of effort they put into it. To put it another way: no welfare epics. The iconic class-specific items will require much effort and dedication. There should be no expectation that everyone will be able to attain these items.

The social and team aspects of MMOs are well documented as design goals for Pantheon. Does this leave the solo player out in the cold entirely, or will there be gameplay for them?

A well equipped character could conceivably solo a bit outdoors, but beyond that Pantheon is a group-focused game.

For players who were weened on newer MMO mechanics - how would you explain to them that the design goals of Pantheon might satisfy them compared to what they're used to?

I would ask them if they want a more challenging massively multiplayer experience.  I’d ask them if they enjoy games like Dark Souls.  I’d ask them if they enjoyed working as a group to overcome challenges and if they liked coming up with group oriented tactics. If any of their answers were yes, I’d recommend Pantheon to them.

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