Pantheon - anyone been keeping track?

[Ennewi]

Yep and Shadow Knight predates EQ, but in a different setting altogether. Every dev team is going to have their own approach to class types, similar though they may be, but having to crack open a thesaurus just to (appear to) break away from past influential IPs doesn't make sense. Feign death shouldn't have to be referred to as thanatosis.

Back on topic. No bard on release wouldn't be surprising considering how complex they are and how much they've been nerfed on here in a roundabout way. The Pantheon devs have said they don't want the game to be easily soloable, and necros/bards are the two classes that come to mind when soloing is brought up so that might play into whether they make it in at release. At least while waiting to play necro there are other purecaster options, but bard doesn't have a class that compares to it. Other than that, the only other thing that is a bit hard to accept is the whole two race limitation for paladins, but that's possibly/hopefully due to a third race option being planned for an expansion.

[Murri]

Yea lets get this back on the important topic of bard not being in the game at release. Everyone knows bards are the most well respected and skilled players of everquest. Perhaps they are worried all of the best players will only be playing one class?

[Jermaphobe]

I remember being pumped about the prospect of the game three years ago. The game was projected to come out this year in it's failed kickstarter. That probably won't happen unless it's an early alpha version. I have my doubts about it but honestly I would love for it to launch in the next year or two. I want to believe, I'm just older now and more cautious about expectations.

[fadetree]

Yeah, I hear that. We'll see. I hope it starts alpha or whatever relatively soon.

[Breeziyo]

I'm hyped for it to release but trying to reign myself in in case something goes terribly wrong.

Their PR guy on reddit answered a question about MMO development time:

Typically they take around ~5 years but that is not a set number, they are a huge undertaking and can take much longer.
We are around ~3 years in, looking good and making great progress towards testing

I think they said a while back that they want to be in testing for around a year, so whenever pre-alpha starts you probably have a good idea of their release

[Silvurwolf]

I remember being so hyped up for Diablo 3.. like years worth of hype then it dropped and I didn't like it nearly as much as d2. Hope that doesn't happen with this game

[Lhancelot]

Originally Posted by Silvurwolf [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I remember being so hyped up for Diablo 3.. like years worth of hype then it dropped and I didn't like it nearly as much as d2. Hope that doesn't happen with this game

I remember Vanguard, Rift, EQ2, WAR, Age of Conan, basically every new MMO that came out after EQ1 was a disappointment that either took years to get on track with future patches or simply died where it stood never improving.

[supermonk]

there's a lot of assumptions and misinformation here. I deal with technology contracts, such as IP infringement, as part of my day job so here's my unofficial legal answer.

I just did a quick google search for Everquest to look for (C) vs (R) and saw that latter. Based off that assumption, Everquest is protected by trademark (R), not copyright (C)..those are not one in the same and are two distinct types of intellectual property. in layman's terms, think of trademark like coca-cola; it's a brand...pepsi is the exact same shit, but it has a different brand. trademarks protect the name and copyrights protect the creative work. Pantheon does not infringe on IP trademark because nowhere does it say Everquest, even though for all intensive purposes it tastes like Everquest. If it were copyright, it would be a whole different story, but Pantheon is within it's legal bounds to make their game as long as no direct EQ references are mentioned (this includes unique and distinguishable zones, items, mobs, etc.)

Now hypothetically speaking, even if Daybreak tried to lawyer the hell out of Pantheon and sue Mr. McQuaid, it's not a profitable move. Pantheon, which i'm sure will be profitable, is not the likes of Apple or Google...litigation fees for taking them to court are expensive. Realistically speaking, they would never sue Mr. McQuaid, but rather they would just let Pantheon marinate to see if it has profit potential. The smart move, which they will do, is just buy Pantheon from Brad and make it a Daybreak game. Similar to Verant --> Sony. In the end, it's all about the monayyyy

[Murri]

i'm so excited for pantheon [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[supermonk]

If you want to want to really get deeper in the rabbit hole, Daybreak has a much better chance suing Rogean & Co. for P99 than Pantheon, because legally, P99 is infringing on Everquest's trademark. Rogean & Co. are smart because they are mitigating the likelihood of litigation by A.) not making money on the front end by charging us a subscription based off EQ's trademark (they're only asking for donations) B.) making it very clear the trademark is Everquest (he's technicaly giving them free marketing) and not his IP and ultimately C.) this is an old ass game man, who the fuck cares; Daybreak would lose more money in litigation fees even if they took Rogean to court...it's just not profitable. No offense to Rogean, but he's a small speck in the grand scheme of things in terms of Daybreak's balance sheet and just aren't worth their time. This is an extreme example, but you don't see Louis Vuitton taking Mr. Wang Chung to court for selling knockoffs of their handbags in the streets of NY.