With Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, the creator of Everquest aims to provide fans with a return to the old virtues.
Modern MMORPGs always need to have something special: survival elements, open PvP, single-player gameplay…
In doing so, modern MMORPGs are increasingly turning away from what defined the genre in the past – exciting group adventures. And this is where Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen comes in.
We introduce you to Pantheon’s plans. This is what the MMORPG is supposed to look like.
The inventor of Everquest returns
Pantheon is being developed by Brad McQuaid, who was significantly involved in the first Everquest and also developed the MMO Vanguard.
Those who know these games know where Pantheon is headed. McQuaid misses the times when players formed groups, explored the wilderness of a fantasy world together, delved into dungeons, and fought against countless monsters. Therefore, Pantheon also focuses on PvE.
On to Terminus!
In the game, you are on the world of Terminus, formed from fragments of many other worlds. Therefore, different cultures and creatures meet there. Especially because the world consists of so many fragments of different cultures and planets, there is much to explore here – and exploration is an important aspect of the game.
At the beginning, you create a hero from the races
- Archai
- Dwarves
- Dark Myr
- Ogres
- Humans
- Halflings
- Elves
- Gnomes
- Skar
Each race has different advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is important to carefully consider what you want to play. In this way, Pantheon returns to a game system of earlier MMORPGs, where it still mattered which race you embodied. Nowadays, this often hardly plays a role.
Next, you choose one of the classes
- Cleric
- Paladin
- Warrior
- Direlord
- Ranger
- Rogue
- Monk
- Summoner
- Enchanter
- Wizard
- Druid
- Shaman
Again, every class plays differently. So at the beginning of Pantheon, you will spend a lot of time choosing the ideal hero that suits you and your playstyle.
Explore the World
Next, you will find yourself in the vast world. This is divided into zones, as you may know from World of Warcraft. In each zone, many challenges await you. Monsters are lurking everywhere in the wilderness, and you explore ancient ruins.
The ruins also provide you with background information about the lore in the game. As you explore the world, you learn more about its history and the history of the individual factions and races.
Be attentive and find quests
The developers want to offer a particularly interesting feature with the Perception System. Through this, you will find quests in the world.
In Pantheon, NPCs do not simply stand by the roadside with a golden exclamation mark over their heads when they have a quest for you. Rather, they call out to you as you pass by them, or you may witness a specific situation occurring nearby and can then investigate. This will be shown to you accordingly. Depending on how much you have increased your Perception value, you can discover more events or fewer.
So it may well be that you wander through a village, and suddenly an NPC calls out to you. If you speak to him, a quest arises. Another player with a lower Perception value may not even notice the NPC.
This way, the developers want to introduce a “more natural” way for you to obtain quests, while also not forcing you to engage in these missions. However, attentive exploration of the game world will always be rewarded. If you complete quests, they will have an impact on the NPCs. The world will react to your actions.
Group Play in Focus
Pantheon rewards group play. At release, there will be many raids where you team up with friends to fight boss monsters. Generally, you should form a good group to experience many adventures together. Creating a guild can be useful here.
However, the developers also want you to be able to play alone. So, if you ever feel like not being with friends and want to be the lone wolf, the game will allow you to do so without punishing you for it. However, certain content – such as the mentioned raids – requires groups.
If you want to try a new character, Pantheon offers an interesting system here. You can retire your hero and play a descendant. These descendants possess some traits of your former hero but can be developed in different directions.
Find Skill Trainers
You improve your hero through a skill system. At trainers, you can enhance your skills and learn new abilities. However, you often have to search for teachers who hide in dangerous locations. Only they can teach you the powerful skills. In addition, you will search for legendary artifacts hidden in the game world.
Crafting is also an important point. By collecting resources and creating items, you not only obtain particularly powerful items, but you also participate in the economy of the game world. This is mainly driven by players, but the developers reserve the right to intervene here and there, such as when powerful artifacts are introduced.
PvP is not the focus
PvP will also play a role, but it will take place on special servers and will not be the focus of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. However, there is currently little information about PvP, as the developers want to fully focus on the PvE aspect first.
Similarly, nothing is currently known about the housing system. The developers are considering how to introduce a housing system that is neither instanced nor clutters the game world with houses. As this is not easy to implement, housing will likely only be available after the game’s release.
In summary, Pantheon offers the following:
- Focus on PvE
- Many group contents
- The Perception System for interesting quests
- Raids
- Skill trainers
- Classes and races with advantages and disadvantages
- Crafting
- A player-driven economy
- Much exploration
- Plenty of lore
- PvP on special servers
- A classic MMO game feel
The developers are taking their time
Currently, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is in an early alpha phase. The developers are taking their time to create a game aimed at all those who miss the game feel of Everquest 1.
Therefore, it is currently not possible to say when the beta will start or when the MMORPG will be released. However, you will need to subscribe to play – just like the whole game fundamentally.
