WOW used its style early on to still impress its users with the purpose of maintaining low system requirements. I wonder if they can take a pointer from that? Effects and polygons aren't everything.
The real test is not what happens now, but what happens 3 years from now? How much money do they put in and how much do they get out? How well do they work together? Will they stay on task? What's unsaid here is just how many games never see the light of day because they die long before they reach beta. And no matter how loud team members scream and shout about being committed, the only true test of this is lots of time.
Brad needs to find a way to deflect attention away from himself. I want to say good things and believe in Panthon, but like a lot of others, what I know about Brad stops me. I know he's done some good, like Everquest, and I know he's shown a mature, positive attitude in interviews, but the RESULTS in the past 10 years don't speak well! And yet if Pantheon can be just as much about the other people he works with than about himself, maybe it has a chance to be optimistic despite all that has happened.
I like they respects ideas of player interdependence and challenge and an open world (especially that one), but they're going to have to compromise somewhere I think to make ends meet. And maybe on that note, they can also do some new things, so nobody will be too judgmental about it until it can be tested.
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