It's very easy to be critical and judge a game and I should probably reserve my judgement until I play the game but a few things that I haven noticed with their direction seem unsettling.
Combat style: Maybe i've gotten too use to P99 but I enjoy the simple and elegant combat style of EQ with turn-based combat that isn't flashy and doesn't consist of clicking the mouse 1000 times a minute. I appreciate the way the text is displayed during combat on P99 with the classic EQ feel. Sure new animations with graphics can always add improvement but too much takes away from the elegance and simplicity of combat.
Combat Pace: The pace of the combat seems fast and non threatening. In classic EQ, a yellow mob or red mob might take a couple of minutes to kill. There was significant downtime after as you would be "licking your wounds" so to speak. If you were solo or in a group that didn't have it together you felt vulnerable sitting there medding. The challenging content (before it was mastered) would almost certainly end in a wipe if each class didn't know it's role or if they were playing behind the curve. As I'm watching the gameplay videos of pantheon I do not see any mass CC spells, root breaks, or otherwise random events that make combat fun and exciting. It just seems like they are churning through the mobs with zeal and ease. Maybe this is because dev's are max geared and know the ins-and-outs of the game because they designed it, but I think it's the overall feel they are going for these days.
Rock Climbing MMO: It just seems like they are placing so much emphasis on developing vertical scaling
that its turning the game into a rock climbing MMO. I see the potential for it to develop into some really neat ways to explore caves and such but it seems a bit forced. I think having the option to train skills on a "melee" class to scale rocks would be really neat and realistic. Does everyone need to rock climb to access content though? Maybe a caster could just levitate over the entire area or cast on a group mate to encourage grouping - and be done with it. It seems like a lot of effort has gone into crafting this rock climbing system but what real value does it add to the experience?
Perception system: Since they introduced the perception system it seems like a way to introduce a "on the rails" quest system without being overtly obvious with NPC's that give out quests. I'm sure there are some really neat nuances that they will develop but most of it seems like "You approach a river tinged with blood, maybe people in town will know more" I do not see how this adds to the adventurers experience... It reminds me a bit of the old diablo quests which while they were fun they were nothing of the complexity of EQ quests with their hidden elements and rich dialogue. I think EQ once again has one of the most challenging quest systems, I am amazed at how some of the quests were ever figured out to begin with.
Pantheon originally set out to be the spiritual successor to EQ and they have said they are not trying to just recreate classic EQ but create something fresh. While this sounds great for marketing, It's difficult for me to see the spiritual successor in pantheon in its current working state.
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