Brad, I'd like some clarification on the difference between the open dungeons and instanced ones. I mean, why would people go for contested named mobs when they can just enter an instance? This makes the loot situation potentially very idiosyncratic where loot from instances are in abundance...
The biggest problem with the Kickstarter page is you don't get too good a sense of how different it will actually be from the myriad of WoW clones that have come and gone over the years. If I didn't know much about EQ or VG and saw this page it would seem like a pretty standard MMO to me...
There are already 2 Kickstarter MMO's based on PvP: Camelot Unchained & Pathfinder... so why should Pantheon make it a priority? There is no hardcore PvE MMO out or even in development, they should stick to that.
Vanguard actually had a pretty good system called Equipment Expertise where every piece of gear had a % value based on your level. You could wear all your gear as long as all the %'s added to up <100% - so you could equip gear and weapons higher than your level but they would be a higher % than...
This happened because the combat system was drastically changed after most of the class abilities were already created. I believe it was towards the end of Beta 2 when the "Reactive" combat system was scrapped for a more traditional one; this is why as a Bard you had spell damage abilities not...
Since everyone is armchairing I may as well throw my 2 cents in. This assumes of course there is more leveling content than anyone one character can complete like in EQ or VG.
An idea I've had for one aspect of AA's is this: If you mentor down to any major area or dungeon and "complete" it...
Mixed feelings about Silius being on the team. He created some good things in VG like Equipment Expertise and the Crafting system... but the "Shores of Darkness" and "Expansion" updates for VG were a disaster.
I would actually be very surprised if it doesn't get funded and is indeed vaporware. Everyone knew what state Vanguard was in when it launched and yet it still sold ~200,000 box copies; the allure of a current gen "hardcore" PvE mmo was enough to get people to buy. And my suspicion is that...
In all seriousness focus on 4-5 heroes you like the most that fill the same role and only play them. Then queue with at least 2-3 ppl in your skill range and you'll very rarely be in the situation you were describing.
Also, never ever ever go Aghanims on Doom.
His art was always agnostic to what art style they use for the actual game. Yes, if IV or VI were made today they would not have the same look as the pixel games, but they still would have had completely different art styles than any modern FF. All the proof you need is the cinematics they made...
Never played anything past 9 and even that game was fairly disappointing. All the characters since then have looked like such colossal faggots that I don't even care about the series anymore. Aesthetics are underrated as far as games go, and the modern final fantasies have none.
EE did the same thing at Dreamhack as well when he was in No Tidehunter.
Arteezy playing out of his mind on day 2, his Puck, OD, & Storm were amazing. And never ever give Sing mirana... he somehow always ends up with Manta + Mjolnir at 35m.
I don't really care about Diretide so it was a big 'whatever' from me.
However, it's about time Valve got it's comeuppance about it's lack of communication. As a long time Counter-Strike player it was very frustrating never knowing what changes were coming next. A lot of people forget CS was...