Hi everyone, Long time lurker but seeing Brad post here and being cautionsly hopful about his new game, i just had to make and account to weigh in. First off I played EQ from Aug 99 til about 05 when I got into VG beta and played VG on and off since. Played mostly necros but also toyed with a few other classes. Like many of you, I have been hopful of a return to a more hard core MMO even though I am a more casual player. I still love challenge.
Anyway Brad, good to hear from you, love what i am hearing so far but please, please take your time to make it happen. If something you are trying doesn't work out then just be open about it and I am sure you won't get the backlash like you did with VG.
Some things I do want to touch on though that will probably be features that have to be added later are things like maps or specifically the GPS mini map. Lets not have it. Instaid, I feel there should be a map making system, or you have to buy maps from either npc's or players who have made them. If you are trying to make your own map, then your character should have to have explored the area he/she is trying to map. VG's map/mini-map was very basic, but it still showed you POIs and even where you died. Which brings me to my next point.
It is unknown if corpse runs will be in Pantheon, but I hope they are and if they are, I hope the return more to EQ's way of player interdependence. By that I mean I missed my locate and summon corpse spells on my VG necro. Instaid you got a marker on your mini-map to tell you where your corpse was or you could summon it to an alter and take an XP/Gear hit. Personally even with the alters, i still think necros could have had atleast a summon corpse spell so that you could summon a players corpse out of a dungeon with out them having to take the xp hip of summoning it to an alter. Instaid of having a marker tell you where your corpse is, make a spell like locate corpse and have it get better with time. By this I mean have it point your character in the direction of a corpse at first, but as you get better at the spell it will place a marker on your map (if you have a map ofcorse) and then maybe at the highest version of it, you can cast it on another player and it will mark their map (again if they have one).
As for flying mounts- if done right, they could be great, otherwise, it just cheapens the world. We all saw this in VG. Though how they are in VG is not at all how they were intended. The idea was first, they were meant to be only for those at or near level cap and had to be earned through long, difficult series of quests. Secondly, when VG was in early development, I remember the goals they had of mounted and flying mounted combat which meant you could be attacked in mid air on your mount. So flying was not meant to be a means to get around unharmed, it just ended up that way because VG was never finished. So again, if done right, flying could be pretty great with out being game breaking.
Also, since I have not seen it mentioned, bring back purple clubbing. Thats all I have for now.