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Will non Seam-less Zones Hurt Pantheon
Curt2013
Member UncommonPosts: 66
After listening to the hour long very informative round table do you think the zoned world will hinder this game at all come release? I would think the zones will be quite large if Vanguard was any indication at all of the size type of a gaming world Brad likes to use. That was really the only thing I was a little bummed about.
Did any one thing really get you excited that was talked about feature wise in Pantheon. For me it was the possible different sets of gear needed to adapt to the environment. Whether your in the desert or some tundra. And how you could sacrafice your old gear at a temple for some buff or decide to pass it down to an alt.
Comments
Ya, I'm not quite sure why they are going back to a zoned world. You would think after 15 years seamless would have become fairly easy. Its probably my only real disappointment with Pantheon other than perhaps their reluctance to have pvp servers at launch.
In the end its not game breaking, just a little annoying.
It would be better if there was a system similar to Vanguard, but it was more clunky than chunky. Mobs didn't actually chase you over, they sort of went into a state of limbo. They might attack you on the edge but it was buggy. It definitely was still an improvement over the old zone system.
I just don't want to see load screens. I don't mind if mobs can't chase me between areas, but connecting every zone by little cuts in a zone wall would be weak. I'm not sure why you can move from one area to another in WoW seamlessly when WoW is 10 year old tech. Granted I'm sure the zones in Pantheon will be more taxing, one would hope there would be a way to pull this off.
I preferred the Everquest zone system to the 'chunk' system used in Vanguard.
I remember in Vanguard zoning into a new chunk but being turned around so when I moved forward I zoned back to where I had started.
rofl ya. I'm assuming if they went with a chunk system they'd want to fix that. I guess we should be happy we don't have the horrible final fantasy world map travel system that Shroud of the Avatar has adopted for some strange reason.
As long as the individual zones are big like EQ1, I don't see it being a problem.
I don't ever recall playing EQ1 and thinking, "Man, if this game were seam-less, it would be so much better". Zones made sense in that game.
I've never understood why seamless vs. non-seamless was ever an issue. If the atmosphere is great during those non-seamless zones, who cares if you have to load a bit here and there between others?
It's simply nitpicking. Get over it.
I must have missed the limited abilities, so it sounds like there wont be ability /cast macros then like Vanguard or is that still up in the air i wonder. some older players like me imo tend to like having options to macro your skills.
As far as limited skills this goes all the way back to everquest 1 where you had to selectively choose your abilities based on the situation. The only time using macro's is useful is if your linking skills to each other, but really do you need that in a game?
As far as the topic at hand with zones. I look at having zones as being a feature. Most MMO's have zones including but not limited to eq1, eq2, and to an extend world of warcraft. The style of zones this game will have enhance the game by allowing zone wide agro which leads to all kinds of fun. The zones are gonna be extremely large and you won't run into issues like having 3 zones splitting up a small city like kaladim which can be extremely annoying.
Maybe it was just me, but I never really considered VG seamless, but more of a marketing strategy to make it unique in the world of zoned MMOs.
They simply replaced a loading screen with the terrain that is in front of you. You still ran through the zone line, mobs didn't chase you, and there was typically lag as you crossed it. You may have ultimately "zoned" a bit quicker than Everquest without seeing a Loading... Please wait screen, but in reality, the only thing that was different was the backdrop of the landscape.
If Pantheon can deliver on all the tenets, this topic is not even a blip on the radar.
One word "Unity" it doesn't support it natively so they would have to do allot of work to include it.
Are you kidding, Vangaurd chunked a lot at release. Heck you could see the lines.
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You couldn't be more wrong about this. For allot of gamers it is the definitive element of a living breathing world. Its a huge undertaking which is why so few developers even attempt it. But it's really a game changer from an immersion perspective but I wouldn't expect everyone to understand. Especially those raised on console and arcade games. You wouldn't happen to fall into that category by chance would you?
Not sure what would even make you say this, but speak for yourself. In a high fantasy game world with a serious focus on the immersion and rpg elements, seamless worlds are very important.
Don't get me wrong, its not going to make or break a game by any means, but a seamless world is pretty much unanimously preferred by mmo players of all kinds.
Totally agree with Dullahan, infact most of his comments seem better worded comments of what i think for the most part. It's not a game braking design at all if the zones are large enough, but immersion to one person is most definitely not the same as another. for example if you ever played the old eqoa ps2 which was a seemlass world was totally bad ass, just throwing this out as example.
I never played eq but did play VG and loved it minus the bugs and lack of peeps due mostly to bugs. That game is still legendary to many folks and I would be so hooked with something like that i might consider leaving my wife since she bitches so much when i am hooked on a good mmo, but thats another story.
Anyways just make the dam game as fast as possible with minimal bugs, just think of this while your working from "field of dreams movie"
" If You Make It They Will Cum "
or somthing like that
btw i love all you guys for supporting this game idc if i know you or not, were all human minus the internet shield. and im immune to flame (:
Nice to hear back from one of the devs. Thanks for posting.
I don't mind zones as long they are nice and big and you have loads to explore. I have fond memories of zones; racing for the zone line with a big train on my tail. The only problem with zone lines is when PvP is implemented, for example in EQ 2 the zone lines was used as an escape mechanic which gave rise to zone huggers. Thankfully your game is PvE but wanted to mention it due to reading on your site PvP will hopefully be implemented in the future.
So far I like what I am hearing and further down the road in development you will most likely get my support. I'll be happy as long has you stay away from the the follow the yellow brick road mechanic of modern themeparks.
You guys are seriously delusional if you think Vanguard was seamless. Chunking was anything but, in some cases I could load an entire EQ zone faster then VG would chunk in some areas.
And, of course, whenever you chunked the game would bug out in a number of different ways; such as: losing a monster you just pulled, warping above or below the world, doing a 360 so you walked right back into the chunk, crash to desktop, map bugging out, ping spiking in the thousands and a dozen other reasons I'm forgetting.
Now if Pantheon was seamless like vanilla WoW where you didn't even notice and load screens were few and far between then sure I'm all for it.
When I finally got my SSD it actually worked but they might also made some patching by then.
Anyways, a seamless world is a nice feature but there are a price you must pay for it. It really works with or without zones unless those zones are really small like in AoC.
Now, I am not sure if this game even will be after the fail kickstarter and every thing but there are way worse things to worry about than if the game uses zooning or not.